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2023-06-20 00:00:00
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stringdate 1964-01-01 00:00:00
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120-777-780-192-06X
|
JP
|
[
"EP",
"WO",
"US",
"JP",
"CN"
] |
F02D9/02,F02D41/00,F02D41/10,F02D41/14,F02B33/44,F02B33/00,F02D23/00,F02D41/18,G06F19/00,F02D45/00
| 2012-05-23T00:00:00 |
2012
|
[
"F02",
"G06"
] |
controller for internal combustion engine with supercharger
|
the purpose of the present invention is to allow monitoring by a controller for an internal combustion engine with a supercharger so that a target throttle position passed to an electronically controlled throttle does not deviate from a suitable range. in order to achieve this purpose, the controller (10) according to this invention verifies the suitability of the target throttle position by way of a monitoring device (20) using a standard throttle position as a reference. the target throttle position is calculated by way of a first computation device (12), on the basis of a target intake air volume and a calculated value or estimated value for the boost pressure, using a reverse model of an air model representing the dynamic relationship established among the boost pressure, throttle position, and intake air volume. the standard throttle position is calculated by way of a second computation device (14), on the basis of the target intake air volume and the calculated value or estimated value for the atmospheric pressure, using a relational expression established between the intake air volume and the intake pipe pressure, when stationary, and a relational expression established among the throttle upstream pressure, the intake pipe pressure, and the throttle flow rate, when stationary.
|
a controller for an internal combustion engine with a supercharger upstream of an electronically controlled throttle (2), comprising: a first arithmetic unit (12) that is configured to calculate a target throttle opening degree (tat) to be given to the electronically controlled throttle (2) based on a target intake air quantity and a measured value or an estimated value of a supercharging pressure, by using an inverse model of an air model that expresses a dynamic relation that is established among the supercharging pressure, a throttle opening degree and an intake air quantity; a second arithmetic unit (14) that is configured to calculate a reference throttle opening degree (tar) based on the target intake air quantity and a measured value or an estimated value of an atmospheric pressure to be substituted as a throttle upstream pressure, by using a relational expression established between the intake air quantity and an intake pipe pressure in a steady state, and a relational expression that is established among the atmospheric pressure substituted as the throttle upstream pressure, the intake pipe pressure and a throttle flow rate in a steady state, and a monitoring device (20) that is configured to confirm appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree (tat) that is calculated by the first arithmetic unit (12) with the reference throttle opening degree (tar) calculated by the second arithmetic unit (14) as a reference, wherein the monitoring device (20) is configured to set a value that is smaller than the reference throttle opening degree (tar) by a predetermined value as a lower limit value of an appropriate range, to set a value that is larger than the reference throttle opening degree (tar) by a predetermined value as an upper limit value of the appropriate range and, if the target throttle opening degree (tat) is included in the appropriate range that is fixed by the lower limit value and the upper limit value, to determine that the value of the target throttle opening degree (tat) is appropriate. the controller for an internal combustion engine with a supercharger according to claim 1, wherein the second arithmetic unit (14) has a corrector (18) that is configured to correct the calculated reference throttle opening degree by using an inverse first-order lag model, and output the reference throttle opening degree after correction by the corrector (18).
|
technical field the present invention relates to a controller for an internal combustion engine with a supercharger that calculates a target throttle opening degree to be given to an electronically controlled throttle by using an inverse model of an air model, and more particularly relates to a controller including a function of monitoring whether the target throttle opening degree is out of an appropriate range. background art as a method for calculating a target throttle opening degree to be given to an electronically controlled throttle, there is known a method that uses an inverse model of an air model. an air model is a dynamic model that expresses a dynamic relation established between a throttle opening degree and an intake air quantity. if the inverse model of an air model, that is, an inverse air model is used, the throttle opening degree that is required to achieve a target intake air quantity can be inversely calculated. the calculation method of the target throttle opening degree with use of an inverse air model also can be applied to an internal combustion engine with a supercharger. note, however, in an internal combustion engine with a supercharger, the pressure that acts on the upstream side of the throttle changes in accordance with the supercharging state of the supercharger. a throttle upstream pressure is an importance parameter that is used in calculation of a target throttle opening degree in an inverse air model. therefore, in calculation of the inverse air model for an internal combustion engine with a supercharger, the supercharging pressure measured by a supercharging pressure sensor or the supercharging pressure that is estimated by a physical model is used as the throttle upstream pressure. according to the method for calculating the target throttle opening degree by using an inverse air model, even when the target intake air quantity changes, the throttle opening degree that is required to achieve it can be calculated with high precision. however, in the calculation using the inverse air model that is a dynamic model, the target throttle opening degree which is an output value significantly changes with respect to a change of an input value. therefore, there is a possibility of the target throttle opening degree to be given to the electronically controlled throttle being out of the appropriate range which is set in advance, depending on the condition of the input value. in particular, in the case of the inverse air model of an internal combustion engine with a supercharger, there is a fear that some sort of problem occurs to the supercharging pressure which is inputted. for example, when the supercharging pressure is measured by a supercharging pressure sensor, there is a possibility that the measured value of the supercharging pressure becomes inaccurate due to the problem of the supercharging pressure sensor (for example, wire breakage, deterioration of the sensor element, or the like). it is not preferable in the control performance of an internal combustion engine that the target throttle opening degree to be given to the electronically controlled throttle is out of the appropriate range which is set in advance. therefore, the controller of an internal combustion engine, in particular, the controller of an internal combustion engine with a supercharger is required to always monitor whether the target throttle opening degree is not out of an appropriate range. citation list patent literature patent literature 1: japanese patent laid-open no. 2008-095596 patent literature 2: japanese patent laid-open no. 2010-106762 patent literature 3: japanese patent laid-open no. 2006-348778 us 2008/0109145 a describes a control system for an internal combustion engine equipped with a supercharger which calculates a target intake mass airflow in accordance with an accelerator pedal travel, using a virtual internal combustion engine model having a virtual upstream intake air pressure. the control system then calculates a target throttle opening in accordance with a measured upstream intake pressure so as to provide the target intake mass airflow, and controls a throttle valve based on the target throttle opening. summary of invention the present invention is made in the light of the aforementioned problem, and has an object to enable monitoring whether a target throttle opening degree to be given to an electronically controlled throttled is not out of an appropriate range, in a controller for an internal combustion engine with a supercharger. a controller according to the present invention is defined in appended claim 1. according to the controller according to the present invention, in calculation of the reference throttle opening degree which is used to confirm appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree, an atmospheric pressure is used, instead of a supercharging pressure. since the supercharging pressure is higher than an atmospheric pressure, the target throttle opening degree that is measured based on the supercharging pressure should be smaller than the reference throttle opening degree which is calculated based on the atmospheric pressure. accordingly, by evaluating a value of the target throttle opening degree with the reference throttle opening degree as a reference, appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree calculated by the first arithmetic unit can be confirmed. further, by using an atmospheric pressure, even when a deviation occurs to the measured value or the estimated value of the supercharging pressure, the reference throttle opening degree can be calculated correctly. furthermore, according to the controller according to the present invention, the reference throttle opening degree is calculated by using two relational expressions that are simultaneously established in a steady state, instead of a dynamic model like an inverse model of an air model. thereby, an arithmetic load can be reduced as compared with the case of using a dynamic model. further, the controller according to the present invention more preferably includes a corrector that is constituted of an inverse first-order lag model in the second arithmetic unit. the second arithmetic unit corrects the calculated reference throttle opening degree by using the inverse first-order lag model, and outputs the reference throttle opening degree after correction. by correction by the inverse first-order lag model, the waveform of the reference throttle opening degree is in a shape closer to the waveform of the target throttle opening degree that is calculated by using the dynamic model. accordingly, by confirming appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree to be given to the electronically controlled throttle with the reference throttle opening after correction as a reference, erroneous determination is prevented, and precision of monitoring can be more enhanced. brief description of drawings [ figure 1] figure 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a controller according to an embodiment of the present invention. [ figure 2] figure 2 is a functional block diagram showing details of an inverse air model which is used by a first arithmetic unit of the controller shown in figure 1 . [ figure 3] figure 3 is a diagram for explaining a calculation method of a reference throttle opening degree by a second arithmetic unit of the controller shown in figure 1 . description of embodiments an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. an internal combustion engine to which a controller according to the present embodiment is applied is a four cycle reciprocating engine that includes a supercharger such as a turbocharger and a mechanical supercharger, and can control torque by adjustment of an air quantity by an electronically controlled throttle (hereinafter, abbreviated simply as a throttle). the controller according to the present embodiment is realized as one function of an ecu included by an internal combustion engine. in more detail, the program stored in a memory is executed by a cpu, whereby the ecu functions as the controller. when the ecu functions as the controller, the ecu controls an operation of the throttle in accordance with throttle control logic which is programmed. figure 1 is a functional block showing a configuration of the controller which is realized by the ecu functioning in accordance with the throttle control logic. as shown in figure 1 , a controller 10 according to the present embodiment acquires respective output values of a supercharging pressure sensor 4 and an atmospheric pressure sensor 6, and gives a target throttle opening degree (tat) to a throttle 2. the supercharging pressure sensor 4 is mounted downstream of a compressor and upstream of the throttle in an intake passage. the atmospheric pressure sensor 6 is mounted to an inlet of the intake passage. from an output value of the supercharging pressure sensor 4, a supercharging pressure (pic) which acts on an upstream side of the throttle 2 can be measured, and from an output value of the atmospheric pressure sensor 6, an atmospheric pressure (pa) which acts on the inlet of the intake passage can be measured. the controller 10 according to the present embodiment is configured by a first arithmetic unit 12, a second arithmetic unit 14 and a monitoring device 20. these devices 12, 14 and 20 are devices that are realized on software by the throttle control logic being executed by the cpu of the controller 10. as a matter of course, these devices 12, 14 and 20 may be each configured by exclusive hardware. the first arithmetic unit 12 calculates the target throttle opening degree (tat) to be given to the throttle 2 based on a target intake air quantity (klt) and other kinds of engine information. the other kinds of engine information include an engine speed (ne), intake valve timing (in-vvt), exhaust valve timing (ex-vvt), a waste gate valve opening degree (wgv), and the supercharging pressure (pic) that is measured by the supercharging pressure sensor 4. the first arithmetic unit 12 uses an inverse air model in calculation of the target throttle opening degree (tat). details of a calculation method of the target throttle vale opening degree (tat) using an inverse air model will be described later. the second arithmetic unit 14 calculates a reference throttle opening degree (tar) based on the target intake air quantity (klt) and other kinds of engine information. the reference throttle opening degree (tar) is used for confirmation of appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree (tat) in the monitoring device 20 which will be described later. the engine information that is used in calculation of the reference throttle opening degree (tar) is similar to the engine information that is used in the first arithmetic unit 12. however, in the second arithmetic unit 14, the atmospheric pressure (pa) that is measured by the atmospheric pressure sensor 6 is used as the engine information, in place of the supercharging pressure (pic) that is measured by the supercharging pressure sensor 4. in more detail, the second arithmetic unit 14 is configured by a basic arithmetic unit 16 and a corrector 18. the basic arithmetic unit 16 is an element that calculates a basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree (tar), and the corrector 18 is an element that corrects the basic value (tar0) which is calculated by the basic arithmetic unit 16. the second arithmetic unit 14 outputs the basic value (tar0) corrected by the corrector 18 as the reference throttle opening degree (tar). note that the basic arithmetic unit 16 calculates the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree by using two relational expressions that are simultaneously established in a steady state. the corrector 18 uses an inverse first-order lag model in correction of the basic value (tar0). details of the calculation method of the reference throttle opening degree (tar) by the second arithmetic unit 14 will be described later. the monitoring device 20 confirms appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree (tat) calculated in the first arithmetic unit 12 with the reference throttle opening degree (tar) calculated in the second arithmetic unit 14 as a reference. more specifically, the monitoring device 20 sets a value that is smaller than the reference throttle opening degree (tar) by a predetermined value as a lower limit value of an appropriate range, and sets a value that is larger than the reference throttle opening degree (tar) by a predetermined value as an upper limit value of the appropriate range. if the target throttle opening degree (tat) is included in the appropriate range that is fixed by the lower limit value and the upper limit value, the monitoring device 20 determines that the value of the target throttle opening degree (tat) is appropriate. conversely, if the target throttle opening degree (tat) is out of the appropriate range, the monitoring device 20 determines that the target throttle opening degree (tat) is not appropriate, and switches a value of a predetermined flag (flg) to one from zero (namely, sets the flag to be on). when the flag is set to be on, the ecu records a code corresponding to the flag in the memory. the recorded code can be read by a diagnosis device at a time of inspection of a vehicle. next, details of the inverse air model that is used in the first arithmetic unit 12 will be described by using figure 2 . the inverse air model is an inverse model of an air model that expresses a dynamic relation that is established between the throttle opening degree and the intake air quantity. since the controller 10 according to the present embodiment sets the internal combustion engine with a supercharger as a control target, the supercharging pressure (pic) is used as one input value of the inverse air model, in addition to the target intake air quantity (klt). as shown in figure 2 , the inverse air model according to the present embodiment is configured by combining a plurality of element models m1, m2, m3, m4, m5 and m6. in more detail, the inverse air model is configured by the inverse intake valve model m1, the inverse intake pipe model m2, the inverse throttle model m3, the throttle model m4, the intake pipe model m5 and the intake valve model m6. hereinafter, contents of the respective element models will be described. the inverse intake valve model m1 is a model based on a result of an experiment investigating a relation of the intake air quantity and an intake pipe pressure. in the inverse intake valve model m1, the relation of the intake air quantity and the intake pipe pressure is approximated by expression 1 as follows. in expression 1, a and b are coefficients that are fixed in response to the engine speed (ne), the intake valve timing (in-vvt), the exhaust valve timing (ex-vvt) and the waste gate valve opening (wgv) respectively. the ecu stores a map that relates the engine information thereof and values of the respective coefficients a and b. by inputting the target intake air quantity (klt) into the inverse intake valve model m1, a target intake pipe pressure (pmt) for achieving the target intake air quantity (klt) is calculated. [expression 1] the inversed intake pipe model m2 is a physical model that is constructed based on a law of conservation relating to air in an intake pipe, more specifically, an energy conservation law and a flow rate conservation law. in the inverse intake pipe model m2, a pressure deviation (δpm) that is calculated by expression 2 as follows, and an estimated intake valve flow rate (mce) that is calculate in the intake valve model m6 which will be described later are inputted. in expression 2, pme represents an estimated intake pipe pressure that is calculated in the intake pipe model m5 which will be described later. the inverse intake pipe model m2 calculates a target throttle flow rate (mtt) for achieving the target intake pipe pressure (pmt) by expression 3 as follows based on the input information. note that in expression 3, tic represents a throttle upstream temperature, vm represents an intake pipe capacity, δt represents a calculation time interval, κ represents a specific heat ratio, r represents a gas constant, and tm represents an intake pipe temperature. [expression 2] [expression 3] the inverse throttle model m3 is a physical model expressing a relation of a throttle flow rate and a throttle opening degree. in the case of an internal combustion engine with a supercharger, if the supercharging pressure changes even with the same throttle opening degree, the throttle flow rate also changes. accordingly, in the inverse throttle model m3, the supercharging pressure (pic) that is measured by the supercharging pressure sensor 4 is used as one parameter. the inverse throttle model m3 is more specifically expressed by expression 4 as follows that is an expression of throttle. a function b -1 and a function φ in expression 4 are known to the public, and therefore, explanation thereof will be omitted here. by inputting the target throttle flow rate (mtt) and the supercharging pressure (pic) into the inverse throttle model m3, the target throttle opening degree (tat) for achieving the target throttle flow rate (mtt) is calculated. [expression 4] the throttle model m4, the intake pipe model m5 and the intake valve model m6 are provided to calculate the estimated intake air quantity (pme) and the estimated intake valve flow rate (mce) which are used in the aforementioned calculation process. the throttle model m4 is a forward model corresponding to the aforementioned inverse throttle model m3. in calculation using the throttle model m4, the supercharging pressure (pic) measured by the supercharging pressure sensor 4 is inputted for a parameter of the throttle model m4 similarly to the case of the inverse throttle model m3. by inputting the target throttle opening degree (tat) into the throttle model m4, a present estimated throttle flow rate (mte) is calculated. further, the intake pipe model m5 is a forward model corresponding to the aforementioned inverse intake pipe model m2, and calculates the estimated intake pipe pressure (pme) by input of the estimated throttle flow rate (mte). the intake valve model m6 is a forward model corresponding to the aforementioned inverse intake valve model m1, and calculates an estimated intake valve flow rate (mce) by input of the estimated intake pipe pressure (pme). note that the intake valve flow rate is proportional to the intake air quantity. as described above, the estimated intake pipe pressure (pme) is used in calculation of the pressure deviation (δpm), and the estimated intake valve flow rate (mce) is inputted into the inverse intake pipe model m2 together with the pressure deviation (δpm). next, the calculation method of the reference throttle opening degree (tar) by the second arithmetic unit 14 will be described. first, a calculation method of the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree by the basic arithmetic unit 16 will be described. the basic arithmetic unit 16 calculates the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree by using two relational expressions. a first relational expression is a relational expression that is established between the intake air quantity and the intake pipe pressure in a steady state, and the same expression as expression 1 that is used in the inverse intake valve model m1 is used. a second relational expression is a relational expression that is established between the throttle upstream pressure, the intake pipe pressure and the throttle flow rate in a steady state, and the expression of throttle is used similarly to the inverse throttle model m3. while in expression 4 that is used in the inverse throttle model m3, the supercharging pressure (pic) is substituted as the throttle upstream pressure, in the second relational expression used by the basic arithmetic unit 16, the atmospheric pressure (pa) which is measured by the atmospheric pressure sensor 6 is substituted as the throttle upstream pressure. the basic arithmetic unit 16 calculates the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree by solving simultaneous equations constituted of the first relational expression and the second relational expression. the axis of abscissa of a graph shown in figure 3 represents the intake pipe pressure (pm), and the axis of ordinates represents the intake air quantity (kl). in the graph, a straight line a and a curve b are drawn. the straight line a expresses the first relational expression, whereas the curve b expresses the second relational expression. a gradient and an intercept of the straight line a correspond to the coefficients a and b in expression 1, and the gradient and the intercept are fixed by the engine speed (ne), the intake valve timing (in-vvt), the exhaust valve timing (ex-vvt) and the waste gate valve opening degree (wgv). by substituting the target intake air quantity (klt) in the first relational expression which expresses the straight line a, whereby the reference intake pipe pressure (pmr) corresponding to the target intake air quantity (klt) is calculated. subsequently, the target intake air quantity (klt) and the reference intake pipe pressure (pmr) are substituted into the second relational expression, which expresses the curve b, together with the atmospheric pressure (pa), whereby the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree is calculated. note that depending on the value of the target intake air quantity (klt), the reference intake pipe pressure (pmr) which is calculated from the first relational expression sometimes exceed the atmospheric pressure (pa). in such a case, an effective throttle opening degree cannot be obtained from the second relational expression. therefore, when the reference intake pipe pressure (pmr) exceeds the atmospheric pressure (pa), the basic arithmetic unit 16 calculates a full open value as the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree. the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree which is calculated in this manner is corrected by using the inverse first-order lag model, that is, a first-order advance model by the corrector 18. correction by the inverse first-order lag model is processing for also realizing overshooting movement or undershooting movement of the target throttle opening degree (tat) at a time of abrupt change of the target intake air quantity (klt), with the reference throttle opening degree (tar). for example, as shown in figure 1 , when the target intake air quantity (klt) increases in a step response manner, the target throttle opening degree (tat) which is calculated in the first arithmetic unit 12 temporarily increases in an overshooting manner, and thereafter, becomes an opening degree corresponding to the target intake air quantity (klt) after the increase. this is to increase the intake air quantity having a response delay with respect to the movement of the throttle 2 as early as possible. meanwhile, the basic value (tar0) of the reference throttle opening degree which is calculated in the basic arithmetic unit 16 increases in a step response manner similarly to the target intake air quantity (klt). however, by processing the basic value (tar0) by the inverse first-order lag model, the reference throttle opening degree (tar) that changes in an overshooting manner can be obtained similarly to the target throttle opening degree (tat). note that in the inverse first-order lag model, a time constant is present, and the time constant is adapted so that a waveform of the reference throttle opening degree (tar) closely resembles a waveform of the target throttle opening degree (tat). explanation of the configuration of the controller 10 according to the present embodiment is as above. as is understandable from the explanation, the controller 10 according to the present embodiment uses the atmospheric pressure (pa) instead of the supercharging pressure (pic) as the throttle upstream pressure, in calculation of the reference throttle opening degree (tar) which is used to confirm appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree (tat). as long as the supercharging pressure sensor 4 is normal, the atmospheric pressure (pa) is lower than the supercharging pressure (pm), and therefore, the reference throttle opening degree (tar) that is calculated based on the atmospheric pressure (pa) is set at a value larger than the target throttle opening degree (tat) that is calculated based on the supercharging pressure (pic). therefore, the reference throttle opening degree (tar) is taken as the reference for determination, whereby whether the target throttle opening degree (tat) is too large, namely, the propriety thereof can be correctly determined. further, there is an advantage of being able to calculate the reference throttle opening degree (tar) correctly even when a problem occurs to the supercharging pressure sensor 4 in using the atmospheric pressure (pa) in calculation of the reference throttle opening degree (tar). as a result that the reference throttle opening degree (tar) is calculated correctly, making erroneous determination concerning appropriateness of the target throttle opening degree (tat) can be avoided. furthermore, the controller 10 according to the present embodiment uses the two relational expressions that are simultaneously established in a steady state, instead of a dynamic model like an inverse air model, in the calculation of the reference throttle opening degree (tar). this has an advantage of being capable of reducing an arithmetic load of the ecu as compared with the case of using a dynamic model. note that the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment, and can be carried out by being variously modified within a range without departing from the present invention as defined by the appended claims. for example, the atmospheric pressure is not measured by the atmospheric pressure sensor, but may be estimated from other kinds of information. the same applies to the supercharging pressure, and the supercharging pressure is not measured by the supercharging pressure sensor, but the supercharging pressure may be estimated from other kinds of information. in estimation thereof, a physical model can be used. reference signs list 2 electronically controlled throttle 4 supercharging pressure sensor 6 atmospheric pressure sensor 10 controller 12 first arithmetic unit 14 second arithmetic unit 16 basic arithmetic unit 18 corrector 20 monitoring device m1 inverse intake valve model m2 inverse intake pipe model m3 inverse throttle model m4 throttle model m5 intake pipe model m6 intake valve model
|
121-915-256-223-48X
|
EP
|
[
"US",
"BR",
"WO",
"DK",
"AU",
"JP",
"EP",
"MX",
"CA",
"ZA",
"CN",
"KR",
"ES",
"PL",
"RU",
"HK"
] |
A61C17/34,A61C17/32,A61C17/22,A46B5/00,A46B9/04,A46B13/02,A61C/
| 2011-07-25T00:00:00 |
2011
|
[
"A61",
"A46"
] |
oral cleaning tool for an oral hygiene device
|
an oral cleaning tool for an electric oral hygiene device is disclosed. the oral cleaning tool includes a housing having a head section with a head cavity for accommodating a movable oral cleaning head and a neck section with a neck cavity and a handle coupling section; a first magnetic coupling element including at least a permanent magnet or a magnetizable element being provided in the neck section for mechanical handle drive shaft connection by magnetic interaction. the first magnetic coupling element is mounted at a motion transmitter, the motion transmitter extending inside the neck cavity to the head cavity, the motion transmitter arranged so as to be movable in a linear or longitudinal direction. the motion transmitter is coupled with the oral cleaning head, the oral cleaning head arranged so as to oscillate in a rotational direction.
|
1 . an oral cleaning tool for an electric oral hygiene device, comprising: a housing having a head section with a head cavity for accommodating a movable oral cleaning head and a neck section with a neck cavity and a handle coupling section; a first magnetic coupling element including at least a permanent magnet or a magnetizable element being provided in the neck section for mechanical handle drive shaft connection by magnetic interaction; wherein the first magnetic coupling element is mounted at a motion transmitter, the motion transmitter extending inside the neck cavity to the head cavity, the motion transmitter arranged so as to be movable in a linear or longitudinal direction, and wherein the motion transmitter is coupled with the oral cleaning head, such that during operation, the linear reciprocation is transmitted to the oral cleaning head. 2 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic coupling element, the motion transmitter and the oral cleaning head are arranged and coupled so as to be drivable with an operation frequency of from about 140 to about 180 hz. 3 . the oral cleaning tool according to any claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic coupling element is a two component part including a metal and/or a ferrous composition that is mounted or in-molded in a plastic element. 4 . the oral cleaning tool according to any claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic coupling element has a protective cover that covers at least a coupling side of the first magnetic coupling element that is arranged for establishing a magnetic connection. 5 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 4 , wherein the protective cover is a cup that is mounted by gluing, press-fitting, crimping, shrink-fitting, welding, or snapping or any combination thereof. 6 . the oral cleaning tool according to any claim 4 , wherein the protective cover has a thickness of less than about 0 . 2 mm at the coupling side of the first magnetic coupling element. 7 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic coupling element is provided with a uncovered or blank surface of a coupling side of the first magnetic coupling element that is arranged for establishing a magnetic connection. 8 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 1 , wherein the motion transmitter is a rod element. 9 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 8 , wherein the rod element is pivotably mounted with either the movable oral cleaning head or with the first magnetic coupling element. 10 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 8 , wherein the first magnetic coupling element and/or the motion transmitter or rod element are provided contact free and spaced in the neck cavity relative to an inner housing wall of the neck, so that the first magnetic coupling element is able to laterally align with its coupling partner of a handle. 11 . the oral cleaning tool according to claim 1 , further comprising a centering structure with either a tapered protruding side wall or a tapered recessed side wall for mechanical connection of the housing independent from the mechanical connection provided by the first magnetic coupling element.
|
field of the invention the present disclosure is directed to an attachment section for an oral hygiene device, a handle section for an oral hygiene device and an oral hygiene device. background of the invention it is known that electric oral hygiene devices, in particular electric toothbrushes, may have detachably mounted replacement attachments such as a replacement brush head of an electric toothbrush. it is further known that the coupling between the attachment and an handle of the oral hygiene device may be by mechanical means such as a snap hook provided at the attachment that snaps into a groove provided at the handle. mechanical couplings often have a certain clearing or gap between the coupling partners due to tolerances between the coupling partners. such clearings or gaps have the tendency to generate unwanted rattling noise during operation of the device. it is therefore a desire to provide an improved coupling between an attachment section of an oral cleaning tool and a handle section of an oral hygiene device and in particular an attachment section of an oral cleaning tool and a handle section that enable such improved coupling. summary of the invention in one embodiment, an oral cleaning tool for an electric oral hygiene device is provided. the oral cleaning tool includes a housing having a head section with a head cavity for accommodating a movable oral cleaning head and a neck section with a neck cavity and a handle coupling section; a first magnetic coupling element including at least a permanent magnet or a magnetizable element being provided in the neck section for mechanical handle drive shaft connection by magnetic interaction. the first magnetic coupling element is mounted at a motion transmitter, the motion transmitter extending inside the neck cavity to the head cavity, the motion transmitter arranged so as to be movable in a linear or longitudinal direction. the motion transmitter is coupled with the oral cleaning head, the oral cleaning head arranged so as to oscillate in a rotational direction. in another embodiment, a handle section of an electric oral hygiene device is provided. the handle section includes a linear drive including a drive shaft for oscillation along a longitudinal axis or in a longitudinal direction of the handle at which a second magnetic coupling element is arranged, having at least a permanent magnet which protrudes from the handle and that is embedded with respect to at least three sides thereof in a hard and/or soft plastic handle body and a further mechanical oral cleaning tool coupling section that is arranged to provide independent coupling with the oral cleaning tool. these and other features, aspects and advantages of specific embodiments will become evident to those skilled in the art from a reading of the present disclosure. brief description of the drawings the embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative in nature and not intended to limit the invention defined by the claims the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which: fig. 1 is a perspective view onto an oral hygiene device in the form of an electric toothbrush; fig. 2 is a sideways longitudinal cross-sectional cut through an example attachment section; fig. 3 is a transverse longitudinal cross-sectional cut through the attachment section shown in fig. 2 ; fig. 4 is a longitudinal cross sectional cut through an example handle section; fig. 5 is a longitudinal cut through a top portion of an example oral hygiene device; figs. 6a-6d show four example configurations of first and second magnetic coupling elements; fig. 7 show simulation results for the force between the coupling partners of the four configurations shown in fig. 6a-6d ; fig. 8 is a cross sectional cut through a top portion of a drive shaft of an example handle section; fig. 9 is a cross sectional cut through a top portion of a drive shaft of an example handle section; fig. 10 is a cross sectional cut through a top portion of a drive shaft of a further example handle section; fig. 11 is a cross sectional cut through a lower portion of a motion transmitter of an example attachment section; fig. 12a is a side view depiction of an example embodiment of an attachment section as proposed with the attachment housing being transparent; fig. 12b is a depiction of the embodiment of an attachment section as shown in fig. 12a , but seen from the backside (the front side being the side where the functional element is mounted); and fig. 12c is a longitudinal cut through the attachment section shown in figs. 12a and 12b seen from the backside of the attachment section. detailed description of the invention the following text sets forth a broad description of numerous different embodiments of the present disclosure. the description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. it will be understood that any feature, characteristic, component, composition, ingredient, product, step or methodology described herein can be deleted, combined with or substituted for, in whole or part, any other feature, characteristic, component, composition, ingredient, product, step or methodology described herein. numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims. all publications and patents cited herein are incorporated herein by reference. one aspect of the present disclosure is concerned with a connection, in particular a detachable connection, between an attachment section and a handle section of an (in particular electric) oral hygiene device where at least one connection (in particular a connection established between movably mounted parts that are driven during operation and are intended for transferring motion from a motor in the handle section to a functional element in the attachment section) between the attachment section and the handle section is realized as a magnetic coupling. mechanical couplings in general have inherently tolerance-based clearances or gaps between the coupling partners so that the coupling partners may move relatively to each other when the respective connection is established between parts being driven during operation. such a mechanical connection is then prone to generate unwanted noise during operation. a magnetic coupling can inherently be designed with less clearance so that a magnetic coupling is likely to produce less noise. in some embodiments, an attachment section as proposed comprises a first magnetic coupling element that has at least a permanent magnet or a magnetizable element. the first magnetic coupling is arranged for establishing a magnetic connection with a second magnetic coupling element provided in a handle section in an attached state. in some embodiments, an attachment section may additionally comprise an attachment housing, a functional element mounted for driven motion at the attachment housing and a motion transmitter. the motion transmitter may on one end be coupled to the functional element to transfer motion to the functional element and on another end may be equipped with the first magnetic coupling element. the motion transmitter may in particular extend in a cavity formed inside of the attachment housing. in some embodiments, the functional element may be a working element such as a brush head for cleaning teeth. in some embodiments, the attachment housing may have a first coupling structure intended for establishing a further connection with a second coupling structure provided at the handle section. on one hand, a magnetizable element (e.g. a magnetizable steel or iron element) can be realized relatively cheap, and an attachment section intended for disposal after some period of use may then be realized relative cheap. this is in particular interesting in cases where the costs of a permanent magnet would be in the same order as the costs of the whole attachment section. on the other hand, a permanent magnet in the attachment section together with a permanent magnet in the handle section can provide for a higher coupling strength then a permanent magnet and magnetizable element combination at the same construction volume. in some embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element comprises a protective cover that protects the first magnetic coupling element from corrosion or abrasion. in such embodiments, the protective cover may be abrasion resistant to the extent that during a typical lifetime of the attachment section the protective cover stays intact. as an oral hygiene device is used in a wet environment and typically with abrasive and/or corrosive chemicals such as mouth rinses or toothpaste, a thin coating such as e.g. a 10 micrometer thick gold coating may be abraded within a rather short period. a protective cover made of an about 20 μm thick or more, optionally about 30 μm or more, further optionally 40 μm or more, even further optionally about 50 μm or more metal layer, ceramic layer, glass layer or abrasion-resistant plastic or resin layer can be used. in some embodiments, the protective cover may have a thickness of 60 μm or more, 70 μm or more, 80 μm or more, 90 μm or more, 100 μm or more, 150 μm or more or 200 μm or more, and/or any thickness within or including the values provided above or any ranges including or within the values provided above. in some embodiments, the protective cover is realized as an essentially cup-shaped element that may be mounted by gluing, press-fitting, crimping, shrink-fitting, stamping, welding, snapping or any combination thereof. the protective cover is, in some particular embodiment, realized as a plate or disk that may be glued to the magnetic coupling element. in some embodiments, a protective cover is used that is manufactured in a deep-drawing, punch-drawing or thermoforming process. in general, the protective cover may be designed to be abrasion resistant for a temporary period which corresponds to a typical period of use of the attachment section. the typical period of use may be about three months with three a switch-on periods of two to four minutes per day, hence the operation use period may be around 540 minutes to around 1.080 minutes. however, the protective cover may be designed to be abrasion resistant for longer or for shorter periods of time. in particular, in some embodiments, a protective cover may be used that is abrasion resistant for much longer than 1.080 minutes, e.g. 2.000 minutes, 4.000 minutes, 10.000 minutes or even longer. in some embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element is at least partly accommodated in a recess or cavity provided in the motion transmitter. in some embodiments, the motion transmitter may comprise a holder element in which the first magnetic coupling element is at least partly accommodated. in some embodiments, the motion transmitter may comprise a rod element, in particular a rod element made from metal such as stainless steel. such a metal rod is likely to provide a stability not provided by a motion transmitter that is completely made of a plastic material. the rod element may in some embodiments be pivot mounted at the functional element, in particular at a mounting location that is offset from an axis around which the functional element will be driven during operation. alternatively or additionally, the rod element may be pivot mounted at a holder element, e.g. a holder element as mentioned above that has a recess that at least partly accommodated the first magnetic coupling element. the pivot mounting of the rod element is likely to support relative movement between the rod element and the functional element or the holder element, respectively. in some embodiments, the attachment section, the protective cover, the first magnetic coupling element and/or the motion transmitter has a centering structure that is intended for at least supporting the centering of the first magnetic coupling element with the second magnetic coupling element during an attachment process. in some embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element may have at least one indentation or a groove that is filled with plastic material, in particular with injection molded plastic material. e.g. the holder element mentioned above may be made in a plastic injection molding step with the first magnetic coupling element being an insert element. then, a manufacturing step of e.g. snapping the first magnetic coupling element into a holder element can be discarded with and further, the injection molding step may lead to lower clearances or gaps between the first magnetic coupling element and the holder element then in case of a later mounting of these two parts. in an embodiment, the attachment section is arranged such that the motion transmitter is mounted free of any return force elements that would influence the behavior of a resonant drive provided in the handle section with a further spring. as springs typically have tolerances, a spring in the attachment section that is intended for coupling with a drive shaft of a resonant drive in a handle section could contribute to the spring-mass system that determines the resonance frequency of the resonant drive. additionally, a spring in the attachment section may also produce additional noise in operation due to the tolerance needed for mounting of the spring. in some embodiments, a handle section for connection, optionally detachable connection with an attachment section as proposed above comprises a second magnetic coupling element arranged at a drive shaft, which second magnetic coupling element is arranged for establishing a magnetic connection with a first magnetic coupling element provided at the attachment section and a second coupling structure for establishing a connection, in particular a mechanical connection (e.g. a force-fit or form-fit connection) with a first coupling structure provided at the attachment section, in particular at the attachment housing. the second magnetic coupling element may comprise at least a permanent magnet or a magnetizable element. in at least some embodiments, a handle section as proposed comprises a linear drive (i.e. a resonant drive providing a linear reciprocal movement or a dc motor having a gear for converting a rotational motion into a oscillatory linear motion) for driving the drive shaft into a linear oscillation in a longitudinal direction (generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft or coinciding with a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft). in some embodiments, the linear drive may provide via the drive shaft a linear oscillatory motion amplitude in a range of between about ±0.1 mm to about ±2.0 mm, in particular in arrange of between about ±0.5 mm to about ±1.5 mm, optionally in a range of between about ±0.75 mm to about ±1.25 mm, further optionally in a range of between about ±0.9 mm to about ±1.1 mm and even further optionally a linear oscillatory motion amplitude of about ±1.0 mm. in some embodiments, the attachment section comprises a gear assembly that converts the linear motion provided by the drive shaft and transferred to the motion transmitter into a oscillatory rotation having a maximum angular deflection in a range of between ±5 degrees to ±40 degrees, in particular in a range of between about ±10 degrees to ±30 degrees, optionally in a range of between about ±15 degrees to about ±25 degrees, and further optionally of about ±20 degrees (where the angular deflection is measured in an unloaded state of the functional element). the longitudinal axis as referred to in all embodiments generally extends along a longitudinal or lengthwise dimension of the drive shaft or is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft or coincides with a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft. the drive shaft means the drive shaft of the motor or extensions of that. in an embodiment, the second magnetic coupling element may have a protective cover that protects the second magnetic coupling element from corrosion. the protective cover may be abrasion resistant to the extent that during a typical lifetime of the handle section the protective cover stays intact. as an oral hygiene device is used in a wet environment and typically with abrasive and/or corrosive chemicals such as mouth rinses or toothpaste, a thin coating such as e.g. a 10 micrometer thick tin coating may be abraded within a rather short period. a protective cover made of an about 20 μm thick or more, optionally about 30 μm or more, further optionally 40 μm or more, even further optionally about 50 μm or more metal layer, ceramic layer, glass layer or abrasion-resistant plastic or resin layer may be better suitable. in some embodiments, the protective cover may have a thickness of 60 μm or more, 70 μm or more, 80 μm or more, 90 μm or more, 100 μm or more, 150 μm or more or 200 μm or more and/or any and/or any thickness within or including the values provided above or any ranges including or within the values provided above. the protective cover may be realized as an essentially cup-shaped element that may be mounted by gluing, press-fitting, crimping, shrink-fitting, stamping, welding, snapping or any combination thereof. the protective cover is, in a particular embodiment, realized as a plate or disk that may be glued to the magnetic coupling element. the protective cover for the second magnetic coupling may be configured similarly to the protective cover described heretofore with regard to the first magnetic coupling. in an embodiment, the second magnetic coupling element is at least partly accommodated in a recess provided in the drive shaft. in an embodiment, the handle section, the protective cover, the second magnetic coupling element and/or the drive shaft may have a centering structure that is intended for at least supporting the centering of the first magnetic coupling element with the second magnetic coupling element during an attachment process. in some embodiments, an oral hygiene device may comprise at least an attachment section as proposed and that may further comprise a handle section having a second magnetic coupling element and a second coupling structure for establishing a connection with the first coupling structure provided at the attachment section. in some embodiments, an oral hygiene device may comprise at least an attachment section as proposed and further a handle section in accordance with a handle section as proposed in a previous paragraph above. in some embodiments, the handle section comprises a drive having a drive shaft that is arranged to provide a linear oscillating motion during operation and the contact faces of the magnetic coupling elements are arranged essentially perpendicular to the linear movement direction. in some embodiments, as will be explained in more detail further below, the magnetic coupling between the first and the second magnetic coupling elements is designed to at least partially decouple in case of a pull-off force imposed on the magnetic connection that is beyond a threshold force. such an at least partial decoupling of the magnetic coupling partners is then likely to interrupt the motion transfer and to generate noise, which can be noticed by a user, who is then informed about a too high load. as an example, in case of the oral hygiene implement being an electric toothbrush and the attachment being a replaceable brush head having as a functional element a bristle carrier mounted for oscillatory rotation, a magnetic coupling between a motor in a handle section of the oral hygiene device and a motion transmitter in the attachment section should be in a coupled state for typical pull-off forces that occur during operation (i.e. brushing of teeth in an example case). typical pull-off forces that occur during brushing between the first and second magnetic coupling elements may in particular be generated due to friction between treatment elements (e.g. bristles) mounted on the carrier and hard or soft tissue in the oral cavity (e.g. the teeth or the gums). this friction increases with the pressure force with which the functional element (e.g. brush head) is applied onto the hard or soft tissue (e.g. the teeth). typical applied pressure force values may lay in a range of between about 1.5 newton (n) and about 3.5 n (pressure forces below this range are typically either not used or do not lead to a proper treatment result and pressure values above this range may potentially lead to discomfort and even injuries), in particular in a range of between about 2 n and 3 n. for the above oscillatory rotating brush heads it has been found that the pull-off force that acts at the magnetic coupling may then be above about 5 n and in particular above about 6 n and further particularly in a range of between about 6.5 n to about 8.0 n. higher pull-off forces may then be due to a too high pressure force applied by the user or due to bristles getting stuck in between teeth. in both cases, it may be reasonable that the magnetic coupling is arranged to decouple at a pull-off force above the maximally occurring and allowed pull-off force. firstly, it may support to indicate to the user that a too high pressure force is applied as the decoupling may be noticeable to the user. secondly, such decoupling is likely to reduce pain that may occur in case stuck bristles are pulled out of between the teeth when the magnetic coupling would withstand higher pull-off forces. in both cases it is likely that the decoupling leads to an improved protection of hard and soft tissue against abrasion and other kind of damage. thus, a threshold force may be set to 5 n, 5.5 n, 6 n, 6.5 n, 7 n, 7.5 n, 8 n, 8.5 n, 9 n, 9.5 n, or 10 n, where in particular the threshold force may be set to a value of at least about 6.5 n, in another embodiment at least about 7 n, further in another embodiment at least about 7.5 n and in yet another embodiment at least about 8 n. as will be seen further below, the threshold force can in particular be set by designing the magnetic coupling accordingly, for example, by choosing the dimensions of the first and second magnetic coupling elements, choosing the respective materials from which the first and second coupling elements are made, or choosing a gap between the first and second magnetic coupling elements. while it is here proposed to design the magnetic coupling in a manner that the magnetic coupling decouples in case a pull-off force is applied above a threshold force, the above example was experimentally derived for bristle carriers mounted for driven oscillatory rotation at the attachment housing. while it is not excluded that other functional elements may result in the same threshold force, another threshold force value may be found as preferred based on experimental investigation with other functional elements or for another intended oral hygiene application, e.g. tongue cleaning or gum massaging. in some embodiments, the attachment section has a first magnetic coupling element that comprises a magnetizable element, which may in particular be made from stainless steel so that a further protective cover could be discarded with, which magnetizable element fits into a cylinder of at least about 4.5 mm diameter and of at least about 4.5 mm length. in another embodiment, the diameter may be at least about 5.0 mm, in another embodiment, at least about 5.5 mm. in another embodiment, the length may be at least about 5.5 mm, and in another embodiment, at least about 6.5 mm. in some embodiments, the handle section has a second magnetic coupling element that include a permanent magnet, in particular made of ndfeb, which permanent magnet fits into a cylinder of at least about 4.5 mm diameter and of at least about 4.5 mm length. in another embodiment, the diameter may be at least about 5.0 mm, in a further embodiment at least about 5.5 mm. in another embodiment, the length may be at least about 5.0 mm, and in another embodiment at least about 5.5 mm. in some embodiments, the motion transmitter is non-detachably connected with the attachment section, in particular with a functional element mounted for driven movement. in the following, a detailed description of several example embodiments will be given. it is noted that all features described in the present disclosure, whether they are disclosed in the previous description of more general embodiments or in the following description of example embodiments, even though they may be described in the context of a particular embodiment, are of course meant to be disclosed as individual features that can be combined with all other disclosed features as long as this would not contradict the gist and scope of the present disclosure. in particular, all features disclosed for either one of the first or second magnetic coupling elements may also be applied to the other one. fig. 1 is a perspective depiction of an example embodiment of an oral hygiene device 1 , here realized as an electric toothbrush. the oral hygiene device 1 comprises a handle section 200 and an attachment section 100 . here, the attachment section 100 is realized as a detachable brush section. the attachment section 100 has a functional element 130 , here realized as a brush head, which functional element 130 is movably mounted at an attachment housing 150 such that the functional element 130 can be driven into an oscillatory rotation (as shown with double arrow 21 ) around a rotation axis r that may be perpendicular to the longitudinal axis l of the attachment section 100 . instead of being realized as an electric toothbrush, the oral hygiene device may be realized as an (electric) tongue scraper, an (electric) flossing device, an (electric) interdental cleaner etc. the attachment section may then accordingly be realized as a tongue scraper section, a flossing section, an interdental cleaning section etc. the functional element may the accordingly be realized as a tongue scraper head, a flossing head, an interdental cleaning head etc. fig. 2 is a lateral cross sectional cut through the attachment section 100 taken along a longitudinal axis of the attachment section 100 . the attachment section 100 comprises the attachment housing 150 and the functional element 130 , which is movably attached to the attachment housing 150 . the functional element 130 may comprise a carrier element 131 on which a plurality of cleaning elements 133 may be mounted for cleaning and massaging parts of the oral cavity such as teeth and gums. the carrier element 131 may be mounted to the attachment housing 150 via a mounting axle 132 for driven oscillatory rotation around a rotation axis r that may be essentially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (reference numeral l in fig. 1 ) of the attachment section 100 . the attachment section 100 may further comprise a motion transmitter 110 disposed within a cavity 159 formed within the attachment housing 150 . the motion transmitter 110 may be functionally connected with the functional element 130 as will be explained in more detail with reference to fig. 3 . generally and applicable to all embodiments, “functionally connected” shall mean a connection that is not intended to be disconnected and that shall enable that motion transmitted via the motion transmitter is transferred to the functional element. the motion transmitter 110 is arranged for transmission of a linear oscillatory movement to the functional element 130 , which linear oscillatory motion may be generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the attachment section 100 (as indicated by double arrow a). such a linear oscillatory motion may be provided by a drive shaft of a handle section when the attachment section 100 is in an attached state, as will be explained in more detail with reference to fig. 5 . the motion transmitter 110 may comprise a recess 112 realized as a blind hole provided at a first end 110 a that is proximal to the opening of the cavity 159 , which opening at the end of the attachment section 100 (i.e. the first end 110 a of the motion transmitter 110 is distal to the functional element 130 ). a first magnetic coupling element 120 is disposed in the recess 112 . generally and, as mentioned above for all the described features, applicable for all embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element 120 may be realized as a permanent magnet or a magnetizable element such as a block of magnetizable iron or steel. typically, austenitic steel is not magnetizable, while martensitic or ferritic steel typically is magnetizable. the first magnetic coupling element 120 has a coupling side 121 that is oriented towards the opening provided at the distal end of the attachment section 100 . generally and applicable to all embodiments, the coupling side 121 may be retracted from the opening at the end of the attachment housing intended for coupling with a handle section so that the magnetic connection is established at a longitudinal position inside of the attachment housing, in particulat where this longitudinal location is retracted by a value lying in the range of between about 0.5 cm to about 5.0 cm, e.g. 1.0 cm, 1.5 cm, 2.0 cm, 2.5 cm, 3.0 cm, 3.5 cm, 4.0 cm, 4.5 cm or any other value lying in the mentioned range from the end of the attachment housing and the length of the attachment housing may be in the range of between about 3.0 cm to about 10.0 cm. the first magnetic coupling element 120 may be secured to the motion transmitter 110 in any suitable manner. for example, the first magnetic coupling element 120 may be glued to the motion transmitter 110 , it may be snapped into a recess, it may be secured by injection molding at least a part of the motion transmitter over it or it may be secured by other means as will be explained further below. in some example embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element is realized as a magnetizable iron or steel element. in case the first magnetic coupling element is realized by a corrosive material such as iron or a ndfeb material (from which relatively strong permanent magnets can be made), at least the coupling side of the first magnetic coupling element may have a protective cover to protect the first magnetic coupling element from corrosion. the protective cover may be realized as a coating, a top cover, a cap or a cup, as will be explained in more detail further below. generally and applicable to all embodiments, any protective cover applied to a first or second magnetic coupling element may lead to a distance between the first and second magnetic coupling elements in the attached state and thus to a reduction in the effective coupling force between the first and second magnetic coupling elements, so that a cover thickness of about or less than 0.5 mm, optionally about or less than 0.4 mm, further optionally of about or less than 0.3 mm, even further optionally of about or less than 0.2 mm, and yet even further optionally of about or less than 0.1 mm per cover could be chosen. in other embodiments, the protective cover may comprise a thickness as described previously. in the shown embodiment, the first magnetic coupling element 120 is glued into the recess. it may have an anti-corrosive coating applied to the coupling side 121 or a protective cover that may be glued over the coupling side 121 . in the shown embodiment, it would be sufficient to secure a disc-shaped protective cover onto the coupling side 121 of the first magnetic coupling element 120 as the other sides of the first magnetic coupling element 120 are protected by the surrounding material of the motion transmitter 110 . generally and applicable to all embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element 120 may be realized as a cylindrical element having its cylinder axis essentially oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the attachment section 100 , where the diameter of the cylinder may be chosen to be about or larger than about 2 mm, in another embodiment about or larger about 3 mm, further in another embodiment about or larger than about 4 mm, even further in another embodiment about or larger than about 5 mm, and yet even further in another embodiment about or larger than about 6 mm, and/or any number or range including or within the values provided. the cylinder element may have any suitable height. in example embodiments, the height may be chosen to be about or larger than about 2 mm, in another embodiment about or larger than about 3 mm, in another embodiment about or larger than about 4 mm, in another embodiment about or larger than about 5 mm, and yet in another embodiment about or larger than about 6 mm, and/or any number or range including or within the values provided. in some example embodiments, the height of the first magnetic coupling element may be chosen as large as the diameter. in other embodiments, the second magnetic coupling element may be designed to have any suitable shape. in such a case, the smallest possible cylinder into which such a first magnetic coupling element fits may have a diameter and a height as stated above. in some example embodiments, the first magnetic coupling 120 is realized as a permanent magnet. in a case in which the attachment section 100 is a disposable attachment section intended for detachable attachment to a handle section 200 of an oral hygiene device, material costs may be considered as one important aspect. realizing the first magnetic coupling element 120 and the second magnetic coupling element as permanent magnets may lead to a relatively high coupling force, while realizing the first magnetic coupling element 120 as a magnetizable element such as an iron or steel element reduces the material costs of the attachment section 100 . the attachment section 100 as shown in fig. 2 may further comprise an insert element 151 that is snapped into the attachment housing 150 thereby forming part of the attachment housing 150 . the insert element 151 may be equipped with a first coupling structure 152 intended for establishing a further coupling (i.e. a coupling different to the magnetic coupling that will be established by the first magnetic coupling element 120 ) with a handle section of an oral hygiene device in an attached state. in the shown example embodiment, the first coupling structure 152 is realized by mechanical coupling means such as snap hooks or spring elements for clamping projections provided at the handle section. in other example embodiments, the first coupling structure 152 may be realized by a further magnetic coupling element. the longitudinal positions where the magnetic connection is established and where the further connection (e.g. mechanical connection) is established may be separated, in particular by a distance lying in a range of between about 0.5 cm to about 3.0 cm. fig. 3 is a transverse longitudinal cross-sectional cut through the example attachment section shown in fig. 2 , where the viewing direction is towards the cleaning elements. as can be seen from fig. 3 , the motion transmitter 110 is coupled to the functional element by a coupling pin 111 provided at a second end 110 b of the motion transmitter 110 . the coupling pin 111 establishes a coupling with a coupling section 134 provided at the carrier element 131 at a position that is eccentric with respect to the rotation axis defined by the mounting axle 132 . when the motion transmitter 110 is driven into a linear oscillatory movement as indicated by double arrow a, then the carrier element 131 will be driven into an oscillatory rotation around the rotation axis. as will also be explained further below, in some embodiments, the motion transmitter 110 is not associated with any return force element such as a biasing spring that would bias the motion transmitter into a defined rest position whenever the motion transmitter is not being driven. fig. 4 shows a longitudinal cut through a schematic handle section 200 . in the shown example embodiment, the handle section 200 comprises a drive shaft 210 that functions as a movable motor part of a resonant linear drive 260 , which linear drive 260 is disposed within the handle housing 250 . during operation, the linear drive 260 provides for a linear oscillatory movement of the drive shaft 210 as is indicated by double arrow b. in the shown example embodiment, the drive shaft 210 may be prolonged by an extender element 219 that thus forms a part of the drive shaft 210 . the extender element 219 can provide an increase in diameter with respect to the diameter of the drive shaft 210 . a recess 211 may be provided in the extender element 219 for accommodating a second magnetic coupling element 220 . instead of being accommodated in the extender element 219 , the second magnetic coupling element 220 may of course be directly secured at the drive shaft 210 or the drive shaft may be made at least at its tip portion from a permanent magnetic material, which tip would then form the second magnetic coupling element 220 . the second magnetic coupling element 220 has a coupling side 221 intended for getting into contact with the respective coupling side 121 (shown in fig. 2 ) of the first magnetic coupling element 120 (shown in fig. 2 ) of the attachment section when being attached. the coupling side of the first magnetic coupling element and the coupling side of the second magnetic coupling element may be flat or may at least partly be negatives of each other. generally and applicable to all embodiments, the second magnetic coupling element 220 may be realized as a cylindrical element having its cylinder axis essentially oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft, where the diameter of the cylinder may be chosen to be about or larger than 2 mm, optionally about or larger than 3 mm, further optionally about or larger than 4 mm, even further optionally about or larger than 5 mm, and yet even further optionally about or larger than 6 mm or any individual number within or any ranges including or within the values provided. any suitable height of the cylinder element may be chosen. for example, the height may be chosen to be about or larger than 2 mm, optionally about or larger than 3 mm, further optionally about or larger than 4 mm, even further optionally about or larger than 5 mm, and yet even further optionally about or larger than 6 mm. in some example embodiments, the height may be chosen as large as the diameter. in other embodiments, the second magnetic coupling element may be designed to have any suitable shape. in such a case, the smallest possible cylinder into which such a second magnetic coupling element fits may have a diameter and a height as stated above. generally, the handle section comprises a handle housing at which a second coupling structure intended for establishing a connection with the first coupling structure provided at the attachment section is realized. in the shown example embodiment, the handle section 200 has a handle housing 250 comprising a top handle housing section 250 a intended for coupling with the attachment section and a lower handle housing section 250 b intended to be gripped by a user's hand. here, the top handle housing 250 a section comprises a top part 251 at which a second coupling structure 252 may be realized. the second coupling structure 252 can form a further connection, with the first coupling structure 152 (shown in fig. 2 ) of the attachment section. in some embodiments, the second coupling structure 252 and the first coupling structure may establish a coupling which is different than the connection established by the first magnetic coupling and the second magnetic coupling or the coupling may be similar. for example, the coupling established by the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure may comprise a mechanical lock, magnetic lock, the like, or combinations thereof. in some embodiments having a top housing section 250 a and a lower housing section 250 b, the top housing section 250 a may be arranged for driven motion, e.g. the top housing section 250 a may perform an oscillatory rotation around the longitudinal axis, a longitudinal linear vibration, and/or a linear reciprocation along a direction which is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft during operation. in such embodiments, the attachment housing that is coupled to the top housing section 250 a performs a first motion during operation, e.g. rotation around the longitudinal axis, longitudinal linear vibration, and/or the linear reciprocation while the motion transmitter may drive the functional element into a second motion. the first and second motions are described further with regard to fig. 5 . in some embodiments, the top housing section 250 a is not driven and remains stationary with respect to the lower housing section 250 b. fig. 5 shows a longitudinal cross sectional cut of an attachment section 100 and a top housing section of a handle section 200 in an attached state. it is shown that the first and second magnetic coupling elements 120 and 220 have established a magnetic connection that couples the drive shaft 210 of the handle section 200 with the motion transmitter 110 of the attachment section 100 such that during operation, a linear reciprocation of the drive shaft 210 as indicated by double arrow b will be transferred to the functional element 130 via the motion transmitter 110 . in some embodiments, as the transmitted motion is a linear reciprocation, the magnetic coupling does not need to transmit a rotational movement so that flat coupling sides of the first and second magnetic coupling elements are suitable. further, the first and second coupling structures 152 and 252 have established a second connection between the attachment housing 150 and the handle housing 250 such that the attachment section 100 is fixed with respect to the handle housing 250 . for those embodiments where the top housing section is driven in an oscillatory rotation around the longitudinal axis, a longitudinal linear vibration, and/or a linear reciprocation along a direction which is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the handle 200 , the movement of the top housing section is transmitted to the attachment housing via the connection provided between the first and second coupling structures 152 and 252 . as had been said before, the motion transmitter 110 may be mounted free of any return force element. it is known to use a return force element for a motion transmitter provided in an attachment section in case a mechanical connection is to be established between motion transmitter and drive shaft, as then essentially the coupling force needs first to be overcome during the attachment process. without a return force element, the motion transmitter would potentially be pushed away in the attachment process and the mechanical coupling may not become easily established. for the described magnetic coupling, the first and second magnetic coupling elements will attract each other when the attachment section is attached to the handle section and the motion transmitter will then be moved towards to drive shaft so that the magnetic coupling is established without the need to first overcome any resistance. in particular for a handle section comprising a resonant drive, where the resonant frequency is dependent on the spring-mass system including a return-force element such as a spring acting on the motion transmitter, tolerances in the spring would lead to variations in the resonance frequency of the resonant drive for different attachments. besides this, discarding a return force element supports a cost efficient manufacture. generally and applicable to all embodiments, the first and second magnetic coupling elements 120 and 220 may each be realized as a permanent magnet or a permanent magnet arrangement or as a magnetizable element such as an iron or steel element or an arrangement of such elements. any kind of permanent magnet material could be used, e.g. the high energy materials smco or ndfeb, either realized as sintered elements or plastic-bonded elements, or any hard ferrite could be utilized such as sintered strontium ferrite. plastic-bonded permananet magnet elements tend to have a relatively low magnetic flux density when compared with e.g. sintered permanent magnets. sintered ndfeb magnets have a relatively high magnetic flux density but are also relatively expensive and are prone to corrosion. hard ferrite magnets are relatively inexpensive and as ceramic materials less prone to corrosion but have only a limited magnetic flux density. in case that one of the first or second magnetic coupling elements is realized as a magnetizable element, the other one of the first or second magnetic coupling elements is to be realized as a permanent magnet or permanent magnet arrangement. permanent magnets are widely available e.g. from ibs magnet, berlin, germany. in some embodiments, at least one of the first or second magnetic coupling elements is made of or consists at least partially of ndfeb material, in particular of sintered ndfeb material. in some of these embodiments, the second magnetic coupling element provided in the handle section is made of or consists at least partially of the sintered ndfeb material. the latter allows for realizing the first magnetic coupling element as a relatively cheap magnetizable element such as an iron or steel element or by an arrangement of such elements. corrosion-prone permanent magnets like sintered ndfeb magnets may typically be available from a supplier with a thin anti-corrosive coating such as a tin or nickel coating. unfortunately, toothpaste may abrade these standard coatings rather quickly during operation. hence, it may then be necessary to equip these permanent magnets with a low-abrasive and anti-corrosive cover to withstand the conditions during operation of an oral hygiene device. various materials may be chosen for the cover such as low-abrasive plastic materials (e.g. for making a deep-drawn plastic cup), ceramics, metal foils, glass etc. some permanent magnet materials such as ndfeb have a low operating temperature such as 60 degrees celsius, which operating temperature is also dependent on the particular dimensions of the permanent magnet. for such permanent magnets, an anti-corrosive protection may not be applied by a plastic injection process during which temperatures of 200 degrees celsius and more may occur as then the permanent magnet may lose its magnetization. the protective cover may be applied by casting (e.g. of a resin), gluing (e.g. of a metal, ceramic, or glass disc), snapping, welding etc. as was already mentioned. the magnetic coupling established by the first and second coupling elements should withstand a typical pull-off force applied at the functional element as was explained above so that the magnetic coupling is not separated when such a force is applied. in example embodiments, a typical pull-off force applied at the functional element may be up to 10 newton, i.e. the magnetic coupling should withstand a pull-off force up to a threshold value of about 10 newton, optionally of up to about 9 newton, further optionally of up to about 8 newton, even further optionally of up to about 7 newton, yet further optionally of up to about 6 newton, yet even further optionally of up to about 5 newton, and even more optionally of up to about 4 newton or any value within or including the values provided. figs. 6a to 6d show four different example configurations s 1 to s 4 of first and second magnetic coupling elements. fig. 7 shows simulation results for the effective force that exists between the coupling partners in the coupled state where the results are shown for various values of a gap between the first and second magnetic coupling element, which gap reflects a protective cover on one or both of the magnetic coupling elements. fig. 6a shows a first configuration s 1 of a first magnetic coupling element 410 a being a cylindrical ndfeb permanent magnet and a second magnetic coupling element 420 a being a stainless steel cylinder. the diameter d 1 of the ndfeb permanent magnet 410 a was set to 5 mm in the simulations and the height h 1 was set to 5 mm. the diameter d 2 of the stainless steel element was set to 5 mm and its height h 2 was set to 4.5 mm. an arrow 419 a indicates the magnetization direction of the permanent magnet that was here set to be along the longitudinal cylinder axis. the total height of the magnetic coupling arrangement is thus 9.5 mm plus gap thickness. fig. 6b shows a second configuration s 2 , where the only difference to the first configuration s 1 shown in fig. 1 is the magnetization direction 419 b of the first magnetic coupling element 410 b that is chosen to be perpendicular to the longitudinal cylinder axis. fig. 6c shows a third configuration s 3 of a first magnetic coupling element 410 c and a second magnetic coupling element 420 c. the second magnetic coupling element 420 c is again assumed to be a stainless steel element, but here having a height of 3.5 mm. the first magnetic coupling element 410 c consists of a ndfeb permanent magnet having a height of 5 mm and a diameter of 3.5 mm. the ndfeb permanent magnet is glued into a cup-shaped iron container that has an outer diameter of 5 mm and an inner diameter of 4 mm. the iron container consists of a hollow iron cylinder 4104 c and a disc-shaped back iron 4103 c. the disc-shaped back iron 4103 c has a diameter of 5 mm and a height of 1.5 mm. overall height of the magnetic coupling arrangement is thus again 9.5 mm plus gap thickness. the magnetization direction of the ndfeb permanent magnet 4101 c is indicated by arrow 419 c and is assumed to be along the longitudinal cylinder axis. fig. 6d shows a fourth configuration s 4 , where the second magnetic coupling element 420 d is as in the third configuration s 3 a stainless steel cylinder having a height of 3.5 mm and a diameter of 5 mm. the first magnetic coupling element 410 d consists of a first and a second half-cylindrical ndfeb permanent magnet 4101 d and 4102 d that are oppositely magnetized in longitudinal direction as is indicated by the magnetization arrows 4191 d and 4192 d, respectively. the cylinder formed by the two half-cylindrical ndfeb permanent magnets has a height of 5 mm and a diameter of 5 mm. on the backside, the two half-cylindrical ndfeb permanent magnets are concluded by a back iron 4103 d having a disc-like shape, the disc having a height of 1.5 mm and a diameter of 5 mm. overall height is again 9.5 mm plus gap thickness. in the simulations that were performed it was assumed that the remanence of the ndfeb permanent magnet material is 1370 mtesla. the properties of stainless steel 1.4021 were calibrated against measurements. fig. 7 shows simulation results for the four configurations s 1 , s 2 , s 3 , and s 4 described above with reference to figs. 6a to 6d . the abscissa indicates the gap between the flat coupling sides of the first and second magnetic coupling elements in millimeters. gap material was assumed to be air. the ordinate indicates the force between the first and second magnetic coupling elements in the coupled state in newton. it can be seen that configuration s 4 generally leads to the highest threshold force value of the pull-off force that the magnetic coupling can withstand, e.g. at 0.1 mm gap configuration s 4 leads to a threshold force value of about 7.3 newton at which the first and second magnetic coupling elements would decouple. the other configurations lead to a coupling force of about 3.4 to 4.9 newton at a gap of 0.1 mm. fig. 8 is a schematic cross sectional cut through the top portion of a drive shaft 510 with a second magnetic coupling element 520 . in the embodiment shown, the second magnetic coupling element 520 is glued into a protection cover 525 having a generally cup-shaped form. the protection cover 525 has a on its top side, where a first magnetic coupling element 620 indicated by a dashed line would approach the second magnetic coupling element 520 during the attachment procedure, a centering structure 526 realized by a raised edge such that a depression 527 is formed into which the first magnetic coupling element 620 fits. the raised edge 526 may be tapered towards the approaching first magnetic coupling element 620 to support the centering function. while the magnetic coupling as such already has a certain self-centering function, a centering structure supports the centering procedure and can avoid misalignments between the first and second magnetic coupling elements. as has been stated before, the first and second magnetic coupling elements could be interchanged with respect to the features described, e.g. fig. 8 may show an example embodiment of a first magnetic coupling element. here, the protection cover is realized by a cup that fully accommodates the second magnetic coupling element 520 and that at least partly extends over the drive shaft 510 . in such an embodiment, the second magnetic coupling element 520 needs not additionally be secured to the drive shaft 510 as the glue layer 524 fixes the drive shaft 510 and the second magnetic coupling element 520 . the thickness d 3 of the glue layer 524 and of the protection cover 525 should be chosen as low as possible to avoid reduction of the possible coupling force (see fig. 7 ). as a matter of fact, the coupling side 521 does not need to be glued to the protection cover as the side glue layer suffices to establish a fixed connection. the thickness d 3 could be chosen to be about or lower than 0.2 mm, optionally to be about or lower than 0.15 mm, further optionally to be about or lower than 0.1 mm and even further optionally to be about or lower than 0.05 mm or any number within and/or any range within or including the values provided. the material of the protective cover could be a plastic material, a ceramic, a glass, or a (in particular non-magnetizable) metal. in an effort to reduce the thickness of the glue layer 524 and the protective cover, embodiments, are contemplated where the glue layer exists only on the sides of the drive shaft 510 and the second magnetic coupling element 520 but not in between a coupling side 521 of the second magnetic coupling element 520 and a bottom face 531 of the protective cover. a protective cover made of magnetizable material would in the example shown in fig. 8 lead to a magnetic short circuit between magnetic north pole and magnetic south pole of the permanent magnet and the achievable force between the magnetic coupling elements would be reduced. fig. 9 is a schematic depiction of another embodiment showing the top portion of a drive shaft 510 a that has a recess 511 a that accommodates a second magnetic coupling element 520 a. bend wall portions 512 a fix the second magnetic coupling element in the recess 511 a. prior to introducing the second magnetic coupling element 520 a into the recess 511 a, the wall portions 512 a may have been straight to allow insertion of the second magnetic coupling element 520 a into the recess 511 a. then, the wall portions 512 a may have been bent, e.g. using a forming stamp, such that the second magnetic coupling element 520 a is fixed in the recess. a protective cover 525 a may cover the remaining opening so that the second magnetic coupling element 520 a is protected from corrosion. the protective cover 525 a may be a resin or any suitable material as described heretofore. in case that the top portion of the drive shaft 510 a is made of a (non-magnetizable) metal or low-abrasive other material that can be formed in the stamping process, the protective layer 525 a is effectively protected from being abraded and thus does here not necessarily need to have high abrasion-resistance. fig. 10 is a schematic depiction of another embodiment showing of the top portion of a drive shaft 510 b and of a first magnetic coupling element 620 b. the drive shaft 510 b has a recess 511 b that accommodates a second magnetic coupling element 520 b, which second magnetic coupling element 520 b extends above the drive shaft 510 b such that a step-like structure 526 b is achieved. a protective cover 525 b that may be realized as a deep drawn plastic cup may be glued with a glue layer 524 b over the extending top of the second magnetic coupling element 520 b and a top part of the drive shaft 510 b. the first magnetic coupling element 620 b may comprise a depression 626 b that is adapted to the step-like structure 526 b so that the step-like structure 526 b and the depression 626 b cooperate to support the centering of the first and second magnetic coupling elements 620 b and 520 b in the attachment process. similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 8 , the glue layer 524 b may be absent between a coupling side 521 b and a bottom face 531 b of the protective cover 525 b in an effort to reduce the gap width between the first magnetic coupling element and the second magnetic coupling element. for those embodiments where the first magnetic coupling comprise a protective cap/cover, similar arrangements may be provided. fig. 11 is a schematic depiction of the lower portion of a motion transmitter 610 c in which a recess 611 c is provided that accommodates a first magnetic coupling element 620 c. the recess 611 c may be equipped with snap noses 612 c (here realized with a 90 degrees undercut on their backside) so that the first magnetic coupling element 620 c that has respective depressions is (non-detachably) secured at the motion transmitter 610 c by mechanical means, here realized as snap means. on their frontside (side which is closer to the handle than the backside), the snap noses 612 c may be tapered such that the first magnetic coupling element 620 c may be pushed into position (snapped) during manufacturing. the motion transmitter may be realized as a plastic part while the first magnetic coupling element 620 b may be realized as a non-corrosive steel part. in other embodiments, the protective cover realized as a cup similar to the shown embodiment could be secured at the drive shaft by e.g. crimping, shrink-fitting, welding, or snapping. figs. 12a , 12 b, and 12 c show various views of another example embodiment of an attachment section as proposed. identical parts have the same reference numerals in these three views. reference is made in the following to all three figs. 12a , 12 b, and 12 c. not all reference numerals are repeated in all figures. an attachment section 700 has an attachment housing 750 , a functional element 730 realized as a brush head mounted at the attachment housing 750 for driven oscillatory rotation around a rotation axis r 1 , which rotation axis r 1 is essentially perpendicular to a longitudinal extension direction of the attachment section 700 . the attachment section 700 further comprises a motion transmitter 710 that extends in a cavity 759 formed inside of the attachment housing 750 . the functional element 730 (here: brush head) has a carrier element 731 on which cleaning elements such as bristle tufts may be mounted. the carrier element 731 may comprise a coupling element 731 a that in particular may be an integral part of the carrier element 731 . the carrier element 731 may be mounted at the attachment housing 750 by means of a fixation element 738 so that it cannot be easily detached from the attachment housing 750 . the motion transmitter 710 may comprise a holder element 712 and a rod element 716 . the holder element 712 may at least partly accommodate a first magnetic coupling element 720 in a recess 711 at a first end 710 a of the motion transmitter 710 . the rod element 716 may in particular be made from metal such as stainless steel and may optionally be made from a metal wire. a metal rod element may provide a higher rigidity and elasticity than a respective motion transmitter part made of plastic material. a motion transmitter may be made completely as a single integral part from plastic material due to the higher ductility of plastic compared to metal. the rod element 716 may have a first coupling part 716 a that is pivot-mounted at the holder element 712 and a second coupling part 716 b that is pivot mounted at a coupling section 739 provided at the coupling element 731 a of the carrier element 731 . at least one of the first or second coupling parts 716 a, 716 b of the rod element 716 may be a bent rod section that may extend into a bore or blind hole in the holder element 712 or the coupling element 731 a, respectively. as can be particularly be seen in fig. 12c , the first magnetic coupling element 720 may have at least an indentation or groove 729 that is filled with injection molded plastic 714 , i.e. the first magnetic coupling element 720 may have been directly overmolded with the holder element 712 . this direct overmolding step in the manufacturing leads to minimal gaps or clearances between the first magnetic coupling element 720 and the holder element 712 . generally and applicable to all embodiments, the first magnetic coupling element may be directly overmolded with at least a part of the motion transmitter and a depression present at the first magnetic coupling element may be filled with injection molded plastic material such that the first magnetic coupling element is fixedly secured at this injection molded part of the motion transmitter. the holder element 712 has protrusions 713 extending in the longitudinal extension direction at the edge of a contact surface 721 of the first magnetic coupling element 720 , which protrusions may be tapered radially outwards such that these protrusions form a centering structure that at least supports the centering of the magnetic connection between the first magnetic coupling element 720 and a second magnetic coupling element at a handle section during the attachment of the attachment section 700 . the centering functionality also performs in an attached state when the first and second magnetic coupling elements have decoupled due to a too high pull-off force and the high pull-off force has vanished so that the first and second magnetic coupling elements couple again due to the magnetic force acting between them. in particular in cases where one of the first and second magnetic coupling elements is a magnetizable element, a self centering force as between two permanent magnets is not present and an additional centering structure supports to center the two coupling partners and thus to optimize the coupling force. in some embodiments, cleaning elements arranged on the attachment section may be made from a soft plastic material such as rubber or a thermoplastic elastomer (tpe) or may be made from more rigid plastic material such as polyamide (e.g. pa 6.12). cleaning elements may have any kind of suitable height, which height may be chosen to lie between about 0.2 mm (e.g. for tongue cleaner structures) and about 30 mm, where a typical length of a cleaning element may lie in the range of between about 2.0 mm to about 15.0 mm, in another embodiment between about 5.0 mm and about 11.0 mm. cleaning elements may have any suitable diameter, which diameter may be chosen to lie in a range of between about 0.2 mm to about 20 mm, and in another embodiment in a range of between about 0.5 mm to about 8.0 mm. additionally, it should be noted that the cleaning elements may comprise any suitable cleaning element and/or may comprise elements which are utilized for massaging gums, cleaning the tongue, providing chemistry to an area of the oral cavity, e.g. antimicrobial agents, malodor agents, flavor agents, anti-plaque agents, anti-gingivitis agents, whitening agents, or the like. for example, in some embodiments, the cleaning elements may comprise tufts. the tufts may comprise a plurality of individual filaments which are securely attached to the head. such filaments may be polymeric and may include, for example, polyamide or polyester. the longitudinal and cross sectional dimensions of the filaments of the invention and the profile of the filament ends can vary. additionally, the stiffness, resiliency and shape of the filament end can vary. some examples of suitable dimensions include a length between about 3 mm to about 15 mm, or any individual number within the range. additionally, the filaments may include a substantially uniform cross-sectional dimension of between about 100 to about 350 microns, or any individual number within the range. the tips of the filaments may be any suitable shape, examples of which include a smooth tip, a rounded tip, tapered tip, a pointed tip. in some embodiments, the filaments may include a dye which indicates wear of the filaments as described in u.s. pat. no. 4,802,255. some examples of suitable filaments for use with the brush are described in u.s. pat. no. 6,199,242. other suitable examples of bristles include textured bristles, e.g., single and multicomponent bristles (e.g., bristles formed by coextruding different polymers), crimped bristles, gum massaging bristles, bristles of varying configurations (e.g., bristles having multiple lumens), and/or combinations thereof. other suitable examples of cleaning elements include those described in u.s. patent application publication numbers 2002/0059685; 2005/0000043; 2004/0177462; 2005/0060822; 2004/0154112; u.s. pat. nos. 6,151,745; 6,058,541; 6,041,467; 6,553,604; 6,564,416; 6,826,797; 6,993,804; 6,453,497; 6,993,804; 6,041,467; and u.s. patent application ser. no. 12/008,073, filed on jan. 8, 2008, entitled, “toothbrushes” and 60/928,012, filed on may 7, 2007, entitled “oral hygiene implements”, all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. additionally, any suitable arrangement of cleaning elements may be utilized. some suitable examples include those described in u.s. pat. nos. 5,836,769; 6,564,416; 6,308,367; 6,108,851; 6,058,541; and 5,396,678. in addition to bristles and/or bristle tufts, the cleaning elements may also include elastomeric structures, foams, combinations thereof, and the like. for example, the cleaning elements may comprise elastomeric fins as described in u.s. pat. no. 6,553,604 and u.s. patent application publication no. 2007/0251040a1. as yet another example, the cleaning elements may comprise elastomeric cup shaped elements as described in u.s. patent publication no. 2004/0154112a1. in some embodiments, the cleaning elements may comprise a combination of elastomeric elements and bristles. as an example, a combination of fins and bristles may be utilized, a combination of an elastomeric cup(s) and bristles may be utilized, and/or combinations of elastomeric elements either alone or in combination with bristles may be utilized. combinations of elastomeric cleaning elements are described in u.s. patent publication no. 2009/0007357a1. the cleaning elements and/or massaging elements may be attached to the head in any suitable manner. conventional methods include stapling, anchor free tufting, and injection mold tufting. for those cleaning elements that comprise an elastomer, these elements may be formed integral with one another, e.g. having an integral base portion and extending outward therefrom or discretely. the elastomer elements may be injection molded in the head. in addition to the cleaning elements described heretofore, the head may comprise a soft tissue cleanser constructed of any suitable material. some examples of suitable material include elastomeric materials; polypropylene, polyethylene, etc; the like, and/or combinations thereof. the soft tissue cleanser may comprise any suitable soft tissue cleansing elements. some examples of such elements as well as configurations of soft tissues cleansers on a toothbrush are described in u.s. patent application nos. 2006/0010628; 2005/0166344; 2005/0210612; 2006/0195995; 2008/0189888; 2006/0052806; 2004/0255416; 2005/0000049; 2005/0038461; 2004/0134007; 2006/0026784; 20070049956; 2008/0244849; 2005/0000043; 2007/140959; and u.s. pat. nos. 5,980,542; 6,402,768; and 6,102,923. additionally, for those embodiments comprise elastomer elements on a first side of the head and a second side of the head, the second side being opposite the first side, the elastomer elements of both sides of the head may be unitarily formed. for example, the head sans the elastomeric elements may comprise openings therethrough which can allow elastomeric material to flow from the first side of the head to the second side of the head. materials for manufacturing at least a part such as the housing of the handle section or the housing of the attachment section may be any suitable plastic or non-plastic material, where typical plastic materials may comprise at least one from the group consisting of polypropylene (pp), thermoplastic elastomer (tpe), polyoxymethlylene (pom), a blend of polyester and polycarbonate such as xylex available from sabic, saudi arabia, acrylonitrile styrene acrylateor (asa), polybutylene terephthalate (pbt). instead of plastic, metal, glass, or wood may also be chosen as material for making at least a part of the attachment section. the dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. for example, a dimension disclosed as “40 mm” is intended to mean “about 40 mm.” every document cited herein, including any cross referenced or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. the citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such invention. further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to that term in this document shall govern. while particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. it is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
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121-955-178-332-424
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US
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[
"US"
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A61B34/00,A61B1/00,A61B17/00,A61B34/30,A61B34/35,A61B34/37,A61B46/23,A61B90/00,A61B90/98,B25J9/10,B25J9/16,G16H40/63
| 2005-12-20T00:00:00 |
2005
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[
"A61",
"B25",
"G16"
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wireless communication in a robotic surgical system
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a telesurgical manipulator comprises a surgical instrument, an instrument holder adapted to releasably mount the surgical instrument, an electrically-isolating and sterile drape, an instrument interface included on the instrument holder, and a communication device disposed on the instrument holder. the instrument interface is operably couplable to the surgical instrument via a sterile adaptor that secures the electrically-isolating and sterile drape to the instrument interface. the electrically-isolating and sterile drape permits communication between the surgical instrument and the instrument holder while maintaining an electrically-isolating and sterile barrier therebetween. the communication device wirelessly communicates with the surgical instrument, with the electrically-isolating and sterile drape disposed therebetween, and wirelessly provides power to the surgical instrument, with the electrically-isolating and sterile drape disposed therebetween.
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1. a telesurgical manipulator, comprising: a surgical instrument; an instrument holder adapted to releasably mount the surgical instrument; an electrically-isolating and sterile drape; an instrument interface included on the instrument holder and operably couplable to the surgical instrument via a sterile adaptor that secures the electrically-isolating and sterile drape to the instrument interface, the electrically-isolating and sterile drape permitting communication between the surgical instrument and the instrument holder while maintaining an electrically-isolating and sterile barrier therebetween; and a communication device disposed on the instrument holder that wirelessly communicates with the surgical instrument, with the electrically-isolating and sterile drape disposed therebetween, and that wirelessly provides power to the surgical instrument, with the electrically-isolating and sterile drape disposed therebetween. 2. the manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the communication device includes a primary transformer part that provides the power to the surgical instrument via a secondary transformer part included in the surgical instrument with the electrically-isolating and sterile drape disposed therebetween. 3. the manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the communication device receives data selected from a group consisting of instrument identification and an instrument state. 4. the manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the communication device further comprises a printed circuit assembly for transmitting data selected from a group consisting of a system state, a sterile adaptor state, led control, a clutch button state, and a hall-effect sensor state. 5. the manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the communication device wirelessly communicates with a wireless transceiver disposed in a manipulator arm rotatably coupled to the instrument holder. 6. the manipulator of claim 1 , wherein the communication device includes a differential driver coupled to a coil to transmit data to the surgical instrument via a magnetic coupling, and wherein the surgical instrument includes a pair of differential sensors to receive the data via the magnetic coupling. 7. a telesurgical manipulator system, comprising: an instrument holder, including a communication device; an electrically-isolating and sterile barrier; and a surgical instrument that wirelessly communicates with the communication device such that operational commands are received from the communication device, wherein the surgical instrument is releasably mountable to the instrument holder, wherein the surgical instrument includes an instrument data transmitter for communication with the communication device with the electrically-isolating and sterile barrier disposed therebetween, and wherein the communication device is further configured for providing power to the surgical instrument with the electrically-isolating and sterile barrier disposed therebetween. 8. the system of claim 7 , wherein the instrument data transmitter includes an instrument optical data transmitter. 9. the system of claim 8 , wherein the instrument optical data transmitter includes a light transmitter. 10. the system of claim 7 , wherein the surgical instrument includes an optical sensor that receives data from a light transmitter of the communication device. 11. the system of claim 7 , wherein the electrically-isolating and sterile barrier includes an electrically-isolating and sterile drape and a sterile adaptor that secures the electrically-isolating and sterile drape to the instrument holder, wherein the surgical instrument is releasably mountable to the instrument holder via the sterile adaptor, the electrically-isolating and sterile barrier permitting communication between the surgical instrument and the instrument holder while disposed therebetween. 12. the system of claim 7 , wherein the communication device includes a primary transformer part that provides the power to the surgical instrument and the surgical instrument includes a secondary transformer part to receive the power from the communication device with the electrically-isolating and sterile barrier disposed therebetween. 13. the system of claim 7 , wherein the communication device receives data from the surgical instrument selected from a group consisting of an instrument identification and an instrument state. 14. the system of claim 7 , wherein the communication device further comprises a printed circuit assembly for transmitting data selected from a group consisting of a system state, a sterile adaptor state, led control, a clutch button state, and a hall-effect sensor state. 15. the system of claim 7 , wherein the surgical instrument has an end effector selected from a group consisting of jaws, scissors, graspers, needle holders, micro-dissectors, staple appliers, tackers, suction irrigation tools, clip appliers, cutting blades, cautery probes, irrigators, catheters, and suction devices. 16. the system of claim 7 , further comprising a manipulator arm coupled to the instrument holder and a wireless transceiver disposed in the manipulator arm, wherein the communication device is further configured to communicate wirelessly with the wireless transceiver disposed in the manipulator arm. 17. a telesurgical manipulator system, comprising: an instrument holder coupled to a manipulator arm, the instrument holder including a first wireless transceiver and a second wireless transceiver, the first wireless transceiver being configured to communicate wirelessly with a third wireless transceiver disposed in the manipulator arm; an electrically-isolating and sterile drape; and a surgical instrument having a fourth wireless transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly with the second wireless transceiver, wherein the surgical instrument is releasably mountable to the instrument holder, and wherein the instrument holder is configured to provide power wirelessly to the surgical instrument mounted to the instrument holder with the electrically-isolating and sterile drape disposed therebetween. 18. the system of claim 17 , wherein the instrument holder further includes a battery that provides power to the first and second wireless transceivers, and wherein: wireless communication between the first wireless transceiver and the third wireless transceiver is performed via a first wireless medium, and wireless communication between the second wireless transceiver and the fourth wireless transceiver is performed via a second wireless medium, the second wireless medium being different than the first wireless medium.
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cross-reference to related applications this application is a continuation of u.s. application ser. no. 14/172,557, filed feb. 4, 2014, which is a continuation of u.s. application ser. no. 11/967,499 filed dec. 31, 2007, now u.s. pat. no. 8,672,922, which is a continuation-in-part of u.s. application ser. no. 11/613,915 filed dec. 20, 2006, now u.s. pat. no. 7,955,322, which claimed the benefit of u.s. provisional application no. 60/752,755, filed dec. 20, 2005, the full disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. this application is related to u.s. application ser. no. 11/613,578 filed dec. 20, 2006, entitled “cable tensioning a robotic surgical system”, u.s. application ser. no. 11/613,800 filed dec. 20, 2006, entitled “telescopic insertion axis of a robotic surgical system”, u.s. application ser. no. 11/556,484, filed nov. 3, 2006, entitled “indicator for tool state and communication in a multi-arm robotic telesurgery”, and u.s. application ser. no. 11/613,695 filed dec. 20, 2006, entitled “instrument interface in a robotic surgical system”, the full disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. technical field the present invention relates generally to robotic surgical systems and, more particularly, to an apparatus, system, and method for wireless communication and power supply in a robotic surgical system. background minimally invasive robotic surgical or telesurgical systems have been developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity and to avoid some of the limitations on traditional minimally invasive techniques. in telesurgery, the surgeon uses some form of remote control, e.g., a servomechanism or the like, to manipulate surgical instrument movements, rather than directly holding and moving the instruments by hand. in telesurgery systems, the surgeon can be provided with an image of the surgical site at the surgical workstation. while viewing a two or three dimensional image of the surgical site on a display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master control devices, which in turn control motion of the servomechanically operated instruments. in robotically assisted surgery, the surgeon typically operates a master controller to control the motion of surgical instruments at the surgical site from a location that may be remote from the patient (e.g., across the operating room, in a different room, or a completely different building from the patient). the master controller usually includes one or more hand input devices, such as hand-held wrist gimbals, joysticks, exoskeletal gloves or the like, which are operatively coupled to the surgical instruments that are releasably coupled to a patient side surgical manipulator (“the slave”). the master controller controls the instruments' position, orientation, and articulation at the surgical site. the slave is an electro-mechanical assembly that includes a plurality of arms, joints, linkages, servo-motors, etc. that are connected together to support and control the surgical instruments. in a surgical procedure, the surgical instruments (including an endoscope) may be introduced directly into an open surgical site or more typically through trocar sleeves into a body cavity. depending on a surgical procedure, there are available a variety of surgical instruments, such as tissue graspers, needle drivers, electrosurgical cautery probes, etc., to perform various functions, for the surgeon, e.g., holding or driving a needle, suturing, grasping a blood vessel, or dissecting, cauterizing or coagulating tissue. a surgical manipulator assembly may be said to be divided into three main components that include a non-sterile drive and control component, a sterilizable end effector or surgical tool/instrument, and an intermediate connector component. the intermediate connector component includes mechanical elements for coupling the surgical tool with the drive and control component, and for transferring motion from the drive component to the surgical tool. electrical cables, such as flexible flat cables, have been previously used to provide power, ground, and/or data signals between the components of the surgical system. prior telerobotic surgical systems with such electrical cables are described for example in u.s. application ser. no. 11/613,800 filed dec. 20, 2006, entitled “telescopic insertion axis of a robotic surgical system”, the complete disclosure of which has been previously incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. however, issues related to small clearances, electrical noise, mechanical fatigue, and mechanical hazards can possibly lead to malfunction and decreased system robustness. furthermore, power and data transactions for electrical circuits must cross a sterile barrier (e.g., a membrane or film) that separates the sterile field containing surgical activity from the non-sterile mechanisms of the surgical robot. what is needed, therefore, are improved apparatus and methods for providing electrical signals and/or power through a sterile barrier in a telerobotic surgical system to surgical instruments in the sterile field. summary the present invention provides an advantageous apparatus, system, and method for wireless communication and power supply in a telerobotic surgical system. in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a robotic manipulator is provided, comprising a base link operably coupled to a distal end of a manipulator arm, and a carriage link movably coupled to the base link. the carriage link includes a communication device that wirelessly communicates with a removable surgical instrument through a sterile drape. in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a robotic surgical system is provided, the system comprising an insertion axis of a robotic manipulator, including a base link operably coupled to a distal end of a manipulator arm, and a carriage link movably coupled to the base link, the carriage link including a printed circuit assembly and a link communication device. the system further includes a sterile drape over the insertion axis, and a removable surgical instrument that wirelessly communicates with the link communication device through the sterile drape. in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method of wireless communication in a robotic surgical system is provided, the method comprising providing a carriage link of a robotic manipulator including a link communication device, positioning a sterile drape over the robotic manipulator, mounting a removable surgical instrument on the carriage link, and passing data wirelessly through the sterile drape between the link communication device and the surgical instrument. advantageously, the present invention allows a user to repeatedly and operably install and remove surgical instruments on the system while maintaining a sterile barrier between the patient in the sterile surgical field and the non-sterile portions of the robotic system. furthermore, separation of the robotic surgical system's electrical circuits provides additional barrier to leakage currents. the scope of the invention is defined by the claims, which are incorporated into this section by reference. a more complete understanding of embodiments of the present invention will be afforded to those skilled in the art, as well as a realization of additional advantages thereof, by a consideration of the following detailed description of one or more embodiments. reference will be made to the appended sheets of drawings that will first be described briefly. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a portion of an operating theater illustrating a robotic surgical system, including a master surgeon console or workstation for inputting a surgical procedure and a robotic manipulator system for robotically moving surgical instruments at a surgical site within a patient. figs. 2a and 2b illustrate a perspective view and a front view, respectively, of an embodiment of a manipulator system, including positioning linkages or set up joints which allow a patient side robotic manipulator and/or an endoscope or camera robotic manipulator to be pre-configured for surgery. fig. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a surgical instrument for use in the system of fig. 1 . fig. 4 is a perspective view from above of an alternative manipulator system including a plurality of positioning linkages, each supporting a manipulator arm. figs. 5a through 5e illustrate perspective views and a partial frontal view of a manipulator including a telescopic insertion axis and wireless communication means in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 5 a 1 is a close-up view of a carriage link of the telescopic insertion axis in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 6 is a side view of the manipulator of figs. 5a through 5e showing the wireless communication means and a power supply in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 7 is a side view of the manipulator of figs. 5a through 5e showing the wireless communication means and another power supply in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. figs. 8a and 8b are block diagrams of a main printed circuit assembly (pca) and a remote pca, respectively, illustrating inputs and outputs of the pcas. figs. 9a and 93 are simple block diagrams showing a sliding brush contact for providing power to a wireless communication means in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 10a is a perspective view of a sterile drape including an instrument sterile adaptor draped over a manipulator. fig. 10b is a perspective view of the sterile drape of fig. 10a illustrating a mounted accessory and an installed surgical instrument. fig. 11 illustrates a system in which data is communicated through a sterile barrier by a light transmitter and an optical sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 12 illustrates a system in which data is communicated through a sterile barrier via magnetic coupling using primary and secondary parts of a transformer in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 13 illustrates a system in which data is communicated through a sterile barrier via magnetic coupling using a coil and sensor pairing in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 14 illustrates a system in which data is communicated through a sterile barrier via radio waves in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a printed circuit assembly (pca) that may be used with the embodiments of figs. 10 through 14 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. embodiments of the present invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. it should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures. it should also be appreciated that the figures may not be necessarily drawn to scale. detailed description the present invention provides a system, apparatus, and method for wireless communication in a telerobotic surgical system for performing robotically-assisted surgical procedures on a patient, particularly including neurosurgical procedures and endoscopic procedures, such as laparoscopy, arthroscopy, thoracoscopy and the like. the apparatus and method of the present invention is particularly useful as part of a telerobotic surgical system that allows the surgeon to manipulate the surgical instruments through a servomechanism at a location remote from the patient. one example of a robotic surgical system is the da vinci® s™ surgical system available from intuitive surgical, inc. of sunnyvale, calif. a user's guide for the da vinci® s™ surgical system is available from intuitive surgical, inc. and is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. figs. 1-3 illustrate components of a robotic surgical system 1 for performing minimally invasive robotic surgery. system 1 is similar to that described in more detail in u.s. pat. no. 6,246,200, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. a system operator o (generally a surgeon) performs a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a patient p lying on an operating table t. the system operator o sees images presented by display 12 and manipulates one or more input devices or masters 2 at a surgeon's console 3 . in response to the surgeon's input commands, a computer processor 4 of console 3 directs movement of surgical instruments or tools 5 , effecting servomechanical movement of the instruments via a robotic patient-side manipulator system 6 (a cart-based system in this example) including joints, linkages, and manipulator arms each having a telescopic insertion axis. in one embodiment, processor 4 correlates the movement of the end effectors of tools 5 so that the motions of the end effectors follow the movements of the input devices in the hands of the system operator o. processor 4 will typically include data processing hardware and software, with the software typically comprising machine-readable code. the machine-readable code will embody software programming instructions to implement some or all of the methods described herein. while processor 4 is shown as a single block in the simplified schematic of fig. 1 , the processor may comprise a number of data processing circuits (e.g., on the surgeon's console 3 and/or on the patient-side manipulator system 6 ), with at least a portion of the processing optionally being performed adjacent an input device, a portion being performed adjacent a manipulator, and the like. any of a wide variety of centralized or distributed data processing architectures may be employed. similarly, the programming code may be implemented as a number of separate programs or subroutines, or may be integrated into a number of other aspects of the robotic systems described herein. in one embodiment, processor 4 may support wireless communication protocols such as bluetooth, irda, homerf, ieee 802.11, dect, and wireless telemetry. in one example, manipulator system 6 includes at least four robotic manipulator assemblies. three linkages 7 (mounted at the sides of the cart in this example) support and position manipulators 8 with linkages 7 in general supporting a base of the manipulators 8 at a fixed location during at least a portion of the surgical procedure. manipulators 8 move surgical tools 5 for robotic manipulation of tissues. one additional linkage 9 (mounted at the center of the cart in this example) supports and positions manipulator 10 which controls the motion of an endoscope camera probe 11 to capture an image (preferably stereoscopic) of the internal surgical site. the fixable portion of positioning linkages 7 , 9 of the patient-side system is sometimes referred to herein as a “set-up arm”. in one example, the image of the internal surgical site is shown to operator o by a stereoscopic display 12 in surgeon's console 3 . the internal surgical site is simultaneously shown to assistant a by an assistance display 14 . assistant a assists in pre-positioning manipulator assemblies 8 and 10 relative to patient p using set-up linkage arms 7 , 9 ; in swapping tools 5 from one or more of the surgical manipulators for alternative surgical tools or instruments 5 ′; in operating related non-robotic medical instruments and equipment; in manually moving a manipulator assembly so that the associated tool accesses the internal surgical site through a different aperture, and the like. in general terms, the linkages 7 , 9 are used primarily during set-up of patient-side system 6 , and typically remain in a fixed configuration during at least a portion of a surgical procedure. manipulators 8 , 10 each comprise a driven linkage which is actively articulated under the direction of surgeon's console 3 . although one or more of the joints of the set-up arm may optionally be driven and robotically controlled, at least some of the set-up arm joints may be configured for manual positioning by assistant a. some of the manipulators include a telescopic insertion axis 100 ( figs. 5a-5e ), although in other embodiments, all of the manipulators may include a telescopic insertion axis 100 . telescopic insertion axis 100 allows for movement of mounted instrument 5 , via three operably coupled links, in one example. for convenience, a manipulator such as manipulator 8 that is supporting a surgical tool used to manipulate tissues is sometimes referred to as a patient-side manipulator (psm), while a manipulator 10 which controls an image capture or data acquisition device such as endoscope 11 may be referred to as an endoscope-camera manipulator (eom). the manipulators may optionally actuate, maneuver and control a wide variety of instruments or tools, image capture devices, and the like which are useful for surgery. instruments 5 and endoscope 11 may be manually positioned when setting up for a surgical procedure, when reconfiguring the manipulator system 6 for a different phase of a surgical procedure, when removing and replacing an instrument with an alternate instrument 5 ′, and the like. during such manual reconfiguring of the manipulator assembly by assistant a, the manipulator assembly may be placed in a different mode than is used during master/slave telesurgery, with the manually repositionable mode sometimes being referred to as a clutch mode. the manipulator assembly may change between the tissue manipulation mode and the clutch mode in response to an input such as pushing a button or switch on manipulator 8 (e.g., a clutch button/switch 103 in figs. 5a-5d ), or some other component to the manipulator assembly, thereby allowing assistant a to change the manipulator mode. in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, signals for mode change may be passed wirelessly as discussed in greater detail below. as can be seen in figs. 1 and 2a through 2b , indicators 20 are disposed on each manipulator assembly. in this embodiment, indicators 20 are disposed on manipulators 8 , 10 near the interface between the manipulators and their mounted tools 5 . in alternative embodiments, indicators 20 may instead be disposed elsewhere on manipulators 8 , 10 , or the like, with the indicators preferably being sufficiently close to the tools so that a signal generated by a particular indicator can be readily associated with a particular tool when the signal is viewed by assistant a. so as to unambiguously identify a tool 5 to be replaced by assistant a, system operator o may input a command into workstation 3 so that indicator 20 on the manipulator assembly associated with the specific tool 5 generates a visually identifiable signal that can be viewed by the assistant. an example of an indicator is disclosed in u.s. application ser. no. 11/556,484, filed nov. 3, 2006, the full disclosure of which (including all references incorporated by reference therein) is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. again, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, led control signals for indicators 20 may be passed wirelessly as discussed in greater detail below. fig. 3 illustrates a perspective view of an articulated surgical tool or instrument 5 . tool 5 has a proximal housing 24 which interfaces with a tool holder or instrument interface of the manipulator, generally providing a quick release mounting engagement through a sterile adapter or interface, an example of which is disclosed in u.s. patent application ser. no. 11/314,040, filed. dec. 20, 2005, and u.s. patent application ser. no. 11/395,418, filed mar. 31, 2006, which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. tool 5 includes an elongated shaft 23 supporting an end effector. 28 relative to proximal housing 24 . proximal housing 24 accepts and transmits drive signals or drive motion between the manipulator 8 and the end effector 28 . an articulated wrist 29 may provide two degrees of freedom of motion between end effector 28 and shaft 23 , and the shaft may be rotatable relative to proximal housing 24 about the axis of the shaft so as to provide the end effector 28 with three orientational degrees of freedom within the patient's body. the surgical tool may include a variety of articulated end effectors, such as jaws, scissors, graspers, needle holders, micro-dissectors, staple appliers, tackers, suction irrigation tools, and clip appliers, that may be driven by wire links, eccentric cams, push-rods, or other mechanisms. in addition, the surgical tool may comprise a non-articulated instrument, such as cutting blades, probes, irrigators, catheters or suction devices. alternatively, the surgical tool may comprise an electrosurgical probe for ablating, resecting, cutting or coagulating tissue. examples of applicable adaptors, tools or instruments, and accessories are described in u.s. pat. nos. 6,331,181, 6,491,701, and 6,770,081, the full disclosures of which (including disclosures incorporated by reference therein) are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. applicable surgical instruments are also commercially available from intuitive surgical, inc, of sunnyvale, calif. referring now to fig. 4 , a perspective view is illustrated of an alternative modular manipulator support assembly 30 that may be mounted to a ceiling of an operating room. the modular manipulator support 30 aligns and supports a robotic manipulator system relative to a set of desired surgical incision sites in a patient's body. modular manipulator support 30 generally includes an orientating platform 36 and a plurality of configurable set-up linkage arms 38 , 40 , 42 , 44 that may be coupled to the orienting platform. each arm movably supports an associated manipulator 32 , 34 , which in turn movably supports an associated tool or an image capture device. orienting platform 36 also supports an assistant display 31 , which may be used for set-up, instrument changes, viewing of the procedure, and the like. the structures and use of any of the components of modular manipulator support assembly 30 are analogous to those described above regarding manipulator system 6 , and are more fully described in co-pending u.s. patent application ser. no. 11/043,688, filed on. jan. 24, 2005, and entitled “modular manipulator support for robotic surgery”, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. again, each manipulator 32 , 34 may pass wireless communication signals therethrough in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. referring now to figs. 5a through 5e , manipulator 8 including an embodiment of a telescopic insertion axis 100 is shown in more detail. in one example, the insertion axis is comprised of a 3-stage telescopic linear axis including three links movably coupled to one another via rails, pulleys, and cables, with the links narrowing in width or form factor moving from the proximal link toward the distal link. advantageously, the present invention provides for one-handed port and instrument clutching, a larger range of motion, a narrower insertion arm, and greater insertion axis stiffness and strength with reduced inertia as a function of insertion depth, thereby helping to enable a two-quadrant surgery with a single setup (e.g., a colorectal surgery), and providing for more space and visibility near the surgical field. figs. 5a through 55 illustrate a perspective view of manipulator 8 including a manipulator arm 50 , and telescopic insertion axis 100 operably coupled to a distal end of arm 50 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. telescopic insertion axis 100 includes a first link or base link 102 , a second link or idler link 104 operably coupled to base link 102 , and a third link or carriage link 106 operably coupled to idler link 104 . fig. 5 a 1 illustrates a closer view of carriage link 106 . base link 102 is operably coupled to a distal end of arm 50 , and in one example has an accessory clamp 108 attached to a distal end of base link 102 . an accessory 110 , such as a cannula, may be mounted onto accessory clamp 108 . an example of applicable accessory clamps and accessories are disclosed in pending u.s. application ser. no. 11/240,087, filed sep. 30, 2005, the full disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. an example of applicable sterile adaptors and instrument housings are disclosed in u.s. application ser. no. 11/314,040, filed dec. 20, 2005 and in u.s. application ser. no. 11/395,418, filed mar. 31, 2006, the full disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. carriage link 106 includes an instrument interface 101 for operably coupling to a sterile adaptor 109 , which in turn is operably coupled to a housing 24 of an instrument 5 , and controls the depth of the instrument inside a patient. in one embodiment, the sterile adaptor 109 may be part of a drape that may be draped over the robotic surgical system, and in particular the manipulator system, to establish a sterile barrier between the non-sterile psm arms and the sterile field of the surgical procedure. an example of an applicable drape and adaptor is disclosed in pending u.s. application ser. no. 11/240,113 filed sep. 30, 2005 and u.s. application ser. no. 11/314,040 filed dec. 20, 2005, the full disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. idler link 104 is movably coupled between base link 102 and carriage link 106 to allow the links 102 , 104 , and 106 to move relative to one another along a lengthwise axis (e.g., axis c) in a telescoping fashion. motion along axes a through g in manipulator 8 , as shown in figs. 5a and 5 a 1 , are provided by cables extending at least between the proximal and distal links in accordance with the present invention. the robotic arm can then control a tool operably coupled to the arm. the cables are a component of a transmission system also including drive pulleys, idler pulleys, and output pulleys, which are driven by electric motors. a pulley bank is located on an underside of base link 102 for passing cables between insertion axis 100 and manipulator arm 50 of manipulator system 6 . a plurality of motion feed-throughs, in addition to other elements, may also be provided for transferring motion. the drive assembly may further include a plurality of drive motors coupled to the arm for rotation therewith. yaw and pitch motors control the motion of the arm about the a axis and the b axis ( fig. 5a ), respectively, and drive motors control the motion of the wrist unit and surgical tool. in one embodiment, four drive motors are mounted proximally in the arm to control four degrees of freedom of the tool mounted distally on the arm (the u, e, f, and c axes). also, a proximally mounted motor controls the insertion position of the tool distally on the arm (along the c axis). the drive motors will preferably be coupled to encoders and potentiometers (not shown) to enable the servomechanism. embodiments of the drive assembly, arm, and other applicable parts are described for example in u.s. pat. nos. 6,331,181, 6,491,701, and 6,770,081, the full disclosures of which (including disclosures incorporated by reference therein) are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. the manipulator arm and the drive assembly may also be used with a broad range of positioning devices. a more complete description of a remote center positioning device can be found in u.s. patent application ser. no. 08/504,301, filed jul. 20, 1995, now u.s. pat. no. 5,931,832, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. prior robotic surgical systems have used electrical wire harnesses to provide power, ground, and/or data signals between the components of the surgical system. however, routing electrical cables or wire harnesses through the manipulator, in particular the insertion axis, may be disadvantageous for various reasons, including but not limited to insufficient space for the number of wires required, the bending required of the cable over its lifetime causing damage to the cable, surrounding parts of the robot being required to be enlarged to accommodate cables, and the cable not being sufficiently packaged out of the working area of the robot thereby causing disruption of the workflow and/or exposure of the cable to damage. referring now to figs. 6 and 7 in conjunction with the earlier figures, a main printed circuit assembly (pca) and wireless transceiver 202 (“main pca/transceiver”) and a remote pca and wireless transceiver 204 (“remote pca/transceiver”) are used for wirelessly transferring data between a region of a surgical robot in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. in this embodiment, main pca/transceiver 202 is located outside of insertion axis 100 , in one example within a link of arm 50 , and is operably coupled to other control electronics of the robotic surgical system. remote pca/transceiver 204 is located within insertion axis 100 , in one example being within carriage link 106 , and is operably coupled to interface 101 for receiving the sterile adaptor and the surgical instrument. in another example, remote pca/transceiver 204 may be operably coupled to indicator 20 . it is noted that the pcas/transceivers 202 and 204 may be positioned in various locations of the surgical system, including a location external to the manipulator system, for allowing the wireless communication of data, and that multiple sets of main and remote pcas/transceivers may also be used throughout the surgical system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. main pca/transceiver 202 and remote pca/transceiver 204 may support various wireless communication protocols, including but not limited to bluetooth, irda, homerf, ieee 802.11, dect, and wireless telemetry. data transmitted between remote pca/transceiver 204 and main pca/transceiver 202 may include information about the instrument (e.g., instrument identification, connection status to the sterile adaptor via a hall effect sensor, etc.), the sterile adaptor (e.g., connection status to the carriage link interface, etc.), and the state of the system (e.g., tissue manipulation mode, clutch mode, cannula presence, etc., that control for such things as led color and blinking frequency of indicator 20 ). thus, in one example, electrical signals may be communicated to and from a surgical tool, a sterile adaptor, leds, a clutch button, and hall. effect sensors. other examples of data that may be communicated are described in the user's guide for the da vinci® s™ surgical system available from intuitive surgical, inc. referring now to figs. 8a and 8b , block diagrams of a main pca 202 and a remote pca 204 , respectively, are illustrated showing inputs and outputs of the pcas. in one embodiment, the remote pca may have inputs and outputs for providing power and/or communicating with leds, hall effect sensors, a sterile adaptor, an instrument, and a user interface button (e.g., for a clutch operation). the remote pca may also include an input for receiving power and an input/output for communicating with a main pca (e.g., processor 4 of fig. 1 ). in one embodiment, the main pca may have inputs and outputs for providing power and/or communicating with motors (e.g., the main pca transmits position controls to the motors and processes potentiometer and encoder signals), sensors, the user interface button, the remote pca, and other printed circuit boards on a patient side cart system via a serial communication bus. the remote pca may include, in one example, an embedded serializer for instrument interface (esii) pca, and the main pca may include, in one example, an embedded serializer patient manipulator (espm) pca, both of which are manufactured by intuitive surgical, inc. of sunnyvale, calif. it is noted that other printed circuit assemblies or boards that allow for the communication of signals related to the instrument, the sterile adaptor, the accessory, and/or the state of the system are within the scope of the present invention. in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, various means for providing power to the remote pca/transceiver 204 are disclosed. in one example, a battery 206 is operably coupled to remote pca/transceiver 204 . for the case of low power consumption, a small disposable battery may be used to power the remote pca/transceiver 204 . field service personnel may preemptively change this battery a few times a year. for higher power consumption cases, such as for providing power to leds of the insertion axis indicators 20 ( figs. 1 and 2 ), rechargeable batteries may be utilized. in one example, an inductive charging system may be used such that the battery for the remote pca may be charged when the system is not in use (e.g., the insertion axis may completely retract when the system is turned off thereby bringing charger coils sufficiently close to charge the battery). advantageously, no conductors are exposed and no batteries need be replaced in this embodiment. in a further embodiment, a large battery on the manipulator cart can charge the remote pca battery even if the cart is not plugged into a wall socket. in another example for providing power to the remote pca/transceiver, a wire 210 may be routed to the remote pca 204 to provide power from a power source 208 external to the insertion axis, thereby eliminating many of the wires between the two pcas/transceivers. in yet another example for providing power, sliding wiper contacts may be used between the base link 102 and idler link 104 , and between the idler link 104 and the carriage link 106 , figs. 9a and 9b illustrate an example of sliding wiper contacts between links 102 and 104 . substantially similar structures could be used between links 104 and 106 . fig. 9a illustrates a simplified side view of a conductive brush 212 attached to link 102 (or alternatively on link 104 ) that slides over a conductive lengthwise track 214 on link 104 (or alternatively on link 102 ) and that allows for electrical coupling between links 102 and 104 even during relative movement of the links. fig. 9b illustrates a simplified top view of the lengthwise track 214 that may include two parallel tracks 214 a and 214 b , with one track for power and the other track for ground. brush 212 may be preloaded against track 214 to ensure good contact in one example. as noted above, in one embodiment a drape may be draped over the robotic surgical system, and in particular the manipulator system, to establish a sterile and electrically-isolating barrier between the non-sterile psm arms and the sterile field of the surgical procedure, as illustrated in figs. 10a and 10b . fig. 10a is a perspective view of a sterile drape 300 including instrument sterile adapter 109 draped over manipulator 8 , manipulator arm 50 , and insertion axis 100 . fig. 10b is a perspective view of sterile drape 300 of fig. 10a illustrating a mounted accessory 110 (e.g., a cannula) and an installed surgical instrument 5 (including housing 24 , shaft 23 , wrist 29 , and end effector 28 ) engaged with adaptor 109 . an example of an applicable drape is disclosed in pending u.s. application ser. no. 11/240,113 filed. sep. 30, 2005, the full disclosure of which has been previously incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. a sterile drape is thus provided for draping portions of a telerobotic surgical system to maintain a sterile and electrically-isolating barrier between the sterile surgical field and the non-sterile robotic system. accordingly, means and methods for transferring data and/or providing power across a sterile barrier to/from removable surgical instruments are desirable. previously, disposable or re-usable sterilizable instrument adaptors/interfaces with electrical contacts have been employed. the present invention improves on the interface by the elimination of extra interfaces, the elimination of extra parts, and the increased reliability of a non-contact interface as compared to electrical contacts. in accordance with the present invention, apparatus, systems, and methods for passing signals and/or power through the sterile barrier between a surgical instrument and the robotic system are provided. referring now to figs. 11-14 , data communication across a sterile barrier may be provided by a communication device utilizing optical, close-coupled magnetics, and/or radio wave transmission in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. fig. 11 illustrates an embodiment in which data communicated by using a light transmitter 402 a (e.g., modulated light emitters, leds, and/or lasers) to transmit data through an optically transparent sterile barrier 300 to be received on the other side of the barrier 300 by an optical sensor 402 b (e.g., photo-diode or photo-transistor) in a surgical instrument 5 . data can travel in both directions between an insertion axis 100 of a manipulator and the instrument 5 by including a transmit and receive pair (transmitter 402 a , sensor 404 b and sensor 402 b , transmitter 404 a ) on each side of the sterile barrier. in one example, a communication device includes light transmitter 402 a and optical sensor 404 b operably coupled to carriage link 106 and a printed circuit assembly (pca) 401 for processing received and/or transmitted data (e.g., instrument identification, connection status to the sterile adaptor via a hall effect sensor, etc.), and optical sensor 402 b and light transmitter 404 a are operably coupled to a removable instrument. in one example, pca 401 may be located on carriage link 105 and function as a remote pca operably coupled to a main pca. in alternative embodiments, pca 401 may function as a main pca located outside of the insertion axis. advantageously, optically transferred data can be sent in the presence of ambient light interference when baseline and thresholds are adjusted accordingly at rates between the higher data rate and the lower rate of change of ambient light. alternately in embodiments where ambient light is blocked, this adjustment technique is not required. fig. 12 illustrates an embodiment in which data is communicated between an insertion axis 100 of a manipulator and an instrument 5 through sterile barrier 300 via magnetic coupling using primary and secondary parts of a transformer such that direct physical contact through sterile barrier 300 is not required. in one example, a communication device includes a primary transformer part 406 wound with wire or printed circuit traces and operably coupled to a pca 408 . a secondary transformer part 410 is operably coupled to a surgical instrument 5 for transfer of data between pca 408 and the surgical instrument. for higher data requirements, separate transformer part pairs may be employed for signal and signal direction. advantageously, data signals may be bidirectional in this embodiment. in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, power transfer across sterile barrier 300 without electrical contact may be provided by ac magnetic coupling of separated primary and secondary transformer parts 406 and 410 . this transformer can be the same as the transformer noted above with respect to fig. 12 used for data transmission for lower bandwidth systems by multiplexing power transmission and data transmission. for higher data requirements, separate transformer part pairs may be employed for signals and power. concentration of magnetic field lines is advantageous to reduce emissions and susceptibility to stray magnetic fields as well as to increase the efficiency of power and data transfer. in some cases, a concentration of magnetic field lines may be used to increase the specificity of the data and power coupling. such a concentration can be achieved through the use of magnetically permeable cores, including ferrite, powdered iron, and amorphous metallic materials. common shapes available for this purpose include pot cores, e cores, and u cores. in one example, primary transformer part 406 is wound with wire or printed circuit traces, and secondary transformer part 410 is operably coupled to switching power circuits, for example having a bridge rectifier 412 and a capacitor 414 , used to provide isolated power. applicable switching circuits include but are not limited to forward converters, flyback converters, and other isolated converters. fig. 13 illustrates an embodiment in which data is communicated between an insertion axis 100 of a manipulator and an instrument 5 through sterile barrier 300 via magnetic coupling using a coil ( 416 a , 418 b ) and sensor ( 416 b , 418 a ) pairing. coil 416 a , operably coupled to a carriage link, transmits data by modulation of current through a coil, which can be wound wire or printed circuit traces in one example. sensor 416 b , operably coupled to a surgical instrument, receives the data from coil 416 a through barrier 300 . sensor 416 b can be mechanical or electronic, including but not limited to hall effect and magneto-resistive sensors, that reads current in the coil of coil 416 a at a distance for bit information. data may be communicated in both directions by including another coil 418 b and sensor 418 a pair on each side of the sterile barrier. coil 418 b and sensor 418 a may be substantially similar to coil 416 a and sensor 416 b , respectively, as described above. fig. 14 illustrates an embodiment in which data is communicated between an insertion axis 100 of a manipulator and an instrument 5 across sterile barrier 300 via radio waves. a pca 420 operably coupled to a carriage link of an insertion axis may wirelessly communicate through the sterile barrier with a pca 422 operably coupled to an instrument. in one example, pcas 420 and 422 support various wireless communication protocols, including but not limited to bluetooth, homerf, ieee 802.11, dect, as well as non-public purpose designed protocols. fig. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a remote printed circuit assembly (pca) (e.g., pca 401 , 408 , or 420 ) that may be used with the embodiments of figs. 10 through 14 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. the pca block diagram illustrates inputs and outputs of the pca, and in one embodiment, the pca may have inputs and outputs for providing wireless power and/or wireless communication with leds, hall effect sensors, a sterile adaptor, an instrument, and/or a user interface button (e.g., for a clutch operation). the pca may also include an input for receiving power and an input/output for communicating with a main pca (e.g., processor 4 of fig. 1 ). the remote pca may include, in one example, an embedded serializer for instrument interface (esii) pca, which is manufactured by intuitive surgical, inc. of sunnyvale, calif. it is noted that other printed circuit assemblies or boards that allow for the communication of signals related to the instrument, the sterile adaptor, the accessory, and/or the state of the system are within the scope of the present invention. advantageously, the present invention allows a user to repeatedly and operably install and remove surgical instruments on the system while maintaining a sterile barrier between the patient in the sterile surgical field and the non-sterile portions of the robotic system. furthermore, separation of the electrical circuits of the robotic surgical system provides a barrier to leakage currents that might otherwise cause electrical harm to patients and/or medical staff. accurate data transmission between the system and the instrument is made possible even in the presence of high electromagnetic noise caused by energy tools commonly used in surgery by the mentioned techniques of magnetic field concentration. embodiments described above illustrate but do not limit the invention. it should also be understood that numerous modifications and variations are possible in accordance with the principles of the present invention. for example, numerous pcas and respective wireless communication devices placed in various system locations is within the scope of the present invention. furthermore, the system is not limited to four robotic manipulator assemblies, but may include two or more in other examples. accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined only by the following claims.
|
122-403-894-613-164
|
DE
|
[
"JP",
"US",
"DE"
] |
B42C1/12,B65H37/04,B65H39/10,G03G15/00
| 1982-09-20T00:00:00 |
1982
|
[
"B42",
"B65",
"G03"
] |
copy selective custody table
|
an apparatus for squaring, stapling, and stacking copies is used in combination with a copier that produces a succession of sheet copies and has a housing adapted to be positioned adjacent the copier, an upper support plate in the housing positioned to receive the copies from the copier and having a downstream end remote from the copier, and a stop flap at the downstream end and pivotal between a position blocking copies from sliding down off the downstream end and a freeing position permitting copies to slide down off the downstream end. a downwardly inclined lower support plate in the housing below the downstream end of the upper plate is positioned to receive copies sliding in the freeing position of the stop flap off the downstream end of the upper plate. a stapler is fixed in the housing adjacent the upper plate upstream of the downstream end thereof and an actuator is connected to the stapler for closing same on a stack of copies on the upper plate for stapling same together. a controller is connected to the stop flap and the stapler actuator for periodically stapling the copies on the upper plate together and thereafter pivoting the stop into the freeing position to slide the stapled-together copies onto the lower plate.
|
1. in combination with a copier that produces a succession of sheet copies, an apparatus comprising: a housing adapted to be positioned adjacent the copier; an upper support plate in the housing positioned to receive the copies from the copier and having a downstream end remote from the copier; a stop flap at the downstream end and pivotal between a position blocking copies from sliding down off the downstream end and a freeing position permitting copies to slide down off the downstream end; a downwardly inclined lower support plate in the housing below the downstream end of the upper plate and positioned to receive copies sliding in the freeing position of the stop flap off the downstream end of the upper plate; means including a stapler fixed in the housing adjacent the upper plate upstream of the downstream end thereof; actuating means connected to the stapler for closing same on a stack of copies on the upper plate for stapling same together; and control means connected to the stop flap and the stapler actuating means for periodically stapling the copies on the upper plate together and thereafter pivoting the stop into the freeing position to slide the stapled-together copies onto the lower plate. 2. the apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the copier has a controller coupled to the control means of the apparatus. 3. the apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the upper plate is downwardly inclined from the copier. 4. the apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the stapler has an anvil-carrying lower part sitting on the housing and an upper arm pivotal relative thereto and carrying a supply of staples. 5. the apparatus defined in claim 4 wherein the stapler is a standard desk-type stapler. 6. the apparatus defined in claim 1, further comprising means for compressing an edge of the copier stack at the stapler before stapling this edge together. 7. the apparatus defined in claim 6 wherein the stapler has a pivotal upper arm forming the means for compressing. 8. the apparatus defined in claim 6 wherein the actuating means includes a solenoid connected thereto. 9. the apparatus defined in claim 6 wherein the actuating means includes a cam coupled to the arm. 10. the apparatus defined in claim 9 wherein the cam has one cam formation coupled to the arm and another formation coupled to the stop flap, the cam forming part of the control means. 11. the apparatus defined in claim 10 wherein the control means includes a switch at least indirectly operated by the cam. 12. the apparatus defined in claim 11 wherein the solenoid has an armature suspended from and pulling down the arm and the cam is provided with a pin engageable upwardly underneath the arm opposite to the armature. 13. the apparatus defined in claim 12, further comprising means for arresting the pin when the stapler is not in place in the housing at the edge of the stack. 14. the apparatus defined in claim 13 wherein the pin is formed with a groove and the means for arresting includes a spring engageable in the groove and an abutment for displacing the spring out of the groove when the stapler is in place in the housing at the edge of the stack. 15. the apparatus defined in claim 6 wherein the actuating and compressing means includes a rotary wheel and a link connected eccentrically to the wheel and to the arm for first displacing the arm down and then forcing a staple therefrom through the stack. 16. the apparatus defined in claim 15 wherein the wheel is centered on and rotatable about an axis and works toggle-fashion. 17. the apparatus defined in claim 11 wherein the link is vertically coupled to the arm. 18. the apparatus defined in claim 1, further comprising spring means for urging the stop flap into the blocking position. 19. the apparatus defined in claim 1, further comprising squaring means for aligning the copies with one another perpendicular to their transport direction when engaged against the stop flap. 20. the apparatus defined in claim 19 wherein the squaring means includes a disk extending parallel to the copy transport direction and engageable transversely with the copies.
|
field of the invention the present invention relates to an apparatus that receives copies from a conveyor of a copier machine, squares them in groups, staples them together, and stacks them. more particularly this invention concerns such an apparatus which works with a collating copier. background of the invention a copier of the type described in german patent document 2,733,521 filed by h. kishi et al with a claim to a japanese priority date of july 12, 1976 can make a plurality of sets of copies from a multipage master. the machine scans each page of the master repeatedly, producing a number of copies of each page equal to the desired number of copy sets wanted. the machine has a group of collating bins each of which receives a respective copy set from a conveyor mechanism which drops one copy of a given page into one bin, then drops the next copy of the same page into the following bin, and so on. this type of machine provides at its output individual copies of a single master, usually delivering them at the end of the run in a sequence starting with the first page of the first set of copies, and ending with the last page of the last set of copies, so that one copy set immediately follows another. the individual copy sets are offset by a movable plate or table from each other. stapling together the copy sets cannot be done without first squaring them, that is aligning the pages of each copy set with the overlying or underlying set. in addition it is fairly common for the copy sets to get mixed up with each other, that is for one set to actually include some copies from another set. objects of the invention it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved copy-sorting apparatus. another object is the provision of such a copy-sorting apparatus which overcomes the above-given disadvantages, that is which produces a squared and neat stack of stapled copy sets without mixing copies from one set with those of another. summary of the invention an apparatus according to this invention is used in combination with a copier that produces a succession of sheet copies and has a housing adapted to be positioned adjacent the copier, an upper support plate in the housing positioned to receive the copies from the copier and having a downstream end remote from the copier, and a stop flap at the downstream end and pivotal between a position blocking copies from sliding down off the downstream end and a freeing position permitting copies to slide down off the downstream end. a downwardly inclined lower support plate in the housing below the downstream end of the upper plate is positioned to receive copies sliding in the freeing position of the stop flap off the downstream end of the upper plate. a stapler is fixed in the housing adjacent the upper plate upstream of the downstream end thereof and an actuator is connected to the stapler for closing same on a stack of copies on the upper plate for stapling same together. a controller is connected to the stop flap and the stapler actuator for periodically stapling the copies on the upper plate together and thereafter pivoting the stop into the freeing position to slide the stapled-together copies onto the lower plate. the copier according to this invention has a controller coupled to the control means of the apparatus. thus operation of the two machines is synchronized. the upper plate is downwardly inclined from the copier. the stapler of this invention is of the standard desk type, having an anvil-carrying lower part sitting on the housing and an upper arm pivotal relative thereto and carrying a supply of staples. thus this part can be replaced relatively easily, and itself can be of well-known construction. means is provided according to this invention for compressing an edge of the copier stack at the stapler before stapling this edge together. this compression is effected slowly and gently, so as not to shift the copies relative to each other and to allow the relatively violent stapling action to take place without any shifting. this means can be the pivotal upper arm of the stapler. the actuator therefor includes a solenoid connected thereto. in addition the actuator or compressing means includes a cam coupled to the arm. this cam has one cam formation coupled to the arm and another formation coupled to the stop flap so the cam forms part of the control means. this control means in turn tincludes a switch at least indirectly operated by the cam. it can also have various photocell arrangements for detecting proper positioning and size of the copy stack, and indicators for showing any malfunction, as well as circuitry connected to the copier controller. the solenoid of this invention has an armature suspended from and pulling down the arm and the cam is provided with a pin engageable upward underneath the arm opposite the armature. thus the weight of the solenoid serves to compress the stack edge. further means is provided for arresting the pin when the stapler is not in place in the housing at the edge of the stack. to this end the pin is formed with a groove and the means for arresting includes a spring engageable in the groove and an abutment for displacing the spring out of the groove when the stapler is in place in the housing at the edge of the stack. two leaf springs engaged between pins in the stapler base can work in this manner, with one of the pins being displaceable when the stapler is in position to spread the springs and free the pin. the actuating and compressing means can also include a rotary wheel and a link connected eccentrically to the wheel and to the arm for first displacing the arm down and then forcing a staple therefrom through the stack. this wheel is centered on and rotatable about an axis and works toggle-fashion, that is it has a central point when the link, its pivot on the wheel, and the wheel axis are aligned so that the velocity curve of the stapler arm is sinusoidal. in such a system the link is vertically coupled to the arm, that is they cannot move vertically relative to each other. spring means urges the stop flap into the blocking position. this spring means can work through a lever coupled to position-detecting switches as described above. in accordance with another feature of this invention squaring means is provided for aligning the copies with one another perpendicular to their transport direction when engaged against the stop flap. such squaring means includes a disk extending parallel to the copy transport direction and engageable transversely with the copies. this disk is rotatable about and displaceable along an axle extending across underneath the upper plate. description of the drawing the above and other features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which: fig. 1 is a vertical and longitudinal section through the apparatus according to this invention; fig. 2 is a top view of the structure shown in fig. 1, line i--i of fig. 2 representing the section plane of fig. 1; fig. 3 is a large-scale transverse section taken along line iii--iii of fig. 1; fig. 4 is a large-scale section taken along line iv--iv of fig. 2; fig. 5 is a large-scale transverse and vertical section through a detail of the apparatus of this invention; fig. 6 is a top view of the structure shown in fig. 5; fig. 7 is a large-scale transverse and vertical section through a variation on the detail of fig. 5; and fig. 8 is a longitudinal and vertical section corresponding to the righ-hand portion of fig. 3, but of a variation on the apparatus of the instant invention. specific description as seen in figs. 1 and 2 a copying machine 1 having a control panel 1a and a controller 11 is associated with a stapling and stacking machine according to this invention which has a housing 3 supported on rollers 2 and having a pair of vertical and longitudinally extending side walls 3a and 3b and a vertical and transverse upstream end wall 3c that normally lies immediately adjacent the copier 1. a plug 10 of the machine of this invention connects its electronic controller 9 to the controller 11 and power supply of the copier 1. an upper support plate 4 and a lower plate 5 are suspended between the side plates 3a and 3b and are both inclined down away from the copier 1. the upper plate 4 is planar and has a downstream end 41 juxtaposed with a stop flap 7 carried on a transverse pivot 6 journaled in the plates 3a and 3b. this flap 7 can move between a solid-line blocking position in which it abuts the lower downstream end 4a of the plate 4, and a dashed-line open position in which it is spaced and angled back from this lower end 4a. normally copies or copy sets are delivered from the copier 1 sequentially in the direction indicated by arrow a. they therefore slide down along this plate 4 so that their leading edges come to rest in aligned position against the stop 7. a squaring disk 60 (fig. 3) described below can square the stack 40 thus formed and a stapler 12 (fig. 3 also) can staple together the left-hand edge of the stack 40 when the requisite number of copies have been stacked up. once stapled, the stack 40 is released by pivoting of the flap 7 in direction d into the freeing position so the stack 40 slides down in direction b, being deflected by a cover plate 25 and coming to rest against an adjustable stop 8 at the downstream end of the plate 5. the rear ends of the copies flop back as indicated by arrow c, so that the stapled stacks 40 form a neatly squared pile with their leading edges aligned. as best seen in fig. 2 the apparatus housing plate 3b has a secondary transversely projecting support housing 17 having as seen in fig. 3 end plates 51 and forming an internal support surface 17a parallel to the plate 4 but slightly below the plane of its upper surface. this secondary housing 17 has a cover plate or door 22 pivoted about an axis 21 to allow access to the region above the surface 17a. a knob 23 with a locking pawl 24 can secure the cover 22 tightly closed on the housing 17. fig. 3 shows a standard desk-type stapler 12 having a lower part 14 carrying an anvil 13 and a pivoted upper part or arm 15 provided with a standard openable staple magazine 16. this stapler 12 is secured on the surface 17a extending transversely from the stack 40 on the plate 4 and is positioned to staple through the squared left-hand edge of the stack 40. it is secured on the surface 17a by sliding it in the direction f through the open door 22 until the leading end of the lower part 14 abuts a turned-down edge 4a of the plate 4. a clip 18 carried on a screw 19 and held in place thereon by a spring 20 is then pivoted into place behind the lower part 14 to lock the stapler 12 in place. when the door 22 is open it is normally possible to replace the staples in the magazine 16 without removing the stapler 12 from inside the housing extension 17. in fact the staple slot can be closed by an element 94 on the door 22 that not only automatically opens and closes the rear end of the channel where a new stick of staples is inserted in the direction f into the back of the stapler arm 15, but also indicates how many staples are left in the magazine 16. the upper staple arm 15 and magazine 16 sit on an upright pin 32 vertically displaceable in the lower staple part and bearing downward on a roller 31 in the middle of a third-class lever or arm 30 having an inner end pivoted at 29 on the plates 20 and an outer end formed with a turned-forward edge 30a. a cam disk 27 is pivoted about a longitudinal axis 26 in the two end plates of the housing 17 and carries a front cam 27a and a rear cam 27b, the latter being engageable with the edge 30a. an electric motor 41 contained in the housing has an output shaft 42 carrying a pinion 43 meshing with teeth on the cam disk 27. the pin 32 that transmits force from the cam 21b to the arm 15 is normally freely vertically displaceable in the lower part 14 and can extend down through the surface 17a. in order to allow the stapler to be removed, it is formed with a radially open groove 32a shown in figs. 5 and 6 and in which can engage two leaf springs 44 and 45. a rod 145 fixed in the base 14 is formed with grooves 144a receiving the forked rear ends of these springs 44 and 45, and another rod 144 extends through slots 14a in the base 14. the outer ends of the rod 144 are engageable with stops 17d formed on centering rails 17b extending up from the surface 17a. thus when the stapler is pushed into place in the direction f, the rod 144 will be pushed toward the rod 145, thereby spreading the springs 44 and displacing them out of the groove 32a. the machine is driven so that it only stops in the open or up position of the arm 15 and so that as the stapler 12 is pulled out against the direction f, the springs 44 and 45 will engage in the notch 32a and lock the pin 32 in place. it is also possible as shown in fig. 7 to provide the stapler base 14 with a two-arm lever 49 pivoted about a vertical axis 48 parallel to the pin and having one arm 49a engageable in the groove 32a and another arm 49b projecting from the side of the base 14. a torsion spring 50 urges the arm 49a into engagement with the pin 32, but the other arm 49b is engageable with the abutment 17d to pivot it out of the groove 32a. thus the pin 32 can only move vertically when the stapler 12 is out of the machine. an upright link 35 carries at its upper end a longitudinal pivot 33 that rides in uprright slots in the plates 51 and that carries a roller 34 engaging the top of the stapler arm 15. the lower end of this link 35 is pivoted at 36 on the armature 37 of a solenoid 38 secured by bolts 39 to the housing 17. this solenoid 38 can exert considerable force to drive a staple through the stack 40. the link 35 has a longitudinally projecting pin 135 under which a lever 77 pivoted at 52 in the plates 51 can engage. this lever 77 is urged counterclockwise, that is out of the path of the in 135, by a tension spring 76, and has a nose 77a that is engageable by the outer end of the front pin 144. thus as the stapler 12 is pushed into position in the machine, its pin 144 pushes the lever 77 back and frees the link 35 for vertical reciprocation as described below. in addition the lever 30 has another arm 30b that can actuate either of two position-detecting switches 156 and 157 that are both connected to the controller and that respectively control the motor 41 and the electromagnet 38. more particularly, the motor 41 can only stop when the arm 30a is in its uppermost position, in which the arm 30b engages and operates the switch 156. the electromagnet 38 is only energized, on the contrary, when the lever 30 is all the way down and the arm 30b is actuating the switch 157. thus the machine will only be able to stop with the stapler in the open position, and the electromagnet 38 will only drive a staple when the stapler is all the way down, after precompressing the stack. in use the cam 27 rotates in the direction e and holds the pin 32 and arm 15 up in the illustrated position while the set of copies is being delivered to and squared up on the plate 4. once the stack 40 is complete, as signaled to the controller 9 from the controller 11, the cam 27b moves past the edge 30a and allows the arm 15 to drop down, pulled by the considerable weight of the armature 37. this action gently but firmly compresses the stack 40 at the stapling location, using a force large enough to flatten the stack out without causing the pages to misalign. the front cam formation 27a acts on an arm of a two-arm lever 53 pivoted at 52, like the pawl 77, and urged counterclockwise also by a respective tension spring 54. a link 55 connected to the other arm of this lever 53 is connected to an arm 56 carried by the stop flap 7, as also shown in fig. 4. this cam 27a only serves to raise the link 5 and flip the stop 7 into the open position when the stapling operation is complete. obviously, such action drops the stapled stack down onto the lower support 6. when the copies are not to be stapled together in sets, it is possible to override the automatic storage and stapling by means of a lever 58 shown in figs. 2 and 4. this lever 58 is carried on the shaft 6 of the stop 7 and projects through an l-shaped slot 3c in the housing. it has an arm 58a carrying a pin 92 that can engage under and lift the arm 56, thereby holding the stop 7 in the open position, and another arm 58b which works on a switch like the switches 156 and 157 that open-circuits the motor 41. thus the copies will simply slide along the plate 5 and move directly, without stopping, to the plate 6. the lever can be pivoted counterclockwise as seen in fig. 4 into the feed-through position at any time. in order to square the stack 40 before stapling it together, the apparatus is provided with a circular squaring disk 60 lying in a vertical plane parallel to the direction a and perpendicular to the plate 4. this disk 60 is carried on a shaft 59 journaled in the plate 4 and is reciprocated by a crank drive 61 operated by an unillustrated motor. an abutment 62 is provided to ensure proper squaring of the stack in the manner described in commonly owned u.s. patent application of alfred heider et al. a microswitch 63 underneath the plate 4 can detect whether any copies are on it, and a photocell arrangement 64, 65 can detect when the stack 40 is too tall. in addition appropriate switches are provided to detect when the supply of staples in the magazine 16 is used up, and lamps 68, 69, and 70 (fig. 2) indicate the various malfunctions, which also are normally signaled to the copier controller 11 to shut down the copier too. fig. 8 shows an arrangement that does the same job as that described above, but with a different mechanism, using of course the same references as fig. 1 for identical structure. here the pinion 43 of the motor 41 meshes with teeth 71a of a crank disk 71 connected at an eccentric pivot 72 to a rigid link 73 pivoted at the outer end of a lever 75 whose other end is pivoted at 74 in the end plates 51. a rigid link 78 substantially identical to the link 35 is pivoted centrally on the lever 75 and carries at its upper end a shaft 79 carrying a pusher roller 80. a bow-shaped clip 81 is fixed to the top part 15 of the stapler 12 to couple it for joint vertical movement with the roller 80, eliminating the need for the biasing pin 32 of fig. 1. in this arrangement the relative positions of the various pivots interconnecting the structure described immediately above work toggle-fashion to multiply force considerable so that the motor 41, even though only capable of exerting relatively low torque, can effect the stapling operation. thus as the disk 71 rotates in the direction e it first pulls the stapler arm 15 down relatively rapidly. as, however, the link 27 moves into a position crossing the axis of the wheel 71, the vertical displacement slows considerably, and in fact stops when a perfectly diametral position is obtained, with concomitant force multiplication. thus the small drive motor 41 is able to create enough force to drive a staple through the stack 40. in this arrangement the stapler 12 is secured against the edge 41 by a stop 22a provided on the cover 22. simply closing this cover 22 therefore locks the stapler 12 in place, and opening it frees it for removal. the flap 7 is here controlled by a solenoid 85 having a link 86 connected to one end of a two-arm lever 84 pivoted at 83 in the plates 51 and having an opposite end 93 connected on one side to a tension spring 88 and on the other to the link 55. an arm 75a of the lever 75 can operate a switch 189 at the end of the stapling operation to energize this solenoid 85 and open the flap 7, and an opposite switch 190 is connected to the motor 41 so it can only stop when the stapler 12 is in the illustrated up position. with the system of this invention it is therefore possible to staple together stacks of copies whether the copies arrive one-by-one, as is usual, or in groups. the stacks are automatically squared and stapled, then dropped in a neat square stack. the machine is a valuable addition to a copier when multiple copies of a multipage document must be made.
|
123-012-863-992-120
|
US
|
[
"BR",
"US",
"EP",
"AR",
"KR",
"CA"
] |
B01F3/04
| 1989-08-21T00:00:00 |
1989
|
[
"B01"
] |
process for stripping liquid systems and sparger system useful therefor
|
undesirable materials, such as unreacted raw materials and by-products, are stripped from liquid systems by delivering a compressed, inert gas through the pores of a sintered porous sparger element and into the liquid system in the form of very small gas micro bubbles.
|
1. a process for stripping water from a viscous liquid reaction mixture having an initial viscosity of at lest about 350 cst at 100.degree. c., consisting essentially of: introducing the viscous liquid reaction mixture into a tank; and feeding a stripping bas into the viscous reaction mixture through the pores of a sintered porous sparger element, said gas being in the form of micro gas bubbles as it is introduced into the reaction mixture; and, optionally mechanically stirring the reaction mixture while said gas bubbles are being introduced therein. 2. the process of claim 1, wherein the initial viscosity of the reaction mixture is from about 750 cst. to about 2000 cst. at 100.degree. c. 3. the process according to claim 2, wherein the reaction mixture being stripped is a zinc dialkyldithio phosphate composition which is adaptable for use as an additive in oleaginous compositions. 4. the process according to claim 2, wherein the reaction mixture being stripped is a an ashless or ash containing dispersant suitable for use as an additive in oleaginous compositions. 5. the process according to claim 2, wherein the reaction mixture being stripped is a multi-functional viscosity modifier suitable for use as an additive in oleaginous compositions. 6. the process according to claim 1, wherein the sintered porous sparger element is composed of a material selected from the group consisting of metal, ceramic, glass and plastic and is characterized by a pore size on the order of from about 5 to about 55 microns. 7. the process according to claim 6, wherein the sintered porous sparger element is composed of metal. 8. the process according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the stripping gas is inert with respect to the liquid being stripped. 9. the process of claim 8, wherein the stripping gas comprises nitrogen.
|
background of the invention the present invention relates to a process for the removal of undesirable materials from liquid systems and more particularly to a process for the removal of unreacted raw materials and unwanted by-products from liquid systems. the process comprises the delivery of a compressed, inert gas through the pores of a sintered porous sparger element and into a liquid system in the form of very small gas bubbles, referred to hereinafter as micro bubbles. it is well-known to utilize inert gas sparging or stripping for removal of unreacted raw materials and unwanted by-products from chemical reactors and various processing tanks, such as pressure reactors, mixing or blending tanks and holding tanks. stripping effectiveness is dependent upon good mass transfer between the inert gas and the liquid; typically, the higher the gas-liquid contact, the more efficient is the stripping. conventional sparger systems consist of an inert gas being dispersed into a liquid tank by means of nozzles, small holes in straight pipes or perforated rings or plates. to maintain a small gas bubble size, to prevent the gas bubbles from coalescing, and to maximize gas dispersion in the liquid, these conventional sparging systems depend, to a large extent, upon agitation, thereby necessitating the use of impellers, turbine impeller mixers or the like. the stripping effectiveness of these systems is also dependent on the volumetric flow rate and velocity of the stripping gas, orifice size and pressure drop across the orifice, as well as the physical properties (surface tension, density, viscosity) and temperature of the liquid mass to be stripped. stripping effectiveness may be determined by the total length of time and total amount of inert gas necessary to achieve a product quality target. product quality targets include such factors as removal of volatile materials to meet a flash point or removal of water from a reaction product. existing conventional sparging systems have certain limitations resulting in lengthened cycle time to obtain the necessary product quality targets and excessive use of the stripping gas. these limitations are particularly evident when conventional sparging techniques are utilized in liquid systems having high viscosities as such systems are much more difficult to strip than low viscosity liquids. as used in this specification and in the appended claims, the phrases "viscous liquid systems" and "systems having a high viscosity" are meant to describe those system or compositions having a viscosity greater than about 200 cst., and typically greater than about 350 cst., at 100.degree. c., for example, from about 750 cst. to about 2,000 cst. at 100.degree. c. liquid systems having high viscosities include, but are not limited to, liquid compositions which are adapted for use as additives in oleaginous compositions such as fuels and lubricating oils. among such high viscosity liquids there may be mentioned ashless and ash-containing dispersants such as borated and unborated polyisobutylene succinimides; anti-oxidant, anti-wear and/or anti-corrosion additives such as zinc dialkyldithiophosphates (zddp); and multi-functional viscosity modifiers, such as a blend of ethylene-propylene copolymer succinic anhydride and polyisobutylene succinic anhydride which has been aminated and then sulfonated. the use of sintered porous materials to enhance sparging is also well known. for instance, porous spargers have been employed in aeration processes to diffuse air or other gases into various liquids (see generally u.s. pat. nos. 1,405,775, 2,639,131, 3,970,731, 4,105,725, 4,261,932, and 4,655,915). additionally, porous elements have been used in the carbonation of liquids (u.s. pat. nos. 2,250,295 and 3,958,945). further, as disclosed in u.s. pat. nos. 4,399,028 and 4,735,709, porous spargers have been effective in froth flotation systems. summary of the invention it is an object of the invention to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems. it is another object of the invention to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems having high viscosities. another object of the invention is to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems which consumes lesser amounts of stripping gas than conventional sparging systems. a further object of the invention is to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems which increases the contact surface between the stripping gas and the material to be removed. still a further object of the invention is to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems which results in shorter batch cycle times and greater production capacities. yet another object of the invention is to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems which disperses smaller sized bubbles and more radial flow of the bubbles than in conventional systems. it is an additional object of the invention to provide a new process for stripping unwanted materials and unreacted by-products from liquid systems which is less dependent on mechanical agitation of the systems to maintain small bubble size, thereby facilitating simpler equipment construction and process design and resulting in less costly systems. the above and other objects and advantages are accomplished by providing a process for the removal of undesirable materials from liquid systems, and more particularly for the removal (i.e. stripping or sweeping) of unreacted raw materials and unwanted by-products from liquid systems, including viscous chemical reaction mixtures, which utilizes a modified sparger system (mss) comprising a sintered porous material (for instance, metal, ceramic, glass or plastic) in the form of a ring, plate or tube, and preferably in the form of a short cylindrical tube, which is connected in fluid communication to a gas delivery apparatus, such as a gas delivery pipe, by means of a tee coupler. this modified sparger element can be placed in a vessel in one or several locations, depending on several factors, including the vessel (i.e. tank) geometry, the gas consumption requirements of the systems, and the like. brief description of the drawings figs. 1 schematically illustrates one type of a conventional sparging system that has been used for stripping reaction masses; figs. 2 corresponds generally to fig. 1, and schematically illustrates one embodiment of a modified sparger system in accordance with the present invention; figs. 3, 3a and 3b illustrate one embodiment of a porous sintered sparging device according to the present invention, fig. 3a being an exploded view of figs. 3b including a porous element 27 (which is shown in fig. 3); fig. 4 depicts the sintered porous element in the form of a cylindrical tube; and fig. 5 is a cross section of fig. 4 taken along line 5--5 thereof. detailed description of the preferred embodiment the present invention relates to a process for the removal of undesirable materials from a liquid system such as a stripping tank, a mixing or blending tank or a pressure reactor. more particularly, the present invention relates to a process for the removal of unreacted raw materials and unwanted by-products from liquid systems such as viscous chemical reaction product mixtures. referring to the drawings, and particularly to fig. 1, there is shown a conventional sparger system located near the bottom of a tank 10 comprising a network or manifold 11 of gas delivery pipes 12. small holes or perforations 14 are provided through the pipes 12 along the lengths thereof to effect the passing of an inert gas into a liquid l disposed in the tank 10. in order to maintain a relatively small size of the gas bubble being dispersed through the perforations 14, and to prevent the gas bubbles from coalescing, agitation is necessary. accordingly, the tank 10 is also shown as being equipped with conventional agitation means, such as impellers 13. the impellers may be powered by any suitable means such as a motor or turbine (not shown). referring now to fig. 2, there is shown one embodiment of a modified sparger system (mss) in accordance with the present invention. the mss is shown in a liquid-filled tank 20, such as a reactor, stripping vessel or the like, preferably near the bottom thereof. the mss comprises a gas delivery manifold 21 of pipes 22 having one or more porous gas discharge or sparger elements 23 mounted in fluid dispersing communication therewith. the sparger elements 23, which are shown more clearly in figs. 3, 3a and 3b, comprise a tee coupler 24, a tubular cylindrical gas distributive support means, and a sintered porous element 27. the gas distributive support means may be viewed as comprising two sections 30 and 40 (figs. 3, 3a and 3b). section 30 consists of a first or inner end 31 which is adapted to be secured to tee coupler 24, a narrower tubular middle section containing a gas supply pipe 32 and an outer or distal end 33 having annular clamping means in the form of a flange 34. the outer end 33 of section 30 further comprises connecting means in the form of a threaded female portion 35. section 40 comprises a tubular gas supply pipe 41, the innermost end of which is provided with connecting means in the form of threads 42 for threading engagement with the threaded female portion 35 of distal end 33 section 30. the outer or distal end of pipe 41 of section 40 is capped by a clamping means such as annular flange 43. the tubular gas supply pipe 41 of section 40 contains gas liberation or distribution holes 44 for the release of gas therefrom. the sintered porous element 27, best seen in figs. 4 and 5, comprises a short cylindrical tube of a sintered porous material such as metal, ceramic, glass or plastic, but preferably metal. the porous element 27 is prepared by sintering particles of metal, or the like to form a solid structure having a pore size on the order of from about 5 microns to about 55 microns, typically 5 to 25 microns, and preferably 7 to 20 microns. the porous elements 27 are available commercially, for example, from pall porous metals filter corporation. the tubular sintered porous element 27 is fashioned to be fitted over gas supply pipe 41. once element 27 is fitted on to the gas supply pipe 41, the two housing sections 30 and 40 are then fastened via threaded member 35 and 42. the sparger assembly is then secured to tee coupler 24, which in turn is connected to gas delivery manifold, for example, by a welded or threaded connection. in operation, an inert gas, such as nitrogen, is delivered through the manifold 21 to the gas delivery pipes 22 located in tank 20 and to the various tee couplers 24 of sparger elements 23. the gas then enters the gas supply pipes 32 from where it is released through the sintered porous elements 27 via the liberation holes 44 in the supply pipes 41 and is dispersed in the form of minute micro bubbles into the liquid being stripped. bubble size and velocity can be varied by changing the sintered sparger elements, e.g. by changing the pore size, or by changing the supply gas pressure and the volumetric flow rate. for instance, an increase in the volumetric flow rate, yields better radial distribution of the gas bubbles while a decrease in the volumetric flow rate tends to cause coalescing of the bubbles. for liquid compositions having a viscosity on the order of from about 750 cst. to about 2,000 cst., at 100.degree. c., stripping is effective when using sparger elements having a pore size on the order of from about 5 to about 55 microns, and a volumetric flow rate in the range of 20 kg./hr. to about 150 kg./hr. as seen in fig. 2, more than one sparger element can be employed in the present system. the number of sparger elements and placement thereof is dependent on several factors, including the identity and properties of the liquid being stripped, the geometry of the vessel being used, and the gas consumption requirements of the systems. the following examples are provided to demonstrate the practice of the present invention and to illustrate the superior results that are achieved by using the modified sparger system of the present invention. the examples are intended to be illustrative of preferred embodiment of the invention. example 1 a multifunctional viscosity modifier was prepared as follows: a vented tank measuring 30 feet high and 10 feet in diameter was provided with a sparger system comprising a gas delivery manifold having four sparger element mounted in fluid communication therewith. each sparger element comprised a tee coupler, a tubular cylindrical gas distributive support means and a sintered porous element. the gas delivery manifold was prepared from 1.5 inch schedule 40 steel pipe, the tee coupler was a standard 1.5 inch schedule 40 tee and the gas distributive support means had an outside diameter of approximately 1.9 inches and, an inside diameter of approximately 1.61 inches. the sintered porous element employed was a stainless steel sintered cylinder supplied by pall porous metals filter corporation, identified as pss cylinder, #c14-06-h, having a density of 4.7 gm.c/m.sup.3 and a pore size of 13 microns. this sparger system was situated approximately one foot above the floor of the tank. the tank was also equipped with two three-blade impeller agitators, located approximately three feet above the tank floor. the agitators are provided to supplement the distributive action of the sparger system. the tank was supplied with 13.5 tons of a polymer solution comprising a mixture of ethylene-propylene succinic anhydride-polyisobutylene succinic anhydride (epsa/pibsa). the epsa/pibsa mixture in pure form has a viscosity of 750 cst., at 100.degree. c. (180 cst. at 150.degree. c.). in storage and transport, residual water in the epsa/pibsa mixture tends to hydrolyze the anhydride, resulting in the formation of the acid from having a higher viscosity. in this instance, the viscosity of the starting solution was 980 cst., at 100.degree. c. because the anhydride is a more desirable starting reactant, simultaneous to the solution being heated to 150.degree. c., water was stripped from the liquid mass by the combined action of the mixers and the small n.sub.2 bubbles generated by the sparger system. the gas bubbles were produced by a compressed stream of n.sub.2 gas flowing at a rate of 30 kg./hr. after a stripping time of 6.5 hours, the flow of n.sub.2 was terminated. the liquid mass had a water content of 0% (less than 200 ppm) and a viscosity of 180 cst. (750 cst. at 100.degree. c). the dehydrated solution was aminated by charging the tank with 0.125 tons of diethylene triamine (deta). water liberated during the amination step was stripped from this mixture by the combined action of the mixers and the small n.sub.2 bubbles generated by the sparger system. the compressed stream of n.sub.2 gas flowed at a rate of 100 kg./hr. after two hours of stripping, the liquid mass contained less than 200 ppm water and the viscosity was determined to be 1580 cst. at 100.degree. c. the resulting solution was then sulfonated by charging the tank with 0.45 tons sulfonic acid. residual water is generated during the sulfonation step. the water precipitated by this reaction was stripped from this mixture by the same method described above. the flow rate of the comprised stream of n.sub.2 gas was 100 kg./hr. after an n.sub.2 strip of two hours, the water content of the liquid mass was 0% (less than 200 ppm). the viscosity was determined to be 1600 cst. at 100.degree. c. the reaction product was subsequently blended back to the target value viscosity of 950 cst. at 100.degree. c. by adding 2.2 tons of a mineral base oil. comparative example 1 the procedure of example 1 was repeated, except that the tank was provided with a gas delivery manifold having small holes (approximately 3/8 inch in diameter) perforated along the length thereof, rather than being equipped with the sintered porous elements that were used in example 1. the starting epsa/pibsa mixture was stripped of residual water by the combined action of the agitators and the gas bubbles dispersed into the liquid mass by the small perforations in the gas delivery manifold. however, because a perforated gas delivery manifold was used instead of the porous sparger elements that were used in example 1, the n.sub.2 flow rate had to be increased to 50 kg./hr., rather than 30 kg./hr. as was employed in example 1. after a stripping time of 6.5 hours, during which the starting solution was heated to 150.degree. c., the flow of n.sub.2 was terminated. the liquid mass had a water content of 0% (less than 200 ppm) and a viscosity of 180 cst. (750 cst. at 100.degree. c). the dehydrated solution was aminated by charging the tank with 0.125 tons of deta. water liberated during the amination step was stripped by the combined action of the agitators and the gas bubbles dispersed into the liquid mass by the small perforations in the gas delivery manifold. the gas bubbles were produced by a stream of n.sub.2 flowing at a rate of 280 kg./hr., as opposed to a flow rate of 100 kg./hr. for example 1. after a two hour strip time, the liquid mass contained trace amounts of water (less than 200 ppm). the viscosity was determined to be 1580 cst. at 100.degree. c. the resulting solution was then sulfonated by charging the tank with 0.45 tons sulfonic acid. water formed during sulfonation was stripped from this mixture by the same method in the previous steps stripping at a n.sub.2 stripping flow rate of 280 kg/hr., as opposed to 100 kg./hr. for the equivalent step in example 1. after an n.sub.2 strip of two hours, the liquid mass contained trace amounts of water (less than 200 ppm). the viscosity was determined to be 1600 cst. at 100.degree. c. the reaction product was subsequently blended back to the target value viscosity of 950 cst. at 100.degree. c. by adding 2.2 tons of base oil. example 2 a dispersant was prepared as follows. a vented tank having the same dimensions and hardware as in example 1 was supplied with 21.4 tons of pibsa which had a viscosity of 900 cst. at 100.degree. c. over a period of two hours, 15.6 tons of base oil were added to the tank. this starting mixture had a viscosity of 64 cst. at 100.degree. c. the mixture was heated to 150.degree. c., resulting in a viscosity of 20 cst. at 150.degree. c. 1.9 tons of polyamine (pam) were charged to the tank over a 4 hour period. after amination, the liquid mass had a water content of 0.2% due to water liberated during the amination reaction. water was then stripped from the liquid mass by the combined action of the mixers and the small n.sub.2 bubbles generated by the sparger system. the gas bubbles were produced by a compressed stream of n.sub.2 gas flowing at a rate of 30 kg/hr. after a stripping time of 1 hour, the flow of n.sub.2 was terminated. the liquid mass had a water content of 0.03%. the resulting solution was then borated by charging the tank with 0.8 tons of boric acid over a 30 minute period. the liquid mass had a water content of 0.2% due to water liberated during the boration reaction. water was stripped from this mixture by the combined action of the mixers and the small n.sub.2 bubbles generated by the porous sparger system. the compressed stream of n.sub.2 gas flowed at a rate of 30 kg./hr. after one hour of stripping, the liquid mass had a water content of 0.05% and the viscosity was determined to be 131 cst. at 100.degree. c. the reaction product was subsequently blended back to the target value viscosity of 64 cst. at 100.degree. c. by adding 14.8 tons of a mineral base oil. comparative example 2 the procedure of example 2 was repeated using the tank described in comparative example 1. the tank was supplied with 21.4 tons of pibsa which had a viscosity of 900 cst. at 100.degree. c. over a period of two hours, 15.6 tons of base oil were added to the tank. this starting mixture had a viscosity of 64 cst. at 100.degree. c. the mixture was heated to 150.degree. c., resulting in a viscosity of 20 cst. at 150.degree. c. 1.9 tons of polyamine (pam) were charged to the tank over a 4 hour period. after amination, the liquid mass had a water content of 0.2% due to water liberated during the amination reaction. water was then stripped from the liquid mass by the combined action of the agitators and the gas bubbles dispersed into the liquid mass by the small perforations in the gas delivery manifold. the gas bubbles were produced by a stream of n.sub.2 flowing at a rate of 130 kg./hr., as opposed to only 30 kg./hr. for example 2. after a stripping time of 1 hour, the flow of n.sub.2 was terminated. the liquid mass had a water content of 0.05%. the resulting solution was then borated by charging the tank with 0.8 ton boric acid over a 30 minute period. the liquid mass had a water content of 0.2% due to water liberated during the boration reaction. water was then stripped by the combined action of the agitators and the gas bubbles dispersed into the liquid mass by the small perforations in the gas delivery manifold. the gas bubbles were produced by a stream of n.sub.2 flowing at a rate of 130 kg./hr., as opposed to only 30 kg./hr. for example 2. after one hour of stripping, the liquid mass had a water content of 0.10%. the viscosity was determined to be 134 cst. at 100.degree. c. the reaction product was subsequently blended back to the target value viscosity of 64 cst. at 100.degree. c. by adding 14.8 tons of a mineral base oil. example 3a a zinc di(ethyl hexyl) dithiophosphate (zddp) product was prepared as follows: a vented tank measuring 11 feet high and 7 feet in diameter was provided with a sparger system comprising a gas delivery manifold having six sparger elements mounted in fluid communication therewith. each sparger elements comprised a tee coupler, a tubular cylindrical gas distributive support member and a sintered porous element. the gas delivery manifold was prepared from 1.5 inch schedule 40 steel pipe, the tee coupler was a standard 1.5 inch schedule 40 tee and the gas distributive support means had an outside diameter of approximately 1.9 inches and an inside diameter of approximately 1.61 inches. the sintered porous element employed was a stainless steel sintered cylinder supplied by pall porous metals filter corporation, identified as pss cylinder, #c14-06-h, having a density of 4.7 gm.cm/.sup.3 and a pore size of 13 microns. this sparger system was situated approximately one foot above the floor of the tank. the tank was also equipped with a 10-horse power mixer suspended from the roof of the tank, the mixer head being immersed in the liquid mass. the mixer is provided to supplement the distributive action of the sparger system. the tank was supplied with 4.2 tons of a raw concentrated zddp reaction product having a water content of 4.0%, of a reaction temperature of 62.degree. c. and having a viscosity of 15.5 cst. at 100.degree. c. water was stripped from the liquid mass by the combined action of the mixers and the small n.sub.2 bubbles generated by the sparger system. the gas bubbles were produced by a compressed stream of n.sub.2 gas flowing at a rate of 20 kg./hr. after a stripping time of 6 hours, the flow of n.sub.2 was terminated. the liquid mass had a water content of 2.5%. the reaction product was subsequently transported to a filtration tank for further processing. example 3b the procedure of example 3a was repeated except that the starting zddp reaction product has a water content of 4.8% at a reaction temperature of 73.degree. c. employing the same stripping method and conditions, the liquid mass had a water content of 1.3% when the flow of n.sub.2 gas was terminated after the 6 hour strip time. comparative example 3 the procedure of example 3a was repeated, except that the tank was provided with a gas delivery manifold having 3/8 inch diameter holes perforated along the length thereof, rather than the sparger system having the sintered porous elements. the starting zddp reaction product had a water content of 4.5% at a reaction temperature of 60.degree. c. s water was stripped from the liquid mass by the combined action of the agitators and the gas bubbles dispersed into the liquid mass by the small perforations in the gas delivery manifold. the gas bubbles were produced by a stream of n.sub.2 flowing at a rate of 60 kg./hr., as opposed to the 20 kg./hr. rate used in examples 3a and 3b. after a stripping time of 36 hours (a stripping time of only 6 hours was used in examples 3a and 3b), the flow of n.sub.2 was terminated. the liquid mass had a water content of 2.2%. the examples provided above clearly demonstrate the superior results achieved by using the modified sparger system of the present invention. thus, in examples 1 and 2, products having a similar very low water content as were achieved with comparative examples 1 and 2, were obtained over the same period of time using very significantly lower flow rates of the n.sub.2 stripping gas. similarly, when comparing the results of examples 3a, 3b with comparative example 3, wherein the liquid mass had a relatively low initial viscosity, dramatically lower rates of flow of the stripping gas and stripping time were used in examples 3a and 3b than in comparative example 3 to achieve similar target product quality. consequently, it should be apparent that the modified sparger system of the present invention utilizes the stripping gas far more efficiently than the comparative systems, thereby reducing costs of operation. the principles, preferred embodiment, and modes of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. the invention which is intended to be protected herein, however, is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed, since these are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. variations and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.
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125-030-031-869-105
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US
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[
"US"
] |
G05B19/04,G05B19/18,G05B15/00
| 2008-06-19T00:00:00 |
2008
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[
"G05"
] |
method and system for providing autonomous control of a platform
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the present application provides a system for enabling instrument placement from distances on the order of five meters, for example, and increases accuracy of the instrument placement relative to visually-specified targets. the system provides precision control of a mobile base of a rover and onboard manipulators (e.g., robotic arms) relative to a visually-specified target using one or more sets of cameras. the system automatically compensates for wheel slippage and kinematic inaccuracy ensuring accurate placement (on the order of 2 mm, for example) of the instrument relative to the target. the system provides the ability for autonomous instrument placement by controlling both the base of the rover and the onboard manipulator using a single set of cameras. to extend the distance from which the placement can be completed to nearly five meters, target information may be transferred from navigation cameras (used for long-range) to front hazard cameras (used for positioning the manipulator).
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1. a method for operating an autonomous vehicle that includes a manipulator and one or more sets of cameras on the autonomous vehicle, the method comprising: calibrating the manipulator with the one or more sets of cameras to establish calibration parameters describing a relationship between a location of features of the manipulator in a two-dimensional image acquired by the one or more sets of cameras and a three-dimensional position of the features of the manipulator, wherein the one or more sets of cameras comprises a first set of cameras and a second set of cameras; determining a first camera-space target projection based on a relationship between a three-dimensional location of a target and a location of the target in a given two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras; using the calibration parameters and the first camera-space target projection to estimate a location of the target relative to the manipulator; creating a trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow to position the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator such that the manipulator can engage the target based on the three-dimensional location of the target due to the first camera-space target projection in the relationship between the three-dimensional location of the target and the location of the target in the given two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras; updating the first camera-space target projection based on subsequent two-dimensional images acquired by the first set of cameras as the autonomous vehicle traverses the trajectory; based on a distance of the autonomous vehicle to the target, transitioning the target from the first set of cameras to the second set of cameras; determining a second camera-space target projection based on a relationship between a three-dimensional location of the target and a location of the target in a given two-dimensional image acquired by the second set of cameras; and updating the trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow based on the second camera-space target projection, wherein transitioning the target from the first set of cameras to the second set of cameras comprises: using the given two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras, providing a laser onto the target; receiving the given two-dimensional image of the target acquired by at least one of the second set of cameras; and determining a camera-space location of the laser in the given two-dimensional image acquired by the second set of cameras based on a location of the laser in the image. 2. the method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of cameras on the autonomous vehicle are long-range viewing cameras and the second set of cameras on the autonomous vehicle are short-range viewing cameras. 3. the method of claim 1 , wherein transitioning the target from the first set of cameras to the second set of cameras comprises: positioning a light source to emit a light substantially near the location of the target; at least one of the second set of cameras acquiring an image including the light; updating the three-dimensional location of the target based on a location of the light in the image. 4. the method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a configuration of the system to position the manipulator approximately at the three-dimensional location of the target. 5. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: positioning a light source to emit a light substantially near the location of the target; identifying the light within images produced by one of the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras; and defining the location of the target in the images produced by one of the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras. 6. the method of claim 1 , wherein calibrating comprises: moving the manipulator through a series of positions; at each positions, acquiring images from the cameras and recording corresponding angles and positions of the manipulator; in each image, identifying a camera-space location of a feature of the manipulator; establishing parameters describing a relationship between the camera-space location of the feature of the manipulator and a three-dimensional position of the feature of the manipulator. 7. the method of claim 1 , wherein determining a relationship between a three-dimensional location of a target and a location of the target in a given two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras comprises using the cahvor camera model. 8. the method of claim 7 , wherein the cahvor camera model includes six vectors of three parameters each for a total of eighteen camera model parameters comprising c ={c 0 ,c 1 ,c 2 }, a ={a 0 ,a 1 ,a 2 }, h ={h 0 ,h 1 ,h 2 }, v ={v 0 ,v 1 ,v 2 }, o ={o 0 ,o 1 ,o 2 }, r ={r 0 ,r 1 ,r 2 }, where the location of the target in the two-dimensional image is described with coordinates (x, y) and the three-dimensional location of the target is described by vector p , and where 9. the method of claim 1 , wherein creating the trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow comprises: determining a position relative to the autonomous vehicle at which to move the manipulator; determining coordinates of the location of the target; and determining a given trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and instructions for following the trajectory. 10. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a second two-dimensional image acquired by the one or more sets of cameras; and updating the calibration parameters to describe a relationship between a location of features of the manipulator in the second two-dimensional image and a current three-dimensional position of the features of the manipulator. 11. a method for operating an autonomous vehicle that includes a manipulator and one or more sets of cameras on the autonomous vehicle, the method comprising: calibrating the manipulator with the one or more sets of cameras to establish calibration parameters describing a relationship between a location of features of the manipulator in a two-dimensional image acquired by the one or more sets of cameras and a three-dimensional position of the features of the manipulator, wherein the one or more sets of cameras comprises a first set of cameras and a second set of cameras; determining a first camera-space target projection based on a relationship between a three-dimensional location of a target and a location of the target in a given two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras; using the calibration parameters and the first camera-space target projection to estimate a location of the target relative to the manipulator; creating a trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow to position the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator such that the manipulator can engage the target based on the three-dimensional location of the target due to the first camera-space target projection in the relationship between the three-dimensional location of the target and the location of the target in the given two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras; updating the first camera-space target projection based on subsequent two-dimensional images acquired by the first set of cameras as the autonomous vehicle traverses the trajectory; based on a distance of the autonomous vehicle to the target, transitioning the target from the first set of cameras to the second set of cameras; determining a second camera-space target projection based on a relationship between a three-dimensional location of the target and a location of the target in a given two-dimensional image acquired by the second set of cameras; and updating the trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow based on the second camera-space target projection, wherein creating the trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow comprises: using the first camera-space target projection when the distance between the autonomous vehicle and the target is above a threshold distance; and using the second camera-space target projection when the distance between the autonomous vehicle and the target is below a threshold distance.
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cross-reference to related application the present patent application claims priority under 35 u.s.c. §119(e) to u.s. provisional patent application ser. no. 61/074,092, filed on jun. 19, 2008, the full disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference. statement of government rights the work disclosed in this application was supported in part by a grant from the nasa-sbir program to yoder software, inc. having contract no. nng05ca89c, therefore, the u.s. government may have some rights in the present invention. field the present application relates generally to the control of an autonomous vehicle, and in particular, to the use of at least two cameras and an on-board manipulator to achieve high-precision control. background the mars exploration rovers (mer) have been successful in the field of robotics. the basic function has been described by dr. larry matthies in m. maimone, a. johnson, y. cheng, r. willson, l matthies, “autonomous navigation results from the mars exploration rover (mer) mission,” springer tracts in advanced robotics , vol. 21, pp. 3-13 mar. 2006. the rovers have acquired and transmitted an enormous amount of scientific data over the past few years. much of this data has been obtained through use of an instrument deployment device (idd), a cluster of instruments mounted on a 5-depth of field (dof) robotic arm. the arm is stowed during navigation and deployed once a mobile base of the rover has moved into position close enough to a target (e.g., a rock formation). for example, a microscopic imager may require precise placement relative to the target to acquire accurate, in-focus images of the feature. this requires human operators to work with scientists to identify points of interest and plan routes to navigate the mobile base toward the target. after one or two navigation cycles (each taking a day), the operators send a list of commands to the idd, which deploys the instrument and takes requested measurements. accuracy of the measurements may depend upon precision with which the idd can place the instruments relative to the target. because of multiple instructions may be required to place the instruments, and thus multiple messages are sent to and received by the rover, the process of acquiring measurements once a target has been identified can require multiple martian days (referred to as “sols”) due to time required to receive instructions (e.g., rovers are commanded with new directives every sol). existing technology related to control of autonomous vehicles typically separates control of a mobile base of a scientific exploration rover from control of onboard robotic arms. separation of the control requires human intervention once the mobile base of the rover has moved into position in order to receive instructions regarding arm deployment for placing scientific instruments at a desired target. in addition, in the case of planetary exploration, for distances that exceed a field of view of a set of cameras controlling positioning of the robotic arm on the rover, it may be necessary to first identify the target using a secondary set of cameras. en route to the target, the rover would then transfer a field of view of the target and control of the mobile robotic arm from the secondary set of cameras to a set of cameras that will eventually perform the final precision positioning. when performing a transfer of the target, it can be difficult to relocate the target using the new set of cameras. similar problems exist in other applications. for example, when a forklift operator attempts to engage a pallet located tens of feet above a truck, a view angle makes alignment of the fork with the pallet difficult. some forklifts include cameras used for guiding both the forks and a mobile base of the forklift, and are rigidly mounted to the body of the forklift. the cameras' range of view may be incapable of seeing both the ground level as well as pallets located in high shelves. to enable engagement of pallets in high shelves, a set of cameras may be positioned on the fork carriage itself. thus, as the forks move upwards through a vertical range, the cameras' fields of view will include the pallets in that range that the forks are capable of engaging. with two sets of cameras on the same forklift vehicle, there may be a need to transition visual target information from the cameras on the forklift body to the cameras traveling with the forks. summary the present application provides a means for the capability of autonomous, vision-guided, high precision positioning by mobile manipulators from short to long ranges, depending on the types and number of camera systems used. a system is provided that allows for the ability to precisely position both a mobile base of a rover as well as an onboard robotic arm using a stereo-pair camera configuration, or other configuration of multiple cameras, for visual guidance. the present application describes the development of high-precision, single-martian-day (sol) instrument placement with a single set of stereo cameras including a series of pairs of cameras and transfer of visual targets between each pair of cameras. the autonomous control of the mobile base provides for movement to an area of interest and control of an arm that is deployed when the base reaches a target. the range of the instrument placement can be over eight meters, for example. the present application incorporates methods and techniques as used within a method of mobile camera-space manipulation (mcsm), which was developed for high-precision visual control of mobile manipulators, and is presented in u.s. pat. no. 6,194,860, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth in this application. the present application describes a system that may be used in a variety of applications. for example, the system may be used in any machine that has a holonomic manipulator attached to a mobile base, such as a forklift system or automatically guided vehicle system (agv). in example embodiments, the present application provides a method for operating an autonomous vehicle that includes a manipulator, a first set of cameras on the autonomous vehicle, and a second set of cameras on the autonomous vehicle. the method includes calibrating the manipulator with the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras to establish calibration parameters describing a relationship between a location of features of the manipulator in a two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras and a three-dimensional position of the features of the manipulator. the method also includes defining a relationship between a three-dimensional location of a target and a location of the target in a two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras, and using the calibration parameters and the relationship between the three-dimensional location of the target and the location of the target in the two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras to estimate a location of the target relative to the manipulator. the method further includes creating a trajectory for the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator to follow to position the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator such that the manipulator can engage the target, and updating the trajectory as the autonomous vehicle and the manipulator traverse the trajectory. these as well as other aspects and advantages will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following detailed description, with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings. further, it is understood that this summary is merely an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention as claimed. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 illustrates an example of a system including camera placement according to the present application. fig. 2 illustrates an example side view of the system of fig. 1 . fig. 3 illustrates an example top view of the system of fig. 1 . fig. 4 illustrates an example fiducial on a portion of the system of fig. 1 . fig. 5 illustrates an example target and positioning of a laser. fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating functional steps of an example method to operate an autonomous vehicle. fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example system for executing the method of fig. 6 . detailed description the present application presents a system for enabling a mobile manipulator (e.g., an onboard robotic arm) of an autonomous vehicle to position a tip of an end of the manipulator accurately relative to a visually-distinctive target. the system has shown an ability to repeatedly position the tip within approximately a few millimeters of the target in a direction perpendicular to the object of interest. in one embodiment, the present application provides a manner of minimizing a number of human interactions required in order to place the desired instrument accurately relative to that target. as such, the present application provides a means for allowing simple target selection based on images taken while far (greater than 8 m, for example) from the target. once the target is selected, the system autonomously moves the mobile base and positions the tool tip a specified distance (usually 8 mm in this example) from the target. note that the rovers typically perform motion and data collection during the martian day, and then send the data back to earth before shutting down for night. as such, an entire day is usually available for gathering a set of data. this means that the rovers can move quite slowly. a method of autonomous go-and-touch exploration (agate) has been developed, and tested to allow for single-sol instrument placement from varying distances. the range of agate is dependent on the number of pairs of cameras used and the field of view of the particular cameras used. fig. 1 illustrates an example system 100 that includes a mobile manipulator 102 , a pair of hazard cameras 104 , a pair of navigation cameras 106 , a pair of panoramic cameras 108 and a laser 110 . the mobile manipulator 102 may be a 5-degree-of-freedom (dof) robotic arm that can be stowed during navigation and deployed once a mobile base of the system has moved into position close enough to a target. as another example, the mobile manipulator 102 may be a 1-dof arm with a reach of approximately 75 cm. thus, the mobile manipulator 102 may have an assortment of attachments at a tip of the manipulator 102 for engaging a target, for example. the number or arrangement of the dof of the arm is not limited by this method. depending on an application of the system 100 , the mobile manipulator 102 may be a holonomic manipulator, a robotic arm, a lift on a forklift, or any other number of apparatuses or members attached to the system that may be operated to move independently of the system, for example. the pair of hazard cameras 104 may be mounted on a front of a base of the system 100 . the hazcams may have a baseline separation of about 170 mm. the pair of navigation cameras 106 may be mounted on a mast extending vertically about 2 m from the back of the system 100 . the pair of navigation cameras 106 may have a baseline separation of about 250 mm. a midpoint between the two cameras may be along a centerline of the system 100 . a downlook angle of the pair of navigation cameras 106 may be about 35 degrees. each of the hazard cameras 104 and navigation cameras 106 may be a “flea” camera manufactured by point grey research inc. of richmond, british columbia, canada. the camera may be a black-and-white, firewire model with resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels, for example. any number of hazard cameras 104 and navigation cameras 106 may be used. although two of each are illustrated in fig. 1 , more than two of each may be used. in addition, although the pairs of cameras are illustrated to be positioned close to each other, the pairs of cameras may be positioned apart from one another, such as for example, one on each side of a base of the system 100 . when the mobile manipulator 102 is fully deployed, the pair of hazard cameras 104 display features at an end of the mobile manipulator 102 with a resolution of about 1.6 mm/pixel. the pair of navigation cameras 106 display the same features at about 2.1 mm/pixel. the system 100 may include an additional set of cameras located at either side of a front end of a base of the system 100 . these cameras may be angled in toward each other to provide additional views of the system 100 . the system 100 may use mobile camera space manipulation (mcsm) control strategies to maneuver. mcsm uses csm as a vision-guided control strategy for holonomic manipulators. csm may require at least two cameras to control a system of three or more degrees of freedom. while precise location of the cameras is not necessary, the cameras need to remain stationary relative to the mobile system. csm uses an orthographic camera model as well as a nominal kinematic model of the system to estimate a relationship between each of the camera spaces and a joint space of the system. this is accomplished by moving the system through a set series of poses. at each pose, images from each of the cameras are acquired and angles and positions of all the joints are recorded. in each of the images, the system identifies the camera-space locations of specific manipulator features. parameters describing a relationship between an appearance of manipulator features in an image and the joint space of the system are established. however, mcsm may be limited to the orthographic camera model, which limits accuracy, and limits flexibility due to required separated, non-parallel cameras. this limits both performance and the ability to see targets far away in a pair of cameras located on the vehicle. within example embodiments described herein, accuracy and flexibility are improved using the methods described below. in order to position the manipulator at a target, a location of the target is identified in the camera spaces. with the camera-space target information and the previously established estimated relationship, the system can determine a joint configuration of the system necessary to position the manipulator at the specified target location. as more visual information becomes available to the system, the estimated relationship can be updated. this relationship can be skewed favoring measurements that are taken more closely to the target location in camera and joint space. a relationship between the manipulator onboard the mobile system 100 and the cameras 104 mounted to a base of the mobile system 100 can be generated. for example, a target for engagement is visually specified as locations in the camera spaces, and an estimated relationship between the camera-space location of features on the manipulator and the joint space of the manipulator can be made to estimate a location of the target object relative to the mobile manipulator 102 . a trajectory can then be created for the mobile manipulator 102 to follow in order to position the system 100 such that the manipulator 102 can then engage the target. the laser 110 of the system 100 can be mounted on a pan/tilt unit (ptu) to share target information between cameras of the system 100 . the laser 110 provides an accurate way to identify the same feature in the camera spaces of two cameras. for example, a target may be chosen in an image taken from the cameras 104 . the system 100 can position the laser 110 such that the laser 110 projects a spot onto the target. the camera-space location of the laser spot (e.g., location of the laser within the image obtained by the cameras 104 ) can then be identified within a image obtained by the cameras 106 to precisely locate the target feature in both of the camera spaces. the system 100 may use the cahvor camera model. the cahvor camera model is described in donald b. gennery, “least-squares camera calibration including lens distortion and automatic editing of calibration points,” in calibration and orientation of cameras in computer vision , a. grun and t. huang editors, springer series in information sciences, vol. 34, springer-verlag, pp. 123-136, july 2001 which is entirely incorporated by reference herein. generally, the cahvor camera model describes a relationship between a 3-d location of a point and an appearance of the same point in a 2-d image acquired by a camera. cahvor includes six vectors of three parameters each for a total of eighteen camera model parameters: c ={c 0 ,c 1 ,c 2 }a ={a 0 ,a 1 ,a 2 }h ={h 0 ,h 1 ,h 2 }v ={v 0 ,v 1 ,v 2 }o ={o 0 ,o 1 ,o 2 }r ={r 0 ,r 1 ,r 2 } the cahvor camera model is summarized in equation form below. the 3-d location of a point is described by the vector, p . the 2-d camera-space location of the point is described with coordinates (x,y). in order to use a camera, or stereo-pair cameras, or some other configuration of cameras, for positioning the system 100 and/or the mobile manipulator 102 , eighteen camera model parameters of the cahvor camera model for each camera in use can be determined. to determine the camera model parameters, recognizable features can be placed on the robotic arm. such features are often referred to as fiducials or cues. the fiducials may take the form of concentric black and white circles, for example, located at an end of the arm. the robotic arm can be moved through a series of positions, and at each position a pose of the arm is determined. fig. 2 illustrates an example side view of the system 100 , as in the case of an example arm that has only one dof, the angle of the arm, θ 3 , is determined. the locations of the fiducials relative to some fixed point of the arm are known, and the fixed point could be the origin (xm, ym, zm) of the coordinate system as shown in fig. 2 . then, using forward kinematics, the location (xa, ya, za) of each fiducial relative to a coordinate system fixed to the rover is determined. these (xa, ya, za) values correspond to the p vector in equations [2], [5], and [6]. at each of the poses, images are acquired in camera(s) of interest. the camera-space location of each fiducial (x,y) is found by identifying the camera-space location of a center of a fiducial to within a small fraction of a pixel. if sufficient samples are acquired, the values for the cahvor camera model parameters can be determined. the system 100 may also self-calibrate the cameras 104 and 106 . camera-space residuals for each pair of camera-space/3-d fiducial locations can be computed as: where (x actual , y actual ) is the actual camera-space location found in the images and (x predicted , y predicted ) is the predicted value for the camera-space location using the camera model parameters, the 3-d location of the point, and equation [1]. the average residual for any given camera is usually on the order of about 0.1 pixels. an ability of the system 100 to self-calibrate by computing cahvor camera model parameters for each camera enables the system 100 to recalibrate to adjust for any changes in the camera model parameters that can occur due to physical movement of the camera or robotic arm due to system vibration, unexpected impacts, changes in environmental operating conditions, etc. all of the cameras may be initially uncalibrated. it should be noted that each of the cameras forming a pair are approximately parallel, but the true relationship between the cameras is not known, nor is this information necessary for the agate process. on power-up, the system self-calibrates by moving the arm through the field-of-view of the three sets of cameras. images of the arm are acquired by all of the cameras on the rover. the system automatically identifies the camera space locations of easily-recognized features at known locations on the arm. using the nominal forward kinematic model of the arm and the known pose of the arm when the images were acquired, sets of 2-d camera-space location points with their corresponding 3-d physical space location are created. using this data with a least-squares minimization process, the system automatically identifies the camera model parameters for each camera. the self-calibration of all of the cameras on the rover system provides an advantage in that the camera-arm system is calibrated as one, in order to minimize the effects of any inaccuracies in calibration. also, the system can update the camera-arm calibration at any time when new visual information is available, thus keeping the calibration current. agate allows the system to automatically move toward a visual target. an operator defines this target with a simple point-and-click of the mouse on the target feature of interest. once the target is established in one camera, the system can automatically determine the corresponding target in the other camera. this is performed, for example, with the aid of a laser pointer mounted on a 2-axis computer-controlled pant/tilt unit (ptu) following techniques described in m. seelinger, j. d. yoder, e. baumgartner, s. skaar. “high-precision visual control of mobile manipulators,” ieee trans. on robotics and automation, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 957-965, 2002. (the laser mounted on the ptu is shown in fig. 1 .) this laser-based transfer of the target is completed by ‘lighting up’ the target. for implementations not incorporating a laser pointer, the feature in one camera may be identified in other cameras using standard image feature matching algorithms such as template matching (more fully described below). once the system 100 has defined the relationship between the 3-d location of a point and an appearance of the same point in a 2-d image acquired by a camera using the cahvor camera model parameters, and the system 100 has calibrated the cameras, a target is defined. the camera-space target location along with the camera model parameters and equations [1]-[6] are used to estimate a 3-d location for the target. this 3-d location will then be used to determine the target pose for the mobile manipulator 102 as well as to generate a trajectory for the system 100 to follow in order for the mobile manipulator 102 to engage the target. the process for estimating the 3-d target location requires that the camera-space target location be known in at least two cameras. in operation, the camera-space target location may be known by either the pair of hazard cameras 104 or the pair of navigation cameras 106 , or by any set of two or more cameras. the 3-d target location, vector p, is estimated by performing a least squares minimization of the following equation: g 5 =σ( x ( p′−c )× a −( p′−c )× h ) 2 +( y ( p′−c )× a− ( p′−c )× v ) 2 [8] where the summation is performed over all the cameras used in the minimization. note that each camera has a unique camera-space target location as well as unique camera model parameters. since these equations are highly nonlinear in p , the least squares minimization process involves a newton-raphson iterative procedure. the system usually converges to a value for p within a few iterations. in an example simulation, a pre-plan trajectory was performed to initialize estimates for camera model parameters. then, the robotic arm was sent to a specific pose at which images were acquired and the camera-space locations of the fiducials on the arm were found. these camera-space locations for the fiducials were used with the camera model parameters and equation [8] to estimate a “predicted” 3-d location for the target. since the arm was at a known location, the actual 3-d location of the fiducials could be computed using the forward kinematics of the robotic arm. the experiments involved computed a residual for the 3-d point estimation defined by: if the camera model as well as the kinematic model of the mobile manipulator 102 are perfect representations of the actual reality of the system and if the measurements have no error, then b 2 would be expected to have a value of zero for this residual. however, due to imperfections in the models, there is some measurement error. for the experiments performed, the average residual was 0.45 mm for the pair of hazard cameras 104 and 0.68 mm for the pair of the navigation cameras 106 . thus, the camera model parameters fit the data and are able to predict the 3-d target location based on a set of camera-space targets. as the 3-d target moves away from an end of the mobile manipulator 102 (for instance a rock that is several meters from the rover) the models are not as accurate at predicting the actual 3-d location of the target as when the target is in the same physical region as the fiducials on the mobile manipulator 102 . once the camera-space locations of the target are found and the corresponding 3-d target location estimated, a trajectory for the system 100 to follow and a final target pose for the mobile manipulator 102 can be generated. successful execution of the trajectory places the system 100 in position to engage a target object. then, with the proper pose, the mobile manipulator 102 places an instrument at the target. the process for generating and following the trajectory as well as determining the final pose for the mobile manipulator 102 is similar to that used with mcsm. fig. 3 illustrates an example top view of the system 100 . positioning the system 100 co-locates a point, a, on the mobile manipulator 101 with the target point, b, as shown in fig. 3 . the point, a, is at a tip of an end of the mobile manipulator 102 . once zarm b (the zarm component of vector p referring to point b) has been estimated, the angle of the arm, θ 3 , can be determined which will locate point a on the mobile manipulator 102 with the desired target point b by using the kinematics of the mobile manipulator 102 . for this case, the point a is measured relative to the (xm, ym, zm) coordinate system, which is shown in fig. 3 . the next step is to create a trajectory for the system 100 to follow. a schematic of an arc of constant radius is shown in fig. 3 . note that the (xarm, yarm, zarm) coordinate system in fig. 3 is identical to the (xa, ya, za) coordinate system shown in fig. 2 . to plan a trajectory, the target point, (xarm b , yarm b , zarm b ), is known. likewise, once θ 3 is resolved, it is possible to use the forward kinematics to generate (xarm a , yarm a , zarm a ). a coordinate transformation is performed from the fixed (xarm, yarm, zarm) reference frame to the fixed (xwheel, ywheel, zwheel) reference frame (shown in fig. 3 ). note that a constant-radius arc is only one example of a possible trajectory from the current position to the target, but it provides a simple example. this produces two points: (xwheel a , ywheel a , zwheel a ) and (xwheel b , ywheel b , zwheel b ). the points (xwheel a , ywheel a , zwheel a ) is the location of point a on the mobile manipulator 102 measured relative to the (xwheel, ywheel, zwheel) coordinate system. likewise, (xwheel b , ywheel b , zwheel b ) is the location of the target point, b, measured relative to the same coordinate system. remaining unknowns are xwheel t , ywheel t , ρ, and θ 4 . these variables are all illustrated in fig. 3 , and the following equations are used to solve for these four unknowns. with the radius of the arc, p, determined, the ratio of the drive wheel velocities are calculated using: note that θ 1 (not shown) is the angle of wheel 1 and θ 2 is the angle of wheel 2 . to execute this trajectory, a motion control card, which controls two drive motors as well as an arm motor, maintains drive wheel 1 moving at a proper rate relative to drive wheel 2 to follow the desired arc. in practice, the system 100 moves through a percentage of the full trajectory created. while the system 100 is moving, the camera-space location of the target point is tracked. whenever a new set of camera-space locations for the target point are available, updated estimates are generated for the target location: (x arm b , yarm b , zarm b ). with this information, a new trajectory can be created. the accuracy of the estimates of (x arm b , yarm b , zarm b ) increases as the system 100 moves closer to the target. thus, the precision with which an end-point of the arm can be collocated with the target point increases. in addition, if the system 100 overestimates the distance to the target, even by only a centimeter, damage could occur when the vehicle collides with the target. therefore, in the normal course of a test, the system 100 executes several partial trajectories until the system 100 has determined that the target has been reached. a series of positioning experiments were performed using fiducials for the targets, and an example test is shown in fig. 4 . for each test option, 20 positioning tests were performed and an error for each test was measured and recorded. the positioning error in the yarm and zarm directions from each test is measured relative to the coordinate system. a standard caliper is used to measure these distances. the error in the direction normal to the yarm-zarm plane is the xarm error and can be thought of as the error in the direction normal to the target surface. this error is measured with a resolution of about ¼ mm. average error in each direction along with the standard deviation of error is listed in table 1 below. four methods were performed and measurements were taken. one method included using measurements from the pair of hazard cameras 104 , one method included using measurements from the pair of navigation cameras 106 , and the remaining two method included using measurements from cameras located on either side of a front of the system. error from each of the four methods is broken down by component. a root-mean-square (rms) y arm error is also computed. table 1summary of positioning test results using fiducials for targetscam-cam-hazcamnavcamagatemcsmaverage x arm error (cm)−0.02380.13100.02250.1025std dev. x arm error (cm)0.03290.09510.02280.0678average y arm error (cm)−0.0091−0.00790.0010−0.0114std dev. y arm error (cm)0.02540.01220.02120.0171average z arm error (cm)−0.1547−0.0328−0.1119−0.0916std dev. z arm error (cm)0.04010.06310.02960.0480average in-plane error0.15670.05290.11110.0984(cm)std dev. in-plane error0.03870.04980.02910.0374(cm) the positioning test results show that all methods are able to place the mobile manipulator 102 to within 0.15 cm of a target location. of the methods, using the pair of hazard cameras 104 has a highest error. however, it should be noted that the standard deviation of the error using the pair of hazard cameras 104 in the z direction is smaller than that using the pair of navigation cameras 106 . rather than just using one pair of cameras, when trying to start the process from a large distance (for example, 8 m), multiple sets of cameras are used. first, for example, the navigation cameras 106 are used. when the system 100 is sufficiently close to the target, the camera-space targets from the pair of navigation cameras 106 will be transferred to the pair of hazard cameras 104 . once the pair of hazard cameras 104 have information regarding the target, the pair of hazard cameras 104 will be used in lieu of the pair of navigation cameras 106 for controlling the system 100 and the mobile manipulator 102 . regardless of whether the target is a fiducial or some feature natural to an object in view of a camera, camera-space targets are determined. in the case of the target fiducial, the center of the fiducial as found in the camera spaces serves as the camera-space targets. for a natural feature target, the process for defining the camera-space targets requires a user to select the target feature via a mouse point-and-click on the target feature as the feature appears in one of the cameras. for instance, if the positioning experiment involves control by the pair of hazard cameras 104 , then the user selects the target feature in an image from the left hazard camera, for example. once the target is established in one camera, the system 100 can determine the corresponding target in the other camera. this is performed with the aid of the laser 110 mounted on a 2-axis computer-controlled pant/tilt unit (ptu). for example, using image differencing, the system 100 identifies the camera-space location of the laser spot. image differencing involves taking two images: one with the laser on and another with the laser off. the only difference in the two images is the appearance of the laser spot. by relating the camera-space location of the laser spot to the position of the pan and tilt angles of the ptu, a rough relationship is established between the 2-d location of the laser spot in the camera-space with the 2-dof of the ptu. in operation, the relationship is used to move the laser spot to a desired camera-space location. in summary, then, a user selects the target feature for engagement by point-and-click in one of the cameras and then the system 100 positions the laser spot at this target location so that the system 100 can obtain the camera-space target location in the second camera. fig. 5 illustrates an example target and positioning of a laser. to position the laser 110 , an approximate relationship is established between the camera-space appearance of the laser spot and the corresponding pan and tilt angles of the ptu. this relationship can be established, updated, and refined based on sample pairs of camera-space locations of the laser spot along with joint poses of the ptu. approximation of this relationship is sufficient for positioning the laser at the desired location. the user selects a target feature, and the system 100 then turns the laser on and identifies the laser's location in the camera space. next an “image error vector” is computed (shown in fig. 5 ), which is the camera-space distance from a current location of the laser spot to the target feature. the image error vector along with the pre-established relationship between the camera-space appearance of the laser and the pan and tilt angles are used to generate a new pose for the ptu. the ptu then moves to the new pose and the camera-space location of laser is found again. the system 100 determines if the laser spot is to within the prescribed tolerance of the target spot (in practice, about ½ of a pixel). if not, the system 100 makes another move of the ptu using the same process. once the laser is at the desired location, then a camera-space location of the laser is found in the other camera(s). thus, the camera-space location of the target point is now known in both cameras providing the information for the positioning experiment to proceed. usually after a few moves the laser spot is located at the desired location, for example. by physically projecting a laser spot on the target surface, the camera space target locations in all of the cameras can be referred to the same physical point. this correspondence may be necessary for achieving high-precision instrument placement. in addition, a camera-space target can be transferred from one camera to another using the laser 110 . in practice, this is usually performed for transferring a target location from a left hazard camera to a right hazard camera (or from the left navigation camera to the right navigation camera). however, the transfer can also be completed from a left hazard camera to either or both of the navigation cameras 106 , for example. once the camera-space target location has been established in at least two cameras, the system 100 estimates the 3-d location of the target and uses this information to create a trajectory for the system 100 to follow as well as for determining a target pose for the mobile manipulator 102 . as the system 100 moves toward the target, the location of the target feature can be tracked in one or more of the cameras. the camera-space location of the feature will move and its camera-space appearance increases in size as the system 100 rover approaches the target. likewise, since the ptu mounted laser pointer moves with the system 100 , the physical location of the laser spot moves as the system 100 changes position and orientation. as the system 100 moves toward the target, the system 100 tracks the location of the target feature from frame to frame of received images. the system 100 may stop periodically to re-position the laser 110 . once the laser spot is positioned, the other camera(s) acquires images and updates its camera-space target location. the updated camera-space targets are used to estimate a new 3-d target point that is used to generate an updated trajectory that will bring the task to completion. there are many possible strategies for determining when the system 100 should stop and update. for example, the system 100 may stop to update after traversing 25 cm. when the distance between the system 100 and the target is below 25 cm, the system 100 may make a few shorter moves until the system 100 moves to the final location for target engagement. target transfer can be thought of as enabling the system 100 to transition from a navigation camera-controlled test to a hazard camera-controlled test without any additional input from the user. first, a user selects the target for engagement using one of the pair of navigation cameras 106 . the system 100 automatically moves the laser 110 spot to the target feature and acquires its location in the other navigation camera. the 3-d location for the target is estimated and used to create a trajectory for the system 100 to follow. as the system 100 follows the trajectory, the system 100 tracks the target feature. the system 100 will make stops every 25 cm, for example, to move the laser spot back onto the target feature. the camera-space targets are refreshed in images or displays of each of the pair of navigation cameras 106 . this process repeats itself until the system 100 moves within 50 cm of the target, for example. when the system 100 reaches a position of less than 50 cm to the target, the system 100 will stop and issue a target update. the system 100 moves the laser spot to the target using information from one of the navigation cameras 106 for guidance. once the laser spot is at the target, the system 100 acquires images from the pair of hazard cameras 104 . these are used to find the camera-space location of the laser spot in both of the hazard cameras 104 , which defines the camera-space targets for the pair of hazard cameras 104 . now that the camera-space target is available in both of the hazard cameras 104 , the hazard cameras 104 are used to estimate the 3-d location of the target. the pair of navigation cameras 106 are no longer used for positioning the system 100 . the system 100 has transitioned the target from the pair of navigation cameras 106 to the pair of hazard cameras 104 . alternatively, or in addition, a static laser or light may be positioned to emit a light source onto the target, and the system 100 can maneuver toward the target. in this example, the system 100 would not require a laser source on the system 100 . any number of static light sources may be present in the field and used as a point of reference to emit a light onto the target. for example, a user in the field may position a light source on a target to direct the system 100 to maneuver toward the target. thus, the laser may be independent from the system 100 as manually operated by a user, for example. next, autonomous and precise instrument placement can be achieved. for the purposes of comparing precision levels a number of natural feature positioning tests were conducted with the system 100 without using the target transfer algorithm. some tests were run using only the hazard cameras 104 for control; others were run using only the navigation cameras 106 for control. for these tests, a distance of separation from the tool to the surface of the target is determined. the xarm error is defined as the difference between the distance of separation specified and the actual distance of separation during the test. once the tool is deployed, a measure of the distance from the end of the tool to the surface of the target is made. this quantity is compared with the distance specified. there can be several sources of error introduced in the natural features tests that are not present in the fiducial tests. the first potential source of error is the feature selection error. the user selects the target feature for engagement. however, the user can select this feature only to within 1 pixel. if the system 100 is close to the target, this 1 pixel may represent a region that is at least 1.6 mm square in physical space. as the system 100 moves further from the target, the pixel/mm resolution decreases. thus, even when the system 100 is close to the target, it is difficult to specify the exact feature selected to within 1 mm. and uncertainty associated with the target selection increases as the distance of the system 100 to the target increases. a second source of y arm -z arm plane error is introduced in the tracking of the feature. as the system 100 moves towards the target, the camera-space appearance of the feature changes. further, a third source of y arm -z arm plane error is introduced in the measurement stage. with the fiducials, in-plane positioning error can be measured since the system 100 actually makes a mark on the fiducial. a distance between the mark and the center of the fiducial is measured. when the system 100 engages a natural target such as a feature on the rock, in-plane error is difficult to measure since there is no clear reference frame, and there is no mark made on a surface of the target. in an effort to reduce effects of measurement error for the y arm -z arm plane error, a rough reference procedure for measuring y arm -z arm plane error can be used. the procedure involves using a laser pointer mounted on a stationary tripod. at the beginning of a test, the user turns on the laser and directs the laser toward a feature on the target. the user uses the laser to assist in clicking on the feature of interest. then the tripod-mounted laser is turned off. the positioning experiment is conducted—from the perspective of the system 100 , there is no change introduced by this procedure. when the system 100 has deployed the mobile manipulator 102 , the tripod-mounted laser is illuminated. since the laser has not moved, the laser spot is projected at the same feature as the laser was when the user selected the target. the user can measure the y arm -z arm plane error by measuring a distance from the tip of the mobile manipulator 102 to the center of the laser spot. the method affords a means of measuring the y arm -z arm plane error to within approximately ½ cm. a series of natural feature positioning tests were performed using the pair of hazard cameras 104 for control. another series of tests were performed using the pair of navigation cameras 106 for control. in these experiments, the system 100 engaged a user-selected feature on the target. the features were classified as either “bland” or “distinct” depending upon how the feature appeared in the images. it is expected that the y arm -z arm plane error should be less when engaging distinct targets versus bland targets. table 2 below includes a summary of the positioning results. table 2summary of positioning test results using natural feature targetshazcamnavcamaverage x arm error (cm)0.0053−0.2600std dev. x arm error (cm)0.05100.1300average y arm error (cm)0.00560.1500std dev. y arm error (cm)0.01100.2900average z arm error (cm)−0.1688−0.9400std dev. z arm error (cm)0.03120.5800 comparing the results listed in table 2 with the positioning results from the fiducial tests as listed in table 1 show a number of trends. for example, the xarm error for the hazard cameras does not increase significantly when using a natural feature for the target. the standard deviation for these natural features tests is still about ½ mm. while the y arm -z arm plane error does not increase significantly for the hazard camera either, the xarm error can be a critical error. the navigation camera loses precision particularly in the y arm -z arm plane, when controlling natural features tests versus fiducial tests. upon completing natural feature positioning tests, a series of full target transfer tests were conducted. table 3 below gives the average errors and standard deviations by component. table 3summary of positioning test results for target transfer testsblanddistincttargettargetaverage x arm error (cm)−0.2144−0.2291std dev. x arm error (cm)0.07780.0634average y arm error (cm)−0.0450−0.0400std dev. y arm error (cm)0.81800.3950average z arm error (cm)−2.1700−1.6700std dev. z arm error (cm)0.71960.6019 the results of the target transfer tests illustrate an increase in the zarm direction error as compared to the test results listed in table 2. this is due in part to the fact that in these tests the target was selected when the system 100 was at a greater distance from the target than was the case for the hazard and navigation camera tests results listed in table 2. the yarm direction error is small, e.g., under 1 mm. there is a slight increase in the xarm direction error, but this error is still, e.g., about 2 mm. in example embodiments, a maximum range for conducting this set of experiments was 4.25 m due to the downlook angle of the cameras. if the navigation cameras 106 were lowered and the downlook angle was reduced or an additional set of cameras are added, the system 100 could perform high-precision, reliable instrument placement from about 5 m and beyond. experiments using 3 sets of cameras have been completed from distances of 8 m. as mentioned, the ptu mounted laser pointer is used to facilitate the process of finding a camera space location of the target feature in a secondary controlling camera, e.g., first selecting the target feature in a primary (or right) controlling camera and locating the target in a secondary camera (or left). a second use of the laser in a target transitioning test is to transfer the target from the two navigation cameras to two hazard cameras. target information can be transferred from one set of stereo-pair cameras to another without the use of the laser. when the system 100 reaches a position at which the system 100 transfers the target from the navigation cameras 106 to the hazard cameras 104 , e.g., about 50 cm away from the target, camera-space locations for the target are found in images of the navigation cameras 106 . these locations are used to estimate the 3-d location of the target, p . the value for p is then used to define the camera-space target locations for the feature in the reference frames of the pair of hazard cameras 104 . this may be completed by using the hazard cameras' camera model parameters and equation 1. a series of eight experiments were conducted using this algorithm to transfer target information from one set of stereo-pair cameras to another without the use of the laser. table 4 below gives average errors and standard deviations by component of the experiments. table 4average x arm error (cm)−0.03090.2383std dev. x arm error (cm)0.69750.2370average y arm error (cm)0.4000−0.7167std dev. y arm error (cm)0.94451.7140average z arm error (cm)−0.76670.6000std dev. z arm error (cm)1.32010.6957 summary of positioning test results for target transfer tests without using the laser pointer as discussed above, the system 100 needs camera-space target location in at least two cameras to estimate the 3-d location of the target. the 3d location is used to create the trajectory for the system 100 as well as to resolve the pose of the mobile manipulator 102 . in practice, agate uses either the camera-space targets in the hazard cameras or in the navigation cameras, but not both. however, it is possible to use more than two cameras for the target estimation procedure, for instance, using the four cameras that comprise the hazard and navigation cameras. it is also possible to estimate the 3-d target location using only one of the hazard cameras with one or more of the navigation cameras. an advantage of this flexibility in using many camera combinations to estimate the target location is that the system 100 retains the capability to estimate the target location and thus engage the target even if one of the cameras becomes inoperable. a series of 40 positioning tests using fiducials was conducted to test the algorithms for using multiple cameras. ten tests were run with each of the four options: a) using only the hazard cameras, b) using the hazard cameras and the navigation cameras, c) using the hazard cameras and side mounted cameras, and d) using the hazard cameras, the navigation cameras, and the side mounted cameras. the results of these tests are listed below in table 5. the test results demonstrate that the use of multiple cameras does not affect adversely the precision of the system. table 5hazcam +hazcam +hazcam +navcam +hazcamnavcamoldcamoldcamaverage x arm error (cm)0.0075−0.00500.0000−0.0150std dev. x arm error (cm)0.03540.03690.03100.0394average y arm error (cm)0.02960.0187−0.00850.0147std dev. y arm error (cm)0.02770.02070.03100.0192average z arm error (cm)−0.0788−0.0782−0.0936−0.1161std dev. z arm error (cm)0.05030.05420.04010.0195 summary of positioning test results for fiducial targets using multiple cameras in target estimation procedure it is also possible to determine how sensitive the overall precision of the system 100 is to error within operating parameters. for example, if part of the system 100 were to be damaged during use, the agate algorithm for instrument placement that is based on the principles of mcsm is reasonably robust to errors since the system constantly recalibrates itself based on where the manipulator features (such as fiducials) appear in the images taken by the cameras. to test the sensitivity of a certain operating parameter, the value for the parameter is altered to “include” an error. then the system 100 recalibrates itself and conducts a series of positioning experiments using fiducials for targets. sensitivity tests have been conducted on the length of the arm as well as the effective radius of the drive wheels. the results of the sensitivity tests for the length of the arm are listed in table 6. table 6summary of sensitivity tests for the length of the arm±0% error±5% error±10% erroraverage x arm error (cm)−0.02380.06920.1417std dev. x arm error (cm)0.03290.06360.0645average y arm error (cm)−0.00910.00340.0034std dev. y arm error (cm)0.02540.00830.0083average z arm error (cm)−0.15470.09610.0665std dev. z arm error (cm)0.04010.10520.0389 from these test results, it can be seen that when the length of the arm is mischaracterized by 10%, the error in the xarm direction grows to about 0.1 cm and the standard deviation of the error is also about 0.1 cm. for example, for an arm that has a length of roughly 70 cm, a 10% mischaracterization is 7 cm. with such a large amount of error in characterizing the length of the arm, there is a relatively small increase in positioning error. this demonstrates the robustness agate positioning method to error in characterizing the length of the arm since the error in positioning is much less than the error in characterizing the length of the arm. a similar set of experiments was conducted for changing a wheel radius. nominally, the wheel radius is 12.7 cm. table 7 shows the results of the sensitivity experiments. there is no appreciable change in the positioning error when the wheel radius is mischaracterized by 10%. again, this demonstrates the robustness agate positioning method. table 7summary of sensitivity tests for the length of the arm±0% error±5% error±10% erroraverage x arm error (cm)−0.0238−0.01670.0292std dev. x arm error (cm)0.03290.04080.0246average y arm error (cm)−0.00910.02950.0301std dev. y arm error (cm)0.02540.01590.0135average z arm error (cm)−0.1547−0.1376−0.1151std dev. z arm error (cm)0.04010.01470.0290 within example embodiments described above, a method for operating an autonomous vehicle is described. fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating functional steps of a method 600 to operate the autonomous vehicle. it should be understood that each block in the flowchart may represent a module, segment, or portion of computer program code, which includes one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. alternate implementations are included within the scope of the example embodiments in which functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the described embodiments. initially, as shown at block 602 , the robotic arm, the first set of cameras, and the second set of cameras are calibrated to establish calibration parameters. the calibration parameters describe a relationship between a location of features of the robotic arm in a two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras and the second set of cameras and a three-dimensional position of the features of the robotic arm. next, as shown at block 604 , a relationship between a three-dimensional location of a target and a location of the target in a two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras is defined. for example, the relationship may be established using the cahvor parameters, as discussed above. using the calibration parameters and the relationship between the three-dimensional location of the target and the location of the target in the two-dimensional image acquired by the first set of cameras, a location of the target relative to the robotic arm is estimated, as shown at block 606 . for example, the calibration parameters establish known locations of the system relative features in images acquired by the cameras. thus, once the target is in view within the images acquired by the cameras, a distance to the target can be estimated using the camera models and the minimization procedure described above. following, a trajectory is created for the autonomous vehicle and the robotic arm to follow to position the autonomous vehicle and the robotic arm such that the robotic arm can engage the target, as shown at block 608 . the trajectory may include both a path for the vehicle to travel, and a movement for the robotic arm including an angle at which to lower or raise the arm, for example. the trajectory can be updated as the autonomous vehicle and the robotic arm traverse the trajectory, as shown at block 610 . for example, as the autonomous vehicle approaches the target, the cameras may be able to acquire more detailed images of the target, and the system may be able to more precisely estimate a location of the target. thus, the trajectory can be updated accordingly. fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example system 700 for executing the method 600 of fig. 6 . the system 700 may be included on an autonomous vehicle, for example. the system 700 includes a processor 702 , navigation cameras 704 a - b , hazard cameras 706 a - b , a laser or light emitting device 708 , and motors 710 . the processor 702 accesses memory (not shown) to execute any of the functions described in the method of fig. 6 and that may be stored in the memory, for example. the memory may include main memory and secondary storage. the main memory may include random access memory (ram), and can also include any additional or alternative memory device or memory circuitry. secondary storage can be provided as well and may be persistent long term storage, such as read only memory (rom), optical or magnetic disks, compact-disc read only memory (cd-rom), or any other volatile or non-volatile storage systems. the memory may include more software functions as well, for example, executable by the processor 702 , and the software functions may be provided using machine language instructions or software with object-oriented instructions, such as the java programming language. however, other programming languages (such as the c++ programming language for instance) could be used as well. in general, it should be understood that the system 700 could include hardware objects developed using integrated circuit development technologies, or yet via some other methods, or the combination of hardware and software objects that could be ordered, parameterized, and connected in a software environment to implement different functions described herein. also, the hardware objects could communicate using electrical signals, with states of the signals representing different data. it should also be noted that the system 700 generally executes application programs resident at system 700 under the control of an operating system, for example. it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the methods described herein may be embodied in a computer program product that includes one or more computer readable media, as described as being present within the system 700 . for example, a computer readable medium can include a readable memory device, such as a hard drive device, a cd-rom, a dvd-rom, or a computer diskette, having computer readable program code segments stored thereon. the computer readable medium can also include a communications or transmission medium, such as, a bus or a communication link, either optical, wired or wireless having program code segments carried thereon as digital or analog data signals. the navigation cameras 704 a - b and the hazard cameras 706 a - b may be located at different locations on the system and are connected to the processor 702 to provide acquired image data to the processor 702 . further, the processor 702 may communicate information between each of the navigation cameras 704 a - b and the hazard cameras 706 a - b , for example. the laser 708 is also connected to the processor 702 and may be controlled by the processor 702 to emit a light source in a given direction and for a given duration, for example. the motors 710 are also connected to the processor 702 and may be controlled by the processor 702 to control movement of the system 700 or to control movement of objects connected to the system 700 , such as a robotic arm for example. the system 700 generally can range from a hand-held device, laptop, or personal computer to a larger computer such as a workstation and multiprocessor. the system 700 may also include an input device, such as a keyboard and/or a two or three-button mouse, if so desired. one skilled in the art of computer systems will understand that the example embodiments are not limited to any particular class or model of computer employed for the system 700 and will be able to select an appropriate system. in alternative embodiments, a third set of cameras may be used to help operate the autonomous vehicle. experiments were conducted with the system 100 beginning roughly 3-8 m away from the target and using three sets of cameras, referred to as panoramic cameras (pancams), navigation cameras (navcams), and hazard cameras (hazcams). the exact starting location and the target were varied from test to test. note that the algorithm is restricted to starting locations from which the pancams can see the target, since the target is specified using a pancam image. it should be noted that from this range, the spatial resolution of the pancams is approximately 13 mm/pixel. a series of 20 test runs were carried out using a laser-based tracking means. in these tests the rover began roughly 8 m away from the target location. in all 20 tests, the rover successfully positioned its instrument at the target rock selected. the accuracy of end-effector placement is measured in two ways—‘in-plane’ error is in the plane tangent to the target surface, and ‘out-of-plane’ error is perpendicular to the target surface. the average out-of-plane error was measured to be 1.1 mm, with a standard deviation of 1.5 mm. the average in-plane error was measured to be 24.6 mm, with a standard deviation of 12.8 mm. a series of 20 tests using a non-laser based tracking means were also carried out. the system was able to handoff the target from the pancams to the navcams. for the successful test runs, the average out-of-plane error was 5.1 mm. the average in-plane error was 30.4 mm. many tests using both methods from a range of 4 m or less have also been conducted. in such cases average errors using both methods were less than 3 mm out-of-plan and 10 mm in-plane. experimental results have shown that a mobile manipulator can autonomously position its tool tip a specified distance from a visually-specified target. the target was specified from a distance of approximately 8 m or more, with a resolution of 13 mm/pixel. to accurately model the typical nasa systems, three sets of cameras were used for these experiments, with increasingly smaller focal lengths. two approaches were tested for transferring of target information among cameras. the first was the use of a pan-tilt mounted laser. this laser was used to ‘light up’ the target, allowing for accurate transfer of target information. final out-of-plane accuracy was on average approximately 1 mm with this approach, and in-plane accuracy was about 25 mm. thus, the system presented here demonstrates the ability to control the instrument placement relative to a target in the critical, out-of-plane, direction with a precision that far exceeds the camera/physical space resolution when the target was selected. this method was successful in every trial. the second approach was to eliminate the use of the laser and transfer target information using only features in the images themselves. this approach was successful in the trials, and resulted in an average out-of-plane error of about 5 mm and in-plane error of about 30 mm. example embodiments of the autonomous go and touch exploration (agate) system will enable precision mobile manipulation from distances on the order of eight meters, for example, and will be applicable to a variety of applications, such as planetary exploration rovers. as another example, agate will enable computer-controlled forklifts to automatically engage pallets located atop high shelves by providing the means for transferring visual target information from cameras on the forklift body to cameras attached to the forks. this capability will increase productivity and reduce costs by decreasing the time required for engaging pallets atop high shelves as well as by reducing product damage and increasing workplace safety. agate could also be used to control other commercial mobile manipulators, such as backhoes, cherry-pickers, etc. the following references are entirely incorporated by reference herein and may include additional explanation of details of embodiments described above. m. maimone, a. johnson, y. cheng, r. willson, l matthies, “autonomous navigation results from the mars exploration rover (mer) mission,” springer tracts in advanced robotics , vol. 21, pp. 3-13 mar. 2006.donald b. gennery, “least-squares camera calibration including lens distortion and automatic editing of calibration points,” in calibration and orientation of cameras in computer vision , a. grun and t. huang editors, springer series in information sciences, vol. 34, springer-verlag, pp. 123-136, july 2001.e. t. baumgartner, r. g. bonitz, j. p. melko, l. r. shiraishi, c. leger, and a. trebi-ollennu, “mobile manipulation for the mars exploration rovers,” ieee robotics and automation magazine , vol. 13, no. 2, 2006.t. huntsberger, et al., “rover autonomy for long range navigation and science data acquisition on planetary surfaces,” in proc. 2002 ieee int. conf on robotics and automation , pp. 3161-3168, 2002.e. t. baumgartner, c. leger, t. a. huntsberger, and p. s. schenker, “sensor-fused navigation and manipulation from a planetary rover,” sensor fusion and decentralized control in autonomous robotic systems , spie proc. vol. 3523, pp. 58-66, boston, mass., october, 1998.m. seelinger, j. d. yoder, e. baumgartner, s. skaar. “high-precision visual control of mobile manipulators,” ieee trans. on robotics and automation, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 957-965, 2002.m. seelinger, j. d yoder, s. skaar, u.s. pat. no. 6,194,860 b1, “mobile camera-space manipulation,” feb. 27, 2001.p. backes, a. diaz-calderon, m. robinson, m. bajracharya, and d. helmick, “automated rover positioning and instrument placement,” ieee aerospace conference, march 2005.t. huntsberger, y. cheng, a. stroupe, and h. aghazarian. “closed loop control for autonomous approach and placement of science instruments by planetary rovers” ieee conf. on intelligent robots and systems iros2005, edmonton, canada, aug. 2-6, 2005.pedersen, l.; smith, d. e.; deans, m.; sargent, r.; kunz, c.; lees, d.; rajagopalan, s., “mission planning and target tracking for autonomous instrument placement,” aerospace, 2005 ieee conference, 5-12 mar. 2005 page(s):1-18.david g. lowe, “distinctive image features from scale-invariant keypoints,” international journal of computer vision , vol. 60, no. 2 pp. 91-110, 2004.j. d. yoder and m. seelinger, “visual coordination of heterogeneous mobile manipulators,” springer tracts in advanced robotics , vol. 21, pp. 387-396, march 2006.bruce d. lucas and takeo kanade. an iterative image registration technique with an application to stereo vision. international joint conference on artificial intelligence, pages 674-679, 1981.s. smith, j. brady, susan—a new approach to low level image processing, intl. journal of computer vision. vol. 23, no. 1, pages 45-78, 1997.y. ke and r. sukthankar. pca-sift: a more distinctive representation for local image descriptors. in proc. of the ieee conf on computer vision and pattern recognition (cvpr), 2004. generally, the present application provides an approach to accurately position a mobile manipulator from distances that are large relative to the scale of the manipulator. transferring images of the target from one set of cameras to another helps to enable positioning of mobile manipulator. the means for target transfer from one system to another could facilitate the cooperation of multiple robots, or at the very least between remote cameras and cameras located on the mobile robot system. for example, a commercial application along these lines is that of autonomous unloading of a tractor-trailer. a stationary set of cameras could be positioned at the back end of a tractor-trailer, and this set of cameras could identify the pallets in the back of the trailer. the visual information could be transferred to an automatic forklift or team of forklifts for the automatic unloading of the trailer. other examples are possible as well. it should be understood that the arrangements described herein are for purposes of example only. as such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other arrangements and other logic or circuit elements can be used instead, and some elements may be omitted altogether according to the desired results. further, many of the elements that are described are functional entities that may be implemented as discrete or distributed components or in conjunction with other components, in any suitable combination and location. it is intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and it is intended to be understood that the following claims including all equivalents define the scope of the invention.
|
126-040-667-869-907
|
US
|
[
"EP",
"RU",
"AU",
"US",
"CN",
"CA",
"WO"
] |
E01C23/06,E01C7/18,E01C19/10,E01C19/16,E01C19/17,E01C23/088
| 2016-10-11T00:00:00 |
2016
|
[
"E01"
] |
cold in-place recycling machine with surge tank
|
a cir-modified milling machine includes a milling drum that is adapted to mill material from a roadway, which milling drum is contained in a milling drum housing. an additive spray assembly is located within the milling drum housing and adapted to dispense an asphalt additive therein. an additive flow system includes an inlet line that is adapted to be operatively connected to an external supply line, a surge tank for asphalt additive that is in fluid communication with the additive spray assembly, and an additive pump for pumping asphalt additive from the surge tank to the additive spray assembly.
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1. a cir-modified milling machine comprising: (a) a milling drum that is adapted to mill material from a roadway; (b) a milling drum housing that contains the milling drum; (c) an additive spray assembly that is located within the milling drum housing and adapted to dispense an asphalt additive therein; (d) an additive flow system: (i) which includes an inlet pipe that is adapted to be operatively connected to an external supply line; (ii) comprising a surge tank for asphalt additive that is in fluid communication with the additive spray assembly; (iii) comprising an additive pump for pumping asphalt additive from the surge tank to the additive spray assembly; wherein the additive flow system includes piping and associated valves that permit operation of the additive flow system in a first mode in which the additive pump is adapted to draw asphalt additive from an external supply into the surge tank by means of the external supply line, and to pump the asphalt additive out of the surge tank to the additive spray assembly, and alternatively in a second mode in which the additive pump is adapted to draw asphalt additive from an external supply by means of the external supply line and to pump the asphalt additive out to the additive spray assembly while bypassing the surge tank. 2. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 1 wherein the additive flow system includes piping and associated valves that also permit operation of the additive flow system in a mode in which the additive pump is adapted to pump asphalt additive from the surge tank to the additive spray assembly when no external supply line is attached to the additive flow system. 3. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 1 wherein the additive flow system: (a) includes a drain in the surge tank, which drain may be opened; (b) includes piping and associated valves that permit operation of the additive flow system in a mode in which the additive pump is adapted to draw a solvent through the external supply line and into the surge tank so as to drain out through the open drain in the surge tank in order to clean out the surge tank. 4. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 1 wherein the additive flow system: (a) includes an air vent and a vent opening into the surge tank (b) is operated without pressurizing the surge tank. 5. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 1 wherein the surge tank is provided with thermal insulating panels on at least some of its external surfaces. 6. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 1 wherein the additive flow system includes piping and associated valves that also permit operation of the additive flow system in a mode in which the additive pump is adapted to draw asphalt additive from a first external supply and to pump the asphalt additive to a second external location. 7. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 1 wherein the additive flow system includes a float valve comprising a float which is adapted to float on the surface of asphalt additive in the surge tank. 8. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 7 : (a) which includes a controller; (b) wherein the additive flow system further comprises: (i) a float level gauge that provides a visual indicator of the amount of asphalt additive in the surge tank; (ii) a float level sensor that is operatively attached to the controller and adapted to send a signal to the controller of the level of asphalt additive in the surge tank. 9. a cir-modified milling machine comprising: (a) a milling drum that is adapted to mill material from a roadway; (b) a milling drum housing that contains the milling drum; (c) an additive spray assembly that is located within the milling drum housing and adapted to dispense an asphalt additive therein; (d) an additive flow system comprising: (i) a surge tank for asphalt additive that is in fluid communication with the additive spray assembly; (ii) an additive pump for pumping asphalt additive from the surge tank to the additive spray assembly; (iii) a first inlet pipe having a first inlet opening and a first outlet into the surge tank; (iv) a first valve for controlling the flow through the first inlet pipe; (v) a second inlet pipe having a second inlet opening; (vi) a second valve for controlling the flow through the second inlet pipe; (vii) a third inlet pipe having a third inlet opening into the surge tank; (viii) a third valve for controlling the flow through the third inlet pipe; (ix) a first outlet pipe having a first outlet; (x) a fourth valve for controlling the flow through the additive pump; (xi) a second outlet pipe having a second outlet; (xii) a fifth valve for controlling the flow through the second outlet pipe; (e) wherein the cir-modified milling machine is adapted to be operated in a first mode of operation, when: (i) an external supply line is attached between the first inlet opening of the first inlet pipe and an external source of supply; and (ii) an onboard supply line is attached between the first outlet of the first outlet pipe and the additive spray assembly; and (iii) the first valve, the third valve and the fourth valve are opened; and (iv) the second valve and the fifth valve are closed; and the additive pump is activated to draw asphalt additive through the external supply line from the external source of supply, through the first inlet pipe, and out the first outlet into the surge tank, and back out of the surge tank through the third inlet opening, the third inlet pipe, the additive pump, and out the first outlet pipe through the onboard supply line to the additive spray assembly; and (f) wherein the cir-modified milling machine is also adapted to be operated in a second mode of operation in which the surge tank is bypassed, when: (i) an external supply line is attached between the second inlet opening of the second inlet pipe and an external source of supply; and (ii) an onboard supply line is attached between the first outlet of the first outlet pipe and the additive spray assembly; and (iii) the second valve and the fourth valve are opened; and (iv) the first valve, the third valve and the fifth valve are closed; and the additive pump is activated to draw asphalt additive through the external supply line from the external source of supply, through the second inlet pipe, through the additive pump and out the first outlet pipe through the onboard supply line to the additive spray assembly. 10. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 9 which is adapted to be operated in a third mode of operation when no external supply line is attached to the additive flow system, when: (a) an onboard supply line is attached between the first outlet of the first outlet pipe and the additive spray assembly; and (b) the third valve and the fourth valve are opened; and (c) the first valve, the second valve and the fifth valve are closed; and the additive pump is activated to draw asphalt additive out of the surge tank through the third inlet opening, the third inlet pipe, the additive pump, and out the first outlet pipe through the onboard supply line to the additive spray assembly. 11. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 9 which is adapted to be operated in a fourth mode of operation to transfer asphalt additive from a first external source to a second location, when: (a) a first external supply line is attached between the second inlet opening of the second inlet pipe and the first external source; and (b) a second external supply line is attached between the second outlet of the second outlet pipe and the second location; and (c) the second valve, the fourth valve and the fifth valve are opened; and (d) the first valve and the third valve are closed; and the additive pump is activated to draw asphalt additive from the first external source through the first external supply line, the second inlet pipe and the additive pump and out the second outlet pipe through the second external supply line to the second location. 12. the cir-modified milling machine of claim 9 , which includes a drain in the bottom of the surge tank, and is adapted to be operated in a fifth mode of operation to flush the surge tank with a solvent from a source of solvent, when: (a) an external supply line is connected between the first inlet opening of the first inlet pipe and the source of solvent; and (b) the drain in the bottom of the surge tank is opened; and (c) the first valve and the fourth valve are opened; and (d) the second valve, the third valve and the fifth valve are closed; and the additive pump is activated to draw the solvent through the first inlet pipe and out the first outlet into the surge tank, and out of the surge tank through the drain.
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cross-reference to related application this application claims the benefit of u.s. provisional patent application no. 62/406,497 which was filed on oct. 11, 2016. field of the invention the present invention relates generally to repair and repaving of roadways with asphalt paving material. more particularly, the invention relates to equipment for use in cold in-place repaving of roadways with recycled asphalt material. background of the invention roadway repair is often accomplished by overlaying the existing pavement (whether of concrete or asphalt paving material) with a new layer (often called a leveling course) of concrete or asphalt paving material. without prior surface treatment, however, this method of repair generally results in the application of insufficient quantities of paving material in the rutted, potholed or otherwise damaged areas, because the overlay will be applied at the same rate per unit of roadway width in damaged areas (which have a greater depth to be filled across the width) as in the undamaged areas. the resulting reduced density in the overlay of the previously damaged areas will lead to renewed rutting or other wear damage in the new pavement in relatively short order. however, by milling the surface of the damaged pavement to a uniform surface elevation below the level of the damage, the addition of new pavement will produce a road surface having a consistent elevation across the entire width of the roadway. this repaving technique can be used to return the elevation of a damaged roadway to its original pre-damaged elevation, whereas the placement of a leveling course atop damaged but un-milled pavement will tend to raise the surface of the roadway or some portion thereof above its original elevation. roadway repair without milling can require the raising of road shoulders, guardrails and manhole covers and the adjustment of overpass clearances, all of which is unnecessary if a proper milling technique is employed. a use of milling prior to repaving can also permit ready establishment of the proper road grade and slope, and thereby avoid drainage and safety problems. furthermore, milling typically provides a rough surface that readily accepts and bonds with the new asphalt or other pavement overlay. finally, milling can provide raw material that can be reclaimed for use in the production of new paving materials. a milling machine includes a milling drum with a plurality of cutter teeth mounted thereon which is contained within a milling drum housing. the milling machine is adapted to be advanced across a road surface to “mill” the surface to remove asphalt concrete pavement or portland cement concrete pavement in preparation for recycling the pavement and/or in preparation for applying a pavement overlay. a milling machine typically includes one or more conveyors to take the milled material from the vicinity of the milling drum and direct it away from the machine and into an adjacent dump truck. a road stabilizer/reclaimer machine is similar to a milling machine in that it comprises a wheeled or track-driven vehicle that includes a milling drum with a plurality of cutter teeth mounted thereon which is contained within a milling drum housing. however, the milling drum of a road stabilizer/reclaimer machine is generally employed to mill or pulverized an existing road bed or roadway to a greater depth than does a milling machine prior to repaving (usually called reclaiming) or prior to initial paving (usually called stabilizing), and it leaves the pulverized material in place. cold in-place recycling (“cir”) equipment can be used to repair damage to a roadway in a single pass, while reusing essentially all of the existing asphalt material. in the cir process, damaged layers of asphalt pavement are removed. the removed material is processed and replaced on the roadway and then compacted. if a roadway has good structural strength, cir can be an effective treatment for all types of cracking, ruts and holes in asphalt pavement. cir can be used to repair asphalt roadways damaged by fatigue (alligator) cracking, bleeding (of excess asphalt cement), block cracking, corrugation and shoving, joint reflective cracking, longitudinal cracking, patching, polished aggregate, potholes, raveling, rutting, slippage cracking, stripping and transverse (thermal) cracking. the root cause of the pavement failure should always be investigated to rule out base failure. however, cir can almost always be used when there is no damage to the base of the roadway. generally, cir is only half as expensive as hot mix paving while providing approximately 80% of the strength of hot mix paving. cir can be carried out with the aid of a milling machine or a road stabilizer/reclaimer machine that has been modified by mounting an additive spray assembly in the milling drum housing to inject an asphalt additive such as an asphalt emulsion or foamed asphalt cement into the milling drum housing. the asphalt additive is then thoroughly blended with the milled material by the milling drum and can be left in a windrow or fed by the milling machine's discharge conveyor directly into a paving machine. generally, the asphalt additive is supplied from a separate additive supply tanker truck that is coupled to the modified milling machine or the modified road stabilizer/reclaimer machine. the asphalt additive is drawn directly from the tank on the additive supply truck and pumped to the spray assembly in the milling drum housing. since the cir process uses asphalt paving material that is already in place on the roadway, the only other component of the new pavement is the asphalt additive carried by the tanker truck. consequently, conventional systems require that the modified milling machine or modified road stabilizer/reclaimer machine be coupled to the tanker truck during all phases of the cir process. this makes it difficult to operate a cir-modified machine around tight corners and through intersections. consequently, it would be desirable if a method and apparatus could be provided that would allow an operator of a cir-modified machine to continue to mill and process milled material through intersections, around tight corners and while switching out an empty tanker truck for a full one. advantages of the invention among the advantages of a preferred embodiment of the invention is that it provides a method and apparatus that allows a cir-modified machine to continue to mill and process milled material through intersections, around tight corners and while switching out an empty tanker truck for a full one. other advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from an examination of the drawings and the ensuing description. notes on construction the use of the terms “a”, “an”, “the” and similar terms in the context of describing the invention are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. the terms “comprising”, “having”, “including” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. the terms “substantially”, “generally” and other words of degree are relative modifiers intended to indicate permissible variation from the characteristic so modified. the use of such terms in describing a physical or functional characteristic of the invention is not intended to limit such characteristic to the absolute value which the term modifies, but rather to provide an approximation of the value of such physical or functional characteristic. terms concerning attachments, coupling and the like, such as “connected” and “interconnected”, refer to a relationship wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both moveable and rigid attachments or relationships, unless specified herein or clearly indicated by context. the term “operatively connected” is such an attachment, coupling or connection that allows the pertinent structures to operate as intended by virtue of that relationship. the term “fluid communication” is such an attachment, coupling or connection that allows for flow of fluid from one such structure or component to or by means of the other. the use of any and all examples or exemplary language (e.g., “such as” and “preferably”) herein is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and the preferred embodiment thereof, and not to place a limitation on the scope of the invention. nothing in the specification should be construed as indicating any element as essential to the practice of the invention unless so stated with specificity. several terms are specifically defined herein. these terms are to be given their broadest reasonable construction consistent with such definitions, as follows: the terms “asphalt paving material(s)” and “asphalt concrete” refer to a paving mixture or mat that is comprised of asphalt cement and any of various aggregate materials. the term “asphalt cement” and similar terms refer to a binder that is used in combination with aggregate materials in the production of asphalt concrete. the term “asphalt additive” and similar terms refer to a liquid additive containing asphalt cement. an asphalt additive may comprise asphalt cement, cutback asphalt, an asphalt cement emulsion and/or foamed asphalt cement. the term “milling machine” refers to a machine having a milling or working drum that is adapted to be placed into contact with a roadway or road base surface for removing a portion of the surface. the term “milling machine” includes but is not limited to machines that are sometimes referred to as road stabilizers and roadway reclaiming machines. the term “cir-modified milling machine” refers to a milling machine which has been modified by the addition of an additive flow system including a spray assembly that is mounted in the milling drum housing to inject an asphalt additive into the milling drum housing. the term “processing direction” refers to the primary direction of travel of a cir-modified milling machine as it operates on a roadway. the term “cir train” refers to a combination of a cir-modified milling machine and an asphalt additive tanker truck that are used together in a cir process. the terms “front”, “forward” and similar terms, when used with respect to a cir-modified milling machine or a component of such a machine, refer to a relative location or direction towards the leading end of the cir-modified milling machine as it travels in the processing direction. the term “rear” and similar terms, when used with respect to a cir-modified milling machine or a component of such a machine, refer to a relative location or direction towards the trailing end of the cir-modified milling machine as it travels in the processing direction. summary of the invention the invention comprises an additive flow system for a cir-modified milling machine that includes a surge tank for containing a quantity of an asphalt additive. asphalt additive may be pumped from the surge tank to the additive spray assembly of the cir-modified milling machine. more particularly, the invention comprises a cir-modified milling machine having a milling drum that is adapted to mill material from a roadway and a milling drum housing that contains the milling drum. an additive spray assembly is located within the milling drum housing and adapted to dispense an asphalt additive therein. an additive flow system includes an inlet line that is adapted to be operatively connected to an external supply line. the additive flow system also includes surge tank for asphalt additive that is in fluid communication with the additive spray assembly, and an additive pump for pumping asphalt additive from the surge tank to the additive spray assembly. in order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, the preferred embodiment of the invention, as well as the best mode known by the inventor for carrying out the invention, is illustrated in the drawings, and a detailed description thereof follows. it is not intended, however, that the invention be limited to the particular embodiment described or to use in connection with the apparatus illustrated herein. therefore, the scope of the invention contemplated by the inventor includes all equivalents of the subject matter described herein, as well as various modifications and alternative embodiments such as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. the inventor expects skilled artisans to employ such variations as seem to them appropriate, including the practice of the invention otherwise than as specifically described herein. in addition, any combination of the elements and components of the invention described herein in any possible variation is encompassed by the invention, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly excluded by context. brief description of the drawings the presently preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts throughout, and wherein: fig. 1 is a side view of a cir train comprised of a cir-modified milling machine that includes the invention and an additive supply tank truck. fig. 2 is a side view of the cir-modified milling machine that includes the invention which is shown in fig. 1 . fig. 3 is a top perspective view of the surge tank, pump, piping, valves and float assembly of a preferred embodiment of the additive flow system of the invention. fig. 4 is a top perspective view of a portion of the surge tank, pump, piping, valves and float assembly of the embodiment of the additive flow system that is shown in fig. 3 . fig. 5 is a top perspective view of a portion of the surge tank and the float assembly of the embodiment of the additive flow system that is shown in figs. 3 and 4 . fig. 6 is a side perspective view of a portion of the surge tank and the float assembly of the embodiment of the additive flow system that is shown in figs. 3-5 . description of the preferred embodiment of the invention this description of a preferred embodiment of the invention is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description of this invention. the drawing figures are not necessarily to scale, and certain features of the invention may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form in the interest of clarity and conciseness. fig. 1 shows a cir train comprised of cir-modified milling machine 10 that includes the invention which is coupled to an external source of asphalt additive in the form of additive supply tank truck 12 . milling machine 10 , also shown in fig. 2 , includes operator's station 14 and an engine, typically a diesel engine (not shown) that is enclosed in engine compartment 16 . operator's station 14 includes controller 15 and all of the operating controls necessary for driving and steering the cir-modified milling machine, rotating milling drum 18 , and controlling and/or monitoring certain aspects of the invention. controller 15 may embody a single microprocessor or multiple microprocessors that include components for controlling the operations of milling machine 10 based on input from an operator of the milling machine and on sensed or other known operational parameters. controller 15 may include or be associated with a memory, a data input component such as a touch screen and/or a plurality of actuating buttons, a data output component such as a display screen, a secondary storage device, a processor and other components for running an application. various circuits may be associated with and operatively connected to controller 15 , such as power supply circuitry and hydraulic circuitry. numerous commercially available microprocessors can be configured to perform the functions of controller 15 . it should be appreciated that controller 15 could readily be embodied in a general purpose computer or machine microprocessor capable of controlling numerous milling machine functions. power from the engine is transmitted by a drive belt (not shown), or other means known to those having ordinary skill in the art to which the invention relates, to milling drum 18 , which is located in a conventional milling drum housing 19 (shown in schematic or outline form in fig. 1 ). milling drum 18 includes a plurality of cutter teeth that are adapted to mill the road surface as the milling drum rotates and the machine is advanced along the roadway in the processing direction “p”. power from the engine is also transmitted, by means known to those having ordinary skill in the art to which the invention relates, to rear track drive assembly 20 and front track drive assembly 22 . cir-modified milling machine 10 may include one or two rear drive track assemblies, each of which can be raised and lowered relative to the machine main frame. typically, there are also two front drive track assemblies (such as assembly 22 ), each of which can be raised and lowered relative to the machine main frame. either or both of the rear track drive assemblies and the front track drive assemblies can be turned to the left and the right to steer machine 10 . other embodiments of cir-modified milling machines (not shown in the drawings) may include wheel drive assemblies instead of track drive assemblies. cir-modified milling machine 10 includes additive spray assembly 23 comprising one or more spray nozzles, which assembly is mounted within milling drum housing 19 . additive spray assembly 23 is adapted to dispense an asphalt additive obtained from onboard supply line 24 which is in fluid communication, by means of additive flow system 25 , with external supply line 26 from an external source such as the additive tank on additive supply tank truck 12 . as best shown in figs. 3-6 , additive flow system 25 includes additive pump 28 and surge tank 30 , which is in fluid communication with external supply line 26 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention, surge tank 30 is provided with thermal insulating panels 31 on at least some of its external surfaces in order to insure that the asphalt additive retains a suitable viscosity to allow flow through the various components of additive flow system 25 . although the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises surge tank 30 that is located adjacent to additive pump 28 and the other components of additive flow system on the front end of cir-modified milling machine 10 , the surge tank may be located separately from the other components of the invention, such as, for example, on the rear end of the cir-modified milling machine, if desired to improve the weight distribution of the components of the invention on the machine. additive flow system 25 includes, in addition to additive pump 28 and surge tank 30 , piping and associated valves that permit operation of the preferred embodiment of the invention in multiple modes. thus, as shown in figs. 3-6 , first inlet pipe 32 has first inlet opening 34 and first valve 36 for controlling the flow through first inlet pipe 32 and first outlet 37 of first inlet pipe 32 into surge tank 30 . second inlet pipe 38 has second inlet opening 40 and second valve 42 for controlling the flow through second inlet pipe 38 . third inlet pipe 44 has third inlet opening 46 into surge tank 30 and third valve 48 for controlling the flow through third inlet pipe 44 . first outlet pipe 50 has first outlet 52 . fourth valve 54 is provided for controlling the flow through additive pump 28 . second outlet pipe 56 has second outlet 58 and fifth valve 60 for controlling the flow through second outlet pipe 56 . surge tank 30 also includes air vent 62 and vent opening 64 , as well as float valve 66 comprising float 68 which is attached by means of float attachment 70 to horizontal float rod 72 (shown in fig. 4 ). float 68 is adapted to float on the surface of asphalt additive in surge tank 30 , and horizontal float rod 72 is attached to float level gauge 74 on the outside of surge tank 30 . because float 68 is adapted to cause horizontal float rod 72 to pivot about its longitudinal axis as the surface level of asphalt additive in surge tank 30 changes, float level gauge 74 provides a visual indicator of the amount of asphalt additive in the surge tank. in addition, float level sensor 76 is operatively attached to float level gauge 74 and to controller 15 so that float level sensor may send a signal to controller 15 to alert an operator of the level of asphalt additive in surge tank 30 . when external supply line 26 is attached to first inlet opening 34 of first inlet pipe 32 and onboard supply line 24 is attached to first outlet 52 of first outlet pipe 50 , a first mode of operation of the invention may be employed. in this first mode, first valve 36 , third valve 48 and fourth valve 54 are opened, and second valve 42 and fifth valve 60 are closed. then, pump 28 may be activated to draw asphalt additive from an external source such as tanker truck 12 , through first inlet pipe 32 and out first outlet 37 into surge tank 30 , and back out of surge tank 30 through third inlet opening 46 , third inlet pipe 44 , pump 28 , and out first outlet pipe 50 through onboard supply line 24 to additive spray assembly 23 . when external supply line 26 is attached to second inlet opening 40 of second inlet pipe 38 and onboard supply line 24 is attached to first outlet 52 of first outlet pipe 50 , a second mode of operation of the invention, in which the surge tank is bypassed, may be employed. in this second mode, second valve 42 and fourth valve 54 are opened, and first valve 36 , third valve 48 and fifth valve 60 are closed. then, pump 28 may be activated to draw asphalt additive from tanker truck 12 through second inlet pipe 38 , through pump 28 and out first outlet pipe 50 through onboard supply line 24 to additive spray assembly 23 . when no external supply line is attached to additive flow system 25 , but onboard supply line 24 is attached to first outlet 52 of first outlet pipe 50 , a third mode of operation may be employed by which asphalt additive is pumped from surge tank 30 through onboard supply line 24 to additive spray assembly 23 . in this third mode, third valve 48 and fourth valve 54 are opened, and first valve 36 , second valve 42 and fifth valve 60 are closed. then, pump 28 may be activated to draw asphalt additive out of surge tank 30 through third inlet opening 46 , third inlet pipe 44 , pump 28 , and out first outlet pipe 50 through onboard supply line 24 to additive spray assembly 23 . when external supply line 26 is attached to second inlet opening 40 of second inlet pipe 38 , a fourth mode of operation of the invention may be employed to transfer asphalt additive from a first external source such as tanker truck 12 to a second external location such as a second tanker truck (not shown, but substantially similar to tanker truck 12 ), or to another cir-modified milling machine (not shown), or to a separate asphalt additive storage tank (also not shown). in this fourth mode, second valve 42 , fourth valve 54 and fifth valve 60 are opened, and first valve 36 and third valve 48 are closed. then, pump 28 may be activated to draw asphalt additive from tanker truck 12 through second inlet pipe 38 , through pump 28 and out second outlet pipe 56 to a second external supply line (not shown, but substantially similar to external supply line 26 ) to the second tanker truck, to another cir-modified milling machine, or to a separate asphalt additive storage tank. it is also possible to flush surge tank 30 with a solvent in order to clean out the tank, in a fifth mode of operation of the invention. in this fifth mode, a source of solvent (not shown) is connected through an external supply line (not shown, but substantially similar to external supply line 26 ) to first inlet opening 34 of first inlet pipe 32 . in this mode of operation, drain 78 in the bottom of surge tank 30 is opened (as shown in fig. 4 ), as are first valve 36 and fourth valve 54 . second valve 42 , third valve 48 and fifth valve 60 are closed. then, pump 28 may be activated to draw the solvent through first inlet pipe 32 and out first outlet 37 into surge tank 30 , and back out of surge tank 30 through drain 78 . the invention provides an additive flow system which includes a surge tank for asphalt additive. the invention permits a cir-modified milling machine equipped with the invention to mill and process milled material through intersections, around tight corners and while switching out an empty additive tanker truck for a full one. preferably, the additive flow system includes piping and associated valves that permit operation of the additive flow system in multiple modes, as described hereinabove. although this description contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of the presently preferred embodiment thereof, as well as the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out the invention. the invention, as described and claimed herein, is susceptible to various modifications and adaptations, as would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art to which the invention relates.
|
126-993-206-301-334
|
CH
|
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F01K23/10,F02C3/20,F01K23/02,F02C3/30,F02C6/00,F02C6/10
| 1974-01-15T00:00:00 |
1974
|
[
"F01",
"F02"
] |
combined gas turbine and steam power plant
|
the plant has a combustion chamber which is connected to a thermal preparation plant for fuel in order to receive prepared fuel. the thermal preparation plant has a heat exchanger for condensing heavy sulphur-containing fractions of heavy oil. this heat exchanger is connected in parallel with the evaporator of the steam generator to receive the working medium for the production of steam at the same steam pressure as in the evaporator. a second fuel supply is connected to the combustion chamber to supply fuel when the preparation plant is shut down. a burner is also connected to the steam generator to heat the various heating surfaces for producing steam when the preparation plant is shut down.
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1. a combined gas turbine and steam power plant comprising a compressor for compressing a flow of air; a combustion chamber for forming a hot gas from a flow of compressed air from said compressor and a supply of fuel; a gas turbine for receiving a flow of hot gas from said combustion chamber; a steam generator connected to said gas turbine to receive a flow of exhaust gas therefrom, said generator having a superheater, evaporator and feed-water preheater consecutively disposed in the flow path of the exhaust gas; a thermal preparation plant for fuel having a chamber for removing impurities from the fuel, said preparation plant being connected to said combustion chamber to supply fuel thereto; a heat exchanger within said thermal preparation plant, said heat exchanger being connected in parallel with said evaporator relative to a flow of working medium through said preheater, evaporator and superheater for producing steam at the same pressure as in said evaporator for delivery to said superheater and for cooling the fuel supplied from said thermal preparation plant to said combustion chamber; a second fuel supply connected to said combustion chamber for supplying fuel thereto independently of said thermal preparation plant; and a burner disposed in said steam generator between said superheater and said evaporator, said burner having a fuel supply independent of said thermal preparation plant. 2. a plant as set forth in claim 1 which further comprises valve means for selectively controlling a flow of preheated working medium through said cooler, a flow of fuel from said thermal preparation plant to said combustion chamber, a flow of fuel from said second fuel supply to said combustion chamber and a flow of fuel from said fuel supply independant of said thermal preparation plant to said burner. 3. a plant as set forth in claim 1 which further comprises a steam turbine connected to said steam generator to receive a flow of steam from said superheater.
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this invention relates to a combined gas turbine and steam power plant. combined gas turbine and steam power plants have been known. for example, such plants generally have a group comprising a compressor, combustion chamber and gas turbine as well as a steam generator which is disposed after the gas turbine and which has, disposed in consecutive relationship in the exhaust gas flow of the gas turbine, heating surfaces for a superheater, evaporator and feed-water preheater. the combustion chamber of the group is also connected to a thermal preparation plant for solid or liquid fuel, in which plant, for instance, harmful substances such as sulphur are removed from the fuel. it is an object of the invention to improve such a plant so that the plant can operate at high efficiency and without loss of overall power in the event the fuel preparation plant is rendered inoperative. briefly, the invention is directed to a combined gas turbine and power plant having a compressor, combustion chamber and gas turbine as well as a steam generator having a superheater, evaporator and feed-water preheater and a thermal preparation plant for fuel having a chamber in which impurities can be removed from the fuel prior to the supply of the fuel to the combustion chamber. in accordance with the invention, a heat exchanger is incorporated within the thermal preparation plant. this heat exchanger is connected in parallel with the evaporator relative to a flow of working medium through the preheater, evaporator and superheater in order to produce steam at the same pressure as in the evaporator. this steam is supplied to the superheater in the steam generator. in addition, this heat exchanger acts as a cooler within the thermal preparation plant for cooling the fuel supplied from the preparation plant to the combustion chamber. in addition, a second fuel supply is connected to the combustion chamber for supplying fuel to the chamber independently of the thermal preparation plant. in a similar fashion, a burner is also disposed in the steam generator in a zone between the superheater and evaporator. this burner has a fuel supply independent of the thermal preparation plant. various valve means are also provided to selectively control the flow of preheated working medium to the cooler, the flow of fuel from the thermal preparation plant to the combustion chamber and the flows of fuel from the second fuel supply to the combustion chamber and to the burner. under normal conditions, the combined plant is run from the fuel supplied from the thermal preparation plant. however, should the thermal preparation plant be shut down, then the combined plant is run off the second fuel supply to the combustion chamber and the burner in the steam generator. in this way, the temperatures and the flow rates at the important places of the steam generator remain unaltered. these and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which: the drawing schematically illustrates a simplified version of a combined plant according to the invention. referring to the drawing, the combined gas turbine and steam power plant includes an air compressor 1 which receives and compresses a flow of air as is known, a combustion chamber 4 which houses a burner 3 which receives a flow of compressed air from the compressor 1 via a line 2 and prepared fuel from a thermal preparation plant 50 via a line 47 closeable by a valve 48. the exit of the combustion chamber 4 is connected to the entry of a gas turbine 6 which is disposed on the same shaft as the compressor 1; an electric generator 7 being coupled with such shaft. the gas turbine 6 which receives the flow of gas from the combustion chamber 4 outputs into a steam generator 11 which has, disposed in consecutive relationship in the direction of exhaust gas flow from the gas turbine 6, a superheater or heating surface 12 for superheating, an evaporator or heating surface 13 for evaporation and a preheater or heating surface 14 for feed-water preheating. the gas exit of the steam generator 11 communicates via a line 15 with a flue (not shown). a water separator 22 is disposed in the flow of working medium between the evaporator 13 and superheater 12 for separating the mixture of steam and water arriving from the evaporator 13. in addition, a heat exchanger 10 is connected in parallel to the evaporator 13 relative to the flow of working medium. this heat exchanger 10 is disposed in the thermal preparation plant 50 and is connected, by way of a line 41 closeable by a valve 40, to the exit of the preheater 14 and, by way of a line 43 closeable by a valve 44, to the steam line which extends from the separator 22 to the superheater 12. alternatively, the line 43 can be connected between the evaporator 13 and the separator 22. the superheater 12 outputs to the entry of a steam turbine 30 for driving an electric generator 31. the steam turbine 30, in turn, outputs by way of a condenser 32, a condensate pump 33 and a preheater 34 heated by bled steam to a feed water tank 20. the preheater 14 of the steam generator is connected to the tank 20 by way of a feed pump 21. a burner 60 is disposed in the steam generator 11 in a zone between the superheater 12 and the evaporator 13 and is connected, by way of a line 61 closeable by a valve 62, to a fuel supply (not shown) independent of the preparation plant 50. the burner 3 is also associated with a line 5 which can be closed by a valve 49 and through which the burner 3 can be connected to a fuel supply independent of the preparation plant 50. line 2 is connected, through a line 45 closeable by a valve 46, to the preparation plant 50 to which fuel is supplied for preparation through a line 51. the thermal preparation plant 50 of itself does not form part of this invention and so has not been shown in great detail. the fuel which this plant 50 is required to prepare, which may be solid or liquid, for instance, heavy oil, is heated in the plant 50 and some of the fuel is burned in cooperation with the compressed air supplied through line 45. the unburnt residue of the fuel is evaporated and cracked. by means of the heat exchanger 10, the heavy sulphur-containing fractions of the heavy oil are condensed while the light fractions pass as combustion gas through line 47 to the combustion chamber 4 for combustion therein. the heat exchanger 10 thus acts as a cooler for cooling the fuel supplied from the plant 50 to the combustion chamber 4. the heavy fractions can be further processed, for instance, to yield sulphur. when the heavy fractions condense on the heat exchanger 10, which is supplied with preheated feed water through line 41, the feed water evaporates at the same pressure as in evaporating heating surface 13 so that the steam produced in the heat exchanger 10 is admixed via line 43 with the steam produced by the evaporator 13 before the superheater 12. the two flows of steam then both pass to the superheater 12 and then to the steam turbine 30. when the combined plant is operating normally, the valves 40, 44, 46, 48 are open and the valves 49, 62 closed. the prepared fuel from the preparation plant 50 therefore passes to the combustion chamber 4 and a large proportion of the steam to be expanded in turbine 30 is raised by the heat exchanger 10. the remainder of the required steam is raised by the evaporator 13 through the agency of the exhaust gas flow from the gas turbine 6. when it is required to inspect the preparation plant 50, the valves 40, 44, 46, 48 are closed to cut the plant 50 out of operation, and the valves 49 and 62 are opened so that burner 3 and the additional burner 60 receive fuel supplied from a single source or two separate sources, in each case independently of the plant 50. in the latter case, the two sources may supply different fuels. the heating on the evaporator 13 provided by the extra burner 60 raises an extra quantity of steam to replace the quantity normally produced by means of the heat exchanger 10. the combined plant can therefore operate on full power even when the plant 50 is inoperative.
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127-880-878-869-059
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US
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[
"US"
] |
G09B7/02
| 1997-05-16T00:00:00 |
1997
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[
"G09"
] |
individual education program tracking system
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an individual education program tracking system provides an automated means for creating and administering an entire individual education plan. embodied in a computer software program and network, the individual education program tracking system enables teachers, school administrators, counselors and parents to enter a student profile, create an individual education plan for the student based on the student's profile, track the student's progress, and perform periodic evaluations and assessments. the individual education program tracking system also automates the completion and submission of various forms as required by a school district or state department of education. the individual education program tracking system integrates and automates procedures that meet a state's or district's legal requirements for administering an individual education plan, such as entry qualification evaluations and parental authorization.
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1. a method for administrating individual education plans comprising: generating student information records for students being considered for participation in an individual education plan; creating individual education plan records for each student based upon predetermined qualification criteria, including obtaining qualification data for each of the students, determining which type of services are to be provided to each of the students as part of an individual education plan based upon the qualification data, and storing the qualification data and an indication of the services to be provided to each of the students in a database; and generating forms and reports for implementing individual education places for qualified students, the forms and reports complying with regulatory guidelines for implementing individual education plans, and wherein the forms and reports also include a permission form to be signed by a person giving permission for an evaluation of a student to occur. 2. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 1 further comprising assessing student's progress in individual education plans. 3. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 1, wherein the step of creating individual education plan records further comprises setting goals for each student based on the qualification data and storing the goals in the database. 4. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 1, wherein the step of creating individual education plan records further comprises setting objectives for each student based on the qualification data and storing the objectives in the database. 5. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 1, wherein the step of generating forms and reports further comprises creating forms for reviewing students and determining the eligibility of students. 6. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 2, wherein the step of generating student information records comprises: generating a unique student identifier for each student being considered for participation in an individual education plan; inputting information concerning each student being considered for participation in an individual education plan, including each student's personal data and educational data; and; storing the information in a database. 7. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 2, wherein the step of creating individual education plan records comprises creating an initial individual education plan record for new students. 8. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 2, wherein the step of creating individual education plan records comprises creating an annual individual education plan record for monitoring students in an individual education plan. 9. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 2, wherein the step of creating individual education plan records further comprises creating a triennial individual education plan record for evaluating a student's progress in an individual education plan. 10. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 2, wherein the step of assessing students progress in individual education plans comprises retesting a student to obtain new qualification data. 11. the method for administering individual education plans according to claim 2, wherein the step of assessing students' progress in individual education plans comprises verifying student information.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to an automated system for creating and administering individual education plans, and more particularly to a software package and network for creating individual education plans based upon student profiles and monitoring/assessing the progress and status of the students in the plans. 2. discussion of the related art public and private elementary, middle and high schools are mandated by their respective state and federal government to offer individualized education plans to meet the needs of students, including gifted and talented students, english as a second language students, literacy program students, title i program students and students with learning disabilities. the individualized plans provide services that are tailored to the specific needs of students. for example, a student may require special attention in areas such as reading, writing, mathematics, speech, social skills, physical skills, emotional development, and/or any other area of special need. similarly, a student may excel beyond his/her peers in one or more particular area and thus require special attention to provide this student with educational or other challenges thereby allowing this student to fully develop his or her potential to the fullest extent possible. for example, specialized services may be offered in areas including music, art and athletic programs. preferably, an individual education plan is designed as a collaborative effort with the input of school administrators, counselors, teachers and of the parents or guardian of the particular student. typically, in any individual education plan, parental or guardian authorization is required. in addition, there is usually an entry qualification process to determine if a student's particular needs or gifts qualify that student for a particular plan. qualification criteria are often designated by a state board of education. periodic evaluations and assessments of a student's skills, needs and progress are also part of an overall individual education plan. currently, the entire process of creating and administering an individual education plan is accomplished manually. essentially, this involves many individuals manually completing a myriad of forms, tracking the student's progress in the plans, and continuously monitoring the needs and skills of the students in the plans. paper copies of the forms are sent to supervisors for approval once a staffing meeting has taken place. if there is an error, the forms are returned to the school and a new set must be produced. the new paper copy, with a notation as to what changed and why, is forwarded to all appropriate school personnel and to the parents/guardian of the particular student. this process could extend the life cycle of the individual education plan creation by a week. essentially, as seen by the above example, this endeavor requires significant time and effort on the part of teachers, school administrators and counselors as well as the parents (guardian) of the student. in addition to the demand of time on the individuals involved, the manual control of this process may be prohibitively expensive. accordingly, there is a need to enhance the efficiency of and reduce the cost of maintaining individual education plans. summary of the invention in accordance with one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for administering individual education plans. the method comprises generating student information records for students being considered for participation in an individual education plan, creating individual education plan records for each student based upon predetermined qualification criteria, and generating forms and reports for implementing individual education plans for qualified students. the method for administering individual education plans also comprises assessing students progress in individual education plans. the individual education program tracking system of the present invention provides an automated means for creating, administering and maintaining individual education plans. individual education plans, as the name implies, are plans designed to meet the special needs of individual students. these students, by virtue of a specific talent or gift, or because of a disability, have needs that cannot be fully met by the mainstream educational system. embodied in a computer software package and network, the individual education program tracking system enables school administrators, school counselors, teachers and parents to develop a new or modify an existing student profile, create a new or modify an existing individual plan for the student based upon the profile and track the student's progress in the plan through periodic evaluations and assessments. the individual education program tracking system also provides for the automated completion and submission of the various forms required by either or both local school districts and state departments of education. essentially, the individual education program tracking system integrates and automates procedures that meet a state's and/or district's legal requirements for administering an individual education plan, such as entry qualification evaluations and parental (guardian) authorization. the individual education program tracking system of the present invention provides a network and means for each school in a school district to track the individual education plans for the students of that school and submit the data to the school district's central office. the system may also be utilized to compile the data from each of the schools in the district. the compiled data may then be utilized for any number of purposes including statistical analysis of the various aspects of the individual education programs and budget allocation. the system may also be utilized to submit the compiled data from each school district to the state's board of education wherein similar analyses may be done. the individual education program tracking system of the present invention provides for the standardization of the individual education process at the school, school district and state board of education level. it increases the speed in obtaining and completing the forms necessary to create and administer the plans, and it greatly increases the efficiency of the analysis of the data compiled. the individual education program tracking system of the present invention provides a user-friendly interface operable on any computing system such as personal computers. the system is highly configurable/reconfigurable to fit the needs of gifted/talented children as well as challenged children. accordingly, teachers, school administrators and counselors may easily and efficiently create and edit data for student profiles and individual education plans, thereby saving time, effort and money in the creation and administration of individual education plans. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a block diagram representation of the individual education program tracking system of the present invention. fig. 2 is a flow chart of the logic for creating a new individual education plan in accordance with the present invention. fig. 3 is a flow chart of the logic for editing an existing individual education plan for a student in accordance with the present invention. fig. 4 is an exemplary main menu screen of the individual education program tracking system in accordance with the present invention. fig. 5 is an exemplary student information screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 6 is an exemplary referrals/permission/assessments screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 7 is an exemplary initial referral screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 8 is an exemplary initial referral form in accordance with the present invention. fig. 9 is an exemplary initial assessment permission screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 10 is an exemplary initial assessment permission form in accordance with the present invention. fig. 11 is an exemplary notice of meeting screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 12 is an exemplary notice of meeting form in accordance with the present invention. fig. 13 is an exemplary notice of reassessment screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 14 is an exemplary notice of reassessment form in accordance with the present invention. fig. 15 is an exemplary staffing report & student data form screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 16 is an exemplary staffing report & student data form in accordance with the present invention. fig. 17 is an exemplary create/edit/view iep screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 18 is an exemplary student information screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 19 is an exemplary create new initial screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 20 is an exemplary create new annual screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 21 is an exemplary create new triennial/reassessment screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 22 is an exemplary signature screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 23 is an exemplary score conversion screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 24 is an exemplary goals screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 25 is an exemplary services screen in accordance with the present invention. fig. 26 is an exemplary print iep screen in accordance with the present invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiments the individual education program tracking system of the present invention comprises a method and network for creating, administering and maintaining individual education plans. fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture for implementing the individual education program tracking system of the present invention. each school in a school district has a network that includes an individual education program tracking system server 10. the server 10 may comprise any suitable computer, such as a personal computer or mid-range computer. the network also preferably comprises one or more client computers 12 which may be utilized to run various client applications, client printers 14 connected to the client computers 12, and a network printer 16 connected to the server 10. the client computers 12 may comprise any suitable computer, including desktop personal computers and laptop computers. the client printers 14 and the network printer 16 may comprise any suitable printer and in a preferred embodiment are laser printers for producing high quality prints. the various components comprising the network may be interconnected in any suitable manner. in a preferred embodiment, the components are connected utilizing a local area network configuration. in an alternate embodiment, the individual education program tracking system may preferably include a single server 10 running as a structured query language, sql, server and web server in the district. client computers 12 would be connected to the intranet and use browser software to manipulate the central database or could dial in to access the system. client computers 12 would be connected to a local or network printer 16. the individual education plan record for a specific student may be checked out by the user for update and checked back in at a later time. checked out records will be flagged with the user's name, school, checkout date, and checkout time so that other users will know who has the record. should the checked out record be destroyed or lost, the system administrators will reset the system to use the previous version of the record. the individual education program tracking system is preferably embodied in a software package which may be run on the individual education program server 10. the individual education program tracking system comprises an individual education program database 18 that includes all pertinent student information and individual education program records. the content of this information is discussed in detail subsequently. the individual education program database 18 may reside in a storage facility of the server 10 or an attached computer. users may access the individual education program tracking system directly through the server 10 or over the network utilizing the one or more client computers 12. in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a school district's central administrative office may be equipped with a similar or identical network to that of the individual schools as described above. the district's central administrative office network comprises an individual education program tracking system server 110, one or more client computers 112, one or more client printers 114, a network printer 116 and a central database 118 which includes the data for the entire district. in accordance with this exemplary embodiment of the invention, the servers 10 in each of the schools comprising the particular school district may perform periodic transmissions of the data in their respective individual education program databases 18 to the district's central administrative individual education program tracking system server 110. the periodic transmissions may occur at any suitable interval including daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. this process allows the district's central administrative office to roll-up individual education plan data from all schools in the district and compile statistical data or review records. the district's central administrative office may also perform a transmission of individual education plan data from all of its schools to a state's central administrative office. individual education plans are plans designed to meet the special needs of individual students. the individual education program tracking system of the present invention provides an automated means for creating, administering and maintaining individual education plans. individual education plans may vary from one location to another and the process for creating, administering and maintaining programs may also vary from one location to another; however, a typical process is set forth below in order to better set forth exemplary embodiments of the present invention. prior to being considered for an individual education plan, student profiles are created. student profiles generally comprise all pertinent information such as the student's full name, address, phone number, the names of the student's custodial parents or guardian, the name and address of non-custodial parents, the school which the student attends, and the school responsible for furnishing special education services to the student. a regular education teacher, based on various criteria, makes an initial referral for a student to be considered for an individual education plan. essentially, the initial referral requests that a student be evaluated for an individual education plan and sets forth the reasons for the referral. once a referral is made, a new initial individual education program form is created to track the rest of the process. parental permission is required for a student to be considered for entry into an individual education plan. accordingly, the student's teacher or a school administrator completes an initial assessment permission form for the parents to sign. essentially, this form, when signed, gives permission for an evaluation of the student to take place. once permission is obtained and qualification testing is complete, a staffing meeting is scheduled. the staffing meeting is utilized to determine a student's eligibility for an individual education plan. attendees of a staffing meeting include parents, teachers, and other professionals as may be required. the staffing meeting results in an official printed copy of the initial individual education program form stating the student's eligibility for individual education plan services. once the student's eligibility is approved, individual education plan services are provided to the student. annual reassessments are performed to track the student's progress in the plan. prior to each annual reassessment, a teacher or school administrator completes a notice of reassessment form to send to the student's parents to inform them that their child is being reassessed for individual education plan services. the results of annual reassessments are recorded in a new annual individual education program form. triennial reassessments are performed to re-evaluate the student's eligibility for the individual education plan. prior to each reassessment, a teacher or school administrator completes a notice of reassessment form to send to the parents. the results of triennial reassessments are recorded in a new triennial individual education program form. every time a student moves, and at the end of each school year, a teacher or school administrator completes a staffing report and student data form. the report and form are then submitted to the district and state for demographic data compilation and review. fig. 2 is a flow chart 200 detailing an exemplary embodiment of the logic for creating a new individual education plan for a student in accordance with the present invention. when a user logs onto the individual education program tracking system, either via server 10 or any of the client computers 12 illustrated in fig. 1, the individual education program tracking system main menu, illustrated in fig. 4, is brought up on the monitor of the computer. this initial step is represented by element 202 in the flow chart 200. the creation of an individual education plan begins with the generation of a student profile which is stored in the individual education program database 18 illustrated in fig. 1. once the student profile is generated, then an individual education plan may be created for the particular student. in order to create a new individual education plan for a student, the create/edit/view iep option in the main menu is selected. the individual education program tracking system main menu and all of its options are discussed in detail subsequently. the step of generating a student profile is represented by element 204 in the flow chart 200. this step comprises prompting the user of the system for certain basic information regarding the student. this information typically includes the student's name, age, birthdate, grade, address, parent(s) name, guardian's name, primary language, disabilities or talents. a unique student identifier may be entered by the user of the system or assigned by the system. the information is entered via a screen, illustrated in fig. 5, brought up on the monitor via the system through the selection of the enter/edit student information option of the main menu. a detailed description is given subsequently. the next step implemented by the system comprises saving the student information as a record in the individual education program database 18 illustrated in fig. 1. this step is represented by element 206 in the flow chart 200. the next step implemented by the system comprises allowing a user of the system to select a student and create an individual education plan for that student. this step is represented by element 208 in the flow chart 200. as is mentioned above and described in detail subsequently, a new individual education plan may be created by selecting the create/edit/view iep option from the main menu. in the exemplary embodiment, there are three types of individual education plan records which may be created when the create/edit/view iep option is selected. a first type is created for an initial individual education plan. a second type is created for annual reassessments of the student's individual education plan process. a third type is created for triennial reassessments, in which a student's eligibility for an individual education plan is reevaluated. detailed descriptions of each of these record types and their function are given subsequently. the next step implemented by the system comprises a decision to determine if an individual education plan already exists for the particular student. this step is represented by element 210 in the flow chart 200. if an individual education program does exist for the particular student, a warning is given to the user of the system that there is an existing individual education plan. if the user chooses to continue, the previous individual education plan remains in the file, but a new "current" individual education plan is created. the warning step is represented by element 212 in the flow chart 200. if an individual education plan does not exist, the next step implemented comprises displaying the selected student's information stored in the individual education program database 18, illustrated in fig. 1, and allowing the user of the system to edit/modify the data. this step is represented by element 214 in the flow chart 200. the next step implemented by the system comprises allowing the user of the system to enter additional data for an individual education plan, such as skills assessments. this step is represented by element 216 in the flow chart 200. the next step implemented by the system comprises storing the individual education plan information in the individual education program database 18 illustrated in fig. 1. this step is represented by element 218 in the flow chart 200. fig. 3 is a flow chart 300 detailing an exemplary embodiment of the logic for editing an existing individual education plan for a student in accordance with the present invention. after an individual education plan is created, fig. 2 logic, it may be edited by a teacher, school administrator, or other educational professional and authorized user, to provide their input on the student's individual education plan. then, in accordance with the standard business process, a staffing meeting is held with the parents or guardian, teacher, school administrator and other educational professionals to discuss and approve the individual education plan. during the staffing meeting, the individual education plan may be edited, via the system, to reflect the outcome of the staffing meeting. when a user logs onto the individual education program tracking system, he must enter a login id and password. based on that login, the user is allowed to see student information and individual education plans that have been previously entered into the system. administrators would not be allowed to see individual student records but would be allowed to print statistical reports. this step is represented by element 302 in the flow chart 300. the user then selects the create/edit/view iep option from the main menu, illustrated in fig. 4 and the create/edit/view iep screen, illustrated in fig. 17 and described in detail subsequently, is brought up on the computer monitor. in the initial step of the process for editing an existing individual education plan, the user of the system is presented with the create/edit/view iep screen of fig. 17. the next step in the process for editing an existing individual education plan comprises allowing the user of the system to select a student from a list of student records stored in the individual education program database 18, illustrated in fig. 1, and then to select the edit current iep option from the create/edit/view iep screen illustrated in fig. 17. when the user selects this option, the system automatically brings up the student's current iep record and, as mentioned above and described in detail subsequently, there are three types of iep records. this step is represented by element 304 in flow chart 300. the next step in the process for editing an existing individual education plan comprises displaying the student's information screen for the current individual education plan on the computer monitor. this screen, which is discussed in detail subsequently, is illustrated in fig. 18. changes in the student information may be made on this screen by the users of the system. this step is represented by element 306 in the flow chart 300. in the next step, represented by element 308 in the flow chart 300, additional information may be added to the individual education plan record by the user of the system. in the next step, represented by element 310 in the flow chart 300, the user of the system is provided with the capability to print out the individual education plan. as many copies as desired may be printed to distribute to parents, guardians, teachers and other participants in a staffing meeting. in the next step, represented by element 312 in the flow chart 300, the individual education plan record is stored, with all changes, in the individual education program database 18 illustrated in fig. 1. as stated above, the individual education program tracking system main menu is illustrated in fig. 4. the main menu screen 400 comprises a plurality of options which may be selected by a user of the system. in the exemplary embodiment, the main menu screen 400 offers seven options; namely, the enter/edit student information option 402, the referrals/permission/assessments option 404, the create/edit/view iep option 406, the print previous iep form option 408, the other reports option 410, the utilities option 412, and the exit option 414. the print previous iep form option 408, the other reports option 410, the utilities option 412 and the exit option 414 are self-explanatory options. accordingly, only a brief explanation of these options is given. selection of the print previous iep form options 408 brings up a student list screen that allows a user of the system to print out an existing individual education program record. selection of the other reports option 410 brings up a sub-menu offering various statistical and demographic reports. selection of the utilities option 412 brings up a sub-menu offering export and restore functions. selection of the exit option 414, as the name suggests, results in exiting from the system. before an individual education plan may be created, a student profile is created by entering information about the student. the user of the system selects the enter/edit student information option 402 from the main menu 400. selecting this option brings up a student information screen. via the student information screen, the user of the system may enter all pertinent information relating to the particular student. an exemplary student information screen 500 is illustrated in fig. 5. the basic student information which may be entered using the student information screen 500 includes the student's name, address, phone number, school, grade, primary student language, primary home language, date of birth, gender, handicapping condition, school of attendance, school providing special educational services, educational director, regular education teacher, custodial parent or guardian information and non-custodial parent information. the user of the system simply enters this information in the appropriate fields on the screen 500. as discussed above, the step of creating a student profile is represented by element 204 in the flow chart 200 of fig. 2. essentially, the user of the system may, through screen 500, create a student information record for new students or edit an existing student information record for students. new and modified student information records are saved to the individual education program database 18, illustrated in fig. 1, as described above with respect to the step represented by element 206 of the flow chart 200 illustrated in fig. 2. once the records are saved, the individual education program tracking system returns control to the main menu 400. the referrals/permission/assessments option 404 provides for the creation of the forms that may be required prior to creating an individual education plan for a student as well as throughout the entire individual education plan administration process. typically, a state has requirements that must be met before a student can enter a special education plan, such as that provided by an individual education plan. these requirements include an assessment of a student's skills and parental (guardian) authorization. the individual education program tracking system automatically generates the forms for complying with these regulatory requirements. once the requirements have been met, then an individual education plan may be created for a student. when a user of the system selects the referrals/permission/assessments option 404, a referrals/permission/assessments form screen is brought up on the monitor of the computer the user is currently utilizing. an exemplary referrals/permission/assessments screen 600 is illustrated in fig. 6. the referrals/permission/assessments screen 600 offers the user of the system a plurality of options. in the exemplary embodiment, there are five options for generating forms from which the user of the system may select. prior to selecting a particular option, the user of the system first selects a particular student. selection of the initial referral option 602 results in bringing up a screen for the generation of an initial referral form. this form is typically completed by the student's regular education teacher. the form is utilized to make a request that a student be evaluated for special education and lists the reasons upon which the request is being made. fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary initial referral form screen 700. the information which automatically populates screen 700 includes the student's name and the referral date. the information which is preferably provided by the referring teacher includes responses to the following exemplary questions: what are your concerns and behavioral observations about the student; what strategies have been tried to improve the situation; how long were the strategies in place and state the outcomes of these interventions; what contact has been made with parents/guardian; and what questions would you like addressed by the assessment team. in addition to this information, the referring individuals name and position are also preferably entered on this screen 700. fields 702, 704, 706, 708, 710, 712 and 714 are provided on screen 700 for the entry of this information. the information entered on this screen 700 is permanently tracked by the system. fig. 8 illustrates a printout of an exemplary initial referral form 800 created using the initial referral screen 700. it is important to note that these questions are for illustrative purposes. each school district and/or each state may have a predefined set of questions. the second option is the initial assessment permission option 604. selection of the initial assessment permission option 604 results in bringing up a screen for the generation of an initial assessment permission form. this is a form that must be signed by the parent(s) or guardian of the student. this form gives permission for the evaluation of the student to take place. fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary initial assessment permission form screen 900. the information which automatically populates screen 900 includes the student's name and the main phone number for the evaluating school. the user of the system enters the school contact in field 902 on the screen 900. the user may then print out an initial assessment permission form by selecting the print option. an exemplary initial assessment permission form 1000 is illustrated in fig. 10. this form 1000 must be signed by the parent(s) or guardian of the student prior to performing an assessment on the student. the results of an assessment determines if the student qualifies for a particular individual education plan. the third option is the notice of meeting option 606. selection of the notice of meeting option 606 results in bringing up a screen for the generation of a notice of meeting form. this form is provided to the student's parent(s) or guardian, the student's teachers and other potential staffing meeting participants to notify them of the staffing meeting in which a determination of the student's eligibility for an individual education plan is made. fig. 11 illustrates an exemplary notice of meeting form screen 1100. when the user selects the student's name from the list and chooses to create a notice of meeting form, he or she will be asked if it is the first notice to be sent. if the answer is "yes", the system will reset a counter to 1 (one). otherwise, the counter is incremented by 1 (one). this allows special education personnel to track how many notices have been sent. the information which automatically populates screen 1100 includes the student's name, the number of the notice, the date of the notice, the school contact and the school's main phone number. the user of the system enters various information, including those individuals who are believed to be needed at the meeting, date of the meeting, time of the meeting, location of the meeting and the type of evaluation (annual, initial or triennial) in fields 1102, 1104, 1106, 1108 and 1110 respectively. the user of the system may print out a notice of meeting form by selecting the print option. an exemplary notice of meeting form 1200 is illustrated in fig. 12. the notice of meeting form 1200 is sent to each of the parties designated for confirmation of their attendance. the fourth option is the notice of reassessment option 608. selection of the notice of reassessment option 608 results in bringing up a screen for the generation of a notice of reassessment form. this form is sent to the student's parent(s) or guardian to inform them that their child is being reassessed for special education service. fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary notice of reassessment form screen 1300. the information which automatically populates screen 1300 includes the student's name and the main phone number for the school. the user of the system enters various information, including the name and title of the contact at the school. each year the student is reassessed to track their progress. students need not be reassessed every year to qualify for an individual education plan. yearly reassessments are to track a student's progress. continued qualification for individual education plans is based on reassessments done every three years or triennial reassessments. the school contact and telephone number information on the notice of reassessment form screen 1300 is verified by the user of the system to make sure it is correct prior to the notice of reassessment form being printed and delivered. an exemplary notice of reassessment form 1400 is illustrated in fig. 14. the fifth option is the staffing report & student data form option 610. selection of the staffing report & student data form option 610 results in bringing up a screen for the generation of a staffing report & student data form. this form is an official form that is sent to the state department of education with each student's demographic data. fig. 15 illustrates an exemplary staffing report & student data form screen 1500. the information which automatically populates screen 1500 includes the student's name, date of birth, gender, school grade level, school of services, service begin date, primary handicapping condition, ethnicity and setting for services offered. the user of the system enters various information, including student status (new student, carryover student), tuition paid by, and staff providers. an exemplary staffing report & student data form 1600 is illustrated in fig. 16. referring back to the main menu screen 400 of fig. 4, the create/edit/view iep option 406, once selected by the user of the system, brings up a student list screen that allows the user of the system to create a new initial individual education plan record, create a new annual individual education plan record, create a new triennial/re-evaluation individual education plan record, edit an existing individual education plan record, or lock an existing individual education plan record. when the user of the system selects the create/edit/view iep option 406 from the main menu screen 400, a create/edit/view iep screen is brought up on the monitor of the computer. an exemplary create/edit/view iep screen 1700 is illustrated in fig. 17. in the exemplary embodiment, the create/edit/view iep screen 1700 provides the user of the system with five options from which to select. the user of the system first selects a student. once a student is selected, the user of the system has the choice to create a new or edit an existing individual education plan record. a new individual education plan is created when an initial individual education plan is created, as well as with annual and triennial reassessments. the step of creating an individual education plan is represented by element 208 in the flow chart 200 of fig. 2. it should be noted that this menu may be modified in an alternate embodiment of the individual education program tracking system to streamline these options and become more user friendly. the create new initial option 1702 allows the user of the system to edit basic student information and then proceed to a screen to input information needed for an initial iep evaluation and staffing meeting. the create new annual option 1704 allows the user of the system to edit basic student information and then proceed to a screen to input information needed for an annual iep staffing meeting. the create new triennial/reassessment option 1706 allows a user of the system to edit basic student information and then proceed to a screen to input information needed for a triennial/reassessment iep evaluation. the edit current iep option 1708 allows a user of the system to edit basic student information and then proceed to a previously created individual education plan record to add, change, or complete individual education plan information. the lock this iep option 1710 is only selected when the staffing process is complete. this option assures that information in the individual education program database 18, illustrated in fig. 1, matches the information on the official copy of the printed individual education plan form. when the user of the system selects the create new initial option 1702, the create new annual option 1704, or the create new triennial option 1706, then the selected student's student information screen is brought up on the monitor. an exemplary student information screen 1800 is illustrated in fig. 18. the user of the system may edit any of the data fields in the screen 1800 prior to proceeding with creating a new individual education plan. the student information screen may comprise any number of fields, including a student id field 1804, a birthdate field 1806, a gender field 1808, first, middle and last name fields 1810, 1812, 1814, a grade field 1816, an age field 1818, a school field 1820, a district field 1822, a primary handicapping condition field 1824, a primary language field 1826, a primary home language field 1828, a parents name field 1830, a type field 1832, address city, state and zip code fields 1834, 1836, 1838, 1840, an e-mail address field 1842, a company field 1844, home, work and fax number fields 1846, 1848, 1850, a second parents name field 1852, a type field 1854, address, city, state and zip code fields 1856, 1858, 18601862, an e-mail address field 1864, a company field 1866, home and work phone number fields 1868, 1870, a health issues field 1872 and a notes field 1874. when the user selects the save and continue option 1802, the system presents a screen in accordance with the users selection from the options presented on screen 1700. if the user of the system selected the create new initial option 1702, the user is presented with a create new initial screen. an exemplary create new initial screen 1900 is illustrated in figs. 19a, b, c. this screen 1900 is used to create a new initial individual education plan for a student. the student's name is automatically populated in the student name field 1902 from the user's selection in fig. 17. an indicator 1904 that this is a create new initial form is checked to eliminate confusion because this screen form is similar to the create new annual and create new triennial/reassessment forms discussed subsequently. the create new initial screen 1900 comprises the fields for all needed information for an initial individual education plan record. this screen 1900 provides options to go to a signature screen (fig. 22), a woodcock-johnson score conversion screen (fig. 23), a goals and objectives screen (fig. 24) and a printing screen (fig. 26). each of these screens is described in detail subsequently if the user of the system selects the create new annual option 1704, the user is presented with a create new annual screen. it should be noted that previous individual education plans for the student will not be deleted from the system until three (regardless of type) are already contained within. at that time, the oldest of the three previous plan records will be deleted when the new one is added. this capability is the same for create new triennial. an exemplary create new annual screen 2000 is illustrated in figs. 20a, b. this screen 2000 is used to create a new individual education plan record to reflect the results of an annual reassessment. the student's name is automatically populated in the student name field 2002 from the user's selection in fig. 17. an indicator 2004 that this is a create new annual form is checked to eliminate confusion as stated above. this screen 2000 is shorter that the create new initial screen 1900 because an annual reassessment is intended to simply track a student's progress and not to evaluate their eligibility for an individual education plan. this screen 2000 comprises the fields for all needed information for an annual individual education plan record. this screen 2000 provides options to go to a signature screen (fig. 22), a woodcock-johnson score conversion screen (fig. 23), a goals and objectives screen (fig. 24) and a printing screen (fig. 26). if the user of the system selects the create new triennial option 1706, the user is presented with a create new triennial/reassessment screen. an exemplary create new triennial/reassessment screen 2100 is illustrated in figs. 21a, b, c. this screen is used to create a new individual education plan record to reflect the results of a triennial reassessment, in which a student's eligibility for an individual education plan is re-evaluated. therefore, this form is similar to the create new initial screen 1900. the student's name is automatically populated in the student name field 2102 from the user's selection in fig. 17. an indicator 2104 that this is a create new triennial/reassessment form is checked to eliminate confusion as stated above. this screen 2100 comprises the fields for all needed information for a triennial/reassessment individual education plan record. this screen 2100 provides options to go to a signature screen (fig. 22), a woodcock-johnson score conversion screen (fig. 23), a goals and objectives screen (fig. 24) and a printing screen (fig. 26). each of the screens 1900, 2000, 2100 illustrated in figs. 19a, b, c, 20a, b, 21a, b, c respectively, includes options for saving the new individual education plan record, save record 1906, 2006, 2106, printing the individual education plan form, print iep form 1908, 2008, 2108, closing the individual education program record, close form 1910, 2010, 2110, checking for signatures, check sigs 1912, 2012, 2112 and using a spell checker, , 1914, 2014, 2114. if the close form option 1910, 2010, 2110 is selected, the system automatically saves the form and then returns the user to the main menu screen 400 illustrated in fig. 4. if the check sigs option 1912, 2012, 2112 is selected, the system presents the exemplary signature screen 2200 illustrated in fig. 22. this screen 2200 is used to record the people involved in a staffing meeting. typically, handwritten signatures may or may not be required on individual education plan forms. this screen 2200 may be used in cases where signatures are not required, but rather to simply keep track of the people involved. this screen comprises a plurality of fields 2202 for listing names. this screen 2200 is automatically populated with the student's name in name field 2204 and the student's birthdate in the birthdate field 2206. referring back to fig. 17, if the user of the system selects the edit current iep option 1708, then the most current individual education plan record is presented, regardless if it is an initial, annual or triennial individual education plan record. the user of the system may then make changes and save the individual education plan record. if the user selects the lock this iep option 1710, the system locks the individual education plan record in the individual education program database 18, illustrated in fig. 1, from any further modifications. this option is used when an individual education plan has been finalized and approved during a staffing meeting to ensure no further changes can be made. as such, a warning and option to cancel is first presented when this option 1710 is selected. in a preferred embodiment, the individual education program tracking system provides automatic scoring capabilities. scoring provides a means for helping determine if a student qualifies for a particular individual education plan. on the create new initial screen, figs. 19a, b, c and the create new triennial screen, figs. 21a, b, c, there are fields for entering test scores, entering iq measure, and selecting an iq methodology. by selecting the enter scores option 1916, 2116, the user of the system may enter test scores that represent a student's standard score quotient for reading, mathematics and writing tests. selecting this option 1916, 2116 brings up the woodcock-johnson score conversion screen 2300 illustrated in fig. 23. as illustrated in fig. 23, the user of the system enters a student's test scores in the left hand column fields 2302. the exemplary screen 2300 illustrated in fig. 23 has values of 50 and 70 for reading, 60 and 45 for mathematics and 88 and 100 for writing. the system then automatically performs a score conversion, such as a woodcock-johnson score conversion and places the results in the right hand column fields 2304. a score conversion may follow any of the various methodologies available, of which woodcock-johnson is one example, and is performed by the system via table queries. in the example illustrated, the conversion yields values of 1 and 4 for a sum of 5 for reading, values of 2 and 1 for a sum of 3 for mathematics, and values of 7 and 10 for a sum of 17 for writing. the system then uses the sums to perform a table lookup to retrieve standard score quotients for reading mathematics and writing and placing them in fields 2306, 2308 and 2310. in the example shown, the standard score quotients are 55 for reading, 52 for mathematics and 91 for writing. when the user selects the return to iep option 2312, the standard score quotients are automatically populated in the corresponding fields 1924, 1926, 1928, 2124, 2126, 2128 of the create new initial screen, figs. 19a, b, c, or the create new triennial/reassessment screen figs. 21a, b, c. the conversion screen 2300 is automatically populated with the student's name and id in the name and id fields 2314, 2316. the user of the system may also use one or more iq measures. in the exemplary embodiment, fields for three methodologies of iq measure are provided: full scale iq, verbal iq, and performance iq. the user of the system the selects the iq methodology that he/she desires to use to qualify the particular student. the system then performs the scoring process. first, the system uses the iq methodology selection and the user input iq score for that methodology to perform a table lookup for a regression cut-off value for reading, mathematics and writing. the regression cut-off values are placed in data fields 1930, 1932, 1934, 2130, 2132, 2134. the regression cut-off value specifies the maximum standard score quotient value that a student must have to qualify for a special education individual education program. second, the system determines if the student's standard score quotient for each area falls below a mean value by two standard deviations or more. for example, it may be that a mean value of a standard score quotient is 100, and a standard deviation is 15. if a student's standard score quotient for reading is 70 or below, the system will place a yes indicator in the reading field 1936, 2136. the math and writing fields are 1938, 1940, 2138, 2140. the methods described above in determining a student's qualifications for an individual education plan are specifically designed for special education individual education plan, in which to qualify, a student's score must fall below a certain threshold. it should be obvious that these methods may be modified to qualify students for other types of individual education plans, such as an individual education plan for gifted and talented students. in a preferred embodiment, the individual education program tracking system may provide an individual education plan form which may be used to specify goals and services for a student. referring to figs. 19c, 20b and 21c, each new individual education program screen has option selections for fill in goals 1918, 2018 and 2118 and fill in services 1920, 2020, 2120. when the fill in goals option 1918, 2018 and 2118 is selected, the system presents the exemplary goals screen 2400 illustrated in fig. 24. this screen 2400 is provided for each goal entered. when a goal is entered, the user of the system selects the add new goal option 2402. this saves the goal just entered and presents a new goals screen for adding another goal. each goal is saved and stored with the individual education program form from which the goal screen 2400 was called. when all goals have been entered, the user selects the return to iep option 2404, which takes the user of the system back to the new individual education program screen 1900, 2000, 2100 from which the user started. when the fill in services option 1920, 2020, 2120 is selected, the system presents the exemplary services screen 2500 illustrated in fig. 25. the user of the system may enter one or more services in this screen 2500. a service is provided to a student as part of their individual education plan. for example, speech therapy may be one service, a special education class in reading may be another service. there is also a place 2504 at the bottom of this screen 2500 to indicate if the student requires transportation as a service, such as may be needed for physically disabled students. each service is saved and stored with the individual education plan form screen from which the services screen 2500 was called. when all services have been entered, the user selects the return to iep option 2502, which takes the user back to the new iep form 1900, 2000, 2100 from which they started. another feature of individual education program tracking system is that it provides several "stop" options 1922, 2022, 2122 on each of the new individual education program forms (figs. 19, 20, 21). during a staffing meeting, when an individual education plan is being created, a situation may arise in which the individual education plan process must be stopped. for example, a disagreement may arise that may require further investigation beyond the time allocated for a staffing meeting. in this case, the "stop" option may be selected at the point in an individual education program form that is currently being addressed. when the "stop" option is selected, the individual education program tracking system saves the form as is, and places a marker at the point where the button was selected. a marker is simply a pointer to the place in the individual education program data record that was last completed. then, when the process is continued, the users may begin where they left off. from the main menu shown in fig. 4, the user may select to print an individual education plan form. the individual education program tracking system brings up a student list, the user selects a student, and individual education program tracking system presents the screen shown in fig. 26. the user may also select this option from a create new iep screen (figs. 19, 20, 21), each of which has a "print iep form" option. the print iep form screen in fig. 26 allows a user to select which pages of an individual education program form they desire to print. attached hereto as an appendix is an actual printout of an individual education plan form. this form is printed by the individual education program tracking system using data entered into individual education plan forms. these include assessments, skills, needs, goals, services, scoring and a parental consent form. the last page is included for information on parental/guardian legal rights. although shown and described is what is believed to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is apparent that departures from specific designs and methods described and shown will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. the present invention is not restricted to the particular constructions described and illustrated, but should be construed to cohere with all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.
|
128-565-711-820-532
|
US
|
[
"US",
"WO",
"EP",
"CN"
] |
F16C11/04,A61F2/62,A61F2/38,F16F9/24
| 2006-09-19T00:00:00 |
2006
|
[
"F16",
"A61"
] |
momentum free bearing for use in prosthetic and orthotic devices
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a momentum free bearing assembly for use in orthotic and prosthetic devices and a prosthetic knee incorporating the same are disclosed. the bearing assembly includes an engaging ring having a swivel portion received within the engaging ring. the engaging ring is received within a bore in a mount. retainer rings may be placed on either side of the engaging ring within the bore to retain the engaging ring within the mount. seals having sealing members may be provided on either side of the engaging ring to seal the engaging ring within the mount. a cylindrical rod engages the swivel portion and the seal through bores provided in each of the seal and the swivel portion. the ends of the cylindrical rod can be press-fit within bores on a mount and a frame of a prosthetic knee.
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1. an orthotic or prosthetic joint comprising: a frame having proximal and distal portions; a first proximal mount pivotally engaging the frame; and a linkage having proximal and distal portions, and a first pivotal connection to the first proximal mount at the proximal portion thereof, and the linkage having a second pivotal connection to a distal portion of the frame at the distal portion thereof such that the linkage is free from torsional loading and rotates with three degrees-of-freedom with respect to the frame; wherein the first and second pivotal connections of the linkage each include a bearing assembly having: an engaging ring; a swivel portion defining a bore and received within the engaging ring so as to freely rotate in at least three directions; and a cylindrical rod engaging the bore within the swivel portion; wherein the engaging ring of the first pivotal connection engages the linkage proximal portion and the engaging ring of the second pivotal connection engages the linkage distal portion; wherein the bearing assembly of the first pivotal connection further has a second mount at the linkage proximal end defining a bore and receiving the engaging ring therein. 2. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , wherein the bearing assembly of the first pivotal connection further has: a plurality of retainer rings positioned within the second mount bore on either side of the engaging ring and retaining the engaging ring within the second mount bore. 3. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 2 , further comprising: a plurality of seals positioned within the second mount bore on either side of the retainer rings. 4. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , wherein the second mount further has an extending portion that is mounted to the linkage proximal portion. 5. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 4 , wherein the linkage releasably engages the extending portion. 6. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of seals each seal having at least one receiving portion and at least one sealing member received therein. 7. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one sealing member is resilient so as to retain its shape when in an unstressed condition. 8. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , wherein the linkage is an active or passive control unit. 9. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , wherein the first proximal mount further has a plurality of flange portions defining bores therethrough; wherein the cylindrical rod of the bearing assembly of the first pivotal connection is fixedly received within the plurality of bores such that the linkage is free to rotate in three directions with respect to the first proximal mount. 10. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , wherein the frame further has a plurality of bores formed within a distal portion thereof; wherein the cylindrical rod of the bearing assembly of the second pivotal connection is received within the plurality of bores such that the linkage is free to rotate in three directions with respect to the frame. 11. the orthotic or prosthetic joint according to claim 1 , wherein the first proximal mount and the distal portion of the frame each define a plurality of bores therethrough for fixedly receiving the cylindrical rods of a bearing assembly of the first and second pivotal connections respectively, such that the linkage is free to rotate in three directions with respect to both the first proximal mount and the frame, respectively. 12. a bearing assembly adapted to be used as a joint connection, the bearing assembly comprising: a frame having proximal and distal portions; a linkage; an engaging ring engaging a portion of the linkage; a swivel portion defining a bore and received within the engaging ring so as to freely rotate in at least three directions; and a cylindrical rod engaging the bore within the swivel portion and fixedly engaging the frame; wherein the linkage is free from torsional loading and is free to rotate with three degrees-of-freedom with respect to the frame; wherein the linkage has a mount defining a bore that receives the engaging ring in a fixed manner; wherein the engaging ring engages a proximal portion of the linkage and the first and second ends of the cylindrical rod engage the linkage in a fixed manner. 13. the bearing assembly according to claim 12 , further comprising a plurality of retainer rings positioned within the mount bore on either side of the engaging ring and retaining the engaging ring within the mount. 14. the bearing assembly according to claim 13 further comprising: a plurality of seals positioned within the mount bore on either side of the retainer rings. 15. the bearing assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the mount further has an extending portion that is removably mounted with the linkage. 16. the bearing assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the first and second ends of the cylindrical rod engage a distal portion of the frame and the engaging ring engages the linkage distal portion. 17. an orthotic or prosthetic joint comprising: a frame having proximal and distal portions; a first proximal mount pivotally engaging the frame; and a linkage having proximal and distal portions, and a first pivotal connection to the first proximal mount at the proximal portion thereof, and the linkage having a second pivotal connection to a distal portion of the frame at the distal portion thereof such that the linkage is free from torsional loading and rotates with three degrees-of-freedom with respect to the frame; wherein the first and second pivotal connections of the linkage each include a bearing assembly having: an engaging ring; a swivel portion defining a bore and received within the engaging ring so as to freely rotate in at least three directions; and a cylindrical rod engaging the bore within the swivel portion; wherein first and second ends of the cylindrical rod of the first pivotal connection engage the linkage in a fixed manner, first and second ends of the cylindrical rod of the second pivotal connection engage a distal portion of the frame.
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this application is a continuation of u.s. application ser. no. 11/896,960, filed sep. 7, 2007, which claims the benefit of u.s. provisional application no. 60/845,503, filed sep. 19, 2006. the entirety of each of these applications is incorporated by reference. field of the invention the present invention relates generally to the field prosthetic and orthotic devices, and more particularly to a momentum free bearing assembly for use as a joint connection in prosthetic and orthotic devices. background bearing assemblies in orthotic devices and prosthetic limbs, such as prosthetic knees, traditionally allow one degree-of-freedom of movement between joint connections. that is, the bearings allow the connections to rotate about a single axis, while limiting the movement of the connections in all other directions. examples of prosthetic limbs using conventional single degree-of-freedom bearing assemblies are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,092,902 (adams et al.), u.s. pat. no. 5,376,137 (shorter et al.), u.s. pat. no. 5,443,521 (knoth et al.), and u.s. pat. no. 5,895,430 (o'conner) all herein incorporated by reference. the conventional single degree-of-freedom bearing assemblies have the disadvantage of transferring torsional loads to the linkages of the joint connection. in a common prosthetic knee, torsional loading can occur during the stance phase of the gait cycle, which involves a user planting his foot. in particular, torsional loads can arise when a person using a prosthetic knee plants the foot associated with the prosthetic knee, and rotates their torso and other leg in order to accomplish a turn. during this turn the prosthetic knee will see torsional loading. because of the transfer of torsional loading between the linkages, the linkages must be designed to withstand the torsional forces that buildup within the linkages. this typically entails providing a linkage that has a larger diameter or cross-sectional area. such larger linkages can add substantially to the weight of a prosthetic device especially for example in prosthetic knees that are mechanically complex and employ a plurality of hinge or rotation points that allow variations in the action of the knee throughout the gait cycle. an example of one such prosthetic joint is disclosed in the shorter et al. patent. additionally, for prosthetic limbs having a control unit such as a hydraulic cylinder, the transferred torsional loads can cause binding between the piston and cylinder. this can lead to the prosthetic limb performing in an unexpected manner and possibly damaging the piston and cylinder, which are expensive to replace. it would thus be beneficial to provide a joint connection that eliminates or reduces the torsional loads transferred to the linkages of an orthotic or prosthetic device. such a connection would isolate complex or expensive components from torsional loading, and subject them to axial loading only. the present invention provides just such a connection by providing a momentum free connection between linkages, and thus effectively isolating the linkages from torsional loading, as described below. summary in order to provide an improved connection for an orthotic or a prosthetic limb, a momentum free bearing assembly for use as a joint connection in orthotic or prosthetic devices is described. the momentum free bearing assembly of this disclosure provides the ability for movement between linkages in three degrees-of-freedom, allowing for some rotation between the linkages about three axes, instead of just one. most orthotic or prosthetic devices, such as prosthetic knees, are subject to torsional loading. use of the momentum free bearing of this disclosure in orthotic and prosthetic devices can isolate some of the more complex components of an orthotic or prosthetic device from torsional loading. this isolation of the complex components can allow for a linkage or control unit of an orthotic or prosthetic device to be subject to an axial load only, while the less complex and easier to manufacture bearing assemblies eliminate the torsional loading from the linkage or control unit. this prevents undue stress in the complex component. this elimination or reduction in torsional loading of a linkage provides numerous benefits. for example, a linkage can have a reduced diameter or cross-sectional area since it will not be required to carry torsional loads. a reduced diameter or cross-sectional area linkage can provide weight savings, which is very important in the field of orthotic devices and prosthetic limbs, since it is more difficult and requires more energy for a person to utilize heavier orthotics and prosthetic limbs than lighter orthotics and prosthetic limbs. another advantage can be realized when a prosthetic limb uses a control unit such as a hydraulic piston type control unit. these control units are well known in the art, some examples are disclosed in the adams et al. shorter et al. and knoth et al. patents. the bearing assembly of this disclosure can be used with any of the currently known or any future developed control units. these control units can also be made lighter and smaller if they are not subjected to torsional loading. in addition, the elimination of torsional loading reduces the risk that a piston could bind and catch in a cylinder, thus reducing the possibility that the prosthetic limb would behave in a manner that is unexpected by the user, and reducing the risk of damage to the expensive components of the control unit. the reduction or elimination of torsional loading of a linkage, or active or passive control unit also provides the benefit of reduced wear on the more expensive components of the orthotic device or the prosthetic limb, while shifting the loads to more durable and possibly less expensive components. because the bearing assemblies according to this disclosure allow for rotation about three axes, little or no torsional loads are transmitted between the components that are connected through the bearing assemblies. instead, the frame of an orthotic device or a prosthetic joint utilizing bearing assemblies in accordance with this disclosure support most or all of the torsional loading that may arise during the use of such an orthotic device or a prosthetic limb. the momentum free bearing assembly of the disclosure isolates the linkages of a joint connection in orthotic and prosthetic devices from torsional loading from a frame through the following structural configuration. the bearing assembly has an engaging ring for receiving a swivel portion that is configured to swivel within the engaging ring in three directions. the bearing assembly further includes a cylindrical rod that is configured to engage a bore within the swivel portion to allow the rod to rotate in three degrees-of-freedom with respect to the engaging ring. the engaging ring is configured to engage a portion of the linkage and each end of the cylindrical rod is configured to engage the frame in a fixed manner, so that the linkage is isolated from torsional loading and can rotate in three degrees-of-freedom with respect to the frame. the linkage may have a mount that is configured to receive the engaging ring in a fixed manner within a bore inside the mount. the bearing assembly further comprises a plurality of retaining rings that are configured to be received within the bore of the mount on either side of the engaging ring in order to retain the engaging ring within the bore of the mount. the mount may include an extending portion that allows the mount to be removably connected to a linkage, or to an active or passive control unit. the bearing assembly may include a plurality of seals. the plurality of seals of the bearing assembly are configured to engage the mount in a sealing manner in order to seal the retaining rings and the engaging ring within the mount. the plurality of seals each may have receiving portions that are configured to receive sealing members. the sealing members can be resilient sealing members such as conventional o-rings, gaskets, or sealing compounds such as rtv silicones. the bearing assembly can be used as a joint connection within an orthotic device or a prosthetic limb, such as a prosthetic elbow, hip, ankle or knee joint. an orthotic or prosthetic joint may comprise a frame having proximal and distal portions and a first proximal mount engaging the proximal portion of the frame in a pivotal manner. the orthotic or prosthetic joint also has a linkage having proximal and distal portions, which can be a simple mechanical linkage or a more complex active or passive control unit. the linkage has a first pivot connection between the proximal portion of the linkage and the first proximal mount and a second pivot connection between the distal portion of the linkage and a distal portion of the frame. the first and second pivot connections may include some or all of the features of the bearing assembly described above. the first proximal mount may have a plurality of flange portions. each of the flange portions may include a bore for receiving a cylindrical rod of a bearing assembly of the first pivotal connection in a fixed manner, such that the linkage can rotate with respect to the first proximal mount. the frame of the orthotic or prosthetic joint may have bores at a distal portion thereof for receiving a cylindrical rod of a bearing assembly of the second pivotal connection in a fixed manner, such that the linkage rotates in three directions with respect to the frame. the orthotic or prosthetic joint may include bores in the first proximal mount and in the distal portion of the frame for receiving cylindrical rods of bearing assemblies, such that the linkage can rotate in three directions with respect to both the first proximal mount and the frame, respectively. the numerous advantages, features and function of the momentum free bearing assembly and a prosthetic limb incorporating the bearing assembly will become readily apparent and better understood in view of the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings. the following description is not intended to limit the environments in which the momentum free bearing assembly may be used, but instead merely provides exemplary embodiments for ease of understanding. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a generalized perspective view of a prosthetic knee incorporating momentum free bearing assemblies. fig. 2 is a close up sectional view of the proximal bearing assembly shown in fig. 1 . fig. 3 is a close up sectional view of the distal bearing assembly shown in fig. 1 . fig. 4 is a perspective view of the second mount or proximal connection assembly shown in fig. 1 . fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the components of the bearing assemblies shown in fig. 1 . fig. 6 is a perspective view of a swivel portion received within an engaging portion of a bearing assembly as shown in fig. 1 . fig. 7 is a perspective view of a seal of a bearing assembly as shown in fig. 1 . fig. 8 is a perspective view of a retainer ring of a bearing assembly as shown in fig. 1 . the features in the drawing figures are generalized and not shown to scale, so that the features thereof may be more clearly demonstrated. detailed description of various embodiments a. environment and context of the various embodiments orthotic and prosthetic devices can include mechanically simple connections allowing for a relatively simple movement of the supported body part or prosthetic device. they can also include mechanically complex hinges and connections that allow the orthotic or prosthetic device to reproduce a complex range of motions. due to the complexity of the motions of body parts supported by orthotic devices and prosthetic devices that reproduce the movements of body parts, these devices are typically subject to torsional loading. the momentum free bearing as disclosed can be used in any application where it is beneficial to eliminate torsional loads and to transmit an axial load only. such environments could include orthotic devices such as hip, knee, elbow, leg, arm, back or any type of brace or other orthotic device as well as any type of prosthetic device such as prosthetic limbs, including foot, elbow and hip joints. for further ease of understanding the momentum free bearing assembly and the use of a momentum free bearing assembly in a prosthetic knee joint as disclosed herein, a description of a few terms is necessary. as used herein, the term “proximal” has its ordinary meaning and refers to a location that is closer to the heart than another location. likewise, the term “distal” has its ordinary meaning and refers to a location that is further from the heart than another location. the term “posterior” also has its ordinary meaning and refers to a location that is behind or to the rear of another location. lastly, the term “anterior” has its ordinary meaning and refers to a location that is ahead or to the front of another location. b. detailed description of a first embodiment the momentum free bearing assembly of this disclosure is described for use in a prosthetic knee for ease of understanding. this description is not intended to be limiting; on the contrary, the momentum free bearing assembly can be used in any appropriate orthotic or prosthetic device. in one exemplary use, a first embodiment of a prosthetic knee including momentum free bearing assemblies is shown in fig. 1 . the prosthetic knee 100 includes a frame 110 that supports the structure of the prosthetic knee 100 , as well as transmits a portion of the weight of a user's body to any type of known prosthetic foot (not shown), which may be aesthetic or utilitarian in design. the prosthetic knee joint 100 is connected to any type of known socket for receiving a residuum (not shown) at a proximal end through any conventional connection such as a pyramid connection. some examples of conventional pyramid connections are part numbers a-135100, a-235300, a-335100, and a-435120 all available from össur hf., reykjavik, iceland. as already mentioned, the prosthetic knee 100 is also connected to a prosthetic foot through any conventional connection such as a pyramid connection. the prosthetic knee 100 includes a proximal mount assembly 200 , which can be seen in cross section in fig. 2 . the proximal mount assembly 200 is configured in any appropriate manner to be pivotally connected to the frame 110 of the prosthetic knee 100 at the pivot location 120 . for example, the proximal mount assembly can be configured to have bores that receive pivot rods so that the proximal mount assembly 200 may pivot with respect to the frame 110 . the specific details of the pivot structure 120 may be those known in the art, for example pivot structures available as part numbers frm61721u, mak01501, mak01502, frm61524, mak01503, frm31522, and frm61523, all available from össur hf., reykjavik, iceland. one requirement of any pivot structure is that the proximal mount assembly 200 should be able to pivot with respect to the frame 110 . of course, other configurations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art of prosthetic knees. the proximal mount assembly 200 may also be configured to receive a conventional pyramid coupling connection 250 , as discussed above. however, any suitable conventional coupling mechanism, such as clamps or threaded mounts may be used. the proximal mount assembly 200 may include a filler 210 or guard that is used to protect the proximal mount assembly 200 and the frame 110 . the filler 210 may also protect the clothing of a user from becoming damaged. the filler 210 can be made of any appropriate material, including hard and soft plastics, and is an optional component of the prosthetic knee 100 . the proximal mount assembly 200 may also include a plurality of flange portions 240 located at a posterior portion 242 of the proximal mount assembly 200 . the flanges can define a cut-out or recessed portion 230 . each flange portion 240 can also include a bore 220 therethrough. the bores 220 in the flanges 240 are configured to receive a cylindrical rod 310 that forms the basis for a proximal connection assembly 300 , as seen in fig. 4 . the proximal connection assembly 300 consists of a member having a bore 320 for receiving the components of a proximal bearing assembly 400 . the proximal connection assembly 300 may also include an extending portion 302 , as shown in fig. 2 , that can be used to connect to a linkage or a control unit 500 in any conventional manner, such as a bore 304 in the extending portion that receives a connecting pin 350 . the specific structure of how the proximal connection assembly 300 is connected to a linkage or control unit 500 may be any connection known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such as threaded connections, press-fitting or welding. in an alternative construction, the proximal connection assembly 300 may not have the extending portion 302 , but instead may be connected directly to the linkage or control unit 500 . such a connection may be accomplished in any suitable manner known to those having ordinary skill in the art of orthotic and prosthetic devices. the proximal connection assembly 300 is configured to receive the proximal bearing assembly 400 . the proximal bearing assembly 400 , seen in fig. 5 in an exploded view, consists of a number of components that are received within the bore 320 of the proximal connection assembly 300 . the proximal bearing assembly 400 includes a bearing portion 420 that is composed of a swivel portion 424 that is received within an engaging ring 422 , as can be seen in fig. 6 . the swivel portion 424 is able to swivel within the engaging ring 422 in multiple axes. the swivel portion 424 includes a bore 426 for receiving the cylindrical rod 310 therein. the cylindrical rod 310 may be received within the bore 426 in a near press-fit manner, or simply in a machine-fit manner. due to variations in machining tolerances, the cylindrical rod 310 may easily slide within the bore 426 , or the cylindrical rod 310 may engage the bore 426 in a frictional manner. the engaging ring 422 is received within the bore 320 of the proximal connection assembly 300 , as can best be seen in fig. 2 . the engaging ring 422 may be machined to fit within the bore 320 with a machine-fit, and may also be adhesively retained within the bore 320 using any known appropriate conventional adhesive. the bore 320 may include grooves or receiving portions 306 that are positioned to be located on either side of the engaging ring 422 . the receiving portions 306 are configured to receive retaining rings 410 , shown in fig. 8 , which are placed on either side of the engaging ring 422 to maintain the engaging ring 422 within the bore 320 , as can be seen in fig. 2 . the proximal bearing assembly 400 may also include a plurality of seals 430 . each seal includes receiving portions 432 configured to receive sealing members 434 . one sealing member 434 may be located around the circumference of the seal 430 , as shown in fig. 7 , in order to provide an air and fluid tight seal between the seal 430 and the bore 320 as can be seen in fig. 2 . another sealing member 434 can be provided around a side of the seal 430 , as shown in fig. 7 , in order to provide an air and fluid tight seal between the seal 430 and the flange 240 as can be seen in fig. 2 . the seal members 434 may be conventional o-rings or gaskets, or any other suitable sealing structure. one of each of the seals 430 can be provided on either side of the engaging ring 422 and in contact with the swivel portion, as shown in fig. 2 . the space between the engaging ring 422 and either seal 430 may be packed with grease, or any other suitable lubricant. in this manner, the swivel portion 424 is provided with lubrication between the swivel portion 424 and the engaging ring 422 . thus, the swivel portion 424 may freely swivel within the engaging ring 422 in order to prevent torsional loads from being transmitted through to the proximal connection assembly 300 . the seals 430 also have bores 436 that may be configured to be press-fit onto the cylindrical rod 310 , or alternatively the bores 436 could have a clearance-fit, or a machine-fit. even if the bores 436 have only a clearance-fit, the grease or lubricant that is packed within the space between the seals 430 and the engaging ring 422 is retained due to the sealing member 430 on the side of the seals 430 that engages the flanges 240 . as shown in fig. 2 , the cylindrical rod 310 engages the flanges 240 , the seals 430 , and the swivel portion 424 of the bearing assembly 400 . the cylindrical rod 310 is press fit at both ends into either of the bores 220 of the flange portions 240 . with this configuration, the proximal connection assembly 300 can rotate freely about the cylindrical rod 310 in all three axes for at least a predetermined amount of rotation. thus, the proximal connection assembly 300 transmits only an axial load to the linkage or control unit 500 . this allows any linkage or control unit to have a reduced size, since they are not required to be capable of withstanding torsional forces. in addition, there is reduced risk of binding for a control unit. in the exemplary embodiment, shown in figs. 1-3 , the prosthetic knee 100 includes a control unit 500 . a control unit that is active or passive, as is well known in the art of prosthetic knees, may be provided. exemplary control units may be used such as control units having the part numbers snj01800u, and snj01800lu, both available from össur hf., reykjavik, iceland. however, a control unit is not necessary, and instead a simple mechanical linkage could be provided. in either case, the proximal end 520 may include a linkage or piston rod 510 and the distal end 530 may define the distal connection assembly 700 . the distal connection assembly 700 , which can best be seen in fig. 3 , is of a similar design as the proximal connection assembly and includes a cylindrical rod 710 and a bore 720 therethrough. the distal connection assembly can include grooves or receiving portions similar to grooves or receiving portions 306 for receiving retaining rings 610 , which are identical to retaining rings 410 . in the embodiment shown in figs. 1-3 the distal connection assembly is shown as being integral with the control unit 500 . of course, many alternative constructions will be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art of orthotic and prosthetic devices. the bore 720 of the distal connection assembly 700 is configured to receive a distal bearing assembly 600 that is identical in construction to the proximal bearing assembly 400 . the distal bearing assembly 600 includes a bearing portion 620 that includes an engaging ring 622 and a swivel portion 624 having a bore 626 therethrough and such that the swivel portion 624 and the engaging ring 622 are configured to engage each other in a swivel fashion, as previously described. the distal bearing assembly 600 also includes a plurality of seals 630 having bores 636 therethrough and receiving portions 632 for receiving sealing members 634 in an identical manner to the seals 430 discussed above. the distal mounting assembly 800 shown in fig. 3 consists of bores 820 passing through a distal portion of the frame 110 of the prosthetic knee 100 . the cylindrical rod 710 can be press-fit into the bores 820 of the frame 110 , in a manner similar to that discussed above with respect to the cylindrical rod 310 of the proximal connection assembly 300 . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 3 , there are protective plugs 830 received within the bores 820 of the frame 110 . these plugs are not a necessary component, but can serve as an aesthetic component and to keep dirt and debris from accumulating within the bores 820 . the distal bearing assembly 600 and the distal connection assembly 700 function in exactly the same manner as discussed above with respect to the proximal bearing assembly 400 and the proximal connection assembly 300 . that is, torsional forces are not transmitted through the distal connection assembly 700 to the linkage or control unit 500 , due to the swivel function of the distal bearing assembly 600 . in use, the prosthetic knee 100 functions in a manner known to those having ordinary skill in the art of prosthetic knees. the frame 110 and the proximal mount assembly 200 rotate with respect to each other to simulate the motion and function of the human knee joint. during everyday use of a prosthetic knee, the prosthetic knee will be subject to both axial and torsional loading. the momentum free bearings described herein allow certain components of the prosthetic knee to be isolated from torsional loading. in this manner, with both a proximal momentum free bearing assembly and a distal momentum free bearing assembly, a linkage or control unit is subject only to an axial loading along its length. as previously discussed, the size of a linkage or control unit may be reduced, and the overall weight of the prosthetic limb may be reduced, as a result of the use of a proximal momentum free bearing assembly and a distal momentum free bearing assembly. additionally, if any type of hydraulic control unit is used, there is a reduced possibility of binding between the piston and cylinder of the control unit, since neither the piston nor the control unit see a torsional load. thus, the load is transmitted axially through and within the piston head and cylinder, in the manner that hydraulic cylinders are designed. this also applies to pneumatic pistons and cylinders as well as any other known type of control unit. c. alternate embodiments while the momentum free bearings are shown in use in a prosthetic knee having a control unit, many alternative uses and embodiments will be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art of orthotic and prosthetic devices. for example, the momentum free bearings can be utilized without the seals described, or with alternatively constructed seals. such alternative seals could include replacing the structure of the seals described herein with a gasket material, or with a seal having only seal members along one surface. in other alternatives, the momentum free bearings can be used in orthotic devices such as braces for the knee or elbow. also, the momentum free bearings may be used in orthotic devices designed to support any part of the body. further, the momentum free bearings may be used in any prosthetic device such as prosthetic elbow, hip or ankle joints. the momentum free bearings can be used in any type of prosthetic device where it is desired to isolate components of the prosthetic limb from torsional loading. the components of the momentum free bearings can be constructed from any suitable materials, for example any suitable lightweight structural materials such as stainless steels, aluminums, plastics, or any suitable combinations thereof. the components of the prosthetic knee can be made from any suitable known materials, such as stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, carbon fiber or glass fiber composites or any suitable combinations thereof. of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such objects or advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention. thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. the skilled artisan will recognize the interchangeability of various features from different embodiments and method steps. in addition to the variations described herein, other known equivalents for each feature can be mixed and matched by one of ordinary skill in this art to construct a momentum free bearing for use in prosthetic limbs in accordance with principles of the present invention. although this invention has been disclosed in the context of certain exemplary embodiments and examples, it therefore will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the invention and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. thus, it is intended that the scope of the present invention herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular disclosed embodiments described above, but should be determined only by a fair reading of the claims below.
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129-075-853-481-593
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US
|
[
"US",
"CA"
] |
C09J123/08,C09J11/06,C09J11/08,C09J129/14,C09J131/04,C09J11/00,C09J129/04
| 2018-08-09T00:00:00 |
2018
|
[
"C09"
] |
liquid adhesive concentrate
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provided herein are compositions and methods of preparing a liquid adhesive concentrate and a liquid adhesive formulation for use as an adhesive in installing insulation on the outside or inside surface of a duct or ductwork.
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1 . a liquid adhesive concentrate, comprising: a solid content, the solid content comprising, a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion in a range from about 50% to about 90%, a dry polymer in a range from about 10% to about 40%, a surfactant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a defoamer in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.5%, a biocide in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.3%, and a dispersant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%. 2 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , further comprising vinyl acetate-ethylene in a range from about 10% to about 40%. 3 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the solid content is in a range from about 70% to about 80%. 4 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the solid content is 80% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion, 0.4% surfactant, 0.3% defoamer, 0.2% biocide, 0.3% dispersant, and 18% dry polymer. 5 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the dry polymer is selected from the group consisting of acrylic, vinyl acetate-ethylene, dp-2903, 2894, cps 785a, dry latex powders, 5044, 5010, 4016, and a combination thereof. 6 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant is selected from the group consisting of non-ionic surfactants, ethoxylate-based surfactants, np-40s, 15-s-7, x-405, eh-9, co-897, polymeric surfactants, l-101, 502w, nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants, and a combination thereof. 7 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the biocide is selected from the group consisting of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one, 2-methyl-2h-isothiazole-3-one, 5-chloro-2-methyl-2h-isothazol-3-one, zinc pyrithione, 3-iodo-2-propynyl butylcarbamate, tributyltin benzoate, alkyl amine hydrochlorides, diuron, tn, bit 20d, bz plus, mergal 174 ii, neuosept 498, neuosept 91, neuosept bmc 412, sodium omadine, sporgard wb, zinc omadine, polyphase 663, ipbc 40, fungitrol 158, fungitrol 940, and a combination thereof. 8 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the dispersant is selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, copolymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, acrylic acid esters, acrylic acid olefins, rhodoline 225, coadis 173, tamol 851, and a combination thereof. 9 . the liquid adhesive concentrate of claim 1 , wherein the defoamer is selected from the group consisting of byk-035, byk-1610, byk-019, byk-023, byk-025, byk-1640, suppressor 2233, suppressor 2235, rhodoline 697, and a combination thereof. 10 . a liquid adhesive formulation, comprising: a solid content of at least about 13%, the solid content comprising, a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion in a range from about 50% to about 90%, a dry polymer in a range from about 10% to about 40%, a surfactant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a biocide in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.3%, a dispersant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a defoamer in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.5% or a thickener in a range from about 1% to about 3%, and water in a range from about 60% to about 80%. 11 . the liquid adhesive formulation of claim 10 , wherein the solid content is in a range from about 14% to about 36%. 12 . the liquid adhesive formulation of claim 10 , wherein a ratio of water to solid content is about 6:1, about 5:1, about 4:1, about 3:1, about 2:1, or about 1:1. 13 . the liquid adhesive formulation of claim 10 , wherein the solid content is in an amount of about 18% and the water is in an amount of about 80%. 14 . the liquid adhesive formulation of claim 10 , wherein the thickener is in an amount of about 2%. 15 . the liquid adhesive formulation of claim 10 , wherein the thickener is selected from the group consisting of an anionic inverse emulsion thickener, texipol 63-237, texipol 63-253, texipol 63-202, and a combination thereof. 16 . a method for preparing a liquid adhesive concentrate, the method comprising: providing a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion; adding one or more additives to the polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion; mixing under low shear conditions to form a mixture; adding dry polymer; and mixing under high shear conditions to form the liquid adhesive concentrate. 17 . the method of claim 16 , wherein the one or more additives comprises a surfactant, a defoamer, a biocide, a dispersant, or a combination thereof. 18 . a method for preparing a liquid adhesive formulation, the method comprising: providing a liquid adhesive concentrate having one or more additives; and diluting the liquid adhesive concentrate with water, wherein the one or more additives comprises a surfactant, a defoamer, a biocide, a dispersant, or a combination thereof.
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cross reference to related applications this application claims priority to u.s. provisional application no. 62/716,438 filed aug. 9, 2018, entitled “liquid adhesive concentrate,” the content of which is incorporated by reference herein. background of the invention ducts are used to transport heated or cooled air, or other gasses, from one place to another. ducts are typically manufactured from sheet metal material and formed into the desired shape by joining ends of the sheet metal by a mechanism that allows interlocking of the two ends. often, insulation is installed on the outside or inside surface of a duct or ductwork in order to maximize the efficiency of the heating or cooling system containing the ductwork. insulation will minimize loss of the hot or cool air to the outside environment and promote transportation of the air within the duct system. a water-based adhesive is typically employed to adhere the insulation to the ductwork. weld pins may be additionally used to secure the insulation to the ductwork. successful duct liner adhesives have good “wet tack” and short dry times and adheres insulation to the duct wall while the duct may be in motion but also have the ability to readjust if needed prior to final securing by weld pins. liquid adhesive is often supplied separately to the installer in either 5 gallon pails or 55 gallon drums. since the adhesive is supplied as a water-based formulation, it has a limited shelf-life, usually a year or less, and this may be shortened after a pail or drum is opened. often times, an entire pail or drum may not be used all at once. frequently opening and resealing of water-based products is a risk due to evaporation and partial curing. this can jeopardize the core properties of the adhesive, such as viscosity, tack, adhesion, etc. in another aspect, the cost of shipping the concentrate versus a ready-to-use liquid adhesive will be lower. liquid diluent may simply be added prior to use rather than being shipped as part of the finished product from the supplier. this significantly increases the amount of usable product, as much as six times the amount, when comparing to what was actually shipped. there remains a need for providing adhesive material for installing ductwork that can be easily stored and shipped, and is simple to use by the insulation installer. here, we disclose an adhesive concentrate (“liquid adhesive concentrate”) that is provided to the end-user (e.g., ductwork installer) in a liquid form which can then be combined with water to form a liquid adhesive. in this way, the adhesive can be prepared, as needed, by the end user prior to application during installation according to the specifications (i.e., volume required, adhesive strength) for a particular installation job. the liquid adhesive concentrate provides improved performance and significant cost savings in both raw materials and shipping costs over presently used duct adhesives and is environmentally friendly. summary of the invention in some embodiments, a liquid adhesive concentrate is described. the liquid adhesive concentrate may comprise a solid content. in some embodiments, the solid content may comprise a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion in a range from about 50% to about 90%, a dry polymer in a range from about 10% to about 40%, a surfactant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a defoamer in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.5%, a biocide in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.3%, a dispersant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a plasticizer in a range from about 0.2% to about 3.0%, an anti-freeze in a range from about 0.5% to about 1.5%, or a ph adjuster in a range from about 0.25% to about 0.75%. in some embodiments, the solid content may comprise a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion in a range from about 50% to about 90%, a dry polymer in a range from about 10% to about 40%, a surfactant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.25%, a defoamer in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.5%, a biocide in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.5%, a dispersant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%. in some embodiments, the liquid adhesive concentrate may further comprise a vinyl acetate-ethylene in a range from about 10% to about 40%. in some embodiments, the solid content is in a range from about 70% to about 80%. in some embodiments, the solid content is in a range from about 70% to about 73%. in some embodiments, the solid content may comprise 80% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion, 0.4% surfactant, 0.3% defoamer, 0.2% biocide, 0.3% dispersant, 0.3% plasticizer, 0.6% anti-freeze, 0.44% ph adjuster, or 18% dry polymer. in some embodiments, the solid content may comprise 80% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion, 1.5% surfactant, 0.3% defoamer, 0.35% biocide, 0.3% dispersant, or 18% dry polymer. in some embodiments, the dry polymer may comprise acrylic, vinyl acetate-ethylene, dp-2903, 2894, cps 785a, dry latex powders, 5044, 5010, 4016, or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the surfactant may comprise non-ionic surfactants, ethoxylate-based surfactants, np-40s, 15-s-7, x-405, eh-9, co-897, polymeric surfactants, l-101, nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants, 502w or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the biocide may comprise 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one, 2-methyl-2h-isothiazole-3-one, 5-chloro-2-methyl-2h-isothazol-3-one, zinc pyrithione, 3-iodo-2-propynyl butylcarbamate, tributyltin benzoate, alkyl amine hydrochlorides, diuron, tn, bit 20d, bz plus, mergal 174 ii, neuosept 498, neuosept 91, neuosept bmc 412, sodium omadine, sporgard wb, zinc omadine, ipbc 40, fungitrol 158, fungitrol 940, or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the plasticizer may comprise diisononyl phthalate (dinp), dioctyl terephthalate (bis(2-ethylhexyl) benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate (dotp), benzoate, tricresylphosphate, or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the anti-freeze may comprise ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the dispersant may comprise acrylic acid, copolymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, acrylic acid esters, acrylic acid olefins, rhodoline 225, coadis 173, tamol 851, or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the defoamer may comprise byk-035, byk-1610, byk-019, byk-023, byk-025, byk-1640, suppressor 2233, suppressor 2235, rhodoline 697, or a combination thereof. in some embodiments, the ph adjuster may comprise trimethylamine, diethanolamine, tea-85, tea-79, polypotassium triphosphate, pentapotassium triphosphate, and a combination thereof. in further embodiments, a liquid adhesive formulation is disclosed. the liquid formulation may comprise a solid content of at least about 13%, the solid content comprising, a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion in a range from about 50% to about 90%, a dry polymer in a range from about 10% to about 40%, a surfactant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a biocide in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.3%, a dispersant in a range from about 0.3% to about 1.2%, a plasticizer in a range from about 0.2% to about 3.0%, an anti-freeze in a range from about 0.5% to about 1.5%, a ph adjuster in a range from about 0.25% to about 0.75%, a defoamer in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.5% or a thickener in a range from about 1% to about 3%, or water in a range from about 60% to about 80%. in some embodiments, the liquid formulation may comprise a solid content of at least about 13%, the solid content comprising, a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer based concentrate in a range from about 18% to about 36%, a defoamer in a range from about 0.1% to about 0.5% or a thickener in a range from about 1% to about 3%, or water in a range from about 60% to about 80%. in some embodiments, the solid content is in a range from about 18% to about 36%. in some embodiments, a ratio of water to solid content is about 6:1, about 5:1, about 4:1, about 3:1, about 2:1, or about 1:1. in some embodiments, the solid content is in an amount of about 18% and the water is in an amount of about 80%. in some embodiments, the thickener is in an amount of about 2%. in some embodiments, the thickener may comprise an anionic inverse emulsion thickener, texipol 63-237, texipol 63-253, texipol 63-202, or a combination thereof. in a further embodiment, a method for preparing a liquid adhesive concentrate is disclosed. in some embodiments, the method for preparing a liquid adhesive concentrate comprises providing a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion, adding one or more additives to the polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion, mixing under low shear conditions to form a mixture, adding dry polymer, and mixing under high shear conditions to form the liquid adhesive concentrate. in some embodiments, the one or more additives may comprise a surfactant, a defoamer, a biocide, a dispersant, a plasticizer, an anti-freeze agent, a ph adjuster, or a combination thereof. in an additional embodiment, a method for preparing a liquid adhesive formulation is disclosed. in some embodiments, the method may comprise providing a liquid adhesive concentrate having one or more additives, and diluting the liquid adhesive concentrate with water. in some embodiments, the one or more additives may comprise a surfactant, a defoamer, a biocide, a dispersant, a plasticizer, an anti-freeze agent, a ph adjuster, or a combination thereof. description of the invention it is to be understood that the descriptions of the invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the invention, while eliminating for purposes of clarity, other elements that may be well known. as used herein, the term “about” means the nominal or named value plus or minus 5% of that named value. before use, the liquid adhesive concentrate may be diluted with water and optionally other components may be added. in some embodiments, a defoamer, a thickener, or a combination of both is added to the final diluted adhesive. in one aspect, the present invention provides a liquid adhesive concentrate having high solids content. in some embodiments, the solid is a polymeric solid. in another aspect, the present invention provides a method for preparing a liquid adhesive formulation from the liquid adhesive concentrate. with respect to the solids content, it is believed that upon dilution of the concentrate into the final usable adhesive form, the diluted adhesive should have a minimum solids content of at least about 13% to function as an adhesive having sufficient wet tack and proper dry time. in some embodiments, the solids content is higher than 13%. as one of skill in the art would readily recognize, the solids content (as well as the chemical composition of the solids) in the adhesive may dictate the drying time of said adhesive with higher solids resulting in shorter drying times. one of skill in the art would be able to adjust dilution volumes to achieve an adhesive with desired properties. in some embodiments, the ratio of water to concentrate is about 6:1 or less (e.g., 6:1, 5:1, 4:1, 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, or any ratio in between). in some embodiments, the water and the concentrate are mixed at a ratio of about 82 to about 18. in order to achieve the desired solids content as noted above and to have maximum versatility in dictating properties of the final diluted adhesive, the liquid adhesive concentrate should have high solids content. however, the viscosity of the concentrate should be such that the concentrate has good flow characteristics and can be easily and homogenously mixed with water. the prepared suspension should also be stable and stay in suspension for an extended period of time. a number of variables, including solids content, identity of concentration, final desired dilution volume, and compatibility with additional desired additives play a substantial role in the final usability of the liquid adhesive concentrate and final adhesive formulation. in some embodiments, the liquid adhesive concentrate has from about 70% to about 80% solids. in one embodiment, the liquid adhesive concentrate includes a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion. in some embodiments, this dispersion is obtained from wacker chemie ag. for example, polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersions sold under the brand name vinnapas® (e.g., ep7000) may be useful. in some embodiments, the concentrate further includes dry polymer and additional performance additives such as surfactant, defoamer, biocide, dispersant, plasticizer, anti-freeze, a ph adjuster, or any mixture or combination thereof. in one embodiment, the solids content in the concentrate is about 70-80%. in one embodiment, this solids content is achieved by using about 50-90% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion having a solids content of about 70-73% and incorporating about 10-40% w/w dry vinyl acetate-ethylene into the concentrate. the liquid adhesive concentrate may be diluted to prepare the final liquid adhesive formulation. the final liquid adhesive formulation includes the concentrate, water, and other components, such as a defoamer and a thickener, or both. additionally, other components may be added, inducing those noted above that may be suitable for inclusion in the concentrate. within the context of the adhesive formulations disclosed herein, the dry polymer may be acrylic, vinyl acetate-ethylene (vae), or a combination thereof. specific examples include drycryl® dp-2903 (dow), unibond® 2894 (unichem, inc.), elvace® cps 785a (h.b. fuller), dry latex powders (such as those from dow's dlp line), vinnapas® 5044, vinnapas® 5010, and vinnapas® 4016 (all from wacker chemie ag). in particular embodiments, vinyl acetate-ethylene is used. within the context of the adhesive formulations disclosed herein, inclusion of one or more surfactants may help to reduce surface tension of the adhesive. examples of suitable surfactants include, but are not limited to, non-ionic surfactants such as ethoxylate-based surfactants (e.g., tergitol® np-405, tergitol® 15-s-7, triton® x-405, ecosurf® eh-9 (all from dow), igepal® co-897 (rhodia), and polymeric surfactants such as pluronic® l-101 (basf) and dowsil 502w (dow). in particular embodiments, nonylphenol ethoxylate (e.g., ecosurf eh-9® or tergitol® np-40s) and/or polymeric surfactant (e.g., dowsil 502w) is used. inclusion of one or more biocides may help prevent microbial growth. examples of suitable biocides include 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one, 2-methyl-2h-isothiazole-3-one, 5-chloro-2-methyl-2h-isothazol-3-one, zinc pyrithione, 3-iodo-2-propynyl butylcarbamate, tributyltin benzoate, alkyl amine hydrochlorides, and mixtures thereof. suitable examples of commercially available biocodes include, but are not limited to, proxel® tn (lonza), mergal 174 ii (troy), biocheck® bit 20d (lanxess), proxel® bz plus (lonza), neuosept™ 498, neuosept™ 91, neuosept™ bmc 412 (all by ashland), sodium omadine (lonza), sporgard® wb (lanxess), zinc omadine (lonza), polyphase 663 (troy), bioban® ipbc 40 (dow chemical), fungitrol® 158, and fungitrol® 940 (both sold by isp corp.). in particular embodiments, a mixture of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one and 2-methyl-2h-isothiazole-3-one (e.g., proxel® tn) is used. inclusion of one or more plasticizers may promote flexibility and lower the tg of the backbone polymer. examples of suitable plasticizers include, but are not limited to, diisononyl phthalate (dinp), dioctyl terephthalate (bis(2-ethylhexyl) benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate (dotp), benzoate, tricresylphosphate, or mixtures thereof. anti-freeze agents may be incorporated to maintain stability during any freeze/thaw cycles that the adhesive may undergo. examples of suitable anti-freeze agents include ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and mixtures thereof. dispersants may be included to help achieve homogenous mixing. examples of suitable dispersants include, but are not limited to, copolymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, or maleic acid and acrylic acid esters/olefins. examples of suitable commercially available dispersants include, but are not limited to, rhodaline® 225 (solvay novacare), coadis® 173 (coatex), or tamol® 851 (dow chemical). in some embodiments, the dispersant is rhodaline® 225. one or more defoamers may be incorporated to reduce the level of trapped air in the concentrate. in some embodiments, the defoamer is silicone-based, for example, those sold under the byk®, including byk® 035, byk®-1610, byk®-019, byk®-023, byk®-025, byk®-1640, supressor 2233 (hydrite), suppressor 2235 (hydrite), and rhodoline 697 (solvay). in particular embodiments, byk®-1610 or byk®-035 is used. in particular embodiments, the ph adjuster and the thickener/s are chosen such that the ph adjuster activates the thickener. suitable ph adjusters include, but are not limited to, trimethylamine, diethanolamine, and mixtures thereof. specific examples include, but are not limited to tea-85 and tea-79. polypotassium triphosphate (also known as pentapotassium triphosphate) may also be used. in particular embodiments, tea-85 is used. one or more thickeners may be used to stabilize the end viscosity of the adhesive and keeps solids from falling out of the suspension. in one embodiment, the thickener used is an anionic inverse emulsion thickener. examples of suitable anionic inverse emulsion thickeners include those that readily congeal in the presence of water under the proper ph conditions, such as those sold under the tradename texipol® by scott bader company limited, such as texipol® 63-237, texipol® 63-253, and texipol® 63-202. in particular embodiments, the thickener is texipol® 63-237. in one embodiment, the liquid adhesive concentrate has the following components: 50%-90% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion0.30%-1.20% surfactant0.10%-0.50% defoamer0.10%-0.30% biocide0.30%-1.20% dispersant0.20%-3.00% plasticizer0.50%-1.50% anti-freeze agent0.25%-0.75% ph adjuster10%-40% dry polymer in further embodiments, the liquid adhesive concentrate has the following components: 50%-90% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion0.30%-1.25% surfactant0.10%-0.50% defoamer0.30%-1.5% biocide0.30%-1.20% dispersant10%-40% dry polymer in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 80% polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.40% or about 1.25% surfactant. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.30% defoamer. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.2% biocide or about 0.35% biocide. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.30% dispersant. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.3% plasticizer. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.60% anti-freeze agent. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 0.44% ph adjuster. in particular embodiments, the concentrate has about 18% dry polymer. in another aspect, the present invention provides a method for preparing a liquid adhesive concentrate. in one embodiment, the concentrate may be prepared by a process that includes the steps of: a. providing a polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion;b. adding one or more additives to the polyvinyl alcohol-stabilized vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer dispersion;c. mixing under low shear conditions to form a mixture;d. adding dry polymer; ande. mixing under high shear conditions to form the liquid adhesive concentrate. within the context of this embodiment, the additives may be any as listed above, for example, surfactant, defoamer, biocide, dispersant, plasticizer, anti-freeze agent, ph adjuster, or any combination thereof. one of skill in the art will readily recognize suitable mixing conditions that will adequately prepare the adhesive concentrate without damaging the polymer structure within the concentrate. in another aspect, the present invention provides a final adhesive formulation prepared from the liquid adhesive concentrate described herein and methods for its preparation. the final adhesive formulation may be prepared by diluting said liquid adhesive concentrate with water. in some embodiments, this liquid is water. in some embodiments, the liquid adhesive concentrate is diluted at a ratio of 6:1 or less dilution liquid to concentrate. optionally, as noted above, other components such as a thickener, a defoamer, or a combination thereof, may be added to the final adhesive formulation. in some embodiments, defoamer is added at a final concentration of about 0.1-0.5%. in some embodiments, a thickener is added at a final concentration of about 1.00-3.00%. in one embodiment, final adhesive formulation has the following components: a. 60%-80% waterb. 18%-36% liquid adhesive concentratec. 0.1%-0.5% defoamerd. 1%-3% thickener in particular embodiments, the final adhesive formulation has about 80% water and about 18% liquid adhesive concentrate. in particular embodiments, the final adhesive formulation contains about 0.30% additional defoamer. in particular embodiments, the final adhesive formulation contains about 2% of one or more thickener. within the context of this embodiment, the final adhesive formulation may be prepared by adding any component in any order, provided that some water is added to the concentrate before defoamer/thickener is added. in some embodiments, a mixture of defoamer and thickener is prepared separately and added to the concentrate. in some embodiments, the liquid adhesive formulation may optionally contain a pigment. pigment may be used as a visual indicator of a variety of properties of the adhesive before, during, or after application, including, but not limited to, extent of drying, application placement, adhesive thickness, or any combination thereof. within the context of the invention, the adhesive solution may remain stable without significant sedimentation or significant loss of adhesive efficacy for time period equivalent to that of standard liquid products used in the industry. in some embodiments, the concentrate, once prepared, may exhibit enhanced suspension stability such that upon preparation, it will stay in suspension for a year or more. further, in some embodiments, adhesive prepared from liquid adhesive concentrate disclosed herein may exhibit quicker drying times compared to other commonly used adhesives while still retaining the ability to remain tacky and allow adjustments before drying. in some embodiments, the adhesive may dry or become tack free within a half hour or an hour while other commonly used adhesives require 1-3 hours or 3-5 hours drying time (dependent on environmental conditions: temperature, humidity, air flow, etc.). in certain embodiments of the invention, the adhesive solution may be applied to ductwork to which insulation shall be adhered. in other embodiments, the adhesive solution may be applied directly to the insulation itself to provide a protective barrier or to encapsulate exposed insulation fibers. the adhesive solution may be applied to the ductwork or to the insulation by methods well known in the art, for example, by drip system, spray application system, rotobonder, or brush.
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129-206-609-691-668
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US
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[
"US"
] |
C40B30/00,G01N33/53,B05D3/02,C12M1/34,G06F19/00,G01N33/566,G01N17/04,C07K14/705,C12Q1/00
| 2004-12-30T00:00:00 |
2004
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[
"C40",
"G01",
"B05",
"C12",
"G06",
"C07"
] |
membrane arrays and methods of manufacture
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the invention relates to g protein-coupled receptor (gpcr) microarrays on porous substrates for structural or functional analyses of gpcrs, and methods of preparing porous substrate surfaces for receiving membranes that comprise gpcrs. in one embodiment, a gpcr microarray of the invention comprises a membrane adhered to an upper surface of a porous substrate, the membrane spanning across a plurality of pores on the porous substrate to form a plurality of cavities having sufficient geometry to permit entry of assay reagents into each cavity, thereby allowing access of assay reagents to both sides of gpcr in the membrane.
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1 - 10 . (canceled) 11 . a method of making a membrane microarray for use with an assay medium in which the microarray includes a porous substrate having a plurality of pores in an upper surface and a membrane at least partially spanning over one said pore, the method comprising the steps of, (a) providing a transfer element having a flat surface that comprises a material capable of undergoing swelling under the effect of an organic solvent; (b) preparing a solution, in the organic solvent, of a compound having an affinity for the substrate; (c) applying the solution to the flat surface of the transfer element and permitting the transfer element to absorb the solution; (d) pressing the surface of the transfer element treated with the solution against the upper surface of the porous substrate until the molecules of the compound are bonded to the surface of the substrate to form a coating of molecular thickness bonded to the upper surface of the substrate; and (e) separating the transfer element from the substrate. 12 . the method according to claim 11 , wherein the solution is rendered capable of bonding to the upper surface of the porous substrate by treatment of the porous substrate by a technique selected from the group consisting of coating the substrate to enhance chemical bonding, applying an opposite electrical charge to the substrate, and chemical treatment of the substrate to effect covalent bonding to the substrate. 13 . the method according to claim 11 , wherein the compound is an organosilane of the formula: r n —si—x 4-n , wherein r is a functional group which is not reactive with a hydroxyl group; x is a group which is reactive and/or which is hydrolyzable into a group that is reactive with a hydroxyl group or an oxide, and n=1, 2 or 3. 14 . the method according to claim 13 , wherein r is an epoxy group or a radical containing the epoxy group, an amino group or a radical containing an amino group, and x is a chlorine atom or an alkoxy group. 15 . the method according to claim 11 , wherein the transfer element comprises a solid or solid-like material capable of undergoing swelling under the action of an organic solvent and is selected from the group consisting of silicone rubber, polyisoprene, polybutadiene rubber, polychloroprene rubber, butadiene-styrene, butadiene-acrylonitrile, ethylene-propylene elastomeric copolymers and ethylene-vinyl acetate elastomeric copolymers, butyl rubber and polysulfide rubber. 16 . the method according to claim 11 , wherein the organic solvent may be any solvent capable of dissolving the compound and of exerting a swelling effect on the material of the transfer element. 17 . the method according to claim 16 , wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of liquid alkanes, halogenated alkanes, aromatic compounds, petroleum fractions, tetrahydrofuran and n-methylpyrrolidone. 18 . the method according to claim 17 , wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of hexane, heptane, octane, decane, hexadecane, chloroform, benzene, toluene, white spirit, diesel oil and gasoline. 19 . the method according to claim 17 , wherein the porous substrate is a material whose upper surface bears hydroxyl groups or oxide groups. 20 . the method according to claim 19 , wherein the porous substrate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of glass, silica, metal and polymer. 21 . a method of making a membrane microarray for use with an assay medium in which the microarray includes a porous substrate having a plurality of pores in an upper surface and a membrane at least partially spanning across one said pore, the method comprising the steps of: (a) coating an upper surface of the porous substrate with a non-binding compound; and (b) exposing the upper surface of the porous substrate to ultraviolet radiation in the presence of ozone to oxidize the organic coating on the upper surface of the porous substrate. 22 . the method according to claim 21 , further comprising depositing a compound for enhancing the binding chemistry on the upper surface of the porous substrate. 23 . the method according to claim 22 , wherein the deposited compound includes an aminosilane. 24 . the method according to claim 21 , wherein the non-binding compound includes hydroxyl groups. 25 . the method according to claim 21 , further comprising the step of providing a membrane adhered to the upper surface of the porous substrate such that the membrane at least partially spans over two or more pores of the porous substrate to form a plurality of cavities having sufficient geometry to permit access within each cavity to the assay medium. 26 . a method for identifying a modulator of a membrane protein, comprising: contacting a membrane with a candidate molecule, said membrane comprising said membrane protein and being immobilized on a porous substrate, and both sides of said membrane being accessible to assay agents; and detecting a biological function of said membrane protein, wherein a change in said function in the presence of said candidate molecule as compared to that in the absence of said candidate molecule is indicative of the capability of said candidate molecule to modulate said membrane protein. 27 . the method of claim 26 , wherein said membrane protein is selected from the group consisting of a g protein coupled receptor, an ion channel, a kinase receptor, and a transporter. 28 . the method of claim 26 , wherein said membrane is a cellular membrane. 29 . the method of claim 26 , wherein said membrane protein is a g protein coupled receptor, and said membrane comprises a g protein or a subunit thereof, and wherein said function is detected by measuring activation of said g protein or subunit by said g protein coupled receptor. 30 . the method of claim 29 , comprising contacting said membrane with (1) a ligand of said g protein coupled receptor and (2) a gtp analogue capable of binding to said g protein or subunit upon activation of said g protein or subunit. 31 . the method of claim 30 , wherein said candidate molecule is an agonist of said g protein coupled receptor. 32 . the method of claim 30 , wherein said candidate molecule is an antagonist of said g protein coupled receptor. 33 . (canceled)
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to g protein-coupled receptor (gpcr) microarrays on porous substrates for structural or functional analyses of gpcrs, and methods of preparing porous substrate surfaces for receiving membranes that comprise gpcrs. 2. background of related art gpcrs are the single most important class of drug targets—approximately 50% of current drug targets are membrane bound. despite the large number of gpgr targets and a wide variety of technologies for screening against gpcrs, no methods were available for screening against multiple gpcrs simultaneously. the gpcr microarray technology has been investigated (fang et al., “g protein-coupled receptor microarrays for drug delivery” drug discovery today , vol. 8, no. 16, august 2003, pp. 755-761; bieri et al., “micropatterned immobiliztion of a g protein-coupled receptor and direct detection of g protein activation,” nature biotechnology , vol 17, november 1999, pp. 1105-1108; pierce et al., “seven-transmembrane receptors” molecular cellular biology , vol. 3, september 2002, pp 639-650) and their use has been demonstrated for the multiplexed screening of compounds, see for example u.s. patent application publication nos. 2002/0019015 and 2002/0094544, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. the arrays were obtained on flat “2d” glass slides coated with γ-aminopropylsilane (gaps) and other materials including epoxypropylsilane. most assay development has focused on “binding assays” that provide information about how much of a compound is bound to a receptor at a particular concentration; based on this information, the affinity of the compound for the receptor can be obtained. a large fraction of gpcr screening assays—so-called “functional assays”—are based on determining whether the gpcr gets activated as a result of compound binding. the information can be used to classify compounds as agonists, partial agonists, antagonists or inverse agonists. moreover, functional assays are essential for investigating “orphan” gpcrs, some of which may turn out to be key drug targets. orphan gpcrs are those without known ligands, which preclude the use of competition assays employing known labeled ligands. functional assays can be both cell-based and biochemical in nature; cell-based assays are currently the method of choice for functional assays. cell based assays include reporter gene assays, β-arrestin and gpcr-gfp translocation assays (i.e., receptor internalization and endosome formation). methods for monitoring the activation of gpcrs by non-cell based assays are mostly limited to monitoring gtp-gdp exchange at the gpcr associated gα protein using labeled gtp analogues (e.g., 35 s-gtpγs or eu-gtp). these functional assays are “homogenous” assays, that is, the receptor and the gtp analogue mixed with or without a compound of interest are in solution over the duration of the assay; these assays are then subject to filtration using a filter microplate so that the labeled gtp can be removed by filtration, and only the bound gtp analog molecules can be quantified and the effect of compound on the binding of gtp analog can be examined which can be used to classify the action of compound on the receptors (i.e., non-binder, or antagonist, or agonist, etc). limited success has been encountered with the use of fluorescent-dye labeled gtp-ys for functional assays on 2d gaps surfaces, although functional assays employing radioactively labeled 35 s-gtpγs have been successfully carried out on these surfaces. however, the relatively poor reproducibility of these functional assays limits their applications of gpcr microarrays for compound screening. moreover, the use of non-radioactive labels is preferred because of safety issues. europium-labeled gtp (eu-gtp) (perkin elmer life science, boston, mass.) has been developed as an alternative to 35 s-labeled-gtp, and has been successfully demonstrated their use in functional assays carried out in solution in combination with filter-plates. realization of eu-gtp binding assays for gpcr microarrays on porous substrates would greatly benefit their applications for compound screening. with regard to the production and use of gpcr microarrays, the g protein coupled receptor (gpcr) microarrays are unique in that they require immobilization of both the protein targets and the lipid membrane in which they are embedded (fang et al., “membrane protein microarrays,” j. american chemical society , vol. 124, 2002, pp. 2394-2395; fang et al., “g-protein coupled receptor microarrays,” chembiochem ., vol. 3, 2002, pp, 987-991). moreover, the confined proteins should be in their correctly folded conformations. different types of surfaces have been proposed that meet these requirements (hennestal et al., “pore spanning lipid bilayers visuallized by scanning force microscopy,” j. american chemical society , vol. 122, 2000, pp. 8085-8086; cremer et al., “formation and spreading of lipid bilayers on planar glass supports,” j. physical chemistry b , vol. 103, 1999, pp. 2554-2559; theato et al. “formation of lipid bilayer on a new amphiphilic polymer support,” langmuir , vol. 16, 2000, pp. 1801-1805; majewski et al., “structural studies of polymer-cushiond lipid bilayers,” j. biophysical journal , vol. 75, 1998, pp. 2363-2367. conventional methods for fabricating solid supported membranes exploit gold-thiol, capping of oh-groups by silanes, and electrostatic interactions. the resulting membranes exhibit limited long-term stability due to the lipid loss into the solution when remained in aqueous solutions (fang and yang, “the growth of bilayer defects and the induction of interdigitated domains in the lipid-loss process of supported phospholipid bilayer,” biochim. biophys. acta , vol. 1324, 1997, pp. 309-319), but their close proximity to the solid surface (typically 0.2-2 nm) limits lateral lipid mobility. since a membrane-surface separation of at least 1 to 5 nm (preferably at least 2 to 10 nm) is usually required to preserve the biological functions of the membrane proteins associated with the membranes, several approaches have been employed to extend the membrane surface distance, such as the use of lipids with long hydrophilic spacers, the inclusion of polymer cushions between substrate and membrane, and the use of patterns with varied thiol-components that increase lateral mobility and free volume. a functional gpcr assay is possible if both gpcr terminals are accessible and bioactive. suspended membranes have been developed on the basis of membranes spanning the pores of porous alumina substrates (hennestal et al., supra). when the membrane spans the pores there are no issues with steric congestion on either side of the receptor. a method has been proposed which makes use of “contact printing” to deposit a binding chemistry, such as a moderately positively charged coating, only onto the top surface of a porous substrate. the contact printing includes impregnating a flat polymer stamp with a solution containing the active molecules and brings it in conformal contact with the porous substrate. this effectively transfers the active molecules only onto the top surface of the substrate. further, it is also known to perform functional assays for g-protein coupled receptors (gpcrs) in commercially available 96 well plates using a time-resolved fluorometric assay based on gdp-gtp-eu-labeled exchange on gpcr. the activation of receptors by agonists is made in solution inside wells. the activation signal is detected on the porous bottom of wells where the activated receptor of the gpcr is retained after filtration (see, for example, the delfia gtp-binding kit from perkin elmer inc.). g-protein coupled receptor (gpcr) microarrays are unique in that they allow immobilizing both the protein targets and the lipid membrane in which they are embedded before activation. one advantage of this technique is to use small amounts of expensive receptors and to study several receptors simultaneously in the same well. however, the confined protein should be in their correctly folded conformations. different types of surfaces have been proposed that meet these requirements as discussed above. therefore, it can be realized that effective gpcr microarrays for use in functional assays, e.g., employing particular gtp analogues, are needed. additionally, a simple method of selecting the appropriate porous substrate for receiving a membrane, enhancing the immobilization of the membrane on the porous support, as well as a simple method of fixing a membrane on the porous support, are needed. summary of the invention the present invention overcomes the problems of forming reliable gpcr microarrays described above by providing gpcr arrays on porous substrates for use in functional assays. membrane arrays comprising other transmembrane proteins can be similarly prepared. in one aspect, the present invention provides a membrane array which includes (1) a porous substrate comprising a plurality of pores; and (2) a plurality of membranes adhered to the porous substrate. these membranes comprise transmembrane proteins that are accessible to assay agents from both sides of the membrane. any type of membrane can be used for the present invention, such as biological membrane (e.g., plasma membrane, nuclear membrane, or cell organelle membrane), reconstituted membrane (e.g., liposome, or other unilaminar or multilaminar amphiphilic molecule complexes), or polymer complexes (e.g., hydrogel). these membranes can be either covalently or non-covalently attached to the porous substrate. the transmembrane proteins can be any protein of interest, such as g protein-coupled receptors (spcrs), ion channels, receptor kinases, or transporters. in many examples, each transmembrane protein includes a ligand-binding domain located on one side of the membrane and an effector-binding domain located on the other side of the membrane. in one embodiment, each membrane on a membrane array of the present invention comprises a lipid bilayer, and each membrane at least partially spans across one or more pores in the porous substrate. the surface properties of the porous substrate and these pores satisfy the following set of relations: γ lw +γ ls +2γ pw −2γ lp −γ sw <0 and γ ls <γ lw +γ sw wherein, γ lw =surface tension of the lipid-assay medium interface;γ ls =surface tension of the lipid-substrate interface;γ pw =surface tension of the pore-assay medium interface;γ lp =surface tension of the lipid-pore interface;γ sw =surface tension of the substrate-assay medium interface. in another embodiment, each membrane on a membrane array of the present invention at least partially spans over two or more pores in the porous substrate to form a plurality of cavities. each cavity has geometry to permit access of assay reagents into the cavity. in another aspect of the invention, a process is set forth for creating a bi-functional porous substrate in which the process involves three steps. in the first step, the porous layer is coated by a non-binding chemistry. then, the top surface of the porous layer is exposed to ultraviolet radiation in the presence of ozone to oxidize or remove the organic coating on the top surface of the porous substrate. thereafter, another binding chemistry is deposited on the bare top surface to create a bifunctional porous substrate. finally, an embodiment of the invention also includes a technique of “contact printing” a gpcr-embedded membrane on a porous substrate in which, preferably, a binding chemistry procedure has been previously performed. the binding chemistry procedure can, for example, providing the upper surface of the porous substrate with a moderately positively charged coating onto the upper surface of a porous substrate. however, other binding chemistry procedures well known in the prior art can equally be employed. the contact printing of the invention includes the steps of impregnating a flat polymer stamp with a solution containing active molecules, and bringing the stamp into conformal contact with the upper surface of the porous substrate to effectively transfer the active molecules onto the top surface of the substrate. brief description of the drawings the invention may be further understood by reference to the drawings, wherein: figs. 1a and 1b , show an idealized representation of a gpcr microarray on: (a) 2-dimensional substrate and (b) porous substrate; fig. 2 shows an example of a gpcr array functional assay on gaps coated porous slide in which human neurotensin receptor subtype 1 (ntr1), opioid receptor mu subtype (opioid mu) and motilin receptor (motilin) were printed in array format on porous slide; figs. 3a and 3b illustrate a pore-spanning configuration (top) in which both gpcr terminals are accessible and bioactive; while, in the pore-coating configuration (bottom), the inner c-terminal is squeezed between the membrane and substrate and, therefore, is not available for functional assay; fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a pore-spanning membrane desirable for functional assays; fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a pore-coating membrane, which is not desirable for functional assays; fig. 6 illustrates a porous substrate untreated with a non-binding compound which has been dipped in fibrinogen solution and stained with colloidal gold solution; fig. 7 illustrates a porous substrate treated over its entire surface with a binding compound which has been dipped in fibrinogen solution and stained with colloidal gold solution; fig. 8 illustrates a porous substrate, having a gap coating only on the entire surface, after gold staining; fig. 9 illustrates a porous substrate of the invention having received a non-binding compound and exposure to ultraviolet radiation in presence of ozone and gaps coating only on the top surface, after gold staining. detailed description of the invention the invention involves fabrication of gpcr microarrays on porous substrates in order to perform “functional” gpcr assays. it is noted that the ability to carry out functional assays indicates the feasibility of use in binding assays, such as that shown in patent application us 2002/0094544a1, on these porous substrates. therefore, the instant invention is not limited to providing only functional assays of the gpcr-type, but can be directed to any assay in which exposure of both ends of a protein, across a membrane, is preferred for accurate results. examples of these proteins include, but are not limited to, ion channels, transporters, kinase receptors, or other transmembrane proteins. although conventional protein microarrays provide direct information regarding the binding and selectivity of putative drugs, they fall short in their ability to predict biological function. the biophysical requirements to study ligand agonism or antagonism using microarrays are challenging—a molecule has to bind to an immobilized protein in the microspot, the protein has to then undergo a conformational change that leads to the binding of a second molecule at a different binding site. yet, two-site tandem binding is the paradigm for the activation of cell-surface receptors. for binding assays, it is preferred that the ligand binding domain of the gpcr (located on the extracellular n-terminus and/or the extracellular binding sites formed by the membrane spanning loops of the receptor) be exposed to the assay solution (containing the labeled ligand and potential drug compounds). for gpcr containing membrane preparations immobilized on gaps (or other amine containing surfaces), we assume that 50% of the immobilized receptors have their ligand binding domains facing the solution with the intracellular g-protein binding domain face down on the gaps surface. gpcrs may also be immobilized in an oriented manner. for example, a gpcr with its ligand binding domain exposed to the solution (“facing up”) could be obtained using a gpcr biotinylated (or histidine tagged) at its c-terminus printed on a streptavidin (or n-chelate) coated surface; whereas a gpcr with its g-protein side facing up could be obtained through immobilization via its glycosylated n-terminus on wheat-germ agglutinin-coated surfaces, the latter orientation may be useful if monitoring gpcr-g protein interactions is desired. for functional assays, access to both sides of the receptor is preferred. in the resting state of the receptor, gdp is bound to the g α subunit of the heterotrimeric g protein (gp) associated with the gpcr. upon activation due to ligand binding, gdp dissociates from the activated complex and is replaced by gtp (or its analogue). therefore, equilibrium is achieved between the gpcr-gp complex, the ligand (l), gdp, and the gtp analogue (gtps♦), as shown in equations 1 and 2. gpcr−gp+l=l−gpcr*−gp−gdp (eq 1) l−gpcr*−gp−gdp+gtps♦=l−gpcr+gp−gtps♦ (eq 2) partitioning of gtps♦ into the interstitial spaces of a supported membrane can be hindered ( fig. 1a ), especially if the label attached to the gtp is bulky. porous surfaces that lead to the formation of supported membranes spanning the pores ( fig. 1b ) of the substrate can alleviate this steric congestion and enable access to both sides of the immobilized receptor. that is, the agonist is able to access the ligand binding domain of the gpcr and gtps♦ should be able to simultaneously bind to the g a subunit of gp ( fig. 1b ). there are additional reasons why porous surfaces are important for functional assays. the increased binding capacity of the surface may lead to the immobilization of a larger number of receptors relative to flat surfaces. although the binding affinity of a ligand for a gpcr depends on whether it is complexed to a g protein, the overall binding signal is an average signal obtained from complexed and uncomplexed forms (the use of nanaomolar concentrations of ligands biases the assay to the complexed form) of the receptor. functional assays work for those receptors complexed with right heterotrimeric g-protein. another advantage in using porous substrates is the potential for optical enhancements due to scattering by the porous microstructure or due to the strong enhancement of the incident light within the nanopores under resonant conditions (liu, y. and blair, “fluorescence enhancement from an array of subwavelength metal apertures”, optics letters, 2003, vol, 28, 507). since the net signal upon functional activation is relatively low, substrates that offer higher sensitivity (assuming that the assay is not limited by non-specific binding) would facilitate the monitoring of gpcr activation. as discussed further below, the invention describes a process of forming porous surfaces coated with gaps (or any surface presenting polymers containing amino groups can also be used), the fabrication of gpcr microarrays on these substrates, and functional assays on these arrays that monitor the agonist mediated binding of europium labeled gtp (eu-gtp) to the microspots form at the pores of the porous substrate. the process of fabricating and employing the gpcr functional assay of the invention includes three major steps: 1) array printing—gpcr membranes are printed on gaps coated porous slides using contact (solid pin or quill pin-based) or non-contact (injet, bubble injet or nanoliter liquid dispenser) printing technologies. preferably, the printed slides are then subject to post-printing treatments. these treatments include about one-hour incubation under about 75% humidity in a humidity chamber and followed by drying for about two hours under vacuum at room temperature before assay; 2) assays performing—the printed gpcr arrays are then incubated with assay buffers containing gtp analogue probes in the presence or absence of receptor agonist for certain time (e.g., 45 minutes), and at the end of incubation period the assay solutions are removed, the slides are rinsed with gtp wash buffer and dried with nitrogen; 3) imaging—when eu-gtp is used as a probe, the slides are then directly scanned using a time-resolved fluorescence imaging system; and, if biotin-gtpγs is used as a probe, an extra incubation step is often performed before imaging. for example, the array is then further incubated with gold particles labeled streptavadin in order to detect bounded biotin-gtpγs, resonance light scattering imaging system is then used. fig. 2 illustrate an example of a gpcr array functional assay on gaps coated porous slide of the invention in which ntr1, opioid mu and motilin receptors were printed in array format on porous slide. after two hours of vacuum drying, the arrays were incubated for 1 hour with eugtp assay buffer in the absence or presence of receptor agonists (neurotensin for ntr1, motilin for motilin receptor, and dynorphin a for opioid mu; each agonist is at 1 μm). the eugtp assay buffer contained 10 nm eu-gtp, 50 mm hepes buffer, ph 7.4, 3 μm gdp, 10 mm mgcl 2 , 100 mm nacl, and 0.1% protein blocker. at the end of the incubation, the assay buffers were removed. afterwards, slides were washed, dried and imaged with in-house developed time-resolved fluorescence imaging system. the degree of activation (%) is plotted for a control and the various receptors. the results suggest that the presence of three agonists (each for its cognate receptor) increase the binding of eugtp to the gpcr microspots in the arrays, indicating that the gpcrs in the arrays are activated by the agonists. the use of porous substrates for functional assays using gpcr microarrays of the invention will remove the stringent restrictions on the size of gtp analogues and any other molecules that can recognize or bind specifically to activated receptors (e.g., beta-arrestin) or activated g proteins (e.g., g protein-binding peptides), and thereby provide high quality, high sensitivity functional assays in a highly multiplexed manner. additionally, enhanced detection schemes such as those using resonance light scattering (e.g. using gtpγs-biotin, followed by streptavidin coated gold nanospheres) or signal amplification schemes (e.g. using gtpγs-biotin, followed by streptavidin-hrp for amplification) can also be used with the functional assays of the invention. another embodiment of the invention involves parallel performing binding and functional assays by applying an assay solution containing a gtp analogue as well as labeled ligand(s) with known functional properties (agonist versus antagonist) in the absence or presence of a compound of interest. the gtp analogue gives signals in one channel (e.g., time resolve fluorescence signal of eu-gtp, or radioactivity signal), whereas the labeled ligands give signals in other channels (e.g., fitc, cy3 or others). each labeled ligand binds specifically and selectively to its cognate receptor(s) in the microarrays. another embodiment of the invention involves a process of selecting the appropriate porous substrate for use with a particular membrane. in the regard, the invention further includes defining the surface chemistries of the substrate and pore to favor membrane spanning conformations for the gpcr-embedded membranes over an arbitrarily sized pore in the porous substrate. these surface chemistries are based on an analysis of the competition between interfacial energies involving the membrane lipids, substrate, pore, and aqueous environment. while the focus of this invention is on gpcr array functional assays, it must be realized that the invention is also useful for the immobilization of any bio-layer or membrane (e.g., biological membrane, reconstituted membrane, or polymer such as a hydrogel) when the application requires steric access to both sides of the bio-layer or membrane. as mentioned above, functional gpcr assays yield far greater information about the effectiveness of drug candidates than binding assays alone, and functional gpcr assays are greatly facilitated by obtaining access to both sides of the gpcr containing membrane. porous substrates have been identified as candidate surfaces on which a functional gpcr assays can be designed. the present invention enables membrane spanning over arbitrarily sized pores, since the surface designs are to be based on the surface chemistry of interaction. that is, the present invention is independent of the specific coating materials that may be used, and, hence, provides an extremely broad and powerful scope of applications. as can be seen in figs. 3a and 38 , it is beneficial for the gpcr-receptor to be accessible to the assay medium at both surfaces of the membrane in order to provide reliable binding and results. for substrates with conformal lipid membrane, fig. 3b , the exposure to the assay medium of the c-terminus end of the gpcr-receptor adjacent the substrate surface is hindered by the close association, e.g., physical contact or squeezing, of the membrane and porous substrate. without limiting the present invention to any particular theory, an analysis of the difference in free energy between the pore-spanning configuration is illustrated in fig. 4 , and the pore-coating configuration is illustrated in fig. 5 , which is given by: where: d=radius of the pore; γ lw =surface tension of the lipid-water interface; γ ls =surface tension of the lipid-substrate interface; γ pw =surface tension of the pore-water interface; γ lp =surface tension of the lipid-pore interface; γ sw =surface tension of the substrate-water interface; k c =the bending modulus of the membrane; and t=the thickness of the membrane, a negative value of δg indicates that the pore-spanning configuration is favorable; hence, a negative value of δg is desirable for functional assays. if we assume the worst-case scenario for pore-spanning, i.e. a perfectly fluid membrane, we may set k c =0. to allow pore-spanning in this worst-case scenario, we preferably have for a hemispherical pore, π d 2 (γ lw +γ ls +2γ pw −2γ lp −γ sw )<0. therefore, the ability of a membrane to span a pore can be a function of the surface tension of the substrate and of the pore, and not a function of the pore geometry: γ lw +γ ls +2γ pw −2γ lp −γ sw <0. if this condition is satisfied, then the pore-spanning membrane configuration is favorable relative to the pore-coating configuration. in many instances, the condition γ ls <γ lw +γ sw is also satisfied to ensure binding of the membrane to the substrate. therefore, many embodiments of the present invention are directed to the selection of a porous surface in which the surface chemistries are such that both the conditions γ lw +γ ls +2γ pw −2γ lp −γ sw <0 and γ ls <γ lw +γ sw are satisfied. if the geometry of the pore-shape were generalized, then the first condition above can be generalized to write: γ lw +(s p /s d −1)(γ ls −γ sw )−s p /s d (γ lp −γ pw )<0, where s p refers to the pore surface area and s d refers to the pore-spanning membrane area of the pore. for instance, for the ideal hemispherical pore, s p =2πd 2 ,s d =πd 2 , we obtain the earlier condition. therefore, as long as these two inequality conditions are satisfied, the pores may be of any size and geometry suitable for functional assays. other hypotheses may also explain why porous substrates enable functional assays for gpcr or other membrane proteins. biological membranes are unstable on bare (unmodified) flat glass substrates. see, e.g., cremer et al., supra. moreover, the use of bare glass substrates do not offset the membrane by a distance (e.g., about 2 nm or less) from the surface that enables the folding of extramembrane domains. however, bare (unmodified) porous glass supports offer mechanical stability and enable specific binding of ligands to gpcr arrays. see, e.g., u.s. patent application entitled “porous substrate plates and the use thereof” (by ye fang et al., attorney docket no. sp04-026). the present invention indicates that these types of supports also enable functional assays. specifically, the present invention demonstrates that gpcr microarrays on organic polymeric porous supports enable gpcr functional assays. many theories are available to explain why porous substrates are excellent candidates for functional assays. in addition to the above-described theories, one hypothesis is that porous substrates enable multilayer deposition of membranes in structures such that the tortuosity enforced by the substrate satisfies the requirement for access to both sides of the membrane. once the proper selection of porous substrate has been made, it is often necessary to provide the surface of the substrate with the ability to securely receive membranes. one method of providing a bifunctional porous of the invention is to apply a non-binding coating on the entire porous substrate. then the non-binding coating is oxidized (or burned) at the top surface using an ultraviolet (uv) lamp. the uv lamp, e.g., mercury lamp, emits uv radiation at two different wave lengths, e.g., 185 and 254 nm, to produce ozone and oxidize organic contaminants. thereafter, a second coating material including silane is grafted on the burned top surface to provide the binding or immobilization sites for gpcr. this results in a structure in which the top surface of the porous substrate binds to the membrane; while the membrane and gpcr do not bind or adhere to the inner walls of pores which contain the non-binding coating material. it is known that slightly positively charged surfaces are usually suitable to bind membranes to surfaces. such surfaces may be obtained by grafting organic groups with amine functions to the substrate surface. if the substrate has a porous layer made from a glass frit, an aminosilane is suitable to modify the glass surface. the hydrophilic, non-binding properties of the inner pore walls may be obtained if, for example, the untreated glass substrate is hydrophilic or coated with a non-binding coating. several alternatives can be used. for example, the inner pore walls may be coated with a silane terminated polyethylene glycol (peg-silane) or with a hydrolyzed epoxy silane. in a specific method of the invention, the porous substrate is entirely coated by dipping the substrate in a solution containing an organic polymer with a large amount of hydroxyl functions, which provide the non binding properties desired, e.g., a hydrophilic coating is formed. this polymer is prepared by polymerization and hydrolysis, in very acidic conditions (ph=0), of, for example, an epoxysilane (3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, called glymo). after 1 minute of dipping, the chemical condensation of the polymer is accelerated by a thermal treatment of 1 hour at 70° c. then, the excess of polymer not bound onto the substrate is eliminated by rinsing with a water flow for 30 seconds and drying with nitrogen, the non-binding properties of this coating can be checked by dipping the substrate in a fibrinogen aqueous solution (0.1% in pbs). fibrinogens are proteins, strongly sticking to glass surface and glass frit porous layers. the adsorbed proteins can then be revealed by a colloidal gold staining, as shown in figs. 6 and 7 , wherein fig. 6 illustrates the binding of fibrinogen on a clean porous substrate and fig. 7 illustrates virtually no binding for porous substrate provided with a non-binding compound. when the non-binding compound coated porous substrate is subjected to an oxidation treatment in the presence of ozone (formed from oxygen exposed to uv at 185 nm which is associated with uv at 254 nm), burning of the non-binding organic compound from the upper surface of the treated substrate results. in many cases, the thickness of the layer to be burned is only a few molecular layers. for example, one hour of exposure of a coated sample under this lamp results in a “cleaned” upper surface, free of organics and presenting reactive sioh sites. this surface can be used for direct binding of gpcr or for further functionalization of the top surface, e.g., with silane. after the burning of the non-binding coating at the top surface of the porous substrate, the 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (called gaps), which provides amine functions for further gpcr-containing membrane immobilization, is applied using a vapor phase (cvd) deposition process. the presence of gaps silane grafted onto the top surface can be revealed with a colloidal gold staining. figs. 8 and 9 illustrate the results of performing the above invention. that is, the clean porous substrate only coated with gaps ( fig. 8 ) presents an intense gold staining on the porous areas; while the bi-functionalized porous substrate of the invention, with a gaps coating only at the top surface, presents a lighter gold stain. this result is presumed to occur due to a thinner layer of porous substrate being coated with gaps silane, i.e., the thinner layer corresponding to the thickness of the non-binding coating burned with the uv lamp producing ozone. still embodiment of the invention includes providing the porous substrate upper surface with binding capability, e.g., gaps silane, in order to immobilize membranes thereon. this result may be obtained when the top surface of the porous substrate binds to the membrane and when the membrane and the gpcr do not bind or adhere to the inner walls of pores. as mentioned above, slightly positively charged surfaces are usually suitable to binds membranes. such surfaces may be obtained by grafting organic groups with amine functions to the substrate surface. if the substrate has a porous layer made from a glass frit, an aminosilane is suitable to modify the glass surface. amine functionality may be also obtained on a glass surface by first grafting an epoxysilane, and then derivatizing the epoxy groups with a diamine or polyamine to form an aminated surface. the hydrophilic, non-binding properties of the inner pore walls may be obtained if the untreated glass surface is hydrophilic or coated with a non-binding coating, as in fig. 9 . to provide a membrane receptive surface, the application of, for example, functional silanes, on solid surfaces by a dry-printing technique has been described. the process includes impregnating a silicone rubber stamping pad, which bears a mask pattern in relief, with octadecyltrichlorosilane, and then in pressing the pad against a flat surface of silicon or of oxides of metals such as ti and al. a reaction takes place between the silane and the coated surface such that the silane molecules are bound to the surface via one of their ends. this surface is then subjected to chemical etching intended to attack the parts which are not protected by the silane mask. the instant invention provides for a simpler and more effective process of forming the membrane receptive surface on porous substrates which provides a coating of molecular thickness on a three-dimensional, porous substrate by dry or contact printing of a compound having an affinity for the substrate. the transfer element whose impregnated surface is flat and uniformly impregnated is placed in contact with a substrate containing relatively high exposed parts (upper porous surface) and relatively low recessed parts (pores), so as to selectively apply the compound/coating onto the high exposed parts of the substrate, leaving the low recessed parts essentially free of compound. the dry printing process may typically be carried out by performing the following steps: (a) providing a transfer element with a flat surface made of a rubbery material capable of undergoing swelling under the effect of an organic solvent; (b) preparing a solution, in an organic solvent, of a compound having an affinity for the substrate, e.g., capable of bonding to or associating with the substrate surface by any mechanism such as chemical bonding, attraction of opposite electrical charges, or hydrogen bonding; (c) applying the solution to the clean flat surface of the transfer element, and allowing the transfer element to absorb the solution completely, evaporation of the solvent may also take place; (d) pressing the surface of the transfer element treated with the solution against a clean porous substrate and leaving in contact until the molecules of the compound are bonded to the surface of the substrate thereby forming a coating of molecular thickness bonded to the relatively high exposed parts (upper surface) of the porous surface of the substrate; and (e) separating the transfer element from the substrate. when the coated compound is an organosilane, it may be one selected from two different types of groups. the first type includes those organosilanes which have a functional group that reacts with groups present on the substrate surface. the second type of functional groups is not reactive with a hydroxyl group, in contrast with the first type. one class of compounds which can be used in the practice of the invention is those silanes of the general formula r n —si—x 4-n , where r is a functional group which is not reactive with a hydroxyl group; x is a group which is reactive, and/or which is hydrolyzable into a group which is reactive, with a hydroxyl group, and n=1, 2 or 3. for example, r may be an epoxy group or a radical containing the epoxy group or an amino group or a radical containing an amino group. x may be, for example, a chlorine atom or an alkoxy group, such as methoxy and ethoxy. specific examples of silanes which can be used in the invention include, but are not limited to, (3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane,(3-glycidoxypropyl)methyidimethoxysilane,(3-glycidoxypropyl)methyldiethoxysilane,(3-glycidoxypropyl)dimethylethoxysilane,3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane,3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane,4-aminobutyltriethoxysilane,n-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyidimethoxysilane,n-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane,n-(6-aminohexyl)aminorpropyltrimethoxysilane,3-aminopropyidimethyethoxysilane,3-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane. the compound may also be any organic molecules whose groups react with a silane coated substrate. for example, in an alternative to the above-described method for providing a surface for immobilizing the membrane, the porous substrate may be first entirely coated with an epoxysilane, and then the top surface of the porous layer may selectively react with a polyamine deposited by dry printing. this technique is essentially the same as for the selective deposition of any organosilane. however, in the alternative, the organic compound reacts with the epoxy functionality of the silane coated porous layer. as a result, the top surface of the substrate has amine groups and the internal part of the porous layer stays coated by the epoxy silane. in a last step, the epoxy functions can be hydrolyzed as to form a hydrophilic, uncharged, and non-binding surface inside the porosity. the transfer element can be made of any solid or solid-like material capable of undergoing swelling under the action of an organic solvent. for example, a rubber such as a silicone, polyisoprene, polybutadiene or polychloroprene rubber; butadiene-styrene, butadiene-acrylonitrile, ethylene-propylene or ethylene-vinyl acetate elastomeric copolymers; butyl rubber, and polysulfide rubber. however, a silicone rubber is preferred. the organic solvent may be any solvent capable of dissolving the compound to be deposited and of exerting a swelling effect on the material of the transfer element. an example of those types of solvents would be liquid alkanes such as hexane, heptane, octane, decane and hexadecane; halogenated alkanes such as chloroform, aromatic compounds such as benzene or toluene; petroleum fractions such as white spirit, diesel oil, gasoline and other solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and n-methylpyrrolidone. indeed, most organic solvents may be suitable for the invention and a simple routine test will make it possible to check the usefulness of a given solvent. it suffices to impregnate the transfer element with small amounts of compound and, for this, very dilute compound solutions are sufficient. the porous substrate can be any material whose surface bears hydroxyl groups. an example of those type of substrate would be glass, silica, metals, or polymers whose surface has been modified to create hydroxyl groups thereon, for example by a chemical oxidizing treatment or with a plasma, or alternatively coated with a layer of glass, silica or metal by techniques such as sputtering, chemical deposition in the vapor phase, or sol gel. in many cases, the pore size of the substrate is greater than 0.05 μm. the compound solution may be applied to the transfer element, or polymer stamping pad, in various ways, for example by rubbing an absorbent paper soaked with the solution onto the transfer element, by rubbing a porous material, such as a sponge, soaked with the solution onto the transfer element, by applying the solution using a doctor blade or an air blade, a sprayer or a coating roller. this process of the invention may be used to impart adhesion to the relatively high exposed parts (upper surface) of the surface of a porous substrate, containing hydroxyl groups, to a membrane. the inner walls of the porous substrate have to be hydrophilic and uncharged to develop non-binding properties, such as by the process of described for the porous substrate of fig. 9 above. clean bare porous glass substrates may be suitable; however, if not, a non-binding chemistry can be deposited or developed inside the porous structure, as described above. several different options for performing the process of this invention are illustrated by the following examples. example 1 a porous bi-functional substrate may be obtained from a glass slide coated with a porous layer. the porous layer can be made from a glass frit having the appropriate particle size to form pores having a diameter greater than 0.05 μm, typically of the order of 1 μm after sintering. the top surface of the porous structure is coated by dry printing with aminopropylsilane. thus the top surface of the substrate becomes slightly positively charged to retain the membrane. the inner part of the porous structure stays as a hydrophilic, hydroxyl rich surface, which may not allows binding of the gpcr protein and membrane inside the pores. example 2 as an alternative to example 1, after having dry printed the top surface of the porous substrate with an aminosilane, the inner part of the porous structure can be coated with a silane terminated peg. this non-binding coating will be grafted onto uncoated glass part, e.g., in the inner part of the porous structure. example 3 a slide coated with a porous layer with a pore size of the order of 1 μm is completely coated with an epoxy silane, such as glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, by liquid or vapor phase deposition. the top surface of the porous structure is selectively derivatized by dry printing a diamine or a polyamine. the diamine may be for example ethylene diamine, tetraethylene pentamine, or hexamethylene diamine. the epoxy functions inside the porous structure can be hydrolyzed in acidic conditions to form a hydrophilic, uncharged and non-binding coating inside the pores. the foregoing examples of specific compositions, processes, and/or articles employed in the practice of the present invention are of course intended to be illustrative rather than limiting, and it will be apparent that numerous variations and modifications these specific embodiments may be practices within the scope of the appended claims.
|
130-237-841-420-608
|
US
|
[
"WO",
"US"
] |
A63F9/00,A63F9/24,G06F19/00
| 2006-08-30T00:00:00 |
2006
|
[
"A63",
"G06"
] |
system and method for awarding a progressive prize
|
in a progressive gaming system, a progressive prize winning event triggers the awarding of a primary progressive prize to at least one primary player. in addition, a secondary progressive prize is awarded to a subset of the current players. the secondary progressive prize may be awarded to selected current players, such as those players of a particular gaming device, or to players that have been playing for a predetermined period of time. in examples where the progressive game is played across multiple establishments, the secondary progressive prize may be awarded to a current player in a different establishment than that of the primary player to ensure the excitement and publicity of winning the progressive prize is spread across multiple establishments.
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claims what is claimed is: 1. a method for gaming comprising: (a) receiving a plurality of wagers from a plurality of players; (b) allocating at least a portion of said plurality of wagers to a progressive prize; (c) determining a progressive prize winning event; (d) determining at least one primary player associated with said progressive prize winning event; (e) awarding a primary portion of said progressive prize to said at least one primary player; (f) determining current players; (g) selecting a subset of said current players; and (h) awarding a secondary portion of said progressive prize to said subset of current players. 2. the method of claim 1 wherein allocating at least a portion of said plurality of wagers to a progressive prize comprises allocating a portion of said plurality of wagers to at least one primary progressive prize and allocating a portion of said plurality of wagers to at least one secondary progressive prize. 3. the method of claim 1 wherein said secondary portion of said progressive prize is awarded to each player of said subset of current players. 4. the method of claim 1 wherein said secondary portion of said progressive prize is awarded to each player of said subset of current players, excluding said at least one primary player. 5. the method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of wagers are received through a plurality of gaming devices, wherein each current player is associated with a gaming device and wherein determining said subset of current players comprises determining a play status of each of said gaming devices. 6. the method of claim 5 wherein selecting said subset of current players comprises selecting a subset of gaming devices having an in-play status. 7. the method of claim 6 wherein said subset of gaming devices having an in play status is randomly selected. 8. the method of claim 6 wherein said subset of gaming devices having an in play status is predetermined. 9. the method of claim 1 wherein selecting said subset of current players is dependent on said at least one primary player. 10. the method of claim 9 wherein at least one of said subset of current players is selected to be from an establishment different from an establishment of said at least one primary player. 11. a gaming system comprising : (a) at least one gaming device means receiving a plurality of wagers from a plurality of players; (b) means for allocating at least a portion of said plurality of wagers to a progressive prize; (c) means for determining a progressive prize winning event; (d) means for determining at least one primary player associated with said progressive prize winning event; (e) means for awarding a primary portion of said progressive prize to said at least one primary player; (f) means for determining current players; (g) means for selecting a subset of said current players; and (h) means for awarding a secondary portion of said progressive prize to said subset of current players . 12. the gaming system of claim 11 comprising a plurality of said gaming device means wherein said means for determining current players comprises means for determining a play status of said plurality of gaming devices means. 13. the gaming system of claim 12 wherein said means for selecting a subset of current players comprises means for selecting a subset of gaming device means having an in- play status. 14. the gaming system of claim 13 wherein said plurality of gaming device means are disposed in a plurality of establishments; wherein said primary player is associated with a primary gaming device means and wherein said means for selecting a subset of gaming device means comprises means for selecting at least one gaming device means dependent on the establishment in which said primary gaming device means is disposed. 15. the gaming system of claim 14 wherein said means for selecting a subset of gaming device means selects at least one gaming device means from at least one establishment different from the establishment in which said primary gaming device means is disposed. 16. a progressive gaming system, comprising: (a) a plurality of gaming devices, each gaming device allowing a player to place a wager and play a game; (b) a processor in communication with each of the gaming devices, the processor configured to: (a) detect occurrence of a progressive prize winning event; (b) determine at least one primary player associated with said progressive prize winning event; (c) award a primary portion of said progressive prize to said at least one primary player; (d) determine current players; (e) select a subset of said current players; and (f) award a secondary portion of said progressive prize to said subset of current players. 17. the progressive gaming system of claim 16 wherein detecting occurrence of a progressive prize winning event comprises receiving a progressive prize winning event from at least one gaming device. 18. the progressive gaming system of claim 16 wherein said processor is configured to select a subset of current players dependent on said at least one primary player. 19. the progressive gaming system of claim 18 wherein said processor is configured to select a subset of current players comprising at least one player located in an establishment different to an establishment of said at least one primary player. 20. the progressive gaming system of claim 18 wherein the selection of said subset of current players is predetermined.
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[01] system and method for awarding a progressive prize [02] cross reference to related applications [03] this application claims priority to u.s. provisional patent application serial number 60/824,008, filed august 30, 2006, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference. [04] field of the invention [05] the present invention relates to gaming systems and to methods of distributing prizes in gaming systems. more particularly, the present invention relates to gaming systems and methods involving progressive prizes. [06] background of the invention [07] progressive gaming systems are known in the art. generally, in a progressive gaming system a portion of each wager that is placed to play a game that includes a progressive prize is added to the progressive prize. thus, the progressive prize increases over time as players place wagers and play for the prize. one or more meters are generally used to display the current amount of the progressive prize. when a progressive prize winning event occurs, the progressive prize is awarded to a player. a new progressive prize is started, generally at a seed value, and the progressive prize increases incrementally as wagers are placed for the progressive prize until another progressive prize winning event occurs. [08] networked progressive gaming systems are also known in the art. these systems comprise a plurality of gaming devices that are linked to a central server by a communication network. the gaming devices may be in the same gaming establishment (e.g., casino) or they may be in different establishments. each gaming device allows players to place a wager and play for a progressive prize. since there are more gaming devices and more players contributing to the progressive prize, the progressive prize may increase faster and reach a larger amount. [09] progressive prize systems may include, for example, a series of slot machines that are played by players providing individual wagers to individual machines, that is, without interaction between players. a portion of each wager may be allocated to a progressive prize pool. each machine can award individual prizes in response to appropriate triggers. in addition, each machine can generate a prize winning event that results in the progressive prize being awarded. [10] in alternative systems, a progressive prize system may be based on a game played collectively by a group of players, such as a bingo game, lottery, or the like. for example, in a lottery system, players may wager a ticket price to purchase a ticket number. the wagers collectively form the prize pool, a first portion of which is allocated to the current game prize pool and a second portion of which may be allocated to a progressive prize pool. a single game may include the first step of selecting a group of ticket numbers as winners, with the current game prize pool being distributed amongst the winning ticket holders. then a second step may including selecting one number from all of the original ticket numbers, with the payment of the progressive prize pool being triggered if the selected number matches a winning ticket number from the first step. in this system, the current game prize pool is awarded each game, whereas the progressive prize pool is only awarded if the specific trigger condition is met. [11] it will be readily understood that the term "player" as used herein and throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to an individual person and may include individuals or groups of individuals such as a syndicate, as is well known in the field. [12] prior art progressive gaming systems generally only award a progressive prize pool to one player in one establishment. when a player wins the progressive prize, generally the entire prize is awarded to that player. such a system may provide a disincentive to players for a number of reasons. first, many players are discouraged from playing progressive systems because they generally have a low probability of winning the progressive prize, especially for large systems where the win rate is designed to be very low. second, the publicity associated with the awarding of the progressive prize is limited to the single player. furthermore, only one establishment can experience the excitement and publicity generated by a progressive prize win. [13] us patent no. 6,887,154 (luciano, jr. et al.) describes a progressive gaming system in which, in conjunction with a primary progressive jackpot prize, a secondary progressive jackpot prize is awarded to all active players within a network of gaming devices. however by distributing a secondary progressive jackpot prize amongst all active players, the system described in us 6,887,154 remains relatively inflexible. [14] advantages of one or more embodiments of the present invention [15] the various embodiments of the present invention may, but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages: [16] the ability to award a progressive prize to at least one primary winner as well as at least one secondary winner; [17] the ability to flexibly and/or dynamically determine a subset of current players to receive a secondary progressive prize; [18] provide an increased incentive for players to utilize a progressive gaming system; [19] reward other players who may have played on the progressive system for a longer period of time; [20] provide a greater number of winners of a progressive prize; [21] provide greater positive publicity regarding a progressive prize winning event; [22] provide an increased number of repeat players; and [23] where the gaming system is distributed across more than one establishment, generate excitement and positive publicity regarding a progressive prize winning event in more than one establishment. [24] these and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, claims, and abstract. [25] summary of the invention [26] in one embodiment, the invention resides in a method for gaming comprising receiving a plurality of wagers from a plurality of players; allocating at least a portion of said plurality of wagers to a progressive prize; determining a progressive prize winning event; determining at least one primary player associated with said progressive prize winning event; awarding a primary portion of said progressive prize to said at least one primary player; determining the current players; selecting a subset of the current players; and awarding a secondary portion of said progressive prize to the subset of current players. [27] in a further embodiment, the invention resides in a gaming system comprising at least one gaming device for receiving a plurality of wagers from a plurality of players; means for allocating at least a portion of said plurality of wagers to a progressive prize; means for determining a progressive prize winning event; means for determining at least one primary player associated with said progressive prize winning event; means for awarding a primary portion of said progressive prize to said at least one primary player; means for determining the current players; means for selecting a subset of the current players; and means for awarding a secondary portion of said progressive prize to the subset of current players. [28] in a further embodiment, the invention resides in a computer system for controlling a gaming system comprising at least one processor, and at least one computer readable medium comprising instructions executable on said at least one processor, said instructions comprising instructions for determining a progressive prize winning event; determining at least one primary player associated with said progressive prize winning event; awarding a primary portion of said progressive prize to said at least one primary player; determining the current players; selecting a subset of the current players; and awarding a secondary portion of the progressive prize to the subset of current players. [29] the above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of embodiments of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. there are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. in this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. [30] brief description of the drawings [31] figure 1 substantially represents a progressive gaming system; [32] figure 2 substantially represents a first configuration of a progressive gaming system; [33] figure 3 substantially represents a second configuration of a progressive gaming system; [34] figure 4 substantially represents a flow chart showing a progressive gaming system method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and [35] figure 5 substantially represents a flow chart showing a progressive gaming system method in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention. [36] detailed description of preferred embodiments [37] in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. the drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. [38] one way gaming device manufactures have added additional enjoyment and excitement to gaming devices is through the advent of progressive gaming. progressive games have become very popular in casinos. in figure 1, there is shown a network 1 of progressive gaming apparatuses 12, 13, and 14. the gaming apparatus are shown, by way of example, as slot machines, though it will be recognized by the skilled addressee that many forms of gaming apparatus will be suitable. each slot machine, e.g. slot machine 13, includes a coin slot 2 for receiving wagers such as coins or tokens and a payout slot 3 through which winnings may be paid. progressive slot machines contain jackpots that increase every time a player places a wager in a primary game of the slot machine. progressive jackpots involve one or more gaming machines. for example, an individual progressive slot machine 13 has a self-contained jackpot, e.g. jackpot 4, wherein the jackpot grows with every play of that machine. a progressive network, such as shown in figure 1, includes two or more slot machines 12, 13, and 14 at the same or different locations connected to a common jackpot 7, shown on display 6, each of which slot machines 12, 13, and 14 individually contribute to the common jackpot 7. gaming machines usually take a percentage of the player's wager, such as 2%, and add it to the progressive jackpot. this allows the progressive jackpot to grow over time. progressive jackpots can reach sizeable amounts, such as multi-million dollar jackpots, before a player "hits" or wins the progressive jackpot. [39] a gaming system 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is at least partially shown in figure 2. gaming system 10 includes gaming devices 12, 13, and 14 as a first set of gaming devices operated by a first set of current players 15, 16, and 17 respectively at a first establishment 11. a second establishment 21 has a second set of gaming devices 22, 23, and 24 operated by a second set of current players 25, 26, and 27. first establishment 11 may be in communication with second establishment 21 through a computer system 30. the communication may be facilitated by a number of different devices, such as a computer network. the computer system 30 includes at least one processor 31, a memory 32 storing an instruction set executable on the processor 31 , a database 33 and one or more servers 34. servers 34 provide communications to establishments 11 and 21 for controlling a progressive gaming system. the gaming system of figure 1 demonstrates an example in which players participate in a game through individual gaming devices. an example of a gaming system of the type illustrated in figure 2 is a networked series of slot machines or similar gaming machines. other equivalent examples, however, will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee and are considered to fall within the scope of the invention. in accordance with known networked progressive gaming systems, each time a player, such as player 15, provides a wager to a gaming device, for example gaming device 12, a portion of the wager is allocated to a progressive prize. this process is repeated for all players across all gaming devices that make up the progressive gaming system. [40] an alternative gaming system 40 is shown in figure 3 in which a single game is collectively played by multiple players simultaneously. in the gaming system 40, current players 15, 16, and 17 within establishment 11 and current players 25, 26, and 27 within establishment 21 each wager on the same game 41 under the control of computer system 30. the rules of game 41 determine when a progressive prize winning event is triggered. an example of a collective gaming system 40 may be the lottery game described above. other equivalent examples, however, will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee and are considered to fall within the scope of the invention. [41] the term current player is used herein to denote a player active on a gaming device and/or participating in a game, which may be an individual game or a collective game. the term current player is used to distinguish from other players who may have played the progressive game at another time and have therefore wagered towards the progressive prize. by way of illustration, figure 2 shows gaming system 39 which has no associated current player. [42] in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the progressive prize pool is divided between a primary progressive prize and a secondary progressive prize. the primary progressive prize may be displayed on first displays 18 and 28 in the first and second establishments 11 and 21, respectively, while the secondary progressive prize pool may be displayed on respective displays 19 and 29 within first and second establishments 11 and 21. alternatively, one or both of the progressive prizes may be unknown to the players. the primary progressive prize may be of a greater or lesser value than the secondary progressive prize. [43] the operation of a progressive gaming system in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the flow chart 100 of figure 4. the type of progressive gaming system is not essential to the method and may be based on the individual gaming system 10 of figure 2, the collective gaming system 40 of figure 3, or any suitable progressive gaming system. a progressive gaming system receives a plurality of wagers (step 101) through one or more gaming devices. a portion of the wagers are allocated to a primary progressive prize (step 102) while a further portion of the wagers are allocated to a secondary progressive prize (step 103). occasionally, a progressive prize winning event occurs (step 104). the progressive prize winning event may be generated within the gaming system, for example from within a gaming device or may be externally generated. the progressive prize winning event is determined to be associated with a primary player or players (step 105), to whom the primary progressive prize pool is distributed (step 106). the progressive prize winning event is then determined to be further associated with a subset of the current players (step 107), to whom the secondary progressive prize pool is distributed (step 108). [44] a specific example utilizing the gaming system 10 represented by figure 2 will now be described with reference to the flowchart 200 of figure 5. in gaming system 10, each of the gaming devices 12, 13, 14, 22, 23 and 24 receives wagers from players over time (step 201). a portion of those wagers are allocated to a primary progressive prize (step 202) and a secondary progressive prize (step 203). at any point in time, a specific gaming device, e.g. gaming device 12, may generate a progressive prize winning event (step 204). the gaming device 12, hereinafter the primary gaming device, may then send a signal to central computer system 30 communicating the progressive prize winning event. having received the progressive prize winning event from gaming device 12, computer system 30, by way of processor 31, determines that the primary progressive prize is to be awarded to player 15 (step 205), being the player associated with primary gaming device 12. processor 31 then polls each gaming device for a play status (step 206) through servers 34 and after receiving responses from each gaming device (step 207), determines which of the gaming devices are "in play" (step 208). a gaming device may be defined as "in play" (i.e., the gaming device is currently being played) in a number of different ways. for example, a gaming device may be in play if: 1) it is currently in a game cycle, 2) a game cycle has been completed within a certain period of time, 3) credits are currently on the gaming device's meter (virtual bank) and are available to be played, or 4) a player has logged on to the gaming device or otherwise identified herself, such as through a player tracking system (not shown) operating in conjunction with player identities stored in database 33 of computer system 30. other methods for determining the play status of a gaming device will be apparent to the skilled addressee, and all relevant substitutions for the above examples are intended to be encompassed herein. [45] once the play status of the gaming devices is known, processor 31 can select the subset of current players to whom a secondary progressive prize can be awarded (step 209). examples for selecting the secondary players are described in more detail below. payouts of both the primary and secondary progressive prizes can then be made (step 210). in accordance with known payout systems, payouts of both the primary and secondary progressive prizes may be made directly through the gaming devices, direct to the players, or through other means. [46] in one embodiment, the subset of secondary progressive prize winning player(s) is selected from the current players with or without the exception of the primary prize winner(s). for a gaming system of the type represented by figure 2, a current player may be any player associated with an "in play" device. for a gaming system of the type represented by figure 3, in which current players are not associated with individual gaming devices but play through a collective gaming device, the current players may be determined by other means, such as a registration of players stored in database 33 of computer system 30. for example, in a lottery game, a player's identity may be registered in association with their ticket number(s) and in association with a game number. [47] in one embodiment, the subset of current players to whom a secondary progressive prize is awarded are those players who are playing one or more specifically designated linked gaming devices. for example, gaming devices 13 and 23 in gaming system 10 of figure 2 may be designated as secondary prize gaming devices. the designation may be made apparent to players through signs or displays, or it may be unknown to players. if a second player is playing a designated secondary prize gaming device when the first player wins the primary progressive prize, the second player would be awarded a secondary progressive prize. the designation may be dynamic to ensure that the designated gaming device is an in-play gaming device. for example, if player 16 at gaming device 13 were to vacate the gaming device 13, the gaming device 13 may become inactive. the gaming system 10 would then adjust by designating an in-play gaming device, e.g. gaming device 14, to be within the subset of gaming devices that are eligible to win the secondary progressive prize. this embodiment has an advantage in that players who are aware that they are playing a gaming device designated to win the secondary progressive prize have a greater incentive to remain playing for a longer period. [48] in one embodiment, a subset of in-play gaming devices is randomly selected from all in-play gaming devices, and the players that are playing the selected devices are awarded the secondary progressive prize. [49] in one embodiment, the awarding of the secondary progressive prize may be dependent on the primary gaming device. for example, if the primary gaming device is gaming device 12 shown in figure 2, the subset of current players may be chosen by the gaming system 10 to be only gaming device 13, which is immediately adjacent gaming device 12. in a further example, the subset of in-play gaming devices may be all gaming devices within the same establishment as the primary gaming device. that is, for the example in which gaming device 12 is the primary gaming device, the secondary progressive prize may be distributed to the gaming devices 13 and 14 within establishment 11. alternatively, the gaming system 10 may specify that at least one of the subset of in-play gaming devices must be selected from an establishment outside that of the primary gaming device. this embodiment provides the advantage that the excitement of winning the progressive prize is experienced in a plurality of establishments rather than just one. [50] in one embodiment, the subset of current players to whom a secondary progressive prize is awarded may be selected based on a time of play, determined by the amount of time for which a gaming device has been in play. for example, the subset of current players may be those players that have been playing at a gaming device for longer than a predetermined period of time, e.g. one hour. alternatively, the subset of current players may be the player who has been playing at a gaming device for the longest period of time. in a collective game, the subset of current players may be the players who have played at least a predetermined number of consecutive games, determined from a registration of a player's identity. alternatively, the subset of current players may be the player who has played the highest number of consecutive games. [51] the person skilled in the art will readily understand that alternative methods for determining the secondary progressive prize winners are available, including, but not limited to, a combination of two or more of the methods described above. [52] several methods for generating a prize winning event will be apparent to the skilled addressee. for example, a prize winning event may be determined by each gaming device independently. in one specific example, each time a wager is placed for a progressive prize and play is commenced, a random number generator generates a random number and compares it to a pay table. if the random number falls within a predetermined winning range of numbers, a prize winning event has occurred. the gaming device may then send a signal to the central server communicating the prize winning event. the specific method for generating the prize winning event, however, is not considered essential to the invention, and all equivalent methods are intended to be encompassed herein. [53] the amount of the secondary progressive prize may be determined in different ways. in one embodiment, the secondary progressive prize is a fixed amount. for example, each player that qualifies to receive the secondary progressive prize is awarded $1,000. in another embodiment, the secondary progressive prize is a fixed percentage of the primary progressive prize. for example, each player that qualifies to win the secondary progressive prize is awarded five percent of the primary progressive prize. in order to meet regulatory requirements or to accurately control the amounts that are awarded in this embodiment, it may be necessary to limit the number of secondary prizes to a specific number (e.g., two). in another embodiment, secondary progressive prizes are a percentage of the primary progressive prize divided by the number of players to receive a secondary progressive prize. for example, if the primary progressive prize is one million dollars and the secondary prize percentage is 10%, then the total secondary progressive prize is $100,000. if 50 players were eligible to win the secondary progressive prize at the time the primary progressive prize was won, then each of the 50 player would receive a $2,000 secondary progressive prize. [54] the progressive prizes of the present invention may be funded in different ways. in one embodiment, a percentage of each eligible wager is contributed to the primary prize and to the secondary prize. for example, two percent of each wager may be contributed to the primary prize and one percent of each wager may be contributed to the secondary prize. in the embodiment in which the secondary prize is a percentage of the primary prize, the contributions may be in proportion to the percentage. contributions to the secondary prize may come from all linked gaming devices or only from designated gaming devices. in the embodiment in which there is a designated secondary prize gaming device, contributions may come only from that gaming device. [55] the subset of current players selected to win the secondary progressive prize may have as little as one player up to, but not including, all of the current players. [56] while examples of progressive gaming systems are provided above, the person skilled in the art will readily understand that the details of the particular progressive game are not essential to the workings of the present invention, which may be applied to any suitable progressive gaming system by awarding a secondary progressive prize to at least one secondary progressive prize winner. [57] while the invention has been described with reference to embodiments in which the progressive prize gaming system is distributed across multiple establishments, the person skilled in the art will readily recognize that the systems and methods of the present invention may be implemented within a single establishment. furthermore, the progressive gaming system may be implemented and distributed on a wide area network, such as the internet, without any physical establishment being identifiable. in such an embodiment, a gaming device may be considered to be a user's computer station. [58] the invention has been described with specific reference to a two-level structure for the awarding of a progressive prize, i.e. the progressive prize is awarded on a primary and secondary level. the person skilled in the art will readily recognize that the invention may be extended to any greater number of levels without departing from the scope of the invention. [59] the person skilled in the art will readily understand that the sequence of steps shown in the figures is provided for illustrative purposes only and that the order of steps is not essential. furthermore, the person skilled in the art will recognize that a greater or lesser number of steps may be performed without departing from the scope of the invention. [60] although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the embodiments of this invention. thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given.
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130-801-569-294-634
|
DE
|
[
"ES",
"DE",
"US",
"KR",
"EP",
"CN",
"WO"
] |
C21D8/04,C21D8/02,C23C2/26,C23C2/28,C23C28/00,C23F17/00,C21D7/13,C23C2/04,C23C22/05,C23C2/02,C21D1/673
| 2015-06-08T00:00:00 |
2015
|
[
"C21",
"C23"
] |
method for the hot forming of a steel component
|
a method for hot forming a steel component is provided. the steel component is heated into a range of complete or partial austenitization in a heat treatment step. the heated steel component is both hot-formed and quench-hardened in a forming step. a first pretreatment step precedes the heat treatment step in terms of process, in which first pretreatment step the steel component is provided with a corrosion-resistant protective layer in order to protect against scaling in the heat treatment step. before the heat treatment step is performed, a surface oxidation process occurs in a second pre-treatment step, in which a weakly reactive, corrosion-resistant oxidation layer is formed on the scale protection layer by means of which oxidation layer abrasive tool wear is reduced in the forming step.
|
1 . a method comprising: hot forming a steel component heated into a range of complete or partial austenitization in a heat treatment step; performing a forming step in which the heated steel component is both hot-formed and quench-hardened; performing a first pretreatment step that precedes the heat treatment step in terms of process, in the first pretreatment step the steel component is provided with a corrosion-resistant anti-scale layer to protect against scaling in the heat treatment step; and performing a second pretreatment step before the heat treatment step so that a surface oxidation process occurs in the second pretreatment step in which surface oxidation process a weakly reactive corrosion-resistant oxidation layer is formed on the anti-scale layer such that abrasive tool wear is reduced in the forming step. 2 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface oxidation in the second pretreatment step is carried out by pickling passivation, and wherein, for the pickling passivation, the steel component is treated in a pickling bath with a pickling solution and then dried. 3 . the method according to claim 2 , wherein the pickling solution is an aqueous solution of an acid, a phosphoric acid, or a neutral to basic solution. 4 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein a third pretreatment step is performed prior to the heat treatment step, in which third pretreatment step a cover layer of a high melting point is formed in a dipping bath on the corrosion-resistant oxidation layer, and wherein melting of the underlying layers is prevented via the cover layer in the subsequent heat treatment step. 5 . the method according to claim 4 , wherein the cover layer is a metal oxide layer, a titanium oxide layer, or a titanium-zirconium layer. 6 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the anti-scale layer is an aluminum-silicon layer, which is applied to the steel component in a hot-dip coating process or coil-coating process. 7 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the anti-scale layer is an aluminum-containing layer, which is applied to the steel component in a hot-dip coating process or coil-coating process. 8 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the anti-scale layer is a zinc or zinc-iron coating, which is applied to the steel component in a hot-dip coating process. 9 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the surface oxidation takes place partially in the second pretreatment step with a formation of at least one surface section without the oxidation layer and a surface section with the oxidation layer, and wherein the surface sections have different surface roughnesses which in the forming step form different adhesion/friction coefficients with the forming tool surface, as a result of which the flow of material is controllable during the hot forming. 10 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the starting material or substrate of the steel component is a manganese-boron-alloyed quenched and tempered steel, in particular 20mnb5, 22mnb5, 27mnb5, or 30mnb5. 11 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the total layer thickness before the heat treatment step is less than 20 μm or greater than 33 μm. 12 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the oxidation layer and/or the cover layer have a melting point greater than 2000° c., a flexural strength greater than 300 mpa, a compressive strength greater than 2000 mpa, and a vickers hardness greater than 1600 hv1. 13 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the anti-scale layer, the oxidation layer, and optionally the cover layer are applied to a substrate of the steel component before the heat treatment step, and wherein during the heat treatment step, further phases or layers, in particular an al—fe—si phase, an al—fe zone, an al—fe—si—mn zone, an fe—al zone, and an aluminum oxide zone form by diffusion processes under the oxidation layer. 14 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the austenitization temperature of the material is not achieved. 15 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the austenitization temperature of the material is only partially achieved. 16 . the method according to claim 1 , wherein the critical cooling rate for forming a martensite structure of the material is not or only partially achieved. 17 . a steel component produced in a process, wherein the steel component is heated into a range of complete or partial austenitization in a heat treatment step, and the heated steel component is both hot-formed and quench-hardened in a forming step, wherein a first pretreatment step precedes the heat treatment step in terms of process, in which first pretreatment step the steel component is formed with a corrosion-resistant, anti-scale layer to protect against scaling in the heat treatment step, wherein a weakly reactive, corrosion-resistant oxidation layer, by means of which abrasive tool wear is in the forming step is formed on the anti-scale layer of the steel component, and wherein the oxidation layer is produced prior to the heat treatment step in a second pretreatment step in a surface oxidation.
|
this nonprovisional application is a continuation of international application no. pct/ep2016/058226, which was filed on apr. 14, 2016, and which claims priority to german patent application no. 10 2015 210 459.1, which was filed in germany on jun. 8, 2015, and which are both herein incorporated by reference. background of the invention field of the invention the invention relates to a method for hot forming of a steel component and to a steel component. description of the background art in vehicle body construction, high-strength or very-high-strength, hot-formed steel components can be used particularly in the area of the passenger compartment, for example, for a b pillar, a tunnel reinforcement, or a side member. in hot forming, a steel plate is heated in a furnace up to the range of complete austenitization (at about 920° c.). the steel plate is placed in a hot state in a forming tool (for example, a deep drawing press) and quench-hardened during compression. in this way, the relatively soft, ferrite-pearlite initial structure of the steel component is transformed into a hard martensite structure with material-dependent strengths in the range of more than 1000 mpa. boron-alloyed steels with, for example, 0.24% carbon are usually used; in this case, the conversion behavior can be controlled via the alloy (in particular boron) and the achievable strength via the carbon content. a generic method for hot forming such a steel component is known from ep 2 242 863 b1, which corresponds to u.s. pat. no. 8,066,829. before the heat treatment step is carried out in the furnace, the steel component is subjected to a preceding pretreatment step in terms of the process in which step an aluminum-silicon alloy anti-scale layer is formed on the metal surface of the steel component. this is applied to the steel component in a hot-dip process. during the heat treatment, the furnace temperature is in a range of 900 to 940° c. and the furnace residence time is about 4 to 10 minutes. for this reason, a classic zinc coating cannot be used in the prior art instead of the above-mentioned aluminum-silicon coating. such a zinc coating would drip off or burn at the above furnace temperatures. the aluminum-silicon coating acting as an anti-scale layer has the following disadvantages: the aluminum-silicon coating results in a rough, hard surface structure of the steel component, which leads to significant tool wear during press hardening. in addition, there is a highly laminar pronounced layer structure with greatly varying layer properties and an overall only low layer adhesion to the base material, on the order of 20 n/mm 2 . in addition, the aluminum-silicon coating leads to a high edge corrosion tendency of the steel component and to a reduction of the cap life in resistance welding. further, the aluminum-silicon coating also negatively affects the quality of the welded joint: aluminum and silicon do not evaporate during the welding process but solidify in the welding seam, which can lead to weak spots there. in addition, the alsi coating is prone to chipping or damage during and after hot forming. due to the absence of a long range effect, a corrosion attack is more likely compared with a zinc coating. summary of the invention it is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method for producing a hot-formed steel component, in which the hot forming can be carried out in a simple manner more reliably and efficiently than in the prior art. the invention is based on the problem that the conventional hot forming process is associated with significant forming tool wear, especially due to the rough, hard metal surface of the steel component. against this background, after application of the anti-scale layer, a further pretreatment step is carried out in which a surface oxidation takes place. as a result, a weakly reactive, corrosion-resistant oxidation layer, by means of which abrasive tool wear in the downstream forming step can be reduced, is formed on the anti-scale layer. the surface oxidation can occur simply in terms of process technology, for example, by pickling passivation. for pickling passivation, the steel component is treated in a pickling bath with a pickling solution and then, for example, air-dried at room temperature. the pickling solution by way of example may be the aqueous solution of an acid, in particular phosphoric acid, or a neutral to basic solution. the roughness of the metal surface of the steel component is reduced by means of the additional oxidation layer, as a result of which the abrasive tool wear is reduced in the forming step. in addition, it is possible to prevent premature wear of any existing component carriers, which transfer the steel component through the heat treatment furnace: in the case of furnace transfer, in the state of the art, diffusion processes take place between the alsi layer of the steel component and the component carrier (in particular when ceramic rollers are used), which leads to premature failure of the ceramic rollers. diffusion processes of this kind are significantly reduced by means of the additional oxidation layer of the invention. in addition, the furnace throughput time can be reduced because, according to the invention, the alloying process between the alsi layer and the base material of the steel component does not have to be fully completed in order to protect the component carrier rollers. longer permissible furnace throughput times can be tolerated because of better shielding of the substrate. to further reduce the surface roughness of the steel component, a third pretreatment step may be performed prior to the heat treatment step. in the third pretreatment step, a cover layer with a high melting point can be applied, for example, in a dipping bath. the cover layer is, for example, a titanium-zirconium layer or a metal oxide layer (preferably a titanium oxide layer), which covers the corrosion-resistant oxidation layer. by means of this additional cover layer, melting of the underlying layers, i.e., in particular the anti-scale layer, is prevented in the subsequent heat treatment step. challenges with the flow behavior can be overcome by suitable alloying of this cover layer. as mentioned above, in common practice, the anti-scale layer can be an aluminum-silicon layer which is applied to the steel component, for example, in a hot-dip coating process or coil-coating process. alternatively, the anti-scale layer can also be a zinc or zinc-iron coating, which can be applied to the steel component preferably in a hot-dip coating process. this has a melting point which is less than the heat treatment temperature (about 920° c.) in the heat treatment furnace, as a result of which zinc can melt and flow off the steel component. to avoid this, the zinc or zinc-iron coating is covered with the above-mentioned cover layer of metal oxide or of a titanium-zirconium alloy whose melting points are greater than the heat treatment temperature in the furnace. this prevents melting of the zinc/zinc-iron layer during the heat treatment. the starting material or substrate of the steel component may be a manganese-boron-alloyed quenched and tempered steel, for example, 20mnb5, 22mnb5, 27mnb5, or 30mnb5. the total layer thickness of the layer structure including the anti-scale layer and the corrosion-resistant oxidation layer and optionally the additional cover layer may be less than 20 μm or greater than 33 μm. the oxidation layer or the cover layer may preferably have a melting point greater than 2000° c., a flexural strength greater than 300 mpa, a compressive strength greater than 2000 mpa, and a vickers hardness greater than 1600 hv1. by masking the steel component, a metal surface with locally different surface properties can be adjusted during passage through the pickling passivation (pickling plant). in addition, it is possible to achieve tailor-made properties by targeted free-form coating (that is, oxidation) of the coils or blanks. in addition, the invention improves the weldability and reduces cap wear in resistance spot welded caps. in addition, the energy coupling in laser cutting and welding improves, especially due to a higher degree of absorption of the steel component. the additional corrosion-resistant oxidation layer also forms an effective hydrogen diffusion barrier. in addition, there is an improvement in the possibilities for inline quality assurance by means of thermographic processes by increasing the emissivity (matte surface) and improving the stone chip resistance in the corrosion areas. in an embodiment, the surface oxidation of the invention in the second pretreatment step can take place over the entire area and on one or both sides of the sheet steel part. alternatively, the surface oxidation can also occur partially, especially with the formation of at least one surface section without an oxidation layer and a second surface section with an oxidation layer. these surface sections thus have different surface roughnesses, which form different adhesion/friction coefficients with the forming tool surface in contact in the forming step (that is, in the deep-drawing press). in this way, the flow of material can be controlled during hot forming. further aspects of the invention and advantages of the invention are described hereinbelow: thus, the heating of the steel component to a target temperature of at least 945° c. can occur in the heat treatment step, in particular using a heating arrest point in the range of 600° c. the heat treatment may preferably occur in a time interval between about 100 seconds to a maximum of 4000 seconds. for alternative heating routes (induction, conduction), it is possible to deviate significantly downward from these values. the steel component can be a steel sheet having a material thickness in the range of 0.4 to 4 mm, in particular in the range of 0.5 to 2.50 mm. in this case, the oxidation layer of the invention is present at least before, ideally also during and after the furnace run. after the heat treatment, in common practice, a transfer takes place into one or more forming tools or tempering tools for forming or for tempering. in the forming tool, the cooling preferably occurs to a final temperature of below 600° c., in particular to a final temperature of below 400° c. the total of three pretreatment steps results in a layer system on the steel component of a total of at least five different layers. the oxidation layer in this case effectively prevents contact between the forming tool surface and the underlying layers (that is, for example, the anti-scale layer). by way of example, al—fe—si phases are formed under the oxidation layer of the invention, and an al—fe phase forms in particular between these phases and the component base material. in addition, a thin ferritic layer, which in particular has a layer thickness of less than 100 μm, can form on the outermost layer of the base material (that is, the substrate). the steel component may contain further macroscopically different structures. locally different strengths can be achieved in the steel component by applying common process technologies. by way of example, the steel component can be made as a tailored rolled blank, a tailored welded blank, or a patch blank. in addition, the structure may have residual austenite constituents. the steel components produced according to the invention can be used in different branches of industry, for example, in a vehicle, in particular a land vehicle, a passenger car, or a truck. use as a safety profile in armored vehicles is possible according to the invention. further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. however, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes, combinations, and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. brief description of the drawings the present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein: fig. 1 shows the layer structure on a finished steel component after hot forming; fig. 2 shows in a simplified block diagram the process steps for producing the steel component shown in fig. 1 ; figs. 3 to 6 show the layer structure on the surface of the steel component in different process steps; fig. 7 shows the layer structure on a finished steel component in a view corresponding to fig. 1 ; and fig. 8 shows an exemplary embodiment in a view corresponding to fig. 1 . detailed description a coating system of a finished steel component 1 , the system being formed by diffusion processes in the furnace, after hot forming is shown by way of example in fig. 1 . the base material (substrate) 3 of steel component 1 is, for example, 22mnb5. a diffusion zone 5 , followed outwardly by further alloy layers, namely, an iron-aluminum-silicon zone 7 , an iron-aluminum zone 9 , an iron-aluminum-silicon-manganese zone 11 , an iron-aluminum zone 13 , and an aluminum oxide zone 15 , an oxidation layer 17 , and as a cover layer 19 a titanium oxide layer, is formed directly on base material 3 . the laminar structure labeled by reference number 2 in fig. 1 corresponds to a coating system as known in the prior art. in addition, the laminar structure is covered with oxidation layer 17 and with cover layer 19 . these reduce, inter alia, the roughness of the metal surface of steel component 1 , as a result of which the abrasive tool wear in the forming step and in the furnace transfer is reduced. the method for producing steel component 1 shown in fig. 1 will be described hereinbelow with reference to figs. 2 to 6 : thus, in fig. 2 , base material 3 of steel component 1 is first subjected to a pretreatment i in preparation for the hot forming. pretreatment i has, inter alia, the process steps ia, ib, and ic shown in fig. 2 . in process step ia, a hot-dip coating takes place in which aluminum-silicon layer 15 is applied to steel component base material 3 . this serves as an anti-scale layer during the heat treatment. in the subsequent process step ib, a pickling passivation takes place in which steel component 1 is treated with a pickling solution in a pickling bath and then air-dried at room temperature. the pickling solution can be, for example, an aqueous solution of an acid, a base, or ph neutral, for example, phosphoric acid, by means of which the weakly reactive and corrosion-resistant oxidation layer 17 forms on aluminum-silicon layer 15 . next, in a third process step ic, a further hot-dip coating is carried out in which titanium oxide layer 19 is applied as the cover layer. in fig. 3 , steel component 1 is shown after the completed process step ia, that is, with alsi layer 15 . fig. 4 shows steel component 1 after process step ib (that is, after pickling passivation) with the additional oxidation layer 17 , whereas steel component 1 after process step ic, namely, with the additional covering layer 19 , is shown in fig. 5 . subsequent to pretreatment i, steel component 1 is transferred to a heat treatment furnace in which heat treatment ii is performed. for this purpose, steel component 1 is heated to a target temperature of, for example, at least 945° c., by way of example for a predefined process duration which may be in the range of, for example, 100 to a maximum of 4000 seconds. the coating system shown in fig. 6 forms on the surface of steel component 1 by diffusion processes in the furnace. steel component 1 , which is still in the hot state, is then subjected to a hot forming iii, in which steel component 1 is both hot-formed and quench-hardened. in the above exemplary embodiment, anti-scale layer 15 is an al—si layer. instead, anti-scale layer 15 may also be a zinc or zinc-iron coating. this can be applied to steel component 1 preferably in a hot-dip coating process. fig. 7 shows a steel component 1 according to a second exemplary embodiment, the coating system of which is essentially identical to the coating system shown in fig. 1 . as an alternative to fig. 1 , cover layer 19 has been omitted in fig. 7 , so that oxidation layer 17 is exposed to the outside. a further steel component 1 in which oxidation layer 17 is likewise exposed to the outside is shown in fig. 8 . the surface of steel component 1 in fig. 8 is divided into a surface section 21 without oxidation layer 17 and into a surface section 23 with oxidation layer 17 . the two surface sections 21 , 23 have different surface roughnesses, which form different adhesion/friction coefficients for the forming tool surface in the following forming step iii, as a result of which the flow of material during hot forming can be controlled. different surface sections 21 , 23 of this kind can be adjusted, for example, via a masking of steel component 1 during passage through the pickling passivation (pickling plant). the invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.
|
131-106-668-107-517
|
US
|
[
"US",
"MX"
] |
H05K5/06,H02G3/08
| 2012-04-10T00:00:00 |
2012
|
[
"H05",
"H02"
] |
blade-edge vapor-tight electrical box
|
an electrical box includes one or more sides joined to form a front opening to receive an electrical device. the electrical box also includes a flange extending laterally from the one or more sides. the flange includes a blade edge configured to have an initial engagement with a surface of a wallboard when the electrical box is installed in an opening of the wallboard. when the electrical box is installed in the opening of the wallboard, the blade edge forms a vapor-tight barrier between the electrical box and the surface of the wallboard.
|
1 . an electrical box, comprising: one or more sides joined to form a front opening to receive an electrical device; and a flange extending laterally from the one or more sides, the flange including a blade edge that is integral to the flange and configured to have an initial engagement with a surface of a wallboard when the electrical box is installed in an opening of the wallboard, wherein, when the electrical box is installed in the opening of the wallboard, the blade edge forms a vapor-tight barrier between the electrical box and the surface of the wallboard without use of a separate gasket. 2 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein the flange further comprises an area of reduced cross-section between the blade edge and a primary contact surface of the flange to permit flexing of the blade edge independent of the primary contact surface. 3 . the electrical box of claim 2 , wherein the flange further comprises a channel defining the area of reduced cross-section and a ridge adjacent to the channel. 4 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein the blade edge is configured to press into the surface of the wallboard. 5 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein the flange is located at a distance from the front edge of the one or more sides adjacent the front opening, the distance being configured to accommodate a thickness of the wallboard between the flange and the front edge. 6 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein the flange is located at a front edge of the one or more sides adjacent the front opening. 7 . the electrical box of claim 6 , wherein the flange is configured to fit under an electrical cover plate. 8 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein the flange is configured to engage the surface of the wallboard around the opening to prevent insertion of the electrical box past the engaged surface. 9 . the electrical box of claim 1 , where in the one or more sides are configured to form one of: a single gang configuration, a multiple-gang configuration, or a round configuration. 10 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein the electrical box comprises a single molded piece. 11 . the electrical box of claim 1 , wherein, when installed, the flange extends substantially parallel to a plane defined by the surface of the wallboard, and wherein the blade edge is configured to extend at an angle into the plane defined by the surface of the wallboard. 12 . a flange for an electrical box, comprising: a primary contact surface configured to engage a front wallboard surface and prevent insertion of the electrical box past the flange when the electrical box is installed in an opening of the wallboard; and a blade edge configured to contact the front wallboard surface and form a vapor-tight barrier between the electrical box and the front wallboard surface when the electrical box is installed in the opening of the wallboard. 13 . the flange of claim 12 , wherein the flange is configured to fit between an electrical cover plate and the front wallboard surface. 14 . the flange of claim 12 , further comprising: an area of reduced cross-section between the blade edge and the primary contact surface of the flange to permit flexing of the blade edge independent of the primary contact surface. 15 . the flange of claim 12 , wherein the area of reduced cross section forms a channel in the flange, and wherein the flange further comprises: a ridge adjacent to the channel. 16 . a flange for an electrical box, comprising: a primary contact surface configured to engage a rear wallboard surface and align a front opening of the electrical box with a front wallboard surface when the electrical box is installed in an opening of the wallboard; and a blade edge configured to contact the rear wallboard surface and form a vapor-tight barrier between the electrical box and the rear wallboard surface when the electrical box is installed in the opening of the wallboard. 17 . the flange of claim 16 , further comprising: an area of reduced cross-section between the blade edge and the primary contact surface of the flange to permit flexing of the blade edge independent of the primary contact surface. 18 . the flange of claim 16 , wherein the area of reduced cross section forms a channel in the flange, and wherein the flange further comprises: a ridge adjacent to the channel, wherein the ridge is configured to contact the rear wallboard surface before the primary contact surface contacts the wallboard surface. 19 . the flange of claim 16 , wherein the flange is molded with the electrical box as part of a single piece. 20 . the flange of claim 16 , wherein the flange extends laterally from a side of the electrical box.
|
cross-reference to related application this application claims priority under 35 u.s.c. §119, based on u. s. provisional patent application no. 61/622,036, filed apr. 10, 2012, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. background information electrical boxes are included in buildings positioned where, for example, an outlet or a switch is required. cables of an electrical circuit generally lead into the electrical box and are attached to a switch or outlet in the electrical box. in new construction, electrical boxes are typically secured to studs/rafters before a wall surface is installed. for some existing construction, electrical boxes may be inserted through holes in existing wallboard installations. vapor-tight electrical boxes are designed to meet energy-efficiency requirements for modern homes. conventional vapor-tight electrical boxes include a flange covered with a foam gasket. the foam gasket provides a vapor-tight seal between the electrical box and a wall surface. use of the foam gaskets, along with additional gaskets over cable entry points, may combine to prevent the free flow of air through the electrical box. the use of such vapor-tight boxes helps control heating and cooling costs. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 provides an isometric view of an electrical box for new construction according to an implementation described herein; fig. 2a provides a cutaway view of the electrical box of fig. 1 ; fig. 2b provides an enlarged view of a portion of fig. 2a ; fig. 3 is cross-section view of a flange of the electrical box of fig. 1 ; fig. 4a provides a cutaway view of a round electrical box for new construction according to an implementation described herein; fig. 4b provides an enlarged view of a portion of fig. 4a ; fig. 5 provides an isometric view of an electrical box for existing construction according to an implementation described herein; fig. 6a provides a cutaway view of the electrical box of fig. 5 ; fig. 6b provides an enlarged view of a portion of fig. 6a ; fig. 7 is cross-section view of a flange of the electrical box of fig. 5 ; and fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the flange of fig. 7 engaged with a wallboard. detailed description of preferred embodiments the following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. the same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention. according to implementations described herein, an electrical box is provided with a flexible flange and blade edge. the flange may be compressed against a wall surface (or another flat surface) to form a vapor-tight seal between the flange and the wall surface without using a separate gasket. as used herein, the term “vapor-tight seal” is a seal that prevents the free flow of air through the seal. in descriptions herein, a “front surface” or a “front edge” may generally refer to a surface/edge of an electrical box or a wall that faces towards a room's interior when installed. conversely, a “rear surface” may generally refer to a wall surface or electrical box surface that faces towards a room's exterior when installed. fig. 1 provides an isometric view of an electrical box 100 for new construction according to an implementation described herein. electrical box 100 may generally include multiple sides, such as side walls 102 and end walls 104 . walls 102 and 104 may join a back plate (not visible) with one or more openings 106 (e.g., so that cables may be led into electrical box 100 ). walls 102 and 104 may form a front opening 108 (e.g., to receive a switch, outlet, or another electrical device) opposite the back plate. lugs 110 may be included on walls 102 and/or 104 at front opening 108 . lugs 110 may include threaded openings configured to align with holes of an electrical device such that a screw may be used to secure the electrical device to electrical box 100 . as shown in fig. 1 , electrical box 100 is a “double gang” configuration, where two standard electrical devices may be installed within electrical box 100 . however, implementations described herein may be applicable to other electrical box sizes (e.g., single gang, triple gang, etc.). electrical box 100 may also include a configuration to secure electrical box 100 in position in a building. for example, electrical box 100 may include one or more integrally molded channels 112 to receive a nail, a screw, or some other type of fastener. as described further herein, electrical box 100 may include a flange 120 . flange 120 may extend laterally from (e.g., essentially perpendicular to) walls 102 and 104 along a perimeter of electrical box 100 . in the implementation of fig. 1 , flange 120 may be set back at a distance, t, from the edge of walls 102 and 104 that form front opening 108 . the distance, t, may correspond to, for example, the thickness of a wallboard 10 , such that the front face of electrical box 100 may extend flush with a front surface of wallboard 10 when flange 120 engages a rear surface of wallboard 10 . electrical box 100 is generally applicable to new construction, where electrical box 100 is installed prior to wallboard 10 . in one implementation, electrical box 100 may be made of a single, molded piece. for example, suitable materials for electrical box 100 may include polyvinyl chloride (pvc), polycarbonate, nylon 6-6, or another non-electrically-conductive material. in other implementations, electrical box 100 may be formed by joining together multiple separate pieces. fig. 2a provides a cutaway view of electrical box 100 , and fig. 2b provides an enlarged view of a cutaway portion, a, of fig. 2a . fig. 3 is cross-section view of flange 120 of electrical box 100 . referring collectively to figs. 1-3 , flange 120 of electrical box 100 may be configured to engage a rear surface (e.g., of wallboard 10 ) with a thin outer edge 122 (also referred to herein as a “blade edge”). outer edge 122 may extend at a distance, d 1 , beyond a primary contact surface 124 of flange 120 such that outer edge 122 may have an initial engagement with the rear surface of wallboard 10 when electrical box 100 is installed in an opening of wallboard 10 . thus, outer edge 122 may contact and press into a rear surface of wallboard 10 when wallboard 10 is forced into place against electrical box 100 during installation. pressing into a surface of wallboard 10 may include, for example, indenting, puncturing, penetrating, and/or otherwise deforming wallboard 10 such that outer edge 122 may engage wallboard 10 to form a vapor-tight seal. flange 120 may also include a channel 126 that extends around a portion of flange 120 . channel 126 may provide an area of reduced cross-section to permit flexing of outer edge 122 independently from the rest of flange 120 . in one implementation, flange 120 may include one or more ridges 128 - 1 and 128 - 2 (referred to herein collectively as “ridges 128 ”) next to channel 126 . ridges 128 may provide an increased cross-section to reinforce channel 120 near the area of flexing. ridges 128 may also provide an additional contact surface against the rear surface of wallboard 10 when outer edge 122 has fully engaged (e.g., penetrated) the rear surface of wallboard 10 . in practice, electrical box 100 may be secured to a wall (e.g., a stud) during new construction using, for example, a nail driven through molded channels 112 . flange 120 may be aligned with a front surface of the stud. an opening in wallboard 10 may be cut so that the portion of walls 102 and 104 forming front opening 108 may extend through the corresponding opening in wallboard 10 . the rear surface of wallboard 10 adjacent to the opening may generally engage flange 120 . more particularly, flange 120 may extend substantially parallel to a plane defined by the surface of wallboard 10 , and blade edge 122 may extend at an angle into the plane defined by the rear surface of wallboard 10 . wallboard 10 may push against outer edge 122 so that outer edge 122 cuts into the rear surface of wallboard 10 as wallboard 10 is eventually pushed into place against primary contact surface 124 of flange 120 . the penetration of outer edge 122 , along the entire circumference of flange 120 , into the rear surface of wallboard 10 may form a vapor-tight seal between electrical box 100 and wallboard 10 . fig. 4a provides a cutaway view of a round electrical box 400 , and fig. 4b provides an enlarged view of a cutaway portion, a, of fig. 4a . referring collectively to figs. 4a-4b , electrical box 400 may generally include a single wall 402 . wall 402 may join a back plate 404 with one or more openings 406 (e.g., so that cables may be fed into electrical box 100 ). wall 402 may form a front opening 408 (e.g., to receive a ceiling fan, lighting fixture, or another electrical device) opposite the back plate. lugs 410 may be included on wall 402 at front opening 108 . lugs 410 may include threaded openings (or non-threaded openings) configured to align with holes of an electrical device such that a screw, a nail, or some other type of fastener may be used to secure the electrical device to electrical box 400 . electrical box 400 may be configured to receive an electrical fixture, such as a ceiling fan. electrical box 400 is generally applicable to new construction (e.g., where electrical box 400 is installed prior to installation of wallboard or another ceiling surface). electrical box 400 may be made of the same or similar materials to those described above with respect to electrical box 100 . similar to electrical box 100 , electrical box 400 may include a flange 420 configured to engage a rear surface (e.g., of wallboard 10 ) with a thin outer edge 422 . flange 420 may include a similar cross section to that of flange 120 . particularly, outer edge 422 of flange 420 may extend beyond a primary contact surface 424 of flange 420 . thus, outer edge 422 may contact and slightly press into a rear surface of wallboard 10 when wallboard 10 is forced into place against electrical box 400 during installation. in one implementation, flange 420 may also include a channel 426 that extends around flange 420 . channel 426 may provide an area of reduced cross-section to permit flexing of outer edge 422 independently from the rest of flange 420 . in one implementation, flange 420 may include one or more ridges (not shown) next to channel 126 , similar to ridges 128 of flange 120 . the ridges may provide an increased cross-section to reinforce channel 120 near the area of flexing and may provide an additional contact surface against the rear surface of wallboard 10 when outer edge 422 has fully engaged (e.g., penetrated) the rear surface of wallboard 10 . fig. 5 provides an isometric view of an electrical box 500 for existing construction according to an implementation described herein. electrical box 500 may generally include multiple walls, such as side walls 502 and end walls 504 . walls 502 and 504 may join a back plate (not visible) with one or more openings 506 (e.g., so that cables may be fed into electrical box 500 ). walls 502 and 504 may form a front opening 508 (e.g., to receive a switch, outlet, or another electrical device) opposite the back plate. lugs 510 may be included on walls 502 and/or 504 at front opening 508 . lugs 510 may include threaded openings (or non-threaded openings) configured to align with holes of an electrical device such that a screw or other type of fastener may be used to secure the electrical device to electrical box 500 . as described further herein, electrical box 500 may include a flange 520 . in some implementations, as shown in fig. 5 , the cross-section of flange 520 may be modified in the vicinity of lugs 510 to, for example, accommodate mounting surfaces of an installed electrical fixture. electrical box 500 shown in fig. 5 is a “single gang” configuration, where one standard electrical device may be installed within electrical box 500 . however, implementations described herein may be applicable to other electrical box sizes (e.g., double gang, triple gang, etc.). electrical box 500 may also include a configuration to secure electrical box 500 in position in a building. for example, electrical box 500 may include one or more integral mounting apertures 512 to receive a screw or a nail. flange 520 may extend laterally from (e.g., essentially perpendicular to) walls 502 and 504 along an outer perimeter of electrical box 500 . flange 520 may be located along the front edges of walls 502 and 504 that form front opening 508 . electrical box 500 may be inserted through an opening in an existing wallboard 10 installation such that a rear surface of flange 520 engages the front surface of wallboard 10 . flange 520 may be configured to engage front surface of wallboard 10 around an opening to prevent insertion of electrical box 500 past the front surface of wallboard 10 . the location of flange 520 along the front edges of walls 502 and 504 ensures that front opening 508 of electrical box 500 , when installed, may be flush or nearly flush with the front surface of drywall 10 . electrical box 500 is generally applicable for installation in previously constructed wall surfaces, where electrical box 500 is installed after wallboard 10 is in place. electrical box 500 may be made using similar materials and/or processes to those described above with respect to electrical box 100 . fig. 6a provides a cutaway view of electrical box 500 , and fig. 6b provides an enlarged view of a cutaway portion, a, of fig. 6a . fig. 7 is cross-sectional view of flange 520 of electrical box 500 . referring collectively to figs. 5-7 , flange 520 of electrical box 500 may be configured to engage a front surface (e.g., of wallboard 10 ) with a thin outer edge 522 . outer edge 522 may extend a distance, d 2 , beyond a primary contact surface 524 of flange 520 . thus, outer edge 522 may contact and slightly press into a front surface of wallboard 10 when electrical box 500 is pushed into place against wallboard 10 during installation. flange 520 may also include a channel 526 that extends around one or more portions of flange 520 . channel 526 may provide an area of reduced cross-section (e.g., relative to the cross-sectional area at primary contact surface 524 ) to permit flexing of outer edge 522 independently from the rest of flange 520 . in one implementation, flange 520 may include one or more ridges 528 next to channel 526 . ridges 528 may provide additional cross-sectional area to reinforce channel 520 near the area of flexing. ridges 528 may also provide an additional contact surface against the front surface of wallboard 10 when outer edge 522 has fully engaged (e.g., penetrated) the rear surface of wallboard 10 . fig. 8 provides a cross-sectional view of flange 520 engaged with wallboard 10 . referring collectively to fig. 5-8 , electrical box 500 may be secured within an opening of previously installed wallboard 10 using, for example, mounting apertures 512 . flange 520 may be pressed against the front surface of wallboard 10 , so that front opening 508 may generally be in the same plane as the front surface of wallboard 10 . more particularly, outer edge 522 may push against the front surface of wallboard 10 so that outer edge 522 cuts into the front surface of wallboard 10 as outer edge 522 is forced into place. outer edge 522 may flex slightly in the reduced cross-section area so that the depth of penetration into the front surface of wallboard 10 may be less than the depth, d 2 , before electrical box 500 is installed. the penetration of outer edge 522 , along all or a substantial portion of the perimeter of flange 520 , into the front surface of wallboard 10 may form a vapor-tight seal between electrical box 500 and wallboard 10 . the thickness of flange 520 , in an installed configuration, may generally be sufficiently thin so as to allow a standard outlet/switch cover plate to be installed over opening 508 and sit flush against the front surface of wallboard 10 . implementations described herein provide a design for an electrical box that can provide a vapor-tight seal without the use of a separate gasket. according to one implementation, the electrical box may include one or more sides joined to form a front opening to receive an electrical device and a flange extending laterally from the one or more sides. the flange may include a blade edge configured to have an initial engagement with a surface of a wallboard when the electrical box is installed in an opening of the wallboard. when the electrical box is installed in the opening of the wallboard, the blade edge forms a vapor-tight barrier between the electrical box and the surface of the wallboard. thus, the electrical box may achieve requirements for vapor-tight installation as an integrated piece without the use of a separate foam gasket. the foregoing description of exemplary implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments described herein to the precise form disclosed. modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the embodiments. for example, instead of a single flange, a set of flanges (e.g., each extending laterally from a separate side wall of the electrical box) with blade edges may be used. furthermore, any particular size (e.g., single-gang, double-gang, etc.) or shape (e.g., rectangular opening, round opening, etc.) may be used with embodiments described herein for either new construction or existing construction. although the invention has been described in detail above, it is expressly understood that it will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that the invention may be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. various changes of form, design, or arrangement may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. therefore, the above mentioned description is to be considered exemplary, rather than limiting, and the true scope of the invention is that defined in the following claims. no element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.
|
131-884-574-722-472
|
JP
|
[
"DE",
"EP",
"JP",
"ES",
"CN",
"US",
"TW"
] |
B43K3/00,B43K23/008
| 1998-08-28T00:00:00 |
1998
|
[
"B43"
] |
writing utensil
|
a writing utensil (10) includes a writing stem (12) having a first surface section (22) of a soft elastic material, and a second surface section of a relatively hard material (20). an interdigital support section (12b) formed of a soil elastic material supports the interdigital portion between a thumb and a forefinger of a user gripping the writing stem.
|
having thus described my invention, what i claim as new and desire to secure by letters patent is as follows: a writing utensil, comprising: a writing stem having a first surface section of a soft elastic material, and a second surface section of a relatively hard material, wherein said first surface section includes an interdigital support section comprising soft elastic material for supporting the interdigital portion between a thumb and a forefinger of a user gripping said writing stem. the writing utensil according to claim 1, wherein said first surface section further comprises a fingertip support section made of soft elastic material which comes into contact with a user's fingertip gripping said writing stem. the writing utensil according to claim 2, wherein said first surface section further comprises a connecting member, said interdigital support section and said fingertip support section being connected together by said connecting member. the writing utensil according to claim 1, wherein said interdigital support section has a jagged surface. the writing utensil according to claim 1, wherein said interdigital support section has a recessed smooth surface. the writing utensil according to claim 1, further comprising: a clip extending in a longitudinal direction parallel to said writing stem, wherein said interdigital support section is located substantially in a position opposed to said clip on a circumference of said writing stem. the writing utensil according to claim 1, further comprising; a control section for feeding writing media located substantially in the middle of said writing stem in an axial direction, wherein said interdigital support section is located substantially in a position opposed to said control section on the circumference of said writing stem. the writing utensil according to claim 1, wherein said second surface section comprises at least one of abs resin and acrylic resin. the writing utensil according to claim 1, wherein said first surface section comprises at least one of silicon rubber, olefin elastomer, vinyl chloride elastomer, styrene elastomer, and a thermoplastic elastomer. a writing utensil, comprising: a writing tip; a writing stem including a forebarrel adjacent to said writing tip and an afterbarrel at an end opposite said writing tip; and a control section located adjacent a tip of the afterbarrel at the end opposite said writing tip, said writing stem having an interdigital support section of a soft elastic material for supporting the interdigital portion between a user's thumb and forefinger gripping said writing stem, wherein said forebarrel has a first surface section adjacent said writing tip formed of a soft elastic material, and a second surface section adjacent said writing tip formed of a hard material, wherein said afterbarrel at an end opposite said writing tip having a first surface section formed of a soft elastic material, and a second surface section formed of a hard material. the writing utensil according to claim 10, wherein said writing stem further includes a fingertip support section made of a soft elastic material which comes into contact with a user's fingertip gripping said writing stem. the writing utensil according to claim 10, wherein said first surface section of said afterbarrel, formed of a soft elastic material is integrally molded through dichromatic molding with said second surface section. the writing utensil according to claim 10, wherein said writing stem further comprises a fingertip support section made of a soft elastic material which comes into contact with a user's fingertip gripping said writing stem, said fingertip support section having a plurality of ribs. the writing utensil according to claim 10, wherein said interdigital support section has a jagged surface with a plurality of ribs. the writing utensil according to claim 10, further comprising a connecting region provided between said interdigital support section and a fingertip support section of said writing stem, and having an outer circumference smaller than those of said interdigital support section and said fingertip support section. a writing instrument, comprising: a writing stem having a first surface section of a soft elastic material, and a second surface section of a relatively hard material; and wherein said first surface section comprises an interdigital support section comprising a soft elastic material for supporting the interdigital portion between a user's thumb and forefinger gripping said writing stem. the writing instrument according to claim 16, wherein said first surface section comprises a fingertip support section of a soft elastic material for supporting the thumb, the forefinger, and a middle finger of the user, and having a jagged surface with a grid-like pattern. the writing instrument according to claim 16, wherein said interdigital support section is recessed in a smooth curve and has a jagged surface with a plurality of ribs. the writing instrument according to claim 16, wherein said interdigital support section comprises an uneven surface with a plurality of concavities. the writing instrument according to claim 16, said first surface section comprising a connecting region provided between said interdigital support section and a fingertip support section, and having an outer circumference smaller than those of said interdigital support section and said fingertip support section.
|
background of the invention field of the invention the present invention relates to a writing utensil, and more particularly to a writing utensil having a writing stem whose surface includes a section made of a soft elastic material and another section made of a hard material. description of the related art in a conventional writing utensil, its writing stem includes a fingertip support section which comes into contact with a fingertip of the user who grips the writing stem. the fingertip support section is made of a soft elastic material to achieve a non-slip effect. such a soft elastic material constitutes a barrel section separate from another section made of a hard material in the writing stem. the writing utensil is manufactured by fitting the barrel section in an annular groove made of a hard material, or by integrally molding the writing stem, which consists of a section made of a soft elastic material and another section made of a hard material, through a dichromatic molding technique, as described in japanese utility model publication no. 2537274. when using the writing utensil, the user usually grips the writing stem with three fingers. that is, the thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger grip the writing stem. however, in addition to those fingers, the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger sustains the writing stem. if the interdigital portion contacts a hard section in the writing stem, the user may feel finger fatigue from continuous writing. also, if the interdigital portion slips off the writing stem, the user's grip may become unstable. summary of the invention in view of the foregoing and other problems, disadvantages, and drawbacks of the conventional writing utensil, the invention has been devised, and it is an object of the invention, to provide a writing utensil which makes the user's grip feel more stable when gripping a writing stem of the writing utensil and which makes the user feel less fatigue after a long period of writing. to attain the above and other objects, the present invention provides a writing utensil having a writing stem whose surface includes a section made of a soft elastic material and another section made of a hard material. the writing utensil includes at least an interdigital support section made of a soft elastic material which comes into contact with the interdigital portion between the user's thumb and forefinger gripping the writing stem. since the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger comes into contact with the soft elastic material, the user's grip feels more stable when gripping the writing stem. that is, since the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger is supported with the soft elastic material, the writing stem feels soft to the user's hand, and the elastic material achieves a non-slip effect, so that the user can grip the writing stem in a very stable position with no shaky movement of the writing stem's rear end. an increased variety of designs can be applicable to the writing utensil according to the present invention. optionally, the writing utensil can further include a fingertip support section made of a soft elastic material which contacts a user's fingertip gripping the writing stem. since the fingertip comes into contact with the soft elastic material, that elastic material achieves a non-slip effect and the user perceives increased stability when gripping the writing stem. also optionally, the interdigital support section and the fingertip support section can be connected to each other by a soft elastic material. during the manufacturing process, the interdigital support section and the fingertip support section can be formed of a soft elastic material at a same time. a smooth surface of the soft elastic material can achieve a sufficient non-slip effect. however, it should be also appreciated that the interdigital support section may have a jagged (e.g., serrated, irregular, non-uniform, etc.) surface. alternatively, the surface of the interdigital support section may be recessed in a smooth curve. the interdigital support section can achieve an improved non-slip effect through such a jagged surface and the section can come into contact with the user's interdigital portion more fittingly through such a recessed surface. the interdigital support section can be located at any position where the section may come into contact with the user's interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger. however, the writing utensil may have a clip which extends in a longitudinal direction parallel to the writing stem, and the interdigital support section may be located substantially in a position opposed to the clip on the circumference of the writing stem. if such a clip is provided, the user would usually grip the writing stem such that the clip is unobtrusive to the user. therefore, if the interdigital support section is located substantially in a position opposed to the clip, the user's interdigital portion contacts the soft elastic material more surely. also, the present invention is applicable to a writing utensil which has a control section for feeding writing media located at the rear end of the writing stem. however, such a control section for feeding writing media may be located in the middle of the writing stem, and the interdigital support section may be located substantially in a position opposed to the control section on the circumference of the writing stem. if such a control section is provided, the user usually grips the writing stem such that the control section does not impede the user, but instead makes the utensil easier to operate. therefore, if the interdigital support section is located substantially in a position opposed to the control section, then the user's interdigital portion can come into contact with the soft elastic material more surely and reliably. moreover, those sections made of the soft elastic material can be separate from those made of a hard material and can be bonded to each other by fitting or attaching. however, the soft elastic material and the hard material may constitute the surface of the writing stem through dichromatic molding. the present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in japanese patent application no. 10-243861, filed august 28, 1998, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. brief description of the drawings the foregoing and other purposes, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which: fig. 1 shows a side view of a first embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; fig. 2 shows a front view of the first embodiment; fig. 3 shows a rear view of the first embodiment; fig. 4 shows a side view of a second embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; fig. 5 shows a front view of the second embodiment; fig. 6 shows a side view of a third embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; fig. 7 shows a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; fig. 8 shows a perspective view of a fifth embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; fig. 9 shows a perspective view of a sixth embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; fig. 10 shows a perspective view of a seventh embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention; and fig. 11 shows a perspective view of an eighth embodiment of the writing utensil according to the present invention. detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to figures 1-11, there are shown preferred embodiments of the method and structures according to the present invention. preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. first embodiment referring to figs. 1-3, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. as shown in these figures, an exemplary writing utensil (instrument) 10 is a side knock-type propelling pencil (e.g., mechanical pencil), which contains within its writing stem 12 a conventional writing medium (e.g., lead), a feeding mechanism for feeding a predetermined amount of lead, and also includes a control section 14 projecting from the middle of the writing stem 12 and located in an axial direction. lead can be fed by depressing control section 14. it is noted that instead of lead, other writing media could be used. the writing stem 12 further includes a base 16a for a clip 16 at the rear end. the clip 16 extends from the base 16a in a longitudinal direction parallel to the writing stem 12. the writing stem 12 includes a hard section 20 whose surface is made of a hard material such as abs resin and acrylic resin and a soft section 22 whose surface is made of a soft elastic material such as silicone rubber, olefin elastomer, vinyl chloride elastomer, styrene elastomer, and/or another thermoplastic elastomer. the hard section 20 and the soft section 22 can be integrally molded through dichromatic molding or another technique. the soft section 22 extends from the forebarrel portion to the middle portion of the writing stem 12 except for the control section 14. more particularly, the soft section 22 includes a fingertip support section 12a which usually contacts tips of the user's thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger when the user grips the writing stem 12 as well as an interdigital support section 12b which contacts the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger. sections 12a and 12b are connected together by a connecting member 22a of soft elastic material. the fingertip support section 12a has a plurality (e.g., three) of jagged regions with a plurality of ribs, which are located on the rear and each side of the writing stem, respectively, with the clip 16 and the control section 14 facing to the front. the interdigital support section 12b has a jagged surface with a number of ribs, which is located at an angle of approximately 180 degrees with respect to the clip 16 and the control section 14 on the circumference of the writing stem 12 (e.g., in a position substantially opposed to them). with the writing utensil as configured above, the user usually grips the writing stem with the clip and the control section facing upward so that the clip 16 is not an obstacle to the user, and so that the control section 14 is easier to actuate (e.g., depress). the three jagged regions of the fingertip support section 12a come into contact with the thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger, respectively. the jagged surface of the interdigital support section 12b comes into contact with the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger. thus, the writing stem 12 is jointly supported at sections 12a and 12b. moreover, since both the fingertip support section 12a and the interdigital support section 12b are made of a soft elastic material, the user's grip feels softer and more stable when gripping the writing stem, and the writing utensil will not easily slip from the user's grip. therefore, the user will be less fatigued from continuous writing. in addition, to feed a predetermined amount of lead, the user can depress the control section 14, for example, with the forefinger only, without moving the user's hand away from the sections 12a and 12b. since the soft section 22 is located in the middle of the writing stem 12 in an axial direction, a wide variety of novel designs can be provided, for example, by using different color combinations for the soft section 22 and the hard section 20. second embodiment referring to figs. 4 and 5, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. in these figures, the same members as in the first embodiment are assigned the same reference numerals and those members will not be described herein below in detail. as shown in figures 4-5, an exemplary writing utensil (instrument) 30 is a rear end knock-type propelling pencil. in such a rear end knock-type pencil, a control section 34 to feed a predetermined amount of lead is located at the rear end of a writing stem 32, and is connected to a lead feeding mechanism contained within the writing stem 32, so that lead can be fed by depressing the control section 34. the writing stem 32 includes two members, (e.g., a forebarrel 32a and an afterbarrel 32b) which are screwed onto each other. as in the first embodiment, the whole writing stem 32 includes hard sections 40a and 40b whose surfaces are made of a hard material, and soft sections 42a and 42b whose surfaces are made of a soft elastic material. the forebarrel 32a is formed by fitting a barrel section made of a soft elastic material (e.g., the soft section 42a) into a smaller-diameter annular section located substantially in the middle of the hard section 40a. in the afterbarrel 32b, the soft section 42b and the hard section 40b are integrally molded through dichromatic molding. the soft section 42a includes a fingertip support section 32a which usually comes into contact with the tips of the user's thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger when the user grips the writing stem 32. the fingertip support section 32a has a plurality (e.g., two) of jagged regions with a number of ribs, which are located on each side of the writing stem, respectively, with the clip 16 facing to the front. the soft section 42b is provided in a position substantially opposed to the clip 16 on the circumference of the writing stem 32 to include an interdigital support section 32b which comes into contact with the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger and the interdigital support section 32b has a jagged surface with a number of ribs. with the writing utensil 30 as configured above, as in the first embodiment, the user usually grips the writing stem with the clip 16 facing upward so that the clip 16 is not an obstacle to the user. accordingly, the two jagged regions of the fingertip support section 32a come into contact with the thumb and the forefinger. the jagged surface of the interdigital support section 32b will come into contact with the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger. thus, those sections can jointly support the writing stem 32. therefore, the second embodiment can achieve the same effect as the first embodiment. third embodiment referring to fig. 6, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. in figure 6, the same members as in the above-mentioned embodiments are assigned the same reference numerals and those members will not be described herein below in detail. as shown in figure 6, an exemplary writing utensil 50 is a rear end knock-type ball point pen. in such a rear end knock-type ball point pen, the tip of a ball point pen refill (e.g., container) which contains ink as exemplary writing media can be propelled outwardly by actuating (e.g., depressing) a control section 54. the writing stem 52 of the writing utensil 50 includes a hard section 60 whose surface is made of a hard material and soft sections 62a and 62b whose surfaces are made of a soft elastic material. the soft section 62a includes a barrel section fitted into an annular groove in the hard section 60, and is provided to include a fingertip support section 52a which usually comes into contact with the tips of the user's thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger. in addition, the soft section 62a has a jagged surface (e.g., irregular, non-uniform) with a grid-like pattern. the soft section 62b is provided in a position substantially opposed to the clip 16 on the circumference of the writing stem 52 to include an interdigital support section 52b which comes into contact with the interdigital portion between the thumb and the forefinger, and the interdigital support section 52b is recessed in a smooth curve and has a jagged surface with a number of ribs. the writing utensil 50 can achieve the same effect as the above-mentioned embodiments. particularly, due to the recessed shape, the interdigital support section 52b can come into contact with the interdigital portion of the user more snugly and the user can experience a more stable grip. fourth through eighth embodiments figs. 7 through 11 show a perspective view of fourth through eighth embodiments, respectively. in the fourth embodiment as shown in fig. 7, the surface of a writing stem 72 includes a hard section 73 and soft sections 74a and 74b. the barrel-like soft sections 74a and 74b are fitted into a groove in the hard section 73 to include a fingertip support section 72a and an interdigital support section 72b, respectively. in the fifth embodiment as shown in fig. 8, the surface of a writing stem 82 includes a hard section 83 and a soft section 84. the soft section 84 is provided over a region extending from the forebarrel portion to the middle portion of the writing stem to include a fingertip support section 82a and an interdigital support section 82b. the connecting region between the fingertip support section 82a and the interdigital support section 82b is narrower than these sections. in the sixth embodiment as shown in fig. 9, a clip 16' is located in the forebarrel portion of a writing stem 92. however, as in the above-mentioned embodiments, the surface of the writing stem 92 includes a hard section 93 and a soft section 94. the soft section 94 covers a region extending from the forebarrel portion to the middle portion of the writing stem to include a fingertip support section 92a and an interdigital support section 92b. the clip 16' is formed to be substantially flush with the outer surface of the writing stem 92 and extends in a longitudinal direction parallel to the writing stem 92. when the front end of the clip 16' is pressed toward the inside of the writing stem 92, the rear end of the clip 16' is propelled outwardly of the outer surface of the writing stem 92 so that the clip 16' can clip onto a user's pocket or another location. the seventh embodiment as shown in fig. 10 is an exemplary side knock-type writing utensil and the surface of a writing stem 102 includes a hard section 103 and a soft section 104. the soft section 104 covers a region extending from the forebarrel portion to the middle portion of the writing stem to include a fingertip support section 102a and an interdigital support section 102b. in addition, the soft section 104 has an uneven surface with a large number of concavities. in the eighth embodiment as shown in fig. 11, the surface of a writing stem 112 includes a hard section 113 and soft sections 114a and 114b. the soft sections 114a and 114b include a fingertip support section 112a and an interdigital support section 112b, respectively. these sections are not formed into a barrel-like shape, but instead are formed into a specific streamlined shape when being viewed from the side. it should be appreciated that, as shown in figs. 7 through 11, numerous variations may be made to the present invention and any of them can make the user feel more stable when gripping the writing stem as well as demonstrate the possibility of various novel designs. while the invention has been described in terms of several preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
|
132-961-270-891-333
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
F42B5/307
| 1988-02-09T00:00:00 |
1988
|
[
"F42"
] |
composite cartridge for high velocity rifles and the like
|
a plastic cased metal headed ammunition casing for high powered rifle cartridges is described in which the plastic case has a pressure regulating baffle or wall in the forward end thereof to regulate and control the development of chamber pressure movement of the bullet into the rifle barrel. the cartridge is charged with a given charge of powder and the cap or head securely fastened to the rearward portion of the plastic casing. the head provides sufficient resistance to the residual pressure after firing so that the cartridge can be used in rapid fire automatic weapons.
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1. a cartridge comprising: a plastic casing molded from a reinforced high impact plastic, said casing having a bullet end and a head end, said bullet end having a substantially cylindrical bullet receiving recess adapted to receive a bullet in a frictional engagement and having a pressure regulating front partition separating said bullet recess from a powder chamber, said pressure regulating front partition being molded integrally with said casing and having a frangible annulus positioned at the juncture between said partition and said casing, said annulus having a substantially uniform thickness around its periphery of from 0.010 to 0.020 inches whereby said partition resists removal thereof until a predetermined pressure is achieved in said chamber by an ignited powder charge; an external interlock surface at said head end; a cartridge head having a casing engaging recess at one end thereof and a primer receiving recess in the other end thereof, said casing engaging recess receiving said external interlock surface of said casing therein and extending toward said bullet receiving end around the outside of said external interlock surface and fairing with said casing, whereby pressure generated by detonation of a powder charge in said casing forces said casing outwardly into gas sealing relationship with said cartridge head casing engaging recess and whereby said head reinforces and prevents sidewall blowout of said casing during extraction of said cartridge from an automatic fire weapon. 2. the cartridge of claim 1 wherein said external interlock surface comprises a tapered surface having a first larger diameter at said head receiving end and a second smaller diameter at a location between said head end and said bullet receiving end, both of said diameters being smaller than the diameter of said casing. 3. the cartridge of claim 1 wherein the interior volume of said casing is sized to permit entry of a chosen powder sufficient to provide from 40,000 to 60,000 psi chamber pressure upon firing in a rifle chamber. 4. the cartridge of claim 1 wherein said pressure regulating front partition has on its rearward face a part spherical surface. 5. the apparatus of claim 1 wherein a swaging anvil is placed coaxially within the head receiving end of said casing before assembly of said head upon said interlock surface, said swaging anvil remaining within and becoming a part of said cartridge. 6. the apparatus of claim 1 wherein an adhesive bonds said casing and said head together. 7. the cartridge of claim 1 wherein the powder and the thickness of said frangible annulus are chosen to provide a chamber pressure of from 40,000 to 60,000 psi chamber pressure upon firing.
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background of the invention this invention relates to improvements in the ammunition art, and specifically to improvements in the ammunition of the type used in high power rifles of all calibers in which an elastomer or plastic is used for a predominant portion of the casing which houses the powder and positions the projectile. the casing is made of a synthetic polymer composition attached to a metallic head positioned at the opposite end of the cartridge from the projectile. cartridges of this general type have been known in the literature for many years but have for one reason or another, failed to provide a satisfactory ammunition for sustained automatic fire in the modern automatic weapons widely used in police, paramilitary and military situations. the following patents are known to disclose various types of composite cartridges of the general type to which this invention is addressed: ______________________________________ inventor ______________________________________ u.s. pat. nos. 2,654,319 roske 2,862,446 ringdal 3,026,802 barnet et al. 3,099,958 daubenspeck, et al. 3,745,924 scanlon 3,842,739 scanlon, et al. 3,874,294 hale 3,977,326 anderson 4,147,107 ringdal united kingdom 1,015,516 daubenspeck et al. gb2,044,416 application hebert european patent application 0 131 863 (publn. 23.01.85) vatsvog german patent 2,419,881 ______________________________________ cartridges of this type are also used in large quantities as blank rifle cartridges in which the head end of the cartridge case continues into the imitation shape of a plastic projectile which constitutes an integral part of the cartridge case and has a notch or groove forming a predetermined rupture zone. these cartridges are loaded with a nominal amount of powder and are used as training and simulation aids without a projectile of the usual type. because of the nominal loading of powder, cartridges of this type may not develop enough chamber pressure to operate the gas-operated automatic ejection and reloading mechanisms used in military type automatic weapons. it is recognized that a plastic rifle cartridge should usually have a metal cap or head to carry the primer and to provide the ejection groove necessary to eject the spent cartridge from the firing chamber. when used in a modern automatic weapon the need is also present for a reinforced cap or head area to contain residual pressures in the cartridge occasionally encountered when the ejection cycle begins removal of the cartridge from the chamber before the pressure effects of the recent firing have fully dissipated. to achieve consistent performance, both ballistically and in the operation of the gas operated ejection mechanism, a rifle cartridge must develop a consistently high chamber pressure level for each round. heretofore, the attainment of consistent pressure levels has been difficult, due to inconsistencies in the interfit between the bullet and the cartridge, improper sizing of the powder chamber for the powder used, and to the many variations in the performance in the burning cycle of the various powders available for use in rifle ammunition. conventional cartridges for rifles and machine guns, as well as larger caliber weapons are usually made with brass casings. the brass casing includes an integrally formed head containing a primer cup to receive a primer adapted to ignite a powder charge at one end, and at the other end provides a mechanical interfit to a bullet. the grip of the cartridge upon the bullet, together with the amount and characteristics of the powder, the interior volume of the powder chamber and other factors determine the chamber pressure levels developed during the firing cycle. the bullet or other projectile is held in place with a crimp or frictional engagement, the strength of which is a factor in determining the pressure needed to initiate bullet movement into the barrel of the rifle. brass casings can be reloaded and thereby reused but suffer from several disadvantages, including weight. in addition, special tooling is necessary for reloading. brass is also a relatively expensive metal which may be in short supply in some areas of the world, particularly in the event of war. expendable aluminum casings have been developed but generally are not reusable, making the ultimate cost of the aluminum casing comparable to brass. an extensive amount of precision metalworking equipment is necessary to form the casings from either brass or aluminum. several attempts have been made to develop a reusable handgun casing made of lightweight plastic materials, including my successful development described in my european patent application no. 0 131 863. in the use of plastic casings of the prior art, it is necessary that there be a tight fit between the casing and the bullet and between the casing and the head in order to prevent the escape of the gases formed when the powder charge is ignited. these gases in the handgun loads can quickly reach a pressure of over 10,000 psi, and thus the seal around the bullet and around the head must be tight enough to prevent the escape of the gases until the bullet is discharged. in rifle applications, such as the nato 5.56 mm (.223 caliber) widely used in weapons such as the m-14 and m-15 used by the united states of america and its allies and various 5.56 mm rifles used by warsaw pact forces pressures of 40,000 to 60,000 psi or higher may be encountered. the seal around the head is of extreme importance at these higher pressures as well as the strength of the head extending along a substantial distance of the side wall of the cartridge to prevent rupture of the sidewall of the cartridge during ejection of the spent cartridge. such a rupture and escape of the gases would not only adversely effect the performance of the bullet being discharged but would also potentially adversely affect the subsequent firing of the rifle and could present a safety hazard to the rifleman or his companions. of great significance is the need to controllably maintain the chamber pressure developed by detonation or burning of the powder during the firing cycle so that a consistent pressure level is attained for a given powder load and type. in brass cased ammunition the pressure level is attained during and following burning of the powder in part through the crimp or frictional interfit between the bullet and the inner wall of the case. with plastic cases the control of the pressures has heretofore been erratic and unacceptable. for military rounds, the need for reloading capability is minimized, so long as the round is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and load, and so long as the other desirable factors of the cartridge, such as corrosion resistance, weight, moisture resistance and the like provide a cartridge as dependable as brass. brass cartridges rely upon the crimp or frictional engagement with the bullet to control the buildup of pressure before bullet ejection. a more consistent and reliable control would provide more nearly consistent ballistics performance and is one of the attributes of this invention. in all of the patents mentioned above the cartridge is formed of a composite plastic or metal and plastic casings which rely on multiple parts to provide the sealing around the end caps or head, and require a crimp about the bullet to hold the bullet in place. the cost of producing and assembling a multiple piece casing is high and heretofore the composite casings have not accomplished the dual functions of sealing the head to the plastic casing and the plastic casing to the bullet in a manner which permits the resulting cartridge to be used in fully automatic rifle firing applications. disclosure of the invention it is an object of this invention to provide a lightweight plastic composite cartridge for use in high velocity rifle applications in which the pressure developed by ignition of the powder is controlled. it is another object of the invention to provide a cartridge for rifle ammunition which can be used in fully automatic weapons. another object of this invention is to provide a cartridge which has a frangible pressure control bulkhead or partition which imparts pressure and force against the base of the bullet after a threshold level of pressure is attained to assure optimum powder ignition and complete burning. a still further object of this invention is to provide ammunition in a cartridge in which the bullet can be inserted or removed easily without exposing the powder. one further object of this invention is to provide a cartridge for rifle use which can have its powder load inserted from the base or head end of the cartridge without the presence of the bullet. another object of this invention is to provide a cartridge for use in a rifle which has a light frictional interfit with its bullet and no crimp or its equivalent to hold the bullet in place, for smooth and reproducible ejection of the bullet from the cartridge upon firing. these and other objects of this invention are obtained by providing a tubular plastic casing made of a durable but elastic plastic material such as nylon which has the structural integrity to remain intact around the area upon which a malleable skirt is swaged to form the interconnection between the plastic casing and the head. the casing is formed by injection molding a relatively simple shape which may have draft angles built in to permit easy removal of the part from the male mold part. in the process of molding a partition or pressure control septum is molded in at the bullet-receiving end of the casing to define a bullet receiving recess and a powder receiving recess. a metal head is formed to slip on the end of the casing opposite the bullet receiving recess and be swaged into faired contact with the periphery of the casing in a sealed joint. alternately, the head may be swaged prior to assembly and the elastomer casing forced into the head, the elastomer material being yieldable but possessing plastic memory sufficient to urge it toward its original shape and into firm contact with the interior surface of the head. the head has a primer recess into which a primer may be inserted coaxially with the head and casing. a primer flash hole or central vent extends coaxially into the powder chamber to ignite the powder upon detonation of the primer. the powder chamber is defined by the plastic casing, the pressure regulating frangible partition and by the head when it has been inserted axially over the casing and the skirt or a part thereof swaged into a fared interlock with the casing or into a circumferential groove. the volume of the powder chamber may be varied according to the type of powder being used so that the powder used fills the chamber to simplify loading and to optimize the burning characteristics of the powder. the pressure regulating front partition preferably is thickened from the frangible annular periphery thereof toward the cartridge axis in a semi-spherical configuration to provide application of forces evenly across the base of the bullet. the frangible partition functions to separate the powder chamber from the bullet receptacle, to seal the powder chamber at the forward end thereof and to provide a controlled pressure rupture threshold to controllably regulate the generation of pressure during the firing cycle so that the power of the powder is both maximized and controlled by regulating the pressure level at which the projectile begins to move. the strength of the frangible annulus is tailored to the powder type and charge to provide the optimum powder burn cycle by increasing or decreasing the thickness during molding and by choice of the elastomer used. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of the composite cartridge of this invention for use with a boat tail bullet. fig. 2 shows one embodiment of this invention with the casing and head in cross section. fig. 3 is a partial cross sectional view of a second embodiment of the cartridge of this invention for use with a flat base bullet. fig. 4 is an enlarged axial cross sectional view of the cartridge shown in fig. 1. fig. 5 is an enlarged axial cross sectional view of another embodiment of this invention. fig. 6 is a cross sectional view of the partially manufactured metallic head useful in one embodiment of this invention. fig. 7 is a cross sectional view of the device shown in fig. 6 after a extraction groove cutting and forming step. fig. 8 is a cross sectional view of the device shown in fig. 7 with an adhesive material applied to the interior surface thereof. fig. 9 shows a cross sectional representation of the final assembly step to unite the plastic casing to the metallic head in one embodiment of this invention. detailed description and best mode for carrying out the invention referring particularly to the drawings where in like figures indicate like parts, there is seen in fig. 1 an exploded view of one embodiment of this invention. a rifle cartridge suitable for use with high velocity rifles is shown manufactured with a polymer case 12 and a metallic head 14. a bullet 10 having a circumferential groove 60 is shown positioned for insertion into the forward end of plastic casing 12. a pressure regulating front partition 44 (best seen in figs. 2 through 6) securely closes off the forward portion of outer chamber 36 and is adapted to receive the base 61 of bullet 10. the forward portion of casing 12 has a thickened shoulder 42 forming chamber taper 40. the shoulder 42 supports a frangible annular zone 48 which is engineered and designed to be severed cleanly completely around the periphery of the shoulder 42 when sufficient pressure is developed on the interior of powder chamber 36. the pressure regulating front partition 44 has a semi spherical surface 46 projecting rearwardly into the powder chamber 36 to aid in the even distribution of pressure to the bullet 10 upon detonation of the powder charge 38 contained in chamber 36. the frangible annulus 48 is sized in thickness to provide the desired level of pressure before bursting so that a controlled powder detonation can occur and further to provide the more nearly controllable pressure application to the base of bullet 10. the presence of the pressure regulating front partition 44 is made possible by the composite configuration of the cartridge. the front partition 44 is molded as a part of and extends inwardly from shoulder 42. the interior volume of powder chamber 36 may be varied to provide the volume necessary for complete filling of the chamber 36 by the powder chosen so that a simplified volumetric measure of powder can be utilized when loading the cartridge. the end of plastic casing 12 opposite from the pressure regulating front partition 44 has means to engage and seal to a metallic head 14. casing 12 is formed with a tapered skirt interlock surface 30 adapted to mate with and interlock with the deformable skirt 20 of head 14. the skirt interlock surface 30 preferably tapers from a larger diameter at the rearward most portion 64 thereof to a smaller diameter at the forward portion 65. a swaging anvil 22 may be used to provide backing for swaging of head 14 onto plastic casing 12. anvil 22 is received within anvil recess 32 and provides support for the plastic casing 12 during the swaging process. chamfers 24 are provided for ease of insertion of the anvil into the casing. head 14 is formed in a high pressure head forming apparatus as is well known in the prior art. however, the die used provides for a diverging deformable skirt 20 having a larger diameter at the skirt tip 54 and a relatively smaller diameter, approximating the outside diameter of head 14 at the skirt base 56. the thickness of skirt 20 increases from skirt base 56 to skirt tip 54 so that when swaged into contact with the tapered skirt interlock surface 30 a faired substantially cylindrical surface along the entire length of the assembled cartridge will result with a physical interlock between head 14 and plastic casing 12. head 14 also has an extraction groove 26 cut therein and a primer recess 18 formed therein with primer chamfer 29 for ease of insertion of the primer 16. the primer recess 18 is sized so as to receive the primer 16 in an interference fit during assembly. a primer flash hole 28 communicates through the anvil central vent 34 into the powder chamber 36 so that upon detonation of primer 16 the powder in powder chamber 36 will be ignited. an alternative structure would include a groove at portion 65 to receive a swaged tip section 54 in a head configuration without the flared skirt configuration described above. bullet 10 is held in place within bullet recess 50 by a frictional interfit. the bullet may be inserted into place following the completion of the filling of powder chamber 36 and final assembly of the cartridge by swaging the deformable skirt 20 into contact with the tapered skirt interlock surface 30. in this way bullets of differing size and characteristics can be utilized and may even be interchanged without affecting or exposing the powder in powder chamber 36. whenever a flat bottom bullet is used the configuration shown in fig. 3 may be used to accommodate the particular bullet shape desired. in this embodiment the shoulder 42' is formed with a smaller interior angle from the axis to accommodate the full diameter of bullet 11'. the flat base 61' rests against the pressure regulating front partition 44' which is configured with a larger diameter so that the entire base 61' receives the pressure developed within chamber 36'. when it is desired to have a larger volume in powder chamber 36, the configurations shown in figs. 5 and 6 through 9 may be utilized. in fig. 5 the anvil (shown as 22 in fig. 4) is omitted with the deformable skirt 20 being swaged carefully against the surface of casing 12. omitting the anvil permits a larger charge of powder to be placed into the casing. the thickness of the plastic casing 12 and shoulder 42 can also be varied so that the volume of powder chamber 36 can be modified for various powder types and loads to provide a consistent performance with any given powder. another alternative embodiment is shown in figs. 6 through 9 in which the head 114 is formed and the deformable skirt thereof swaged prior to assembly with the plastic casing 112. as seen in fig. 6, the head 114 is formed by known head forming techniques into the shape as shown with the deformable skirt 120 having a substantially cylindrical interior and a diverging exterior surface as shown. the interior diameter b is formed so that the device may be removed from the die and the exterior surface diverges outwardly to the diameter c. annular extractor groove 126 is then cut into the formed head and the deformable skirt is swaged into the condition shown in fig. 7 with the base of the recess to receive the plastic casing having an interior diameter b and the throat of the recess to receive the casing having an interior diameter e. a chamber 66 is provided to guide and press inwardly the end of the plastic cartridge 112 as is further described below. a primer recess 116 and flash hole 128 are also formed in head 114 at the time it is formed. in fig. 8 an adhesive 68 is shown spread on the interior surface of the casing recess 115. the adhesive 68 is preferably a contact type cement compatible with the metal forming head 114 and the plastic material forming plastic casing 112. fig. 9 shows the assembly step following completion of the head and filling of the powder chamber 136 with powder. head 114 is positioned coaxially with the filled plastic casing 112 and the elements are moved axially together, forcing the rounded end 70 of plastic casing 112 into recess 115 until the rounded ends 70 abut upon the base 72 of recess 115. when assembled the elastic memory of casing 112 will cause the end 70 of casing 112 to expand and contact the interior of recess 115 in a tight interference fit. the diameter of rounded end 70 at portion 74 is shown in fig. 9 as being equivalent to the interior diameter of recess 115 at the base thereof and larger than the diameter of portion 75. as a result the plastic casing firmly contacts the adhesive 68 forming a secure mechanical and water tight bond to hold the elements of the completed cartridge together. in each embodiment set forth above, the deformable skirt 20 or 120 extends far enough up the side of the casing to provide casing strength preventing blow out of the side of the casing during rapid automatic fire. the adhesive is optional and may be omitted under circumstances in which the interfit between head and plastic casing is found to be adequate without the adhesive being used. the experienced handloader or ammunition manufacturer will know that many powder types and weights can be used to prepare workable ammunition and that such loads may be determined by a careful trial including initial low quantity loading of a given powder and the well known stepwise increasing of a given powder loading until a maximum acceptable load is achieved. extreme care and caution is advised in evaluating new loads. the powders available have various burn rates and must be carefully chosen so that a safe load is devised. the following examples show some of the stepwise progression of loads undertaken by the inventor to establish the acceptable chamber pressures, bullet velocities and performance at this inventor's present stage of development which reflect workable and usable ammunition. example 1 a cartridge of the type shown in fig. 4 for use with the 5.56 ml. nato (.223 caliber) high velocity rifle was prepared as follows: a 55 grain boat tail full metal jacket bullet was used of the type shown in fig. 1. the plastic casing 12 was formed from an unpigmented dupont 901 super tough st nylon available from e. i. dupont, willmington, del. the pressure regulating front partition 44 was formed using a frangible annulus 48 having a thickness of 0.020 inches. 21.4 grains of hodgedon h-335 spherical powder, having a moderate burn rate, was used. a cci small rifle magnum primer manufactured by cci industries was inserted into the primer recess. the round was fired through a 5.56 mm (.223 caliber) pressure barrel with 1 in 7 twist manufactured by obermeyer rifled barrels attached to a universal receiver to determine the pressure developed in the chamber when fired. a pressure of about 45,000 psi was measured using the standard copper crush test. example 2 a cartridge identical to that described in example 1 was prepared using 18.7 grains of hodgedon h-335 with a pressure regulating front partition 44 having a frangible annulus with a thickness of 0.010 inches. a chamber pressure of 30,000 psi was observed upon firing. example 3 cartridges loaded in accordance with example 1 were fired in a semiautomatic rapid fire mode in a .223 caliber semi automatic rifle to evaluate the ejection of spent cartridges and performance. thirty rounds were loaded into a clip and fired as rapidly as possible in the semi automatic mode. all 30 rounds were fired and were ejected successfully from the automatic ejection mechanism. example 4 ten cartridges constructed as shown in figs. 1, 2 and 4 was constructed using a head 14 made of 1010 steel alloy. a cci small rifle magnum primer was placed into the primer recess and 21.4 grains of bl-c-(2) powder which is a rapid burning powder was placed into the powder chamber 36. the swaging anvil 22 was placed into the open end of the powder chamber 36, and the head 14 was carefully swaged about the exterior of the plastic casing 12. the outer surface of the cartridge was smooth and faired at the intersection of the metal cap and the plastic case. a 55 grain full metal jacket spire point boat tail bullet was inserted into the bullet recess. the plastic casing had a pressure regulating front partition having a frangible annulus with a thickness of 0.020 inches. the round was fired in a universal receiver with the .223 caliber barrel manufactured by obermeyer attached thereto. when discharged the rounds developed chamber pressures in the range of 38,000 to 40,000 psi and were grouped in a 2 inch diameter circle upon a target set at 50 yards. example 5 several rounds identical to those described in example 4 were prepared using 21.4 grains of hodgedon h-335 powder. when fired the rounds developed a cylinder pressure of 43,000 to 45,000 psi. example 6 a round identical to those described in example 4 was prepared but using a front pressure regulating partition having a frangible annulus thickness of 0.010 inches. 21.4 grains of bl-c-(2) powder developed 33,000 psi chamber pressure when discharged. example 7 a round identical to the round described in example 6 was prepared but with a front pressure regulating partition having a frangible annulus of 0.020 inches thickness. upon discharge the round developed 43,000 psi chamber pressure. example 8 a round identical to the round described in example 6 was prepared using 21.4 grains of hodgedon h-335 powder. when discharged the round developed 33,000 psi chamber pressure. example 9 a round was constructed using the procedure and structures shown in figs. 6-9. low nitrogen content series 1010 steel was fed into a heading machine to form the head precursor form shown in fig. 6. the dimensions shown were as follows: a=0.376 inches b=0.355 inches c=0.398 inches d=0.375 inches e=0.334 inches bevel 66 was formed at about 30 degrees from the axis of the head 114. the ejection grove 126 was then cut into head 114 and the skirt 120 swaged inwardly so that the outer surface of the head 114 was cylindrical along its entire length. an adhesive material, sold under the trade designation pronto-line ca-9, a product of 3m corporation, minneapolis minn., was sprayed upon the interior of head 113 to form a band of adhesive 68. the adhesive was permitted to dry for 15 minutes. 21.4 grains of hodgedon h-335 powder was placed into a vertically oriented plastic casing having a pressure regulating front partition with a frangible annulus thickness of 0.020 inches. the head 114 was positioned above the plastic casing as shown in fig. 9 and quickly and firmly thrust over the rounded upper end of casing 112, firmly seating the cap fully upon casing 112. since the diameter b of the upper end of casing 112 exceeds the inside diameter e of head 114, the casing end was slightly deformed inwardly toward the axis and upon full engagement of the parts was returned to its former configuration due to the plastic memory of the casing material. the adhesive material then engaged the plastic surface to form a structural and water tight bond. a 55 grain spire point boat tail full metal jacket bullet was then inserted into the bullet recess and the cartridge fired in the universal receiver having a 20 inch .223 caliber barrel noted above. the round developed 44,000 psi chamber pressure and the bullet hit its intended target at 50 yards. example 10 a test firing of twenty five cartridges manufactured and loaded as set forth in example 4 with 18.0 grains of imr 4198 powder with a comparison to factory ammunition was conducted by h. p. white laboratory, inc., 3114 scarboro road, street, md., 21154. the ammunition tested was hand loaded by the inventor and was designated as 5.56 mm plastic case with a 55 grain sierra fmjbt bullet. the rounds were compared to 10 rounds of a conventional brass cased ammunition prepared and sold by olin corp., winchester division in 5.56 mm with a 55 grain fmj bullet. all rounds tested were fired in a nato pressure barrel, h. p. white serial no. 10, having a barrel length of 20 inches. the velocity and chamber pressure results are set forth below: ______________________________________ velocity pressure round no. fps psi ______________________________________ plastic case with pressure regulating partition 1 2812.1 51,800 2 2907.8 58,400 3 2914.1 58,800 4 2896.4 57,200 5 2923.1 55,600 6 2953.7 58,000 7 2946.8 61,300 8 2908.2 58,000 9 2960.7 64,100 10 2954.2 64,400 11 2857.9 54,000 12 2966.9 64,100 13 2942.4 59,600 14 2947.2 61,600 15 2998.5 66,900 16 2988.6 64,100 17 2942.0 60,600 18 2940.3 62,500 19 2933.8 59,600 20 2967.3 61,900 21 2911.6 60,300 22 2912.0 58,800 23 2970.0 61,900 24 2896.0 58,400 25 2974.4 61,300 average 2933.0 60,100 std. dev. 40.3 3,368 factory loads 1 3159.0 49,900 2 3194.8 48,000 3 3160.5 47,600 4 3171.5 45,900 5 3153.5 45,400 6 3162.5 45,900 7 3136.2 45,000 8 3187.2 47,600 9 3190.3 47,100 10 3200.5 47,100 average 3171.6 47,000 std. dev. 19.78 1,382 ______________________________________ in compliance with the statutory requirements, the invention in various embodiments has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features and methods to enable one of skill in this art to practice the invention. it is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features and methods shown and described, since the means and constructions herein disclosed comprise a preferred form of putting the invention into effect. the invention is, therefore claimed in any of its forms or embodiments within the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims, appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalence.
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133-348-795-442-152
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US
|
[
"US",
"WO",
"EP"
] |
E21B33/12,E21B43/10,B32B37/02,E21B19/22,E21B33/122
| 2006-10-20T00:00:00 |
2006
|
[
"E21",
"B32"
] |
swellable packer construction for continuous or segmented tubing
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a swellable packer construction for continuous or segmented tubing. a method of constructing a swellable packer on a continuous tubular string includes the steps of: attaching a swellable seal material to the tubular string to thereby form the packer; and then wrapping the tubular string with the packer on a spool. a swellable packer includes a tubular body portion for incorporation into a tubular string, and a seal material wrapped about the body portion, the seal material being swellable in response to contact with a fluid. a method of constructing a swellable packer for a tubular string includes the steps of: wrapping a seal material about a tubular body portion to thereby form the packer; and then swelling the seal material in response to contact with a fluid. a continuous tubular string includes a seal material attached to a body portion of the tubular string to thereby form a swellable packer; and the packer wrapped with the tubular string on a spool.
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1 - 13 . (canceled) 14 . a swellable packer, comprising: a generally tubular body portion configured for incorporation in a tubular string; and a swellable seal material which is at least one of: a) wrapped helically about the body portion, and b) split longitudinally and placed about the body portion, the seal material being swellable in response to contact with a fluid. 15 . the swellable packer of claim 14 , wherein the tubular string is a continuous tubular string, and wherein the body portion is an integrally formed portion of the continuous tubular string. 16 . the swellable packer of claim 14 , wherein the tubular string is a segmented tubular string. 17 . the swellable packer of claim 14 , wherein the seal material is stretched circumferentially about the body portion. 18 . the swellable packer of claim 17 , wherein the circumferential stretching of the seal material functions to at least one of: a) reduce gaps between adjacent helical wraps of the seal material, and b) close a gap in a longitudinal slit in the seal material. 19 . the swellable packer of claim 14 , wherein the seal material is positioned in a recess formed on an outer surface of the body portion. 20 . the swellable packer of claim 14 , further comprising an extrusion blocking member positioned for radially outward displacement in response to swelling of the seal material. 21 . the swellable packer of claim 14 , further comprising an anchoring member positioned for radially outward displacement in response to swelling of the seal material. 22 - 33 . (canceled) 34 . a continuous tubular string, comprising: a swellable seal material attached to an integral body portion of the tubular string to thereby form a swellable packer; and the swellable packer wrapped with the tubular string on a spool. 35 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein the swellable seal material is attached to the body portion prior to curing the swellable seal material. 36 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein the swellable seal material is wrapped about the tubular string. 37 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein the swellable seal material is wrapped helically about the tubular string. 38 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein the swellable seal material is circumferentially stretched about the tubular string. 39 . the tubular string of claim 35 , wherein the circumferential stretching of the seal material reduces gaps between adjacent wraps of the seal material. 40 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein the seal material is positioned in a recess formed on an outer surface of the body portion. 41 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein an extrusion blocking member is positioned for radially outward displacement in response to swelling of the seal material. 42 . the tubular string of claim 34 , wherein an anchoring member is positioned for radially outward displacement in response to swelling of the seal material. 43 . a method of constructing a swellable packer on a tubular string, the method comprising the steps of: inserting the tubular string into a wellbore; and attaching a swellable seal material to the tubular string to thereby form the packer, the attaching step being performed during the inserting step. 44 . the method of claim 43 , wherein the attaching step is performed after commencing the inserting step and prior to finishing the inserting step. 45 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of providing the tubular string as a continuous tubular string. 46 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of providing the tubular string as a segmented tubular string. 47 . the method of claim 43 , wherein the attaching step further comprises applying the swellable seal material to the tubular string, and then curing the swellable seal material. 48 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of applying the swellable seal material to a mandrel, then curing the swellable seal material, and then cutting the swellable seal material off of the mandrel. 49 . the method of claim 43 , wherein the attaching step further comprises wrapping the swellable seal material about the tubular string. 50 . the method of claim 49 , wherein the wrapping step further comprises wrapping the swellable seal material at least one of: a) helically about the tubular string, and b) split longitudinally and placed about the tubular string. 51 . the method of claim 49 , wherein the wrapping step further comprises tightening the swellable seal material about the tubular string. 52 . the method of claim 51 , wherein the tightening step further comprises securing one end of the swellable seal material to the tubular string while continuing to rotate an opposite end of the swellable material about the tubular string. 53 . the method of claim 51 , wherein the tightening step further comprises decreasing at least one of: a) gaps formed between adjacent wraps, and b) a gap in a longitudinal split of the swellable seal material. 54 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of swelling the seal material in response to contact with a fluid, the swelling step including sealing gaps formed between adjacent wraps of the seal material. 55 . the method of claim 43 , wherein the attaching step further comprises forming a recess on an outer surface of the tubular string, and positioning the swellable seal material in the recess. 56 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of swelling the seal material in response to contact with a fluid, and displacing an extrusion blocking member radially outward in response to swelling of the seal material. 57 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of swelling the seal material in response to contact with a fluid, and displacing an anchoring member radially outward in response to swelling of the seal material. 58 . the method of claim 43 , further comprising the step of applying an adhesive between the swellable seal material and the tubular string.
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cross-reference to related application the present application claims the benefit under 35 usc §§119 and 365 of the filing date of international application no. pct/us2006/060094, filed oct. 20, 2006. the entire disclosure of this prior application is incorporated herein by this reference. background the present invention relates generally to equipment utilized and operations performed in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a swellable packer construction for continuous or segmented tubing. packers and other well tools are typically constructed separate from the remainder of the tubular strings in which they are to be incorporated. in many circumstances, this is a desirable way of constructing well tools, since a position of the well tool in the tubular string may not be known beforehand, and the well tool may be used in different tubular strings. however, there are other circumstances in which there are disadvantages associated with constructing well tools separate from the remainder of the tubular strings in which they are to be incorporated. for example, if the position of a well tool in a continuous tubular string is known before the tubular string is to be transported to a wellsite, then the well tool could be incorporated into the tubular string at that time, rather than spending time with this operation at the wellsite. as another example, if the position of, or need for, a well tool in a continuous, jointed or segmented tubular string is not known beforehand, then it would be advantageous to be able to construct the well tool at the wellsite, even if a portion of the tubular string has already been installed in a wellbore. swellable packers are known in the art. however, prior swellable packers have typically been constructed separate from the tubular strings in which they are to be incorporated. therefore, it may be seen that improvements are needed in the art of constructing well tools. in particular, such improvements are needed in the art of constructing swellable packers for continuous or segmented tubular strings. summary in carrying out the principles of the present invention, a swellable packer construction is provided which solves at least one problem in the art. one example is described below in which a swellable packer is constructed on a continuous tubing, and then the packer is wrapped on a spool with the tubing string. another example is described below in which a swellable seal material is helically wrapped onto a continuous or segmented tubular string. another example is described below in which a swellable seal material is formed as a cylinder, is split longitudinally, then placed on a continuous or segmented tubular string. in one aspect of the invention, a method of constructing a swellable packer on a continuous tubular string is provided. the method includes the steps of: attaching a swellable seal material to the tubular string to thereby form the packer; and then wrapping the tubular string with the packer on a spool. the seal material is swellable in response to contact with a fluid. in another aspect of the invention, a swellable packer is provided which includes a generally tubular body portion configured for incorporation in a tubular string. a swellable seal material is wrapped helically about the body portion. the seal material is swellable in response to contact with a fluid. in yet another aspect of the invention, a method of constructing a swellable packer for a tubular string includes the steps of: forming a swellable seal material in a cylindrical shape about a mandrel; removing the swellable seal material from the mandrel by splitting it helically; then wrapping a swellable seal material helically about a generally tubular body portion to thereby form the packer; and then swelling the seal material in response to contact with a fluid. in yet another aspect of the invention, a method of constructing a swellable packer for a tubular string includes the steps of: forming a swellable packer in a cylindrical shape about a mandrel; removing the swellable packer from the mandrel by splitting it longitudinally; then placing it on a continuous or segmented tubular string; and then swelling the seal material in response to contact with a fluid. in a further aspect of the invention, a continuous tubular string is provided which includes a swellable seal material attached to an integral body portion of the tubular string to thereby form a swellable packer. the swellable packer is wrapped with the tubular string on a spool. in a still further aspect of the invention, a method of constructing a swellable packer on a tubular string is provided which includes the steps of: inserting the tubular string into a wellbore; and attaching a swellable seal material to the tubular string to thereby form the packer. the attaching step is performed during the inserting step. these and other features, advantages, benefits and objects of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the detailed description of representative embodiments of the invention hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings, in which similar elements are indicated in the various figures using the same reference numbers. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art method of interconnecting well tools in tubular strings; fig. 2 is a schematic view of a method of interconnecting swellable packers in a continuous tubing string, the method embodying principles of the invention; fig. 3 is a schematic partially cross-sectional view of a swellable packer construction embodying principles of the invention; fig. 4 is a schematic partially cross-sectional view of the swellable packer construction of fig. 3 installed in a well; fig. 5 is a schematic partially cross-sectional view of an alternate swellable packer construction embodying principles of the invention; fig. 6 is a schematic partially cross-sectional view of a method of forming a swellable packer seal material; and fig. 7 is a schematic view of a method of constructing a swellable packer using the seal material of fig. 6 . detailed description it is to be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention described herein may be utilized in various orientations, such as inclined, inverted, horizontal, vertical, etc., and in various configurations, without departing from the principles of the present invention. the embodiments are described merely as examples of useful applications of the principles of the invention, which is not limited to any specific details of these embodiments. in the following description of the representative embodiments of the invention, directional terms, such as “above”, “below”, “upper”, “lower”, etc., are used for convenience in referring to the accompanying drawings. in general, “above”, “upper”, “upward” and similar terms refer to a direction toward the earth's surface along a wellbore, and “below”, “lower”, “downward” and similar terms refer to a direction away from the earth's surface along the wellbore. representatively illustrated in fig. 1 is a prior art method 10 of interconnecting a well tool 18 in a tubular string 12 . as depicted in the drawing, a lower portion of the tubular string 12 has already been installed in a wellbore 24 . a connection 20 , typically provided with threads and seals, is used to connect the well tool 18 to the lower portion of the tubular string 12 . when the well tool 18 has been connected at its lower end, the well tool and the lower portion of the tubular string 12 are lowered further into the wellbore 24 . these connecting and lowering operations are facilitated by a wellsite crane, workover rig or drilling rig (including drawworks, pipe tongs, floor slips, rotary table, etc.), coiled tubing injector head, or any other type of connecting and lowering means 26 . after sufficiently lowering the well tool 18 , another connector 22 is connected at an upper end of the well tool 18 . in the depicted method 10 , the connector 22 is provided on a continuous tubing 16 of the type known to those skilled in the art as “coiled” tubing. however, note that other types of tubular strings may be used, including segmented tubular strings (such as production tubing, drill pipe, etc.). the lower portion of the tubular string 12 may also be continuous or segmented. for example, the lower portion of the tubular string 12 may be part of the continuous tubing 16 which is initially installed in the wellbore 24 . the tubing 16 is then cut, the connectors 20 , 22 are installed on either side of the cut, the well tool 18 is connected between the connectors, and then the tubular string 12 is further installed in the wellbore. it will be readily appreciated that this prior art method 10 is inconvenient, time-consuming and relatively expensive to perform. additional expense is incurred at least due to the wellsite equipment needed to cut the tubing 16 , install the connectors 20 , 22 , connect the well tool 18 in the tubular string 12 , etc. if continuous tubing is to be used, it would be much more convenient, economical, etc. to be able to interconnect the well tool 18 in the tubing 16 prior to delivering the tubular string to the wellsite. this would eliminate the time and equipment needed to cut the tubing 16 , install the connectors 20 , 22 , etc. at the wellsite. in addition, the separate connecting and lowering means 26 may not be needed, for example, if a conventional coiled tubing injector head could be used instead. if segmented tubing is to be used, then certain advantages may also be obtained by using the principles of the invention, some embodiments of which are described below. for example, the well tool 18 could be constructed or completed after it has been connected to the lower portion of the tubular string 12 or has otherwise become contiguous with the tubular string. for both continuous and segmented tubing, it would be advantageous to be able to install a packer externally to the tubing at any location along the tubular string 12 , without the need for connectors 20 and 22 , as it is being lowered into the wellbore 24 . referring additionally now to fig. 2 , a continuous tubular string 30 embodying principles of the present invention is representatively illustrated. the tubular string 30 includes the continuous tubing 16 wrapped on the spool 14 , as in the method 10 described above. however, the tubular string 30 of fig. 2 also includes one or more swellable packers 32 as part of the tubular string. the swellable packers 32 are preferably incorporated into the tubular string 30 at predetermined positions and spacings, according to the specifications for a particular well, the swellable packers are wrapped with the remainder of the tubular string on the spool 14 , and then the tubular string is transported to the wellsite for installation. one example of a method 34 for constructing the swellable packers 32 is representatively illustrated in fig. 3 . this drawing depicts an enlarged view of a tubular body portion 36 of one packer 32 . the body portion 36 is preferably an integrally formed portion of the overall continuous tubing 16 . however, the body portion 36 could be separately formed from the remainder of the tubing, if desired. an annular recess 38 is formed on an outer surface of the body portion 36 . if the body portion 36 is an integral portion of the tubing 16 , then the recess 38 could be formed by, for example, a swaging operation. if the body portion 36 is separately formed from the remainder of the tubing 16 , then the recess 38 could be formed by, for example, a machining operation. the recess 38 may be formed in any manner in keeping with the principles of the invention. a swellable seal material 40 is positioned in the recess 38 . preferably, the seal material 40 does not extend radially outward beyond the outer surface of the tubing 16 , so that the packer 32 can be conveniently wrapped with the tubing on the spool 14 . however, the seal material 40 could extend radially outward beyond the outer surface of the tubing 16 , if desired. the swellable seal material 40 swells when contacted by an appropriate fluid. the term “swell” and similar terms (such as “swellable”) are used herein to indicate an increase in volume of a seal material. typically, this increase in volume is due to incorporation of molecular components of the fluid into the seal material itself, but other swelling mechanisms or techniques may be used, if desired. when the seal material swells, it expands radially outward into contact with a well surface, such as the inner surface of a casing, liner or tubing string, or the inner surface of a wellbore. note that swelling is not the same as expanding, although a seal material may expand as a result of swelling. for example, in conventional packers, a seal element may be expanded radially outward by longitudinally compressing the seal element, or by inflating the seal element. in each of these cases, the seal element is expanded without any increase in volume of the seal material of which the seal element is made. various techniques may be used for contacting the swellable seal material with appropriate fluid for causing swelling of the seal material. the fluid may already be present in the well when the packer 32 is installed in the well, in which case the seal material of the packer preferably includes features (such as absorption delaying coatings or membranes, swelling delayed material compositions, etc.) for delaying the swelling of the seal material. thus, the seal material 40 may be part of an overall seal assembly which includes any combination of coatings, membranes, reinforcements, etc. the fluid which causes swelling of the seal material 40 may be circulated through the well to the packer 32 after the packer is in the well. as another alternative, the well fluid which causes swelling of the seal material 40 may be produced into the wellbore from a formation surrounding the wellbore. thus, it will be appreciated that any method may be used for causing swelling of the seal material of the packer 32 in keeping with the principles of the invention. the fluid which causes swelling of the seal material 40 could be water and/or hydrocarbon fluid (such as oil or gas). for example, water or hydrocarbon fluid produced from a formation surrounding the wellbore could cause the seal material 40 to swell. various seal materials are known to those skilled in the art, which seal materials swell when contacted with water and/or hydrocarbon fluid, so a comprehensive list of these materials will not be presented here. partial lists of swellable seal materials may be found in u.s. pat. nos. 3,385,367 and 7,059,415, and in u.s. published application no. 2004-0020662, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by this reference. however, it should be understood that any seal material which swells when contacted by any type of fluid may be used in keeping with the principles of the invention. the seal may also be formed from a material with a considerable portion of cavities which are compressed or collapsed at the surface condition. then, when being placed in the well at a higher pressure, the material is expanded by the cavities filling with fluid. this type of apparatus and method might be used where it is desired to expand the packer in the presence of gas rather than oil or water. a suitable seal material and method are described in international application no. pct/no2005/000170 (published as wo 2005/116394), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference. also positioned in the recess 38 are optional members 42 , which in this embodiment are wedge-shaped in the cross-sectional view of fig. 3 . the members 42 may perform any of several functions in the packer 32 . for example, the members 42 may serve to prevent or block extrusion of the seal material 40 , and/or to grip the well surface to anchor the tubing 16 in the well, etc. the members 42 are displaced radially outward when the seal material 40 swells. the swelling seal material 40 biases the members 42 longitudinally outward, so that they displace along inclined surfaces 44 at either end of the recess 38 , thereby also displacing the members radially outward. the packer 32 is representatively illustrated in fig. 4 after the seal material 40 has swollen or expanded in response to contact with fluid. the tubular string 30 is installed in a wellbore 46 in which another tubular string 48 (such as casing, liner, pipe or tubing) has previously been installed. the seal material 40 now sealingly engages an interior surface of the tubular string 48 . note that the members 42 have been radially outwardly displaced by the swollen or expanded seal material 40 . the members 42 can block extrusion of the seal material 40 due to a pressure differential in an annulus 50 formed between the tubular strings 30 , 48 and/or the members can serve to anchor the tubular string 30 against displacement relative to the tubular string 48 . if the members 42 are used as anchoring members, then they may be provided with teeth, serrations or other gripping devices on their outer surfaces. it is not necessary for the packer 32 to seal within a tubular string in a well. for example, the packer 32 could be positioned in an uncased portion of the wellbore 46 , and the packer could sealingly engage an inner surface of the wellbore itself. referring additionally now to fig. 5 , an alternate embodiment of the packer 32 is representatively illustrated. in this construction of the packer 32 , the seal material 40 is not positioned in a recess 38 on the body portion 36 . instead, the seal material 40 is positioned on the body portion 36 which has the same, or approximately the same, outer diameter as the tubing string 16 . preferably, the members 42 are attached to the outer surface of the body portion 36 and serve to secure and protect the seal material 40 therebetween, as well as serving to block extrusion of the seal material downhole. the members 42 could be displaced in response to swelling of the seal material 40 , in a manner similar to that described above for the embodiment of figs. 2 & 3 , if desired. in a preferred method of constructing the packer 32 in the embodiments of figs. 2-5 , the seal material 40 is preferably applied to the body portion 36 , and then the seal material is cured. swellable seal material curing techniques are well known to those skilled in the art, and so these techniques will not be described further herein. by applying the seal material 40 to the body portion 36 prior to curing the seal material, a continuous and seamless form of the seal material is produced. this method also has advantages when the body portion 36 is an integral portion of the continuous tubing 16 , and the seal material 40 cannot be conveniently slipped over one end of the tubing and properly positioned on the tubing. this method has further advantages when the seal material 40 is to be positioned in the integral recess 38 on the body portion 36 , because the seal material does not have to be stretched over any larger diameter sections of the body portion or tubing 16 . it should be clearly understood, however, that it is not necessary for the seal material 40 to be cured after having been applied to the body portion 36 . the seal material 40 could instead be wrapped about the body portion 36 after having been cured. an example of such a method is described more fully below. referring additionally now to fig. 6 , another method 52 of constructing an alternate embodiment of the swellable packer 32 is representatively illustrated. in this method 52 , the seal material 40 is applied to a generally cylindrical mandrel 54 , and is then cured. a cutting tool 56 (such as a knife, other type of blade or lathe tool, etc.) is then used to cut the seal material 40 off of the mandrel 54 . for example, a longitudinal slit may be made through the seal material 40 , or the mandrel 54 may be rotated while the cutting tool 56 is displaced longitudinally along the mandrel (in the direction indicated by the arrow 58 in fig. 6 ), to thereby helically cut the seal material. if helically cut, a pitch of approximately 15-30 cm may be used, with the pitch depending on several factors, such as the diameter of the body portion 36 on which the seal material 40 will eventually be installed. other techniques for removing the seal material 40 from the mandrel 54 after curing may be used in keeping with the principles of the invention. a release agent, lubricant, membrane, film, or other type of release material 60 may be used between the seal material 40 and the mandrel 54 to facilitate removal of the seal material from the mandrel. referring additionally now to fig. 7 , the seal material 40 is depicted after having been helically cut off of the mandrel 54 , and then helically wrapped about the body portion 36 . in this manner, this alternate construction of the packer 32 can be installed on the continuous tubing 16 or on a segmented tubular string, either prior to or after arriving at the wellsite, or even as the tubular string is being lowered into the wellbore. as depicted in fig. 7 , the seal material 40 is wrapped about the body portion 36 with either no gaps or small gaps 62 between adjacent wraps of the seal material. the gaps 62 may remain after the packer 32 is constructed, in which case the seal material 40 will preferably close and seal off the gaps when it swells downhole. the gaps 62 may result from the mandrel 54 diameter being different than the continuous tubing 16 or segmented tubing diameter, or it may result from the cutting process removing some material from the seal material 40 , or due to the seal material 40 being applied over a length on the continuous tubing 60 or segmented tubing which is different than the length of the seal material 40 on the mandrel 54 . the gap 62 should be sufficiently small so that when the seal material 40 swells or expands due to contact with the fluid in the wellbore, is closes with sufficient compression between adjacent wraps to prevent flow of fluid along the length of the packer 32 . the gaps 62 may be reduced or eliminated when the packer 32 is constructed by tightening the seal material 40 about the body portion 36 , while reducing the length over which the seal material 40 is installed. this tightening operation may include circumferentially stretching the seal material 40 about the body portion 36 while moving a loose end axially closer to a fixed end of the seal material 40 . one method of doing this is described below. a segmented ring 64 is secured to the body portion 36 , for example, by clamping, welding, fastening, etc. another segmented ring 66 is attached at a lower end of the seal material 40 , for example, by bolting and/or adhesive bonding. the segmented rings 64 , 66 are split into two or more circumferential segments so that they can be applied to the continuous body portion 36 without cutting the body portion or installing the seal material 40 over one end of the body portion. the rings 64 , 66 are engaged with each other (for example, using serrations or another type of locking engagement), so that the ring 66 and the lower end of the seal material 40 is prevented from rotating about the body portion 36 . after wrapping the seal material 40 about the body portion 36 and securing the segmented ring 64 to the body portion, the seal material is tightened about the body portion by applying torque to another ring 68 attached at an upper end of the seal material. while tightening, the ring 68 is moved axially toward rings 64 , 66 . this reduces or completely eliminates the gaps 62 and may apply circumferential tension to the seal material 40 . after the tightening operation, the ring 68 may be secured in position by engagement with another ring 70 attached to the body portion 36 . again, this engagement may be by means of serrations formed on the rings 68 , 70 or any other type of locking engagement. the serrations or other locking means may allow one-way rotation of the rings 66 , 68 (or either of them) relative to the other rings 64 , 70 , so that the seal material 40 can be tightened around the body portion 36 from either or both ends thereof. in another embodiment, rings 64 , 66 are combined into one segmented ring, and rings 68 , 70 are combined into another segmented ring, where each combined segmented ring is attached by bolting and/or adhesive bonding to the seal material 40 . the combined segmented rings would be both securable to the body portion 36 during installation at the wellsite and allow for axial and circumferential adjustment to tighten the seal material 40 onto the body portion 36 and eliminate or minimize the gaps 62 . a material may be applied between the body portion 36 and the seal material 40 before the seal material is tightened about the body portion. for example, this material may serve as a lubricant to facilitate uniform sliding displacement of the seal material 40 about the body portion 36 during the tightening process, and then the material may serve as an adhesive and/or sealant to bond the seal material to the body portion after the tightening process and to prevent fluid leakage between the seal material and the body portion. if the seal material 40 is removed from the mandrel by cutting a longitudinal slit, then the cylindrically shaped seal material would be spread open at the slit and placed on the body portion 36 . adhesive applied between the seal material 40 and body portion 36 and/or rings 42 , or rings 64 , 66 or rings 68 , 70 , or combinations thereof, may be used to prevent longitudinal movement of the seal material along the body portion. as described above, the body portion 36 in the embodiments of the packer 32 depicted in figs. 2-7 may be incorporated into continuous or segmented tubular strings. if a continuous tubular string (such as the tubular string 30 ) is used, then the body portion 36 may be an integrally formed portion of a continuous tubing (such as the tubing 16 ) from which the tubular string is constructed. in this case, the seal material 40 may be installed on the body portion 36 before or after the tubular string is transported to the wellsite. if a segmented tubular string is used, then the body portion 36 may be included in one of the tubular string segments. in this case, the seal material 40 may be installed on the body portion 36 before or after the body portion is contiguous or attached to the tubular string. for example, the body portion 36 could be connected to a lower portion of the tubular string previously installed in the well, and then the seal material 40 could be installed on the body portion prior to lowering the body portion into the well. such a continuous or segmented tubular string may be used in a workover, completion, retrofit, stimulation, drilling or any other type of operation. the continuous or segmented tubular string may be used in an open hole, cased hole or any other type of wellbore environment. an adhesive, sealant or any other type of material may be used between the seal material 40 and the body portion 36 in any of the embodiments described above, if desired. as used herein, the term “packer” is used to indicate an annular barrier, for example, for sealing an annulus formed in a well. thus, a plug (such as a bridge plug, etc.), a hanger (such as a liner or tubing hanger, etc.) and other types of well tools may incorporate a packer therein. the body portion 36 of the packer 32 described above could be non-tubular, solid or otherwise prevent fluid communication therethrough if the packer is incorporated into a plug. of course, a person skilled in the art would, upon a careful consideration of the above description of representative embodiments of the invention, readily appreciate that many modifications, additions, substitutions, deletions, and other changes may be made to the specific embodiments, and such changes are contemplated by the principles of the present invention. accordingly, the foregoing detailed description is to be clearly understood as being given by way of illustration and example only, the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited solely by the appended claims and their equivalents.
|
133-903-568-550-268
|
US
|
[
"US",
"WO",
"JP",
"EP",
"CA",
"RU",
"CN",
"KR"
] |
H02M3/04,A24F40/10,A24F40/50
| 2016-08-08T00:00:00 |
2016
|
[
"H02",
"A24"
] |
boost converter for an aerosol delivery device
|
an aerosol delivery device is provided that includes a housing defining a reservoir configured to retain aerosol precursor composition, and a power source, heating element and boost converter contained within the housing. the power source is configured to generate a voltage output. the heating element is controllable to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition. and the boost converter is between the power source and an electrical load that includes the heating element, and configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage from which the heating element is powered to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition.
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1. an aerosol delivery device comprising a housing defining a reservoir configured to retain aerosol precursor composition, and contained within the housing: a power source configured to generate a voltage output; a heating element controllable to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition; and a boost converter between the power source and an electrical load that includes the heating element, the boost converter being configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage from which the heating element is powered to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, wherein the boost converter is configured to operate in a switching mode in which the boost converter is automatically switched between a pulse-width modulation (pwm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage, and a pulse-frequency modulation (pfm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pfm voltage, based on a condition of the electrical load. 2. the aerosol delivery device of claim 1 , wherein the power source is or includes a lithium-ion battery (lib), and the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the lib to the higher voltage from which the heating element is powered. 3. the aerosol delivery device of claim 1 , wherein the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage of five volts. 4. a control body coupled or coupleable with a cartridge that is equipped with a heating element and contains an aerosol precursor composition, the control body being coupled or coupleable with the cartridge to form an aerosol delivery device in which the heating element is controllable to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, the control body comprising: a housing; and contained within the housing, a power source configured to generate a voltage output; and a boost converter between the power source and an electrical load that includes the heating element when the control body is coupled with the cartridge, the boost converter being configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage from which the heating element is powered to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, wherein the boost converter is configured to operate in a switching mode in which the boost converter is automatically switched between a pulse-width modulation (pwm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage, and a pulse-frequency modulation (pfm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pfm voltage, based on a condition of the electrical load. 5. the control body of claim 4 , wherein the power source is or includes a lithium-ion battery (lib), and the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the lib to the higher voltage from which the heating element is powered. 6. the control body of claim 4 , wherein the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage of five volts.
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technological field the present disclosure relates to aerosol delivery devices such as smoking articles, and more particularly to aerosol delivery devices that may utilize electrically generated heat for the production of aerosol (e.g., smoking articles commonly referred to as electronic cigarettes). the smoking articles may be configured to heat an aerosol precursor, which may incorporate materials that may be made or derived from, or otherwise incorporate tobacco, the precursor being capable of forming an inhalable substance for human consumption. background many devices have been proposed through the years as improvements upon, or alternatives to, smoking products that require combusting tobacco for use. many of those devices purportedly have been designed to provide the sensations associated with cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking, but without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products that result from the burning of tobacco. to this end, there have been proposed numerous alternative smoking products, flavor generators, and medicinal inhalers that utilize electrical energy to vaporize or heat a volatile material, or attempt to provide the sensations of cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking without burning tobacco to a significant degree. see, for example, the various alternative smoking articles, aerosol delivery devices and heat generating sources set forth in the background art described in u.s. pat. no. 8,881,737 to collett et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2013/0255702 to griffith jr. et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0000638 to sebastian et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0096781 to sears et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0096782 to ampolini et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2015/0059780 to davis et al., and u.s. patent application ser. no. 15/222,615 to watson et al., filed jul. 28, 2016, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. see also, for example, the various embodiments of products and heating configurations described in the background sections of u.s. pat. no. 5,388,594 to counts et al. and u.s. pat. no. 8,079,371 to robinson et al., which are incorporated by reference in their entireties. however, it may be desirable to provide aerosol delivery devices with improved electronics such as may extend usability of the devices. brief summary the present disclosure relates to aerosol delivery devices, methods of forming such devices, and elements of such devices. the present disclosure includes, without limitation, the following example implementations. some example implementations provide an aerosol delivery device comprising a housing defining a reservoir configured to retain aerosol precursor composition, and contained within the housing a power source configured to generate a voltage output; a heating element controllable to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition; and a boost converter between the power source and an electrical load that includes the heating element, the boost converter being configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage from which the heating element is powered to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition. in some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the power source is or includes a lithium-ion battery (lib), and the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the lib to the higher voltage from which the heating element is powered. in some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage of five volts. in some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the boost converter is operable in a pulse-width modulation (pwm) mode in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage. in some example implementations of the aerosol delivery device of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the boost converter is operable in a switching mode in which the boost converter is automatically switchable between a pulse-width modulation (pwm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage, and a pulse-frequency modulation (pfm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pfm voltage, based on a condition of the electrical load. some example implementations provide a control body coupled or coupleable with a cartridge that is equipped with a heating element and contains an aerosol precursor composition, the control body being coupled or coupleable with the cartridge to form an aerosol delivery device in which the heating element is controllable to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition, the control body comprising a housing; and contained within the housing, a power source configured to generate a voltage output; and a boost converter between the power source and an electrical load that includes the heating element when the control body is coupled with the cartridge, the boost converter being configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage from which the heating element is powered to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition. in some example implementations of the control body of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the power source is or includes a lithium-ion battery (lib), and the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the lib to the higher voltage from which the heating element is powered. in some example implementations of the control body of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage of five volts. in some example implementations of the control body of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the boost converter is operable in a pulse-width modulation (pwm) mode in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage. in some example implementations of the control body of the preceding or any subsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the boost converter is operable in a switching mode in which the boost converter is automatically switchable between a pulse-width modulation (pwm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage, and a pulse-frequency modulation (pfm) operation in which the higher voltage is a pfm voltage, based on a condition of the electrical load. these and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description together with the accompanying drawings, which are briefly described below. the present disclosure includes any combination of two, three, four or more features or elements set forth in this disclosure, regardless of whether such features or elements are expressly combined or otherwise recited in a specific example implementation described herein. this disclosure is intended to be read holistically such that any separable features or elements of the disclosure, in any of its aspects and example implementations, should be viewed as intended, namely to be combinable, unless the context of the disclosure clearly dictates otherwise. it will therefore be appreciated that this brief summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example implementations so as to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above described example implementations are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the disclosure in any way. other example implementations, aspects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of some described example implementations. brief description of the drawing(s) having thus described the disclosure in the foregoing general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein: fig. 1 illustrates a side view of an aerosol delivery device including a cartridge coupled to a control body according to an example implementation of the present disclosure; fig. 2 is a partially cut-away view of the aerosol delivery device according to various example implementations; and figs. 3 and 4 illustrate circuit diagrams according to example implementations of the present disclosure. detailed description the present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to example implementations thereof. these example implementations are described so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. indeed, the disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein; rather, these implementations are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. as used in the specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” “the” and the like include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. also, while reference may be made herein to quantitative measures, values, geometric relationships or the like, unless otherwise stated, any one or more if not all of these may be absolute or approximate to account for acceptable variations that may occur, such as those due to engineering tolerances or the like. as described hereinafter, example implementations of the present disclosure relate to aerosol delivery systems. aerosol delivery systems according to the present disclosure use electrical energy to heat a material (preferably without combusting the material to any significant degree) to form an inhalable substance; and components of such systems have the form of articles most preferably are sufficiently compact to be considered hand-held devices. that is, use of components of preferred aerosol delivery systems does not result in the production of smoke in the sense that aerosol results principally from by-products of combustion or pyrolysis of tobacco, but rather, use of those preferred systems results in the production of vapors resulting from volatilization or vaporization of certain components incorporated therein. in some example implementations, components of aerosol delivery systems may be characterized as electronic cigarettes, and those electronic cigarettes most preferably incorporate tobacco and/or components derived from tobacco, and hence deliver tobacco derived components in aerosol form. aerosol generating pieces of certain preferred aerosol delivery systems may provide many of the sensations (e.g., inhalation and exhalation rituals, types of tastes or flavors, organoleptic effects, physical feel, use rituals, visual cues such as those provided by visible aerosol, and the like) of smoking a cigarette, cigar or pipe that is employed by lighting and burning tobacco (and hence inhaling tobacco smoke), without any substantial degree of combustion of any component thereof. for example, the user of an aerosol generating piece of the present disclosure can hold and use that piece much like a smoker employs a traditional type of smoking article, draw on one end of that piece for inhalation of aerosol produced by that piece, take or draw puffs at selected intervals of time, and the like. aerosol delivery systems of the present disclosure also can be characterized as being vapor-producing articles or medicament delivery articles. thus, such articles or devices can be adapted so as to provide one or more substances (e.g., flavors and/or pharmaceutical active ingredients) in an inhalable form or state. for example, inhalable substances can be substantially in the form of a vapor (i.e., a substance that is in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critical point). alternatively, inhalable substances can be in the form of an aerosol (i.e., a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas). for purposes of simplicity, the term “aerosol” as used herein is meant to include vapors, gases and aerosols of a form or type suitable for human inhalation, whether or not visible, and whether or not of a form that might be considered to be smoke-like. aerosol delivery systems of the present disclosure generally include a number of components provided within an outer body or shell, which may be referred to as a housing. the overall design of the outer body or shell can vary, and the format or configuration of the outer body that can define the overall size and shape of the aerosol delivery device can vary. typically, an elongated body resembling the shape of a cigarette or cigar can be a formed from a single, unitary housing or the elongated housing can be formed of two or more separable bodies. for example, an aerosol delivery device can comprise an elongated shell or body that can be substantially tubular in shape and, as such, resemble the shape of a conventional cigarette or cigar. in one example, all of the components of the aerosol delivery device are contained within one housing. alternatively, an aerosol delivery device can comprise two or more housings that are joined and are separable. for example, an aerosol delivery device can possess at one end a control body comprising a housing containing one or more reusable components (e.g., an accumulator such as a rechargeable battery and/or supercapacitor, and various electronics for controlling the operation of that article), and at the other end and removably coupleable thereto, an outer body or shell containing a disposable portion (e.g., a disposable flavor-containing cartridge). aerosol delivery systems of the present disclosure most preferably comprise some combination of a power source (i.e., an electrical power source), at least one control component (e.g., means for actuating, controlling, regulating and ceasing power for heat generation, such as by controlling electrical current flow the power source to other components of the article—e.g., a microprocessor, individually or as part of a microcontroller), a heater or heat generation member (e.g., an electrical resistance heating element or other component, which alone or in combination with one or more further elements may be commonly referred to as an “atomizer”), an aerosol precursor composition (e.g., commonly a liquid capable of yielding an aerosol upon application of sufficient heat, such as ingredients commonly referred to as “smoke juice,” “e-liquid” and “e-juice”), and a mouthend region or tip for allowing draw upon the aerosol delivery device for aerosol inhalation (e.g., a defined airflow path through the article such that aerosol generated can be withdrawn therefrom upon draw). more specific formats, configurations and arrangements of components within the aerosol delivery systems of the present disclosure will be evident in light of the further disclosure provided hereinafter. additionally, the selection and arrangement of various aerosol delivery system components can be appreciated upon consideration of the commercially available electronic aerosol delivery devices, such as those representative products referenced in background art section of the present disclosure. in various examples, an aerosol delivery device can comprise a reservoir configured to retain the aerosol precursor composition. the reservoir particularly can be formed of a porous material (e.g., a fibrous material) and thus may be referred to as a porous substrate (e.g., a fibrous substrate). a fibrous substrate useful as a reservoir in an aerosol delivery device can be a woven or nonwoven material formed of a plurality of fibers or filaments and can be formed of one or both of natural fibers and synthetic fibers. for example, a fibrous substrate may comprise a fiberglass material. in particular examples, a cellulose acetate material can be used. in other example implementations, a carbon material can be used. a reservoir may be substantially in the form of a container and may include a fibrous material included therein. fig. 1 illustrates a side view of an aerosol delivery device 100 including a control body 102 and a cartridge 104 , according to various example implementations of the present disclosure. in particular, fig. 1 illustrates the control body and the cartridge coupled to one another. the control body and the cartridge may be detachably aligned in a functioning relationship. various mechanisms may connect the cartridge to the control body to result in a threaded engagement, a press-fit engagement, an interference fit, a magnetic engagement or the like. the aerosol delivery device may be substantially rod-like, substantially tubular shaped, or substantially cylindrically shaped in some example implementations when the cartridge and the control body are in an assembled configuration. the aerosol delivery device may also be substantially rectangular or rhomboidal in cross-section, which may lend itself to greater compatibility with a substantially flat or thin-film power source, such as a power source including a flat battery. the cartridge and control body may include separate, respective housings or outer bodies, which may be formed of any of a number of different materials. the housing may be formed of any suitable, structurally-sound material. in some examples, the housing may be formed of a metal or alloy, such as stainless steel, aluminum or the like. other suitable materials include various plastics (e.g., polycarbonate), metal-plating over plastic, ceramics and the like. in some example implementations, one or both of the control body 102 or the cartridge 104 of the aerosol delivery device 100 may be referred to as being disposable or as being reusable. for example, the control body may have a replaceable battery or a rechargeable battery and thus may be combined with any type of recharging technology, including connection to a typical wall outlet, connection to a car charger (i.e., a cigarette lighter receptacle), connection to a computer, such as through a universal serial bus (usb) cable or connector, connection to a photovoltaic cell (sometimes referred to as a solar cell) or solar panel of solar cells, or connection to a rf-to-dc converter. further, in some example implementations, the cartridge may comprise a single-use cartridge, as disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 8,910,639 to chang et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. fig. 2 more particularly illustrates the aerosol delivery device 100 , in accordance with some example implementations. as seen in the cut-away view illustrated therein, again, the aerosol delivery device can comprise a control body 102 and a cartridge 104 each of which include a number of respective components. the components illustrated in fig. 2 are representative of the components that may be present in a control body and cartridge and are not intended to limit the scope of components that are encompassed by the present disclosure. as shown, for example, the control body can be formed of a control body shell 206 that can include a control component 208 (e.g., a microprocessor, individually or as part of a microcontroller), a flow sensor 210 , a power source 212 and one or more light-emitting diodes (leds) 214 , and such components can be variably aligned. the power source may include, for example, a battery (single-use or rechargeable), lithium-ion battery (lib), solid-state battery (ssb), thin-film ssb, supercapacitor or the like, or some combination thereof. some examples of a suitable power source are provided in u.s. patent application ser. no. 14/918,926 to sur et al., filed oct. 21, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference. the led may be one example of a suitable visual indicator with which the aerosol delivery device may be equipped. other indicators such as audio indicators (e.g., speakers), haptic indicators (e.g., vibration motors) or the like can be included in addition to or as an alternative to visual indicators such as the led. the cartridge 104 can be formed of a cartridge shell 216 enclosing a reservoir 218 configured to retain the aerosol precursor composition, and including a heater 222 (sometimes referred to as a heating element). in various configurations, this structure may be referred to as a tank; and accordingly, the terms “cartridge,” “tank” and the like may be used interchangeably to refer to a shell or other housing enclosing a reservoir for aerosol precursor composition, and including a heater. as shown, in some examples, the reservoir 218 may be in fluid communication with a liquid transport element 220 adapted to wick or otherwise transport an aerosol precursor composition stored in the reservoir housing to the heater 222 . in some examples, a valve may be positioned between the reservoir and heater, and configured to control an amount of aerosol precursor composition passed or delivered from the reservoir to the heater. various examples of materials configured to produce heat when electrical current is applied therethrough may be employed to form the heater 222 . the heater in these examples may be a resistive heating element such as a wire coil, micro heater or the like. example materials from which the heating element may be formed include kanthal (fecral), nichrome, stainless steel, molybdenum disilicide (mosi 2 ), molybdenum silicide (mosi), molybdenum disilicide doped with aluminum (mo(si,al) 2 ), graphite and graphite-based materials (e.g., carbon-based foams and yarns) and ceramics (e.g., positive or negative temperature coefficient ceramics). example implementations of heaters or heating members useful in aerosol delivery devices according to the present disclosure are further described below, and can be incorporated into devices such as illustrated in fig. 2 as described herein. an opening 224 may be present in the cartridge shell 216 (e.g., at the mouthend) to allow for egress of formed aerosol from the cartridge 104 . the cartridge 104 also may include one or more electronic components 226 , which may include an integrated circuit, a memory component, a sensor, or the like. the electronic components may be adapted to communicate with the control component 208 and/or with an external device by wired or wireless means. the electronic components may be positioned anywhere within the cartridge or a base 228 thereof. although the control component 208 and the flow sensor 210 are illustrated separately, it is understood that the control component and the flow sensor may be combined as an electronic circuit board with the air flow sensor attached directly thereto. further, the electronic circuit board may be positioned horizontally relative the illustration of fig. 1 in that the electronic circuit board can be lengthwise parallel to the central axis of the control body. in some examples, the air flow sensor may comprise its own circuit board or other base element to which it can be attached. in some examples, a flexible circuit board may be utilized. a flexible circuit board may be configured into a variety of shapes, include substantially tubular shapes. in some examples, a flexible circuit board may be combined with, layered onto, or form part or all of a heater substrate as further described below. the control body 102 and the cartridge 104 may include components adapted to facilitate a fluid engagement therebetween. as illustrated in fig. 2 , the control body can include a coupler 230 having a cavity 232 therein. the base 228 of the cartridge can be adapted to engage the coupler and can include a projection 234 adapted to fit within the cavity. such engagement can facilitate a stable connection between the control body and the cartridge as well as establish an electrical connection between the power source 212 and control component 208 in the control body and the heater 222 in the cartridge. further, the control body shell 206 can include an air intake 236 , which may be a notch in the shell where it connects to the coupler that allows for passage of ambient air around the coupler and into the shell where it then passes through the cavity 232 of the coupler and into the cartridge through the projection 234 . a coupler and a base useful according to the present disclosure are described in u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0261495 to novak et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. for example, the coupler 230 as seen in fig. 2 may define an outer periphery 238 configured to mate with an inner periphery 240 of the base 228 . in one example the inner periphery of the base may define a radius that is substantially equal to, or slightly greater than, a radius of the outer periphery of the coupler. further, the coupler may define one or more protrusions 242 at the outer periphery configured to engage one or more recesses 244 defined at the inner periphery of the base. however, various other examples of structures, shapes and components may be employed to couple the base to the coupler. in some examples the connection between the base of the cartridge 104 and the coupler of the control body 102 may be substantially permanent, whereas in other examples the connection therebetween may be releasable such that, for example, the control body may be reused with one or more additional cartridges that may be disposable and/or refillable. the aerosol delivery device 100 may be substantially rod-like or substantially tubular shaped or substantially cylindrically shaped in some examples. in other examples, further shapes and dimensions are encompassed—e.g., a rectangular or triangular cross-section, multifaceted shapes, or the like. the reservoir 218 illustrated in fig. 2 can be a container or can be a fibrous reservoir, as presently described. for example, the reservoir can comprise one or more layers of nonwoven fibers substantially formed into the shape of a tube encircling the interior of the cartridge shell 216 , in this example. an aerosol precursor composition can be retained in the reservoir. liquid components, for example, can be sorptively retained by the reservoir. the reservoir can be in fluid connection with the liquid transport element 220 . the liquid transport element can transport the aerosol precursor composition stored in the reservoir via capillary action to the heater 222 that is in the form of a metal wire coil in this example. as such, the heater is in a heating arrangement with the liquid transport element. example implementations of reservoirs and transport elements useful in aerosol delivery devices according to the present disclosure are further described below, and such reservoirs and/or transport elements can be incorporated into devices such as illustrated in fig. 2 as described herein. in particular, specific combinations of heating members and transport elements as further described below may be incorporated into devices such as illustrated in fig. 2 as described herein. in use, when a user draws on the aerosol delivery device 100 , airflow is detected by the flow sensor 210 , and the heater 222 is activated to vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition. drawing upon the mouthend of the aerosol delivery device causes ambient air to enter the air intake 236 and pass through the cavity 232 in the coupler 230 and the central opening in the projection 234 of the base 228 . in the cartridge 104 , the drawn air combines with the formed vapor to form an aerosol. the aerosol is whisked, aspirated or otherwise drawn away from the heater and out the opening 224 in the mouthend of the aerosol delivery device. in some examples, the aerosol delivery device 100 may include a number of additional software-controlled functions. for example, the aerosol delivery device may include a power-source protection circuit configured to detect power-source input, loads on the power-source terminals, and charging input. the power-source protection circuit may include short-circuit protection, under-voltage lock out and/or over-voltage charge protection. the aerosol delivery device may also include components for ambient temperature measurement, and its control component 208 may be configured to control at least one functional element to inhibit power-source charging-particularly of any battery if the ambient temperature is below a certain temperature (e.g., 0° c.) or above a certain temperature (e.g., 45° c.) prior to start of charging or during charging. power delivery from the power source 212 may vary over the course of each puff on the device 100 according to a power control mechanism. the device may include a “long puff” safety timer such that in the event that a user or component failure (e.g., flow sensor 210 ) causes the device to attempt to puff continuously, the control component 208 may control at least one functional element to terminate the puff automatically after some period of time (e.g., four seconds). further, the time between puffs on the device may be restricted to less than a period of time (e.g., 100 seconds). a watchdog safety timer may automatically reset the aerosol delivery device if its control component or software running on it becomes unstable and does not service the timer within an appropriate time interval (e.g., eight seconds). further safety protection may be provided in the event of a defective or otherwise failed flow sensor 210 , such as by permanently disabling the aerosol delivery device in order to prevent inadvertent heating. a puffing limit switch may deactivate the device in the event of a pressure sensor fail causing the device to continuously activate without stopping after the four second maximum puff time. the aerosol delivery device 100 may include a puff tracking algorithm configured for heater lockout once a defined number of puffs has been achieved for an attached cartridge (based on the number of available puffs calculated in light of the e-liquid charge in the cartridge). the aerosol delivery device may include a sleep, standby or low-power mode function whereby power delivery may be automatically cut off after a defined period of non-use. further safety protection may be provided in that all charge/discharge cycles of the power source 212 may be monitored by the control component 208 over its lifetime. after the power source has attained the equivalent of a predetermined number (e.g., 200) of full discharge and full recharge cycles, it may be declared depleted, and the control component may control at least one functional element to prevent further charging of the power source. the various components of an aerosol delivery device according to the present disclosure can be chosen from components described in the art and commercially available. examples of batteries that can be used according to the disclosure are described in u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2010/0028766 to peckerar et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. the aerosol delivery device 100 can incorporate the sensor 210 or another sensor or detector for control of supply of electric power to the heater 222 when aerosol generation is desired (e.g., upon draw during use). as such, for example, there is provided a manner or method of turning off power to the heater when the aerosol delivery device is not be drawn upon during use, and for turning on power to actuate or trigger the generation of heat by the heater during draw. additional representative types of sensing or detection mechanisms, structure and configuration thereof, components thereof, and general methods of operation thereof, are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,261,424 to sprinkel, jr., u.s. pat. no. 5,372,148 to mccafferty et al., and pct pat. app. pub. no. wo 2010/003480 to flick, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. the aerosol delivery device 100 most preferably incorporates the control component 208 or another control mechanism for controlling the amount of electric power to the heater 222 during draw. representative types of electronic components, structure and configuration thereof, features thereof, and general methods of operation thereof, are described in u.s. pat. no. 4,735,217 to gerth et al., u.s. pat. no. 4,947,874 to brooks et al., u.s. pat. no. 5,372,148 to mccafferty et al., u.s. pat. no. 6,040,560 to fleischhauer et al., u.s. pat. no. 7,040,314 to nguyen et al., u.s. pat. no. 8,205,622 to pan, u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2009/0230117 to fernando et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0060554 to collet et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0270727 to ampolini et al., and u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2015/0257445 to henry et al., all of which are incorporated herein by reference. representative types of substrates, reservoirs or other components for supporting the aerosol precursor are described in u.s. pat. no. 8,528,569 to newton, u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0261487 to chapman et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2015/0059780 to davis et al., and u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2015/0216232 to bless et al., all of which are incorporated herein by reference. additionally, various wicking materials, and the configuration and operation of those wicking materials within certain types of electronic cigarettes, are set forth in u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0209105 to sears et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. the aerosol precursor composition, also referred to as a vapor precursor composition, may comprise a variety of components including, by way of example, a polyhydric alcohol (e.g., glycerin, propylene glycol or a mixture thereof), nicotine, tobacco, tobacco extract and/or flavorants. representative types of aerosol precursor components and formulations also are set forth and characterized in u.s. pat. no. 7,217,320 to robinson et al. and u.s. pat. pub. nos. 2013/0008457 to zheng et al.; 2013/0213417 to chong et al.; 2014/0060554 to collett et al.; 2015/0020823 to lipowicz et al.; and 2015/0020830 to koller, as well as wo 2014/182736 to bowen et al., and u.s. patent application ser. no. 15/222,615 to watson et al., filed jul. 28, 2016, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. other aerosol precursors that may be employed include the aerosol precursors that have been incorporated in the vuse® product by r. j. reynolds vapor company, the blu™ product by imperial tobacco group plc, the mistic menthol product by mistic ecigs, and the vype product by cn creative ltd. also desirable are the so-called “smoke juices” for electronic cigarettes that have been available from johnson creek enterprises llc. additional representative types of components that yield visual cues or indicators may be employed in the aerosol delivery device 100 , such as visual indicators and related components, audio indicators, haptic indicators and the like. examples of suitable led components, and the configurations and uses thereof, are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,154,192 to sprinkel et al., u.s. pat. no. 8,499,766 to newton, u.s. pat. no. 8,539,959 to scatterday, and u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2015/0216233 to sears et al., all of which are incorporated herein by reference. yet other features, controls or components that can be incorporated into aerosol delivery devices of the present disclosure are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,967,148 to harris et al., u.s. pat. no. 5,934,289 to watkins et al., u.s. pat. no. 5,954,979 to counts et al., u.s. pat. no. 6,040,560 to fleischhauer et al., u.s. pat. no. 8,365,742 to hon, u.s. pat. no. 8,402,976 to fernando et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2005/0016550 to katase, u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2010/0163063 to fernando et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2013/0192623 to tucker et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2013/0298905 to leven et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2013/0180553 to kim et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0000638 to sebastian et al., u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0261495 to novak et al., and u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2014/0261408 to depiano et al., all of which are incorporated herein by reference. the control component 208 includes a number of electronic components, and in some examples may be formed of a printed circuit board (pcb) that supports and electrically connects the electronic components. the electronic components may include a microprocessor or processor core, and a memory. in some examples, the control component may include a microcontroller with integrated processor core and memory, and may further include one or more integrated input/output peripherals. in some examples, the control component may be coupled to a communication interface to enable wireless communication with one or more networks, computing devices or other appropriately-enabled devices. examples of suitable communication interfaces are disclosed in u.s. patent application ser. no. 14/638,562, filed mar. 4, 2015, to marion et al., the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. and examples of suitable manners according to which the aerosol delivery device may be configured to wirelessly communicate are disclosed in u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2016/0007651 to ampolini et al., and u.s. pat. app. pub. no. 2016/0219933 to henry, jr. et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference. as also shown in fig. 2 , according to some example implementations, the control body further includes a boost converter 246 between the power source 212 and an electrical load that includes the heater 222 . in these example implementations, the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage from which the heater is powered to activate and vaporize components of the aerosol precursor composition. one example of a suitable type of boost converter is a dc/dc converter. and one example of a suitable dc/dc converter is the model bd1865gwl synchronous boost dc/dc converter manufactured by rohm semiconductor. the boost converter 246 may be useful for a power source 212 of any of a number of different types, but may be particularly useful for a lib. in some examples, the boost converter is configured to step up the voltage output of the power source to a higher voltage of 5 v (five volts), and in the case of a standard 4.1 v lib, the boost converter may deliver a stable 5 v output, even down to a battery voltage level as low as 2.5 v. this may considerably extend the life of the lib, while keeping the power wattage the same. the boost converter may also deliver a constant current up to 2 a (two amperes), which may give a higher power wattage of 10 watts (w) with better efficiency suitable for some configurations of the aerosol delivery device 100 . in some example implementations, the boost converter 246 is operable in a pulse-width modulation (pwm) mode in which the higher voltage is a pwm voltage. fig. 3 illustrates a circuit diagram 300 of the bd1865gwl device (boost converter) wired to operate in the pwm mode. in the circuit diagram, v 1 represents the power source 212 and r 4 represents the heater 222 . in other example implementations, the boost converter 246 is operable in a switching mode in which the boost converter is automatically switchable between pwm operation and pulse-frequency modulation (pfm) operation based on a condition of the electrical load. as before, in pwm operation, the higher voltage is a pwm voltage. in pfm operation, the higher voltage is a pfm voltage. fig. 4 illustrates a circuit diagram 400 of the bd1865gwl device (boost converter) wired to operate in the pwm mode. also as before, in the circuit diagram, v 1 represents the power source 212 and r 4 represents the heater 222 . in the switching mode, operation of the boost converter 246 may automatically switch depending on the load condition. at a very light (current) load, the boost converter may switch to (or maintain) pfm operation and operate with reduced switching frequency and supply current to maintain high efficiency. at increased loads, the output voltage may fall below a low pfm threshold, and the boost converter may switch to (or maintain) pwm operation. in reference to the circuit diagram in fig. 4 , for example, when vin=2.9 v, the bd1865gwl device may switch from pwm to pfm operation at 35 ma, and switch from pfm to pwm operation at 100 ma. in another example, when vin=3.6 v, the bd1865gwl device may switch from pwm to pfm operation at 50 ma, and switch from pfm to pwm operation at 100 ma. and in yet another example, when vin=4.1 v or greater, the bd1865gwl device may switch from pwm to pfm operation at 65 ma, and switch from pfm to pwm operation at 115 ma. in some examples, the aerosol delivery device 100 may be further equipped with a digital audio player, radio tuner or the like configured to play audio, which may be output via one or more speakers or an appropriate wired or wireless connection to one or more speakers, headphones or the like. in these examples, the boost converter 246 may be optimized to reduce if not eliminate any audible sound by switching noise at light loads in the pwm mode or operation. this may also be the case for other audio such as audio cues played out via one or more audio indicators, as indicated above. the foregoing description of use of the article(s) can be applied to the various example implementations described herein through minor modifications, which can be apparent to the person of skill in the art in light of the further disclosure provided herein. the above description of use, however, is not intended to limit the use of the article but is provided to comply with all necessary requirements of disclosure of the present disclosure. any of the elements shown in the article(s) illustrated in figs. 1-4 or as otherwise described above may be included in an aerosol delivery device according to the present disclosure. many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed, and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings describe example implementations in the context of certain example combinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided by alternative implementations without departing from the scope of the appended claims. in this regard, for example, different combinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims. although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
|
133-962-833-677-746
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
G06F17/00,G06F3/033,G06F3/048,G09G5/00,G06F3/00
| 2002-04-05T00:00:00 |
2002
|
[
"G06",
"G09"
] |
virtual desktop manager
|
a method for a user to preview multiple virtual desktops in a graphical user interface is described. the method comprises receiving an indication from a user to preview the multiple virtual desktops and displaying multiple panes on the display. each pane contains a scaled virtual desktop having dimensions that are proportionally less than the dimensions of a corresponding full-size virtual desktop. each scaled virtual desktop displays with one or more scaled application windows as shadows if the corresponding full-size virtual desktop has one or more corresponding application windows that are active.
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1 . method for providing different background images for multiple virtual desktops in a graphical user interface being presented on a display of a computer system, the method comprising: presenting each full-size virtual desktop including the background image of each full-size virtual desktop as a thumbnail on the display; receiving an indication from a user that an old background image of a first full-size virtual desktop of the multiple virtual desktops is to be replaced with a new background image; and displaying on the display the new background image of the first full-size virtual desktop of the multiple desktops in accordance with the indication received from the user if the old background image of the first full-size virtual desktop is in the view of the user, the act of displaying being adapted to display the background image of the thumbnail that corresponds to the first full-size virtual desktop. 2 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising an act of showing on the display a first menu having a first set of menu items, each menu item in the first set of menu items corresponding to a selectable background image. 3 . the method of claim 2 , wherein the act of receiving includes receiving a first selection event by a thumbnail representative of a desired full-size virtual desktop and then receiving a second selection event by a menu item from the first set of menu items to indicate a desired background image for the desired full-size virtual desktop, and wherein the act of displaying changes the background image of the thumbnail representative of the desired full-size virtual desktop to the desired background image. 4 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising an act of configuring a set of shortcut keys, each shortcut key of the set of shortcut keys being selected from a group consisting of a shortcut key to invoke the display of a preview window and a shortcut key to invoke the display of a full-size virtual desktop from the multiple virtual desktops. 5 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising an act of displaying a preview button so that the user may select the preview button to allow the method to receive an indication from the user to preview the multiple virtual desktops. 6 . computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions of performing the method for providing different background images for multiple virtual desktops in a graphical user interface being presented on a display of a computer system, the method comprising: presenting each full-size virtual desktop including the background image of each full-size virtual desktop as a thumbnail on the display; receiving an indication from a user that an old background image of a first full-size virtual desktop of the multiple virtual desktops is to be replaced with a new background image; and displaying on the display the new background image of the first full-size virtual desktop of the multiple desktops in accordance with the indication received from the user if the old background image of the first full-size virtual desktop is in the view of the user, the act of displaying being adapted to display the background image of the thumbnail that corresponds to the first full-size virtual desktop.
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cross-reference to related application this application is a division of application ser. no. 10/117,856, filed on apr. 5, 2002. field of the invention this invention relates generally to the field of graphical user interfaces, and more particularly, to the desktop area of a graphical user interface. background of the invention the desktop area of a graphical user interface simulates the top of a physical desk. the intent of the desktop simulation is to make a computer easier to use by enabling users to move pictures of objects and to start and stop tasks in much the same way they would if they were working on a physical desktop. a desktop simulation is characteristic of a number of operating systems, such as the microsoft's windows® and apple macintosh. for clarity purposes, the following discussion will term a “desktop simulation” as a desktop. an example of a desktop 100 is shown in fig. 1a , where one or more application windows 102 are displayed on the desktop 100 . each application window is associated with a software program (application) designed to assist in the performance of a specific task, such as word processing, accounting, or inventory management. the desktop 100 includes a button 106 for causing a pop-up menu (not shown) to appear on the desktop 100 so as to allow one or more application windows 102 to be launched. this button 106 resides in a panel 104 that lies along the bottom of the desktop 100 . when a sufficient number of application windows 102 are created and shown on the desktop 100 , the desktop 100 may become confusingly cluttered, thereby making the computer harder to use. as a result, virtual desktops are provided to expand the size of the desktop 100 . each virtual desktop has the same size as the desktop 100 . using virtual desktops allows the group of application windows 102 to be dispersed throughout the virtual desktops, thereby reducing the cluttered appearance. each virtual desktop may be accessed by clicking on an appropriate area in a desk guide 109 . the desk guide may be located somewhere on the panel 104 . one conventional implementation of a desk guide is the desk guide 109 a shown in fig. 1b , where a panel 104 a includes a button 106 a for causing a pop-up menu (not shown) to appear on the desktop 100 to allow one or more application windows 102 to be launched. the panel 104 a also includes a button 120 a for minimizing the panel 104 a. the desk guide 109 a includes a number of buttons 110 - 116 . each button 110 - 116 may be clicked using a pointing device, such as a mouse, to bring up a virtual desktop associated with the clicked button. the name of each virtual desktop is displayed on a button, 110 - 116 . these names may be changed. as more and more application windows 102 are dispersed throughout these virtual desktops, it may be difficult for a user to remember which desktop contains which application window. the problem with the desk guide 109 a is that it does not allow a user to quickly grasp where he or she has placed various application windows without visiting each of the virtual desktops by clicking on each of the buttons 110 - 116 . another implementation of a desk guide is the desk guide 109 b as shown in fig. 1c . a panel 104 b includes a button 106 b for launching one or more application windows 102 similar to the button 106 a discussed above, and like the button 120 a, the panel 104 b includes a button 120 b for minimizing the panel 104 b. the desk guide 109 b is an improvement over the desk guide 109 a in that each virtual desktop is shown as a pane 130 - 136 . in each pane, running application windows appear as small, raised squares 138 . notwithstanding the improvement, the desk guide 109 b has problems similar to the desk guide 109 a because it is still not possible for a user to determine from these small raised squares 138 the desired application window for which he may be looking. moreover, many of the panes look confusingly similar to one another, thereby hindering a user's ability to recognize the particular virtual desktop on which he or she had opened a desired application. thus, a user still has to actually visit each virtual desktop to find a desired application window. therefore, there is a need to enhance the visualization of virtual desktops so that a user may locate a desired running application. summary of the invention in accordance with the present invention, a method and computer readable medium for presenting multiple virtual desktops on a display of a computer system for previewing by a user are provided. a preview button is displayed on a desktop. when the preview button is selected, multiple panes are displayed on the desktop in a tiled manner. each pane contains a scaled virtual desktop having dimensions that are proportional but less than the dimensions of a corresponding virtual desktop. each scaled virtual desktop provides a representation of the corresponding full-size virtual desktop that would display albeit at a smaller scale. for example, if the corresponding full-size virtual desktop has one or more application windows that are shown on the full-size virtual desktop, the scaled virtual desktop would display one or more scaled application windows that correspond to the one or more application windows shown by the corresponding full-size virtual desktop. in accordance with other aspects of this invention, the display includes first and second areas. the multiple panes, when displayed, occupy at least the first area of the display. the dimensions of the first area are substantially greater than the dimensions of the second area. in accordance with further aspects of this invention, the first area forms a work area and the second area includes a task bar. preferably, the preview button is located in the task bar. in accordance with yet other aspects of this invention, the background image of each scaled virtual desktop pane corresponds to its full-size virtual desktop. the use of corresponding backgrounds allows a user to immediately and visually identify the different full-size virtual desktops as well as the application windows that are running on those virtual desktops. in accordance with other further aspects of this invention, the scaled and full-size virtual desktops are animated in the sense that they progressively change in size (zoom), when shifting from a full-size virtual desktop to pane and vice versa. in accordance with yet still other aspects of the present invention, application windows are shared across multiple virtual desktops. as the number of virtual desktops proliferates, a user may desire to access an application window that is opened in a full-size virtual desktop other than the current full-size virtual desktop. the method includes displaying controls, such as task buttons, representing all open application windows on the task bars of all full-size virtual desktops. when the user desires to open an application window in a current, full-size virtual desktop that is open in another full-size window, the user activates the associated icon. this action results in the desired application window being shifted to the current full-size virtual desktop. brief description of the drawings the foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: fig. 1a is a pictorial diagram illustrating a desktop of a graphical user interface according to the prior art. fig. 1b is a pictorial diagram illustrating one implementation of a panel containing a desk guide used to switch among multiple virtual desktops according to the prior art. fig. 1c is a pictorial diagram illustrating another implementation of a panel containing a desk guide used to switch among multiple virtual desktops according to the prior art. fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a generic computing device in which the computer readable medium of the invention is usable. fig. 3 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a full-size virtual desktop, including a virtual desktop manager having a preview button and a number of quick switch buttons according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 4 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a full-size virtual desktop showing only a preview button according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 5 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a preview window showing the tiled multiple panes, each including a scaled virtual desktop according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 6 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a preview window showing application buttons that are shared across tiled multiple panes, each including a scaled virtual desktop according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 7 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a preview window showing that the sharing of application windows is disabled across tiled multiple panes, each including a scaled virtual desktop according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 8 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a pop-up menu used to configure virtual desktops according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 9 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a dialog window for changing background images of virtual desktops according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 10 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a dialog window for changing shortcut keys to access virtual desktops according to one embodiment of the invention. fig. 11 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a virtual desktop with a desktop manager according to another embodiment of the invention. figs. 12a-12c are process diagrams illustrating the software flow of a virtual desktop manager according to one embodiment of the invention. figs. 13a-13b are process diagrams illustrating the software flow of a virtual desktop manager according to another embodiment of the invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiment fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary computer device 200 for implementing the invention. in its most basic configuration, the computing device 200 typically includes at least one processing unit 202 and memory 204 . depending on the exact configuration and type of computing device, memory 204 may be volatile (such as ram), non-volatile (such as rom, flash memory, etc.), or some combination of the two. this most basic configuration is illustrated in fig. 2 by dashed line 206 . additionally, the computing device 200 may also have additional features/functionality. for example, the computing device 200 may also include additional storage (removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. such additional storage is illustrated in fig. 2 by removable storage 208 and non-removable storage 210 . computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for the storage of information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. memory 204 , removable storage 208 , and non-removable storage 210 are all examples of computer storage media. computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, ram, rom, eeprom, flash memory, or other memory technology, cd-roms, digital versatile disks (dvds), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computing device 200 . any such computer storage media may be part of the computing device 200 . the computing device 200 may also contain communications connection(s) 212 that allow the device to communicate with other devices. communications connection(s) 212 is an example of communication media. communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. by way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, rf, infrared, and other wireless media. the term computer-readable media as used herein includes both storage media and communication media. the computing device 200 may also have input device(s) 214 such as a keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. output device(s) 216 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc. may also be included. because all of these devices are well known in the art, they are not described in detail here. the computing device 200 may include a graphical user interface, which is stored in memory 204 and is executed by the processing unit 202 to be presented on the display output device 216 . a graphical user interface is a visual computer environment that represents programs, files, and options with graphical images, such as icons, menus, and dialog boxes on the screen. the user can select and activate these options by pointing and clicking with a mouse or, often, with a keyboard. in some computing devices, these options can be voice selected and activated. a particular item (such as a scrollbar) works the same way in all applications because the graphical user interface provides standard software routines to handle these elements and report the user's actions (such as a mouse click on a particular icon or at a particular location in text, or a key press). one type of graphical user interface creates a full-size virtual desktop 300 that includes an on-screen work area 303 having a background image, such as shown in fig. 3 . the virtual desktop 300 also includes a taskbar. the on-screen work area and the taskbar of a corresponding full-size virtual desktop cover all or substantially all of the viewable area of the display. located in the taskbar 301 , shown in fig. 3 , is a tray 304 , a virtual desktop manager 306 , and a start button 302 . the virtual desktop manager 306 includes a number of buttons, namely a preview button 308 and a set of quick switch buttons 311 - 316 . the set of quick switch buttons 311 - 316 is optional and need not be displayed as shown in fig. 4 . selecting one of the quick switch buttons 311 - 316 allows a user to cause a corresponding full-size virtual desktop to be displayed. when the user clicks on the preview button 308 , a preview window 310 is displayed as shown in fig. 5 . the preview window 310 includes tiled multiple panes 312 - 318 and covers the area of the display normally covered by a full-size virtual desktop, i.e., the entire viewable area of the display. in each pane is a scaled virtual desktop having dimensions that are proportionately less than the dimensions of a corresponding full-size virtual desktop. in the example shown in fig. 5 , there are four scaled virtual desktops 320 - 326 . each scaled virtual desktop 320 - 326 may have a different background image. in this example, if less than four virtual desktops have been created, the on-screen work area of one or more of the scaled virtual desktops 320 - 326 may be blank. preferably, each scaled virtual desktop is identified by a number 336 - 342 . each scaled virtual desktop 320 - 326 includes a taskbar 328 - 334 . preferably, the virtual desktop manager 306 has an animation capability that animates the presentation of the preview window 310 in a way that gives a user a spatial sense of the arrangement of the virtual desktops. for example, suppose a sequence of actions begins with the user being presented the full-size virtual desktop 300 shown in fig. 3 . this virtual desktop corresponds to the scaled virtual desktop 320 , shown in the upper left hand pane 312 of fig. 5 . suppose next that the user clicks on the preview button 308 shown in fig. 3 . in response, the virtual desktop manager 306 progressively shrinks (zooms) the dimensions of the full-size virtual desktop 300 shown in fig. 3 into the upper left hand pane 312 of fig. 5 . as the virtual desktop manager 306 animates (shrinks) the full-size virtual desktop 300 shown in fig. 3 in this manner, it displays the other virtual desktops 322 - 326 in other panes 314 - 318 of fig. 5 . now, suppose that the user selects the virtual desktop 320 located in the upper left hand pane 312 of fig. 5 by clicking on that pane 312 while the preview window 310 is displayed. the animation capability of the virtual desktop manager 306 operates in the opposite manner and progressively expands (zooms) the dimensions of the scaled virtual desktop 320 until it has the dimensions of and becomes the full-size virtual desktop 300 , which occupies all or substantially all of the viewable area of the display. fig. 6 illustrates a number of application windows 342 b- 348 b shown running on tiled multiple scaled virtual desktops 320 - 326 in the preview window 310 . more specifically, one application window 342 b is active on the scaled virtual desktop 320 located in the upper left hand pane of the preview window 310 , another application window 344 b is active on the scaled virtual desktop 322 located in the upper right hand pane of the preview window 310 , a further application window 346 b is active on the scaled virtual desktop 324 located in the lower left hand pane of the preview window 310 , and another application window 348 b is active on the scaled virtual desktop 326 located in the lower right hand pane of the preview window 310 . these application windows 342 b- 348 b are shown as shadows. as used here, the term “shadow” means an imperfect or faint representation of an actual representation of an application window. because each of these application windows 342 b- 348 b is active in a particular virtual desktop, none of them is shown to be active in more than one virtual desktop, thereby preventing the clutter that may confuse users operating a single virtual desktop graphical user interface. moreover, the preview window 310 allows a user to apprehend macroscopically all the virtual desktops at once as well as where he may have placed various application windows without visiting each of the virtual desktops by separately clicking on each of the set of quick switch buttons 311 - 316 . each of the application windows 342 b- 348 b has a task button 342 a- 348 a, located in the window's corresponding taskbar 328 - 334 . when the sharing aspect of the virtual desktop manager is enabled, all of these task buttons are made visible in the taskbar of each of the full-size virtual desktops and correspondingly the scaled virtual desktops. the first task button 342 a corresponds to the application window 342 b located in the upper left hand pane, the second task button 344 a corresponds to the application window 344 b located in the upper right hand pane, the third task button 346 a corresponds to the application window 346 b located in the lower left hand pane, and the fourth task button 348 a corresponds to the application window 348 b located in the lower right hand pane. when application sharing is enabled, an application window that is active in one virtual desktop may be made active in another virtual desktop. for clarity purposes, the following example uses scaled virtual desktops as if they were actual virtual desktops, but it should be understood that the function of application sharing operates in the context of a full-size virtual desktop, i.e., a virtual desktop taking up all or substantially all of the screen display area. suppose the current full-size virtual desktop is the full-size virtual desktop associated with the scaled virtual desktop 320 with the active application window 342 b located in the upper left hand pane. suppose the user wishes to switch to run the application window 348 b located in the lower right hand pane. instead of switching to the full-size virtual desktop associated with the scaled virtual desktop 326 located in the lower right hand corner by closing the full-size virtual desktop and opening the other full-size virtual desktop, the user can click on the related task button 348 a without changing full-size virtual desktops. when this occurs, the application window 348 b (to be switched) moves from the full-size virtual window in which it was located to the current full-size virtual desktop. thus, in this example, the application window 348 b shown in the lower right hand pane shifts to the full-size virtual desktop associated with the scaled virtual desktop shown in the upper left hand pane. when the preview window 310 is opened again, the switched application window 348 b is shown in the scaled virtual desktop shown in the upper left hand pane. when sharing is not enabled, only the task buttons that correspond to the active application windows are shown in the taskbars of the full-size virtual desktops. this is illustrated by the scaled virtual desktops shown in fig. 7 . for example, the taskbar 328 shown in the upper left hand pane includes only the task button 342 a which corresponds to the application window 342 b open in the associated full-size virtual desktop. the task bar shown in the upper left hand pane does not include the task buttons 344 a- 348 a associated with the application windows that are open in the other full-size virtual desktops. similarly, the taskbars 330 - 334 shown in the other panes display only the task buttons 344 a- 348 a corresponding to the applications windows 344 b- 348 b that are active in their associated full-size virtual desktops. as more and more application windows are opened, disabling the sharing feature has the advantage of improving taskbar clutter. as shown in fig. 8 , the virtual desktop manager 306 can be actuated (e.g., by clicking on the right button of a mouse while a pointer is superjacent to the virtual desktop manager 306 ) to cause a pop-up menu 350 to appear on the on-screen work area 303 of the current full-size virtual desktop. various features associated with managing scaled and full-size virtual desktops formed in accordance with the invention can be controlled by user interaction with the pop-up menu 350 . a “show quick switch buttons” menu item 352 , when selected, displays quick switch buttons 311 - 316 , as illustrated by fig. 3 . the quick switch buttons 311 - 316 are not displayed if the menu item 352 is unselected, as shown in fig. 4 . a “shared desktops” menu item 354 , if selected, allows application windows to be accessed in multiple desktops as discussed above with respect to fig. 6 . if unselected, applications are accessible only from the virtual desktop in which they were invoked, as shown in fig. 7 . a “use animations” menu item 356 results in the virtual desktop manager 306 animating the switching between the scaled virtual desktops shown in the preview window 310 and full-size virtual desktops as described above. a “msvdm help” menu item 358 allows a user to access a help window containing help information associated with virtual desktops. a “configure shortcut keys” menu item 360 allows a user to configure a key or a key combination used to invoke a virtual desktop. a “configure desktop images” menu item 362 , when selected, brings up a dialog box 364 shown in fig. 9 and described next. the dialog box 364 automatically opens to a “desktop” tab 366 . the “desktop” tab 366 reveals and presents a number of thumbnails 368 - 374 . each thumbnail shows the background image of a corresponding virtual desktop. the background image of a virtual desktop is change by a user selecting the thumbnail associated with the virtual desktop whose image is to be changed. selection can be accomplished by the user clicking on the thumbnail. then the user selects a desired background image from a list 376 . if the displayed list 376 does not contain the desired background image, the user can use the browse button 378 to cause undisplayed background images to be displayed. a user can select a desired position for the background image by choosing from among the selections in a pull-down menu 380 . in one embodiment of the invention, the selections include tile, center, and stretch. the dialog box 364 also includes a “shortcut keys” tab 382 . when selected, the tab 382 reveals the configuration matrix shown in fig. 10 . the configuration matrix also can be accessed by selecting the “configure shortcut keys” menu item 360 shown in fig. 8 . the configuration matrix includes three columns. the first column 384 titled “key 1 ” is the first key that must be pressed by the user to access either the preview window 310 or one of the full-size virtual desktops. the first key is configured by a user selecting one of the choices from the pull-down menus associated with the “key 1 ” column. in one actual embodiment of the invention, the selections include the windows key, the alt key, the control key, or the shift key. the user may optionally configure a key in the second column 386 , which is titled “key 2 ”. the second column keys are similar to the first column keys, i.e., the windows key, the alt key, the control key, or the shift key. the user also configures the keys of the third column 388 , which is titled “key 3 ”. any number or letter may be used as the third key configuration. the first row 390 of the matrix defines a key combination that invokes the preview window 310 , the second row 392 defines a key combination that invokes the full-size virtual desktop associated with the number 1, the third row 394 defines a key combination that invokes the full-size virtual desktop associated with the number 2, the fourth row 396 defines a key combination that invokes the full-size virtual desktop associated with the number 3, and the row 398 defines a key combination that invokes the full-size virtual desktop associated with the number 4. fig. 11 shows a virtual desktop manager 400 according to another embodiment of the present invention. whereas in the previous embodiment, the set of quick switch buttons 311 - 316 are used to access multiple virtual desktops as discussed above, in this embodiment, thumbnails 402 - 406 associated with full-size virtual desktops are shown in task bar 301 located along one side of the on-screen work area 303 of the current full-size virtual desktop. the task bar may be a pop-up menu. a user accesses a desired virtual desktop by selecting the thumbnail 402 - 406 having the background image of the desired virtual desktop. if application windows are active in any of the associated full-size virtual desktops, the thumbnails 402 - 406 show the active application windows as shadows similar to those discussed above with reference to figs. 6 and 7 . a number of applications 399 not yet launched as application windows are shown on the taskbar 301 . when a full-size virtual desktop is shown on the on-screen work area 303 , the thumbnail corresponding to the shown full-size virtual desktop is highlighted along its periphery in the desktop virtual manager 400 . preferably, the desktop virtual manager 400 has an animation capability that animates the presentation of virtual desktops in a way that gives a user a spatial sense of the arrangement of the virtual desktops. if animation is enabled, when the user switches from one virtual desktop to another, the graphical user interface sets the old virtual desktop as a starting point in the animation and progressively shrinks the old virtual desktop. contemporaneously, the graphical user interface progressively reveals the new virtual desktop, which is the ending point of the animation, as the old virtual desktop is shrinking. for example, suppose a sequence of actions begins with the user being presented a first full-size virtual desktop associated with thumbnail 402 . suppose next that the user clicks on the thumbnail 406 . in response, the desktop virtual manager 400 progressively shrinks (zooms) the dimensions of the first virtual desktop. at the same time as the virtual desktop manager 306 animates (shrinks) the first virtual desktop in this manner, it gradually displays a second virtual desktops associated with the thumbnail 406 . one suitable technique, although other techniques are also possible, for implementing this animation capability of the desktop virtual manager 400 is illustrated in figs. 13a-13b , which will be described later. the operation of the virtual desktop manager 306 , as described above with reference to figs. 3-10 , is further illustrated in the process 1200 shown in figs. 12a-12c . the process 1200 begins at a start block 1202 and proceeds directly to a block 1204 , where the virtual desktop (vdm) manager 306 creates a virtual desktop (vd) toolbar and docks or attaches the virtual desktop toolbar to the taskbar 301 , as shown by at a block 1206 . next, the process 1200 proceeds to a decision block 1208 to check whether the user has produced an input event using a mouse, a keyboard, or other input device. if the answer to the decision block 1208 is no, the process 1200 enters a node a that loops back to decision block 1208 . the process remains in this way until the user actually produces an input event. if the answer to the decision block 1208 is yes, the process proceeds to another decision block 1210 . in this regard, as shown in fig. 3 , the preview button 308 and the quick button 311 - 316 are displayed for the user to activate. decision block 1210 tests the activation of these buttons. if any of the buttons 308 - 316 is activated by the user, the answer to decision block 1210 is yes, and the process 1200 proceeds to a block 1214 (explained later). if the answer to decision block 1210 is no, the process proceeds to decision block 1212 . at decision block 1212 , the process 1200 determines the input event detected at decision block 1208 is the actuation of a shortcut key. if an invalid shortcut key was pressed, the answer to the decision block 1212 is no, and the process 1200 proceeds to the node a and loops back to decision block 1208 . if a valid shortcut key was pressed, the process proceeds to at block 1214 where the virtual desktop manager 306 saves the screenshot of the “switching-from” virtual desktop including any open application windows. afterwards, the process 1200 proceeds to node b, which is further described at fig. 12b . from the node b, the process 1200 proceeds to a decision block 1216 where a test is made to determine if the input event was generated by the user clicking the preview button 308 or if the shortcut key invoking the preview window 301 was pressed. if the input event was not a preview event, the answer to the decision block 1216 is no, and the process proceeds to a block 1218 . at block 1218 , the virtual desktop manager 306 minimizes or hides all top level windows associated with the “switching-from” virtual desktop. next, at block 1220 , the virtual desktop manager 306 sets the background image of the “switching-to” virtual desktop. next, at a block 1222 , the virtual desktop manager 306 restores or shows all top level windows associated with the “switching-to” virtual desktop. having switched to the desired virtual desktop, the process 1200 proceeds from the block 1222 to node a and then loops back to decision block 1208 to await further input events. if the input event was a preview event, the answer to decision block 1216 is yes, and the process 1200 proceeds to a block 1224 . at block 1224 , the virtual desktop manager 306 sets up the preview mode. some of the tasks involved in setting up the preview mode include bringing up a preview window 301 , providing the borders on the preview window 301 to separate each scaled virtual desktop from the others, and drawing a transparent number at the lower right corner of each scaled virtual desktop. when the setting up of the preview mode is finished, the process proceeds to where a test is made to determine if animation is enabled at a decision block 1226 . if animation is enabled, the process proceeds to a block 1228 . at block 1228 , the virtual desktop manager 306 animates the current full-size virtual desktop into the scaled virtual desktop on the preview window 301 by defining the screenshot of the current full-size virtual desktop as the starting point of the animation and defining the corresponding scaled virtual desktop of the preview window 310 as the ending point of the animation. when the animation is completed, the process proceeds to a block 1230 where the virtual desktop manager 306 shows the preview window 310 . if animation is not enabled, the answer to the decision block 1226 is no, and the process 1200 proceeds directly to block 1230 . next, the process 1200 proceeds to node c, which is further described at fig. 12c . from node c the process 1200 continues to a block 1232 where the virtual desktop manager 306 minimizes and hides all top level windows. this is done to prevent inadvertent flickering between the preview window 301 and other windows while the preview window 301 is displayed. while the preview window 301 is displayed to the user, the process 1200 awaits in a feedback loop at a decision block 1234 for the user to select one of the scaled virtual desktops 320 - 326 as shown in fig. 5 . when a valid selection is made, the answer to decision block 1234 is yes, and the process proceeds to a block 1236 . at block 1236 the virtual desktop manager 306 restores and shows the application windows associated with the “switching-to” full-size virtual desktop. then, at block 1238 , the virtual desktop manager 306 sets the background image of the “switching-to” virtual desktop. if animation is enabled, at a decision block 1240 , the process 1200 proceeds to a block 1242 where the virtual desktop manager 306 animates out of the scaled virtual desktop shown in the preview window to the “switching-to” virtual desktop. in this particular animation sequence, the starting point is the scaled virtual desktop that corresponds to the “switching-to” virtual desktop and the ending point of the animation is the “switching-to” full-size virtual desktop. next, the process 1200 flows to a block 1244 where the virtual desktop manager 306 hides the preview window 301 . if at decision block 1240 , animation was not enabled, the process proceeds directly to block 1244 . from block 1244 the process proceeds to node a and loops back to decision block 1304 to wait further input events. the operation of the virtual desktop manager 400 as illustrated in fig. 11 is further explained by the process 1300 shown in figs. 13a-13b . the process 1300 proceeds from a start block 1302 to a block 1304 where the virtual desktop manager 400 initializes a desktop switcher (ds). the desktop switcher comprises multiple thumbnails 402 - 408 . the thumbnails 402 - 408 create an input event when activated by a user. an alternative way to produce an input event is the activation of a short cut key. the process 1300 flows to a decision block 1304 where it checks to see if an input event has occurred. if there no input event has occurred, the process 1300 proceeds to a node d and loops back to decision block 1304 to wait for a valid input event. if the answer to decision block 1304 is yes, the process proceeds to another decision block 1306 where a test is made to determine if one of the thumbnails 402 - 408 was activated by user. if the answer to decision block 1306 is yes, the process proceeds to a block 1310 is entered. otherwise, the process proceeds to a decision block 1308 where a test is made to determine if the user has input a key or a combination of keys to invoke one of the virtual desktops, i.e., has actuated a shortcut. if the answer to decision block 1308 is no, the process proceeds to node d and awaits a further input event (decision block 1304 ). if the answer to decision block 1308 is yes, the virtual desktop manager 400 proceeds to block 1310 where the foreground window of the current full-size virtual desktop, which is also defined as the “switching-from” virtual desktop, is stored. from block 1310 , the process 1300 proceeds to node e and fig. 13b . from node e, the process 1300 proceeds to a decision block 1312 where a test is made to determine if animation is enabled. if animation is enabled the process proceeds to a block 1314 . at block 1314 , the virtual desktop manager 400 constructs screen shots for both the “switching-from” virtual desktop and the “switching-to” virtual desktop. these screen shots will be used in the construction of the animation window at a block 1316 . when the virtual desktop manager 400 has displayed the animation window, the animation will be performed at a block 1318 where the starting point of the animation is the constructed screen shot of the “switching-from” virtual desktop and the ending point of the animation is the “switching-to” virtual desktop. when the animation is completed by showing the transition from the “switching-from” virtual desktop to the “switching-to” virtual desktop, the virtual desktop manager 400 hides active application windows of the “switching-from” virtual desktop at a block 1320 and saves the background image of the “switching-from” virtual desktop at a block 1322 . the process 1300 then proceeds to a block 1324 from the block 1322 , where the virtual desktop manager 400 shows the opened application windows of the “switching-to” virtual desktop. then, the virtual desktop manager 400 displays the background image of the “switching-to” virtual desktop at a block 1326 . at a block 1328 , the foreground application window of the “switching-to” virtual desktop is restored by the virtual desktop manager 400 . from here, the process 1300 re-enters the node d where it loops to the decision block 1304 to await further input events. while the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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134-128-125-777-924
|
KR
|
[
"US",
"AU",
"BR",
"CN",
"EP",
"KR",
"WO"
] |
G06F3/0484,G06F3/0481,G06F3/0488,G06F3/14,G06F3/01,G06F9/46,G06F3/04845,G06F3/04883,G06F3/04886
| 2013-07-02T00:00:00 |
2013
|
[
"G06"
] |
electronic device and method for controlling multi-windows in the electronic device
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an electronic device includes: a display unit having a display screen configured for displaying an output of multi-windows on which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed; and a controller for, when rotation of the electronic device is detected, if frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, controlling a rotation of the frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained and a display of the executions of the plurality of applications.
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1 . an electronic device, comprising: a display unit having a display screen configured for displaying an output of multi-windows on which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed; and a controller for controlling a rotation of frames of the multi-windows in accordance with frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows and for controlling display of the executions of the plurality of applications, wherein the controller controls a division of the output of the display screen of the display unit depending on a number of applications being executed, the divided screens representing the multi-windows, and a display of the executions of the plural applications on the multi-windows, respectively, wherein the controller, when a gesture for frame rotation is detected on a predetermined window from among the multi-windows, controls a rotation of a frame of a predetermined window in response to the gesture and a display of an execution of the predetermined application on the predetermined window in accordance with the rotated frame of the predetermined window, and wherein the gesture for frame rotation includes at least one of a rotation gesture using a single touch, a rotation gesture using multi-touches, a rotation gesture using an icon, a rotation gesture for a handle user interface (ui) displayed for frame rotation, a selection of a handle ui displayed for frame rotation, and a predetermined gesture. 2 . an electronic device, comprising: an input manager for receiving an event and transmitting the event to an event manager in accordance with the generation of a gesture for frame rotation on a predetermined window among multi-windows; the event manager for analyzing the type of event received from the input manager and transmitting a frame rotation event to a frame manager as the analyzed result; the frame manager for, when receiving the frame rotation event from the event manager, identifying a frame of the window on which the received frame rotation event is generated, identifying the type of application executed and displayed on the frame of the window, and transmitting the frame rotation event to the identified application, thereby allowing the identified application to perform a frame rotation operation of the frame; and an orientation manager for updating and registering frame rotation information of the application performing the frame rotation operation. 3 . an electronic device, comprising: a display unit having a display screen configured for displaying an output of multi-windows on which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed; and a controller for, when rotation of the electronic device is detected, if frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, controlling a rotation of the frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained and a display of the executions of the plurality of applications. 4 . the electronic device of claim 1 , wherein in response to a request for changing an execution location of a predetermined application of which an execution is displayed on a predetermined window among the multi-windows, when frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller controls a display of an execution of the predetermined application on another window corresponding to a changed execution location in accordance with frame rotation information of the another window. 5 . the electronic device of claim 1 , wherein in response to a request for activating respective virtual input units on the multi-windows, when frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller controls to activate and display the respective virtual input units on the multi-windows, and when a plurality of input values are generated through the virtual input units, the controller controls identification of respective frames of windows in which the plurality input values are generated and provide corresponding input values to applications being executed on the identified respective frame of the windows. 6 . the electronic device of claim 1 , wherein when multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously generated on the multi-windows, and frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller controls identification of input coordinates of the multi-touches and frames of windows on which the multi-touches are respectively generated and allows corresponding applications being respectively executed on the identified windows to perform operations corresponding to the corresponding input coordinates. 7 . the electronic device of claim 1 , wherein when audio data are simultaneously outputted from the plurality of applications being respectively executed on the multi-windows, and frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller controls an output audio data such that only an application having first priority among the plurality applications is output. 8 . the electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising: an input manager for receiving an event generated in the electronic device; an event manager for analyzing the type of event received by the input manager; a frame manager for receiving the event from the event manager to identify a frame of a window on which the event transmitted from the event manager is to be performed, transmitting the event to an application being executed on the identified window, and allowing the application to perform an operation corresponding to the transmitted event, the type of event including an electronic device rotation event, a request event of change of application execution location, a request event of activation of virtual input unit, a generation event of input value inputted through virtual input unit, and a multi-touch event; and an orientation manager for registering respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows and rotation information of the electronic device when the event is the electronic device rotation event. 9 . a method for controlling multi-windows of an electronic device, the method comprising: in a multi-window mode in which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed by a display screen of a display unit, controlling by a controller a rotation of frames of the multi-windows displayed in accordance with frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows and controlling a display of the executions of the plural applications; controlling by the controller a division of a screen of a display unit into a quantity of multi-windows depending on a number of applications executed for the multi-windows, and a display of the executions of the plurality of applications on the divided screens representing the multi-windows, respectively, wherein the display of the executions of the plural applications includes: when a gesture for frame rotation is detected on a predetermined window among the multi-windows, rotating a frame of the predetermined window in response to the gesture and displaying an execution of a predetermined application in accordance with the rotated frame of the predetermined window, and wherein the gesture for frame rotation includes at least one of a rotation gesture using a single touch, a rotation gesture using multi-touches, a rotation gesture using an icon, a rotation gesture for a handle user interface (ui) displayed for frame rotation, a selection of a handle ui displayed for frame rotation, and a predetermined gesture. 10 . the method of claim 9 , further comprising: in response to a request for changing an execution location of a predetermined application of which an execution is displayed on a predetermined window among the multi-windows, determining whether frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other; and when the frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, displaying the execution of the predetermined application on another window corresponding to a changed execution location in accordance with frame rotation information of the another window. 11 . the method of claim 9 , further comprising: in response to a request for activating virtual input units on the multi-windows, determining whether frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other; when the frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, activating and displaying the virtual input units on the multi-windows; and if a plurality of input values are generated through the virtual input units, identifying frames of windows in which the plurality of input values are generated, and providing corresponding input values to applications being executed on the identified frames of the windows. 12 . the method of claim 9 , further comprising: in response to multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously being generated on the multi-windows, determining whether frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other; when the frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, identifying respective input coordinates of the multi-touches and frames of windows in which the multi-touches are respectively generated; and allowing corresponding applications being respectively executed on the identified windows to perform operations corresponding to corresponding input coordinates. 13 . the method of claim 9 , further comprising: in response to audio data are simultaneously outputted from the plural applications being respectively executed on the multi-windows, determining whether frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other; when the frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, outputting only audio data of an application having a first priority among the plurality applications. 14 . the method of claim 9 , further comprising: receiving by an input manager an event generated in the electronic device; analyzing by an event manager the type of event received; identifying by a frame manager a frame of a window on which the event is to be performed, and transmitting the event to an application being executed on the identified window; performing an operation corresponding to the transmitted event, by the application, the type of event including an electronic device rotation event, a request event of change of application execution location, a request event of activation of virtual input unit, a generation event of input value inputted through virtual input unit, and a multi-touch event; and wherein when the type of event is the electronic device rotation event, registering respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows and rotation information of the electronic device in an orientation manager. 15 . a method for controlling multi-windows of an electronic device, the method comprising: receiving, by an input manager, an event and transmitting the event to an event manager in accordance with the generation of a gesture for frame rotation on a predetermined window among multi-windows; analyzing, by an event manager, the type of event received from the input manager and transmitting a frame rotation event to a frame manager as the analyzed result; when receiving the frame rotation event from the event manager, identifying, by a frame manager, a frame of the window on which the received frame rotation event is generated, identifying the type of application executed and displayed on the frame of the window, and transmitting the frame rotation event to the identified application, thereby allowing the identified application to perform a frame rotation operation of the frame; and updating and registering, by an orientation manager, frame rotation information of the application performing the frame rotation operation. 16 . a method for controlling multi-windows of an electronic device, the method comprising: in response to rotation of the electronic device being detected, determining whether frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other; and when the frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, rotating the frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained, regardless of a rotation of the electronic device, and displaying the executions of the plurality applications on the multi-windows, respectively.
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claim of priority this application claims the priority under 35 u.s.c. §119(a) from korean application serial no. 10-2013-0077190, which was filed in the korean intellectual property office on jul. 2, 2013, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. background 1. technical field the present disclosure relates to an electronic device and a method for controlling multi-windows in the electronic device. more particularly, the present disclosure relates to an electronic device capable of individually controlling multi-windows and a method for controlling the multi-windows in the electronic device. 2. description of the related art recently, electronic devices, such as, for example, terminals equipped with large-sized displays have become faster in terms of response and increasing in popularity. the use of terminals of the prior art has been limited due to restrictions in a screen size and a key input means. however, in recent years, these restrictions are being gradually reduced as large-sized screens and touch screens are introduced. in addition, more recent terminals provide a multi-window function, according to which a screen is divided into a plural of regions (windows) on which two or more applications can be simultaneously executed through a single terminal. when the multi-window function is employed in the terminal, a user can simultaneously perform two types of independent tasks in a single terminal by regional division of the screen, and significantly increase task efficiency by also performing one type of task. this multi-window functionality of the terminal is receiving acclaim together with a palm-up player function in the market. current multi-window functionality of the terminal focuses on a method by which a single user may perform several tasks at the same time. for example, the current multi-window function allows a user to selectively and conveniently use two functions at the same time when the user wants to see the video while having access to the internet. therefore, the current multi-window function may be very convenient when a single user performs various tasks at the same time. however, when several users share functions of a single terminal by using the multi-window function thereof, there is inconvenience in using the terminal summary accordingly, an exemplary aspect of the present invention is to provide an electronic device capable of individually controlling multi-windows and a method for controlling the multi-windows in the electronic device. in accordance with another exemplary aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided. the electronic device includes: a display unit including multi-windows on which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed; and a controller configured for controlling the rotation of frames of the multi-windows in accordance with frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows, and to control display of the executions of the plural applications, wherein the controller controls a division of the output of the display screen of the display unit depending on a number of applications being executed, the divided screens representing the multi-windows, and a display of the executions of the plural applications on the multi-windows, respectively, wherein the controller, when a gesture for frame rotation is detected on a predetermined window from among the multi-windows, controls a rotation of a frame of the predetermined window in response to the gesture and a display of an execution of the predetermined application on the predetermined window in accordance with the rotated frame of the predetermined window, and wherein the gesture for frame rotation includes at least one of a rotation gesture using a single touch, a rotation gesture using multi-touches, a rotation gesture using an icon, a rotation gesture for a handle user interface (ui) displayed for frame rotation, a selection of a handle ui displayed for frame rotation, and a predetermined gesture. in accordance with another exemplary aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided. the electronic device includes: an input manager for receiving an event and transmitting the event to an event manager in accordance with the generation of a gesture for frame rotation on a predetermined window among multi-windows; the event manager for analyzing the type of event received from the input manager and transmitting a frame rotation event to a frame manager as the analyzed result; the frame manager for, when receiving the frame rotation event from the event manager, identifying a frame of the window on which the received frame rotation event is generated, identifying the type of application executed and displayed on the frame of the window, and transmitting the frame rotation event to the identified application, thereby allowing the identified application to perform a frame rotation operation of the frame; and an orientation manager for updating and registering frame rotation information of the application performing the frame rotation operation. in accordance with another exemplary aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided. the electronic device includes: a display unit having a display screen configured for displaying an output of multi-windows on which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed; and a controller for, when rotation of the electronic device is detected, if frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, controlling a rotation of the frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained and a display of the executions of the plurality of applications. in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling multi-windows of an electronic device is provided. the method includes: in a multi-window mode in which executions of a plurality of applications are displayed, rotating frames of the multi-windows in accordance with frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows and displaying the executions of the plurality of applications, and further comprising: controlling by the controller a division of a screen of a display unit into a quantity of multi-windows depending on a number of applications executed for the multi-windows, and a display of the executions of the plurality of applications on the divided screens representing the multi-windows, respectively, wherein the display of the executions of the plural applications includes: when a gesture for frame rotation is detected on a predetermined window among the multi-windows, rotating a frame of the predetermined window in response to the gesture and displaying an execution of the predetermined application in accordance with the rotated frame of the predetermined window, and wherein the gesture for frame rotation includes at least one of a rotation gesture using a single touch, a rotation gesture using multi-touches, a rotation gesture using an icon, a rotation gesture for a handle user interface (ui) displayed for frame rotation, a selection of a handle ui displayed for frame rotation, and a predetermined gesture. in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling multi-windows of an electronic device is provided. the method includes: receiving, by an input manager, an event and transmitting the event to an event manager in accordance with the generation of a gesture for frame rotation on a predetermined window among multi-windows; analyzing, by an event manager, the type of event received from the input manager and transmitting a frame rotation event to a frame manager as the analyzed result; when receiving the frame rotation event from the event manager, identifying, by a frame manager, a frame of the window on which the received frame rotation event is generated, identifying the type of application executed and displayed on the frame of the window, and transmitting the frame rotation event to the identified application, thereby allowing the identified application to perform a frame rotation operation of the frame; and updating and registering, by an orientation manager, frame rotation information of the application performing the frame rotation operation. in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling multi-windows of an electronic device is provided. the method includes: in response to rotation of the electronic device being detected, determining whether frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other; and when the frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, rotating the frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained, regardless of a rotation of the electronic device, and displaying the executions of the plurality applications on the multi-windows, respectively. brief description of the drawings the above and other exemplary aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to a person or ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing an operation system (os) framework of an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 3a , fig. 3b , fig. 3c , fig. 3d , fig. 3e and fig. 3f are views for describing an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 6a , fig. 6b , fig. 6c , and fig. 6d are views for describing an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows depending on electronic device rotation in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows depending on electronic device rotation in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows depending on electronic device rotation in an os framework of an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 9a and fig. 9b are views for describing an operation of controlling a change of execution locations of applications being executed on multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling a change of execution locations of applications being executed on multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling a change of execution locations of applications being executed on multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 12 is a view for describing an operation of controlling multi-inputs of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling multi-inputs of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 14 and fig. 15 are flowcharts illustrating an operation of controlling multi-inputs of multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 16 is a view for describing an operation of controlling multi-touches of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling multi-touches of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling multi-touches of multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 19 is a view for describing an operation of controlling an output of multi-audio data of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; fig. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling an output of multi-audio data of multi-windows in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention; and fig. 21 shows a configuration menu for selecting “multi-window frame rotation” in an electronic device according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention. detailed description hereinafter, non-limiting exemplary embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. however, the presently claimed invention is not restricted by the exemplary embodiments, and is not limited in scope to the exemplary embodiments. the same reference numerals represented in each of the drawings indicate the elements that perform substantially the same functions. while terms including ordinal numbers, such as “first” and “second,” etc., may be used to describe various components, such components are not limited by the above terms. the terms are used merely for the purpose to distinguish an element from the other elements. for example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be also termed a first element without departing from the scope of the presently claimed invention. the terms used in this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. as used herein, the singular forms are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an electronic device according to a non-limiting exemplary embodiment of the present invention. referring now to fig. 1 , an electronic device 100 may be connected with an external device (not shown) by using external device connectors, such as a sub-communication module 130 , a connector 165 , and an earphone connecting jack 167 . the “external device” may include various devices that are attachable to and detachable from the electronic device 100 and connectable to the electronic device by a wired connection, such as an earphone, an external speaker, a universal serial bus (usb) memory, a charger, a cradle/dock, a digital multimedia broadcasting (dmb) antenna, a mobile payment-related device, a healthcare device (a blood sugar meter or the like), a game machine, and a vehicle navigator. also, the “external device” may include a bluetooth device, a near field communication (nfc) device, a wifi direct device, and a wireless access point (ap), which are wirelessly connectable to the electronic device 100 by local communication. also, the external device may include another device, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet pc, a desktop pc, and a server. as shown in fig. 1 , the electronic device 100 includes a display unit/touch screen 190 and a display/touch controller 195 . in addition, the electronic device 100 includes a controller 110 , a mobile communication module 120 , a sub-communication module 130 , a multimedia module 140 , a camera module 150 , a global positioning system (gps) module 155 , an input/output module 160 , a sensor module 170 , a storage unit 175 , and a power supply unit 180 . the sub-communication module 130 includes at least one of a wireless local area network (lan) module and a local communication module 132 . the multimedia module 140 includes at least one of a broadcast communication module 41 , an audio reproducing module 142 , and a video reproducing module 143 . the camera module 150 includes at least one of a first camera 151 and a second camera 152 . the input/output module 160 includes at least one of a button 161 , a microphone 162 , a speaker 163 , a vibration motor 164 , a connector 165 , and a keypad 166 . hereinafter, the display unit/touch screen will be referred to as a touch screen 190 and the display/touch controller will be referred to as a touch screen controller 195 as examples thereof, respectively. the controller 110 includes circuitry such as a processor or microprocessor, and may include a central processing unit (cpu) 111 , a non-transitory read-only memory (rom) 112 for storing a control program comprising machine executable code that is loaded in the processor to configure the controller for controlling the electronic device therein, and a non-transitory random-access memory (ram) 113 for memorizing signals or data inputted from the outside of the electronic device 100 or being used as a memory region for tasks performed by the electronic device 100 . other types of non-transitory memory may be included. the cpu 111 may include, for example, a single core, a dual core, a triple core, or a quad core, as non-limiting examples provided for illustrative purposes. the cpu 111 , the rom 112 , and the ram 113 may be connected to each other through internal buses as part of a circuit. the controller 110 may be configured to control the mobile communication module 120 , the sub communication module 130 , the multimedia module 140 , the camera module 150 , the gps module 155 , the input/output module 160 , the sensor module 170 , the storage unit 175 , the power supplier 180 , the touch screen 190 , and the touch screen controller 195 . it should be understood and appreciated by a person or ordinary skill in the art that under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the term “module” as used herein does not refer to software per se or other non-statutory constructions, and when recited in the appended claims, can include machine executable code on a non-transitory machine readable memory that is loaded into a processor or sub-processor in the module itself or by another processor such as in the controller 110 . in addition, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the controller 110 may be configured to control the rotation of frames of multi-windows in accordance with different frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows, and to control the display of the executions of applications on the multi-windows in a multi-window mode. the multi-window mode according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention refers to a mode in which a screen of the touch screen 190 is divided into a plurality of regions, on which executions of different applications may be respectively displayed. in a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the plurality of divided regions may be referred to as the multi windows in the multi-window mode. here, one window is one of the divided regions and, as an individual frame, displays an execution of a corresponding application thereon. in addition, according to a number of non-limiting embodiments of the present invention, when detecting a gesture for frame rotation on a predetermined window among multi-windows, the controller 110 may be configured to control the rotation of a frame of the predetermined window in response to the gesture and then control the display an execution of a predetermined application in accordance with the rotated frame of the predetermined window. the gesture for frame rotation may include, for some non-limiting examples provided for illustrative purposes, at least one of a rotation gesture using a single touch, a rotation gesture using multi-touches, a rotation gesture using an icon, a rotation gesture using a handle user interface (ui) displayed for frame rotation, a selection of a handle ui displayed for frame rotation, and a predetermined gesture. in addition, the controller 110 may be configured to control rotation of the frame automatically in a predetermined window by detecting access of a user and an access position of the user, which may be detected by, for example through presence detection using sonar, infrared, laser, or low-power camera in the multi-window mode, which are some non-limiting examples provided for illustrative purposes. when detecting access of a new user in addition to the present user in the vicinity of the electronic device 100 through the presence detection in the multi-window mode, the controller 110 may activate a frame rotation function for the predetermined window to which the new user has access, to thereby control rotation of the frame of the predetermined window such that the access direction of the new user is a, for example, forward direction and display an execution of a corresponding application. further, when detecting deviation of the new user from a predetermined range through the presence detection, the controller 110 may deactivate the frame rotation function of the predetermined window to thereby return the predetermined window to the previous direction, and then display an execution of the corresponding application. since the presence detection technology is known in the art, descriptions thereof will be omitted. further, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when detecting rotation of the electronic device 100 in the multi-window mode, if the frame rotation information of the respective multi-windows are different from each other, the controller 110 may control the rotation of the frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained, regardless of rotation of the electronic device 100 , and then the controller controls the display of executions of the plurality of applications. further, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when there is a request for changing an execution location of a predetermined application of which an execution is displayed on a predetermined window among the multi-windows, if frame rotation information of at least some of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller 110 may control the display of an execution of the predetermined application on another window corresponding to the changed execution location in accordance with frame rotation information of another window. further, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when there is a request for activating respective virtual input units on the multi-windows, if the frame rotation information of at least some of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller 110 may control the activation and display of the respective virtual input units on the multi-windows. in addition, when a plurality of input values are generated through the respective virtual input units displayed on the multi-windows, the controller 110 may control the identification of respective frames of the windows in which the plurality of input values are generated and then provide corresponding input values to applications being executed on the identified windows. further, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously generated on the multi-windows, if the frame rotation information of at least some of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller 110 controls the identification of input coordinates of the respective multi-touches and frames of the windows on which the multi-touches are respectively generated, and allows corresponding applications being respectively executed on the identified windows to perform operations corresponding to the corresponding input coordinates. further, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when audio data are simultaneously outputted from a plurality of applications being respectively executed on the multi-windows, if frame rotation information of at least some of the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller 110 controls the output to only the audio data of the application having a first priority among the plurality of applications and to mute the audio data of the other applications. the mobile communication module 120 connects the electronic device 100 with the external device through mobile communication by using at least one antenna—one or a plurality of antennas 121 —under the control of the controller 110 . the mobile communication module 120 performs transmission/reception of a wireless signal for such functions as, for example, voice phone communication, video phone communication, a short message service (sms), or a multimedia messaging service (mms) with a mobile phone (not shown), smart phone (not shown), a tablet personal computer (pc) or another device (not shown), of which a phone number is inputted to the electronic device 100 , just to name a few non-limiting possible examples for illustrative purposes. the sub-communication module 130 may include at least one of the wireless lan module 131 and the local communication module 132 . for example, the sub-communication module 130 may include only the wireless lan module 131 or only the local communication module 132 , or both the wireless lan module 131 and the local communication module 132 . as previously discussed the modules herein are not software per se and comprise statutory subject matter, including a machine readable medium such as a non-transitory memory having machine executable code, that is loaded and executed by either an integrated circuit such as a communication processor, or executed by the controller 110 . the wireless lan module 131 may be connected to the internet under the control of the controller 110 in a place where a wireless access point (ap) (not shown) is installed. the wireless lan module 131 supports the wireless lan standard (ieee802.11x) of the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee). the local communication module 132 may perform wireless local communication between the electronic device 100 and an image forming device (not shown) under the control of the controller 110 . the local communication may include, for example, bluetooth, infrared data association (irda), wifi direct communication, near field communication (nec), as some non-limiting examples. the electronic device 100 may include at least one of the mobile communication module 120 , the wireless lan module 131 , and the local communication module 132 according to the performance thereof. for example, the electronic device 100 may include, for example, a combination of the mobile communication module 120 , the wireless lan module 131 , and the local communication module 132 . the multimedia module 140 may include, for example, the broadcast communication module 141 , the audio reproducing module 142 , or the video reproducing module 143 . the broadcast communication module 141 may receive a broadcast signal (for example, a television (tv) broadcast signal, a radio broadcast signal, or a data broadcast signal) and broadcast additional information (for example, electric program guide (eps) or electric service guide (esg)) broadcasted from a broadcasting station through a broadcast communication antenna (not shown), under the control of the controller 110 . the audio reproducing module 142 may reproduce a digital audio file (for example, a file having a file extension of mp3, wma, ogg, or way) stored or received, under the control of the controller 110 . the video reproducing module 143 may reproduce a digital video file (for example, a file having a file extension of mpeg, mpg, mp4, avi, mov, or mkv) stored or received, under the control of the controller 110 . the video reproducing module 143 may reproduce the digital audio file. with continued reference to fig. 1 , the multimedia module 140 may include the audio reproducing module 142 and the video reproducing module 143 other than the broadcast communication module 141 . in addition, the audio reproducing module 142 or the video reproducing module 143 of the multimedia module 140 may be included in the controller 110 . in other words, the layout of the structure of the electronic device is not limited the groupings as shown in fig. 1 . the camera module 150 may include, for example, at least one of the first camera 151 and the second camera 152 for photographing a still image or a video image under the control of the controller 110 . further, the first camera 151 or the second camera 152 may include an auxiliary light source for providing a light having an amount of light necessary for photographing thereto (for example, flash (not shown)). the first camera 151 may be disposed on a front surface of the electronic device 100 , and the second camera 152 may be disposed on a back surface of the electronic device 100 . in a different way, the first camera 151 and the second camera 152 are disposed adjacently to each other (for example, the interval between the first camera 151 and the second camera 152 is greater than 1 cm but smaller than 8 cm) to photograph a three-dimensional still image or a three-dimensional video image. the gps module 155 may receive radio waves from a plurality of gps satellites (not shown) on earth orbit and calculate a position of the electronic device 100 by using the time of arrival (toa) from the gps satellite (not shown) to the electronic device 100 . the input/output module 160 may include, for example, at least one of the plurality of buttons 161 , the microphone 162 , the speaker 163 , the vibration motor 164 , the connector 165 , and the keypad 166 . the buttons 161 may be formed on a front surface, a side surface, or a back surface of a housing of the electronic device 100 , and may include at least one of a power/lock button (not shown), a volume button (not shown), a menu button, a home button, a back button, and a search button 161 . the buttons may be virtual buttons and the input/output module may be a touch screen. the microphone 162 receives voice or sound to generate an electrical signal under the control of the controller 110 . the speaker 163 may output sounds corresponding to a number of non-limiting signals of the mobile communication module 120 , the sub-communication module 130 , the multimedia module 140 , or the camera module 150 (for example, a wireless signal, a broadcast signal, a digital audio file, a digital video file, photographing, and the like) to the outside of the electronic device 100 , under the control of the controller 110 . the speaker 163 may output sounds corresponding to functions performed by the electronic device 100 (for example, a button control sound or a ring back tone corresponding to phone communication). there may be one or a plurality of speakers 163 formed at one or a plurality of appropriate locations of the housing of the electronic device 100 . the vibration motor 164 may convert an electrical signal into a mechanical vibration under the control of the controller 110 . for example, when the electronic device 100 in a vibration mode receives voice phone communication from another device (not shown), the vibration motor 164 is operated. there may, for example, be one or a plurality of vibration motors 164 formed within the housing of the electronic device 100 . the vibration motor 164 may be operated in response to a touch action of the user on the touch screen 190 and successive motions of touch on the touch screen 190 . the connector 165 may be used as an interface for connecting the electronic device 100 with the external device (not shown) or a power source (not shown). the electronic device 100 may transmit data stored in the storage unit 175 thereof to the external device (not shown) or receive data from the external device (not shown) through a wired cable connected to the connector 165 , under the control of the controller 110 , in addition, the electronic device 100 may receive power from the power source (not shown) or charge a battery (not shown) by using the power source through the wired cable connected to the connector 165 . the keypad 166 may receive a key input from the user to control the electronic device 100 . the keypad 166 may include, for example a physical keypad (not shown) formed in the electronic device 100 or a virtual keypad (not shown) displayed on the touch screen 190 . the physical keypad (not shown) formed in the electronic device 100 may be omitted according to the performance or structure of the electronic device 100 . an earphone (not shown) may be inserted into the earphone connecting jack 167 and thus connected to the electronic device 100 to receive sound signals. the sensor module 170 includes at least one sensor for detecting a state of the electronic device 100 . for example, the sensor module 170 may include, for example, a proximity sensor for detecting whether or not the user has access to the electronic device 100 , an illumination sensor (not shown) for detecting the amount of light around the electronic device 100 , a motion sensor (not shown) for detecting the operation of the electronic device 100 (for example, rotation of the electronic device 100 or acceleration or vibration applied to the electronic device 100 ), a geo-magnetic sensor (not shown) for detecting the point of the compass of the electronic device 100 by using geomagnetism, a gravity sensor for detecting the acting direction of gravity, or an altimeter for detecting the altitude by measuring atmospheric pressure. at least one sensor may detect the state of the electronic device 100 , generate a signal corresponding to the detected status, and transmit the signal to the controller 110 . the sensors of the sensor module 170 may be added thereto or deleted therefrom according to the performance of the electronic device 100 . the storage unit 175 , which comprises a non-transitory machine readable memory, may store signals or data inputted/outputted in accordance with operations of the mobile communication module 120 , the sub-communication module 130 , the multimedia module 140 , the camera module 150 , the gps module 155 , the input/output module 160 , the sensor module 170 , and the touch screen 190 under the control of the controller 110 . the storage unit 175 may store machine executable control programs and applications for controlling the electronic device 100 or the controller 110 . the term “storage unit” includes a memory card (not shown) (for example, a secure digital (sd) card or a memory stick) mounted on the storage unit 175 , the rom 112 or the ram 113 within the controller 110 , or the electronic device 100 . the storage unit may include a nonvolatile memory, a volatile memory, a hard disk drive (hdd), or a solid state drive (ssd), just to name a few non-limiting possibilities. in addition, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the storage unit 175 may store frame rotation information of each window in the multi-window mode. in addition, the storage unit 175 may store the os framework for frame rotation control and input control of each window in the multi-window mode according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and the os framework will be described in detail with reference to fig. 2 below. the power supplier 180 may supply power to one or a plurality of batteries (not shown) disposed in the housing of the electronic device 100 under the control of the controller 110 . the one or plural batteries (not shown) may supply the power to the electronic device 100 . in addition, the power supplier 180 may supply the power inputted from an external power source (not shown) through the wired cable connected to the connector 165 , to the electronic device 100 . in addition, the power supplier 180 may supply the power wirelessly inputted from the external power source through wireless charging technology to the electronic device 100 . the touch screen 190 may provide a user interface corresponding to various services (for example, phone communication, data transmission, broadcasting, and photographing pictures) to the user. the touch screen 190 may transmit an analog signal corresponding to at least one touch inputted to the user interface to the touch screen controller 195 . the touch screen 190 may receive at least one touch through a body part of the user (for example, a finger including a thumb) or a touchable input unit (for example, a stylus pen). also, the touch screen 190 may receive successive motions of one touch among one or more touches. the touch screen 190 may transmit an analog signal corresponding to the successive motions of the touch to the touch screen controller 195 . the touch in the present invention is not limited to a touch between the touch screen 190 and the body part of the user or the touchable input, but may include non-contact touch, (a non-touch, for example, when the detectable interval between the touch screen 190 and the body part of the user or the touchable input is, for example 1 mm or smaller and thus is considered a touch without making physical contact with the surface of the touch screen). the detectable interval for of the touch screen 190 may be changed depending on the performance or structure of the electronic device 100 , and thus actual physical contact with the touch screen is not an absolute requirement in view of the aforementioned explanation of non-contact touch. the touch screen 190 may be embodied in, for example, a resistive type, a capacitive type, an infrared type, or an acoustic wave type. in addition, according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present, in the multi-window mode, the screen is divided into the multi-windows for displaying executions of the plurality of applications thereon, and the plurality of applications may be respectively executed and displayed in the same or in different directions on the multi-windows of which the frames are rotated in accordance with the respective frame rotation information. the touch screen controller 195 ( fig. 1 ) converts the analog signal received from the touch screen 190 into a digital signal (for example, x and y coordinates) and transmits the digital signal to the controller 110 . the controller 110 may control the touch screen 190 by using the digital signal received from the touch screen controller 195 . for example, the controller 110 may select a shortcut icon (not shown) displayed on the touch screen 190 or execute the shortcut icon (not shown) in response to a touch, in addition, the touch screen controller 195 may be included in the controller 110 . fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing an os framework of an electronic device ( 100 ) according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. the os framework is executed in hardware such as a processor, microprocessor, cpu, controller, etc. which may include one or more circuits including integrated circuitry. referring now to fig. 2 , an os framework stored in the non-transitory storage unit 175 of the electronic device 100 may be in communication with an input manager 210 a , an event manager 210 b , a frame manager 210 c , and an orientation manager 210 d , with the respective managers optionally arranged in the touch screen controller 195 . in turn, each of the managers 210 a - 210 d are also communicatively linked to each other typically through a bus or busses. all of these managers 210 a - 210 d do not constitute software per se, and are loaded into hardware for execution, such as a microprocessor, sub-processor or controller in an integrated circuit of the touch screen controller 195 , or the controller 110 . the input manager 210 a may receive an event generated in the electronic device 100 and transmit the received event to the event manager 210 b . the generated event may include all the events process-able by the electronic device 100 , such as a touch, a request, and a motion, which are generated in the electronic device 100 . in addition, the input manager 210 a may display respective virtual inputs on frames of the multi-windows in the multi-window mode at the request of the frame manager 210 c. with continued reference to fig. 2 , the event manager 210 b analyzes the type of event transmitted from the input manager 210 a and transmits the analyzed event to the frame manager 210 c. the frame manager 210 c identifies a frame of a window in which the event received from the event manager 210 b is to be performed, and transmits the event to an application executed on the identified window, so that the application can perform an operation corresponding to the transmitted event. the frame manager 210 c according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention may control individually the multi-windows by transmitting, to corresponding applications, events respectively generated from plural applications 220 a to 220 d executed and displayed on the multi-windows. the plural applications 220 a to 220 d are stored in the storage unit 175 and are executed by hardware, for example, circuitry such as an integrated circuit of the controller 110 or touch screen controller 195 , the integrated circuit being a processor, microprocessor, etc. the plural applications 220 a to 220 d each include an internal logic (orientation logic) for performing a frame rotating control operation when a frame rotation event is transmitted from the frame manager 210 c. when the type of event received from the event manager 210 b is the frame rotation event, the frame manager 210 c in this example identifies a frame of a widow detecting the frame rotation event, identifies a corresponding application of which an execution was displayed on the identified window, and transmits the frame rotation event to the identified application. alternatively, when the type of event received from the event manager 210 b is an electronic device rotational event, if frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows that are different from each other, the frame manager 210 c may transmit the frame rotation information for allowing maintenance of the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows to the plural applications, respectively, regardless of rotation of the electronic device. alternatively, when the type of event received from the event manager 210 b is a requested change event of an application execution location, if the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, the frame manager 210 c identifies a frame of a window detecting the request event of change of application execution location. the frame manager 210 c identifies a predetermined application of which an execution is displayed on the identified window, and transmits a frame location value of another window corresponding to the execution location to be changed and the frame rotation information of another window to the identified predetermined application, so that an execution of the predetermined application can be displayed on another window in a direction corresponding to the frame rotation information of said another window. alternatively, when the type of event received from the event manager 210 b is, for example, a request event of activation of a virtual input unit, the frame manager 210 c may request the input manager 210 a to display activation of the respective virtual input units on the multi-windows. alternatively, when the type of event received from the event manager 210 b is, for example, a generation event of input value that plural input values are generated from the virtual input units respectively displayed on the multi-windows, the frame manager 210 c identifies respective frames of windows in which the plural input values are generated. in addition, the frame manager 210 c may identify applications of which executions are displayed on the identified windows, and provide corresponding input values to the identified applications. alternatively, when the type of event received from the event manager 210 b is, for example, a multi-touch event that multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously generated on the multi-windows, the frame manager 210 c identifies respective input coordinates at which the multi-touches are generated and respective frames of windows on which the multi-touches are generated. in addition, the frame manager 210 c may identify applications of which executions are displayed on the identified windows, and transmit corresponding input coordinates to the identified applications. the orientation manager 210 d may register frame rotation information of the multi-windows on which executions of the plurality of applications 220 a to 220 d are displayed and rotation information of the electronic device 100 . hereinafter, operations of controlling multi-windows in the electronic device will be described in detail with reference to figs. 3a through 20 . figs. 3a through 3f are views for describing operations of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. in these non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a touch screen that is divided into two windows on which executions of two applications are displayed in a multi-window mode is exemplified, but the number of windows divided in the multi-window mode is not limited to what is shown and discussed. with reference to fig. 3a , in a multi-window mode in which a touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 initially displaying an execution of a video application in a direction of 0° and the second window 192 is displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when a rotation gesture using a single touch is detected on the first window 191 , a frame of the first window 191 may be rotated in a direction corresponding to the rotation gesture using a single touch and the execution of the video application may be displayed in accordance with the rotated frame of the first window 191 , as shown in fig. 3a . fig. 3a shows that the frame of the first window 191 is rotated at an angle of 90° through the rotation of 90° using a single touch, which is generated on the first window 191 and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window 191 in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 90°. in a multi-window mode in which the touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 initially displaying an execution of a video application in a direction of 0° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when a rotation gesture using multi-touches is detected on the first window 191 , a frame of the first window 191 may be rotated in a direction corresponding to the rotation gesture using multi-touches and the execution of the video application may be displayed in accordance with the rotated frame of the first window 191 , as shown in fig. 3b . fig. 3b shows that the frame of the first window 191 is rotated at an angle of 90° through the rotation of 90° using multi-touches, which is generated on the first window 191 and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 90°. with reference to fig. 3c , in a multi-window mode in which the touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 in this example initially displaying an execution of a video application in a direction of 0° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, icons 301 a and 301 b for frame rotation may be respectively displayed on the first window 191 and the second window 192 . the icons 301 a and 301 b may be displayed at all times or at the request of a user. in the multi-window mode in which the icons 301 a and 301 b are respectively displayed on the first window 191 and the second window 192 , when the icon 301 a is selected on the first window 191 while the video application of which the execution is displayed on the first window 191 is displayed in a direction of 0°, the frame of the first window 191 may be rotated and the execution of the video application may be displayed in accordance with the rotated frame of the first window 191 , as shown in fig. 3c . for example, fig. 3c shows that the frame of the first window 191 is rotated at an angle of 90° through the selection of the icon 301 a , which is generated on the first window 191 , and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window 191 in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 90°. whenever the icons 301 a and 301 b are selected, frames of corresponding windows may be rotated at an angle of 90°. therefore, in fig. 3c , when the icon 301 a is again selected on the first window 191 , the frame of the first window 191 is again rotated at an angle of 90° (90 degrees plus 90 degrees, totaling 180 degrees), and the execution of the video application is displayed in a direction rotated at an angle of 180° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 180° (not shown). in addition, fig. 3c also shows arrow icons as examples of icons 301 a and 301 b for frame rotation. in the case of an icon capable of indicating the orientation, such as the arrow icon, the position thereof is changed whenever the frame of the window is rotated, so that a user can see the rotation direction of the application of which the execution is displayed on the window. in a multi-window mode in which the touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 initially displaying an execution of a video application in a direction of 0° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when a gesture is detected for displaying a handle user interface (ui) 302 for frame rotation, for example, a long touch, is generated on the first window 191 , the handle ui 302 for frame rotation may be displayed on a predetermined region of the first window 191 . when a rotation gesture using the handle ui 302 is generated, the frame of the first window 191 may be rotated in a direction corresponding to the rotation gesture using the handle ui 302 and the execution of the video application may be displayed in accordance with the rotated frame of the first window 191 , as shown in fig. 3d . fig. 3d shows that the frame of the first window 191 is rotated at an angle of 90° through the rotation of 90° using the handle ui 302 , which is generated on the first window 191 and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window 191 in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 90°. in addition, in a multi-window mode in which the touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 initially displaying an execution of a video application in a direction of 0° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when a gesture for displaying a handle user interface (ui) for frame rotation, for example, a long touch, is generated on the first window 191 or the second window 192 , the handle uis 303 a and 303 b for frame rotation may be respectively displayed on a predetermined region of the first window 191 and a predetermined region of the second window 192 for a predetermined time. when the handle ui 303 a displayed on the predetermined region of the first window is selected, the frame of the first window 191 may be rotated and the execution of the video application may be displayed in accordance with the rotated frame of the first window 191 , as shown in fig. 3e . fig. 3e shows that the frame of the first window 191 is rotated at an angle of 90° through the selection of the handle ui 303 a on the first window 191 and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window 191 in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 90°. according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, whenever the handle uis 303 a and 303 b are selected, frames of corresponding windows may be rotated at an angle of 90°. therefore, in fig. 3e , when the handle ui 303 a is again selected on the first window 191 , the frame of the first window 191 is again rotated at an angle of 90° and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window in a direction rotated at an angle of 180° (not shown) in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 180°. in addition, fig. 3e shows that each of the handle uis 303 a and 303 b for frame rotation, when each rotation direction is designated by a forward direction, is always displayed at the bottom of the right side, so that a user can see the rotation direction of the application executed and displayed on the window. in a multi-window mode in which the touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 initially displaying an execution of a video application in a direction of 0° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when a predetermined gesture for frame rotation is generated, for example, two continuous touches are generated on the first window 191 for a predetermined time, a frame of the first window 191 may be rotated and the execution of the video application may be displayed in accordance with the rotated frame of the first window 191 , as shown in fig. 3f . fig. 3f shows that the frame of the first window 191 is rotated at an angle of 90° through the predetermined gesture generated on the first window 191 and the execution of the video application is displayed on the first window 191 in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotated at an angle of 90°. in addition, whenever the predetermined gesture is generated, the frame of the first window 191 may be rotated in a direction of 90°. as shown in figs. 3a through 3f , the executions of the video application and the internet application are displayed on the first window 191 and the second window 192 in different directions, so that a plurality of users can conveniently execute corresponding applications at their desired positions. hereinafter, the operations shown in figs. 3a through 3f will now be described in more detail with reference to figs. 4 through 5 . fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with additional reference to fig. 1 . referring now to fig. 4 , in (operation 401 ), a multi-window mode in which executions of plural applications are respectively displayed on multi-windows obtained by dividing a touch screen 190 into plural screens. at (operation 402 ), the controller 110 determines whether a gesture for frame rotation is generated on the multi-windows. at (operation 403 ), if the gesture for frame rotation is detected on a predetermined window among the multi-windows in operation 402 , the controller 110 controls the rotation of a frame of the predetermined window in response to the gesture for frame rotation and controls display of a predetermined application on the predetermined window in accordance with the frame rotation of the predetermined window. more particularly, the gesture for frame rotation may include at least one of a rotation gesture using a single touch, or a rotation gesture using multi-touches, or a rotation gesture using an icon, or a rotation gesture of a handle user interface (ui) displayed for frame rotation, that may include a selection of a handle ui displayed for frame rotation, and a predetermined gesture. figs. 3a , 3 b, 3 c, 3 d, 3 e, 3 f, and 4 illustrate a change of frame rotation information of the window through the generation of the gestures for frame rotation, but the frame rotation information of the window may be also changed by a presence detection other than or in addition to the gestures for frame rotation. for example, when access of a new user other than the current user is also present within a predetermined range of the electronic device 100 (the new user being detected through, for example, the presence detection using sonar, infrared, laser, or low-power camera in a multi-window mode etc.), the controller 110 may activate a frame rotation function for a predetermined window to which the new user has access and thus rotate a frame of the predetermined window such that the access direction of the new user is a forward direction, and display an execution of a corresponding application. further, when the deviation of the new user from the predetermined range is detected through the presence detection, the controller 110 may deactivate the frame rotation function for the predetermined window and thus return the predetermined window to the previous orientation, and display the execution of the corresponding application. fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 2 . referring now to fig. 5 , at (operation 501 ) in a multi-window mode, when a gesture for frame rotation is generated on a predetermined window among multi-windows, at (operation 502 ), the input manager 210 a may receive an event and transmit the event to the event manager 210 b. at (operation 503 ), the event manager 210 b may analyze the type of event received from the input manager 210 a and transmit a frame rotation event to the frame manager 210 c as the analyzed result. at (operation 504 ), the frame manager 210 c may identify a frame of the window on which the received frame rotation event is generated. at (operation 505 ), the frame manager 210 c may identify the type of application executed and displayed on the frame of the window and transmit the frame rotation event to the identified application. at (operation 506 ), the application receiving the frame rotation event from the frame manager 210 c may allow performance of a frame rotation operation corresponding to the frame rotation event by using an orientation logic therein. at (operation 507 ), when the frame rotation operation is performed in operation 506 , the orientation manager 210 d may update and register frame rotation information of the application in a storage device. figs. 6a , 6 b, 6 c and 6 d are views for illustrating operations of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows depending on electronic device rotation in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. in a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a touch screen that is divided into, for example, two windows on which executions of two applications are displayed in a multi-window mode is exemplified, but the number of windows divided in the multi-window mode is not limited. nor does their have to be an exact 1:1 ratio of windows to applications, as one particular window can display more than one application. fig. 6a shows a multi-window mode in which a touch screen 190 of device 100 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 . as shown in fig. 6a , the first window 191 displays an execution of a memo application in a direction of a after/while being rotated at an angle of 180° and the second window 192 displays an execution of an internet application in a direction of b at an angle of 0°. when the electronic device 100 is rotated at an angle of 90° in the multi-window mode as shown in fig. 6a , then as shown in fig. 6b a frame of the first window 191 may be rotated at an angle of −90° to be maintained in a direction of a and a frame of the second window 192 may be rotated at an angle of −90° to be maintained in a direction of b, regardless of the 90° rotation of the electronic device 100 , as shown in fig. 6b . in addition, as shown in fig. 6c when the electronic device 100 shown in fig. 6b is again rotated at an angle of 90° in the multi-window mode, the frame of the first window 191 may be again rotated at an angle of −90° to be maintained in a direction of a and the frame of the second window 192 may be rotated at an angle of −90° to be maintained in a direction of b, regardless of 180° rotation of the electronic device 100 . in addition, as shown in fig. 6d , when the electronic device 100 shown in fig. 6c is again rotated at an angle of 90° in the multi-window mode as shown in fig. 6c , the frame of the first window 191 may be again rotated at an angle of −90° to be maintained in a direction of a and the frame of the second window 192 may be rotated at an angle of −90° to be maintained in a direction of b, regardless of 270° rotation of the electronic device 100 . as shown in figs. 6a , 6 b, 6 c and 6 d, the present invention can provide appropriate position-related services to a plurality of users using multi-windows by maintaining frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows, regardless of rotation of the electronic device 100 . hereinafter, the operations shown in figs. 6a through 6d will be described in detail with reference to figs. 7 and 8 . fig. 7 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows depending on electronic device rotation in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 1 . referring now to fig. 7 , at (operation 701 ), in a multi-window mode it is determined at (operation 702 ) whether rotation of the electronic device 100 is detected. if the rotation of the electronic device 100 is detected, then at (operation 703 ) the controller 110 may determine whether respective frame rotation information of multi-windows are different from each other. if the respective frame rotation information for the multi-windows are the same as each other, then at (operation 705 ) the controller 110 may control to rotate respective frames of the multi-windows in accordance with the rotation of the electronic device 100 and display executions of a plurality of applications on the multi-windows in a direction corresponding to the rotation of the electronic device 100 . however, if the respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows are different from each other, at (operation 705 ), the controller 110 , regardless of the rotation of the electronic device 100 , may control to rotate respective frames of the multi-windows such that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are maintained and display the executions of the plurality of applications on the multi-windows of which the frames are rotated. fig. 8 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling screen rotation of multi-windows depending on electronic device rotation in an os framework of an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will also be described with reference to fig. 2 . referring now to fig. 8 , at (operation 801 ), in a multi-window mode, as the electronic device 100 is rotated, at (operation 802 ) the input manager 210 a may receive an event and transmit the event to the event manager 210 b . at (operation 803 ), the event manager 210 b may analyze the type of event received from the input manager 210 a and transmit an electronic device rotation event to the frame manager 210 c as the analyzed result. if the received event is an electronic device rotation event, then at (operation 804 ) the frame manager 210 c determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other by the respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows registered in the orientation manager 210 d. if it is determined in (operation 804 ) that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, then at (operation 805 ) the frame manager 210 c identifies the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows and a plurality of applications being respectively executed on the multi-windows. in (operation 805 ), the frame manager 210 c may transmit different frame rotation information for allowing maintenance of the frame rotation information set for the multi-windows to a plurality of applications while the electronic device 100 is rotated. in addition, (at operation 806 ), each of the corresponding applications receiving corresponding frame rotation information may perform a rotation operation by a rotation logic therein, and the orientation manager 210 d may update respective changed frame rotation information of the plural applications. figs. 9a and 9b are views for illustrating operations of controlling a change of execution locations of applications on multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. in a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a touch screen that is divided into two windows on which executions of two applications are displayed in a multi-window mode is exemplified, but the number of windows divided in the multi-window mode is not limited. fig. 9a shows a multi-window mode in which a touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 displaying an execution of a video application in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°. when there is a request for changing an execution location of an application through a predetermined gesture in a multi-window mode as shown in fig. 9a , the execution of the internet application may be displayed on the first window 191 in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° in accordance with the frame rotation information of the first window 191 and the execution of the video application may be displayed on the second window 192 in a direction of 0° in accordance with the frame rotation information of the second window 192 , as shown in fig. 9b . hereinafter, the illustration of operations shown in figs. 9a and 9b will be described in detail with reference to figs. 10 and 11 . fig. 10 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling a change of execution locations of applications on multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 1 . referring now to fig. 10 , at (operation 1001 ), in a multi-window mode, at (operation 1002 ) the controller 110 may determine whether there is a request for changing an execution location of a predetermined application among plural applications of which executions are being respectively displayed on multi-windows. if it is determined at (operation 1002 ) that there is the request for changing an execution location of a predetermined application among the plural applications in operation 1002 , then at (operation 1003 ) the controller 110 may determine whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other. if at (operation 1003 ) it is determined that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other in, the controller 110 at (operation 1004 ) may control to display an execution of the predetermined application on a changed window on which the predetermined application is to be executed, in accordance with frame rotation information of the changed window. fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of controlling a change of execution locations of applications on multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will also be described with reference to fig. 2 . referring now to fig. 11 , at (operation 1101 ) in a multi-window mode, as there is a request for changing application execution location, at (operation 1102 ) the input manager 210 a may receive an event and transmit the event to the event manager 210 b. at (operation 1103 ), the event manager 210 b may analyze the type of event received from the input manager 210 a and transmit a request event of change of application execution location to the frame manager 210 c as the analyzed result. at (operation 1104 ), if the received event is the request event of change of application execution location, the frame manager 210 c determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other by respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows registered in the orientation manager 210 d. if in (operation 1104 ) it is determined that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, then at (operation 1105 ) the frame manager 210 c may identify a frame of a window detecting the request event of change of application execution location and identify a predetermined application of which an execution is displayed on the identified window. in addition, at (operation 1106 ), the frame manager 210 c transmits a frame location value of another window corresponding to an execution location to be changed thereof and frame rotation information of another window to the identified application. finally, at (operation 1107 ), the identified application may allow performance of a frame rotation operation corresponding to frame rotation information of another window on another window through the received frame location value of another window. fig. 12 is a view for describing an operation of controlling multi-inputs of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. in a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a touch screen that is divided into two windows on which executions of two applications are displayed in a multi-window mode is exemplified, but the number of windows divided in the multi-window mode is not limited. in a multi-window mode in which a touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 displaying an execution of a memo application in a direction rotated at an angle of 180° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when there is a request for virtual input units for the memo application of the first window 191 and the internet application of the second window 192 , virtual input units 1201 a and 1201 b may be activated and displayed on the first window 191 and the second window 192 , respectively. while fig. 12 , and other drawings, for example, show different applications per window, an artisan understand and appreciates that it is within the scope of the present disclosure that, for example a game could be played between, for example two or more players, with windows for player 1 , player 2 , player 3 . . . at orientations by which they are sensed through presence detection. in addition, when plurality of input values are generated through key inputs of the virtual input units 1201 a and 1201 b respectively displayed on the first window 191 and the second window 192 , an input value generated through a key input of the virtual input unit 1201 a displayed on the first window may be provided to the memo application, and an input value generated through a key input of the virtual input unit 1201 b displayed on the second window ( 192 ) may be provided to the internet application. as shown in fig. 12 , a single device can independently provide corresponding functions to a plurality of users respectively executing plural applications through inputs, for example, virtual key inputs. while two windows are shown, this is merely for illustrative purposes and there can be multiple windows for more than two users in different positions relative to the device. hereinafter, the operation shown in fig. 12 will now be described in further detail with reference to figs. 13 and 14 . fig. 13 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling multi-inputs of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 1 . referring now to fig. 13 , at (operation 1301 ) the device is in a multi-window mode, and at (operation 1302 ) it is determined whether there is a request for activating a virtual input unit on each of multi-windows. if in (operation 1302 ) there is the request for activating respective virtual input units on the multi-windows, then at (operation 1303 ) controller 110 determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other. if at (operation 1303 ) it is determined that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, then in (operation 1304 ) the controller 110 controls to activate and display the requested virtual input units on the multi-windows, respectively. in addition, at (operation 1305 ), when plural input values are generated through key inputs of the virtual input units respectively displayed on the multi-windows, the controller 110 may identify frames of windows in which differentiated plural input values are generated and provide corresponding input values to corresponding applications being executed on the identified windows. figs. 14 and 15 are flowcharts for illustrating an operation of controlling multi-inputs of multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 2 . referring to fig. 14 for illustrating the operation of respectively activating the virtual input units on the multi-windows, at operation ( 1401 ) the device is in a multi-window mode. at (operation 1402 ), there is a request for activating the virtual input units, the input manager 210 a may receive an event and transmit the event to the event manager 210 b. at (operation 1403 ), the event manager 210 b may analyze the type of event received from the input manager 210 a and transmit a request event of activation of virtual input unit to the frame manager 210 c as the analyzed result. at (operation 1404 ), when the received is the request event of activation of virtual input unit, the frame manager 210 c determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other by respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows registered in the orientation manager 210 d. if it is determined at (operation 1404 ) that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, then at (operation 1405 ) the frame manager 210 c may request the input manager 210 a to respectively activate the virtual input units on the multi-windows. when the virtual input units are respectively displayed on the multi-windows, the frame manager 210 c may request the input manager 210 a to activate and display the virtual input units in directions corresponding to the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows. in addition, referring to fig. 15 for illustrating an operation of processing plural input values generated in the virtual input units respectively displayed on the multi-windows, in a multi-window mode (operation 1501 ), when the plural input values are generated through key inputs of the virtual input units respectively displayed on the multi-windows, at (operation 1502 ) the input manager 210 a may receive an event and transmit the event to the event manager 210 b. at (operation 1503 ), the event manager 210 b may analyze the type of event received from the input manager 210 a and transmit a generation event of input value to the frame manager 210 c as the analyzed result. when the received event is the generation event of input value that plural input values are respectively generated through the virtual input units, at (operation 1504 ) the frame manager 210 c determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other by respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows registered in the orientation manager 210 d. if at (operation 1504 ), it is determined that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, the frame manager 210 c at (operation 1505 ) identifies frames of windows in which the plural input values are respectively generated. in addition, at (operation 1506 ) the frame manager 210 c may identify applications of which executions are displayed on the identified windows, and transmit corresponding input values to corresponding applications. finally, at (operation 1507 ) the corresponding applications may allow performance of operations corresponding to the received corresponding input values. fig. 16 is a view for describing an operation of controlling multi-touches of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. in a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a touch screen that is divided into two windows on which executions of two applications are displayed in a multi-window mode is exemplified, but the number of windows divided in the multi-window mode is not limited. referring to fig. 16 , in a multi-window mode in which a touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 displaying an execution of a video application in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously generated in the video application of the first window 191 and the internet application of the second window 192 , the video application may perform an operation corresponding to the touch generated on the first window 191 and the internet application may perform an operation corresponding to the touch generated on the second window 192 at the same time. as illustrated in fig. 16 , a single device can independently provide corresponding functions to a plurality of users respectively executing plural applications through the touches. hereinafter, the operation illustrated in fig. 16 will be described in detail with reference to figs. 17 and 18 . fig. 17 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling multi-touches of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 1 . referring to fig. 17 , at (operation 1701 ) in which the device is in a multi-window mode, at (operation 1702 ) the controller 110 determines whether multi-touches respectively and simultaneously generated on the multi-windows are detected. if the multi-touches respectively and simultaneously generated on the multi-windows are detected in (operation 1702 ), at (operation 1703 ) the controller 110 may determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other. if it is determined in operation ( 1703 ) that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other, the controller 110 at (operation 1704 ) may identify respective input coordinates at which the multi-touches are generated and frames of window on which the multi-touches are generated, and may control corresponding applications to perform operations corresponding to the corresponding input coordinates. fig. 18 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling multi-touches of multi-windows in an os framework of an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 2 . referring to fig. 18 , in a multi-window mode (operation 1801 ), as multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously generated on frames of multi-windows, at (operation 1802 ) the input manager 210 a may receive an event and transmit the event to the event manager 210 b. at (operation 1803 ), the event manager 210 b may analyze the type of event received from the input manager 210 a and transmit a multi-touch event that multi-touches are respectively and simultaneously generated on the frames of the multi-windows to the frame manager 210 c as the analyzed result. if the received event is the event of activation of virtual input unit, at (operation 1804 ) the frame manager 210 c determines whether frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other by respective frame rotation information of the multi-windows registered in the orientation manager 210 d. if at (operation 1804 ), it is determined that the frame rotation information respectively set for the multi-windows are different from each other in operation 1804 , the frame manager 210 c at (operation 1805 ) may identify respective input coordinates at which the multi-touches are generated and respective frames of the windows on which the multi-touches are generated. in addition, the frame manager 210 c at (operation 1806 ) may identify applications being executed on the identified windows, and transmit corresponding input coordinate values to corresponding applications. in addition, at (operation 1807 ) the corresponding applications are allowed to perform operations corresponding to the corresponding input coordinate values, and thus, simultaneously perform operations corresponding to the multi-touches respectively generated on the multi-windows. alternatively, when receiving the input coordinate values of the multi-touches in order, the input manager 210 a gives a predetermined delay value to the input coordinate values in the order of reception and thus an os of the electronic device based on time-division scheduling can process individual inputs while scheduling respective applications. fig. 19 is a view for describing an operation of controlling an output of multi-audio data of multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. in a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a touch screen that is divided into two windows on which executions of two applications are displayed in a multi-window mode is exemplified, but the number of windows divided in the multi-window mode is not limited. in a multi-window mode where a touch screen 190 is divided into a first window 191 and a second window 192 , the first window 191 displaying an execution of a video application in a direction rotated at an angle of 90° and the second window 192 displaying an execution of an internet application in a direction of 0°, when audio data are simultaneously outputted from the video application and the internet application, audio data of only the video application having higher priority may be outputted, as shown in fig. 9 . in addition, as shown in fig. 19 , an output icon 1901 a of informing that audio data are being outputted is displayed on the first window 191 and a non-output icon 1901 b of informing that audio data are not being outputted is displayed on the second window 192 . as illustrated in fig. 19 , when audio data are simultaneously outputted from the plurality of applications in the multi-window mode where the plural applications are simultaneously executed, the audio data can be prevented from being mixed and outputted. hereinafter, the exemplary operation illustrated in fig. 19 will now be described in detail with reference to fig. 20 . fig. 20 is a flowchart for illustrating an operation of controlling an output of multi-audio data on multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. hereinafter, a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described also with reference to fig. 1 . referring to fig. 20 , at (operation 2001 ) with the device in a multi-window mode, the controller 110 at (operation 2002 ) determines whether audio data are simultaneously outputted from respective plural applications being executed on the multi-windows. if it is determined at (operation 2002 ) that the audio data are simultaneously outputted from respective plural applications, the controller 110 at (operation 2003 ) determines priorities of the plural applications. the priorities of the plural applications may be predetermined automatically or manually. if the priorities of the plural applications are determined, the controller 110 at (operation 2004 ) may output audio data generated in only the application having first priority among the plural applications and may mute audio data generated in the other applications. in addition, when the earphone is inserted into the electronic device 100 , the audio data generated in the other applications may be outputted through the earphone. fig. 21 shows a configuration menu for selecting “multi-window frame rotation” in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention. as shown in fig. 21 , the item “multi-window” may be selected from a configuration menu for display 9 ( 1201 a ), and then the item “multi-window frame rotation” may be selectively activated or deactivated ( 2101 b ). when the item “multi-window frame rotation” is selectively activated, there may be individual frames through gestures for frame rotation. the electronic device and the method for controlling multi-windows in an electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be embodied as a code readable by a computer on a recording medium readable by the computer. the recording medium readable by a computer includes all types of recording devices storing data readable by a computer system. examples of the recording media are a rom, a ram, an optical disc, a magnetic tape, a floppy disc, a non-volatile memory, and the like, and includes also ones embodied in a carrier wave type (for example, transmission through internet). in addition, the recording media readable by a computer are distributed in a computer system connected to a network, so that codes readable by the computers can be stored in the recording media and can be implemented in a distribution manner. the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware, firmware or via the execution of software or computer code that can be stored in a recording medium such as a cd rom, a digital versatile disc (dvd), a magnetic tape, a ram, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magneto-optical disk or computer code downloaded over a network originally stored on a remote recording medium or a non-transitory machine readable medium and to be stored on a local recording medium, so that the methods described herein can be rendered via such software that is stored on the recording medium using a general purpose computer, or a special processor or in programmable or dedicated hardware, such as an asic or fpga. as would be understood in the art, the computer, the processor, microprocessor controller or the programmable hardware include memory components, e.g., ram, rom, flash, etc. that may store or receive software or computer code that when accessed and executed by the computer, processor or hardware implement the processing methods described herein. in addition, it would be recognized that when a general purpose computer accesses code for implementing the processing shown herein, the execution of the code transforms the general purpose computer into a special purpose computer for executing the processing shown herein. any of the functions and steps provided in the figures may be implemented in hardware, software or a combination of both and may be performed in whole or in part within the programmed instructions of a computer. no claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 u.s.c. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for”. in addition, an artisan understands and appreciates that a “processor” or “microprocessor” comprises circuitry in the claimed disclosure that is configured for operation by the execution of machine executable code. under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the appended claims constitute statutory subject matter in compliance with 35 u.s.c. §101. the definition of the terms “unit” or “module” as referred to herein is to be understood as constituting hardware circuitry such as a processor or microprocessor configured for a certain desired functionality, or a communication module containing hardware such as transmitter, receiver or transceiver, or a non-transitory medium comprising machine executable code that is loaded into and executed by hardware for operation, in accordance with statutory subject matter under 35 u.s.c. §101 and do not constitute software per se. as set forth above, in the electronic device and the method for controlling multi-windows of the electronic device according to a number of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of users can easily and conveniently use desired functions in a single electronic device by individually controlling screens, inputs, and voices of the multi-windows. while the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that a number of non-limiting changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims
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134-749-409-048-987
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US
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| 2013-04-19T00:00:00 |
2013
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[
"C07",
"A61",
"C12"
] |
bicyclic heterocycles as fgfr inhibitors
|
the present invention relates to bicyclic heterocycles, and pharmaceutical compositions of the same, that are inhibitors of one or more fgfr enzymes and are useful in the treatment of fgfr-associated diseases such as cancer.
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1 . a compound of formula i: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein: w is nr 9 , o, or cr 10 r 11 ; r 1 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, or c 3-7 cycloalkyl; r 2 , r 3 , and r 5 are each independently selected from h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cyclopropyl, cn, or a , sr a , c(o)r b , c(o)nr c r d , c(o)or a , oc(o)r b , oc(o)nr c r d , nr c r d , nr c c(o)r b , nr c c(o)or a , nr c c(o)nr c r d , c(═nr e )r b , c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c s(o)r b , nr c s(o) 2 r b , nr c s(o) 2 nr c r d , s(o)r b , s(o)nr c r d , s(o) 2 r b , and s(o) 2 nr c r d ; r 4 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )r b1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, and 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; r 6 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )r b2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , or s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a ; wherein r 6 is other than h when w is nr 9 ; each r 6a is independently selected from cy 1 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 1 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, —c(o)r a , s(o)r a , s(o) 2 r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; each r 7a is independently selected from cy 2 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 ; r 9 is h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 9a ; each r 9a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; r 10 and r 11 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )r b4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 10a ; each r 10a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; or r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; each r a is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 alkoxy, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 alkoxy, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; cy 1 , cy 2 , and cy 3 are each independently selected from c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, each of which is optionally substituted by 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 3-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )r b5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; each r a , r b , r c , and r d is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r a1 , r b1 , r c1 , r d1 , r a2 , r b2 , r c2 , r d2 , r a3 , r b3 , r c3 , r d3 , r a4 , r b4 , r c4 , and r d4 , r a5 , r b5 , r c5 , and r d5 is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c and r d together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c1 and r d1 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c2 and r d2 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c3 and r d3 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c4 and r d4 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr 6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c5 and r d5 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r e , r e1 , r e2 , r e3 , r e4 , and r e5 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, cn, or a6 , sr b6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , c(o)r b6 , s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and c(o)nr c6 r d6 ; each r a6 , r b6 , r c6 , and r d6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, wherein said c 1-4 alkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; or any r c6 and r d6 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; and each r e6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, and cn. 2 . a compound of formula i: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein: w is nr 9 , o, or cr 10 r 11 ; r 1 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, or c 3-7 cycloalkyl; r 2 , r 3 , and r 5 are each independently selected from h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cyclopropyl, cn, or a , sr a , c(o)r b , c(o)nr c r d , c(o)or a , oc(o)r b , oc(o)nr c r d , nr c r d , nr c c(o)r b , nr c c(o)or a , nr c c(o)nr c r d , c(═nr e )r b , c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c s(o)r b , nr c s(o) 2 r b , nr c s(o) 2 nr c r d , s(o)r b , s(o)nr c r d , s(o) 2 r b , and s(o) 2 nr c r d ; r 4 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )r b1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, and 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; r 6 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )r b2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , or s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a ; wherein r 6 is other than h when w is nr 9 ; each r 6a is independently selected from cy 1 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 1 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, —c(o)r a , s(o)r a , s(o) 2 r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; each r 7a is independently selected from cy 2 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 ; r 9 is h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 9a ; each r 9a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; r 10 and r 11 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )r b4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 10a ; each r 10a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; or r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; each r a is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 alkoxy, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 alkoxy, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; cy 1 , cy 2 , and cy 3 are each independently selected from c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, each of which is optionally substituted by 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 3-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )r b5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; each r a , r b , r c , and r d is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r a1 , r b1 , r c1 , r d1 , r a2 , r b2 , r c2 , r d2 , r a3 , r b3 , r c3 , r d3 , r a4 , r b4 , r c4 , and r d4 , r a5 , r b5 , r c5 , and r d5 is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c and r d together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c1 and r d1 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c2 and r d2 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c3 and r d3 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c4 and r d4 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr 6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c5 and r d5 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r e , r e1 , r e2 , r e3 , r e4 , and r e5 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, cn, or a6 , sr b6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , c(o)r b6 , s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and c(o)nr c6 r d6 ; each r a6 , r b6 , r c6 , and r d6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, wherein said c 1-4 alkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; or any r c6 and r d6 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; and each r e6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, and cn. 3 - 10 . (canceled) 11 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 are each c 1-6 alkyl. 12 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 are each methyl. 13 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 . 14 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group. 15 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a cyclopropyl group. 16 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 1 is methyl. 17 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 2 is halo. 18 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 2 is fluoro. 19 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 3 is h. 20 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 4 is or a1 . 21 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 4 is methoxy. 22 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 5 is halo. 23 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 5 is fluoro. 24 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is h and w is cr 10 r 11 . 25 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . 26 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . 27 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . 28 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . 29 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . 30 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is chloro, methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenylethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. 31 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. 32 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is methyl. 33 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is pyrazolyl optionally substituted with 1 or 2 substituents independently selected from r 6a . 34 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, —c(o)r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a . 35 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, 2-hydroxypropyl, —c(o)och 3 , 3-fluorophenyl, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, 3,3-difluorocyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, 4-hydroxycyclohexyl, methyl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, pyridin-3-yl, n-methylpiperidin-4-yl, tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, tetrahydrofuran-3-yl, 1-phenylethyl, (1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl, 2-morpholino-4-ylethyl, pyridin-2-ylmethyl, n-methylpiperazin-1-ylethyl, and tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl. 36 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein one of r 7 and r 8 is h. 37 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 7 and r 8 are each h. 38 - 59 . (canceled) 60 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, having formula iiia: 61 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 2 is halo. 62 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 2 is fluoro. 63 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 5 is halo. 64 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 5 is fluoro. 65 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is h. 66 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 are both c 1-6 alkyl. 67 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 are both methyl. 68 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 . 69 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group. 70 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a cyclopropyl group. 71 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, —c(o)r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a . 72 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, 2-hydroxypropyl, —c(o)och 3 , 3-fluorophenyl, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, 3,3-difluorocyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, 4-hydroxycyclohexyl, methyl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, pyridin-3-yl, n-methylpiperidin-4-yl, tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, tetrahydrofuran-3-yl, 1-phenylethyl, (1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl, 2-morpholino-4-ylethyl, pyridin-2-ylmethyl, n-methylpiperazin-1-ylethyl, and tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl. 73 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein one of r 7 and r 8 is h. 74 . the compound of claim 60 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 7 and r 8 are each h. 75 . the compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, having formula iiib: 76 . the compound of claim 75 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 6 is h. 77 . the compound of claim 75 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 are both c 1-6 alkyl. 78 . the compound of claim 75 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 are both methyl. 79 . the compound of claim 75 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 . 80 . the compound of claim 75 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group. 81 . the compound of claim 75 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a cyclopropyl group. 82 . the compound of claim 1 selected from: 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1, 8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-ethyl-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido-[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-ethoxy-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-(2-methoxyethoxy)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydro-pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-[2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-phenoxy-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-[1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl]-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-piperidin-4-yl-h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydro-pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-phenyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydro-pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-pyridin-3-yl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-pyridin-4-yl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-[(e)-2-phenylvinyl]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-phenylethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido-[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-8-benzyl-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4, 3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-(3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; and 6-amino-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-1,2-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3 (4h)-one, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of any of the aforementioned. 83 . the compound of claim 1 selected from: 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-[(2-morpholin-4-ylethyl)amino]-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one; 6′-amino-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(methylamino)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-ylamino)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one; (s)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(2-hydroxypropylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(pyridin-2-ylmethylamino)-1′h-spiro [cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; (s)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(tetrahydrofuran-3-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; methyl 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3′-oxo-2′,3′-dihydro-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridine]-6′-ylcarbamate; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(pyridin-3-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(3-fluorophenylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 6′-(cyclopentylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; (s)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-((tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)methylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-((1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; (r)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(1-phenylethylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 6′-(cyclohexylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(trans-4-hydroxycyclohexylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 6′-(cyclopropylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 6′-(cyclobutylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(3, 3-difluorocyclobutylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(1-methylpiperidin-4-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-8-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-methyl-1-(2-methyl-2h-tetrazol-5-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-methyl-1-[(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one; methyl [3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-yl]carbamate; 7-amino-1-(cyclopropylmethyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile; 7-amino-1-cyclopentyl-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl]-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile; 7-amino-1-(3,5-difluorobenzyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile; 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile; and 7-amino-8-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of any of the aforementioned. 84 . a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 85 . a method of inhibiting an fgfr enzyme comprising contacting said enzyme with a compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 86 . a method of treating cancer in a patient comprising administering to said patient a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 87 . the method of claim 86 wherein said cancer is selected from bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, gastric cancer, head and neck cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, esophageal cancer, gall bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, skin cancer, leukemia, multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic lymphoma, adult t cell leukemia, b-cell lymphoma, acute myelogenous leukemia, hodgkin's or non-hodgkin's lymphoma, waldenstrom's macroglubulinemia, hairy cell lymphoma, burkett's lymphoma, glioblastoma, melanoma, and rhabdosarcoma. 88 . a method of treating a myeloproliferative disorder in a patient comprising administering to said patient a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 89 . the method of claim 88 wherein said myeloproliferative disorder is selected from polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and primary myelofibrosis. 90 . a method of treating a skeletal or chondrocyte disorder in a patient comprising administering to said patient a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 91 . the method of claim 90 wherein said skeletal or chondrocyte disorder is selected from achrondroplasia, hypochondroplasia, dwarfism, thanatophoric dysplasia (td), apert syndrome, crouzon syndrome, jackson-weiss syndrome, beare-stevenson cutis gyrate syndrome, pfeiffer syndrome, and craniosynostosis syndrome. 92 . a method of treating a hypophosphatemia disorder in a patient comprising administering to said patient a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of claim 1 , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 93 . the method of claim 92 wherein said hypophosphatemia disorder is x-linked hypophosphatemic rickets, autosomal recessive hypophosphatemic rickets, autosomal dominant hypophosphatemic rickets, or tumor-induced osteromalacia.
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field of the invention the present invention relates to bicyclic heterocycles, and pharmaceutical compositions of the same, that are inhibitors of one or more fgfr enzymes and are useful in the treatment of fgfr-associated diseases such as cancer. background of invention the fibroblast growth factor receptors (fgfr) are receptor tyrosine kinases that bind to fibroblast growth factor (fgf) ligands. there are four fgfr proteins (fgfr1-4) that are capable of binding ligands and are involved in the regulation of many physiological processes including tissue development, angiogenesis, wound healing, and metabolic regulation. upon ligand binding, the receptors undergo dimerization and phosphorylation leading to stimulation of the protein kinase activity and recruitment of many intracellular docking proteins. these interactions facilitate the activation of an array of intracellular signaling pathways including ras-mapk, akt-pi3k, and phospholipase c that are important for cellular growth, proliferation and survival (reviewed in eswarakumar et al. cytokine & growth factor reviews, 2005). aberrant activation of this pathway either through overexpression of fgf ligands or fgfr or activating mutations in the fgfrs can lead to tumor development, progression, and resistance to conventional cancer therapies. in human cancer, genetic alterations including gene amplification, chromosomal translocations and somatic mutations that lead to ligand-independent receptor activation have been described. large scale dna sequencing of thousands of tumor samples has revealed that components of the fgfr pathway are among the most frequently mutated in human cancer. many of these activating mutations are identical to germline mutations that lead to skeletal dysplasia syndromes. mechanisms that lead to aberrant ligand-dependent signaling in human disease include overexpression of fgfs and changes in fgfr splicing that lead to receptors with more promiscuous ligand binding abilities (reviewed in knights and cook pharmacology & therapeutics, 2010; turner and grose, nature reviews cancer, 2010). therefore, development of inhibitors targeting fgfr may be useful in the clinical treatment of diseases that have elevated fgf or fgfr activity. the cancer types in which fgf/fgfrs are implicated include, but are not limited to: carcinomas (e.g., bladder, breast, cervical, colorectal, endometrial, gastric, head and neck, kidney, liver, lung, ovarian, prostate); hematopoietic malignancies (e.g., multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic lymphoma, adult t cell leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, non-hodgkin lymphoma, myeloproliferative neoplasms, and waldenstrom's macroglubulinemia); and other neoplasms (e.g., glioblastoma, melanoma, and rhabdosarcoma). in addition to a role in oncogenic neoplasms, fgfr activation has also been implicated in skeletal and chondrocyte disorders including, but not limited to, achrondroplasia and craniosynostosis syndromes. there is a continuing need for the development of new drugs for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, and the fgfr inhibitors described herein help address this need. summary of invention the present invention is directed to inhibitors of fgfr having formula i: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein constituent variables are defined herein. the present invention is further directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising a compound of formula i, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. the present invention is further directed to methods of inhibiting an fgfr enzyme comprising contacting the enzyme with a compound of formula i, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. the present invention is further directed to a method of treating a disease associated with abnormal activity or expression of an fgfr enzyme, comprising administering a compound of formula i, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, to a patient in need thereof. the present invention is further directed to compounds of formula i for use in treating a disease associated with abnormal activity or expression of an fgfr enzyme. the present invention is further directed to the use of compounds of formula i in the preparation of a medicament for use in therapy. detailed description the present invention is directed to inhibitors of fgfr having formula i: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein: w is nr 9 , o, or cr 10 r 11 ; r 1 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, or c 3-7 cycloalkyl; r 2 , r 3 , and r 5 are each independently selected from h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cyclopropyl, cn, or a , sr a , c(o)r b , c(o)nr c r d , c(o)or a , oc(o)r b , oc(o)nr c r d , nr c r d , nr c c(o)r b , nr c c(o)or a , nr c c(o)nr c r d , c(═nr e )r b , c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c s(o)r b , nr c s(o) 2 r b , nr c s(o) 2 nr c r d , s(o)r b , s(o)nr c r d , s(o) 2 r b , and s(o) 2 nr c r d ; r 4 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )r b1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, and 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; r 6 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )r b2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , or s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a ; wherein r 6 is other than h when w is nr 9 ; each r 6a is independently selected from cy 1 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 1 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, —c(o)r a , s(o)r a , s(o) 2 r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; each r 7a is independently selected from cy 2 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 ; r 9 is h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 9a ; each r 9a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; r 10 and r 11 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )r b4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 10a ; each r 10a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; or r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; each r a is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 alkoxy, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 alkoxy, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; cy 1 , cy 2 , and cy 3 are each independently selected from c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, each of which is optionally substituted by 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 3-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )r b5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; each r a , r b , r c , and r d is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r a1 , r b1 , r c1 , r d1 , r a2 , r b2 , r c2 , r d2 , r a3 , r b3 , r c3 , r d3 , r a4 , r b4 , r c4 , and r d4 , r a5 , r b5 , r c5 , and r d5 is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c and r d together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c1 and r d1 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c2 and r d2 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c3 and r d3 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c4 and r d4 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr 6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c5 and r d5 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r e , r e1 , r e2 , r e3 , r e4 , and r e5 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, cn, or a6 , sr b6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , c(o)r b6 , s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and c(o)nr c6 r d6 ; each r a6 , r b6 , r c6 , and r d6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, wherein said c 1-4 alkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; or any r c6 and r d6 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; and each r e6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, and cn. the present invention is directed to inhibitors of fgfr having formula i: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein: w is nr 9 , o, or cr 10 r 11 ; r 1 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, or c 3-7 cycloalkyl; r 2 , r 3 , and r 5 are each independently selected from h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cyclopropyl, cn, or a , sr a , c(o)r b , c(o)nr c r d , c(o)or a , oc(o)r b , oc(o)nr c r d , nr c r d , nr c c(o)r b , nr c c(o)or a , nr c c(o)nr c r d , c(═nr e )r b , c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c c(═nr e )nr c r d , nr c s(o)r b , nr c s(o) 2 r b , nr c s(o) 2 nr c r d , s(o)r b , s(o)nr c r d , s(o) 2 r b , and s(o) 2 nr c r d ; r 4 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )r b1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, and 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a1 , sr a1 , c(o)r b1 , c(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(o)or a1 , oc(o)r b1 , oc(o)nr c1 r d1 , c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(═nr e1 )nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 c(o)r b1 , nr c1 c(o)or a1 , nr c1 c(o)nr c1 r d1 , nr c1 s(o)r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 r b1 , nr c1 s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 , s(o)r b1 , s(o)nr c1 r d1 , s(o) 2 r b1 , and s(o) 2 nr c1 r d1 ; r 6 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr 2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )r b2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , or s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a ; wherein r 6 is other than h when w is nr 9 ; each r 6a is independently selected from cy 1 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 1 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a2 , sr a2 , c(o)r b2 , c(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(o)or a2 , oc(o)r b2 , oc(o)nr c2 r d2 , c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(═nr e2 )nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 c(o)r b2 , nr c2 c(o)or a2 , nr c2 c(o)nr c2 r d2 , nr c2 s(o)r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 r b2 , nr c2 s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 , s(o)r b2 , s(o)nr c2 r d2 , s(o) 2 r b2 , and s(o) 2 nr c2 r d2 ; r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, —c(o)r a , s(o)r a , s(o) 2 r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; each r 7a is independently selected from cy 2 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a3 , sr a3 , c(o)r b3 , c(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(o)or a3 , oc(o)r b3 , oc(o)nr c3 r d3 , c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(═nr e3 )nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 c(o)r b3 , nr c3 c(o)or a3 , nr c3 c(o)nr c3 r d3 , nr c3 s(o)r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 r b3 , nr c3 s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 , s(o)r b3 , s(o)nr c3 r d3 , s(o) 2 r b3 , and s(o) 2 nr c3 r d3 ; r 9 is h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 9a ; each r 9a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; r 10 and r 11 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )r b4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 10a ; each r 10a is independently selected from cy 3 , halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, and c 2-6 alkynyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 2 , halo, cn, no 2 , or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 s(o)r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; or r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 ; each r a is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from r 7a ; cy 1 , cy 2 , and cy 3 are each independently selected from c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, each of which is optionally substituted by 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 3-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )r b5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, cn, no 2 , or a5 , sr a5 , c(o)r b5 , c(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(o)or a5 , oc(o)r b5 , oc(o)nr c5 r d5 , c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(═nr e5 )nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 c(o)r b5 , nr c5 c(o)or a5 , nr c5 c(o)nr c5 r d5 , nr c5 s(o)r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 r b5 , nr c5 s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 , s(o)r b5 , s(o)nr c5 r d5 , s(o) 2 r b5 , and s(o) 2 nr c5 r d5 ; each r a , r b , r c , and r d is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, and cyclopropyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r a1 , r b1 , r c1 , r d1 , r a2 , r b2 , r c2 , r d2 , r a3 , r b3 , r c3 , r d3 , r a4 , r b4 , r c4 , and r d4 , ras r b5 , r c5 , and r d5 is independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1 4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl is optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c and r d together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c1 and r d1 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c2 and r d2 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr 6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c3 and r d3 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c4 and r d4 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; or any r c5 and r d5 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 3-7 cycloalkyl, 4-7 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl, and 5-6 membered heteroaryl are optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from halo, cn, or a6 , sr a6 , c(o)r b6 , c(o)nr c6 r d6 , c(o)or a6 , oc(o)r b6 , oc(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)r b6 , nr c6 c(o)nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(o)or a6 , c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 , nr c6 c(═nr e6 )nr c6 r d6 s(o)r b6 , s(o)nr c6 r d6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 r b6 , nr c6 s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 ; each r e , r e1 , r e2 , r e3 , r e4 , and r e5 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, cn, or a6 , sr b6 , s(o) 2 r b6 , c(o)r b6 , s(o) 2 nr c6 r d6 , and c(o)nr c6 r d6 ; each r a6 , r b6 , r c6 , and r d6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 haloalkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, wherein said c 1-4 alkyl, c 2-4 alkenyl, and c 2-4 alkynyl, is optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-4 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; or any r c6 and r d6 together with the n atom to which they are attached form a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from oh, cn, amino, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-4 alkoxy, c 1-4 alkylthio, c 1-4 alkylamino, di(c 1-4 alkyl)amino, c 1-4 haloalkyl, and c 1-4 haloalkoxy; and each r e6 is independently selected from h, c 1-4 alkyl, and cn. in some embodiments, w is nr 9 or cr 10 r 11 . in some embodiments, w is nr 9 . in some embodiments, r 9 is c 1-6 alkyl. in some embodiments, r 9 is methyl. in some embodiments, r 9 is c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 9a . in some embodiments, r 9 is c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, or (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl-c 1-4 alkyl, and (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1 or 2 substituents independently selected from halo and c 1-4 alkyl. in some embodiments, r 9 is phenyl, 2h-tetrazol-5-yl, benzyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-ylmethyl, cyclopentyl, or cyclopropylmethyl each optionally substituted with 1 or 2 substituents independently selected from f and methyl. in some embodiments, w is cr 10 r 11 . in some embodiments, r 10 and r 11 are each c 1-6 alkyl. in some embodiments, r 10 and r 11 are each methyl. in some embodiments, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═—nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 . in some embodiments, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group. in some embodiments, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a cyclopropyl group. in some embodiments, r 1 is methyl. in some embodiments, r 2 is halo. in some embodiments, r 2 is fluoro. in some embodiments, r 3 is h. in some embodiments, r 4 is or a1 . in some embodiments, r 4 is methoxy. in some embodiments, r 5 is halo. in some embodiments, r 5 is fluoro. in some embodiments, r 6 is h. in some embodiments, r 6 is h and w is cr 10 r 11 . in some embodiments, r 6 is h, halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, r 6 is chloro, methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenylethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. in some embodiments, r 6 is methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. in some embodiments, r 6 is methyl. in some embodiments, r 6 is pyrazolyl optionally substituted with 1 or 2 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, —c(o)r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a . in some embodiments, r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, 2-hydroxypropyl, —c(o)och 3 , 3-fluorophenyl, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, 3,3-difluorocyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, 4-hydroxycyclohexyl, methyl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, pyridin-3-yl, n-methylpiperidin-4-yl, tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, tetrahydrofuran-3-yl, 1-phenylethyl, (1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl, 2-morpholino-4-ylethyl, pyridin-2-ylmethyl, n-methylpiperazin-1-ylethyl, and tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl. in some embodiments, one of r 7 and r 8 is h. in some embodiments, r 7 and r 8 are each h. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention have formula iia: in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 2 is halo. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 2 is fluoro. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 5 is halo. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 5 is fluoro. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 6 is chloro, methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenylethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 6 is methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 9 is c 1-6 alkyl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iia, r 9 is methyl. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention have formula iib: in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, c 2-6 alkynyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, and 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 6 is halo, c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 6 is c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, 6-membered heterocycloalkyl, cn, or or a2 ; wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 2-6 alkenyl, phenyl, 5-6 membered heteroaryl, and 6-membered heterocycloalkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 6a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 6 is chloro, methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenylethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 6 is methyl, ethyl, cn, ethoxy, methoxyethoxy, phenoxy, 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy, phenyl, 4-fluorophenyl, benzyl, phenethyl, 2-phenylvinyl, 3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, 3-pyridyl, 4-pyridyl, 1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, or 1-(piperidin-4-yl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 9 is c 1-6 alkyl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iib, r 9 is methyl. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention have formula iiia: in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 2 is halo. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 2 is fluoro. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 5 is halo. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 5 is fluoro. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 6 is h. some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 10 and r 11 are both c 1-6 alkyl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 10 and r 11 are both methyl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a cyclopropyl group. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, c 1-6 alkyl, —c(o)r a , c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, c 6-10 aryl-c 1-4 alkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, or (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl, wherein said c 1-6 alkyl, c 6-10 aryl, c 3-10 cycloalkyl, 5-10 membered heteroaryl, 4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl, (5-10 membered heteroaryl)-c 1-4 alkyl, and (4-10 membered heterocycloalkyl)-c 1-4 alkyl are each optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 substituents independently selected from r 7a . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 7 and r 8 are each independently selected from h, 2-hydroxypropyl, —c(o)och 3 , 3-fluorophenyl, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, 3,3-difluorocyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, 4-hydroxycyclohexyl, methyl, 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl, pyridin-3-yl, n-methylpiperidin-4-yl, tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl, tetrahydrofuran-3-yl, 1-phenylethyl, (1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl, 2-morpholino-4-ylethyl, pyridin-2-ylmethyl, n-methylpiperazin-1-ylethyl, and tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, one of r 7 and r 8 is h. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiia, r 7 and r 8 are each h. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention have formula iiib: in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiib, r 6 is h. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiib, r 10 and r 11 are both c 1-6 alkyl. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiib, r 10 and r 11 are both methy. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiib, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group or a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered heterocycloalkyl group, each optionally substituted with 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , c 1-6 alkyl, c 1-6 haloalkyl, halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , wherein said c 1-6 alkyl is optionally substituted by 1, 2, or 3 substituents independently selected from cy 3 , halo, cn, or a4 , sr a4 , c(o)r b4 , c(o)nr c4 r d4 , c(o)or a4 , oc(o)r b4 , oc(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)r b4 , nr c4 c(o)nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(o)or a4 , c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , nr c4 c(═nr e4 )nr c4 r d4 , s(o)r b4 , s(o)nr c4 r d4 , s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 r b4 , nr c4 s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 , and s(o) 2 nr c4 r d4 . in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiib, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-membered cycloalkyl group. in some embodiments, wherein the compound has formula iiib, r 10 and r 11 together with the carbon atom to which they are attached form a cyclopropyl group. it is further appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, can also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, can also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination. at various places in the present specification, substituents of compounds of the invention are disclosed in groups or in ranges. it is specifically intended that the invention include each and every individual subcombination of the members of such groups and ranges. for example, the term “c 1-6 alkyl” is specifically intended to individually disclose methyl, ethyl, c 3 alkyl, c 4 alkyl, c 5 alkyl, and c 6 alkyl. at various places in the present specification various aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl, and heterocycloalkyl rings are described. unless otherwise specified, these rings can be attached to the rest of the molecule at any ring member as permitted by valency. for example, the term “a pyridine ring” or “pyridinyl” may refer to a pyridin-2-yl, pyridin-3-yl, or pyridin-4-yl ring. the term “n-membered” where n is an integer typically describes the number of ring-forming atoms in a moiety where the number of ring-forming atoms is n. for example, piperidinyl is an example of a 6-membered heterocycloalkyl ring, pyrazolyl is an example of a 5-membered heteroaryl ring, pyridyl is an example of a 6-membered heteroaryl ring, and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-naphthalene is an example of a 10-membered cycloalkyl group. for compounds of the invention in which a variable appears more than once, each variable can be a different moiety independently selected from the group defining the variable. for example, where a structure is described having two r groups that are simultaneously present on the same compound, the two r groups can represent different moieties independently selected from the group defined for r. as used herein, the phrase “optionally substituted” means unsubstituted or substituted. as used herein, the term “substituted” means that a hydrogen atom is replaced by a non-hydrogen group. it is to be understood that substitution at a given atom is limited by valency. as used herein, the term “c i-j ”, where i and j are integers, employed in combination with a chemical group, designates a range of the number of carbon atoms in the chemical group with i-j defining the range. for example, c 1-6 alkyl refers to an alkyl group having 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 carbon atoms. as used herein, the term “alkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a saturated hydrocarbon group that may be straight-chain or branched. in some embodiments, the alkyl group contains 1 to 6, 1 to 4, or 1 to 3 carbon atoms. examples of alkyl moieties include, but are not limited to, chemical groups such as methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, 2-methyl-1-butyl, 3-pentyl, n-hexyl, 1,2,2-trimethylpropyl, and the like. in some embodiments, the alkyl group is methyl, ethyl, or propyl. as used herein, “alkenyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to an alkyl group having one or more carbon-carbon double bonds. in some embodiments, the alkenyl moiety contains 2 to 6 or 2 to 4 carbon atoms. example alkenyl groups include, but are not limited to, ethenyl, n-propenyl, isopropenyl, n-butenyl, sec-butenyl, and the like. as used herein, “alkynyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to an alkyl group having one or more carbon-carbon triple bonds. example alkynyl groups include, but are not limited to, ethynyl, propyn-1-yl, propyn-2-yl, and the like. in some embodiments, the alkynyl moiety contains 2 to 6 or 2 to 4 carbon atoms. as used herein, “halo” or “halogen”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, includes fluoro, chloro, bromo, and iodo. in some embodiments, halo is f or cl. in some embodiments, halo is f. as used herein, the term “haloalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to an alkyl group having up to the full valency of halogen atom substituents, which may either be the same or different. in some embodiments, the halogen atoms are fluoro atoms. in some embodiments, the alkyl group has 1 to 6 or 1 to 4 carbon atoms. example haloalkyl groups include cf 3 , c 2 f 5 , chf 2 , ccl 3 , chcl 2 , c 2 cl 5 , and the like. as used herein, the term “alkoxy”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula —o-alkyl. example alkoxy groups include methoxy, ethoxy, propoxy (e.g., n-propoxy and isopropoxy), t-butoxy, and the like. in some embodiments, the alkyl group has 1 to 6 or 1 to 4 carbon atoms. as used herein, “haloalkoxy”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula —o-(haloalkyl). in some embodiments, the alkyl group has 1 to 6 or 1 to 4 carbon atoms. an example haloalkoxy group is —ocf 3 . as used herein, “amino”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to nh 2 . as used herein, the term “alkylamino”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula —nh(alkyl). in some embodiments, the alkylamino group has 1 to 6 or 1 to 4 carbon atoms. example alkylamino groups include methylamino, ethylamino, propylamino (e.g., n-propylamino and isopropylamino), and the like. as used herein, the term “dialkylamino”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula —n(alkyl) 2 . example dialkylamino groups include dimethylamino, diethylamino, dipropylamino (e.g., di(n-propyl)amino and di(isopropyl)amino), and the like. in some embodiments, each alkyl group independently has 1 to 6 or 1 to 4 carbon atoms. as used herein, the term “alkylthio”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula —s-alkyl. in some embodiments, the alkyl group has 1 to 6 or 1 to 4 carbon atoms. as used herein, the term “cycloalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbon including cyclized alkyl and alkenyl groups. cycloalkyl groups can include mono- or polycyclic (e.g., having 2, 3, or 4 fused, bridged, or spiro rings) ring systems. also included in the definition of cycloalkyl are moieties that have one or more aromatic rings (e.g., aryl or heteroaryl rings) fused (i.e., having a bond in common with) to the cycloalkyl ring, for example, benzo derivatives of cyclopentane, cyclohexene, cyclohexane, and the like, or pyrido derivatives of cyclopentane or cyclohexane. ring-forming carbon atoms of a cycloalkyl group can be optionally substituted by oxo. cycloalkyl groups also include cycloalkylidenes. the term “cycloalkyl” also includes bridgehead cycloalkyl groups (e.g., non-aromatic cyclic hydrocarbon moieties containing at least one bridgehead carbon, such as admantan-1-yl) and spirocycloalkyl groups (e.g., non-aromatic hydrocarbon moieties containing at least two rings fused at a single carbon atom, such as spiro[2.5]octane and the like). in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl group has 3 to 10 ring members, or 3 to 7 ring members, or 3 to 6 ring members. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl group is monocyclic or bicyclic. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl group is monocyclic. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl group is a c 3-7 monocyclic cycloalkyl group. example cycloalkyl groups include cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, cycloheptyl, cyclopentenyl, cyclohexenyl, cyclohexadienyl, cycloheptatrienyl, norbornyl, norpinyl, norcarnyl, tetrahydronaphthalenyl, octahydronaphthalenyl, indanyl, and the like. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl group is cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, or cyclohexyl. as used herein, the term “cycloalkylalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula cycloalkyl-alkyl-. in some embodiments, the alkyl portion has 1 to 4, 1 to 3, 1 to 2, or 1 carbon atom(s). in some embodiments, the alkyl portion is methylene. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl portion has 3 to 10 ring members or 3 to 7 ring members. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl group is monocyclic or bicyclic. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl portion is monocyclic. in some embodiments, the cycloalkyl portion is a c 3-7 monocyclic cycloalkyl group. as used herein, the term “heterocycloalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a non-aromatic ring or ring system, which may optionally contain one or more alkenylene or alkynylene groups as part of the ring structure, which has at least one heteroatom ring member independently selected from nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and phosphorus. heterocycloalkyl groups can include mono- or polycyclic (e.g., having 2, 3 or 4 fused, bridged, or spiro rings) ring systems. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl group is a monocyclic or bicyclic group having 1, 2, 3, or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. also included in the definition of heterocycloalkyl are moieties that have one or more aromatic rings (e.g., aryl or heteroaryl rings) fused (i.e., having a bond in common with) to the non-aromatic heterocycloalkyl ring, for example, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-quinoline and the like. heterocycloalkyl groups can also include bridgehead heterocycloalkyl groups (e.g., a heterocycloalkyl moiety containing at least one bridgehead atom, such as azaadmantan-1-yl and the like) and spiroheterocycloalkyl groups (e.g., a heterocycloalkyl moiety containing at least two rings fused at a single atom, such as [1,4-dioxa-8-aza-spiro[4.5]decan-n-yl] and the like). in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl group has 3 to 10 ring-forming atoms, 4 to 10 ring-forming atoms, or 3 to 8 ring forming atoms. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl group has 1 to 5 heteroatoms, 1 to 4 heteroatoms, 1 to 3 heteroatoms, or 1 to 2 heteroatoms. the carbon atoms or heteroatoms in the ring(s) of the heterocycloalkyl group can be oxidized to form a carbonyl, an n-oxide, or a sulfonyl group (or other oxidized linkage) or a nitrogen atom can be quaternized. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl portion is a c 2-7 monocyclic heterocycloalkyl group. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl group is a morpholine ring, pyrrolidine ring, piperazine ring, piperidine ring, dihydropyran ring, tetrahydropyran ring, tetrahyropyridine, azetidine ring, or tetrahydrofuran ring. as used herein, the term “heterocycloalkylalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula heterocycloalkyl-alkyl-. in some embodiments, the alkyl portion has 1 to 4, 1 to 3, 1 to 2, or 1 carbon atom(s). in some embodiments, the alkyl portion is methylene. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl portion has 3 to 10 ring members, 4 to 10 ring members, or 3 to 7 ring members. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl group is monocyclic or bicyclic. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl portion is monocyclic. in some embodiments, the heterocycloalkyl portion is a c 2-7 monocyclic heterocycloalkyl group. as used herein, the term “aryl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a monocyclic or polycyclic (e.g., having 2 fused rings) aromatic hydrocarbon moiety, such as, but not limited to, phenyl, 1-naphthyl, 2-naphthyl, and the like. in some embodiments, aryl groups have from 6 to 10 carbon atoms or 6 carbon atoms. in some embodiments, the aryl group is a monocyclic or bicyclic group. in some embodiments, the aryl group is phenyl or naphthyl. as used herein, the term “arylalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula aryl-alkyl-. in some embodiments, the alkyl portion has 1 to 4, 1 to 3, 1 to 2, or 1 carbon atom(s). in some embodiments, the alkyl portion is methylene. in some embodiments, the aryl portion is phenyl. in some embodiments, the aryl group is a monocyclic or bicyclic group. in some embodiments, the arylalkyl group is benzyl. as used herein, the term “heteroaryl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a monocyclic or polycyclic (e.g., having 2 or 3 fused rings) aromatic hydrocarbon moiety, having one or more heteroatom ring members independently selected from nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. in some embodiments, the heteroaryl group is a monocyclic or bicyclic group having 1, 2, 3, or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. example heteroaryl groups include, but are not limited to, pyridyl, pyrimidinyl, pyrazinyl, pyridazinyl, triazinyl, furyl, thienyl, imidazolyl, thiazolyl, indolyl, pyrryl, oxazolyl, benzofuryl, benzothienyl, benzthiazolyl, isoxazolyl, pyrazolyl, triazolyl, tetrazolyl, indazolyl, 1,2,4-thiadiazolyl, isothiazolyl, purinyl, carbazolyl, benzimidazolyl, indolinyl, pyrrolyl, azolyl, quinolinyl, isoquinolinyl, benzisoxazolyl, imidazo[1,2-b]thiazolyl or the like. the carbon atoms or heteroatoms in the ring(s) of the heteroaryl group can be oxidized to form a carbonyl, an n-oxide, or a sulfonyl group (or other oxidized linkage) or a nitrogen atom can be quaternized, provided the aromatic nature of the ring is preserved. in one embodiment the heteroaryl group is a 3 to 10 membered heteroaryl group. in another embodiment the heteroaryl group is a 4 to 10 membered heteroaryl group. in another embodiment the heteroaryl group is a 3 to 7 membered heteroaryl group. in another embodiment the heteroaryl group is a 5 to 6 membered heteroaryl group. as used herein, the term “heteroarylalkyl”, employed alone or in combination with other terms, refers to a group of formula heteroaryl-alkyl-. in some embodiments, the alkyl portion has 1 to 4, 1 to 3, 1 to 2, or 1 carbon atom(s). in some embodiments, the alkyl portion is methylene. in some embodiments, the heteroaryl portion is a monocyclic or bicyclic group having 1, 2, 3, or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. the compounds described herein can be asymmetric (e.g., having one or more stereocenters). all stereoisomers, such as enantiomers and diastereomers, are intended unless otherwise indicated. compounds of the present invention that contain asymmetrically substituted carbon atoms can be isolated in optically active or racemic forms. methods on how to prepare optically active forms from optically inactive starting materials are known in the art, such as by resolution of racemic mixtures or by stereoselective synthesis. many geometric isomers of olefins, c═n double bonds, and the like can also be present in the compounds described herein, and all such stable isomers are contemplated in the present invention. cis and trans geometric isomers of the compounds of the present invention are described and may be isolated as a mixture of isomers or as separated isomeric forms. resolution of racemic mixtures of compounds can be carried out by any of numerous methods known in the art. an example method includes fractional recrystallization using a chiral resolving acid which is an optically active, salt-forming organic acid. suitable resolving agents for fractional recrystallization methods are, for example, optically active acids, such as the d and l forms of tartaric acid, diacetyltartaric acid, dibenzoyltartaric acid, mandelic acid, malic acid, lactic acid or the various optically active camphorsulfonic acids. other resolving agents suitable for fractional crystallization methods include stereoisomerically pure forms of methylbenzyl-amine (e.g., s and r forms, or diastereomerically pure forms), 2-phenylglycinol, norephedrine, ephedrine, n-methylephedrine, cyclohexylethylamine, 1,2-diaminocyclohexane, and the like. resolution of racemic mixtures can also be carried out by elution on a column packed with an optically active resolving agent (e.g., dinitrobenzoylphenylglycine). suitable elution solvent composition can be determined by one skilled in the art. compounds of the invention also include tautomeric forms. tautomeric forms result from the swapping of a single bond with an adjacent double bond together with the concomitant migration of a proton. tautomeric forms include prototropic tautomers which are isomeric protonation states having the same empirical formula and total charge. example prototropic tautomers include ketone-enol pairs, amide-imidic acid pairs, lactam-lactim pairs, enamine-imine pairs, and annular forms where a proton can occupy two or more positions of a heterocyclic system, for example, 1h- and 3h-imidazole, 1h-, 2h- and 4h-1,2,4-triazole, 1h- and 2h-isoindole, and 1h- and 2h-pyrazole. tautomeric forms can be in equilibrium or sterically locked into one form by appropriate substitution. compounds of the invention also include all isotopes of atoms occurring in the intermediates or final compounds. isotopes include those atoms having the same atomic number but different mass numbers. for example, isotopes of hydrogen include tritium and deuterium. the term, “compound,” as used herein is meant to include all stereoisomers, geometric iosomers, tautomers, and isotopes of the structures depicted. all compounds, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, can be found together with other substances such as water and solvents (e.g., in the form of hydrates and solvates) or can be isolated. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention, or salts thereof, are substantially isolated. by “substantially isolated” is meant that the compound is at least partially or substantially separated from the environment in which it was formed or detected. partial separation can include, for example, a composition enriched in the compounds of the invention. substantial separation can include compositions containing at least about 50%, at least about 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, at least about 90%, at least about 95%, at least about 97%, or at least about 99% by weight of the compounds of the invention, or salt thereof. methods for isolating compounds and their salts are routine in the art. the phrase “pharmaceutically acceptable” is employed herein to refer to those compounds, materials, compositions, and/or dosage forms which are, within the scope of sound medical judgment, suitable for use in contact with the tissues of human beings and animals without excessive toxicity, irritation, allergic response, or other problem or complication, commensurate with a reasonable benefit/risk ratio. the present invention also includes pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the compounds described herein. as used herein, “pharmaceutically acceptable salts” refers to derivatives of the disclosed compounds wherein the parent compound is modified by converting an existing acid or base moiety to its salt form. examples of pharmaceutically acceptable salts include, but are not limited to, mineral or organic acid salts of basic residues such as amines; alkali or organic salts of acidic residues such as carboxylic acids; and the like. the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the present invention include the non-toxic salts of the parent compound formed, for example, from non-toxic inorganic or organic acids. the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the present invention can be synthesized from the parent compound which contains a basic or acidic moiety by conventional chemical methods. generally, such salts can be prepared by reacting the free acid or base forms of these compounds with a stoichiometric amount of the appropriate base or acid in water or in an organic solvent, or in a mixture of the two; generally, non-aqueous media like ether, ethyl acetate, alcohols (e.g., methanol, ethanol, iso-propanol, or butanol) or acetonitrile (acn) are preferred. lists of suitable salts are found in remington's pharmaceutical sciences, 17th ed., mack publishing company, easton, pa., 1985, p. 1418 and journal of pharmaceutical science, 66, 2 (1977), each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. the following abbreviations may be used herein: acoh (acetic acid); ac 2 o (acetic anhydride); aq. (aqueous); atm. (atmosphere(s)); boc (t-butoxycarbonyl); br (broad); cbz (carboxybenzyl); calc. (calculated); d (doublet); dd (doublet of doublets); dcm (dichloromethane); dead (diethyl azodicarboxylate); diad (n,n′-diisopropyl azidodicarboxylate); dipea (n,n-diisopropylethylamine); dmf (n,n-dimethylformamide); et (ethyl); etoac (ethyl acetate); g (gram(s)); h (hour(s)); hatu (n,n,n′,n′-tetramethyl-o-(7-azabenzotriazol-1-yl)uronium hexafluorophosphate); hcl (hydrochloric acid); hplc (high performance liquid chromatography); hz (hertz); j (coupling constant); lcms (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry); m (multiplet); m (molar); mcpba (3-chloroperoxybenzoic acid); mgso 4 (magnesium sulfate); ms (mass spectrometry); me (methyl); mecn (acetonitrile); meoh (methanol); mg (milligram(s)); min. (minutes(s)); ml (milliliter(s)); mmol (millimole(s)); n (normal); nahco 3 (sodium bicarbonate); naoh (sodium hydroxide); na 2 so 4 (sodium sulfate); nh 4 cl (ammonium chloride); nh 4 oh (ammonium hydroxide); nm (nanomolar); nmr (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy); otf (trifluoromethanesulfonate); pd (palladium); ph (phenyl); pm (picomolar); pmb (para-methoxybenzyl), pocl 3 (phosphoryl chloride); rp-hplc (reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography); s (singlet); t (triplet or tertiary); tbs (tert-butyldimethylsilyl); tert (tertiary); tt (triplet of triplets); t-bu (tert-butyl); tfa (trifluoroacetic acid); thf (tetrahydrofuran); g (microgram(s)); l (microliter(s)); m (micromolar); wt % (weight percent) synthesis compounds of the invention, including salts thereof, can be prepared using known organic synthesis techniques and can be synthesized according to any of numerous possible synthetic routes. the reactions for preparing compounds of the invention can be carried out in suitable solvents which can be readily selected by one of skill in the art of organic synthesis. suitable solvents can be substantially nonreactive with the starting materials (reactants), the intermediates, or products at the temperatures at which the reactions are carried out, e.g., temperatures which can range from the solvent's freezing temperature to the solvent's boiling temperature. a given reaction can be carried out in one solvent or a mixture of more than one solvent. depending on the particular reaction step, suitable solvents for a particular reaction step can be selected by the skilled artisan. preparation of compounds of the invention can involve the protection and deprotection of various chemical groups. the need for protection and deprotection, and the selection of appropriate protecting groups, can be readily determined by one skilled in the art. the chemistry of protecting groups can be found, for example, in t.w. greene and p.g.m. wuts, protective groups in organic synthesis, 3rd. ed., wiley & sons, inc., new york (1999), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. reactions can be monitored according to any suitable method known in the art. for example, product formation can be monitored by spectroscopic means, such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (e.g., 1 h or 13 c), infrared spectroscopy, spectrophotometry (e.g., uv-visible), or mass spectrometry, or by chromatography such as high performance liquid chromatography (hplc) or thin layer chromatography. the expressions, “ambient temperature,” “room temperature,” and “r.t.”, as used herein, are understood in the art, and refer generally to a temperature, e.g. a reaction temperature, that is about the temperature of the room in which the reaction is carried out, for example, a temperature from about 20° c. to about 30° c. compounds of the invention can be prepared according to numerous preparatory routes known in the literature. example synthetic methods for preparing compounds of the invention are provided in the schemes below. a series of bicyclic urea derivatives of formula 10 can be prepared by the methods outlined in scheme 1. amino ester 2 can be prepared by treating suitable amines r 9 nh 2 with ester 1. the resulting ester 2 is subjected to a reduction-oxidation sequence to afford aldehyde 3. example reducing reagents include dibal-h (diisobutylaluminium hydride), lah (lithium aluminium hydride), super-h (lithium triethylborohydride), etc; and example oxidants include dess-martin periodinane, mno 2 , swern oxidation, etc. the aniline compound 5 is synthesized by coupling aldehyde 3 and aniline 4 through reductive amination. then cyclization of diamino compound 5 can be carried out with triphosgene or the equivalent such as carbonyldiimidazole (cdi), phosgene, diphosgene, etc. affording the bicyclic urea derivatives of formula 6. displacement of the chloride with 4-methoxybenzylamine (pmb-nh 2 ) with the aid of a palladium catalyst and then deprotection of pmb (4-methoxybenzyl) group with trifluoroacetic acid (tfa) can provide the aminopyridine compound 8. halogenation of the pyridine ring with an appropriate halogenation reagent such as, for example, nbs (n-bromosuccinimide), ncs (n-chlorosuccinimide) nis (n-iodosuccinimide), etc., can introduce a halogen for further elaboration. a variety of groups can be attached through palladium catalyzed coupling including, but not limited to, suzuki coupling, stille coupling, neigishi coupling, sonogashira coupling, ect. and copper catalyzed ullmann coupling to afford compound 10. a series of aniline derivatives of formula 13 can be prepared by the methods outlined in scheme 2. displacement of the chloride 6 with r 8 —nh 2 in the presence of palladium catalyst can provide the aminopyridine compound 11. halogenation of the pyridine ring with an appropriate halogenating reagent such as nbs, ncs, nis, etc. can provide compound 12 for further elaboration. palladium catalyzed coupling of compound 12 by, for example, suzuki coupling, stille coupling, neigishi coupling, sonogashira coupling, etc. or copper catalyzed ullmann coupling can afford compound 13. a series of aniline derivatives 14 can be prepared according to the procedures outlined in scheme 3. displacement of fluorine in compound 15 with benzylamine (bnnh 2 ) provides the aniline 16 which can be converted to bis-ether by reacting with a suitable sodium alkoxide (naor where r is alkyl) followed by saponification to provide acid 17. compound 18 can be obtained by decarboxylation of benzoic acid 17, followed by hydrogenation to remove the protecting group to afford aniline 14. an alternative synthesis of compound 8 is outlined in scheme 4. ester 1 is reduced and oxidized to the corresponding aldehyde 19. the reductive amination on this aldehyde with aniline 4 affords aniline 20, which can be subjected to palladium catalyzed amination to provide intermediate aniline 5. the synthesis of compound 8 from aniline 5 follows the same procedure described in scheme 1. compounds of formula 26 can be prepared by the methods outlined in scheme 5. lactam 24 can be prepared from compounds 22 and 23 using palladium-catalyzed buchwald-hartwig-type reactions or copper-mediated ullmann-type and chan-lam-type n-arylation reactions. α-substituted lactam 25 can be obtained by treating compound 24 with a base such as, for example, k 2 co 3 or cs 2 co 3 in dmf or acetonitrile, and followed by the addition of halides r 10 x and/or r 11 x (x is halo such as cl or br). chloride 25 can be converted to the corresponding aminopyridine 26 under buchwald-hartwig amination conditions using reagents such as, for example, pd(oac) 2 /xantphos/cs 2 co 3 or pd 2 (dba) 3 /binap/naotbu, etc. compounds of formula 34 can be prepared by the methods outlined in scheme 6. ester 27 can be prepared by selective displacement of chloride with sodium allyloxide. the resulting ester 27 is subjected to a reduction-oxidation sequence to afford aldehyde 28. example reducing reagents include dibal-h (diisobutylaluminium hydride), lah (lithium aluminium hydride), super-h (lithium triethylborohydride), etc; and example oxidants include dess-martin periodinane, mno 2 , swern oxidation, etc. the aniline compound 29 is synthesized by coupling aldehyde 28 and aniline 4 through reductive amination. after the removal of allyl group by palladium dichloride, then cyclization of amino hydroxyl intermediate can be carried out with triphosgene or the equivalent such as carbonyldiimidazole (cdi), phosgene, diphosgene, etc. affording the bicyclic carbamate derivatives of formula 30. the synthesis of compound 34 from carbamate 30 follows the same procedure as described in scheme 1. an alternative synthesis of compound 26 is outlined in scheme 7. ester 1 is reduced to the corresponding aldehyde 19. then reductive amination of aldehyde 19 with aniline 4 affords compound 20, which can be treated with ethyl 3-chloro-3-oxopropanoate in the presence of nah in thf to provide intermediate aniline 35. lactam 24 can be prepared by treatment of compound 35 with a strong base such as, but not limited to, nah or cs 2 co 3 in dmf, then followed by an acid, for example, hcl mediated decarboxylation. α-substituted lactam 25 can be obtained by treating compound 24 with a suitable base such as, nah or cs 2 co 3 in dmf and followed by the addition of halides r 10 x and/or r 11 x (x is halo such as cl or br). chloride 25 can be converted to the corresponding aminopyridine 26 under buchwald-hartwig amination conditions using reagents such as, but not limited to, pd(oac) 2 /xantphos/cs 2 co 3 or pd(oac) 2 /brettphos/naotbu. methods of use compounds of the invention can inhibit activity of one or more fgfr enzymes. for example, the compounds of the invention can be used to inhibit activity of an fgfr enzyme in a cell or in an individual or patient in need of inhibition of the enzyme by administering an inhibiting amount of a compound of the invention to the cell, individual, or patient. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention are inhibitors of one or more of fgfr1, fgfr2, fgfr3, and fgfr4. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention inhibit each of fgfr1, fgfr2, and fgfr3. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention are selective for one or more fgfr enzymes. in some embodiments, the compounds of the invention are selective for one or more fgfr enzymes over vegfr2. in some embodiments, the selectivity is 2-fold or more, 3-fold or more, 5-fold or more, 10-fold or more, 50-fold or more, or 100-fold or more. as fgfr inhibitors, the compounds of the invention are useful in the treatment of various diseases associated with abnormal expression or activity of fgfr enzymes or fgfr ligands. for example, the compounds of the invention are useful in the treatment of cancer. example cancers include bladder cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, cancer of the small intestine, colon cancer, rectal cancer, cancer of the anus, endometrial cancer, gastric cancer, head and neck cancer (e.g., cancers of the larynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx, oropharynx, lips, and mouth), kidney cancer, liver cancer (e.g., hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocellular carcinoma), lung cancer (e.g., adenocarcinoma, small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung carcinomas, parvicellular and non-parvicellular carcinoma, bronchial carcinoma, bronchial adenoma, pleuropulmonary blastoma), ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, uterine cancer, esophageal cancer, gall bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer (e.g. exocrine pancreatic carcinoma), stomach cancer, thyroid cancer, parathyroid cancer, skin cancer (e.g., squamous cell carcinoma, kaposi sarcoma, merkel cell skin cancer), and brain cancer (e.g., astrocytoma, medulloblastoma, ependymoma, neuro-ectodermal tumors, pineal tumors). further example cancers include hematopoietic malignancies such as leukemia or lymphoma, multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic lymphoma, adult t cell leukemia, b-cell lymphoma, cutaneous t-cell lymphoma, acute myelogenous leukemia, hodgkin's or non-hodgkin's lymphoma, myeloproliferative neoplasms (e.g., polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and primary myelofibrosis), waldenstrom's macroglubulinemia, hairy cell lymphoma, chronic myelogenic lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, aids-related lymphomas, and burkitt's lymphoma. other cancers treatable with the compounds of the invention include tumors of the eye, glioblastoma, melanoma, rhabdosarcoma, lymphosarcoma, and osteosarcoma. in addition to oncogenic neoplasms, the compounds of the invention can be useful in the treatment of skeletal and chondrocyte disorders including, but not limited to, achrondroplasia, hypochondroplasia, dwarfism, thanatophoric dysplasia (td) (clinical forms td i and td ii), apert syndrome, crouzon syndrome, jackson-weiss syndrome, beare-stevenson cutis gyrate syndrome, pfeiffer syndrome, and craniosynostosis syndromes. the compounds of the invention can also be useful in the treatment of hypophosphatemia disorders including, for example, x-linked hypophosphatemic rickets, autosomal recessive hypophosphatemic rickets, autosomal dominant hypophosphatemic rickets, and tumor-induced osteromalacia. the compounds of the invention may further be useful in the treatment of fibrotic diseases, such as where a disease symptom or disorder is characterized by fibrosis. example fibrotic diseases include liver cirrhosis, glomerulonephritis, pulmonary fibrosis, systemic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and wound healing. the compounds of the invention can also be useful in the treatment of psoriasis, keloids, bullous skin disorders, atherosclerosis, restenosis, mesangial cell proliferative disorders, glomerulopathy, diabetic nephropathy, kidney diseases, and benign prostate hyperplasia. the compounds of the invention can also be useful in the treatment of various eye diseases including, for example, age-related macular degeneration, dry macular degeneration, ischemic retinal vein occlusion, diabetic macula edema, diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity. the compounds of the invention can also be useful in the inhibition of tumor metastisis. as used herein, the term “cell” is meant to refer to a cell that is in vitro, ex vivo or in vivo. in some embodiments, an ex vivo cell can be part of a tissue sample excised from an organism such as a mammal. in some embodiments, an in vitro cell can be a cell in a cell culture. in some embodiments, an in vivo cell is a cell living in an organism such as a mammal. as used herein, the term “contacting” refers to the bringing together of indicated moieties in an in vitro system or an in vivo system. for example, “contacting” the fgfr enzyme with a compound of the invention includes the administration of a compound of the present invention to an individual or patient, such as a human, having fgfr, as well as, for example, introducing a compound of the invention into a sample containing a cellular or purified preparation containing the fgfr enzyme. as used herein, the term “individual” or “patient,” used interchangeably, refers to any animal, including mammals, preferably mice, rats, other rodents, rabbits, dogs, cats, swine, cattle, sheep, horses, or primates, and most preferably humans. as used herein, the phrase “therapeutically effective amount” refers to the amount of active compound or pharmaceutical agent that elicits the biological or medicinal response in a tissue, system, animal, individual or human that is being sought by a researcher, veterinarian, medical doctor or other clinician. as used herein the term “treating” or “treatment” refers to 1) preventing the disease; for example, preventing a disease, condition or disorder in an individual who may be predisposed to the disease, condition or disorder but does not yet experience or display the pathology or symptomatology of the disease; 2) inhibiting the disease; for example, inhibiting a disease, condition or disorder in an individual who is experiencing or displaying the pathology or symptomatology of the disease, condition or disorder (i.e., arresting further development of the pathology and/or symptomatology), or 3) ameliorating the disease; for example, ameliorating a disease, condition or disorder in an individual who is experiencing or displaying the pathology or symptomatology of the disease, condition or disorder (i.e., reversing the pathology and/or symptomatology). combination therapy one or more additional pharmaceutical agents or treatment methods such as, for example, anti-viral agents, chemotherapeutics or other anti-cancer agents, immune enhancers, immunosuppressants, radiation, anti-tumor and anti-viral vaccines, cytokine therapy (e.g., il2, gm-csf, etc.), and/or tyrosine kinase inhibitors can be used in combination with the compounds of the present invention for treatment of fgfr-associated diseases, disorders or conditions. the agents can be combined with the present compounds in a single dosage form, or the agents can be administered simultaneously or sequentially as separate dosage forms. suitable antiviral agents contemplated for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention can comprise nucleoside and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (nrtis), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (nnrtis), protease inhibitors and other antiviral drugs. example suitable nrtis include zidovudine (azt); didanosine (ddl); zalcitabine (ddc); stavudine (d4t); lamivudine (3tc); abacavir (1592u89); adefovir dipivoxil [bis(pom)-pmea]; lobucavir (bms-180194); bch-10652; emitricitabine [(−)-ftc]; beta-l-fd4 (also called beta-l-d4c and named beta-l-2′, 3′-dicleoxy-5-fluoro-cytidene); dapd, ((−)-beta-d-2,6,-diamino-purine dioxolane); and lodenosine (fdda). typical suitable nnrtis include nevirapine (bi-rg-587); delaviradine (bhap, u-90152); efavirenz (dmp-266); pnu-142721; ag-1549; mkc-442 (1-(ethoxy-methyl)-5-(1-methylethyl)-6-(phenylmethyl)-(2,4(1h,3h)-pyrimidinedione); and (+)-calanolide a (nsc-675451) and b. typical suitable protease inhibitors include saquinavir (ro 31-8959); ritonavir (abt-538); indinavir (mk-639); nelfnavir (ag-1343); amprenavir (141w94); lasinavir (bms-234475); dmp-450; bms-2322623; abt-378; and ag-1 549. other antiviral agents include hydroxyurea, ribavirin, il-2, il-12, pentafuside and yissum project no. 11607. suitable agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention for the treatment of cancer include chemotherapeutic agents, targeted cancer therapies, immunotherapies or radiation therapy. compounds of this invention may be effective in combination with anti-hormonal agents for treatment of breast cancer and other tumors. suitable examples are anti-estrogen agents including but not limited to tamoxifen and toremifene, aromatase inhibitors including but not limited to letrozole, anastrozole, and exemestane, adrenocorticosteroids (e.g. prednisone), progestins (e.g. megastrol acetate), and estrogen receptor antagonists (e.g. fulvestrant). suitable anti-hormone agents used for treatment of prostate and other cancers may also be combined with compounds of the present invention. these include anti-androgens including but not limited to flutamide, bicalutamide, and nilutamide, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (lhrh) analogs including leuprolide, goserelin, triptorelin, and histrelin, lhrh antagonists (e.g. degarelix), androgen receptor blockers (e.g. enzalutamide) and agents that inhibit androgen production (e.g. abiraterone). compounds of the present invention may be combined with or in sequence with other agents against membrane receptor kinases especially for patients who have developed primary or acquired resistance to the targeted therapy. these therapeutic agents include inhibitors or antibodies against egfr, her2, vegfr, c-met, ret, igfr1, or flt-3 and against cancer-associated fusion protein kinases such as bcr-abl and eml4-alk. inhibitors against egfr include gefitinib and erlotinib, and inhibitors against egfr/her2 include but are not limited to dacomitinib, afatinib, lapitinib and neratinib. antibodies against the egfr include but are not limited to cetuximab, panitumumab and necitumumab. inhibitors of c-met may be used in combination with fgfr inhibitors. these include onartumzumab, tivantnib, and inc-280. agents against abl (or bcr-abl) include imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, and ponatinib and those against alk (or eml4-alk) include crizotinib. angiogenesis inhibitors may be efficacious in some tumors in combination with fgfr inhibitors. these include antibodies against vegf or vegfr or kinase inhibitors of vegfr. antibodies or other therapeutic proteins against vegf include bevacizumab and aflibercept. inhibitors of vegfr kinases and other anti-angiogenesis inhibitors include but are not limited to sunitinib, sorafenib, axitinib, cediranib, pazopanib, regorafenib, brivanib, and vandetanib activation of intracellular signaling pathways is frequent in cancer, and agents targeting components of these pathways have been combined with receptor targeting agents to enhance efficacy and reduce resistance. examples of agents that may be combined with compounds of the present invention include inhibitors of the pi3k-akt-mtor pathway, inhibitors of the raf-mapk pathway, inhibitors of jak-stat pathway, and inhibitors of protein chaperones and cell cycle progression. agents against the pi3 kinase include but are not limited topilaralisib, idelalisib, buparlisib. inhibitors of mtor such as rapamycin, sirolimus, temsirolimus, and everolimus may be combined with fgfr inhibitors. other suitable examples include but are not limited to vemurafenib and dabrafenib (raf inhibitors) and trametinib, selumetinib and gdc-0973 (mek inhibitors). inhibitors of one or more jaks (e.g., ruxolitinib, baricitinib, tofacitinib), hsp90 (e.g., tanespimycin), cyclin dependent kinases (e.g., palbociclib), hdacs (e.g., panobinostat), parp (e.g., olaparib), and proteasomes (e.g., bortezomib, carfilzomib) can also be combined with compounds of the present invention. in some embodiments, the jak inhibitor is selective for jak1 over jak2 and jak3. other suitable agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention include chemotherapy combinations such as platinum-based doublets used in lung cancer and other solid tumors (cisplatin or carboplatin plus gemcitabine; cisplatin or carboplatin plus docetaxel; cisplatin or carboplatin plus paclitaxel; cisplatin or carboplatin plus pemetrexed) or gemcitabine plus paclitaxel bound particles (abraxane®). suitable chemotherapeutic or other anti-cancer agents include, for example, alkylating agents (including, without limitation, nitrogen mustards, ethylenimine derivatives, alkyl sulfonates, nitrosoureas and triazenes) such as uracil mustard, chlormethine, cyclophosphamide (cytoxan™), ifosfamide, melphalan, chlorambucil, pipobroman, triethylene-melamine, triethylenethiophosphoramine, busulfan, carmustine, lomustine, streptozocin, dacarbazine, and temozolomide. other suitable agents for use in combination with the compounds of the present invention include: dacarbazine (dtic), optionally, along with other chemotherapy drugs such as carmustine (bcnu) and cisplatin; the “dartmouth regimen,” which consists of dtic, bcnu, cisplatin and tamoxifen; a combination of cisplatin, vinblastine, and dtic; or temozolomide. compounds according to the invention may also be combined with immunotherapy drugs, including cytokines such as interferon alpha, interleukin 2, and tumor necrosis factor (tnf) in. suitable chemotherapeutic or other anti-cancer agents include, for example, antimetabolites (including, without limitation, folic acid antagonists, pyrimidine analogs, purine analogs and adenosine deaminase inhibitors) such as methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, floxuridine, cytarabine, 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thioguanine, fludarabine phosphate, pentostatine, and gemcitabine. suitable chemotherapeutic or other anti-cancer agents further include, for example, certain natural products and their derivatives (for example, vinca alkaloids, antitumor antibiotics, enzymes, lymphokines and epipodophyllotoxins) such as vinblastine, vincristine, vindesine, bleomycin, dactinomycin, daunorubicin, doxorubicin, epirubicin, idarubicin, ara-c, paclitaxel (taxol™), mithramycin, deoxycoformycin, mitomycin-c, l-asparaginase, interferons (especially ifn-α), etoposide, and teniposide. other cytotoxic agents include navelbene, cpt-11, anastrazole, letrazole, capecitabine, reloxafine, cyclophosphamide, ifosamide, and droloxafine. also suitable are cytotoxic agents such as epidophyllotoxin; an antineoplastic enzyme; a topoisomerase inhibitor; procarbazine; mitoxantrone; platinum coordination complexes such as cis-platin and carboplatin; biological response modifiers; growth inhibitors; antihormonal therapeutic agents; leucovorin; tegafur; and haematopoietic growth factors. other anti-cancer agent(s) include antibody therapeutics such as trastuzumab (herceptin), antibodies to costimulatory molecules such as ctla-4, 4-1bb and pd-1, or antibodies to cytokines (il-10, tgf-β, etc.). other anti-cancer agents also include those that block immune cell migration such as antagonists to chemokine receptors, including ccr2 and ccr4. other anti-cancer agents also include those that augment the immune system such as adjuvants or adoptive t cell transfer. anti-cancer vaccines include dendritic cells, synthetic peptides, dna vaccines and recombinant viruses. methods for the safe and effective administration of most of these chemotherapeutic agents are known to those skilled in the art. in addition, their administration is described in the standard literature. for example, the administration of many of the chemotherapeutic agents is described in the “physicians' desk reference” (pdr, e.g., 1996 edition, medical economics company, montvale, n.j.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety. pharmaceutical formulations and dosage forms when employed as pharmaceuticals, the compounds of the invention can be administered in the form of pharmaceutical compositions which refers to a combination of a compound of the invention, or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt, and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. these compositions can be prepared in a manner well known in the pharmaceutical art, and can be administered by a variety of routes, depending upon whether local or systemic treatment is desired and upon the area to be treated. administration may be topical (including ophthalmic and to mucous membranes including intranasal, vaginal and rectal delivery), pulmonary (e.g., by inhalation or insufflation of powders or aerosols, including by nebulizer; intratracheal, intranasal, epidermal and transdermal), ocular, oral or parenteral. methods for ocular delivery can include topical administration (eye drops), subconjunctival, periocular or intravitreal injection or introduction by balloon catheter or ophthalmic inserts surgically placed in the conjunctival sac. parenteral administration includes intravenous, intraarterial, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, or intramuscular injection or infusion; or intracranial, e.g., intrathecal or intraventricular, administration. parenteral administration can be in the form of a single bolus dose, or may be, for example, by a continuous perfusion pump. pharmaceutical compositions and formulations for topical administration may include transdermal patches, ointments, lotions, creams, gels, drops, suppositories, sprays, liquids and powders. conventional pharmaceutical carriers, aqueous, powder or oily bases, thickeners and the like may be necessary or desirable. this invention also includes pharmaceutical compositions which contain, as the active ingredient, one or more of the compounds of the invention above in combination with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers. in making the compositions of the invention, the active ingredient is typically mixed with an excipient, diluted by an excipient or enclosed within such a carrier in the form of, for example, a capsule, sachet, paper, or other container. when the excipient serves as a diluent, it can be a solid, semi-solid, or liquid material, which acts as a vehicle, carrier or medium for the active ingredient. thus, the compositions can be in the form of tablets, pills, powders, lozenges, sachets, cachets, elixirs, suspensions, emulsions, solutions, syrups, aerosols (as a solid or in a liquid medium), ointments containing, for example, up to 10% by weight of the active compound, soft and hard gelatin capsules, suppositories, sterile injectable solutions, and sterile packaged powders. in preparing a formulation, the active compound can be milled to provide the appropriate particle size prior to combining with the other ingredients. if the active compound is substantially insoluble, it can be milled to a particle size of less than 200 mesh. if the active compound is substantially water soluble, the particle size can be adjusted by milling to provide a substantially uniform distribution in the formulation, e.g. about 40 mesh. some examples of suitable excipients include lactose, dextrose, sucrose, sorbitol, mannitol, starches, gum acacia, calcium phosphate, alginates, tragacanth, gelatin, calcium silicate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, cellulose, water, syrup, and methyl cellulose. the formulations can additionally include: lubricating agents such as talc, magnesium stearate, and mineral oil; wetting agents; emulsifying and suspending agents; preserving agents such as methyl- and propylhydroxy-benzoates; sweetening agents; and flavoring agents. the compositions of the invention can be formulated so as to provide quick, sustained or delayed release of the active ingredient after administration to the patient by employing procedures known in the art. the compositions can be formulated in a unit dosage form, each dosage containing from about 5 to about 100 mg, more usually about 10 to about 30 mg, of the active ingredient. the term “unit dosage forms” refers to physically discrete units suitable as unitary dosages for human subjects and other mammals, each unit containing a predetermined quantity of active material calculated to produce the desired therapeutic effect, in association with a suitable pharmaceutical excipient. the active compound can be effective over a wide dosage range and is generally administered in a pharmaceutically effective amount. it will be understood, however, that the amount of the compound actually administered will usually be determined by a physician, according to the relevant circumstances, including the condition to be treated, the chosen route of administration, the actual compound administered, the age, weight, and response of the individual patient, the severity of the patient's symptoms, and the like. for preparing solid compositions such as tablets, the principal active ingredient is mixed with a pharmaceutical excipient to form a solid pre-formulation composition containing a homogeneous mixture of a compound of the present invention. when referring to these pre-formulation compositions as homogeneous, the active ingredient is typically dispersed evenly throughout the composition so that the composition can be readily subdivided into equally effective unit dosage forms such as tablets, pills and capsules. this solid pre-formulation is then subdivided into unit dosage forms of the type described above containing from, for example, 0.1 to about 500 mg of the active ingredient of the present invention. the tablets or pills of the present invention can be coated or otherwise compounded to provide a dosage form affording the advantage of prolonged action. for example, the tablet or pill can comprise an inner dosage and an outer dosage component, the latter being in the form of an envelope over the former. the two components can be separated by an enteric layer which serves to resist disintegration in the stomach and permit the inner component to pass intact into the duodenum or to be delayed in release. a variety of materials can be used for such enteric layers or coatings, such materials including a number of polymeric acids and mixtures of polymeric acids with such materials as shellac, cetyl alcohol, and cellulose acetate. the liquid forms in which the compounds and compositions of the present invention can be incorporated for administration orally or by injection include aqueous solutions, suitably flavored syrups, aqueous or oil suspensions, and flavored emulsions with edible oils such as cottonseed oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, or peanut oil, as well as elixirs and similar pharmaceutical vehicles. compositions for inhalation or insufflation include solutions and suspensions in pharmaceutically acceptable, aqueous or organic solvents, or mixtures thereof, and powders. the liquid or solid compositions may contain suitable pharmaceutically acceptable excipients as described supra. in some embodiments, the compositions are administered by the oral or nasal respiratory route for local or systemic effect. compositions in can be nebulized by use of inert gases. nebulized solutions may be breathed directly from the nebulizing device or the nebulizing device can be attached to a face masks tent, or intermittent positive pressure breathing machine. solution, suspension, or powder compositions can be administered orally or nasally from devices which deliver the formulation in an appropriate manner. the amount of compound or composition administered to a patient will vary depending upon what is being administered, the purpose of the administration, such as prophylaxis or therapy, the state of the patient, the manner of administration, and the like. in therapeutic applications, compositions can be administered to a patient already suffering from a disease in an amount sufficient to cure or at least partially arrest the symptoms of the disease and its complications. effective doses will depend on the disease condition being treated as well as by the judgment of the attending clinician depending upon factors such as the severity of the disease, the age, weight and general condition of the patient, and the like. the compositions administered to a patient can be in the form of pharmaceutical compositions described above. these compositions can be sterilized by conventional sterilization techniques, or may be sterile filtered. aqueous solutions can be packaged for use as is, or lyophilized, the lyophilized preparation being combined with a sterile aqueous carrier prior to administration. the ph of the compound preparations typically will be between 3 and 11, more preferably from 5 to 9 and most preferably from 7 to 8. it will be understood that use of certain of the foregoing excipients, carriers, or stabilizers will result in the formation of pharmaceutical salts. the therapeutic dosage of the compounds of the present invention can vary according to, for example, the particular use for which the treatment is made, the manner of administration of the compound, the health and condition of the patient, and the judgment of the prescribing physician. the proportion or concentration of a compound of the invention in a pharmaceutical composition can vary depending upon a number of factors including dosage, chemical characteristics (e.g., hydrophobicity), and the route of administration. for example, the compounds of the invention can be provided in an aqueous physiological buffer solution containing about 0.1 to about 10% w/v of the compound for parenteral administration. some typical dose ranges are from about 1 μg/kg to about 1 g/kg of body weight per day. in some embodiments, the dose range is from about 0.01 mg/kg to about 100 mg/kg of body weight per day. the dosage is likely to depend on such variables as the type and extent of progression of the disease or disorder, the overall health status of the particular patient, the relative biological efficacy of the compound selected, formulation of the excipient, and its route of administration. effective doses can be extrapolated from dose-response curves derived from in vitro or animal model test systems. the compounds of the invention can also be formulated in combination with one or more additional active ingredients which can include any pharmaceutical agent such as anti-viral agents, vaccines, antibodies, immune enhancers, immune suppressants, anti-inflammatory agents and the like. labeled compounds and assay methods another aspect of the present invention relates to fluorescent dye, spin label, heavy metal or radio-labeled compounds of the invention that would be useful not only in imaging but also in assays, both in vitro and in vivo, for localizing and quantitating the fgfr enzyme in tissue samples, including human, and for identifying fgfr enzyme ligands by inhibition binding of a labeled compound. accordingly, the present invention includes fgfr enzyme assays that contain such labeled compounds. the present invention further includes isotopically-labeled compounds of the invention. an “isotopically” or “radio-labeled” compound is a compound of the invention where one or more atoms are replaced or substituted by an atom having an atomic mass or mass number different from the atomic mass or mass number typically found in nature (i.e., naturally occurring). suitable radionuclides that may be incorporated in compounds of the present invention include but are not limited to 2 h (also written as d for deuterium), 3 h (also written as t for tritium), 11 c, 13 c, 14 c, 13 n, 15 n, 15 o, 17 o, 18 o, 18 f, 35 s, 36 cl, 82 br, 75 br, 76 br, 77 br, 123 i, 124 i, 125 i and 131 i. the radionuclide that is incorporated in the instant radio-labeled compounds will depend on the specific application of that radio-labeled compound. for example, for in vitro fgfr enzyme labeling and competition assays, compounds that incorporate 3 h, 14 c, 82 br, 125 i, 131 i, or 35 s will generally be most useful. for radio-imaging applications 11 c, 18 f, 125 i, 123 i, 124 i, 131 i, 75 br, 76 br or 77 br will generally be most useful. it is understood that a “radio-labeled” or “labeled compound” is a compound that has incorporated at least one radionuclide. in some embodiments the radionuclide is selected from the group consisting of 3 h, 14 c, 125 i, 35 s and 82 br. synthetic methods for incorporating radio-isotopes into organic compounds are applicable to compounds of the invention and are well known in the art. a radio-labeled compound of the invention can be used in a screening assay to identify/evaluate compounds. in general terms, a newly synthesized or identified compound (i.e., test compound) can be evaluated for its ability to reduce binding of the radio-labeled compound of the invention to the fgfr enzyme. accordingly, the ability of a test compound to compete with the radio-labeled compound for binding to the fgfr enzyme directly correlates to its binding affinity. kits the present invention also includes pharmaceutical kits useful, for example, in the treatment or prevention of fgfr-associated diseases or disorders, obesity, diabetes and other diseases referred to herein which include one or more containers containing a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of the invention. such kits can further include, if desired, one or more of various conventional pharmaceutical kit components, such as, for example, containers with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, additional containers, etc., as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. instructions, either as inserts or as labels, indicating quantities of the components to be administered, guidelines for administration, and/or guidelines for mixing the components, can also be included in the kit. the invention will be described in greater detail by way of specific examples. the following examples are offered for illustrative purposes, and are not intended to limit the invention in any manner. those of skill in the art will readily recognize a variety of non-critical parameters which can be changed or modified to yield essentially the same results. the compounds of the examples were found to be inhibitors of one or more fgfr's as described below. examples experimental procedures for compounds of the invention are provided below. preparatory lc-ms purifications of some of the compounds prepared were performed on waters mass directed fractionation systems. the basic equipment setup, protocols, and control software for the operation of these systems have been described in detail in the literature. see e.g. “two-pump at column dilution configuration for preparative lc-ms”, k. blom, j. combi. chem., 4, 295 (2002); “optimizing preparative lc-ms configurations and methods for parallel synthesis purification”, k. blom, r. sparks, j. doughty, g. everlof, t. haque, a. combs, j. combi. chem., 5, 670 (2003); and “preparative lc-ms purification: improved compound specific method optimization”, k. blom, b. glass, r. sparks, a. combs, j. combi. chem., 6, 874-883 (2004). the compounds separated were typically subjected to analytical liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (lcms) for purity check under the following conditions: instrument; agilent 1100 series, lc/msd, column: waters sunfire™ c 18 5 μm, 2.1×5.0 mm, buffers: mobile phase a: 0.025% tfa in water and mobile phase b: 0.025% tfa in acetonitrile; gradient 2% to 80% of b in 3 minutes with flow rate 1.5 ml/minute. some of the compounds prepared were also separated on a preparative scale by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (rp-hplc) with ms detector or flash chromatography (silica gel) as indicated in the examples. typical preparative reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (rp-hplc) column conditions are as follows: ph=2 purifications: waters sunfire™ c 18 5 μm, 19×100 mm column, eluting with mobile phase a: 0.1% tfa (trifluoroacetic acid) in water and mobile phase b: 0.1% tfa in acetonitrile; the flow rate was 30 ml/minute, the separating gradient was optimized for each compound using the compound specific method optimization protocol as described in the literature [see “preparative lcms purification: improved compound specific method optimization”, k. blom, b. glass, r. sparks, a. combs, j. comb. chem., 6, 874-883 (2004)]. typically, the flow rate used with the 30×100 mm column was 60 ml/minute. ph=10 purifications: waters xbridge c 18 5 μm, 19×100 mm column, eluting with mobile phase a: 0.15% nh 4 oh in water and mobile phase b: 0.15% nh 4 oh in acetonitrile; the flow rate was 30 ml/minute, the separating gradient was optimized for each compound using the compound specific method optimization protocol as described in the literature [see “preparative lcms purification: improved compound specific method optimization”, k. blom, b. glass, r. sparks, a. combs, j. comb. chem., 6, 874-883 (2004)]. typically, the flow rate used with 30×100 mm column was 60 ml/minute. example 1 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one step 1: ethyl 6-chloro-4-(methylamino)nicotinate to a solution of 2, 4-dichloro-5-carbethoxypyridine (10.0 g, 45.4 mmol, purchased from ark, catalog no. ak-25933) in acetonitrile (40 ml) was added methylamine (8.52 ml, 8.0 m in etoh, 68.2 mmol) dropwise at 0° c. the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 6 h before it was concentrated in vacuo. the crude residue was taken to the next step directly without further purification. lc-ms calculated for c 9 h 12 cln 2 o 2 [m+h] + m/z: 215.1. found 215.1. step 2: 6-chloro-4-(methylamino)nicotinaldehyde to a solution of ethyl 6-chloro-4-(methylamino)nicotinate (11.0 g, 50.2 mmol) in methylene chloride (400 ml) was added 1.0 m diisobutylaluminum hydride in thf (150 ml, 150 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 6 h before it was quenched by a solution of rochelle's salt. after stirring for 12 h, the aqueous solution was extracted with etoac (3×150 ml) and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo to afford the crude alcohol. lc-ms calculated for c 7 h 10 cln 2 o [m+h] + m/z: 173.0. found 173.0. to the solution of crude alcohol in methylene chloride (300 ml) were added sodium bicarbonate (42 g, 500 mmol) and dess-martin periodinane (42 g, 100 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred for 1 h before it was quenched with na 2 s 2 o 3 (sat. aq, 100 ml) and nahco 3 (sat. aq, 100 ml). the aqueous phase was extracted with etoac (3×100 ml) and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo. purified by flash column chromatography to afford the the aldehyde (6.2 g, 80% yield over two steps). lc-ms calculated for c 7 h 8 cln 2 o [m+h] + m/z: 171.0. found 171.0. step 3: 2-chloro-5-{[(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]methyl}-n-methylpyridin-4-amine to a mixture of 2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (cas #651734-54-2, lakestar tech, lsp-210c, lot: 132-110-05: 1.07 g, 5.68 mmol) in trifluoroacetic acid (7.9 ml, 0.1 mol) was added sodium triacetoxyborohydride (3.6 g, 17.0 mmol). the mixture was stirred at 0° c. for 2 minutes before a solution of 6-chloro-4-(methylamino)-nicotinaldehyde (0.97 g, 5.7 mmol) in methylene chloride (8.0 ml) was added dropwise. the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight before it was concentrated in vacuo to remove the excess trifluoroacetic acid. the residue was neutralized by nahco 3 solution. the aqueous phase was extracted with etoac (3×10 ml) and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo. the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography to afford the aniline (1.36 g, 68%). lc-ms calculated for c 15 h 17 clf 2 n 3 o 2 [m+h] + m/z: 344.1. found 344.1. step 4: 7-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a mixture of dianiline (206 mg, 0.60 mmol) in thf (6.0 ml) were added triethylamine (0.41 ml, 2.9 mmol) and triphosgene (70.0 mg, 0.23 mmol) at 0° c. the resulting mixture was stirred for 1 h at 0° c. before it was quenched with sodium carbonate. the aqueous phase was extracted with etoac (3×10 ml) and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo. the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography to afford the urea (190 mg, 90%). lc-ms calculated for c 16 h 15 clf 2 n 3 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 370.1. found 370.1. step 5: 3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-7-[(4-methoxybenzyl)amino]-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a mixture of 4-methoxybenzylamine (2.65 ml, 20.3 mmol), 7-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (1.5 g, 4.0 mmol), palladium acetate (90 mg, 0.4 mmol), (r)-(+)-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl (200 mg, 0.4 mmol) and cesium carbonate (2.6 g, 8.1 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (30 ml, 400 mmol) was heated at 100° c. for 12 h. the mixture was filtered and concentrated in vacuo. the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography to afford the aniline. lc-ms calculated for c 24 h 25 f 2 n 4 o 4 [m+h] + m/z: 471.2. found 471.2. step 6: 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one a solution of 3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-7-[(4-methoxybenzyl)amino]-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (1.1 g, 2.3 mmol) in tfa (10.0 ml) was heated to 85° c. for 3 h before it was concentrated in vacuo and neutralized with sodium bicarbonate solution. the aqueous phase was extracted with etoac (3×20 ml) and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo. the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography to afford the aniline (0.55 g, 67%). lc-ms calculated for c 16 h 17 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 351.1. found 351.1. step 7: 7-amino-8-bromo-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a solution of 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (37 mg, 0.106 mmol) in acetonitrile (2.0 ml) was added nbs (23 mg, 0.13 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred for 1 h before it was concentrated in vacuo. the crude product was purified by flash column chromatography to afford the bromide. lc-ms calculated for c 16 h 16 brf 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 429.1. found 429.1. step 8: 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1, 8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a solution of 7-amino-8-bromo-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (34.0 mg, 0.080 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (0.8 ml) were added pd(dppf)cl 2 (8.0 mg, 0.01 mmol) and znme 2 (2.0 m solution in toluene, 0.11 ml, 0.22 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred for 1 h at 110° c. before it was diluted with meoh (4 ml) and purified by rp-hplc (ph 2) to afford the product as its tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 17 h 19 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 365.1. found 365.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso) δ 7.73 (s, 3h), 7.04 (t, j=7.5 hz, 1h), 4.59 (s, 2h), 3.88 (s, 6h), 3.39 (s, 3h), 2.80 ppm (s, 3h). example 2 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-ethyl-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 1 by using diethylzinc (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 220809) instead of dimethylzinc. lc-ms calculated for c 18 h 21 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 379.1. found 379.1. example 3 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido-[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile to a solution of 7-amino-8-bromo-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (10.0 mg, 0.0233 mmol) in dmf (1.0 ml) was added pd(dppf)cl 2 (4.0 mg, 0.005 mmol) and zinc cyanide (8.2 mg, 0.070 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred for 1 h at 180° c. before it was diluted with meoh (4 ml) and purified by rp-hplc (ph 2) to afford the product. lc-ms calculated for c 17 h 16 f 2 n 5 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 376.1. found 376.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso) δ 7.90 (s, 1h), 7.15 (s, 2h), 7.05 (t, j=7.5 hz, 1h), 4.55 (s, 2h), 3.89 (s, 6h), 3.53 ppm (s, 3h). example 4 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-ethoxy-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a solution of 7-amino-8-bromo-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (10.0 mg, 0.0233 mmol) in ethanol (1.0 ml) were added copper (10.0 mg, 0.157 mmol) and potassium hydroxide (10.0 mg, 0.178 mmol). the resulting mixture was heated to 150° c. for 3 h and then diluted with meoh (4 ml) and purified by rp-hplc (ph 2). lc-ms calculated for c 18 h 21 f 2 n 4 o 4 [m+h] + m/z: 395.1. found 395.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso) δ 7.57 (s, 1h), 7.03 (t, j=7.5 hz, 1h), 6.48 (s, 2h), 4.58 (s, 2h), 3.88 (s, 6h), 3.82 (q, j=7.5 hz, 2h), 3.42 (s, 3h), 1.34 ppm (t, j=7.5 hz, 3h). example 5 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-(2-methoxyethoxy)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydro-pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 4 by using 2-methoxyethanol instead of ethanol. lc-ms calculated for c 19 h 23 f 2 n 4 o 5 [m+h] + m/z: 424.2. found 424.1. example 6 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-[2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethoxy]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 4 by using 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethanol (purchased from oakwood, catalog no. 021290) instead of ethanol. lc-ms calculated for c 23 h 31 f 2 n 6 o 4 [m+h] + m/z: 493.2. found 493.2. example 7 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-phenoxy-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 4 by using phenol instead of ethanol. lc-ms calculated for c 22 h 21 f 2 n 4 o 4 [m+h] + m/z: 443.1. found 443.1. example 8 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a solution of 7-amino-8-bromo-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (example 1, step 7: 9.0 mg, 0.021 mmol) and 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole (6.5 mg, 0.031 mmol, purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 595314) in 1, 4-dioxane (0.6 ml)/water (0.15 ml) were added potassium carbonate (8.6 mg, 0.062 mmol) and tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) (3.6 mg, 0.0031 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred for 2 h at 110° c. before it was diluted with meoh (4 ml) and purified by rp-hplc (ph 2) to give the product as its tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 20 h 21 f 2 n 6 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 431.2. found 431.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso) δ 7.87 (s, 1h), 7.81 (s, 1h), 7.49 (s, 1h), 7.20 (s, 2h), 7.04 (t, j=7.5 hz, 1h), 4.61 (s, 2h), 3.90 (s, 3h), 3.88 (s, 6h), 2.67 ppm (s, 3h). example 9 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-ethyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 1-ethyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole (purchased from combi-blocks, catalog no. bb-8817) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 21 h 23 f 2 n 6 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 443.2. found 443.1. example 10 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-[1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1h-pyrazol-4-yl]-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 2-[4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazol-1-yl]ethanol instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole (purchased from syntech solution, catalog no. bh-3012). lc-ms calculated for c 21 h 23 f 2 n 6 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 461.2. found 461.2. example 11 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-piperidin-4-yl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using {1-[1-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)piperidin-4-yl]-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazol-4-yl}boronic acid (purchased from combi-blocks, catalog no. bb-6007) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. after the reaction was completed, it was diluted with tfa (4 ml) and purified by rp-hplc to afford the product. lc-ms calculated for c 24 h 28 f 2 n 7 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 500.2. found 500.1. example 12 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1h-pyrazol-4-yl)-3,4-dihydro-pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-1h-pyrazole (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 525057) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 19 h 19 f 2 n 6 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 417.1. found 417.1. example 13 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-5-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 1-methyl-5-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-1h-pyrazole (purchased from chembridge corp., catalog no. 4003213) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4, 5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 20 h 21 f 2 n 6 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 431.2. found 431.1. example 14 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-phenyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using phenylboronic acid (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 20009) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 22 h 21 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 427.2. found 427.1. example 15 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-(4-fluorophenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydro-pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 4-fluorophenylboronic acid (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 417556) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 22 h 20 f 3 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 445.1. found 445.1. example 16 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-pyridin-3-yl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 3-pyridylboronic acid (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 512125) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 21 h 20 f 2 n 5 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 428.1. found 428.1. example 17 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-pyridin-4-yl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized by the same method described in example 8 by using 4-pyridylboronic acid (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 634492) instead of 1-methyl-4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1h-pyrazole. lc-ms calculated for c 21 h 20 f 2 n 5 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 428.1. found 428.1. example 18 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-[(e)-2-phenylvinyl]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized from suzuki coupling of the bromide (example 1, step 7) with (e)-2-phenylvinyl boronic acid (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 473790) by the same method described in example 2. lc-ms calculated for c 24 h 23 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 453.2. found 453.1. example 19 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-phenylethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido-[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a solution of 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-8-[(e)-2-phenylvinyl]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (10.0 mg) in meoh (1 ml) was added palladium on charcoal (10.0 mg). the reaction was kept under h 2 atmosphere for 2 h before it was filtered, and purified by rp-hplc (ph 2). lc-ms calculated for c 24 h 25 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 455.2. found 455.1. example 20 7-amino-8-benzyl-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized from suzuki coupling of the bromide (example 1, step 7) with 2-benzyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolane (purchased from ark, catalog no. ak-23881) by the same method described in example 2. lc-ms calculated for c 23 h 23 f 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 441.1. found 441.1. example 21 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-(3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was synthesized from suzuki coupling of the bromide (example 1, step 7) with 4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2h-pyran (purchased from sigma-aldrich, catalog no. 721352) by the same method described in example 2. lc-ms calculated for c 21 h 23 f 2 n 4 o 4 [m+h] + m/z: 433.2. found 433.1. example 22 6-amino-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-1,2-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(4h)-one step 1. 6-chloro-2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one to a stirred slurry of 6-chloro-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one (from anichem, cat # nc1485, 250.0 mg, 1.37 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (3.8 ml), potassium carbonate (568 mg, 4.11 mmol), (1r,2r)—n,n′-dimethylcyclohexane-1,2-diamine (77.9 mg, 0.548 mmol), copper(i) iodide (52.1 mg, 0.274 mmol), and 3,5-dimethoxybromobenzene (446 mg, 2.05 mmol) were added sequentially at room temperature. the resulting mixture was then heated at 90° c. under the atmosphere of n 2 . after 15 h, the reaction was quenched with saturated aq. nh 4 cl, and extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were dried over mgso 4 , and then concentrated. the residue was purified on silica gel (eluting with 0 to 0-40% etoac in dcm) to afford the desired product (120 mg). lc-ms calculated for c 16 h 16 cln 2 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 319.1. found 319.1. step 2. 6-chloro-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4, 4-dimethyl-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one to a stirred solution of 6-chloro-2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one (109.0 mg, 0.342 mmol) in n,n-dimethylformamide (3.6 ml), cesium carbonate (330 mg, 1.0 mmol) and methyl iodide (53 μl, 0.85 mmol) were added sequentially at room temperature. after 5 hours, the reaction mixture was quenched with saturated aq. nh 4 cl, and extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were dried over mgso 4 , and then concentrated to afford the crude product (110 mg), which was used directly in the next step without purification. lc-ms calculated for c 18 h 20 cln 2 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 347.1. found 347.1. step 3. tert-butyl [7-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-5, 5-dimethyl-6-oxo-5, 6, 7, 8-tetrahydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3-yl]carbamate a stirred mixture of 6-chloro-2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one (100.0 mg, 0.288 mmol), t-butyl carbamate (40.5 mg, 0.346 mmol), (9,9-dimethyl-9h-xanthene-4,5-diyl)bis(diphenylphosphine) (33 mg, 0.058 mmol), palladium acetate (6.5 mg, 0.029 mmol), and cesium carbonate (93.9 mg, 0.288 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (5 ml) was heated at 90° c. under the atmosphere of n 2 . after 12 h, the reaction was quenched with saturated aq. nh 4 cl, and extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were dried over mgso 4 , and then concentrated. the residue was purified on silica gel (eluting with 0 to 0-40% etoac in dcm) to afford the desired product (22 mg). lc-ms calculated for c 23 h 30 n 3 o 5 [m+h] + m/z: 428.2. found 428.2. step 4. 6-amino-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4, 4-dimethyl-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one to a stirred solution of tert-butyl [7-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-5,5-dimethyl-6-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3-yl]carbamate (22.0 mg, 0.0515 mmol) in acetonitrile (1.5 ml), 1-(chloromethyl)-4-fluoro-1,4-diazoniabicyclo[2.2.2]octane ditetrafluoroborate (54.7 mg, 0.154 mmol) was added at 0° c. the resulted mixture was then warmed up to room temperature. after 3 hours, the reaction was quenched with saturated aq. nahco 3 , and extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were dried over mgso 4 , concentrated to dryness, and then dissolved in trifluoroacetic acid (1.0 ml)/methylene chloride (1.0 ml, 16 mmol). after 1 hour, the volatiles was removed under reduced pressure and the residue was purified on rp-hplc (xbridge c18 column, eluting with a gradient of acetonitrile/water containing 0.05% tfa, at a flow rate of 30 ml/min) to afford the desired product (2.0 mg) as its tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 18 h 20 f 2 n 3 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 364.1. found 364.2. example 23 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-[(2-morpholin-4-ylethyl)amino]-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one step 1: 4, 6-dichloronicotinaldehyde to a stirred solution of 2,4-dichloro-5-carbethoxypyridine (ark pharm, cat# ak-25933: 10.0 g, 45.4 mmol) in methylene chloride (100.0 ml) at −78° c. was added a solution of diisobutylaluminum hydride in methylene chloride (50.0 ml, 1.0 m, 50.0 mmol) dropwise. after 2 hours, the reaction was quenched with a saturated solution of rochelle's salt. after stirring for 12 h, the aqueous solution was extracted with dcm (3×150 ml). the combined organic layers were dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated in vacuo to afford the crude aldehyde (7.51 g, 42.9 mmol), which was used in the next step without further purification. lc-ms calculated for c 6 h 4 cl 2 no [m+h] + m/z: 176.0. found 176.0. step 2: n-[(4, 6-dichloropyridin-3-yl)methyl]-2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline to a stirred solution of 2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (cas #651734-54-2, lakestar tech, lsp-210c, lot: 132-110-05: 9.03 g, 47.7 mmol) and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (38.0 g, 180 mmol) in methylene chloride (60 ml)/trifluoroacetic acid (30 ml) was added 4,6-dichloronicotinaldehyde (8.00 g, 45.5 mmol) in small portions at room temperature. after 1 hour, the volatiles were removed in vacuo and saturated aqueous nahco 3 (200 ml) was added. the resulting mixture was extracted with dcm (3×150 ml). the organic layers were combined, dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated. the residue was purified on silica gel (eluting with 0 to 40% etoac in hexanes) to afford the desired product (15.0 g). lc-ms calculated for c 14 h 13 cl 2 f 2 n 2 o 2 [m+h] + m/z: 349.0. found 349.1. step 3: ethyl 3-[[(4, 6-dichloropyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]-3-oxopropanoate to a stirred solution of n-[(4,6-dichloropyridin-3-yl)methyl]-2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (3.50 g, 10.0. mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (20 ml) was added nah (60% w/w in mineral oil, 421 mg, 10.5 mmol) at room temperature. after 10 minutes, ethyl malonyl chloride (1.92 ml, 15.0 mmol) was added dropwise. after another 1 hour, the reaction was quenched with saturated aqueous nh 4 cl, and extracted with dcm (3×100 ml). the organic layers were combined, dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated. the residue was purified on silica gel (eluting with 0 to 35% etoac in hexanes) to afford the desired product (4.20 g, 9.1 mmol). lc-ms calculated for c 19 h 19 cl 2 f 2 n 2 o 5 [m+h] + m/z: 463.1. found 463.1. step 4. 6-chloro-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydro-2,7-naphthyridine-4-carboxylate to a stirred solution of ethyl 3-[[(4,6-dichloropyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]-3-oxopropanoate (1.50 g, 3.24 mmol) in dmf (15. ml) was added nah (60% w/w in mineral oil, 337 mg, 8.42 mmol) at room temperature. the resulting mixture was then warmed up to 110° c. after 5 hours, the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature then saturated aqueous nh 4 cl (50 ml) was added forming precipitate. after filtration, the solid was dried in vacuo to give crude cyclized product (0.95 g, 2.23 mmol) which was used in the next step without further purification. lc-ms calculated for c 19 h 8 clf 2 n 2 o 5 [m+h] + m/z: 427.1. found 427.0. step 5. 6-chloro-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1, 2-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(4h)-one to a stirred solution of 6-chloro-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2,7-naphthyridine-4-carboxylate (0.95 g, 2.23 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (5 ml) was added hydrogen chloride (4.0 m in dioxane, 2 ml, 8 mmol) at room temperature. the resulting mixture was warmed up to 100° c. after stirring at 100° c. for 4 hours, the reaction mixture was cooled to ambient temperature, quenched with saturated aqueous nahco 3 , and extracted with dcm (3×100 ml). the organic layers were combined, dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated. the residue was purified on silica gel (eluting with 0 to 30% etoac in dcm) to afford the desired product (0.75 g, 2.12 mmol). lc-ms calculated for c 16 h 14 clf 2 n 2 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 355.1. found 355.1. step 6: 6′-chloro-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′-one to a stirred solution of 6-chloro-2-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,4-dihydro-2,7-naphthyridin-3(2h)-one (1.50 g, 4.23 mmol) in dmf (10 ml) was added sequentially cesium carbonate (3.03 g, 9.30 mmol) and 1-bromo-2-chloro-ethane (701 μl, 8.46 mmol) at room temperature. after stirring at room temperature for 5 hours, the reaction mixture was quenched with saturated aqueous nh 4 cl, and extracted with dcm (3×75 ml). the organic layers were combined, dried over na 2 so 4 , and concentrated. the residue was purified on silica gel (eluting with 0 to 50% etoac in hexanes) to afford the desired product (1.20 g, 3.15 mmol). lc-ms calculated for c 18 h 16 clf 2 n 2 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 381.1. found 381.1. step 7: 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-[(2-morpholin-4-ylethyl)amino-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-], 4′-[2, 7]naphthyridin]-3′-one to a stirred solution of 6′-chloro-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one (250 mg, 0.657 mmol) and 2-morpholinoethanamine (214 mg, 1.64 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (6.0 ml) were added sequentially dicyclohexyl(2′,4′,6′-triisopropyl-3,6-dimethoxybiphenyl-2-yl)phosphine (brettphos, aldrich, cat#718742: 70.5 mg, 0.131 mmol), sodium tert-butoxide (126 mg, 1.31 mmol) and palladium acetate (29.5 mg, 0.131 mmol) at room temperature. the resulting mixture was purged with n 2 then heated to 110° c. after stirring at 110° c. for 45 minutes, the reaction mixture was cooled to ambient temperature and was purified on rp-hplc (xbridge c18 column, eluting with a gradient of acetonitrile/water containing 0.05% tfa, at flow rate of 60 ml/min) to give the desired product (150 mg) as its tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 24 h 29 f 2 n 4 o 4 [m+h] + m/z: 475.2. found 475.2. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso-d 6 ): δ 7.96 (s, 1h), 7.06 (t, j=10.0 hz, 1h), 6.22 (s, 1h), 4.77 (s, 2h), 3.88 (s, 6h), 3.82 (br, 4h), 3.65 (br, 2h), 3.27-3.33 (m, 6h), 1.71 (dd, j=7.0 hz, 4.0 hz, 2h), 1.43 (dd, j=7.0 hz, 4.0 hz, 2h) ppm. example 24 6′-amino-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one to a stirred solution of 6′-chloro-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one (example 23, step 6: 248 mg, 0.651 mmol) and benzophenone imine (164 μl, 0.977 mmol) in toluene (5 ml) were added sequentially (r)-(+)-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1, 1′-binaphthyl (40.6 mg, 0.0651 mmol), sodium tert-butoxide (125 mg, 1.30 mmol) and tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium(0) (23.9 mg, 0.0260 mmol) at room temperature. the resulting mixture was purged with n 2 and heated to 90° c. after stirring for 2 hours at 90° c., the reaction mixture was cooled to ambient temperature and the volatiles were removed in vacuo. the residue was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (5 ml) then a solution of hydrogen chloride in water (1.0 m, 650 μl, 0.65 mmol) was added. after stirring at room temperature for 1 hour, the reaction mixture was concentrated and the residue was purified on rp-hplc (xbridge c18 column, eluting with a gradient of acetonitrile/water containing 0.05% tfa, at flow rate of 60 ml/min) to give the desired product (202 mg) as its tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 18 h 18 f 2 n 3 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 362.1. found 362.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso-d 6 ): δ 7.90 (s, 1h), 7.77 (br, 2h), 7.07 (t, j=10.0 hz, 1h), 6.49 (s, 1h), 4.79 (s, 2h), 3.89 (s, 6h), 1.82 (dd, j=10.0 hz, 5.0 hz, 2h), 1.51 (dd, j=10.0 hz, 5.0 hz, 2h) ppm. example 25 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(methylamino)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one to a stirred solution of 6′-chloro-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one (example 23, step 6: 90.0 mg, 0.236 mmol) and tert-butyl methylcarbamate (89.5 mg, 0.682 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (3 ml) were added sequentially dicyclohexyl(2′,4′,6′-triisopropyl-3,6-dimethoxybiphenyl-2-yl)phosphine (brettphos, aldrich, cat#718742: 24.4 mg, 0.0455 mmol), sodium tert-butoxide (52.4 mg, 0.546 mmol), and palladium acetate (10.2 mg, 0.0455 mmol) at room temperature. the resulting mixture was purged with n 2 and heated to 90° c. after stirring for 45 minutes at 90° c., the reaction mixture was cooled to ambient temperature and the volatiles were removed in vacuo. the residue was dissolved in dcm (1 ml) then tfa (1 ml) was added. after stirring at room temperature for 1 hour, the reaction mixture was concentrated and the crude was purified on rp-hplc (xbridge c18 column, eluting with a gradient of acetonitrile/water containing 0.05% tfa, at flow rate of 60 ml/min) to give the desired product (32 mg) as its tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 19 h 20 f 2 n 3 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 376.1. found 376.2. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso-d 6 ): δ 7.90 (s, 1h), 7.07 (t, j=10.0 hz, 1h), 6.46 (s, 1h), 4.80 (s, 2h), 3.89 (s, 6h), 2.90 (s, 3h) 1.79 (dd, j=10.0 hz, 5.0 hz, 2h), 1.56 (dd, j=10.0 hz, 5.0 hz, 2h) ppm. example 26 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-ylamino)-1′,2′-dihydro-3′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7 with tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-amine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 23 h 26 f 2 n 3 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=446.2. found: 446.2. example 27 (s)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(2-hydroxypropylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with (s)-1-aminopropan-2-ol replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 21 h 24 f 2 n 3 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=420.2. found: 420.2. example 28 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(pyridin-2-ylmethylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with pyridin-2-ylmethanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 24 h 23 f 2 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=453.2. found: 453.2. example 29 (s)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(tetrahydrofuran-3-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with (s)-tetrahydrofuran-3-amine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 22 h 24 f 2 n 3 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=432.2. found: 432.2. example 30 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)ethanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 25 h 32 f 2 n 5 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=488.2. found: 488.2. example 31 methyl 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3′-oxo-2′,3′-dihydro-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridine]-6′-ylcarbamate this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with methyl carbamate replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 20 h 20 f 2 n 3 o 5 (m+h) + : m/z=420.1. found: 420.1. example 32 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(pyridin-3-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with pyridin-3-amine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 23 h 21 f 2 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=439.2. found: 439.2. example 33 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(3-fluorophenylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with 3-fluoroaniline replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 24 h 21 f 3 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=456.2. found: 456.2. example 34 6′-(cyclopentylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with cyclopentanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 23 h 26 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=430.2. found: 430.2. example 35 (s)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-((tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)methylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with (s)-(tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)methanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 23 h 26 f 2 n 3 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=446.2. found: 446.2. example 36 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with 1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-amine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 22 h 22 f 2 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=442.2. found: 442.2. example 37 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-((1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with (1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 23 h 24 f 2 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=456.2. found: 456.2. example 38 (r)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(1-phenylethylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with (r)-1-phenylethanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 26 h 26 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=466.2. found: 466.2. example 39 6′-(cyclohexylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with cyclohexanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 24 h 28 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=444.2. found: 444.2. example 40 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(trans-4-hydroxycyclohexylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with trans-4-aminocyclohexanol replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 24 h 28 f 2 n 3 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=460.2. found: 460.2. example 41 6′-(cyclopropylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with cyclopropanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 21 h 22 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=402.2. found: 402.2. example 42 6′-(cyclobutylamino)-2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with cyclobutylamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 22 h 24 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=416.2. found: 416.2. example 43 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(3,3-difluorocyclobutylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with 3,3-difluorocyclobutanamine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 22 h 22 f 4 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=452.2. found: 452.2. example 44 2′-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-6′-(1-methylpiperidin-4-ylamino)-1′h-spiro[cyclopropane-1,4′-[2,7]naphthyridin]-3′(2′h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those for example 23, step 7, with 1-methylpiperidin-4-amine replacing 2-morpholinoethanamine. lcms calculated for c 24 h 29 f 2 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=459.2. found: 459.2. example 45 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-8-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one step 1: (4, 6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methanol to a stirred solution of ethyl 4,6-dichloro-5-methylnicotinate (1.75 g, 7.48 mmol, ark pharm, cat# ak121795) in methylene chloride (30 ml) at −78° c. was added diisobutylaluminum hydride (1.0 m in toluene, 18.0 ml, 18.0 mmol) dropwise. the resulting mixture was stirred at −78° c. for 2 h then quenched with saturated aqueous nh 4 cl. the mixture was warmed to room temperature then extracted with dcm (3×20 ml). the combined organic layers were washed with brine, dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. the residue was purified by flash chromatography on a silica gel column eluting with meoh in dcm (0-5%) to afford the desired product (0.80 g, 56%). lcms calculated for c 7 h 8 cl 2 no (m+h) + : m/z=192.0. found: 192.0. step 2: n-[(4, 6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]-2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline to a stirred solution of (4,6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methanol (0.80 g, 4.2 mmol) in methylene chloride (20 ml) at 0° c. was added n,n-diisopropylethylamine (1.45 ml, 8.33 mmol), followed by methanesulfonyl chloride (0.42 ml, 5.4 mmol). the resulting mixture was warmed to room temperature and stirred for 2 h then quenched with saturated aqueous nahco 3 . the mixture was extracted with dcm (3×50 ml). the combined organic layers were washed with brine, dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. the residue was dissolved in n,n-diisopropylethylamine (3.5 ml) then 2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (0.79 g, 4.2 mmol) was added. the mixture was stirred at 100° c. overnight. the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature then quenched with saturated aqueous nahco 3 , and extracted with ethyl acetate (3×20 ml). the combined organic layers were washed with brine, dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. the residue was purified by flash chromatography on a silica gel column eluting with ethyl acetate in hexanes (0-25%) to afford the desired product (1.5 g, 99%). lcms calculated for c 15 h 15 cl 2 f 2 n 2 o 2 (m+h) + : m/z=363.0. found: 363.0. step 3: 4-chloro-5-{[(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]methyl}-n-(4-methoxybenzyl)-3-methylpyridin-2-amine a mixture of n-[(4,6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]-2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (1.5 g, 4.1 mmol), benzenemethanamine, 4-methoxy- (1.1 ml, 8.3 mmol), (r)-(+)-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl (0.26 g, 0.42 mmol), palladium acetate (0.093 g, 0.41 mmol) and cesium carbonate (2.7 g, 8.3 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (10 ml) was purged with nitrogen then heated to 150° c. and stirred overnight. after cooling to room temperature, the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. the residue was purified by flash chromatography on a silica gel column eluting with ethyl acetate in hexanes (0-25%) to afford the desired product (1.0 g, 52%). lcms calculated for c 23 h 25 clf 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=464.2. found: 464.1. step 4: 5-{[(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]methyl}-n4-(2-fluorophenyl)-n2-(4-methoxybenzyl)-3-methylpyridine-2,4-diamine to a mixture of 4-chloro-5-{[(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]methyl}-n-(4-methoxybenzyl)-3-methylpyridin-2-amine (32 mg, 0.070 mmol), palladium acetate (1.6 mg, 0.0070 mmol), (r)-(+)-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl (4.4 mg, 0.0070 mmol), and cesium carbonate (69 mg, 0.21 mmol) in 1,4-dioxane (1.0 ml) was added 2-fluoroaniline (11 mg, 0.098 mmol). the resulting mixture was purged with nitrogen then heated to 150° c. and stirred overnight. after cooling to room temperature, the reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. the residue was used in the next step without further purification. lcms calculated for c 29 h 30 f 3 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=539.2. found: 539.2. step 5: 3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-7-[(4-methoxybenzyl)amino]-8-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one triphosgene (21 mg, 0.070 mmol) was added to a solution of the crude product from step 4 and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (73 μl, 0.42 mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (2.0 ml). the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 min then 2n naoh (2 ml) was added. the mixture was stirred at 30° c. for 1 h then cooled to room temperature and extracted with ethyl acetate (3×20 ml). the combined organic layers were washed with brine, dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. the residue was used in the next step without further purification. lcms calculated for c 30 h 28 f 3 n 4 o 4 (m+h) + : m/z=565.2. found: 565.2. step 6: 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-8-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one the crude product from step 5 was dissolved in 1 ml of tfa and the reaction mixture was stirred at 85° c. for 3 h. the mixture was cooled to room temperature and concentrated in vacuo. the residue was dissolved in acetonitrile then purified by rp-hplc (ph=2) to afford the desired product as tfa salt. lcms calculated for c 22 h 20 f 3 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=445.1. found: 445.2. example 46 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-methyl-1-(2-methyl-2h-tetrazol-5-yl)-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those as described for example 45 with 2-methyl-2h-tetrazol-5-amine (combi-blocks, cat#or-5103) replacing 2-fluoroaniline in step 4. lcms calculated for c 18 h 19 f 2 n 8 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=433.2. found: 433.2. example 47 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-8-methyl-1-[(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl]-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those as described for example 45 with 1-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methanamine hydrochloride (j&w pharmlab, cat#68r0166) replacing 2-fluoroaniline in step 4. lcms calculated for c 21 h 23 f 2 n 6 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=445.2. found: 445.1. example 48 methyl [3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido [4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-yl]carbamate step 1: [(4, 6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl) carbamic chloride to a solution of n-[(4,6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]-2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (example 45, step 2: 1.25 g, 3.44 mmol) in methylene chloride (30 ml) at 0° c. was added triphosgene (0.61 g, 2.1 mmol), followed by pyridine (840 μl, 10. mmol). the reaction mixture was stirred at 0° c. for 1 hour then diluted with methylene chloride and washed with 1n hcl solution. then the aqueous solution was extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were washed with water, brine, dried over na 2 so 4 , then concentrated to give the desired product (1.45 g, 99%) which was used in the next step without further purification. lcms calculated for c 16 h 14 cl 3 f 2 n 2 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=425.0. found: 425.0. step 2: n-[(4, 6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]-n-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-n′-methylurea to a solution of [(4,6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)carbamic chloride (1.45 g, 3.41 mmol) in methylene chloride (6 ml) was added methylamine (2m in thf, 3.4 ml, 6.8 mmol) and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (3.0 ml, 17 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 min then concentrated. the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the desired product (1.35 g, 94%). lcms calculated for c 17 h 18 cl 2 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=420.1. found: 420.0. step 3: 7-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one a mixture of n-[(4,6-dichloro-5-methylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]-n-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-n′-methylurea (0.80 g, 1.9 mmol), cesium carbonate (1.9 g, 5.7 mmol) in n,n-dimethylformamide (7 ml) in a reaction vial was stirred at 110° c. overnight. after cooling to room temperature, the mixture was quenched with sat'd nh 4 cl solution, and extracted with ethyl acetate. the combined extracts were washed with water and brine then dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated. the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the desired product (0.58 g, 79%). lcms calculated for c 17 h 17 clf 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=384.1. found: 384.1. step 4: 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1, 8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one a mixture of 7-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (200 mg, 0.5 mmol), benzophenone imine (110 μl, 0.68 mmol), 2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl (32 mg, 0.052 mmol) and tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium(0) (20 mg, 0.02 mmol) in toluene (4 ml) was purged with nitrogen for 5 min. the mixture was stirred at 90° c. for 2 hours then cooled to room temperature and concentrated. the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the intermediate (210 mg). the intermediate was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (3 ml) then hydrogen chloride (1 m in water, 0.3 ml, 0.3 mmol) was added. the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 hours then concentrated and the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the desired product (150 mg). lcms calculated for c 17 h 19 f 2 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=365.1. found: 365.1. step 5: methyl [3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-2-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-yl]carbamate to a solution of 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,8-dimethyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (120 mg, 0.33 mmol) in methylene chloride (5 ml) was added methyl chloroformate (38 μl, 0.49 mmol) and triethylamine (230 μl, 1.6 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight then concentrated. the residue was purified by reverse phase hplc (ph=2, acetonitrile/water+tfa) to give the desired product as the tfa salt. lcms calculated for c 19 h 21 f 2 n 4 o 5 (m+h) + : m/z=423.1. found: 423.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso-d 6 ) δ 9.80 (s, 1h), 8.03 (s, 1h), 7.02 (t, j=8.2 hz, 1h), 4.67 (s, 2h), 3.88 (s, 6h), 3.68 (s, 3h), 3.34 (s, 3h), 2.21 (s, 3h) ppm. example 49 7-amino-1-(cyclopropylmethyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile step 1: 2, 4-dichloro-5-formylnicotironitrile a mixture of malononitrile (2.0 g, 30. mmol) and trimethylorthoacetate (4.0 g, 33 mmol) was heated at reflux for 3 hours then it was cooled to room temperature and concentrated to give (1-methoxyethylidene)malononitrile (3.7 g) which was used in the next step without further purification. a solution of (1-methoxyethylidene)malononitrile (2.0 g, 16 mmol) in n,n-dimethylformamide (4.8 g, 66 mmol) was added dropwise to phosphoryl chloride (10 g, 66 mmol) at 95° c. the resulting mixture was stirred at 95° c. for 3 days then cooled to room temperature and diluted with methylene chloride (50 ml). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 h then water (50 ml) was added and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for an additional 1 h. the mixture was extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were washed with water and brine then dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated. the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the desired product (1.46 g, 44%). 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ): δ 10.44 (s, 1h), 8.99 (s, 1h) ppm. step 2: 2, 4-dichloro-5-{[(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]methyl}nicotinonitrile to a mixture of sodium triacetoxyborohydride (1.0 g, 5.0 mmol) in trifluoroacetic acid (2 ml, 20 mmol) at room temperature was added a solution of 2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyaniline (0.52 g, 2.7 mmol) in methylene chloride (20 ml). the resulting mixture was stirred for 5 min at room temperature then a solution of 2,4-dichloro-5-formylnicotinonitrile (0.50 g, 2.5 mmol) in methylene chloride (20 ml) was added. the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 h then neutralized with sat'd nahco 3 solution and extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were washed with water and brine then dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated. the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the desired product (0.87 g, 93%). lcms calculated for c 15 h 12 cl 2 f 2 n 3 o 2 (m+h) + : m/z=374.0. found: 373.9. step 3: [(4, 6-dichloro-5-cyanopyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)carbamic chloride to a solution of 2,4-dichloro-5-{[(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]methyl}-nicotinonitrile (810 mg, 2.2 mmol) in methylene chloride (30 ml) at 0° c. was added triphosgene (0.38 g, 1.3 mmol), followed by pyridine (520 μl, 6.5 mmol). the mixture was stirred at 0° c. for 1 hour then diluted with methylene chloride and washed with 1 n hcl solution. the mixture was then extracted with methylene chloride. the combined organic layers were washed with water and brine then dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated to yield the desired product (0.84 g, 89%) which was used in the next step without further purification. lcms calculated for c 16 h 11 cl 3 f 2 n 3 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=436.0. found: 435.8. step 4: n′-(cyclopropylmethyl)-n-[(4, 6-dichloro-5-cyanopyridin-3-yl)methyl]-n-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)urea to a solution of [(4,6-dichloro-5-cyanopyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)carbamic chloride (35 mg, 0.080 mmol) in methylene chloride (1 ml) was added cyclopropylmethylamine (8.9 μl, 0.10 mmol) and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (70 μl, 0.40 mmol). the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 30 min then diluted with dcm and washed with 1 n hcl aqueous solution. the organic layer was washed with brine then dried over na 2 so 4 and concentrated. the residue was used in the next step without further purification. lcms calculated for c 20 h 19 cl 2 f 2 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=471.1. found: 471.1. step 5: 7-chloro-1-(cyclopropylmethyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile a mixture of the crude product from step 4 and potassium carbonate (22 mg, 0.16 mmol) in acetonitrile (3 ml) was heated to reflux and stirred overnight. the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature then diluted with dcm and washed with water and brine. the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 then concentrated. the residue was used in the next step without further purification. lcms calculated for c 20 h 18 clf 2 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=435.1. found: 434.7. step 6: 1-(cyclopropylmethyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-7-[(diphenylmethylene)-amino]-2-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile a mixture of the crude product from step 5, bis(dibenzylideneacetone)palladium(0) (5 mg, 0.008 mmol), (r)-(+)-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl (5 mg, 0.008 mmol), sodium tert-butoxide (15 mg, 0.16 mmol) and benzophenone imine (20. l, 0.12 mmol) in toluene (5 ml) was evacuated then filled with nitrogen. the resulting mixture was heated to 90° c. and stirred for 3 h. the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature then diluted with water and extracted with dcm. the combined extracts were dried over na 2 so 4 then concentrated. the residue was purified on a silica gel column eluting with 0 to 100% etoac/hexanes to give the desired product (13 mg) as a yellow solid. lcms calculated for c 33 h 28 f 2 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=580.2. found: 580.0. step 7: 7-amino-1-(cyclopropylmethyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile the product from step 6 was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (3 ml) then 1.0 m hydrogen chloride in water (0.16 ml, 0.16 mmol) was added. the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 h then diluted with acetonitrile and purified by prep hplc (ph=2, acetonitrile/water+tfa) to give the desired product as the tfa salt. lcms calculated for c 20 h 20 f 2 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=416.2. found: 416.2. example 50 7-amino-1-cyclopentyl-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those as described for example 49 with cyclopentanamine replacing cyclopropylmethylamine in step 4. lcms calculated for c 21 h 22 f 2 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=430.2. found: 430.2. example 51 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methyl]-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those as described for example 49 with 1-(1-methyl-1h-pyrazol-4-yl)methanamine (astatech, cat#bl009313) replacing cyclopropylmethylamine in step 4. lcms calculated for c 21 h 20 f 2 n 7 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=456.2. found: 456.0. example 52 7-amino-1-(3,5-difluorobenzyl)-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile this compound was prepared using procedures analogous to those as described for example 49 with 1-(3,5-difluorophenyl)methanamine replacing cyclopropylmethylamine in step 4. lcms calculated for c 23 h 18 f 4 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=488.1. found: 488.1. example 53 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile step 1: 7-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-2-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile a mixture of [(4,6-dichloro-5-cyanopyridin-3-yl)methyl](2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)carbamic chloride (35 mg, 0.080 mmol), 2-fluoro-benzenamine (9.8 mg, 0.088 mmol) and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (42 μl, 0.24 mmol) in 1,2-dichloroethane (0.4 ml) was stirred at 90° c. overnight. the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature then potassium carbonate (25 mg, 0.18 mmol) and acetonitrile (1 ml) were added. the mixture was stirred at 90° c. for 4 hours. after cooling to room temperature, the mixture was concentrated and the residue was purified on a silica gel column to give the desired product (30 mg, 80%). lcms calculated for c 22 h 15 clf 3 n 4 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=475.1. found: 474.9. step 2: 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-2-oxo-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile this compound was prepared from 7-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-fluorophenyl)-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine-8-carbonitrile using similar conditions as described for example 49, step 6-7. lcms calculated for c 22 h 17 f 3 n 5 o 3 (m+h) + : m/z=456.1. found: 455.9. example 54 7-amino-8-chloro-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one to a solution of 7-amino-3-(2,6-difluoro-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidin-2(1h)-one (example 1, step 6: 15 mg, 0.043 mmol) in dmf (1.0 ml) was added n-chlorosuccinimide (17 mg, 0.13 mmol). the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 h then it was purified by prep-hplc (ph 2, acetonitrile/water+tfa) to afford the desired product as the tfa salt. lc-ms calculated for c 16 h 16 clf 2 n 4 o 3 [m+h] + m/z: 385.1. found 385.1. 1 h nmr (500 mhz, dmso) δ 7.75 (s, 1h), 7.15 (s, 2h), 7.02 (t, j=7.5 hz, 1h), 4.57 (s, 2h), 3.88 (s, 6h), 3.45 (s, 3h) ppm. example a fgfr enzymatic assay the inhibitor potency of the exemplified compounds was measured in an enzyme assay that measures peptide phosphorylation using fret measurements to detect product formation. inhibitors were serially diluted in dmso and a volume of 0.5 μl was transferred to the wells of a 384-well plate. for fgfr3, a 10 μl volume of fgfr3 enzyme (millipore) diluted in assay buffer (50 mm hepes, 10 mm mgcl 2 , 1 mm egta, 0.01% tween-20, 5 mm dtt, ph 7.5) was added to the plate and pre-incubated for 5-10 minutes. appropriate controls (enzyme blank and enzyme with no inhibitor) were included on the plate. the assay was initiated by the addition of a 10 μl solution containing biotinylated eqedepegdyfewle peptide substrate (seq id no: 1) and atp (final concentrations of 500 nm and 140 μm respectively) in assay buffer to the wells. the plate was incubated at 25° c. for 1 hr. the reactions were ended with the addition of 10 μl/well of quench solution (50 mm tris, 150 mm nacl, 0.5 mg/ml bsa, ph 7.8; 30 mm edta with perkin elmer lance reagents at 3.75 nm eu-antibody py20 and 180 nm apc-streptavidin). the plate was allowed to equilibrate for ˜1 hr before scanning the wells on a pherastar plate reader (bmg labtech). fgfr1 and fgfr2 were measured under equivalent conditions with the following changes in enzyme and atp concentrations: fgfr1, 0.02 nm and 210 μm, respectively and fgfr2, 0.01 nm and 100 μm, respectively. the enzymes were purchased from millipore or invitrogen. graphpad prism3 was used to analyze the data. the ic 50 values were derived by fitting the data to the equation for a sigmoidal dose-response with a variable slope. y=bottom+(top−bottom)/(1+10̂((log ic 50 −x)*hillslope)) where x is the logarithm of concentration and y is the response. compounds having an ic 50 of 1 μm or less are considered active. the compounds of the invention were found to be inhibitors of one or more of fgfr1, fgfr2, and fgfr3 according to the above-described assay. ic 50 data is provided below in table 1. the symbol “+” indicates an ic 50 less than 100 nm. table 1fgfr1fgfr2fgfr3example no.ic50 (nm)ic50 (nm)ic50 (nm)1+++2+++3+++4+++5+++6+++7+++8+++9+++10+++11+++12+++13+++14+++15+++16+++17+++18+++19+++20+++21+++22+++23+++24+++25+++26+++27+++28+++29+++30+++31+++32+++33+++34+++35+++36+++37+++38+++39+++40+++41+++42+++43+++44+++45+++46+++47+++48+++49+++50+++51+++52+++53+++54+++ example b fgfr cell proliferation/survival assays the ability of the example compounds to inhibit the growth of cells dependent on fgfr signaling for survival can be measured using viability assays. a recombinant cell line over-expressing human fgfr3 was developed by stable transfection of the mouse pro-b ba/f3 cells (obtained from the deutsche sammlung von mikroorganismen und zellkulturen) with a plasmid encoding the full length human fgfr3. cells were sequentially selected for puromycin resistance and proliferation in the presence of heparin and fgf1. a single cell clone was isolated and characterized for functional expression of fgfr3. this ba/f 3 -fgfr3 clone is used in cell proliferation assays, and compounds are screened for their ability to inhibit cell proliferation/survival. the ba/f 3 -fgfr3 cells are seeded into 96 well, black cell culture plates at 3500 cells/well in rpmi1640 media containing 2% fbs, 20 ug/ml heparin and 5 ng/ml fgf1. the cells were treated with 10 μl of 10× concentrations of serially diluted compounds (diluted with medium lacking serum from 5 mm dsmo dots) to a final volume of 100 μl/well. after 72 hour incubation, 100 μl of cell titer glo® reagent (promega corporation) that measures cellular atp levels is added to each well. after 20 minute incubation with shaking, the luminescence is read on a plate reader. the luminescent readings are converted to percent inhibition relative to dmso treated control wells, and the ic 50 values are calculated using graphpad prism software by fitting the data to the equation for a sigmoidal dose-response with a variable slope. compounds having an ic 50 of 10 μm or less are considered active. cell lines representing a variety of tumor types including kms-11 (multiple myeloma, fgfr3 translocation), rt112 (bladder cancer, fgfr3 overexpression), katoiii (gastric cancer, fgfr2 gene amplification), and h-1581 (lung, fgfr1 gene amplification) are used in similar proliferation assays. in some experiments, mts reagent, cell titer 96® aqueous one solution reagent (promega corporation) is added to a final concentration of 333 μg/ml in place cell titer glo and read at 490/650 nm on a plate reader. compounds having an ic 50 of 5 μm or less are considered active. example c cell-based fgfr phosphorylation assays the inhibitory effect of compounds on fgfr phosphorylation in relevant cell lines (ba/f 3 -fgfr3, kms-11, rt112, katoiii, h-1581 cancer cell lines and huvec cell line) can be assessed using immunoassays specific for fgfr phosphorylation. cells are starved in media with reduced serum (0.5%) and no fgf1 for 4 to 18 h depending upon the cell line then treated with various concentrations of individual inhibitors for 1-4 hours. for some cell lines, such as ba/f 3 -fgfr3 and kms-11, cells are stimulated with heparin (20 μg/ml) and fgf1 (10 ng/ml) for 10 min. whole cell protein extracts are prepared by incubation in lysis buffer with protease and phosphatase inhibitors [50 mm hepes (ph 7.5), 150 mm nacl, 1.5 mm mgcl 2 , 10% glycerol, 1% triton x-100, 1 mm sodium orthovanadate, 1 mm sodium fluoride, aprotinin (2 rig/ml), leupeptin (2 μg/ml), pepstatin a (2 μg/ml), and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (1 mm)] at 4° c. protein extracts are cleared of cellular debris by centrifugation at 14,000×g for 10 minutes and quantified using the bca (bicinchoninic acid) microplate assay reagent (thermo scientific). phosphorylation of fgfr receptor in protein extracts was determined using immunoassays including western blotting, enzyme-linked immunoassay (elisa) or bead-based immunoassays (luminex). for detection of phosphorylated fgfr2, a commercial elisa kit duoset ic human phospho-fgf r2α elisa assay (r&d systems, minneapolis, minn.) can be used. for the assay katoll cells are plated in 0.2% fbs supplemented iscove's medium (50,000 cells/well/per 100 μl) into 96-well flat-bottom tissue culture treated plates (corning, corning, n.y.), in the presence or absence of a concentration range of test compounds and incubated for 4 hours at 37° c., 5% co 2 . the assay is stopped with addition of 200 μl of cold pbs and centrifugation. the washed cells are lysed in cell lysis buffer (cell signaling, #9803) with protease inhibitor (calbiochem, #535140) and pmsf (sigma, #p7626) for 30 min on wet ice. cell lysates were frozen at −80° c. before testing an aliquot with the duoset ic human phospho-fgf r2α elisa assay kit. graphpad prism3 was used to analyze the data. the ic 50 values were derived by fitting the data to the equation for a sigmoidal dose-response with a variable slope. for detection of phosphorylated fgfr3, a bead based immunoassay was developed. an anti-human fgfr3 mouse mab (r&d systems, cat#mab7661) was conjugated to luminex magplex microspheres, bead region 20 and used as the capture antibody. rt-112 cells were seeded into multi-well tissue culture plates and cultured until 70% confluence. cells were washed with pbs and starved in rpmi+0.5% fbs for 18 hr. the cells were treated with 10 μl of 10× concentrations of serially diluted compounds for 1 hr at 37° c., 5% co 2 prior to stimulation with 10 ng/ml human fgf1 and 20 μg/ml heparin for 10 min. cells were washed with cold pbs and lysed with cell extraction buffer (invitrogen) and centrifuged. clarified supernatants were frozen at −80° c. until analysis. for the assay, cell lysates are diluted 1:10 in assay diluent and incubated with capture antibody-bound beads in a 96-well filter plate for 2 hours at room temperature on a plate shaker. plates are washed three times using a vacuum manifold and incubated with anti-phospho-fgf r1-4 (y653/y654) rabbit polyclonal antibody (r&d systems cat# af 3285 ) for 1 hour at rt with shaking. plates are washed three times. the diluted reporter antibody, goat anti-rabbit-rpe conjugated antibody (invitrogen cat. # lhb0002) is added and incubated for 30 minutes with shaking. plates are washed three times. the beads are suspended in wash buffer with shaking at room temperature for 5 minutes and then read on a luminex 200 instrument set to count 50 events per sample, gate settings 7500-13500. data is expressed as mean fluorescence intensity (mfi). mfi from compound treated samples are divided by mfi values from dmso controls to determine the percent inhibition, and the ic 50 values are calculated using the graphpad prism software. compounds having an ic 50 of 1 μm or less are considered active. example d fgfr cell-based signaling assays activation of fgfr leads to phosphorylation of erk proteins. detection of perk is monitored using the cellu'erk htrf (homogeneous time resolved flurorescence) assay (cisbio) according to the manufacturer's protocol. kms-11 cells are seeded into 96-well plates at 40,000 cells/well in rpmi medium with 0.25% fbs and starved for 2 days. the medium is aspirated and cells are treated with 30 μl of 1× concentrations of serially diluted compounds (diluted with medium lacking serum from 5 mm dsmo dots) to a final volume of 30 μl/well and incubated for 45 min at room temperature. cells are stimulated by addition of 10 μl of heparin (100 μg/ml) and fgf1 (50 ng/ml) to each well and incubated for 10 min at room temperature. after lysis, an aliquot of cell extract is transferred into 384-well low volume plates, and 4 μl of detection reagents are added followed by incubation for 3 hr at room temperature. the plates are read on a pherastar instrument with settings for htrf. the normalized fluorescence readings are converted to percent inhibition relative to dmso treated control wells, and the ic 50 values are calculated using the graphpad prism software. compounds having an ic 50 of 1 μm or less are considered active. example e vegfr2 kinase assay 40 μl enzyme reactions are run in black 384 well polystyrene plates for 1 hour at 25° c. wells are dotted with 0.8 μl of test compound in dmso. the assay buffer contains 50 mm tris, ph 7.5, 0.01% tween-20, 10 mm mgcl 2 , 1 mm egta, 5 mm dtt, 0.5 μm biotin-labeled eqedepegdyfewle peptide substrate (seq id no: 1), 1 mm atp, and 0.1 nm enzyme (millipore catalogue number 14-630). reactions are stopped by addition of 20 μl stop buffer (50 mm tris, ph=7.8, 150 mm nacl, 0.5 mg/ml bsa, 45 mm edta) with 225 nm lance streptavidin surelight® apc (perkinelmer catalogue number cr130-100) and 4.5 nm lance eu-w1024 anti phosphotyrosine (py20) antibody (perkinelmer catalogue number ad0067). after 20 minutes of incubation at room temperature, the plates are read on a pherastar fs plate reader (bmg labtech). ic 50 values can be calculated using graphpad prism by fitting the data to the equation for a sigmoidal dose-response with a variable slope. compounds having an ic 50 of 1 μm or less are considered active. various modifications of the invention, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. each reference, including all patent, patent applications, and publications, cited in the present application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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135-102-895-635-149
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
F01D15/10,G05F1/66,H02J4/00,H02J7/34
| 1993-09-07T00:00:00 |
1993
|
[
"F01",
"G05",
"H02"
] |
modular, hybrid power system
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a power system provides various levels of electrical power at various radio frequencies to specific input locations of a neutral particle beam accelerator system. both the power system and the accelerator system are mounted on a space platform. the power system includes separate modules mounted on two hinged members of the platform. the modules utilize turbines, generators and fuel cells to provide the needed electrical power which is amplified to the desired levels required by the accelerator system. in addition, a fuel cell is utilized to power a pulse drive motor to drive the generators during turbine start up in order to provide high voltage output power during the start up. a regenerator produces hydrogen and oxygen from the water effluent produced by the fuel cells and the combustors which powers the turbines thereby recycling the fuel and working fluid and consequently making the power system generally non-contaminating and fuel efficient. a thermal management subsystem circulates hydrogen through both the accelerator and power systems, and the hydrogen is utilized as both a coolant and a fuel/working fluid for power production thereby enhancing the energy efficiency of the power system.
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1. a power system, comprising: a turbogenerator system; a low voltage amplifier; an amplifier fuel cell connected to said low voltage amplifier for supplying electrical power thereto; a medium voltage amplifier connected to said turbogenerator system for receiving high voltage electrical power therefrom; and a high voltage amplifier connected to said turbogenerator system for receiving high voltage electrical power therefrom, said high, medium and low voltage amplifiers supplying electrical power at selected radio frequencies to an electrical system. 2. the power system of claim 1, and further comprising a thermal management subsystem for circulating coolant through said turbogenerator system and said amplifiers. 3. the power system of claim 2, wherein said coolant comprises hydrogen fluid, the fluid first circulating through said turbogenerator system and said amplifiers and then flowing to said amplifier fuel cell for use as a fuel. 4. the power system of claim 1, wherein said turbogenerator system and said fuel cell each produce water effluent, said system further comprising a regenerator tier treating said water effluent to separate hydrogen and water therefrom. 5. the power system of claim 4, and further comprising a propulsion motor which is operably connected to said regenerator, said propulsion motor being adapted to receive hydrogen from the regenerator for use as a fuel to operate and provide propulsion to said power system. 6. the power system of claim 1, and further comprising a platform, said platform including a first member, a second member, and a hinge joint for attaching said first and second members, the hinge joint being adapted to permit said first and second members to fold together for providing compactness to the power system. 7. the power system of claim 6, wherein said platform is arranged so that no fluid or power lines extend across said hinge joint. 8. the power system of claim 1, wherein said turbogenerator system and said fuel cell each produce water effluent, and further including a means for directing and controlling said water effluent to provide propulsion to said power system. 9. the power system of claim 1, and further comprising: a drive motor operatively connected to said turbogenerator system for driving said turbogenerator system during start up thereof so that said turbogenerator system can provide high voltage electrical output during said start up; and a turbogenerator fuel cell operatively connected to said drive motor for powering said drive motor during the start up of said turbogenerator system. 10. the power system of claim 1, wherein the turbogenerator system further comprises a plurality of turbogenerator modules, said modules being distributed at various locations within said power system for providing power from various points thereof. 11. a power system comprising: a plurality of turbogenerator modules for supplying electrical power to separate input points of an electrical system; a high voltage amplifier being adapted for receiving power from one of said turbogenerator modules, said voltage amplifier supplying electrical power to a first of the input points of the electrical system; a medium voltage amplifier being adapted to receive power from another of said turbogenerator modules, said medium voltage amplifier supplying electrical power to a second of the input points; and a low voltage amplifier module for supplying electrical power to a third of the selected input points of the electrical system. 12. the power system of claim 11, wherein said low voltage amplifier module includes: a low voltage amplifier; and an amplifier fuel cell connected to said low voltage amplifier for supplying power thereto. 13. the power system of claim 11, and further including a thermal management subsystem for cooling the electrical system, said turbogenerator modules, said amplifiers and said low voltage amplifier module. 14. the power system of claim 13, wherein said thermal management subsystem includes: a first set of conduits for supplying coolant to the electrical system; a second set of conduits for transmitting the coolant from the electrical system to said high voltage amplifier and to said low voltage amplifier module; and a third set of conduits for transmitting the coolant from said high voltage amplifier to said turbogenerator modules. 15. the power system of claim 11, wherein said electrical system comprises a neutron accelerator system. 16. the power system of claim 15, wherein said accelerator system comprises: a low frequency power input location; a mid frequency power input location; and a high frequency power input location; and wherein said low voltage amplifier supplies power to said low frequency power input location, said medium voltage amplifier supplies power to said mid frequency power input location; and said high voltage amplifier supplies power to said high frequency power input location.
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summary of the invention it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a power system capable of providing high levels of power directly to separate input locations of an electrical system. it is another object of the present invention to provide a power system capable of providing electrical power at various distinct frequencies to separate input locations of an electrical system. it is also another object of the present invention to provide a power system having modular components in order to minimize bus length and number of interconnections. it is also an object of the present invention to provide a power system producing minimal exhaust thrust to disturb platform attitude. it is an object of the present invention to provide a power system producing minimal exhaust contaminants. it is an object of the present invention to provide a power system in which the thermal management subsystem is integrated with that of an electrical system which receives the power. it is an object of the present invention to provide a power system for an electrical system in which the thermal management subsystems of both systems utilize the working fluid of the power system as a coolant. it is also an object of the present invention to provide a power system having improved energy efficiency. it is also another object of the present invention to provide a power system incorporating a folding platform mount in order to enhance compactness of the system to minimize launch costs when the power system is incorporated in a launch vehicle payload. it is still another object of the present invention to provide a power system having minimal mass in order to minimize launch costs when the power system is incorporated in a launch vehicle payload. in order to more effectively and efficiently meet the accelerator system requirement that multi-megawatt power be provided at three distinct radio frequencies and at three different power levels, the power system of the present invention incorporates modules to provide the power directly to each of the particular inputs of the accelerator system. the modular design allows the power system to be individualized and thus more energy efficiently optimized for each of the power requirements, i.e., the three frequencies and three power levels at the three input locations, of the accelerator system. one of the modules, the turbogenerator module, in conjunction with a high voltage amplifier provides high voltage electrical power at one of the frequencies to the accelerator at one of its input points (located at an end portion thereof) under the command of the control system. other modules provide electrical power at the other frequencies to the other input points located at a medial portion and at the other end portion of the accelerator system. the turbogenerator module includes a turbine for converting chemical energy to mechanical energy and a generator for converting the mechanical energy to electrical energy and producing this electrical energy at high voltage, i.e., approximately 100 kilovolts, for transmission to the accelerator. the power output from the turbine generator combination, i.e., turbogenerator, is transmitted to a high voltage amplifier which produces the electrical power at the desired one-megawatt power level and within the radio frequency range of approximately 1400 to 1800 megahertz. the power system also incorporates two other amplifiers, one for the medial frequencies and medial power levels and the other for the low frequencies and low power levels. these amplifiers are preferably modular in construction. the low frequency, low voltage amplifier receives electrical energy at approximately 100 volts from a fuel cell which converts chemical energy to electrical energy. the low voltage amplifier in combination with the fuel cell comprise the low voltage amplifier module. the low voltage amplifier of the low frequency module receives the 100 volts of electrical energy from the fuel cell and produces approximately 250 kilowatts of electrical power within the frequency range of approximately 350 to 450 megahertz. the power from this amplifier module is subsequently transmitted to the end input point which requires power at that frequency. the other amplifier providing power at the medial frequencies and at the medial power levels receives electrical power from another turbogenerator. this amplifier provides approximately 500 kilowatts of power within the frequency range of approximately 700 to 900 megahertz to a medial input location at the accelerator. the turbogenerator of the power module also includes a drive pulse motor which is powered by a fuel cell. the drive pulse motor is utilized to start up the turbogenerator and provide short term high voltage power required for initiation and conditioning of the accelerator. use of this drive motor obviates both the necessity of utilizing the turbine to drive the generator during start-up and the concomitant necessity of dumping the turbogenerator power through a resistive load which wastes energy. the modules are distributed along the neutral particle beam accelerator structure in order to reduce the length of high voltage cables thereby minimizing electromagnetic interference, providing improved control of higher voltage inductance surges, reducing electrical power distribution mass, and eliminating the need to transfer high voltage power across the joint between platform segments when a segmented platform design is utilized. in addition, the use of modules particularly the turbogenerator modules, enables the power delivered into the accelerator (or other electrical system) to be increased or decreased by simply increasing or decreasing the number of modules utilized. in addition, redundant modules can be used to provide more fail safe operation of the system. turbogenerators and fuel cells each have certain advantages over the other. exclusive use of solely either one in a system having certain variant and diverse power requirements would necessitate compromises in power system features and characteristics. therefore, the use of a hybrid power system, i.e., use of both turbogenerators and fuel cells, to provide electrical power in accordance with the power needs, i.e., power frequencies and input locations, of the electrical system results in a more efficient, compact and lower weight power system. the neutral particle beam accelerator system requires the use of a thermal management subsystem. the power system of the present invention utilizes an alternate cooling technique of bleeding the coolant fluid from two separate coolant outlet locations on the accelerator. this technique results in more efficient use of the coolant. the coolant fluid of the thermal management subsystem is also utilized as a working fluid to power the fuel cells and the turbogenerator. in addition, the thermal management subsystems of both the power system and the accelerator system are integrated, thereby simplifying and reducing the mass of the entire electrical and power systems. liquid hydrogen is preferably used as the coolant for the accelerator system as well as the coolant for the power system and additionally is preferably used as the working fluid powering the fuel cells and the turbine. since the coolant must receive some of the heat energy from the accelerator and power systems in order to function as a coolant and the working fluid powering the turbines and the fuel cells works most effectively when it contains heat energy, the coolant and the working fluid are both the same, i.e., liquid hydrogen. thus, combining the coolant and working fluid more effectively and efficiently utilizes the thermal energy of the power and accelerator systems. since the coolant and working fluid are hydrogen and the water effluents resulting from power production by the turbines and fuel cells are converted to hydrogen and oxygen by means of a regenerator, the only effluent and exhaust of the hybrid power system is hydrogen. this important feature of the present invention that the power system recycles fuel and working fluids and exhausts only hydrogen in relative small amounts minimizes the likelihood of contamination of the space environment which might otherwise result in adverse effects on the computer, electronics, optical or other subsystems used on the platform or on other satellites in similar orbits. as is evident from the foregoing, the high output power system of the present invention is generally self-contained and non-contaminating. consequently, the power system of the present invention is also applicable to any space application which requires multi-megawatts of burst power. its efficiency as well as its non-contaminating features also enable it to be utilized in future lunar or planetary manufacturing processes that may become viable in the near future. combining fuel cells and turbogenerators to produce electrical power provides the important advantage of eliminating the necessity of power transformers and power conditioning assemblies. the modular configuration of the power system which places the components more proximal to the accelerator, or other electrical system which receives the power, also has the important advantage of minimizing the use of power cables and the electromagnetic interference problems they would otherwise present. the power system of the present invention has important advantages over prior art systems. the modular design of the power system eliminates the need for costly and unreliable flex lines and connectors across platform joints that might be required for deployable platform or platform assembled on orbit. in addition, the alternate cooling technique in which coolant is bled from two separate locations at the accelerator cavities allows the coolant to be used more efficiently, thereby reducing the total amount of coolant required and therefore the total mass of the system. brief description of the drawings fig. 1a is a perspective view of components of the power system of the present invention and a neutral beam accelerator system mounted on a folding platform for space-based operation illustrating the platform members in a folded together configuration; fig. 1b is a perspective view of components of the power system of the present invention and a neutral beam accelerator system mounted on a folding platform for space based operation illustrating the platform members in an extended configuration; fig. 2 is a perspective view of a representative accelerator system connected to the power system components of the present invention; fig. 3 is a perspective view of a representative accelerator system with which the power system of the present invention is used; fig. 4 is a perspective view of the accelerator system and the power system components separated therefrom for clarity of illustration. two options for ducting the power system exhaust are illustrated: centralized and distributed; fig. 5 is a perspective view of the turbogenerator module of the power system of the present invention showing the components thereof; fig. 6 is a perspective view of a representative fuel cell of the power system of the present invention; fig. 7 is a perspective view of a representative turbine of the turbogenerator module of the power system of the present invention; fig. 8 is a perspective view of a pony motor/generator set of the turbogenerator module of the present invention; fig. 9 is a perspective view of a representative low voltage amplifier module of the present invention; fig. 10 is a perspective view of a representative high voltage (klystrode) amplifier of the power system of the present invention used for the medial accelerator frequency; fig. 11 is a perspective view of a representative high voltage (klystron) amplifier of the power system of the present invention used for the highest accelerator frequency; fig. 12 is a perspective view of components of the power system of the present invention including the turbogenerator power module, the low voltage power amplifier module, the high voltage amplifiers a fuel cell, the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks and the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen pumps, and illustrating the connections between these components. this configuration is used for ground acceptance of the turbogenerator module prior to its integration into the space platform for on orbit operation; fig. 13a is a block diagram of the low voltage amplifier of the power system of the present invention; fig. 13b is a block diagram of the high voltage amplifier of the power system of the present invention; fig. 13c is a block diagram of the medial voltage amplifier of the power system of the present invention; fig. 14 is a diagram of a representative design of a thermal energy converter i.e., integrated combuster/heat exchanger/separator, of the power system of the present invention; fig. 15 is a block diagram of the accelerator system and components of the power system showing fluid and power distribution therebetween; fig. 16 is a block diagram of the thermal cycle of the integrated generation and power thermal management systems; fig. 17 is a block diagram of components of the oxygen recovery system of the present invention as well as the integrated thermal management subsystem and propulsion subsystem used for on orbit station keeping and illustrating their interconnections. detailed description of the invention referring now to the drawings, the power system of the present invention is generally designated by the numeral 10. the power system 10 provides electrical power to a neutral particle beam accelerator system generally designated by the numeral 12. the power system 10 also includes a platform 14 on which the components of the power system 10 as well as the accelerator system 12 are mounted. although described specifically as a neutral beam accelerator system, the system 12 may also be any suitable electrical system which requires multi-megawatts of burst power input at various locations thereof. the specific features of the power system 10 which enable it to effectively and efficiently accommodate the particular multi-megawatt input locations requirements of the electrical system 12 will be described in more detail hereinbelow. the platform 14 preferably includes a first member 16 and a second member 18, and a hinge joint 20 which connects the first and second members 16 and 18. the hinge joint 20 allows the members 16 and 18 to generally fold together about the hinge axis 25, thereby enabling the components of the power system 10 and the accelerator system 12 to adopt a generally more compact configuration, as shown in fig. 1a. the compact configuration of the systems 10 and 12 enables the systems to be more easily incorporated in a missile payload and thereby facilitates a more cost effective launch and deployment of the systems 10 and 12. in addition, the compactness afforded by the folding platform 14 allows the systems 10 and 12 to be placed on a launch vehicle as a single unit rather than as two separate units launched and deployed by two separate vehicles requiring joinder or interconnection of the units in space with the attendant high costs and risks involved. the neutral beam accelerator system 12 is a weapon specifically designed for space usage, and it requires megawatt power input at certain locations along the length of the accelerator. the accelerator 12 applies power to the neutral particles at these locations and along the beam line in order to produce effective (and optimal) acceleration thereof. the power inputs at these different locations along the length of the accelerator beam structure 22 are required to be at different frequencies and at different power levels. the required power frequency at the input point located near one end of the accelerator structure 22 is designated fo. this frequency fo is approximately 350 to 450 mhz. at this fo input location, the structure 22 utilizes four radio frequency quadruples operating at this relatively low frequency. this accelerator location will be hereafter referred to as the rfq location or first input point. at the next power input point located approximately at an intermediate point along the length of the accelerator structure 22, the megawatt power input is required to be at 2 fo frequency (specifically approximately 700 to 900 mhz). the accelerator structure 22 utilizes preferably two drift tube linear accelerators operating at this intermediate frequency 2 fo, and this intermediate accelerator location will hereafter be referred to as the dtl location or second input point. the power input point located at or near the other end of the accelerator structure 22 requires power input at approximately 4 fo frequency (specifically 1400 to 1800 mhz). the accelerator structure 22 utilizes preferably one cavity coupled linear accelerator operating at this relatively high frequency 4 fo, and this end accelerator location will be hereafter be referred to as the ccl location or third input point. the accelerator 12 requires approximately several hundred kilowatts of rf power at the fo location, and on the order of megawatts of rf power at the 2 fo location and at the 4 fo location. however, the power system 10 may also be utilized with other accelerators which have other power requirements at these accelerator locations or at other locations. the power system 10 preferably provides these bursts of power as required to these specified locations along the accelerator structure 22 in accordance with commands from the instrumentation and control system 24. because different types of amplifiers providing power at the distinct power frequencies required by the accelerator system 12 have different characteristics i.e., efficiencies, advantages and disadvantages, three different types of amplifiers are used in the power system 10. for providing power in the fo frequency range, preferably a cryo-cooled, solid state amplifier 26 is utilized. in the 2 fo frequency range, preferably a klystrode tube amplifier 28 is utilized. in the 4 fo power frequency range, preferably a klystron tube amplifier 30 is utilized. there are a plurality of amplifiers 28 and a plurality of amplifiers 30, as shown in fig. 15. a fuel cell 32 (referred to also as amplifier fuel cell 32) feeds relatively low voltage, i.e., approximately 100 volts, into the solid state amplifier 26. for the relatively higher frequencies, a generator 34, which is preferably cryo-cooled, provides relatively higher voltage, i.e., approximately 5 to 40 kilovolts, to the amps 28 and 30. the generator 34 is preferably hyperconducting with high purity aluminum windings and utilizing hydrogen coolant. although fuel cells 32 provide power directly to the amp 26, the generator 34 which preferably comprises multiple generators 34 segregated by pairs and sized to drive discrete banks of amplifiers requires a drive system which preferably includes a pair of turbines 36 which are hydrogen driven at a pressure ratio with the hydrogen at a relatively low temperature (440 degrees k.). in order to obviate the requirement of dumping the generator 34 power into a resistive load during start-up of the turbine 36 and generator 34 (the combination will be hereafter referred to as turbogenerator 35), a pulse power drive motor 38 is provided. the drive motor (preferably a pair of motors) 38 drives the generators 34 during the start up of the turbines 36 to enable them to provide the required high voltages to the amps 28 and 30. the pulse power drive motor 38 is preferably powered by another fuel cell 40 (referred to also as turbogenerator or turbine fuel cell 40) during such start-up operations. the fuel cell (preferably a pair of cells) 40 provides power to the amps 28 and 30 during the low duty portion of the start up sequence. the thermal management requirements of both systems 10 and 12 are preferably provided by a single thermal management system 42, thereby simplifying and reducing the number of thermal management structures utilized in the systems 10 and 12. the coolant 44 utilized by the accelerator system 12 is preferably liquid hydrogen. similarly, the coolant 44 utilized by the system 10 is preferably supercritical hydrogen. the liquid hydrogen is preferably stored in liquid form in a storage tank 46 and circulated through the systems 10 and 12 by a hydrogen pump 48. the hydrogen fluid distribution through system 10 is shown in fig. 15. the pump 48 preferably delivers liquid hydrogen to the accelerator structure 22 for cooling thereof and this liquid hydrogen is bled from the cavities of the accelerator structure 22 at two different outlet locations 21 thereof (preferably at two approximately end portions of the accelerator 22) in order to provide more efficient cooling of the accelerator structure 22. the liquid hydrogen coolant 44 is preferably pumped by pump 48 via a set of conduits 49 into the accelerator structure 22 at preferably a temperature of approximately 20 degrees k. in the accelerator structure 22 it is heated to approximately 35 degrees k. and sustains an approximately 700 kpa pressure drop. from the accelerator structure 22, supercritical hydrogen is transmitted through a set of conduits 50 to the fo, 2 fo and 4 fo amplifiers. from these amplifiers, the hydrogen is transmitted to the fuel cells 32 and 40 and the turbogenerator module 72 via conduits 52. the hydrogen effluent from the turbogenerator modules 72 is exhausted from systems 10 and 12 via conduits 51. liquid oxygen is transmitted to turbogenerator modules 72 and fuel cells 32 and 40 via conduit 53. since the use of the hydrogen as a coolant through these various components of the systems 10 and 12 increases the temperature of the hydrogen, the energy of the hydrogen is thereby increased making it more effective as a working fluid and as a fuel. therefore, after the hydrogen performs its cooling function, it is utilized as a fuel by the fuel cells and as a working fluid by the turbines. in addition, since the hydrogen coolant from the fuel cells 32 and 40 is heated hydrogen, it is preferably mixed with the hydrogen flowing in duct 52. the turbine 36 preferably receives hydrogen from the amplifiers 26, 28 and 30 via the conduits 52 and receives liquid oxygen from the storage tank 54 which is pumped from the turbine by means of the oxygen pump 56. the turbine transmits the dry hydrogen through a recuperator 58 and the liquid oxygen to a thermal energy converter 60. the recuperator both improves efficiency and prevents freezing of the hydrogen inside the converter 60. dry hot hydrogen exits the converter 60 and is expanded through the turbine 36. the dry turbine exhaust subsequently passes through the recuperator 58 and is vented to the exhaust manifold 62 which extends the length of the platform 14. water from the converter 60 is pumped to the water storage tanks 64. the thermal energy converter 60 preferably includes a combuster 66, a heat exchanger 68 and a separator 70 which are preferably integrated. the converter 60 channels a small amount of the dry hydrogen stream from the turbine 36 into the stoichiometric hydrogen and oxygen combuster 66. water injection is preferably utilized to control the combustion temperature to levels acceptable for the heat exchanger 68 and the turbine 36. the hot steam produced by the combustor 66 is condensed in the counterflow heat exchanger 68 and the heat is transferred to the remaining dry hydrogen stream in the heat exchanger 68. the water and non-condensable combustion products subsequently enter the centrifugal separator where any non-condensables are separated out and returned to the combustor 66. the generator 34, turbine 36, drive motor 38, turbine fuel cell 40, combuster 66, heat exchanger 68, separator 70 and recuperator 58 preferably comprise turbogenerator module 72. although there are preferably four to six turbogenerator modules 72, this number may be increased or decreased in accordance with the power requirements of the particular electrical system 12 which receives electrical power from the power system 10. although there is preferably only one low voltage amplifier module 74, there may be more than this number to accommodate higher power requirements of the particular electrical system 12 with which the system 10 is used. this allows the power system 10 to be used with various electrical systems by simply changing the number of modules. a pair of oxygen tanks 54 are preferably provided. one of the tanks 54 is mounted on each of the platform members 16 and 18, thereby eliminating the need for flexible cryogenic lines to cross the hinge axis line. fuel cells 40 preferably also provide power to the solid state drivers 78 of the amplifiers 28 and 30. alternatively, other separate fuel cells may be used which are also powered by hydrogen coolant, as with fuel cells 32 and 40. water generated by the combustion process of the fuel cells 32 and 40 and the turbogenerator modules 72 (specifically, the combustor 66) is preferably transmitted to and electrolyzed in a regenerator 80 which is preferably a regenerative fuel cell. a housekeeping power source 82 preferably provides the power for the regenerator 80. the housekeeping power source 82 is preferably a nuclear power unit or a solar power unit providing relatively low levels of power during the very long dormant periods of the turbogenerator modules 72 and fuel cells 32 and 40. coaxial cables 84 preferably provide power from the amplifier 26 to the rfq portion of the accelerator structure 22. similarly, wave guides 86 preferably transmit power from the amplifiers 28 and 30 to the dtl and ccl portions of the accelerator structure 22. the thermal management system 32 preferably includes the recuperator 58, a radiator 90 connected to the housekeeping power source 82, a condenser 92 connected to the combustor 66 and the fuel cells 32 and 40, a preheater 94 connected to the coolant pump 48 and the heat exchangers 68. the condenser 92 is preferably integrated with the heat exchanger 68. a small propulsive nozzle 96 is preferably provided which utilizes the hydrogen produced from the electrolyzer 80 to provide thrust, i.e., propulsion, to the platform 14 in order to offset drag and thereby maintain orbit. hydrogen boil off from tank xx, fig. 17, is used in a vapor cooled shroud yy to minimize the thermal input to the liquid hydrogen. hydrogen exiting the vapor cooled shroud is transmitted to a vapor cooled shroud 22 on the liquid oxygen tank. this provides cooling to the oxygen tank and minimizes oxygen boil off. the hydrogen exits the oxygen tank vapor shroud and is compressed via a small compressor or jet pump assembly a to the pressure of the hydrogen entering the propulsive nozzle 96 and mixed with the hydrogen exiting the electrolyzer unit. multiple thrust nozzles are placed around the platform to provide station keeping thrust. in addition, during burst power testing of the system 12, exhaust is preferably vented in an amount and direction selected to provide the desired thrust to the platform 14 by a suitable exhaust nozzle (or outlet) control 98. these propulsion structures thus enable effective use of effluent which would otherwise be wasted, thereby making the power system 10 generally more energy-efficient. accordingly, there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, a system for providing electrical power to selected input locations of an accelerator or other electrical system at megawatt power levels and at various frequencies. it is to be understood that all the terms used herein are descriptive rather than limiting. although the invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiment set forth above, many alternative embodiments, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the disclosure set forth herein. accordingly, it is intended to include all such alternative embodiments, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims hereinbelow.
|
136-485-083-793-528
|
US
|
[
"US",
"TW",
"WO"
] |
G02B26/00,G09G5/00,B81B3/00,G02F1/29,G09G3/34,B08B3/00
| 2009-09-17T00:00:00 |
2009
|
[
"G02",
"G09",
"B81",
"B08"
] |
anti-stiction electrode
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anti-stiction systems may include one or more anti-stiction electrodes driven to provide an electrical force that counteracts a stiction force acting upon a moveable portion of an interferometric modulator. the anti-stiction electrode(s) may be disposed on a back glass or on another such substrate. the anti-stiction electrode(s) may be configured to apply an electrical force to substantially all of the interferometric modulators in a display device at once and/or may be configured to apply an electrical force only to a selected area. in some embodiments, the sum of an anti-stiction electrical force and a mechanical restoring force of a moveable part of an interferometric modulator is sufficient to counteract a stiction force.
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1 . an apparatus, comprising: a first substantially transparent substrate; an array of interferometric modulation elements disposed on the first substantially transparent substrate, the interferometric modulation elements comprising two layers that define a cavity, a first layer being movable relative to a second layer through a range of positions, the layers causing the cavity to operate interferometrically in at least one of the positions, producing a predetermined optical response to visible light; a first plurality of electrodes configured for conducting electrical signals to the array of interferometric modulation elements; first control circuitry configured to apply electrical signals for controlling the array of interferometric modulation elements via the first plurality of electrodes; a second substrate; a second plurality of electrodes disposed on the second substrate; and second control circuitry configured to apply a voltage pulse sufficient to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. 2 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first substantially transparent substrate is on a first side of the movable layer and the second substrate is on a second and opposing side of the movable layer. 3 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the interferometric modulation elements provide a mechanical force that tends to separate the first layer from the second layer and wherein the sum of the mechanical force and the electric force is greater than or equal to the stiction force. 4 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second plurality of electrodes is patterned into rows and columns on the second substrate. 5 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second control circuitry is configured to apply the voltage pulse to a selected area of the second plurality of electrodes. 6 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second control circuitry is configured to apply the voltage pulse simultaneously to substantially all of the second plurality of electrodes. 7 . the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a logic system that is configured to determine stiction areas of interferometric modulation elements. 8 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second control circuitry is configured to apply voltage pulses that are synchronized with the electrical signals of the first plurality of electrodes. 9 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second control circuitry is configured to apply voltage pulses that are asynchronous with the electrical signals of the first plurality of electrodes. 10 . the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a logic system that controls the first and second control circuitry. 11 . the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a logic system that includes the first and second control circuitry. 12 . the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a first logic device that controls the first control circuitry and a second logic device that controls the second control circuitry. 13 . the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second control circuitry is configured to apply a voltage pulse to areas of the second plurality of electrodes corresponding to first portions of the first layer that are adjacent to second portions of the first layer that contact the second layer. 14 . the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a display; a processor that is configured to communicate with the display, the processor being configured to process image data; and a memory device that is configured to communicate with the processor. 15 . the apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the logic system is further configured to control the second control circuitry to apply voltage pulses in areas of the second plurality of electrodes that correspond with the stiction areas. 16 . the apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the stiction areas are determined according to changes in capacitance. 17 . the apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the logic system comprises at least one processor. 18 . the apparatus as recited in claim 14 , further comprising a driver circuit configured to send at least one signal to the display. 19 . the apparatus as recited in claim 14 , further comprising an image source module configured to send the image data to the processor. 20 . the apparatus as recited in claim 14 , further comprising an input device configured to receive input data and to communicate the input data to the processor. 21 . the apparatus as recited in claim 18 , further comprising a controller configured to send at least a portion of the image data to the driver circuit. 22 . the apparatus as recited in claim 19 , wherein the image source module comprises at least one of a receiver, a transceiver or a transmitter. 23 . an apparatus, comprising: a first substantially transparent substrate; interferometric modulation means for producing a predetermined optical response to visible light, the interferometric modulation means being disposed on the first substantially transparent substrate and comprising a first layer configured to be movable relative to a second layer; a second substrate; and anti-stiction means disposed, at least in part, on the second substrate and configured to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. 24 . the apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the interferometric modulation means provide a mechanical force that tends to separate the first layer from the second layer and wherein the sum of the mechanical force and the electric force is greater than or equal to the stiction force. 25 . the apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the anti-stiction means comprises a plurality of electrodes. 26 . the apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the anti-stiction means comprises a single electrode disposed on the second substrate. 27 . the apparatus of claim 23 , further comprising means for determining stiction areas of the interferometric modulation means. 28 . the apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the anti-stiction means is configured to apply first voltage pulses that are synchronized with second voltage pulses of the interferometric modulation means. 29 . the apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the anti-stiction means is configured to apply a voltage pulse to a selected area of the plurality of electrodes. 30 . a method, comprising: forming an array of interferometric modulation elements on a first substrate, the array of interferometric modulation elements configured for producing a predetermined optical response to visible light, each of the interferometric modulation elements comprising a first layer configured to be movable relative to a second layer; disposing an anti-stiction electrode system on a second substrate; attaching the first substrate to the second substrate; and configuring the anti-stiction electrode system to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. 31 . the method of claim 30 , wherein the disposing comprises disposing a plurality of anti-stiction electrodes on the second substrate. 32 . the method of claim 30 , wherein the disposing comprises disposing a single anti-stiction electrode on the second substrate. 33 . the method of claim 30 , wherein the configuring comprises configuring the anti-stiction electrode system to apply a voltage pulse to a selected area of the plurality of anti-stiction electrodes. 34 . the method of claim 30 , further comprising embedding desiccant in the second substrate prior to the disposing step. 35 . the method of claim 30 , further comprising etching the second substrate prior to the disposing step. 36 . the method of claim 30 , further comprising forming a plurality of posts in the second substrate prior to the disposing step. 37 . a method, comprising: forming an array of interferometric modulation elements on a substrate, the array of interferometric modulation elements configured for producing a predetermined optical response to visible light, each of the interferometric modulation elements comprising a first layer configured to be movable relative to a second layer; depositing sacrificial material on the array of interferometric modulation elements; disposing an anti-stiction electrode system over the sacrificial material; forming a packaging layer that encloses the sacrificial material; and releasing the sacrificial material. 38 . the method of claim 37 , further comprising configuring the anti-stiction electrode system to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. 39 . the method of claim 37 , further comprising sealing the packaging layer after the releasing step. 40 . the method of claim 37 , further comprising depositing desiccant material on the substrate. 41 . the method of claim 37 , wherein the process of disposing the anti-stiction electrode system over the sacrificial material comprises forming the anti-stiction electrode system on the packaging layer. 42 . the method of claim 37 , wherein the forming process comprises enclosing the anti-stiction electrode system in the packaging layer. 43 . the method of claim 37 , wherein the forming process comprises a deposition process.
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field of the invention this application relates generally to display technology and more specifically to displays involving microelectromechanical systems (“mems”). description of related technology mems devices include micromechanical elements, actuators, and electronics. micromechanical elements may be created using deposition, etching, and or other micromachining processes that etch away parts of substrates and/or deposited material layers or that add layers to form electrical and electromechanical devices. one type of mems device is called an interferometric modulator. as used herein, the term interferometric modulator or interferometric light modulator refers to a device that selectively absorbs and/or reflects light using the principles of optical interference. in certain embodiments, an interferometric modulator may comprise a pair of conductive plates, one or both of which may be transparent and/or reflective in whole or part and capable of relative motion upon application of an appropriate electrical signal. in a particular embodiment, one plate may comprise a stationary layer deposited on a substrate and the other plate may comprise a metallic membrane separated from the stationary layer by an air gap. as described herein in more detail, the position of one plate in relation to another can change the optical interference of light incident on the interferometric modulator. when two surfaces having areas below the micrometer range come into close proximity (such as some embodiments of the interferometric modulator plates described above), they may adhere to one another. at such scales, electrostatic, van der waals and hydrogen bonding forces can become significant. the phenomenon of two surfaces being held together by such forces is sometimes referred to as “stiction.” stiction may, in some instances, interfere with the desired operation of mems devices, including but not limited to interferometric modulators. it would be desirable to provide improved methods and devices that can address such issues. summary improved anti-stiction devices and methods are provided herein. in various embodiments described herein, one or more electrodes are driven to exert an “anti-stiction” force that counteracts a stiction force. in some such embodiments, one or more anti-stiction electrodes are driven to provide an electrical force that counteracts a stiction force acting upon a moveable portion or “mechanical layer” of an interferometric modulator. the anti-stiction electrodes may, for example, be disposed on a “back glass” or other such structure that is not part of an interferometric modulator array. the anti-stiction electrodes and the driving mechanisms may vary in complexity according to the implementation. for example, some embodiments involve driving a single anti-stiction electrode to apply an electrical force to substantially all of the interferometric modulators in a display device at substantially the same time. alternative embodiments may be configured to apply anti-stiction electrical forces only to a selected portion of the interferometric modulators in a display device. some embodiments described herein include an apparatus comprising a first substantially transparent substrate and an array of interferometric modulation elements disposed on the first substantially transparent substrate. the interferometric modulation elements may comprise two layers that define a cavity, including a first layer that is movable relative to a second layer through a range of positions, causing the cavity to operate interferometrically in at least one of the positions and producing at least one predetermined optical response to visible light. the apparatus may include a first plurality of electrodes configured for conducting electrical signals to the array of interferometric modulation elements and first control circuitry configured to apply electrical signals for controlling the array of interferometric modulation elements via the first plurality of electrodes. the apparatus may also include a second substrate, a second plurality of electrodes disposed on the second substrate and second control circuitry. the second control circuitry may be configured to apply a voltage pulse sufficient to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. the first substantially transparent substrate may be on a first side of the movable layer and the second substrate may be on a second and opposing side of the movable layer. the interferometric modulation elements may provide a mechanical force that tends to separate the first layer from the second layer. the sum of the mechanical force and the electric force may be made greater than or equal to the stiction force. in some embodiments, the second plurality of electrodes may be patterned into rows and columns on the second substrate. the second control circuitry may be configured to apply the voltage pulse to a selected area of the second plurality of electrodes. alternatively, or additionally, the second control circuitry may be configured to apply the voltage pulse simultaneously to substantially all of the second plurality of electrodes. the apparatus may also include a logic system configured to control the first and/or the second control circuitry. the logic system may comprise at least one processor, programmable logic device, etc. the logic system may be configured to determine stiction areas of interferometric modulation elements. the logic system may be further configured to control the second control circuitry to apply voltage pulses in areas of the second plurality of electrodes that correspond with the stiction areas. the stiction areas may, for example, be determined according to detected changes in capacitance. the second control circuitry may be configured to apply a voltage pulse to areas of the second plurality of electrodes corresponding to first portions of the first layer that are adjacent to second portions of the first layer that contact the second layer. the logic system may include a first logic device that controls the first control circuitry and a second logic device that controls the second control circuitry. alternatively, the same logic device may control the first and second control circuitry. moreover, the first and second control circuitry may be part of the logic system. the second control circuitry may or may not be configured to apply voltage pulses that are synchronized with the electrical signals of the first plurality of electrodes. in some embodiments, the second control circuitry is configured to apply at least some voltage pulses that are asynchronous with the electrical signals of the first plurality of electrodes. the apparatus may also include the following elements: a display; a processor that is configured to communicate with the display, the processor being configured to process image data; and a memory device that is configured to communicate with the processor. the apparatus may include a driver circuit configured to send at least one signal to the display. the apparatus may include a controller configured to send at least a portion of the image data to the driver circuit. the apparatus may also comprise an image source module configured to send the image data to the processor. the image source module may include at least one of a receiver, a transceiver or a transmitter. the apparatus may include an input device configured to receive input data and to communicate the input data to the processor. alternative devices provided herein may include the following: a first substantially transparent substrate; interferometric modulation apparatus for producing a predetermined optical response to visible light, the interferometric modulation apparatus being disposed on the first substantially transparent substrate and comprising a first layer configured to be movable relative to a second layer; a second substrate; and anti-stiction apparatus disposed, at least in part, on the second substrate and configured to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. the interferometric modulation apparatus may provide a mechanical force that tends to separate the first layer from the second layer. the sum of the mechanical force and the electric force may be made greater than or equal to the stiction force. the anti-stiction apparatus may comprise a plurality of electrodes. the anti-stiction apparatus may be configured to apply a voltage pulse to a selected area of the plurality of electrodes. the anti-stiction apparatus may comprise a single electrode disposed on the second substrate. some such devices may also include apparatus for determining stiction areas of the interferometric modulation means. the anti-stiction apparatus may or may not be configured to apply first voltage pulses that are synchronized with second voltage pulses of the interferometric modulation means. various methods are also provided herein. some such methods include the step of forming an array of interferometric modulation elements on a first substrate. the array of interferometric modulation elements may be configured for producing a predetermined optical response to visible light. each of the interferometric modulation elements may comprise a first layer configured to be movable relative to a second layer. some such methods may also include the following steps: disposing an anti-stiction electrode system on a second substrate; attaching the first substrate to the second substrate; and configuring the anti-stiction electrode system to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. the disposing process may comprise disposing a plurality of anti-stiction electrodes on the second substrate. alternatively, the disposing process may comprise disposing a single anti-stiction electrode on the second substrate. the configuring process may involve configuring the anti-stiction electrode system to apply a voltage pulse to a selected area of the plurality of anti-stiction electrodes. the methods may further comprise embedding desiccant in the second substrate prior to the disposing step. the methods may comprise etching the second substrate prior to the disposing step. the methods may involve forming a plurality of posts in the second substrate prior to the disposing process. alternative methods are provided herein. some such methods also involve forming an array of interferometric modulation elements on a substrate. the array of interferometric modulation elements may be configured for producing a predetermined optical response to visible light. each of the interferometric modulation elements may include a first layer configured to be movable relative to a second layer. some such methods may also include the following steps: depositing sacrificial material on the array of interferometric modulation elements; disposing an anti-stiction electrode system on the sacrificial material; forming a packaging layer that encloses the anti-stiction electrode system and the sacrificial material; and releasing the sacrificial material. alternatively, the anti-stiction electrode system may be formed on the sacrificial material and the packaging layer may be formed on the anti-stiction electrode system, the sacrificial material and the substrate. the methods may also involve configuring the anti-stiction electrode system to exert an electric force on the first layer that is sufficient to overcome a stiction force between the first layer and the second layer. the methods may also involve sealing the packaging layer after the releasing step. some such methods may also involve depositing desiccant material, e.g., on the substrate. these and other methods of the invention may be implemented by various types of hardware, software, firmware, etc. for example, some features of the invention may be implemented, at least in part, by computer programs embodied in machine-readable media. the computer programs may, for example, include instructions for controlling one or more devices to fabricate a device as described herein. alternatively, the computer programs may include instructions for operating, at least in part, the devices described herein. such computer programs may include instructions for driving one or more anti-stiction electrodes. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is an isometric view depicting a portion of one embodiment of an interferometric modulator display in which a movable reflective layer of a first interferometric modulator is in a relaxed position and a movable reflective layer of a second interferometric modulator is in an actuated position. fig. 2 is a system block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an electronic device incorporating a 3×3 interferometric modulator display. fig. 3 is a diagram of movable mirror position versus applied voltage for one exemplary embodiment of an interferometric modulator of fig. 1 . fig. 4 is an illustration of a set of row and column voltages that may be used to drive an interferometric modulator display. figs. 5a and 5b illustrate one exemplary timing diagram for row and column signals that may be used to write a frame of display data to the 3×3 interferometric modulator display of fig. 2 . figs. 6a and 6b are system block diagrams illustrating an embodiment of a visual display device comprising a plurality of interferometric modulators. fig. 7a is a cross section of the device of fig. 1 . fig. 7b is a cross section of an alternative embodiment of an interferometric modulator. fig. 7c is a cross section of another alternative embodiment of an interferometric modulator. fig. 7d is a cross section of yet another alternative embodiment of an interferometric modulator. fig. 7e is a cross section of an additional alternative embodiment of an interferometric modulator. fig. 8 is a flow chart that sets forth steps of device fabrication according to some implementations described herein. fig. 9a is a cross-section of posts in a backglass according to some embodiments described herein. fig. 9b is a top view of the posts of fig. 9a according to some embodiments described herein. figs. 10a through 10d are simplified diagrams of anti-stiction electrodes according to some embodiments described herein. fig. 11 is a cross-section of the posts of fig. 9a with anti-stiction electrodes and insulating material deposited thereon, according to some embodiments described herein. fig. 12 depicts the assembly of fig. 11 attached to an array substrate. fig. 13 depicts an alternative embodiment of a device that includes anti-stiction electrodes and an array substrate. figs. 14a and 14b are diagrams that depict forces that can act upon a mirror and other parts of a mechanical layer according to some embodiments described herein. fig. 15 is a flow chart that sets forth steps of device operation according to some implementations described herein. fig. 16 depicts yet another embodiment of a device that includes anti-stiction electrodes and an array substrate. fig. 17 is a flow chart that sets forth steps of fabricating a device such as the device shown in fig. 16 . detailed description while the present invention will be described with reference to a few specific embodiments, the description and specific embodiments are merely illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. various modifications can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. for example, the steps of methods shown and described herein are not necessarily performed in the order indicated. it should also be understood that the methods of the invention may include more or fewer steps than are indicated. in some implementations, steps described herein as separate steps may be combined. conversely, what may be described herein as a single step may be implemented in multiple steps. similarly, device functionality may be apportioned by grouping or dividing tasks in any convenient fashion. for example, when steps are described herein as being performed by a single device (e.g., by a single logic device), the steps may alternatively be performed by multiple devices and vice versa. moreover, the specific materials, dimensions, etc., described herein are provided merely by way of example and are in no way limiting. the drawings referenced herein are not necessarily drawn to scale. some interferometric modulators described herein include mechanical layers (also referred to herein as moveable layers or the like) that are moved to a closed position when an actuation voltage is applied, but which normally return to an open position when the actuation voltage is reduced below a predetermined threshold. the mechanical layer may normally return to the open position due to a mechanical restoring force of the mechanical layer itself, which is analogous to the restoring force that tends to return a spring to its relaxed state. sometimes, however, the restoring force is not large enough to overcome stiction. some anti-stiction systems described herein may include one or more electrodes driven to provide an electrical force that counteracts a stiction force acting upon a moveable portion of an interferometric modulator. the anti-stiction electrode(s) may be disposed on a back glass or on another such substrate. the anti-stiction electrode(s) may be configured to apply an electrical force to substantially all of the interferometric modulators in a display device at once and/or may be configured to apply an electrical force only to a selected area. in some embodiments, the sum of an anti-stiction electrical force and a mechanical restoring force of a moveable part of an interferometric modulator is sufficient to counteract a stiction force and release the mechanical layer. figs. 1 through 7e illustrate some examples of interferometric modulators, their functions and their uses. these figures will be described first and thereafter some examples of anti-stiction systems and methods will be described with reference to fig. 8 et seq. the embodiments described herein may be implemented in any device that is configured to display an image, whether in motion (e.g., video) or stationary (e.g., still image), and whether textual or pictorial. more particularly, it is contemplated that the embodiments may be implemented in or associated with a variety of electronic devices such as, but not limited to, mobile telephones, wireless devices, personal data assistants (pdas), hand-held or portable computers, gps receivers/navigators, cameras, mp3 players, camcorders, game consoles, wrist watches, clocks, calculators, television monitors, flat panel displays, computer monitors, auto displays (e.g., odometer display, etc.), cockpit controls and/or displays, display of camera views (e.g., display of a rear view camera in a vehicle), electronic photographs, electronic billboards or signs, projectors, architectural structures, packaging, and aesthetic structures (e.g., display of images on a piece of jewelry). mems devices of similar structure to those described herein can also be used in non-display applications such as in electronic switching devices. one interferometric modulator display embodiment comprising an interferometric mems display element is illustrated in fig. 1 . in these devices, the pixels are in either a bright or dark state. in the bright (“relaxed” or “open”) state, the display element reflects a large portion of incident visible light to a user. when in the dark (“actuated” or “closed”) state, the display element reflects little incident visible light to the user. depending on the embodiment, the light reflectance properties of the “on” and “off” states may be reversed. mems pixels can be configured to reflect predominantly at selected colors, allowing for a color display in addition to black and white. fig. 1 is an isometric view depicting two adjacent pixels in a series of pixels of a visual display, wherein each pixel comprises a mems interferometric modulator. in some embodiments, an interferometric modulator display comprises a row/column array of these interferometric modulators. each interferometric modulator includes a pair of reflective layers positioned at a variable and controllable distance from each other to form a resonant optical gap with at least one variable dimension. in one embodiment, one of the reflective layers may be moved between two positions. in the first position, referred to herein as the relaxed position, the movable reflective layer is positioned at a relatively large distance from a fixed partially reflective layer. in the second position, referred to herein as the actuated position, the movable reflective layer is positioned more closely adjacent to the partially reflective layer. incident light that reflects from the two layers interferes constructively or destructively depending on the position of the movable reflective layer, producing either an overall reflective or non-reflective state for each pixel. the depicted portion of the pixel array in fig. 1 includes two adjacent interferometric modulators 12 a and 12 b . in the interferometric modulator 12 a on the left, a movable reflective layer 14 is illustrated in a relaxed position 14 a at a predetermined distance from an optical stack 16 a , which includes a partially reflective layer. in the interferometric modulator 12 b on the right, the movable reflective layer 14 is illustrated in an actuated position 14 b adjacent to the optical stack 16 b. the optical stacks 16 a and 16 b (collectively referred to as optical stack 16 ), as referenced herein, typically comprise several fused layers, which can include an electrode layer, such as indium tin oxide (ito), a partially reflective layer, such as chromium, and a transparent dielectric. the optical stack 16 is thus electrically conductive, partially transparent and partially reflective, and may be fabricated, for example, by depositing one or more of the above layers onto a transparent substrate 20 . the partially reflective layer can be formed from a variety of materials that are partially reflective such as various metals, semiconductors, and dielectrics. the partially reflective layer can be formed of one or more layers of materials, and each of the layers can be formed of a single material or a combination of materials. in some embodiments, the layers of the optical stack 16 are patterned into parallel strips, and may form row electrodes in a display device as described further below. the movable reflective layers 14 a , 14 b may be formed as a series of parallel strips of a deposited metal layer or layers (orthogonal to the row electrodes of 16 a , 16 b ) to form columns deposited on top of posts 18 and an intervening sacrificial material deposited between the posts 18 . when the sacrificial material is etched away, the movable reflective layers 14 a , 14 b are separated from the optical stacks 16 a , 16 b by a defined gap 19 . a highly conductive and reflective material such as aluminum may be used for the reflective layers 14 , and these strips may form column electrodes in a display device. note that fig. 1 may not be to scale. in some embodiments, the spacing between posts 18 may be on the order of 10-100 um, while the gap 19 may be on the order of <1000 angstroms. with no applied voltage, the gap 19 remains between the movable reflective layer 14 a and optical stack 16 a , with the movable reflective layer 14 a in a mechanically relaxed state, as illustrated by the pixel 12 a in fig. 1 . however, when a potential (voltage) difference is applied to a selected row and column, the capacitor formed at the intersection of the row and column electrodes at the corresponding pixel becomes charged, and electrostatic forces pull the electrodes together. if the voltage is high enough, the movable reflective layer 14 is deformed and is forced against the optical stack 16 . a dielectric layer (not illustrated in this figure) within the optical stack 16 may prevent shorting and control the separation distance between layers 14 and 16 , as illustrated by actuated pixel 12 b on the right in fig. 1 . the behavior is the same regardless of the polarity of the applied potential difference. figs. 2 through 5 illustrate one exemplary process and system for using an array of interferometric modulators in a display application. fig. 2 is a system block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an electronic device that may incorporate interferometric modulators. the electronic device includes a processor 21 which may be any general purpose single- or multi-chip microprocessor such as an arm®, pentium®, 8051, mips®, power pc®, or alpha®, or any special purpose microprocessor such as a digital signal processor, microcontroller, or a programmable gate array. processor 21 may be configured to execute one or more software modules. in addition to executing an operating system, the processor may be configured to execute one or more software applications, including a web browser, a telephone application, an email program, or any other software application. in one embodiment, the processor 21 is also configured to communicate with an array driver 22 . in one embodiment, the array driver 22 includes a row driver circuit 24 and a column driver circuit 26 that provide signals to a display array or panel 30 . processor 21 and array driver 22 may sometimes be referred to herein as being “logic devices” and/or part of a “logic system.” the cross section of the array illustrated in fig. 1 is shown by the lines 1 - 1 in fig. 2 . note that although fig. 2 illustrates a 3×3 array of interferometric modulators for the sake of clarity, the display array 30 may contain a very large number of interferometric modulators, and may have a different number of interferometric modulators in rows than in columns (e.g., 300 pixels per row by 190 pixels per column). fig. 3 is a diagram of movable mirror position versus applied voltage for one exemplary embodiment of an interferometric modulator of fig. 1 . for mems interferometric modulators, the row/column actuation protocol may take advantage of a hysteresis property of these devices as illustrated in fig. 3 . an interferometric modulator may require, for example, a 10 volt potential difference to cause a movable layer to deform from the relaxed state to the actuated state. however, when the voltage is reduced from that value, the movable layer maintains its state as the voltage drops back below 10 volts. in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 3 , the movable layer does not relax completely until the voltage drops below 2 volts. there is thus a range of voltage, about 3 to 7 v in the example illustrated in fig. 3 , where there exists a window of applied voltage within which the device is stable in either the relaxed or actuated state. this is referred to herein as the “hysteresis window” or “stability window.” for a display array having the hysteresis characteristics of fig. 3 , the row/column actuation protocol can be designed such that during row strobing, pixels in the strobed row that are to be actuated are exposed to a voltage difference of about 10 volts, and pixels that are to be relaxed are exposed to a voltage difference of close to zero volts. after the strobe, the pixels are exposed to a steady state or bias voltage difference of about 5 volts such that they remain in whatever state the row strobe put them in. after being written, each pixel sees a potential difference within the “stability window” of 3-7 volts in this example. this feature makes the pixel design illustrated in fig. 1 stable under the same applied voltage conditions in either an actuated or relaxed pre-existing state. since each pixel of the interferometric modulator, whether in the actuated or relaxed state, is essentially a capacitor formed by the fixed and moving reflective layers, this stable state can be held at a voltage within the hysteresis window with almost no power dissipation. essentially no current flows into the pixel if the applied potential is fixed. as described further below, in typical applications, a frame of an image may be created by sending a set of data signals (each having a certain voltage level) across the set of column electrodes in accordance with the desired set of actuated pixels in the first row. a row pulse is then applied to a first row electrode, actuating the pixels corresponding to the set of data signals. the set of data signals is then changed to correspond to the desired set of actuated pixels in a second row. a pulse is then applied to the second row electrode, actuating the appropriate pixels in the second row in accordance with the data signals. the first row of pixels are unaffected by the second row pulse, and remain in the state they were set to during the first row pulse. this may be repeated for the entire series of rows in a sequential fashion to produce the frame. generally, the frames are refreshed and/or updated with new image data by continually repeating this process at some desired number of frames per second. a wide variety of protocols for driving row and column electrodes of pixel arrays to produce image frames may be used. figs. 4 and 5 illustrate one possible actuation protocol for creating a display frame on the 3×3 array of fig. 2 . fig. 4 illustrates a possible set of column and row voltage levels that may be used for pixels exhibiting the hysteresis curves of fig. 3 . in the fig. 4 embodiment, actuating a pixel involves setting the appropriate column to −vbias, and the appropriate row to +δv, which may correspond to −5 volts and +5 volts respectively relaxing the pixel is accomplished by setting the appropriate column to +vbias, and the appropriate row to the same +δv, producing a zero volt potential difference across the pixel. in those rows where the row voltage is held at zero volts, the pixels are stable in whatever state they were originally in, regardless of whether the column is at +vbias, or −vbias. as is also illustrated in fig. 4 , voltages of opposite polarity than those described above can be used, e.g., actuating a pixel can involve setting the appropriate column to +vbias, and the appropriate row to −δv. in this embodiment, releasing the pixel is accomplished by setting the appropriate column to −vbias, and the appropriate row to the same −δv, producing a zero volt potential difference across the pixel. fig. 5b is a timing diagram showing a series of row and column signals applied to the 3×3 array of fig. 2 which will result in the display arrangement illustrated in fig. 5a , where actuated pixels are non-reflective. prior to writing the frame illustrated in fig. 5a , the pixels can be in any state, and in this example, all the rows are initially at 0 volts, and all the columns are at +5 volts. with these applied voltages, all pixels are stable in their existing actuated or relaxed states. in the fig. 5a frame, pixels ( 1 , 1 ), ( 1 , 2 ), ( 2 , 2 ), ( 3 , 2 ) and ( 3 , 3 ) are actuated. to accomplish this, during a “line time” for row 1 , columns 1 and 2 are set to −5 volts, and column 3 is set to +5 volts. this does not change the state of any pixels, because all the pixels remain in the 3-7 volt stability window. row 1 is then strobed with a pulse that goes from 0, up to 5 volts, and back to zero. this actuates the ( 1 , 1 ) and ( 1 , 2 ) pixels and relaxes the ( 1 , 3 ) pixel. no other pixels in the array are affected. to set row 2 as desired, column 2 is set to −5 volts, and columns 1 and 3 are set to +5 volts. the same strobe applied to row 2 will then actuate pixel ( 2 , 2 ) and relax pixels ( 2 , 1 ) and ( 2 , 3 ). again, no other pixels of the array are affected. row 3 is similarly set by setting columns 2 and 3 to −5 volts, and column 1 to +5 volts. the row 3 strobe sets the row 3 pixels as shown in fig. 5a . after writing the frame, the row potentials are zero, and the column potentials can remain at either +5 or −5 volts, and the display is then stable in the arrangement of fig. 5a . the same procedure can be employed for arrays of dozens or hundreds of rows and columns. the timing, sequence, and levels of voltages used to perform row and column actuation can be varied widely within the general principles outlined above, and the above example is exemplary only, and any actuation voltage method can be used with the systems and methods described herein. figs. 6a and 6b are system block diagrams illustrating an embodiment of a display device 40 . the display device 40 can be, for example, a cellular or mobile telephone. however, the same components of display device 40 or slight variations thereof are also illustrative of various types of display devices such as televisions and portable media players. the display device 40 includes a housing 41 , a display 30 , an antenna 43 , a speaker 45 , an input device 48 , and a microphone 46 . the housing 41 is generally formed from any of a variety of manufacturing processes, including injection molding, and vacuum forming. in addition, the housing 41 may be made from any of a variety of materials, including but not limited to plastic, metal, glass, rubber, and ceramic, or a combination thereof. in one embodiment the housing 41 includes removable portions (not shown) that may be interchanged with other removable portions of different color, or containing different logos, pictures, or symbols. the display 30 of exemplary display device 40 may be any of a variety of displays, including a bi-stable display, as described herein. in other embodiments, the display 30 includes a flat-panel display, such as plasma, el, oled, stn lcd, or tft lcd as described above, or a non-flat-panel display, such as a crt or other tube device. however, for purposes of describing the present embodiment, the display 30 includes an interferometric modulator display, as described herein. the components of one embodiment of exemplary display device 40 are schematically illustrated in fig. 6b . the illustrated exemplary display device 40 includes a housing 41 and can include additional components at least partially enclosed therein. for example, in one embodiment, the exemplary display device 40 includes a network interface 27 that includes an antenna 43 which is coupled to a transceiver 47 . the transceiver 47 is connected to a processor 21 , which is connected to conditioning hardware 52 . the conditioning hardware 52 may be configured to condition a signal (e.g. filter a signal). the conditioning hardware 52 is connected to a speaker 45 and a microphone 46 . the processor 21 is also connected to an input device 48 and a driver controller 29 . the driver controller 29 is coupled to a frame buffer 28 , and to an array driver 22 , which in turn is coupled to a display array 30 . conditioning hardware 52 and/or driver controller 29 may sometimes be referred to herein as part of the logic system. a power supply 50 provides power to all components as required by the particular exemplary display device 40 design. the network interface 27 includes the antenna 43 and the transceiver 47 so that the exemplary display device 40 can communicate with one or more devices over a network. in one embodiment the network interface 27 may also have some processing capabilities to relieve requirements of the processor 21 . the antenna 43 is any antenna for transmitting and receiving signals. in one embodiment, the antenna transmits and receives rf signals according to the ieee 802.11 standard, including ieee 802.11(a), (b), or (g). in another embodiment, the antenna transmits and receives rf signals according to the bluetooth standard. in the case of a cellular telephone, the antenna is designed to receive cdma, gsm, amps, w-cdma, or other known signals that are used to communicate within a wireless cell phone network. the transceiver 47 pre-processes the signals received from the antenna 43 so that they may be received by and further manipulated by the processor 21 . the transceiver 47 also processes signals received from the processor 21 so that they may be transmitted from the exemplary display device 40 via the antenna 43 . in an alternative embodiment, the transceiver 47 can be replaced by a receiver. in yet another alternative embodiment, network interface 27 can be replaced by an image source, which can store or generate image data to be sent to the processor 21 . for example, the image source can be a digital video disc (dvd) or a hard-disc drive that contains image data, or a software module that generates image data. processor 21 generally controls the overall operation of the exemplary display device 40 . the processor 21 receives data, such as compressed image data from the network interface 27 or an image source, and processes the data into raw image data or into a format that is readily processed into raw image data. the processor 21 then sends the processed data to the driver controller 29 or to frame buffer 28 for storage. raw data typically refers to the information that identifies the image characteristics at each location within an image. for example, such image characteristics can include color, saturation, and gray-scale level. in one embodiment, the processor 21 includes a microcontroller, cpu, or other logic device to control operation of the exemplary display device 40 . conditioning hardware 52 generally includes amplifiers and filters for transmitting signals to the speaker 45 , and for receiving signals from the microphone 46 . conditioning hardware 52 may be discrete components within the exemplary display device 40 , or may be incorporated within the processor 21 or other components. the driver controller 29 takes the raw image data generated by the processor 21 either directly from the processor 21 or from the frame buffer 28 and reformats the raw image data appropriately for high speed transmission to the array driver 22 . specifically, the driver controller 29 reformats the raw image data into a data flow having a raster-like format, such that it has a time order suitable for scanning across the display array 30 . then the driver controller 29 sends the formatted information to the array driver 22 . although a driver controller 29 , such as a lcd controller, is often associated with the system processor 21 as a stand-alone integrated circuit (ic), such controllers may be implemented in many ways. for example, they may be embedded in the processor 21 as hardware, embedded in the processor 21 as software, or fully integrated in hardware with the array driver 22 . typically, the array driver 22 receives the formatted information from the driver controller 29 and reformats the video data into a parallel set of waveforms that are applied many times per second to the hundreds and sometimes thousands of leads coming from the display's x-y matrix of pixels. in one embodiment, the driver controller 29 , array driver 22 , and display array 30 are appropriate for any of the types of displays described herein. for example, in one embodiment, driver controller 29 is a conventional display controller or a bi-stable display controller (e.g., an interferometric modulator controller). in another embodiment, array driver 22 is a conventional driver or a bi-stable display driver (e.g., an interferometric modulator display). in one embodiment, a driver controller 29 is integrated with the array driver 22 . such an embodiment is common in highly integrated systems such as cellular phones, watches, and other small area displays. in yet another embodiment, display array 30 is a typical display array or a bi-stable display array (e.g., a display including an array of interferometric modulators). the input device 48 allows a user to control the operation of the exemplary display device 40 . in one embodiment, input device 48 includes a keypad, such as a qwerty keyboard or a telephone keypad, a button, a switch, a touch-sensitive screen, a pressure- or heat-sensitive membrane. in one embodiment, the microphone 46 is an input device for the exemplary display device 40 . when the microphone 46 is used to input data to the device, voice commands may be provided by a user for controlling operations of the exemplary display device 40 . power supply 50 can include a variety of energy storage devices as are well known in the art. for example, in one embodiment, power supply 50 is a rechargeable battery, such as a nickel-cadmium battery or a lithium ion battery. in another embodiment, power supply 50 is a renewable energy source, a capacitor, or a solar cell, including a plastic solar cell, and solar-cell paint. in another embodiment, power supply 50 is configured to receive power from a wall outlet. in some implementations control programmability resides, as described above, in a driver controller which can be located in several places in the electronic display system. in some cases control programmability resides in the array driver 22 . the above-described optimization may be implemented in any number of hardware and/or software components and in various configurations. the details of the structure of interferometric modulators that operate in accordance with the principles set forth above may vary widely. for example, figs. 7a-7e illustrate five different embodiments of the movable reflective layer 14 and their supporting structures. fig. 7a is a cross section of the embodiment of fig. 1 , where a strip of metal material 14 is deposited on orthogonally extending supports 18 . in fig. 7b , the moveable reflective layer 14 of each interferometric modulator is square or rectangular in shape and attached to supports at the corners only, on tethers 32 . in fig. 7c , the moveable reflective layer 14 is square or rectangular in shape and suspended from a deformable layer 34 , which may comprise a flexible metal. the deformable layer 34 connects, directly or indirectly, to the substrate 20 around the perimeter of the deformable layer 34 . these connections are herein referred to as support posts. the embodiment illustrated in fig. 7d has support post plugs 42 upon which the deformable layer 34 rests. the movable reflective layer 14 remains suspended over the gap, as in figs. 7a-7c , but the deformable layer 34 does not form the support posts by filling holes between the deformable layer 34 and the optical stack 16 . rather, the support posts are formed of a planarization material, which is used to form support post plugs 42 . the embodiment illustrated in fig. 7e is based on the embodiment shown in fig. 7d , but may also be adapted to work with any of the embodiments illustrated in figs. 7a-7c as well as additional embodiments not shown. in the embodiment shown in fig. 7e , an extra layer of metal or other conductive material has been used to form a bus structure 44 . this allows signal routing along the back of the interferometric modulators, eliminating a number of electrodes that may otherwise have had to be formed on the substrate 20 . in embodiments such as those shown in fig. 7 , the interferometric modulators function as direct-view devices, in which images are viewed from the front side of the transparent substrate 20 , the side opposite to that upon which the modulator is arranged. in these embodiments, the reflective layer 14 optically shields the portions of the interferometric modulator on the side of the reflective layer opposite the substrate 20 , including the deformable layer 34 . this allows the shielded areas to be configured and operated upon without negatively affecting the image quality. for example, such shielding allows the bus structure 44 in fig. 7e , which provides the ability to separate the optical properties of the modulator from the electromechanical properties of the modulator, such as addressing and the movements that result from that addressing. this separable modulator architecture allows the structural design and materials used for the electromechanical aspects and the optical aspects of the modulator to be selected and to function independently of each other. moreover, the embodiments shown in figs. 7c-7e have additional benefits deriving from the decoupling of the optical properties of the reflective layer 14 from its mechanical properties, which are carried out by the deformable layer 34 . this allows the structural design and materials used for the reflective layer 14 to be optimized with respect to the optical properties, and the structural design and materials used for the deformable layer 34 to be optimized with respect to desired mechanical properties. whatever the design, the function of interferometric modulators and other mems devices may sometimes be impaired due to stiction. therefore, improved anti-stiction devices and methods are provided herein. in various embodiments, one or more electrodes may be driven to exert a force that counteracts a stiction force. in some such embodiments, one or more anti-stiction electrodes are driven to provide an electrical force that counteracts a stiction force acting upon a moveable portion of an interferometric modulator. movable reflective layer 14 of fig. 1 is one example of such a moveable portion. the anti-stiction electrodes may, for example, be disposed on a “back glass” or other such structure that is not part of an interferometric modulator array. fig. 8 is a flow chart that outlines steps of forming a device that includes an interferometric modulator array and an anti-stiction system. method 800 starts with step 805 , in which an array of interferometric modulators is formed on a first substrate. this process may, for example, involve steps, materials and configurations substantially as described above with reference to figs. 1 through 7e , or may involve other processes and materials. the first substrate is referenced in fig. 8 as an “array substrate” in order to distinguish it from the opposing substrate on which at least a portion of the anti-stiction system is formed, according to this example. in step 810 , the opposing substrate is prepared. step 810 may involve, for example, cleaning, etching or other processes. in some embodiments, step 810 involves altering a surface of the opposing substrate in order to reduce the gap between the opposing substrate and the array substrate when the two substrates are attached. (step 825 .) for example, one or more recesses may be etched into the opposing substrate. the recesses may be configured to receive, at least in part, the anti-stiction electrode(s). alternatively, or additionally, step 810 may involve physical abrasion of the opposing substrate, e.g., by “sandblasting” the opposing substrate with particles. in some such implementations, step 810 may involve sandblasting the opposing substrate with desiccant particles. such processes can result in a relatively smaller gap between the opposing substrate and the array substrate, as compared to alternative methods wherein desiccant material is formed on the surface of the opposing substrate facing the array substrate. one such embodiment is depicted in figs. 9a and 9b . fig. 9a is a cross-section through substrate 905 . in this example, substrate 905 is formed of glass. however, in alternative embodiments, substrate 905 may be formed of one or more other materials, such as acrylic, plastic, ceramic, metal, etc. substrate 905 has been sandblasted to form recesses 910 , which include desiccant material, and posts 915 . according to some embodiments, posts 915 may be used as support structures on which one or more anti-stiction electrodes may be formed. (see step 815 of fig. 8 .) as noted in the top view shown in fig. 9b , in this example posts 915 are hexagonal in cross-section and are depicted as occupying more area than recesses 910 . however, in alternative embodiments posts 915 may be formed into other shapes. for example, posts 915 may be circular, oval, square, rectangular, triangular, etc., in cross-section. moreover, in alternative embodiments recesses 910 may occupy as much area as, or more area than, posts 910 . the anti-stiction electrode(s) and/or the corresponding driving mechanisms may vary in complexity according to the implementation, as described in detail below. therefore, the process of depositing the anti-stiction electrode(s) in step 815 may vary accordingly. for example, step 815 may involve forming a single anti-stiction electrode on the substrate. examples are provided in figs. 10a and 10b . referring first to fig. 10a , anti-stiction electrode 1000 includes plate 1005 and connectors 1010 a . in this example, the area of plate 1005 is approximately the same as that of an interferometric modulator array that has been formed, or will be formed, on an array substrate. in a device that includes anti-stiction electrode 1000 and the interferometric modulator array, plate 1005 may be disposed opposite the interferometric modulator array and separated by a small gap. (some examples are described below with reference to figs. 12 and 13 .) accordingly, when sufficient voltage is applied to plate 1005 , an anti-stiction force may be exerted on substantially all of the interferometric modulators in the corresponding interferometric modulator array. connectors 1010 a may extend beyond the corresponding area of the interferometric modulator array to provide convenient electrical connectivity, e.g., with an electrical routing area of the device. referring now to fig. 10b , anti-stiction electrode 1015 includes connectors 1010 b and a plurality of rectangular areas 1020 . in this example, some of rectangular areas 1020 are contiguous and others are not. accordingly, there are gaps 1025 between portions of anti-stiction electrode 1015 wherein the corresponding portion of the opposing substrate is not covered. nonetheless, in this example all of the rectangular areas 1020 of anti-stiction electrode 1015 are electrically connected and can be driven at substantially the same time. therefore, when sufficient voltage is applied, anti-stiction electrode 1015 can exert an anti-stiction electrical force on most (or, in some implementations, substantially all) of the interferometric modulators in the corresponding interferometric modulator array. alternative embodiments may be configured to apply anti-stiction electrical forces only to a selected portion of the interferometric modulators in an array of interferometric modulators. according to some such embodiments, anti-stiction forces may be applied to a portion of an interferometric modulator array in which stiction has been detected. stiction may be detected, for example, by measuring the difference in capacitance between that of an interferometric modulator that is in an inactivated position and that of an interferometric modulator that remains in an activated position due to stiction. in alternative embodiments, anti-stiction forces may be applied to areas of an interferometric modulator array in a predetermined sequence and/or at predetermined times and not necessarily in response to detecting stiction problems. referring now to fig. 10c , anti-stiction electrode system 1030 provides one example of an embodiment configured to apply anti-stiction electrical forces only to a selected portion of the interferometric modulators in an array. anti-stiction electrode system 1030 includes row electrodes 1035 and column electrodes 1040 . when row electrode 1035 a and column electrode 1040 a are both driven, an anti-stiction electrical force is applied in area 1045 a . when row electrodes 1035 a and 1035 b , as well as column electrodes 1040 a and 1040 b are all driven, an anti-stiction electrical force is applied in area 1045 b . although only 4 row electrodes 1035 and four column electrodes 1040 are depicted in fig. 10c , alternative embodiments may have more or fewer row electrodes 1035 and column electrodes 1040 . for example, alternative embodiments may include tens, hundreds, thousands or more of row electrodes 1035 and/or column electrodes 1040 . although row electrodes 1035 and column electrodes 1040 are separately addressable, in alternative embodiments at least some of row electrodes 1035 or column electrodes 1040 may not be separately addressable. moreover, although row electrodes 1035 and column electrodes 1040 are depicted as being substantially uniform, in alternative embodiments at least some of row electrodes 1035 or column electrodes 1040 may vary in shape. for example, some of row electrodes 1035 or column electrodes 1040 may be wider than others. accordingly, various embodiments provided herein allow anti-stiction forces to be applied to interferometric modulator arrays to varying degrees of precision. some such embodiments allow anti-stiction forces to be applied to relatively larger regions of an interferometric modulator array, e.g., to half of the array, to a quarter of the array, to an eighth, to a sixteenth, etc. however, some embodiments provided herein allow anti-stiction forces to be applied to interferometric modulator arrays in a more precisely controlled fashion. for example, some embodiments allow an anti-stiction force to be applied to a selected portion of one or more interferometric modulators. the selected portion of an imod may comprise, e.g., one or more sub-pixels of a single pixel. alternatively, the selected portion of an imod may comprise a plurality of pixels. referring now to fig. 1 , some such embodiments are configured to exert an anti-stiction force on “bending region” 17 of movable reflective layer 14 so that movable reflective layer 14 may be peeled away from optical stack 16 b . depending on the configuration of the interferometric modulator and other factors, such precise application of anti-stiction forces may allow a smaller anti-stiction force—and therefore a smaller voltage—to be applied than if, e.g., anti-stiction forces were applied to the portions of movable reflective layer 14 that are adjacent to the optical stack 16 b . in some such embodiments, for example, a row electrode 1035 or column electrode 1040 may be positioned near bending region 17 of movable reflective layer 14 . for embodiments in which interferometric modulators are laid out in a grid, an anti-stiction system could be configured to apply anti-stiction forces to a column of interferometric modulators, to a row of interferometric modulators and/or to an individual interferometric modulator. fig. 10d depicts electrode system 1050 , which includes plate electrode 1000 and column electrodes 1040 . electrode 1000 of electrode system 1050 may be driven to provide an anti-stiction force to substantially an entire array of interferometric modulators. alternatively, column electrodes 1040 may be driven to apply an anti-stiction force to a corresponding area of interferometric modulators, which may include a single column of interferometric modulators or multiple columns of interferometric modulators. referring again to fig. 8 , after the anti-stiction electrodes have been formed on the substrate, an insulating layer may be deposited on the anti-stiction electrodes in optional step 820 . one example is shown in fig. 11 . here, a cross-section through substrate 905 , columns 915 and anti-stiction electrode array 1030 is shown. in this example, insulating layer 1105 has been deposited on anti-stiction electrode array 1030 . electrical connectors 1110 project outside the main portion of anti-stiction electrode array 1030 to provide a convenient manner of providing electrical connectivity between the anti-stiction electrode array and one or more drivers or other control circuitry. in this example, the array substrate is then attached to the opposing substrate. (see step 825 of fig. 8 .) fig. 12 provides an example. apparatus 1200 of fig. 12 includes interferometric modulator array 1205 , which is disposed on array substrate 1210 . routing connectors 1215 project outwards from interferometric modulator array 1205 , providing electrical connectivity between interferometric modulator array 1205 and a routing area, drivers and/or other control circuitry. adhesive material 1220 , which is epoxy in this example, attaches substrates 905 and 1210 . it can be advantageous to make gap 1225 , between interferometric modulator array 1205 and anti-stiction electrode array 1230 , relatively small. because the required actuation voltage is proportional to the square root of the gap size cubed, a smaller gap 1225 means that a smaller voltage will be required. accordingly, some embodiments provided herein include devices having a gap 1225 on the order of 1 to 10 microns in size. some such embodiments have a sufficiently small gap 1225 that the anti-stiction voltage applied by the anti-stiction electrodes to the moveable portion of the interferometric modulators may be in the range of 10 to 30 volts. in the embodiment shown in fig. 12 , the embedded desiccant in recesses 910 helps to enable a relatively small gap 1225 . however, alternative embodiments provided herein can provide a sufficiently small gap size without embedded desiccant material. device 1300 of fig. 13 , for example, includes desiccant patches 1305 disposed in an area adjacent to interferometric modulator array 1205 and anti-stiction electrode array 1050 , yet inside the area defined by adhesive 1220 and substrates 905 and 1210 . such embodiments can provide a small enough gap 1225 to allow a sufficiently large anti-stiction force to be applied by the anti-stiction electrode(s) without an excessively high voltage requirement. however, in some embodiments, gap 1225 may be larger than 10 microns. for example, in some embodiments gap 1225 between 10 microns and 20 microns, or even larger than 20 microns. for embodiments in which power consumption is not an important design issue, larger gaps and correspondingly larger voltages may be acceptable. another factor that can reduce the required voltage applied to anti-stiction electrodes is the amount of restoring force that is supplied by the mechanical properties of some interferometric modulators. referring now to fig. 14a , moveable portion 14 is depicted in relaxed position 14 a . this position corresponds to the relaxed position 14 a described above with reference to fig. 1 . in this example, a distance x separates moveable portion 14 and optical stack 16 . moveable portion 14 is driven through the distance x to position 14 b , adjacent to optical stack 16 , when an actuation voltage is applied between optical stack 16 and moveable portion 14 . this condition is depicted in fig. 14b . in this example, even after the actuation voltage is no longer being applied, stiction force 1410 between moveable portion 14 and optical stack 16 tends to keep moveable portion 14 adjacent to optical stack 16 a. mechanical force 1415 , sometimes referred to herein as a restoring force, exerts a force on moveable portion 14 that tends to move moveable portion away from optical stack 16 . mechanical force 1415 may be conceptualized as a force applied by a spring 1405 , which represents the modulus of elasticity of the mechanical layer. in this simplified model, mechanical force 1415 would equal the product of the spring constant k of spring 405 and the distance x. mechanical force 1415 may often be sufficient to overcome stiction force 1410 and to return moveable portion 14 to relaxed position 14 a. however, there may be instances in which mechanical force 1415 will not be sufficient to overcome stiction force 1410 . in such instances, when a sufficiently strong anti-stiction force 1420 is applied to moveable portion 14 , the sum of anti-stiction force 1420 and mechanical restoring force 1415 will be greater than stiction force 1410 and sufficient release moveable portion 14 from optical stack 16 . accordingly, anti-stiction force 1420 does not necessarily need to be greater than stiction force 1410 . moreover, the required magnitude of anti-stiction force 1420 (and therefore of the required voltage) may depend on the magnitude of mechanical restoring force 1415 . referring again to fig. 8 , the control or logic system(s) may be configured in step 830 . in some implementations, step 830 may involve providing one or more logic devices, such as processors, programmable logic devices, etc., that have already been configured to control an anti-stiction system. in other implementations, step 830 may involve providing or updating software of an existing logic device. step 830 may involve providing a logic device that has already been configured to provide at least some of the functionality described herein, e.g., providing a programmable logic device so configured. in any case, the logic system is preferably configured to control the voltage applied to the anti-stiction electrodes based, at least in part, on the restoring forces of the mechanical layers of the corresponding interferometric modulator array. some mechanical layers are made “stiffer” than others and therefore have larger restoring forces. if these restoring forces are relatively larger, a correspondingly smaller anti-stiction force may be applied. the complexity of the control system will depend, at least in part, on the complexity of the anti-stiction electrode array, whether the control system will detect and/or respond to stiction, etc. depending on the embodiment, the logic device used to control the anti-stiction system may or may not be the same logic device that is used to control the array of interferometric modulators. the final packaging and processing is accomplished in step 835 . for example, the anti-stiction system and interferometric modulator system may be combined with other components to make a display device. the display device, in turn, may be combined with other components to form a mobile communication device or some other device. additional packaging may be added for protection, advertising, shipping, etc. the process ends in step 840 . some devices provided herein may be configured to apply more than one anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm. the algorithm that is applied may be changed, e.g., according to commands from a user and/or according to detected changes in conditions. the operation of some such devices will now be described with reference to fig. 15 . method 1500 starts with step 1505 , in which the anti-stiction electrodes of a device are being controlled according to a first anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm. according to the first anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm, voltage may be applied to the anti-stiction electrodes at a first predetermined frequency, in a first predetermined areal pattern, etc. for example, the first anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm may apply voltage to the entire anti-stiction electrode system every m microseconds, every s seconds, etc. the first anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm may apply voltage to a sequence of areas within the anti-stiction electrode system at another predetermined time interval, etc. the control circuitry for the anti-stiction electrode(s) may or may not be synchronized with that of the interferometric modulator system. for embodiments in which control circuitry for the anti-stiction system is synchronized with that of the interferometric modulator system, the anti-stiction electrodes may be driven according to one or more operations of a corresponding display device. for example, the anti-stiction electrode system could be driven once every time the corresponding display device displays a frame, once every time the corresponding display device has displayed n frames, etc. in some embodiments, voltage may be applied to the anti-stiction electrodes for only a few microseconds, which may be a fraction of the time corresponding with the display of a frame. similarly, voltage may be applied to a row or column of the anti-stiction electrodes when a corresponding row or column of the interferometric modulator is being “released,” i.e., when voltage is not being applied to that row or column. however, it may not be necessary to drive a row or column of the anti-stiction electrodes each time that a corresponding row or column of the interferometric modulator is being released. if the process continues (e.g., if the corresponding device remains on), method 1500 continues with a determination of whether a change in stiction conditions has been determined. (step 1515 .) this determination may, for example, involve the detection changes in capacitance of some or all of the display. if stiction problems are detected in an area of the interferometric modulator array, a more aggressive anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm may be selected for that portion of the array (step 1525 ) and applied (step 1505 ). for example, anti-stiction voltage may be applied to the corresponding rows and columns of the anti-stiction electrode more frequently in the area of the array with detected stiction than in other areas of the array. alternatively, this determination may involve a determination that a predetermined amount of time has elapsed. for some devices there may be a correspondence between the amount of stiction and device age. therefore, after a device reaches a certain age, has been in operation for a predetermined time, etc., a more aggressive anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm may be selected (step 1525 ) and applied (step 1505 ). if no change in stiction conditions is detected in step 1515 , it is determined whether user input has been received, e.g., from a user input system of a device that includes the anti-stiction system and the interferometric modulator array. (step 1520 .) some such devices may allow a user to select a more frequent application of voltage to the anti-stiction system, e.g., according to a graphical user interface (“gui”) that indicates various application frequencies that the user may select. the gui may also inform the user that a more frequent application of voltage to the anti-stiction system will drain the device's battery more quickly. if the user selects another anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm, that algorithm is applied. (step 1505 .) otherwise, the prior anti-stiction electrode driving algorithm will be applied. the process ends in step 1530 . fig. 16 depicts an alternative embodiment for deploying anti-stiction electrode systems in a mems device, such as a device that includes an array of interferometric modulators. device 1600 includes interferometric modulator array 1605 disposed on array substrate 1610 , which may be formed substantially as described above. desiccant layer 1305 may also be formed, e.g., on array substrate 1610 . in this embodiment, however, packaging layer 1615 is deposited on substrate 1610 instead of being formed as part of a separate process. electrode system 1620 a may be formed on packaging layer 1615 . alternatively, packaging layer 1615 may be deposited after electrode system 1620 b is formed. fig. 17 is a flow chart that depicts steps of method 1700 that may be used to form device 1600 or a comparable device. in step 1705 , an interferometric modulator array (such as modulator array 1605 of fig. 16 ) is deposited on a substrate. desiccant may also be deposited, e.g., on the substrate. (optional step 1710 .) whether a desiccant layer is provided may depend on the material and processes used to form the packaging layer. for example, it may be advantageous to include a desiccant layer inside the package if the packaging layer might not provide a hermetic seal. in step 1715 , a sacrificial layer is deposited on the interferometric modulator array, on the exposed portions of the substrate and on other components, if any (e.g., on the desiccant layer). in this example, an anti-stiction electrode system (such as electrode system 1620 b of fig. 16 ) is deposited in step 1720 before the packaging layer is deposited in step 1725 . in this example, the packaging layer is deposited on the anti-stiction electrode system, on exposed portions of the substrate and on exposed portions of the sacrificial layer. the packaging layer may be formed of any suitable material, such as plastic, ceramic, metal, etc. as with other methods described herein, the steps shown in fig. 17 are not necessarily performed in the order indicated. for example, in alternative embodiments, the packaging layer may be deposited first and then an anti-stiction electrode system (such as electrode system 1620 a of fig. 16 ) may be deposited on the packaging layer. the sacrificial material is released in step 1730 . releasing the sacrificial material may require that one or more openings remain between the packaging layer and the substrate. accordingly, in this example the packaging layer is sealed in step 1735 . here, the logic system for the anti-stiction electrode system is configured in step 1740 , though in alternative embodiments the logic system for the anti-stiction electrode system may already have been configured. final processing steps, such as dicing, incorporating the resulting device in another apparatus, etc., are performed next. (step 1745 .) the process ends in step 1750 . although illustrative embodiments and applications of this invention are shown and described herein, many variations and modifications are possible which remain within the concept, scope, and spirit of the invention, and these variations should become clear after perusal of this application. for example, anti-stiction electrodes may be formed as part of an interferometric modulator array. moreover, anti-stiction electrodes may be formed for use with mems devices and/or systems other than interferometric modulator arrays. some such mems devices may include three electrodes, e.g., two electrodes formed on a first substrate and a third electrodes formed on another substrate. the substrates may or may not be substantially transparent. whether the substrates are substantially transparent may depend, for example, on the type of mems devices that are being fabricated, on the intended usage of the mems devices, etc. other mems devices may include more than three electrodes. some such mems devices may be formed as part of an integrated thin film package. accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.
|
136-713-826-035-552
|
CN
|
[
"US",
"TW",
"JP",
"SG",
"KR",
"PH",
"CN",
"WO",
"AU",
"CA"
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G06F16/23,G06F16/22,G06F16/27,G06Q40/00,G06F9/445,G06Q40/04,G06F21/64,G06F21/60,H04L9/32,G06Q20/06,G06F21/00,G06F9/455,G06Q10/10
| 2018-02-14T00:00:00 |
2018
|
[
"G06",
"H04"
] |
asset management system, method, apparatus, and electronic device
|
this specification describes techniques for managing assets in a blockchain. one example method includes receiving, from a target user recorded in a distributed database of a blockchain network, a user input including a request to perform a contract operation on asset objects including digital assets corresponding to physical assets associated with the target user, in response to receiving the request, generating an asset container as an operation target of the contract operation, the asset container recording field information of the asset objects, generating an asset container group by dividing the asset container into the asset container group based on an association relationship between the asset objects, wherein the association relationship defines correspondences between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one other asset container in the asset container group, and performing the contract operation on the asset container group using a contract object.
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1. a computer-implemented method for asset management, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a target user recorded in a distributed database of a blockchain network, a user input comprising a request to perform a contract operation on asset objects comprising digital assets corresponding to physical assets associated with the target user, wherein the asset objects are registered in the distributed database, and wherein each asset object corresponds to a respective asset container recording field information of the asset object; determining one or more child asset objects of a first asset object of the asset objects; in response to determining the one or more child asset objects of the first asset object, grouping a plurality of asset containers into an asset container group corresponding to the one or more child asset objects and the first asset object; and performing the contract operation on the asset container group using a contract object. 2. the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the contract object comprises a declaration of an execution program and an operation instruction used to perform the contract operation on the asset container group, maintaining an association relationship of the asset container group. 3. the computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the contract object comprises a code field that is used to maintain an execution code related to the execution program. 4. the computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the operation instruction comprises at least one of a transfer instruction and a transaction instruction for at least one of the asset objects. 5. the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein an association relationship comprises a homing relationship of a hierarchical structure. 6. the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the asset container group comprises a data table of a predetermined structure. 7. the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the blockchain network comprises a consortium chain, and the target user in the blockchain network is a consortium member that has asset object generation authority in the consortium chain. 8. a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions executable by a computer system to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a target user recorded in a distributed database of a blockchain network, a user input comprising a request to perform a contract operation on asset objects comprising digital assets corresponding to physical assets associated with the target user, wherein the asset objects are registered in the distributed database, and wherein each asset object corresponds to a respective asset container recording field information of the asset object; determining one or more child asset objects of a first asset object of the asset objects; in response to determining the one or more child asset objects of the first asset object, grouping a plurality of asset containers into an asset container group corresponding to the one or more child asset objects and the first asset object; and performing the contract operation on the asset container group using a contract object. 9. the non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the contract object comprises a declaration of an execution program and an operation instruction used to perform the contract operation on the asset container group, maintaining an association relationship of the asset container group. 10. the non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the contract object comprises a code field that is used to maintain an execution code related to the execution program. 11. the non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the operation instruction comprises at least one of a transfer instruction and a transaction instruction for at least one of the asset objects. 12. the non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein an association relationship comprises a homing relationship of a hierarchical structure. 13. the non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the asset container group comprises a data table of a predetermined structure. 14. the non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the blockchain network comprises a consortium chain, and the target user in the blockchain network is a consortium member that has asset object generation authority in the consortium chain. 15. a computer-implemented system, comprising: one or more computers; and one or more computer memory devices interoperably coupled with the one or more computers and having tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable media storing one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more computers, perform operations comprising: receiving, from a target user recorded in a distributed database of a blockchain network, a user input comprising a request to perform a contract operation on asset objects comprising digital assets corresponding to physical assets associated with the target user, wherein the asset objects are registered in the distributed database, and wherein each asset object corresponds to a respective asset container recording field information of the asset object, determining one or more child asset objects of a first asset object of the asset objects, in response to determining the one or more child asset objects of the first asset object, grouping a plurality of asset containers into an asset container group corresponding to the one or more child asset objects and the first asset object, and performing the contract operation on the asset container group using a contract object. 16. the computer-implemented system of claim 15 , wherein the contract object comprises a declaration of an execution program and an operation instruction used to perform the contract operation on the asset container group, maintaining an association relationship of the asset container group. 17. the computer-implemented system of claim 16 , wherein the contract object comprises a code field that is used to maintain an execution code related to the execution program. 18. the computer-implemented system of claim 16 , wherein the operation instruction comprises at least one of a transfer instruction and a transaction instruction for at least one of the asset objects. 19. the computer-implemented system of claim 15 , wherein an association relationship comprises a homing relationship of a hierarchical structure. 20. the computer-implemented system of claim 15 , wherein the asset container group comprises a data table of a predetermined structure.
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cross-reference to related applications this application is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 16/725,686, filed dec. 23, 2019, now u.s. pat. no. 10,691,675, which is a continuation of u.s. application ser. no. 16/275,868, filed on feb. 14, 2019, now u.s. pat. no. 10,691,673, which claims priority to chinese patent application no. 201810151589.3, filed on feb. 14, 2018, each of which is are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. technical field one or more implementations of the present specification relate to the field of terminal technologies, and in particular, to an asset management system, method, apparatus, and an electronic device. background in related technologies, any asset such as funds, bills, debts, real estate, and services owned by users (e.g., persons or enterprises) can be securitized, so that the assets can be converted into an asset object in a blockchain network, to improve asset liquidity. when there are many asset objects, a separate single operation for each asset object may not satisfy the user's efficiency demands. summary in view of this, one or more implementations of the present specification provide an asset management system, method, apparatus, and an electronic device. to achieve the previous objective, the one or more implementations of the present specification provide the following technical solutions: according to a first aspect of the one or more implementations of the present specification, an asset management system is provided, including: a blockchain node in a blockchain network; and asset containers located at the blockchain node, where the asset containers are configured to record field information of asset objects registered on a blockchain ledger, the asset containers form at least one asset container group, and an association relationship exists between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one another asset container in the asset container group. according to a second aspect of the one or more implementations of the present specification, an asset management method is provided, including: creating, by a blockchain node in a blockchain network, an asset container, to record field information of an asset object registered on a blockchain ledger; and dividing, by the blockchain node, corresponding asset containers into at least one asset container group based on an association relationship between asset objects, where an association relationship exists between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one another asset container in the asset container group. according to a third aspect of the one or more implementations of the present specification, an asset management apparatus is provided, including: a creation unit, configured to enable a blockchain node in a blockchain network to create an asset container, to record field information of an asset object registered on a blockchain ledger; and a dividing unit, configured to enable the blockchain node to divide corresponding asset containers into at least one asset container group based on an association relationship between asset objects, where an association relationship exists between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one another asset container in the asset container group. according to a fourth aspect of the one or more implementations of the present specification, an electronic device is provided, including: a processor; and a memory, configured to store an instruction that can be executed by the processor, where the processor is configured to implement the asset management method according to any one of the previous implementations. brief description of drawings fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an asset management method, according to an example implementation; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an asset transfer scenario, according to an example implementation; fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating establishing an association relationship between asset objects, according to a first example implementation; fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a first example implementation; fig. 5 is another schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a first example implementation; fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating establishing an association relationship between asset objects, according to a second example implementation; fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a second example implementation; fig. 8 is another schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a second example implementation; fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating establishing an association relationship between asset objects, according to a third example implementation; fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a third example implementation; fig. 11 is another schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a third example implementation; fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating implementing asset transfer, according to an example implementation; fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to an example implementation; fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a device, according to an example implementation; fig. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an asset management apparatus, according to an example implementation; and fig. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a computer-implemented method for asset management, according to an implementation of the present disclosure. description of implementations example implementations are described in detail here, and examples of the example implementations are presented in the accompanying drawings. when the following description relates to the accompanying drawings, unless specified otherwise, the same numbers in different accompanying drawings represent the same or similar elements. implementations described in the following example implementations do not represent all implementations consistent with one or more implementations of the present specification. on the contrary, the implementations are examples of apparatuses and methods that are described in the appended claims in detail and consistent with some aspects of the one or more implementations of the present specification. it is worthwhile to note that in other implementations, steps of the corresponding method are not necessarily performed based on the sequence shown and described in the present specification. in some other implementations, the method can include more steps than steps described in the present specification. in addition, a single step described in the present specification may be divided into a plurality of steps in other implementations for description, and a plurality of steps described in the present specification may be combined into a single step in other implementations for description. fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an asset management method, according to an example implementation. as shown in fig. 1 , the method can include the following steps. step 102 : a blockchain node in a blockchain network creates an asset container, to record field information of an asset object registered on a blockchain ledger. in an implementation, the blockchain ledger is used to record all information generated in the blockchain network. specifically, distributed ledger technology is used in the blockchain, each blockchain node stores full accounting information, and all blockchain nodes can reach consensus in terms of accounting information by using a consensus algorithm. therefore, it can be considered that all the blockchain nodes jointly maintain a uniform ledger, namely, a blockchain ledger. in an implementation, the blockchain network can support a plurality of types of objects, such as an account object, and a contract object. the account object is used to implement account management and related operations, and the contract object is used to implement contract management and related operations. further, the blockchain network in the present specification can support a plurality of types of assets. therefore, the blockchain network in the present specification can support an asset object, to maintain and manage a corresponding type of asset by using the asset object. in an implementation, the asset object can include a smart asset object. the smart asset object is created for a smart asset. the smart asset corresponds to any type of asset of users such as funds, real estate, stocks, loan contracts, bills, and accounts receivable in a real world or offline scenario. the smart asset object enables the smart asset to be processed in the block chain, for example, the smart asset is particularly suitable for processing the smart asset object by using a smart contract in the block chain. in an implementation, the blockchain node creates an asset container, so that field information of an asset object can be recorded in the asset container. therefore, the corresponding asset object is maintained based on the asset container. for example, the asset container can include a data table of a predetermined structure, etc. implementations are not limited in the present specification. in an implementation, the blockchain node can create a contract operation based on a contract object corresponding to a specified type of asset by invoking an asset described in the contract object, to create an asset object satisfying the specified type. in another implementation, the blockchain node can further create a contract object in other ways. implementations are not limited in the present specification. 104 . the blockchain node divides corresponding asset containers into at least one asset container group based on an association relationship between asset objects, where an association relationship exists between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one another asset container in the asset container group. in an implementation, unified maintenance can be performed on a plurality of associated asset containers in the asset container group based on an association relationship between asset containers in the asset container group, to implement batch management of corresponding asset objects. therefore, there is no need to perform separate management on each asset object, so that asset object management efficiency of the blockchain network can be improved. in an implementation, the blockchain node can initiate an operation instruction for the first asset container in the asset container group. correspondingly, when there is the second asset container associated with the first asset container in the asset container group, both the first asset container and the second asset container are added as operation targets of the operation instruction. the blockchain node can initiate the operation instruction for the first asset container, and there is no request to separately initiate the operation instruction for the first asset container and the second asset container. particularly, there may be a large quantity of second asset containers in the asset container group. based on the previous implementation, a large quantity of operations such as selecting the second asset container and sending the operation instruction can be omitted, and corresponding operation processing can be rapidly and accurately performed for the first asset container and all the second asset containers. in an implementation, the blockchain node initiates an operation instruction for the first asset container in the asset container group. correspondingly, after the operation instruction is executed for the first asset container, the second asset container and the first asset container keep an original association relationship. for example, when the operation instruction is an asset object transfer instruction, the blockchain node only requests to transfer the first asset container to a target object (e.g., an account object, a contract object, or an asset object) by using the asset object transfer instruction, and it can be considered that the second asset container is also transferred to the target object based on the association relationship between the second asset container and the first asset container. therefore, there is no request to separately initiate the asset object transfer instruction for the first asset container and the second asset container. particularly, the asset container group may include a large quantity of second asset containers. based on the previous implementation, a large quantity of operations such as selecting the second asset container and sending the operation instruction can be omitted, and corresponding operation processing can be rapidly and accurately performed for the first asset container and all the second asset containers. in an implementation, the previous operation instruction can include any type of instruction, for example, the previous asset object transfer instruction that is used to transfer an asset object, or an asset object transaction instruction that is used for asset object transaction. implementations are not limited in the present specification. in an implementation, the blockchain node can initiate the previous operation instruction in any way. implementations are not limited in the present specification. for example, the blockchain node can initiate a contract operation for the first asset container, so that corresponding operation processing can be performed on the first asset container and the second asset container. the contract operation can be written to a corresponding contract object in advance. if the blockchain node has an invoking permission for the contract operation, the previous operation instruction can be initiated based on the contract operation. in an implementation, the association relationship between asset containers can be in a plurality of forms. implementations are not limited in the present specification. for example, there can be a binding relationship between a plurality of asset containers. when the blockchain node initiates an operation instruction for any one of the plurality of asset containers, the asset container can be used as the first asset container in the previous implementation, and remaining asset containers in the plurality of asset containers can be used as the second asset containers, to implement processing operations in the previous implementation. for another example, there can be a homing relationship of a hierarchical structure between a plurality of asset containers. when there is an association relationship between the first asset container and the second asset container, it can be considered that the lower-level second asset container belongs to the higher-level first asset container. for example, the second asset container can include all direct descendant asset containers of the first asset container in a corresponding asset container group. for example, if asset container a 1 is the first asset container, both asset containers b 1 and b 2 are child asset containers of asset container a 1 , and asset container c is a child asset container of asset container b 1 , asset containers b 1 and b 2 and asset container c are direct descendant asset containers of asset container a 1 and are the previously described second asset containers. if asset container a 1 and asset container a 2 are child asset containers of asset container x, and asset container b 3 is a child asset container of asset container a 2 , asset container b 3 is not a direct descendant asset container of asset container a 1 and is not the previously described second asset container. in an implementation, because an object that an asset object belongs to is determined, for an asset container in the blockchain network, each parent asset container can have one or more child asset containers, but each child asset container belongs to only one parent asset container. in an implementation, when the second asset container is an asset container associated with the first asset container in the asset container group, indication information of the second asset container is recorded in the first asset container, so that an association relationship between the first asset container and the second asset container is determined based on the indication information. for example, the indication information can include an address of the second asset container. the indication information can be added to a predetermined field of an asset object that is recorded in the first asset container, so that the indication information can be read from the predetermined field in the first asset container when an operation instruction is initiated for the first asset container and corresponding processing operations is performed for the first asset container, to determine the associated second asset container. in some implementation, the association relationship between the first asset container and the second asset container can be recorded in other ways. implementations are not limited in the present specification. for example, the blockchain node can create a relationship container, and association relationship information of asset containers is recorded in the relationship container. for ease of understanding, the following describes the technical solutions of the one or more implementations of the present specification by using an “asset transfer” process as an example. fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an asset transfer scenario, according to an example implementation. as shown in fig. 2 , assume that user 1 registers account u 1 at a blockchain network, and user 2 registers account u 2 at the blockchain network. an asset address field of account u 1 includes address d 1 corresponding to asset object a 1 , address d 2 corresponding to asset object a 2 , and address d 3 corresponding to asset object a 3 . it indicates that asset object a 1 , asset object a 2 , and asset object a 3 belong to account u 1 . an asset address field of account u 2 includes address d 4 corresponding to asset object a 4 . it indicates that asset object a 4 belongs to account u 2 . when user 1 wants to transfer asset object a 1 , asset object a 2 , and asset object a 3 corresponding to account u 1 to account u 2 , quick asset transfer can be implemented by using the asset management solution of the present specification. it is worthwhile to note that a blockchain node in the blockchain network respectively creates asset containers corresponding to asset objects a 1 to a 4 , to record field information such as asset address fields, storage information fields, contract content fields, and anti-replay attack count fields of asset objects a 1 to a 4 . in terms of function and processing logic, it can still be considered that implementation is performed based on an asset object. therefore, for ease of understanding, the following performs description by using “asset object” instead of a corresponding asset container. fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating establishing an association relationship between asset objects, according to a first example implementation. as shown in fig. 3 , a blockchain node in a blockchain network can configure asset object a 2 and asset object a 3 as asset objects belonging to asset object a 1 , to establish an association relationship of a hierarchical structure between asset objects a 1 to a 3 . asset object a 1 is used as a parent asset object (corresponding to a parent asset container), and asset objects a 2 and a 3 are used as child asset objects (corresponding to child asset containers). specifically, the blockchain node can write address d 2 of asset object a 2 to an asset address field of asset object a 1 , so that asset object a 2 is configured as a child asset object belonging to asset object a 1 . similarly, the blockchain node can write address d 3 of asset object a 3 to the asset address field of asset object a 1 , so that asset object a 3 is configured as a child asset object belonging to asset object a 1 . in this case, it can be understood that ownership of asset object a 1 directly belongs to account u 1 , and because ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 belongs to asset object a 1 , the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 1 . therefore, an asset object transfer instruction only requests to be sent for asset object a 1 , and asset object a 1 is transferred to account u 2 . then, asset objects a 2 and a 3 are automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 . for example, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a first example implementation. as shown in fig. 4 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 1 , address d 1 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 1 is added to an asset address field of account u 2 , to transfer ownership of asset object a 1 from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, because ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 belongs to asset object a 1 , the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 2 , and the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 is automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset object a 2 and asset object a 3 . for another example, fig. 5 is another schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a first example implementation. as shown in fig. 5 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 1 , address d 1 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 1 is added to an asset address field of asset object a 4 . because ownership of asset object a 4 belongs to account u 2 , ownership of asset object a 1 is transferred from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, because ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 belongs to asset object a 1 , the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 2 , and the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 is automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset object a 2 and asset object a 3 . in addition to the association relationship shown in fig. 3 , other forms of association relationship can be established for asset objects a 1 to a 3 . implementations are not limited in the present specification. for example, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating establishing an association relationship between asset objects, according to a second example implementation. as shown in fig. 6 , a blockchain node can write address d 2 of asset object a 2 to an asset address field of asset object a 1 , so that asset object a 2 is configured as a child asset object belonging to asset object a 1 . similarly, the blockchain node can write address d 3 of asset object a 3 to an asset address field of asset object a 2 , so that asset object a 3 is configured as a child asset object belonging to asset object a 2 . in this case, it can be understood that ownership of asset object a 1 directly belongs to account u 1 , and because ownership of asset object a 2 belongs to asset object a 1 , and ownership of asset object a 3 belongs to asset object a 2 , ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 1 . therefore, an asset object transfer instruction only requests to be sent for asset object a 1 , and asset object a 1 is transferred to account u 2 . then, asset objects a 2 and a 3 are automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 . for example, similar to the implementation shown in fig. 4 , fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a second example implementation. as shown in fig. 7 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 1 , address d 1 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 1 is added to an asset address field of account u 2 , to transfer ownership of asset object a 1 from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, because ownership of asset objects a 2 belongs to asset object a 1 , and ownership of asset object a 3 belongs to asset object a 2 , ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 2 , and the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 is automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset object a 2 and asset object a 3 . for another example, similar to the implementation shown in fig. 5 , fig. 8 is another schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a second example implementation. as shown in fig. 8 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 1 , address d 1 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 1 is added to an asset address field of asset object a 4 . because ownership of asset object a 4 belongs to account u 2 , ownership of asset object a 1 is transferred from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, because ownership of asset objects a 2 belongs to asset object a 1 , and ownership of asset object a 3 belongs to asset object a 2 , ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 2 , and the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 is automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset object a 2 and asset object a 3 . fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating establishing an association relationship between asset objects, according to a third example implementation. as shown in fig. 9 , a blockchain node can create new asset object a 5 , write address d 5 of asset object a 5 to an asset address field of account u 1 , and write addresses d 1 to d 3 of asset object a 1 to a 3 to an asset address field of asset object a 5 , so that asset objects a 1 to a 3 are configured as child asset objects belonging to asset object a 5 . in this case, it can be understood that ownership of asset object a 5 directly belongs to account u 1 , and because ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 belongs to asset object a 5 , the ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 1 . therefore, an asset object transfer instruction only requests to be sent for asset object a 5 , and asset object a 5 is transferred to account u 2 . then, asset objects a 1 to a 3 are automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 5 and asset objects a 1 to a 3 . for example, similar to the implementations shown in fig. 4 and fig. 7 , fig. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a third example implementation. as shown in fig. 10 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 5 , address d 5 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 5 is added to an asset address field of account u 2 , to transfer ownership of asset object a 5 from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, because ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 belongs to asset object a 5 , the ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 2 , and the ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 is automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 5 and asset objects a 1 to a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset objects a 1 to a 3 . for another example, similar to the implementations shown in fig. 5 and fig. 8 , fig. 11 is another schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to a third example implementation. as shown in fig. 11 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 5 , address d 5 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 5 is added to an asset address field of asset object a 4 . because ownership of asset object a 4 belongs to account u 2 , ownership of asset object a 5 is transferred from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, because ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 belongs to asset object a 5 , the ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 indirectly belongs to account u 2 , and the ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 is automatically transferred based on an association relationship between asset object a 5 and asset objects a 1 to a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset objects a 1 to a 3 . in the implementation shown in fig. 3 , asset object a 1 has the highest level, and asset objects a 2 and a 3 have the same relatively lower level. similarly, in the implementation shown in fig. 9 , asset object a 5 has the highest level, and asset objects a 1 to a 3 have the same relatively lower level. in the implementation shown in fig. 6 , levels of asset object a 1 , asset object a 2 , and asset object a 3 are in descending order. in some scenarios, when there are more asset objects involved, a created association relationship between the asset objects can include one or more cases in the previous implementation. for example, when there are asset objects b 1 to b 4 , levels of asset object b 1 , asset object b 2 , asset object b 3 can be in descending order, and asset object b 2 and asset object b 4 have the same level. in the previous implementations shown in fig. 3 to fig. 11 , address information of a child asset object is written to an asset address field of a parent asset object, to create an association relationship between various asset objects. in other implementations, an association relationship between asset objects can be created in other ways. implementations are not limited in the present specification. for example, fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating implementing asset transfer, according to an example implementation. as shown in fig. 12 , addresses d 1 to d 3 corresponding to asset objects a 1 to a 3 are written to an asset address field of account u 1 . it indicates that ownership of asset objects a 1 to a 3 belongs to account u 1 . an association relationship between asset objects a 1 to a 3 can be recorded in an asset relationship field (for example, the asset relationship field can be included in the previous information storage field or another field) corresponding to account u 1 . for example, the association relationship can be “address d 1 -address d 2 ” and “address d 1 -address d 3 ”. it indicates that asset objects a 2 and a 3 are configured as child asset objects belonging to asset object a 1 . the association relationship corresponds to the association relationship in the implementation shown in fig. 3 . fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating transferred asset objects, according to an example implementation. as shown in fig. 13 , an asset object transfer instruction is initiated for asset object a 1 , address d 1 can be deleted from an asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 1 is added to an asset address field of account u 2 , to transfer ownership of asset object a 1 from account u 1 to account u 2 . in this case, asset object a 2 and asset object a 3 are automatically configured as operation targets of the asset object transfer instruction based on an association relationship “address d 1 -address d 2 ” and “address d 1 -address d 3 ” recorded in an asset relationship field of account u 1 , so that address d 2 is deleted from the asset address field of account u 1 , address d 2 is added to the asset address field of account u 2 , address d 3 is deleted from the asset address field of account u 1 , and address d 3 is added to the asset address field of account u 2 . therefore, ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 is automatically transferred based on the association relationship between asset objects a 1 to a 3 without separately initiating the corresponding asset object transfer instruction for asset objects a 2 and a 3 . in addition to transferring asset objects a 1 to a 3 from account u 1 to account u 2 , the association relationship between asset objects a 1 to a 3 can also be transferred from the asset relationship field of account u 1 to an asset relationship field of account u 2 , so that a quick asset object transfer operation can be subsequently implemented based on the association relationship. in some implementation, the previous asset relationship can be configured as a fixed attribute that cannot be modified between asset objects, or can be adjusted based on an actual situation, and this depends on a used specified logic. in some implementation, in addition to transferring address d 1 of asset object a 1 to the asset address field of account u 2 , address d 1 can also be transferred to an asset address field of asset object a 4 , so that the ownership of asset object a 1 is transferred from account u 1 to asset object a 4 . in this case, the ownership of asset objects a 2 and a 3 can also be transferred from account u 1 to asset object a 4 based on the association relationship between asset object a 1 and asset objects a 2 and a 3 . similarly, the association relationship between asset objects a 1 to a 3 can be transferred from the asset relationship field of account u 1 to an asset relationship field of asset object a 4 . fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a device, according to an example implementation. referring to fig. 14 , in terms of hardware, the device includes a processor 1402 , a local bus 1404 , a network interface 1406 , a memory 1408 , and a non-volatile memory 1410 . in some implementation, the device may further include hardware needed by other services. the processor 1402 reads a corresponding computer program from the non-volatile memory 1410 to the memory 1408 for running, and an asset management apparatus is logically formed. in some implementation, in addition to a software implementation, one or more implementations of the present specification do not exclude other implementations, for example, a logic device or a combination of hardware and software. in other words, an execution body of the following processing procedure is not limited to various logical units, and can also be hardware or a logic device. referring to fig. 15 , in a software implementation, the asset management apparatus can include: a creation unit 1501 , configured to enable a blockchain node in a blockchain network to create an asset container, to record field information of an asset object registered on a blockchain ledger; and a dividing unit 1502 , configured to enable the blockchain node to divide corresponding asset containers into at least one asset container group based on an association relationship between asset objects, where an association relationship exists between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one another asset container in the asset container group. optionally, the asset management apparatus further includes: an instruction initiation unit 1503 , configured to enable the blockchain node to initiate an operation instruction for the first asset container in the asset container group. when there is the second asset container associated with the first asset container in the asset container group, both the first asset container and the second asset container are added as operation targets of the operation instruction. optionally, the asset management apparatus further includes: an instruction initiation unit 1503 , configured to enable the blockchain node to initiate an operation instruction for the first asset container in the asset container group. after the operation instruction is executed for the first asset container, the second asset container and the first asset container keep an original association relationship. optionally, the instruction initiation unit is specifically configured to enable the blockchain node to initiate a contract operation for the first asset container. optionally, the operation instruction includes at least one of an asset object transfer instruction and an asset object transaction instruction. optionally, the second asset container includes all direct descendant asset containers of the first asset container in the asset container group. optionally, the association relationship includes a homing relationship of a hierarchical structure. optionally, each parent asset container has one or more child asset containers, and each child asset container belongs to only one parent asset container. optionally, when the second asset container is an asset container associated with the first asset container in the asset container group, indication information of the second asset container is recorded in the first asset container. optionally, the indication information includes an address of the second asset container. optionally, the indication information is added to a predetermined field of an asset object recorded in the first asset container. the system, apparatuses, modules, or units illustrated in the previous implementations can be implemented by using a computer chip or an entity, or can be implemented by using a product having a particular function. a typical implementation device is a computer, and the computer can be a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, a camera phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a navigation device, an email receiving and sending device, a game console, a tablet computer, a wearable device, or any combination of these devices. in a typical configuration, a computer includes one or more processors (cpu), an input/output interface, a network interface, and a memory. the memory may include a non-persistent memory, a random access memory (ram), and/or a non-volatile memory in a computer readable medium, for example, a read-only memory (rom) or a flash memory (flash ram). the memory is an example of the computer readable medium. the computer readable medium includes persistent, non-persistent, movable, and unmovable media that can implement information storage by using any method or technology. information can be a computer readable instruction, a data structure, a program module, or other data. a computer storage medium includes but is not limited to a phase-change random access memory (pram), a static random access memory (sram), a dynamic random access memory (dram), a random access memory (ram) of another type, a read-only memory (rom), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (eeprom), a flash memory or another memory technology, a compact disc read-only memory (cd-rom), a digital versatile disc (dvd) or another optical storage, a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk storage, a quantum memory, a graphene storage medium or another magnetic storage device or any other non-transmission medium. the computer storage medium can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. based on the definition in the present specification, the computer readable medium does not include transitory computer-readable media (transitory media), for example, a modulated data signal and carrier. it is worthwhile to further note that the terms “include”, “comprise”, or their any other variant is intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, a method, a product, or a device that includes a list of elements not only includes those elements but also includes other elements which are not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such a process, a method, a product, or a device. an element preceded by “includes a . . . ” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, product, or device that includes the element. specific implementations of the present specification are described above. other implementations fall within the scope of the appended claims. in some cases, the actions or steps described in the claims can be performed in an order different from the order in the implementation and the desired results can still be achieved. in addition, the process provided in the accompanying drawings does not necessarily require a particular execution order to achieve the desired results. in some implementations, multi-tasking and parallel processing can be advantageous. the terms used in the one or more implementations of the present specification are merely for illustrating specific implementations, and are not intended to limit the one or more implementations of the present specification. the terms “a”, “said”, and “the” of singular forms used in the one or more implementations of the present specification and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless otherwise specified in the context clearly. it should also be understood that the term “and/or” used in the present specification indicates and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items. it should be understood that although terms “first”, “second”, “third”, etc. may be used in the one or more implementations of the present specification to describe various types of information, the information is not limited to the terms. these terms are used to differentiate information of the same type. for example, without departing from the scope of the one or more implementations of the present specification, the first information can also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information can also be referred to as the first information. depending on the context, for example, the word “if” used here can be explained as “while”, “when”, or “in response to determining”. the previous descriptions are example implementations of the one or more implementations of the present specification, but are not intended to limit the one or more implementations of the present specification. any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made without departing from the spirit and principle of the one or more implementations of the present specification shall fall within the protection scope of the one or more implementations of the present specification. fig. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a computer-implemented method 1600 for management of assets in a blockchain, according to an implementation of the present disclosure. for clarity of presentation, the description that follows generally describes method 1600 in the context of the other figures in this description. however, it will be understood that method 1600 can be performed, for example, by any system, environment, software, and hardware, or a combination of systems, environments, software, and hardware, as appropriate. in some implementations, various steps of method 1600 can be run in parallel, in combination, in loops, or in any order. at 1602 , keys are generated for a target user recorded in a distributed database of the blockchain network. the keys include a public key and a private key. in some implementations, the public key is associated with an account address of an institution in the blockchain. the private key can be configured to be used by the institution to operate the account. in some implementations, the blockchain network includes a consortium chain, and the target member (user) in the blockchain network is a consortium member that has asset object generation authority in the consortium chain. the blockchain network includes one or more account objects and one or more contract objects. the objects of the blockchain network (e.g., account objects, contract objects, target objects, and asset objects) include one or more fields. for example, the fields can include one or more of the following: the ip configuration for the target user; dns logs from the target user, including events such as dns lookups, changes to dns settings, and so forth; network firewall logs (and/or other security-related log files) from the target user, including events such as blocked or allowed network communications, and so forth; operating system (os) logs from the target user, including events associated with the os; port settings on the target user; user access logs from the target user, including successful and/or unsuccessful user attempts to transfer assets from or to the target user; and/or user privilege data from the target user, including particular access privileges for various users on the target user. the fields can also include one or more of an entity name, entity id, target user id, os version information, and software version(s) for installed software, network router information, other dns settings, firewall settings, port settings, ip whitelist and/or blacklist settings, and so forth. from 1602 , method 1600 proceeds to 1604 . at 1604 , a user input is received from the target user. the user input includes a request to perform a contract operation on asset objects. the asset objects include digital assets corresponding to physical assets associated with the target user. from 1604 , method 1600 proceeds to 1606 . at 1606 , a contract object corresponding to the asset objects is determined through a selection of contract objects from the blockchain network. the contract object can include an execution program configured to generate the target object and a code field that is used to maintain an execution code related to the execution program. the contract object can include an operation instruction used to perform the contract operation on the asset container group, maintaining association relationships of the asset container group. the contract object can include a code field that is used to maintain an execution code related to the execution program. from 1606 , method 1600 proceeds to 1608 . at 1608 , in response to receiving the request, an asset container is generated based on the asset objects. the asset container can be generated to serve as an operation target of the contract operation. the asset container can record field information of the asset objects. the asset container can include a data table of a predetermined structure. in some implementations, the asset container is a parent asset container that has one or more child asset containers, and each child asset container belongs to only one parent asset container. for example, a second asset container can be generated in response to generating the asset container. the second asset container can be a direct descendant asset container of the first asset container. from 1608 , method 1600 proceeds to 1610 . at 1610 , an asset container group is generated by dividing the asset container based on an association relationship between the asset objects within the asset container. the association relationship can define correspondences between each asset container in the asset container group and at least one other asset container in the asset container group. the association relationship can include a homing relationship of a hierarchical structure. from 1610 , method 1600 proceeds to 1612 . at 1612 , a contract operation is performed using the contract object. for example, the contract object performs the contract operation by executing the operation instruction. the operation instruction can include a transfer instruction or a transaction instruction for at least one of the asset objects. in some implementations, the contract operation includes updating a target object associated with the asset objects. the target object includes an address field used to maintain address information of the plurality of asset objects by deploying a contract object corresponding to the asset type in the blockchain to create the target object. after 1612 , method 1600 stops. implementations of the present application can solve technical problems in managing assets in a blockchain. in some implementations, the blockchain is a distributed storage solution that provides immutable and tamper-resistant data transfer and storage, and the data is stored in a database of the blockchain in an encrypted form. such security measures ensure that that system state data stored on the blockchain is not corrupted or altered by malicious processes. for example, an alteration of an asset-receiving object can be a tactic used by an attacker when a target user is compromised for fraudulent purposes, and storage of system state data on an immutable blockchain prevents the use of that tactic by an attacker. in some implementations, the blockchain headers from different payment applications across entities are cross-merkelized or otherwise processed on the blockchain to further ensure the integrity of the data stored in the database of the blockchain. in consideration of security and confidentiality, contract objects can be configured to perform privacy protection processing on the data associated with the asset object before generating the asset object and sending the address information to other platforms for processing. in addition, the asset transfer operation is configured such that it does not affect the overall data volume within the blockchain by deleting a data volume from a first location when adding the corresponding data volume in a second location. as such, the asset transfer operation does not lead to an exponential increase of data volume, which is a common problem associated with conventional methods of asset management. implementations of the present application provide methods and apparatuses for improving asset management. in some implementations, a processing platform (e.g., a payment processing server) obtains data that is to be validated and that corresponds to a predetermined feature from a data providing platform as a data group that is to be validated (e.g., a data group that corresponds to user transaction amounts). in addition, the processing platform can further obtain additional (e.g., historical) data associated with the asset that is to be validated by the predetermined transfer rule. the historical data may also correspond to the same predetermined feature, and the comparison data group can be provided to a processing platform (e.g., a node of the blockchain network) for processing before the asset transfer. then, the processing platform determines whether the asset transfer request satisfies the predetermined transfer rule. if the predetermined transfer rule is satisfied (e.g., there is no abnormal data), the processing platform can continue to transfer the asset. if the processing platform determines that there is abnormal data, the processing platform can start alerting, instruct related persons to analyze the cause of the data exception, and trigger related solutions. in some implementations, the processing platform determines risk scores of asset transfers and transactions across multiple different entities, based on both transaction data for the transaction and system state data for the hosts involved in handling the transaction. the risk scores are examined to identify those transactions that are deemed high risk, with above-threshold scores. such transactions can be blocked or queued for further examination in a case management system, for example. the system state data to be used for comparison, as well as the transaction data and risk score(s), can be stored on the blockchain that provides immutable, secure, and distributed data storage. use of the blockchain facilitates the collection and analysis of a large amount of transaction data and system state data, which may grow over time as transaction traffic increases and/or transaction networks expand by adding more hosts to accommodate the increased traffic. accordingly, through the use of a blockchain to store and analyze the data, implementations provide scalability with respect to the data extraction, analysis, and storage of the data. moreover, because the blockchain is distributed across multiple network locations, implementations avoid the use of a centralized database for data storage and are therefore less vulnerable to corruption or deletion by malicious processes, in comparison to traditional, previously available risk analysis solutions that are vulnerable to attack at such a centralized storage hub. embodiments and the operations described in this specification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification or in combinations of one or more of them. the operations can be implemented as operations performed by a data processing apparatus on data stored on one or more computer-readable storage devices or received from other sources. a data processing apparatus, computer, or computing device may encompass apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multiple ones, or combinations, of the foregoing. the apparatus can include special purpose logic circuitry, for example, a central processing unit (cpu), a field programmable gate array (fpga) or an application-specific integrated circuit (asic). the apparatus can also include code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, for example, code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system (for example an operating system or a combination of operating systems), a cross-platform runtime environment, a virtual machine, or a combination of one or more of them. the apparatus and execution environment can realize various different computing model infrastructures, such as web services, distributed computing and grid computing infrastructures. a computer program (also known, for example, as a program, software, software application, software module, software unit, script, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, declarative or procedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, object, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. a program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (for example, one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (for example, files that store one or more modules, sub-programs, or portions of code). a computer program can be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. processors for execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general- and special-purpose microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random-access memory or both. the essential elements of a computer are a processor for performing actions in accordance with instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data. a computer can be embedded in another device, for example, a mobile device, a personal digital assistant (pda), a game console, a global positioning system (gps) receiver, or a portable storage device. devices suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include non-volatile memory, media and memory devices, including, by way of example, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic disks, and magneto-optical disks. the processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special-purpose logic circuitry. mobile devices can include handsets, user equipment (ue), mobile telephones (for example, smartphones), tablets, wearable devices (for example, smart watches and smart eyeglasses), implanted devices within the human body (for example, biosensors, cochlear implants), or other types of mobile devices. the mobile devices can communicate wirelessly (for example, using radio frequency (rf) signals) to various communication networks (described below). the mobile devices can include sensors for determining characteristics of the mobile device's current environment. the sensors can include cameras, microphones, proximity sensors, gps sensors, motion sensors, accelerometers, ambient light sensors, moisture sensors, gyroscopes, compasses, barometers, fingerprint sensors, facial recognition systems, rf sensors (for example, wi-fi and cellular radios), thermal sensors, or other types of sensors. for example, the cameras can include a forward- or rear-facing camera with movable or fixed lenses, a flash, an image sensor, and an image processor. the camera can be a megapixel camera capable of capturing details for facial and/or iris recognition. the camera along with a data processor and authentication information stored in memory or accessed remotely can form a facial recognition system. the facial recognition system or one-or-more sensors, for example, microphones, motion sensors, accelerometers, gps sensors, or rf sensors, can be used for user authentication. to provide for interaction with a user, embodiments can be implemented on a computer having a display device and an input device, for example, a liquid crystal display (lcd) or organic light-emitting diode (oled)/virtual-reality (vr)/augmented-reality (ar) display for displaying information to the user and a touchscreen, keyboard, and a pointing device by which the user can provide input to the computer. other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, for example, visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input. in addition, a computer can interact with a user by sending documents to and receiving documents from a device that is used by the user; for example, by sending web pages to a web browser on a user's client device in response to requests received from the web browser. embodiments can be implemented using computing devices interconnected by any form or medium of wireline or wireless digital data communication (or combination thereof), for example, a communication network. examples of interconnected devices are a client and a server generally remote from each other that typically interact through a communication network. a client, for example, a mobile device, can carry out transactions itself, with a server, or through a server, for example, performing buy, sell, pay, give, send, or loan transactions, or authorizing the same. such transactions may be in real time such that an action and a response are temporally proximate; for example an individual perceives the action and the response occurring substantially simultaneously, the time difference for a response following the individual's action is less than 1 millisecond (ms) or less than 1 second (s), or the response is without intentional delay taking into account processing limitations of the system. examples of communication networks include a local area network (lan), a radio access network (ran), a metropolitan area network (man), and a wide area network (wan). the communication network can include all or a portion of the internet, another communication network, or a combination of communication networks. information can be transmitted on the communication network according to various protocols and standards, including long term evolution (lte), 5g, ieee 802, internet protocol (ip), or other protocols or combinations of protocols. the communication network can transmit voice, video, biometric, or authentication data, or other information between the connected computing devices. features described as separate implementations may be implemented, in combination, in a single implementation, while features described as a single implementation may be implemented in multiple implementations, separately, or in any suitable sub-combination. operations described and claimed in a particular order should not be understood as requiring that the particular order, nor that all illustrated operations must be performed (some operations can be optional). as appropriate, multitasking or parallel-processing (or a combination of multitasking and parallel-processing) can be performed.
|
138-356-852-612-923
|
KR
|
[
"KR",
"EP",
"US",
"CN"
] |
G09G3/32,G09G3/3225,H01L27/12,H01L27/32,H01L51/00,G06F1/16,G09G3/3266,G02F1/1345
| 2016-03-31T00:00:00 |
2016
|
[
"G09",
"H01",
"G06",
"G02"
] |
display devcie
|
a display device includes a display panel that includes a display area and a first peripheral area adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area includes a bendable region extending across the display panel and a plurality of signal lines partially included in the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines includes a first and second group adjacent to each other in the bendable region. the first group includes two or more first signal lines that transmit signals of a first polarity. the second group includes two or more second signal lines that transmit signals of a second polarity different from the first polarity. the first and second group are separated by a first interval, and signal lines within the first or second group are separated by a second interval. the first interval is greater than the second interval.
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a display device comprising a display panel that includes a display area including a plurality of pixels and a first peripheral area adjacent to the display area; wherein the first peripheral area includes a bendable region extending across the display panel and a plurality of signal lines partially included in the bendable region, the plurality of signal lines includes a first group and a second group that are adjacent to each other in the bendable region, the first group includes two or more first signal lines among the plurality of signal lines, the second group includes two or more second signal lines among the plurality of signal lines, characterized in , the two or more first signal lines included in the first group are configured to transmit signals of a first polarity, and the two or more second signal lines included in the second group are configured to transmit signals of a second polarity that is opposite to the first polarity, the first group and the second group are separated by a first interval, signal lines within the first group or the second group are separated by a second interval, and the first interval is greater than the second interval. a display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of signal lines further includes a third group adjacent to the first group or the second group in the bendable region, the third group includes two or more third signal lines among the plurality of signal lines, and the two or more third signal lines included in the third group are configured to transmit signals having polarities that vary according to time. a display device according to claim 2, wherein signal lines within the third group are separated by a third interval, and the third interval is greater than the second interval. a display device according to claim 3, wherein the first interval is greater than the third interval. a display device according to claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein two or more signal lines, among the plurality of signal lines, adjacent to each other and disposed at an edge of at least one group among the first group, the second group, and the third group are connected to one another. a display device according to one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the plurality of signal lines extend in a direction different from an extension direction of the bendable region, the display panel further includes a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and adjacent to the display area, the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area, and at least one signal line, among the first signal lines included in the first group, the second signal lines included in the second group, and the third signal lines included in the third group, includes a portion extending into the second peripheral area in a direction different from the extension direction of the bendable region. a display device according to claim 6, wherein at least one signal line among the two or more third signal lines included in the third group is disposed only in the first peripheral area, and includes a portion substantially parallel to the extension direction of the bendable region. a display device according to claim 7, wherein the first peripheral area includes a transistor connected to the at least one signal line among the two or more third signal lines disposed only in the first peripheral area. a display device according to claim 6, wherein the display area includes a plurality of data lines and a plurality of gate lines that are connected to the plurality of pixels, the second peripheral area includes a gate driver for transmitting a gate signal to the plurality of gate lines, and the at least one signal line, among the first signal lines, the second signal lines, and the third signal lines, that includes the portion extending into the second peripheral area in the direction different from the extension direction of the bendable region is connected to the gate driver. a display device according to claim 6, wherein the display panel further includes a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area, and is adjacent to the display area, the fourth peripheral area and the first peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area, and at least one signal line, among the first signal lines included in the first group and the second signal lines included in the second group, includes a portion extending into the fourth peripheral area in a direction substantially parallel to the extension direction of the bendable region. a display device according to claim 10, wherein the fourth peripheral area includes a transistor connected to the at least one signal line among the first signal lines and the second signal lines that extends into the fourth peripheral area. a display device according to any preceding claim, wherein two or more signal lines, among the plurality of signal lines, adjacent to each other and disposed at an edge of at least one group among the first group and the second group are connected to one another. a display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of signal lines extend in a direction different from an extension direction of the bendable region, the plurality of signal lines includes a data signal line group for transmitting data signals and a third group adjacent to the first group or the second group in the bendable region, the first group, the second group, and the third group are disposed between an edge of the bendable region and the data signal line group, and the data signal line group is disposed substantially at a central portion of the bendable region among the plurality of signal lines, along the extension direction of the bendable region. a display device according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of signal lines includes a first additional group, a second additional group, and a third additional group that are disposed opposite to the first group, the second group, and the third group, respectively, with respect to the data signal line group, the first additional group, the second additional group, and the third additional group each include at least one of the plurality of signal lines, the signal lines included in the first additional group are configured to transmit signals of the first polarity, the signal lines included in the second additional group are configured to transmit signals of the second polarity, and the signal lines included in the third additional group are configured to transmit signals having a polarity that varies according to time. a display device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of signal lines includes a data signal line group for transmitting data signals, and a third group, a fourth group, and a fifth group that are adjacent to the first group or the second group in the bendable region, the first group, the second group, and the third group are disposed between an edge of the bendable region and the data signal line group, the fourth group and the fifth group are disposed between the data signal line group and a group among the first group, the second group, and the third group that is nearest to the data signal line group, the fourth group and the fifth group each include at least one of the plurality of signal lines, and the fourth group and the fifth group are configured to transmit a signal of a constant polarity. a display device according to claim 15, wherein the signal line included in the fourth group is configured to transmit a constant voltage having negative polarity, and the signal line included in the fifth group is configured to transmit a constant voltage having positive polarity. a display device according to claim 16, wherein the display panel further includes a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and are adjacent to the display area, and a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area and is adjacent to the display area, the first peripheral area and the fourth peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area, the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area, and the signal line included in the fourth group includes portions disposed in the second peripheral area, the third peripheral area, and the fourth peripheral area. a display device according to claim 16, wherein the signal line included in the fifth group is connected to a driving voltage transmitting line disposed between the first peripheral area and the display area, and the display area includes a plurality of driving voltage lines connected to the driving voltage transmitting line. a display device according to any preceding claim, further comprising: an insulating layer adjacent to the plurality of signal lines disposed in the bendable region, wherein the insulating layer contains an organic insulating material, and the display panel is bendable in the bendable region.
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technical field the invention relates to a display device. more particularly, the invention relates to a display device including a flexible substrate. discussion of related art a display device, such as a liquid crystal display (lcd), an organic light emitting diode (oled) display, etc., includes a display panel with a plurality of pixels that can display an image. each pixel includes a pixel electrode for receiving a data signal, and the pixel electrode is connected to at least one transistor to receive the data signal. the transistor includes a control electrode, an input electrode, an output electrode, and a semiconductor layer connected to the input electrode and the output electrode. the transistor is connected to a plurality of signal lines to receive signals. the plurality of signal lines includes a gate line for transmitting a gate signal, a data line for transmitting a data voltage, and the like. the transistor may be disposed on a substrate of a display panel together with various signal lines through a semiconductor manufacturing process. various signals and voltages required to drive the display panel may be received from a circuit film on which a driving circuit chip is mounted. the driving circuit chip may be connected to the display panel. the signal lines in the display panel may be disposed in the display area or in a peripheral area of the display area. particularly, a plurality of signal lines disposed in the peripheral area may be connected to the driving circuit chip or film to transmit the required signals. the signal lines may be formed of at least one conductive layer disposed on the substrate. insulating layers are disposed between conductive layers disposed on different layers on the substrate. the insulating layers may include an inorganic insulating material or an organic insulating material. recently, a display panel has been actively developed using a flexible substrate which is light and bendable instead of a substrate having a heavy and rigid form. the flexible substrate may be an insulation substrate. at least one portion of the display panel including the flexible substrate may be bent or curved. for example, while the display device is manufactured, the peripheral area of the display panel in which an image is not displayed is bent and hidden in a rear side of the display panel, reducing the size of a bezel region of the display device. the region of the display panel that is bent may be referred to as a bent region or a bending region. the following documents are considered as part of the prior art: document us2016035759 refers to a flexible display, so a peripheral area is also bendable, wherein in order to solve the corrosion problem at least some conductive lines may have a structure in which the primary conductive layer is surrounded by the secondary conductive layer such that even the two side ends of the primary conductive layer are covered by the secondary conductive layer. this can minimize the loss of primary conductive layer by galvanic corrosion, and further reduce probability of severance of electrical conductivity. documents us2014299884 and us2014254111 refer to problems related to the bendable region comprising signal lines but corrosion is not solved. summary an embodiment of the inventive concept provides a display device including a display panel that includes a display area including a plurality of pixels and a first peripheral area adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area may include a bendable region extending across the display panel and a plurality of signal lines partially included in the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines may include a first group and a second group that are adjacent to each other in the bendable region. the first group may include two or more first signal lines among the plurality of signal lines. the second group may include two or more second signal lines among the plurality of signal lines. the two or more first signal lines included in the first group may transmit signals of a same first polarity. the two or more second signal lines included in the second group may transmit signals of a second polarity that is opposite to the first polarity. the first group and the second group may be separated by a first interval and signal lines within the first group or the second group may be separated by a second interval. the first interval may be greater than the second interval. the plurality of signal lines may further include a third group adjacent to the first group or the second group in the bendable region. the third group may include two or more third signal lines among the plurality of signal lines. the two or more third signal lines included in the third group may transmit signals having polarities that vary according to time. signal lines within the third group may be separated by a third interval. the third interval may be greater than the second interval. the first interval may be greater than the third interval. two or more signal lines, among the plurality of signal lines, adjacent to each other and disposed at an edge of at least one group among the first group, the second group, and the third group may be connected to one another. the plurality of signal lines may extend in a direction different from an extension direction of the bendable region. the display panel may further include a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and adjacent to the display area. the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area may be opposite other with respect to the display area. at least one signal line, among the first signal lines included in the first group, the second signal lines included in the second group, and the third signal lines included in the third group, may include a portion extending into the second peripheral area in a direction different from the extension direction of the bendable region. at least one signal line among the two or more third signal lines included in the third group may be disposed only in the first peripheral area, and may include a portion substantially parallel to the extension direction of the bendable region. the first peripheral area may include a transistor connected to the at least one signal line among the two or more third signal lines disposed only in the first peripheral area. the display area may include a plurality of data lines and a plurality of gate lines that are connected to the plurality of pixels. the second peripheral area may include a gate driver for transmitting a gate signal to the plurality of gate lines. the at least one signal line, among the first signal lines, the second signal lines, and the third signal lines, that include the portion extending into the second peripheral area in the direction different from the extension direction of the bendable region may be connected to the gate driver. the display panel may further include a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area, and is adjacent to the display area. the fourth peripheral area and the first peripheral area may be opposite each other with respect to the display area. at least one signal line, among the first signal lines included in the first group and the second signal lines included in the second group, may include a portion extending into the fourth peripheral area in a direction substantially parallel to the extension direction of the bendable region. the fourth peripheral area may include a transistor connected to the at least one signal line among the first signal lines and the second signal lines that extend into the fourth peripheral area. two or more signal lines, among the plurality of signal lines, adjacent to each other and disposed at an edge of at least one group among the first group and the second group may be connected to one another. the plurality of signal lines extend in a direction different from an extension direction of the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines may include a data signal line group for transmitting data signals and a third group adjacent to the first group or the second group in the bendable region. the first group, the second group, and the third group may be disposed between an edge of the bendable region and the data signal line group. the data signal line group may be disposed substantially at a central portion of the bendable region among the plurality of signal lines, along the extension direction of the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines may include a first additional group, a second additional group, and a third additional group that are disposed opposite to the first group, the second group, and the third group, respectively, with respect to the data signal line group. the first additional group, the second additional group, and the third additional group may each include at least one of the plurality of signal lines. the signal lines included in the first additional group may transmit signals of the first polarity. the signal lines included in the second additional group may transmit signals of the second polarity. the signal lines included in the third additional group may transmit signals having a polarity that varies according to time. the plurality of signal lines may include a data signal line group for transmitting data signals, and a third group, a fourth group, and a fifth group that are adjacent to the first group or the second group in the bendable region. the first group, the second group, and the third group may be disposed between an edge of the bendable region and the data signal line group. the fourth group and the fifth group may be disposed between the data signal line group and a group among the first group, the second group, and the third group that is nearest to the data signal line group. the fourth group and the fifth group may include at least one of the plurality of signal lines. the fourth group and the fifth group may transmit a signal of a constant polarity. the signal line included in the fourth group may transmit a constant voltage having negative polarity. the signal line included in the fifth group may transmit a constant voltage having positive polarity. the display panel may further include a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and are adjacent to the display area, and a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area and is adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area and the fourth peripheral area may be opposite each other with respect to the display area. the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area may be opposite each other with respect to the display area. the signal line included in the fourth group may include portions disposed in the second peripheral area, the third peripheral area, and the fourth peripheral area. the signal line included in the fifth group may be connected to a driving voltage transmitting line disposed between the first peripheral area and the display area. the display area may include a plurality of driving voltage lines connected to the driving voltage transmitting line. the display device may further include an insulating layer adjacent to the plurality of signal lines disposed in the bendable region. the insulating layer may contain an organic insulating material, and the display panel may be bendable in the bendable region. an embodiment of the inventive concept provides a display device including a display panel that includes a display area including a plurality of pixels and a first peripheral area adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area may include a bendable region extending across the display panel and a plurality of signal lines partially included in the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines may extend in a direction different from an extension direction of the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines may include a data signal line group for transmitting data signals, and a first group, a second group, and a third group that are disposed between an edge of the bendable region and the data signal line group and are adjacent to each other in the bendable region. the data signal line group, the first group, the second group, and the third group may each include at least one of the plurality of signal lines. the signal lines included in the first group may transmit a signal of positive polarity. the signal lines included in the second group may transmit a signal of negative polarity. the signal lines included in the third group may transmit signals having a polarity that varies according to time. one group among the first group, the second group, and the third group may include a signal line among the plurality of signal lines disposed at an edge of the bendable region. the first group may include two or more adjacent signal lines among the plurality of signal lines. the first group and the second group are separated by a first interval and signal lines within the first group may be separated by a second interval. the first interval may be greater than the second interval. signal lines within the third group may be separated by a third interval. the third interval may be greater than the second interval. an embodiment of the inventive concept provides a display device including a display panel that includes a display area including a plurality of pixels and a first peripheral area adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area may include a bendable region and a plurality of signal pads. the plurality of signal pads are connected to a plurality of electrical nodes in the display area by a plurality of signal lines through the bendable region. the plurality of signal lines includes a first group of first signal lines disposed adjacent to each other and configured to transmit signals at a first polarity and a second group of second signal lines disposed adjacent to each other and configured to transmit signals at a second polarity, where the second polarity is different from the first polarity. the first signal lines of the first group are separated from each other by a first interval, the second signal lines of the second group are separated from each other by a second interval, and the first group is separated from the second group by a third interval. the third interval is greater than the first interval or the second interval. the plurality of signal lines may further include a third group of third signal lines disposed adjacent to each other and configured to transmit signals at varying polarities depending on time. the third signal lines of the third group are separated from each other by a fourth interval and the fourth interval is greater than the first interval or the second interval. the bendable region may include an organic insulating material. the plurality of signal lines may further include a data signal line group for transmitting data signals, a fourth group of fourth signal lines, and a fifth group of fifth signal lines. the first group, the second group, the third group, the fourth group, and the fifth group are disposed sequentially in that order from an edge of the bendable region to the data signal line group and are adjacent to one another in the bendable region. the data signal line group is disposed substantially at a central portion of the bendable region along an extension direction of the bendable region. the fifth signal lines transmit signals at the first polarity. the fourth signal lines transmit signals at the second polarity. the second group and the third group are separated by a fifth interval. the third group and the data signal line group are separated by a sixth interval. the fifth interval and the sixth interval are greater than the first interval, the second interval, and the fourth interval. the fourth signal lines in the fourth group and the fifth signal lines in the fifth group are separated from each other by a seventh interval and an eight interval, respectively. the fourth group and the fifth group are separated by a ninth interval. the seventh interval and the eight interval are smaller than the ninth interval. the display panel may further include a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and are adjacent to the display area, and a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area and is adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area and the fourth peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area. the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area. the first signal lines of the first group and the second signal lines of the second group extend out of the first peripheral area and along the second peripheral area, the fourth peripheral area, and the third peripheral area to substantially surround the display area. the display panel may further include a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and are adjacent to the display area, a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area and is adjacent to the display area, and a data input circuit portion disposed between the bendable region and the display area. the first peripheral area and the fourth peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area. the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area. a portion of the third signal lines of the third group extend out of the first peripheral area and along the second peripheral area. a portion of the third signal lines of the third group extend out of the bendable region to partially surround the data input circuit portion. the display panel may further include a second peripheral area and a third peripheral area that are each connected to the first peripheral area and are adjacent to the display area, and a fourth peripheral area that is connected to both the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area and is adjacent to the display area. the first peripheral area and the fourth peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area. the second peripheral area and the third peripheral area are opposite each other with respect to the display area. the fourth signal lines of the fourth group extend out of the first peripheral area and along the second peripheral area, the fourth peripheral area, and the third peripheral area to substantially surround the display area. the fifth signal lines of the fifth group extend out of the bendable region towards the display area to connect to a driving voltage transmitting line extending along an edge of the display area adjacent to the first peripheral area. two or more signal lines, among the plurality of signal lines, adjacent to each other and disposed at an edge of at least one group among the first group, the second group, and the third group are connected to one another. at least some of the above and other features of the invention are set out in the claims. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 illustrates a schematic layout view of a display panel included in a display device before the display panel is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 2 illustrates a layout view of a plurality of signal lines disposed in a bending region of the display panel shown in fig. 1 according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 3a , fig. 3b , and fig. 3c illustrate cross-sectional views taken along lines iii-iiia-iiib of the display panel shown in fig. 2 , according to embodiments of the inventive concept. fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of a state in which a display panel of a display device is bent in a bending region according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 5 illustrates a schematic layout view of a display panel included in a display device before the display panel is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 6 illustrates an enlarged schematic view of a bending region of a display panel included in a display device according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 7 illustrates a schematic layout view of a display panel included in a display device before the display panel is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 8 and fig. 9 illustrate enlarged schematic views of a bending region of a display panel included in a display device according to embodiments of the inventive concept. fig. 10 illustrates an equivalent circuit diagram of one pixel of a display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 11 and fig. 12 illustrate schematic layout views of the display device before the display panel included in the display device is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. detailed description embodiments of the inventive concept will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. like reference numerals may refer to like elements throughout the accompanying drawings. further, in the drawings, the size and thickness of each element are illustrated for ease of description, and embodiments of the inventive concept are not necessarily limited to those illustrated in the drawings. the thickness of layers, films, panels, regions, etc., may be exaggerated for clarity. it will be understood that when an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being "on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. further, in the specification, the word "on" or "above" means positioned on or below the object portion, and does not necessarily mean positioned on the upper side of the object portion with respect to a gravitational direction. embodiments of the inventive concept provide a display device with a flexible display panel that may delay and reduce corrosion occurring at signal lines disposed in a bending region of the display device. fig. 1 illustrates a schematic layout view of a display panel included in a display device before the display panel is bent according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 2 illustrates a layout view of a plurality of signal lines disposed in a bending region of the display panel shown in fig. 1 , according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 3a , fig. 3b , and fig. 3c illustrate cross-sectional views taken along lines iii-iiia-iiib of the display panel shown in fig. 2 , according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of a state in which a display panel of a display device is bent in a bending region according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, a display device 1 includes a display panel 100. the display panel 100 includes a display area (da) for displaying an image, and peripheral areas (pa1, pa2, pa3, and pa4) disposed at a periphery of the display area (da). at least one portion of the display panel 100 may be bendable or flexible. when the display panel 100 is not bent and is in a flat state, a first direction (dr1) and a second direction (dr2) shown in fig. 1 are directions with respect to a display surface of the display panel 100 when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the display surface. the first direction (dr1) and the second direction (dr2) are perpendicular to each other. the display area (da) includes a plurality of pixels (px) for displaying images and a plurality of display signal lines. each pixel (px) is a unit that displays an image, and can display light with luminance corresponding to input image signals. each pixel (px) may emit one of the primary colors such as red, green, or blue. the plurality of display signal lines disposed in the display area (da) includes a plurality of gate lines (gl1, gl2, ..., and gln) and a plurality of data lines (dl1, dl2, ..., and dlm). the plurality of gate lines (gl1, gl2, ..., and gln) may be sequentially arranged along the second direction (dr2), and each gate line (gl1, gl2, ..., or gln) may substantially extend in the first direction (dr1). the gate lines (gl1, gl2, ..., and gln) may transmit gate signals for turning on or turning off transistors disposed in the display area (da). the plurality of data lines (dl1, dl2, ..., and dlm) may be sequentially arranged along the first direction (dr1), and each data line (dl1, dl2, ..., or dlm) may substantially extend in the second direction (dr2). the data lines (dl1, dl2, ..., and dlm) may transmit data signals associated with the input image signals. the peripheral areas (pa1, pa2, pa3, and pa4) are adjacent to the display area (da), and are on the periphery of the display area (da). in fig. 1 , a first peripheral area (pa1), a second peripheral area (pa2) connected to the first peripheral area (pa1), a third peripheral area (pa3) connected to the first peripheral area (pa1) and facing the second peripheral area (pa2) with the display area (da) therebetween, and a fourth peripheral area (pa4) facing the first peripheral area (pa1) with the display area (da) therebetween may be disposed at the sides of the display area (da). the peripheral areas (pa1, pa2, pa3, and pa4) may surround the periphery of the display area (da). when the display panel 100 is flat, the first peripheral area (pa1) may have the widest area of the peripheral areas (pa1, pa2, pa3, and pa4). the first peripheral area (pa1) may be adjacent to the display area (da) in the second direction (dr2). a gate driver 400a may be positioned in the second peripheral area (pa2), and a gate driver 400b may be positioned in the third peripheral area (pa3). the gate drivers 400a and 400b may include circuits that transmit the gate signals to the plurality of gate lines (gl1, gl2, ..., and gln). the circuits of the gate drivers 400a and 400b may be disposed in the display panel 100 together with the plurality of display signal lines and transistors disposed in the display area (da). one of the gate lines (gl1, gl2, ..., and gln) may be connected to both the gate driver 400a and the gate driver 400b to receive the gate signals, or it may be connected to one of the gate driver 400a or the gate driver 400b to receive the gate signals. in an alternative embodiment, one of the gate driver 400a or the gate driver 400b may be omitted. the first peripheral area (pa1) may include a bending region (bda). the bending region (bda) is a region that may continuously extend between left and right sides of the display panel 100, and across the display panel 100. in fig. 1 , the bending region (bda) is illustrated as a region that continuously extends between the left side and right side of the display panel 100. the bending region (bda) may extend across the display panel 100 in a direction, e.g., the first direction (dr1), different from the second direction (dr2). referring to fig. 4 , by bending the display panel 100 in the bending region (bda), the bending region (bda) and a portion of the first peripheral area (pa1) disposed at the outside of the bending region (bda) may be bent and hidden in a rear direction of the display area (da). referring to fig. 1 , a plurality of signal lines (sl) are disposed in the peripheral areas (pa1, pa2, pa3, and pa4), and are partially disposed in the bending region (bda). the plurality of signal lines (sl) disposed within the bending region (bda) include a data signal line group 560, a first group 510a, a second group 520a, and a third group 530a. the plurality of signal lines (sl) disposed within the bending region (bda) are arranged to be substantially spaced apart from each other in the first direction (dr1), and may substantially extend in the second direction (dr2) in the bending region (bda). referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2 , the data signal line group 560 includes a plurality of data signal lines 60 for transmitting data signals to the data lines (dl1, dl2, ..., and dlm). the plurality of data signal lines 60 may extend to be substantially parallel to each other in the bending region (bda), and may extend in a direction substantially parallel to the second direction (dr2). referring to fig. 1 , the data signal line group 560 may be disposed substantially in a central portion of the bending region (bda) with respect to the first direction (dr1). the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a are adjacent to each other in the bending region (bda), and may be disposed between a left edge of the display panel 100 and the data signal line group 560. one of the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a may be disposed at an outermost edge of the bending region (bda) such that it includes a signal line sl disposed at an outermost edge of the plurality of signal lines (sl) included in the bending region (bda). another of the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a may be adjacent to the group disposed at the outermost edge of the bending region (bda). the remaining of the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a may be disposed to be closest to the data signal line group 560. in other words, the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a may be arranged in any order in the bending region (bda). in fig. 1 and fig. 2 , it is illustrated that the first group 510a includes outermost edge portions of the plurality of signal lines (sl) partially disposed in the bending region (bda), the second group 520a is adjacent to the first group 510a, and the third group 530a is disposed between the second group 520a and the data signal line group 560. referring to fig. 2 , the first group 510a includes a plurality of first signal lines 10, the second group 520a includes a plurality of second signal lines 20, and the third group 530a includes a plurality of third signal lines 30. the plurality of first signal lines 10 may extend to be substantially parallel to each other in the bending region (bda), the plurality of second signal lines 20 may extend to be substantially parallel to each other in the bending region (bda), and the plurality of third signal lines 30 may extend to be substantially parallel to each other in the bending region (bda). the first signal lines 10, second signal lines 20, and third signal lines 30 may substantially extend in the second direction (dr2) in the bending region (bda). the first signal lines 10, second signal lines 20, third signal lines 30, and data signal lines 60 may be collectively referred to as signal lines, for ease of description. referring to fig. 2 , fig. 3a , fig. 3b , and fig. 3c , the display panel 100 includes a substrate 110, as illustrated in the cross-sectional views of figs. 3a to 3c . the substrate 110 includes an insulating material and is flexible. for example, the substrate 110 may include a plastic material such as polyimide, polyamide, etc. the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 are disposed on the substrate 110. the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 may include a conductive material such as copper, aluminum, etc. particularly, the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 disposed within the bending region (bda) may include a conductive material having excellent flexibility so that they may be easily bent. for example, the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 disposed within the bending region (bda) may include aluminum. referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3a , at least one of lower insulating layers 113 and 115 may be disposed between the substrate 110 and the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 in the bending region (bda), and at least one of lower insulating layers 113b and 115b may be disposed between the substrate 110 and the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 in a region other than the bending region (bda). in fig. 3a , the lower insulating layers 113 and 115 may be a first lower insulating layer 113 and a second lower insulating layer 115 in the bending region (bda), and the lower insulating layers 113b and 115b may be a first lower insulating layer 113b and a second lower insulating layer 115b in the region other than the bending region (bda). in an alternative embodiment of the inventive concept, one of the lower insulating layers 113 and 115 may be omitted, and/or one of the lower insulating layers 113b and 115b may be omitted. the layer position of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 in the bending region (bda) and the layer position of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 in the region other than the bending region (bda) may be substantially the same, or may be different. at least one upper insulating layer 120 is disposed on the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 in the bending region (bda), and at least one upper insulating layer 120b is disposed on the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 in the region other than the bending region (bda). the first and second lower insulating layers 113 and 115 and the upper insulating layer 120 that are disposed in the bending region (bda) may include a highly flexible insulating material to prevent cracks from occurring and to be easily bent. for example, the first and second lower insulating layers 113 and 115 and the upper insulating layer 120 that are disposed in the bending region (bda) may include an organic insulating material. the first and second lower insulating layers 113b and 115b and the upper insulating layer 120b that are disposed in the region other than the bending region (bda) may include an organic or inorganic insulating material, and at least one of the first and second lower insulating layers 113b and 115b and the upper insulating layer 120b may be an inorganic insulating layer containing an inorganic insulating material. the inorganic insulating layer is removed in the bending region (bda) to prevent cracks from occurring therein and cracks being propagated while the bending region (bda) is bent. in a portion of the bending region (bda) in which the inorganic insulating layer is removed, the first lower insulating layer 113, the second lower insulating layer 115, or the upper insulating layer 120, which contain the organic insulating material as described above, may be disposed. referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3b , although the embodiment shown in fig. 3b is mostly the same as the embodiment shown in fig. 3a , there may be differences in the layer position of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 of the bending region (bda) and the layer position of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 of the region other than the bending region (bda). for example, the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 of the region other than the bending region (bda) may be disposed between the second lower insulating layer 115b and the substrate 110, and between the first lower insulating layer 113b and the second lower insulating layer 115b. according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, the layer position of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 of the bending region (bda) and the layer position of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 of the region other than the bending region (bda) that are shown in fig. 3b may be reversed. referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3c , although the embodiment shown in fig. 3c is mostly the same as the embodiment shown in fig. 3a , at least one of the first and second lower insulating layers 113 and 115 of the bending region (bda) may be omitted. in fig. 3c , it is illustrated that both the first and second lower insulating layers 113 and 115 are omitted. the plurality of signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 disposed in the bending region (bda) may further include an extension portion extending to the outside of the bending region (bda), and the extension portion may be disposed on the same layer as the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 disposed in the bending region (bda) or on another layer. all of the first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a transmit signals of a first polarity, all of the second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a transmit signals of a second polarity, and all of the third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a transmit signals of a third polarity. the polarity of the signals includes positive (+) polarity and negative (-) polarity. the positive (+) polarity is one when a voltage level of the signal is greater than a reference voltage such as a ground voltage, and the negative (-) polarity is one when the voltage level of the signal is less than the reference voltage. the first polarity, the second polarity, and the third polarity may be different, in that the polarities of the signals and change characteristics of the polarities are different from each other. for example, the signal of the first polarity has the positive (+) polarity and may be a signal of a constant polarity regardless of time, the signal of the second polarity has the negative (-) polarity and may be a signal of a constant polarity regardless of time, and the signal of the third polarity may be a signal having a polarity that varies according to time and may periodically or non-periodically swing between the positive (+) polarity and the negative (-) polarity. the signal of the first polarity and the signal of the second polarity may be signals of constant voltage, and the signal of the third polarity may be a signal having periodic pulses, e.g., clock signals. at least one of the first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a, at least one of the second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a, and at least one of the third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a may be connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b to transmit signals to the gate drivers 400a and 400b. according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 included in each of the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a may be dummy wires that do not transmit a signal. according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, a signal line for transmitting a signal is not disposed between the first group 510a and the second group 520a adjacent to each other in the bending region (bda), and a signal line for transmitting a signal is not disposed between the second group 520a and the third group 530a adjacent to each other. signal lines may be disposed between the third group 530a and the data signal line group 560. according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, when the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 for transmitting signals of the same polarity are disposed together, a voltage difference between signals transmitted by the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 in the groups 510a, 520a, and 530a, respectively, may be minimized, and a case in which the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 for transmitting signals of different polarities are adjacent to each other may be avoided. if the signal lines for transmitting signals of the first polarity (e.g., the positive (+) polarity) and the signal lines for transmitting signals of the second polarity (e.g., the negative (-) polarity) are disposed closer to each other, the voltage difference of the signals transmitted by adjacent signal lines may create an undesirably large electric field, which in turn may corrode the signal lines. in other words, a strong electric field may occur between the adjacent signal lines 10, 20, and 30, such that charges may move between the adjacent signal lines 10, 20, and 30. when the organic insulating material is included in the lower and upper insulating layers 115 and 120 adjacent to the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 disposed in the bending region (bda), since the organic insulating material has higher moisture permeability than inorganic insulating material, moisture and electrolytes may permeate into the signal lines 10, 20, and 30. when the electrolytes permeate into the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 of the bending region (bda), corrosion may occur at the signal lines 10, 20, and 30, and when the strong electric field is generated between the adjacent signal lines 10, 20, and 30, corrosion may develop at the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 by the moving charges. such corrosion may develop when the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 are made of a metal such as aluminum and the like. according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, the signal lines for transmitting signals of the same polarity are disposed in close proximity to each other to minimize the voltage difference and the electric field between signals transmitted by the adjacent signal lines 10, 20, and 30 in the groups 510a, 520a, and 530a, respectively. accordingly, corrosion occurring at the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 disposed in the bending region (bda) is avoided or minimized. hereinafter, an interval is defined as the distance between adjacent signal lines measured in parallel with respect to the first direction (dr1). referring to fig. 2 , an interval w1 between adjacent first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a may be constant, but is not limited thereto. when the interval w1 between the adjacent first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a is not constant, the interval w1 may correspond to an average distance between the adjacent first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a. an interval w2 between adjacent second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a may be constant, but is not limited thereto. when the interval w2 between the adjacent second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a is not constant, the interval w2 may correspond to an average distance between the adjacent second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a. the interval w1 between the adjacent first signal lines 10 may be similar to the interval w2 between the adjacent second signal lines 20. an interval w3 between adjacent third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a may be constant, but is not limited thereto. when the interval w3 between the adjacent third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a is not constant, the interval w3 may correspond to an average distance between the adjacent third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a. according to an embodiment of the present inventive concept, the interval w3 may be greater than the interval w1 and the interval w2. since the third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a transmit signals of a time-variable polarity, the voltage difference between the adjacent third signal lines 30 may be relatively greater than that of the adjacent first signal lines 10 or the adjacent second signal lines 20. increasing the interval w3 relative to the interval w1 and the interval w2 mitigates the corrosive effect upon the third signal lines 30. further, the intervals between the groups are increased with respect to the interval between signal lines within a group. for example, an interval w4 between the first group 510a and the second group 520a may be greater than the interval w1 and the interval w2. an interval w5 between the second group 520a and the third group 530a may be greater than the interval w1 and the interval w2. further, the intervals w4 and w5 may be greater than the interval w3. in addition, an interval w6 between the third group 530a and the data signal line group 560 may be greater than the intervals w1, w2, and w3. by having the intervals w4 and w5 be greater than the intervals w1, w2, and w3, the intensity of an electric field that may occur between the adjacent different polarities of groups 510a, 520a, and 530a is weakened, further reducing the development of corrosion at the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 disposed in the bending region (bda). the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 disposed at an edge of at least one of the adjacent groups 510a, 520a, and 530a for transmitting signals of different polarities may include two or more wires connected to each other. in fig. 2 , it is exemplarily illustrated that two second signal lines 20a disposed at an edge of the second group 520a are connected to each other. as shown in fig. 2 , the two second signal lines 20a may be spaced apart from each other in the bending region (bda), and may be connected to each other in the vicinity of an edge of the bending region (bda). by connecting two or more wires in the signal lines 10, 20, or 30, the widths and areas of the connected signal lines 10, 20, and 30 is increased to further reduce development of corrosion of the signal lines 10, 20, and 30. referring to fig. 1 , the plurality of signal lines (sl) that are partially disposed in the bending region (bda) may also include a first additional group 510b, a second additional group 520b, and a third additional group 530b that are opposite to the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a with respect to the data signal line group 560. the first additional group 510b, the second additional group 520b, and the third additional group 530b may be symmetrical to the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a, respectively, with respect to the data signal line group 560. the first additional group 510b has substantially the same characteristics as the first group 510a, the second additional group 520b has substantially the same characteristics as the second group 520a, and the third additional group 530b has substantially the same characteristics as the third group 530a. according to an alternative embodiment of the inventive concept, the first additional group 510b, the second additional group 520b, and the third additional group 530b may be omitted. fig. 5 illustrates a schematic layout view of a display panel included in a display device before the display panel is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 6 illustrates an enlarged schematic view of a bending region of a display panel included in a display device according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 5 , since a display panel 100 included in a display device 1 according to the present embodiment is substantially the same as that described with reference to fig. 1 to fig. 4 , only differences therebetween or added configurations will be described. a plurality of display signal lines in the display area (da) may include a plurality of data lines 171 and a plurality of driving voltage lines 172 in addition to the aforementioned plurality of gate lines. the plurality of data lines 171 may be substantially the same as the aforementioned plurality of data lines (dl1, dl2, ..., and dlm). the plurality of driving voltage lines 172 may be sequentially arranged along the first direction (dr1), and each driving voltage line 172 may substantially extend in the second direction (dr2). the driving voltage line 172 may transmit a driving voltage (elvdd). the driving voltage (elvdd) may be a constant voltage with the positive (+) polarity. a plurality of signal lines (sl) partially disposed in the bending region (bda) may further include a fourth group 540a, a fifth group 550a, a fourth additional group 540b, and a fifth additional group 550b in addition to the data signal line group 560, the first group 510a, the second group 520a, the third group 530a, the first additional group 510b, the second additional group 520b, and the third additional group 530b that are described above. the fourth group 540a and the fifth group 550a may be disposed between the data signal line group 560 and one of the first group 510a, the second group 520a, and the third group 530a that is nearest to the data signal line group 560. the fourth group 540a and the fifth group 550a may be disposed to be adjacent to each other in the bending region (bda). the fourth additional group 540b and the fifth additional group 550b may be disposed between the data signal line group 560 and one of the first additional group 510b, the second additional group 520b, and the third additional group 530b that is nearest to the data signal line group 560. the fourth additional group 540b and the fifth additional group 550b may be disposed to be adjacent to each other in the bending region (bda). the fourth additional group 540b and the fifth additional group 550b may be symmetrical to the fourth group 540a and the fifth group 550a, respectively, with respect to the data signal line group 560. referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6 , the fourth group 540a includes a plurality of fourth signal lines 40, and the fifth group 550a includes a plurality of fifth signal lines 50. the plurality of fourth signal lines 40 and the plurality of fifth signal lines 50 may substantially extend to be parallel to each other in the bending region (bda). in addition, the plurality of signal lines 40 and 50 may extend in the second direction (dr2) in the bending region (bda) like the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60. the signal lines 40 and 50 may be disposed on the same layer as the signal lines 10, 20, and 30. the signal lines 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 may include a portion that extends to be disposed in the bending region (bda), and the extension portion may be disposed on the same layer as the signal lines 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 disposed in the bending region (bda) or on another layer. referring to fig. 6 , portions of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 which are disposed inside the bending region (bda) and portions of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 60 which are disposed outside the bending region (bda) may be connected to each other through contact holes (cnt) of the aforementioned insulating layers 115 and 120. the contact holes (cnt) may be formed outside and adjacent to the bending region (bda). the plurality of fourth signal lines 40 of the fourth group 540a may be connected to each other at the vicinity of the edge of the bending region (bda) to form one wire in an outside region of the bending region (bda). accordingly, the plurality of fourth signal lines 40 may transmit the same signal or voltage. for example, the plurality of fourth signal lines 40 may transmit a constant polarity voltage such as the common voltage (elvss). the common voltage (elvss) may be a voltage with the negative (-) polarity. the plurality of fifth signal lines 50 of the fifth group 550a may be connected to each other at the vicinity of the edge of the bending region (bda) to form one wire in an outside region of the bending region (bda). accordingly, the plurality of fifth signal lines 50 may transmit the same signal or voltage. the fifth signal lines 50 and the fourth signal lines 40 may transmit different signals. for example, the plurality of fifth signal lines 50 may transmit a constant polarity voltage such as the driving voltage (elvdd). the driving voltage (elvdd) may be a constant voltage with the positive (+) polarity. referring to fig. 6 , an interval w7 between adjacent signal lines of the plurality of fourth signal lines 40 and an interval w8 between adjacent signal lines of the plurality of fifth signal lines 50 may be substantially the same as one of the interval w1, the interval w2, and the interval w3, but is not limited thereto. by increasing an interval w9 between the fourth group 540a and the fifth group 550a relative to the interval w7 and the interval w8, the intensity of an electric field that may occur between the fourth and fifth groups 540a and 550a is weakened, thus reducing the development of corrosion at the signal lines 40 and 50 disposed in the bending region (bda). the fourth additional group 540b has substantially the same characteristics as the fourth group 540a, and the fifth additional group 550b has substantially the same characteristics as the fifth group 550a. referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6 , the fourth signal lines 40 of the fourth group 540a may extend outside of the bending region (bda), extend along the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1), and extend along the second direction (dr2) in the peripheral area (pa2). in addition, the signal lines of the fourth additional group 540b may extend outside of the bending region (bda), extend along the periphery of the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1), and extend along the second direction (dr2) in the third peripheral area (pa3). the fourth signal lines 40 of the fourth group 540a and the signal lines of the fourth additional group 540b may extend in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3), respectively, and may be connected to each other in the fourth peripheral area (pa4). accordingly, the fourth signal lines 40 of the fourth group 540a and the signal lines of the fourth additional group 540b may be provided in a portion surrounding the display area (da) in the peripheral areas (pa2, pa3, and pa4), and transmit the common voltage (elvss) along the periphery of the display area (da). the fifth signal lines 50 of the fifth group 550a and the signal lines of the fifth additional group 550b may extend outside of the bending region (bda) to extend along the second direction (dr2) toward the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1). the fifth signal lines 50 of the fifth group 550a and the signal lines of the fifth additional group 550b may be connected to a driving voltage transmitting line 172mn extending along an edge of the display area (da) adjacent to the first peripheral area (pa1). referring to fig. 5 , the driving voltage transmitting line 172mn extends in a direction substantially parallel to the first direction (dr1). the plurality of driving voltage lines 172 disposed in the display area (da) may be connected to the driving voltage transmitting line 172mn at the edge of the display area (da). the first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a and the signal lines of the first additional group 510b may extend outside of the bending region (bda), extend along the periphery of the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1), and extend along the second direction (dr2) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3). the first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a and the signal lines of the first additional group 510b extend in the second direction (dr2) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3), respectively. the first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a and the signal lines of the first additional group 510b may be connected to each other in the fourth peripheral area (pa4) or may not extend to the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a and the signal lines of the second additional group 520b may extend outside of the bending region (bda), extend along the periphery of the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1), and extend along the second direction (dr2) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3). the second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a and the signal lines of the second additional group 520b may extend in the second direction (dr2) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3), respectively. the second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a and the signal lines of the second additional group 520b may be connected to each other in the fourth peripheral area (pa4) or may not extend to the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a and the signal lines of the third additional group 530b may extend outside of the bending region (bda), extend along the periphery of the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1), and extend along the second direction (dr2) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3). the third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a and the signal lines of the third additional group 530b may extend in the second direction (dr2) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3), respectively. the third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a and the signal lines of the third additional group 530b may be connected to each other in the fourth peripheral area (pa4) or may not extend to the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the plurality of third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a and the signal lines of the third additional group 530b may include signal lines that are connected to each other in the fourth peripheral area (pa4), and may include signal lines that are not connected to each other in the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the data signal lines 60 of the data signal line group 560 may extend outside of the bending region (bda), extend in a fan-out form toward the display area (da) in the first peripheral area (pa1), and may be connected to the data lines 171 of the display area (da) to transmit a data signal. referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6 , the signal lines 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 disposed in the bending region (bda) may extend downward from the bending region (bda) to form a pad (pad), or signal pad, corresponding to end portions of the signal lines. the pad (pad) may be connected to a printed circuit film on which driving circuit chips are mounted. the pad (pad) may be connected to a plurality of electrical nodes in the display area (da) by the plurality of signal lines (sl). fig. 7 illustrates a schematic layout view of a display panel included in a display device before the display panel is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 8 and fig. 9 illustrate enlarged schematic views of a bending region of a display panel included in a display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the inventive concept. descriptions for similar constituent elements as in the embodiments described above will be omitted. referring to fig. 7 , a plurality of display signal lines in the display area (da) may further include a plurality of gate lines 151 and a plurality of light emitting control lines 153, in addition to the aforementioned plurality of data lines 171 and plurality of driving voltage lines 172. the plurality of gate lines 151 may be substantially the same as the aforementioned plurality of gate lines (gl1, gl2, ..., and gln). the plurality of light emitting control lines 153 may be sequentially arranged along the second direction (dr2), and each light emitting control line 153 may substantially extend in the first direction (dr1). the light emitting control lines 153 may transmit a light emitting control signal. the light emitting control lines 153 and the gate lines 151 may be alternately arranged in the second direction (dr2). the gate driver 400a may be disposed in the second peripheral area (pa2), the gate driver 400b may be disposed in the third peripheral area (pa3), a turn-on circuit portion 300 may be disposed in the fourth peripheral area (pa4), and a data input circuit portion 600 may be disposed between the bending region (bda) and the display area (da). according to present embodiment of the invention, the gate drivers 400a and 400b may further include a circuit for transmitting the light emitting control signal to the plurality of light emitting control lines 153. the turn-on circuit portion 300 may include a plurality of transistors, and may inspect whether the display panel 100 has cracks. the data input circuit portion 600 may include a plurality of transistors and a demultiplexer circuit connected to the data lines 171 of the display area (da). referring to fig. 7 to fig. 9 , the plurality of first signal lines 10 of the first group 510a and the signal lines of the first additional group 510b may include, for example, the signal line for transmitting the common voltage (elvss), a signal line for transmitting a gate low voltage (vgl), and a signal line for transmitting an initialization voltage (vint). like the first signal lines 10 shown in fig. 7 , the signal line for transmitting the common voltage (elvss) may include portions extending along the second, third, and fourth peripheral areas (pa2, pa3, and pa4). the signal line for transmitting the common voltage (elvss) may serve as a guard ring. like the first signal lines 10 shown in fig. 7 , the signal line for transmitting the gate low voltage (vgl) may include portions extending along the second, third, and fourth peripheral areas (pa2, pa3, and pa4), or alternatively, it may not include the portion disposed in the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the signal line for transmitting the gate low voltage (vgl) may be connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b. the gate low voltage (vgl) may be used when a low voltage level of the gate signal is generated by the gate drivers 400a and 400b. unlike the first signal lines 10 shown in fig. 7 , the signal line for transmitting the initialization voltage (vint) may include only the portions extending along the second and third peripheral areas (pa2 and pa3), and does not include the portion extending along the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the signal line for transmitting the initialization voltage (vint) may be connected to an initialization voltage transmitting line disposed in the display area (da) to transmit the initialization voltage (vint). the initialization voltage (vint) may be used to drive the pixel (px). referring to fig. 7 to fig. 9 , the plurality of second signal lines 20 of the second group 520a and the signal lines of the second additional group 520b may include, for example, signal lines for transmitting rgb constant voltages (dc_r, dc_g, and dc_b), a signal line for transmitting a gate constant voltage (dc_gate), a signal line for transmitting a gate high voltage (vgh), and a signal line for transmitting a sensing voltage (mcd). like the second signal lines 20 shown in fig. 7 , the signal lines for transmitting the rgb constant voltages (dc_r, dc_g, and dc_b), the signal line for transmitting the gate constant voltage (dc_gate), and the signal line for transmitting the sensing voltage (mcd) may include portions extending along the second direction (dr2) in the second and third peripheral area (pa2 and pa3) and portions extending along the first direction (dr1) in the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the signal lines for transmitting the rgb constant voltages (dc_r, dc_g, and dc_b) may be connected to the turn-on circuit portion 300 to transmit the rgb constant voltages (dc_r, dc_g, and dc_b) to an input terminal of at least one transistor included in the turn-on circuit portion 300. the signal line for transmitting the gate constant voltage (dc_gate) may be connected to the turn-on circuit portion 300 to transmit the gate constant voltage (dc_gate) to a control terminal of at least one transistor included in the turn-on circuit portion 300. the signal line for transmitting the sensing voltage (mcd) may extend to be substantially parallel to the signal lines for transmitting the rgb constant voltages (dc_r, dc_g, and dc_b), and may be connected to the signal lines for transmitting the rgb constant voltages (dc_r, dc_g, and dc_b) in the second peripheral area (pa2) and the third peripheral area (pa3). like the second signal lines 20 shown in fig. 7 , the signal line for transmitting the gate high voltage (vgh) of may include a portion extending along the second, third, and fourth peripheral areas (pa2, pa3, and pa4), but does not include a portion disposed in the fourth peripheral area (pa4). the signal line for transmitting the gate high voltage (vgh) may be connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b. the gate high voltage (vgh) may be used to generate the high voltage level of the gate signal. referring to fig. 7 to fig. 9 , the plurality of third signal lines 30 of the third group 530a and the signal lines of the third additional group 530b may include, for example, signal lines for transmitting light emitting clock signals (emclk1 and emclk2), a signal line for transmitting a light emitting frame signal (aclflm), signal lines for transmitting clock signals (clk1 and clk2), a signal line for transmitting a frame signal (flm2), and signal lines for transmitting data control signals (cla, clb, and clc). as illustrated in fig. 7 , according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, a portion of the plurality of third signal lines 30 (or left third signal lines 30) may extend along the second direction (dr2) in the second and third peripheral areas (pa2 and pa3). a portion of the plurality of third signal lines 30 (or right third signal lines 30) may be disposed only in the first peripheral area (pa1). like the left third signal lines 30 shown in fig. 7 , the signal lines for transmitting the light emitting clock signals (emclk1 and emclk2), the signal line for transmitting the light emitting frame signal (aclflm), the signal lines for transmitting the clock signals (clk1 and clk2), and the signal line for transmitting the frame signal (flm2) may include portions extending along the second direction (dr2) in the second and third peripheral areas (pa2 and pa3). the signal lines for transmitting the light emitting clock signals (emclk1 and emclk2) may be connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b to input the light emitting clock signals (emclk1 and emclk2) to a circuit for generating the light emitting control signals of the gate drivers 400a and 400b. the signal line for transmitting the light emitting frame signal (aclflm) may be connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b. the light emitting frame signal (aclflm) may instruct a start of one frame for inputting the light emitting control signal to the display area (da). the signal lines for transmitting the clock signals (clk1 and clk2) may be connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b to input clock signals (clk1 and clk2) to a circuit for generating the gate signal. the signal line for transmitting the frame signal (flm2) is connected to the gate drivers 400a and 400b. the frame signal (flm2) may instruct the start of one frame for inputting the gate signal to the display area (da). like the right third signal lines 30 shown in fig. 7 , the signal lines for transmitting the data control signals (cla, clb, and clc) may be disposed only in the first peripheral area (pa1). the signal lines for transmitting the data control signals (cla, clb, and clc) may extend outside of the bending region (bda) substantially in the second direction (dr2), and may extend to partially surround the data input circuit portion 600. in other words, the signal lines for transmitting the data control signals (cla, clb, and clc) include portions that are adjacent to the data input circuit portion 600 and extend substantially in the first direction (dr1). the signal lines for transmitting the data control signals (cla, clb, and clc) may be connected to the data input circuit portion 600 to transmit the data control signals (cla, clb, and clc) to the gate terminal of at least one transistor included in the data input circuit portion 600. referring to fig. 8 and fig. 9 , the display panel 100 may further include a sensing signal line 35 for transmitting the sensing voltage (mcd) positioned between the third group 530a and the fourth signal lines 40 of the fourth group 540a. the sensing signal line 35 may extend to be substantially parallel to the signal lines for transmitting the sensing voltage (mcd) of the aforementioned second group 520a and second additional group 520b in the bending region (bda) and the region outside the bending region (bda). the position of the sensing signal line 35 in the bending region (bda) is not limited to that shown in fig. 8 and fig. 9 . for example, according to an alternative embodiment, the sensing signal line 35 may be positioned in the first group 510a and the first additional group 510b, or may be omitted. referring to fig. 8 and fig. 9 , as described above, two or more signal lines within at least one of the signal lines 10, 20, and 30 disposed on the edge of the groups 510a, 520a, and 530a, respectively, may be connected to each other. in fig. 8 and fig. 9 , it is exemplarily illustrated that a signal line for transmitting a b-constant voltage (dc_b) on the left edge of the second group 520a consists of two wires that are connected to each other. as described above, the interval w4 between the first group 510a and the second group 520a or the interval w5 between the second group 520a and the third group 530a may be greater than the interval w1 between the adjacent first signal lines 10 and the interval w2 between the adjacent second signal lines 20. in addition, the interval w3 between the adjacent third signal lines 30 may be greater than the intervals w1 and w2. referring to fig. 8 , the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 40 disposed in the bending region (bda) may be in a mesh form to improve flexibility, and when the display panel 100 is bent in the bending region (bda), even if some of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 40 of the bending region (bda) are cut, a by-pass circuit may be ensured. thus, it is possible to prevent the display panel 100 from failing. referring to fig. 9 , unlike as shown in fig. 8 , each of the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 40 disposed in the bending region (bda) may be in a serpentine form to reduce damage to the signal lines 10, 20, 30, and 40 due to the bending. referring to fig. 7 to fig. 9 , the signal lines 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 disposed in the bending region (bda) may extend downward from the bending region (bda) to form a plurality of signal pads (pad), corresponding to end portions of the signal lines. the plurality of signal pads (pad) may be connected to a printed circuit film on which driving circuit chips are mounted. the plurality of signal pads (pad) may be connected to a plurality of electrical nodes in the display area (da) by the plurality of signal lines (sl). fig. 10 illustrates an equivalent circuit diagram of one pixel of a display device according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 10 , according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, a display device corresponds to an organic light emitting diode display, and a pixel (px) disposed in a display area (da) thereof may include a plurality of transistors (t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6, and t7) connected to a plurality of display signal lines (151, 152, 153, 158, 171, 172, and 192), a storage capacitor (cst), and an organic light emitting diode (oled). the transistors (t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6, and t7) may include a driving transistor t1, a switching transistor t2, a compensation transistor t3, an initialization transistor t4, an operation control transistor t5, a light emission control transistor t6, and a bypass transistor t7. the display signal lines (151, 152, 153, 158, 171, 172, and 192) may include a gate line 151, a previous gate line 152, a light emitting control line 153, a bypass control line 158, a data line 171, a driving voltage line 172, and an initialization voltage line 192. the gate line 151 and the previous gate line 152 may be connected to the gate signal generating circuit of the aforementioned gate drivers 400a and 400b to receive a gate signal (sn) and a previous gate signal (sn-1), respectively, and the light emitting control line 153 may be connected to the light emitting control signal generating circuit of the gate drivers 400a and 400b to receive a light emitting control signal (em). the previous gate line 152 transmits the previous gate signal (sn-1) to the initialization transistor t4, the light emitting control line 153 transmits the light emitting control signal (em) to the operation control transistor t5 and the light emitting transistor t6, and the bypass control line 158 transmits the bypass signal (bp) to the bypass transistor t7. the data line 171 may receive a data signal (dm) through the data signal line group 560 and the data input circuit portion 600 that are described above. the driving voltage line 172 may receive a driving voltage (elvdd) through the fifth signal lines 50 of the fifth group 550a, the signal lines of the fifth additional group 550b, and the driving voltage transmitting line 172mn that are described above. the initialization voltage line 192 may receive an initialization voltage (vint) for initializing the driving transistor t1 through the aforementioned signal line for transmitting the initialization voltage (vint) of the first group 510a. a gate electrode g1 of the driving transistor t1 is connected to a first terminal (cst1) of the storage capacitor (cst), a source electrode s1 of the driving transistor t1 is connected to the driving voltage line 172 via the operation control transistor t5, and a drain electrode d1 of the driving transistor t1 is connected to an anode of the organic light emitting diode (oled) via the light emitting transistor t6. a gate electrode g2 of the switching transistor t2 is connected to the gate line 151, a source electrode s2 of the switching transistor t2 is connected to the data line 171, and a drain electrode d2 of the switching transistor t2 is connected to the source electrode s1 of the driving transistor t1 and to the driving voltage line 172 via the operation control transistor t5. a gate electrode g3 of the compensation transistor t3 is connected to the gate line 151, a source electrode s3 of the compensation transistor t3 is connected to the drain electrode d1 of the driving transistor t1 and to the anode of the organic light emitting diode (oled) via the light emitting transistor t6, and a drain electrode d3 of the compensation transistor t3 is connected to the drain electrode d4 of the initialization transistor t4, the first terminal (cst1) of the storage capacitor (cst), and the gate electrode g1 of the driving transistor t1. a gate electrode g4 of the initialization transistor t4 is connected to the previous gate line 152, a source electrode s4 of the initialization transistor t4 is connected to the initialization voltage line 192, and a drain electrode d4 of the initialization transistor t4 is connected to the first terminal (cst1) of the storage capacitor (cst), the gate electrode g1 of the driving transistor t1, and the drain electrode d3 of the compensation transistor t3. a gate electrode g5 of the operation control transistor t5 is connected to the light emitting control line 153, a source electrode s5 of the operation control transistor t5 is connected to the driving voltage line 172, and a drain electrode d5 of the operation control transistor t5 is connected to the source electrode s1 of the driving transistor t1 and the drain electrode d2 of the switching transistor t2. a gate electrode g6 of the light emitting transistor t6 is connected to the light emitting control line 153, a source electrode s6 of the light emitting transistor t6 is connected to the drain electrode d1 of the driving transistor t1 and the source electrode s3 of the compensation transistor t3, and a drain electrode d6 of the light emitting transistor t6 is connected to the anode of the organic light emitting diode (oled). a gate electrode g7 of the bypass transistor t7 is connected to the bypass control line 158, a source electrode s7 of the bypass transistor t7 is connected to the drain electrode d6 of the light emitting transistor t6 and the anode of the organic light emitting diode (oled), and a drain electrode d7 of the bypass transistor t7 is connected to the initialization voltage line 192 and the source electrode s4 of the initialization transistor t4. a second terminal (cst2) of the storage capacitor (cst) is connected to the driving voltage line 172, and a cathode of the organic light emitting diode (oled) is connected to a common voltage line 741 for transmitting the common voltage (elvss). the common voltage line 741 or the cathode of the organic light emitting diode (oled) may receive the common voltage (elvss) from the aforementioned plurality of fourth signal lines 40 of the fourth group 540a. the circuit structure of the pixel (px) is not limited to that shown in fig. 10 , and the number of transistors and capacitors may vary. fig. 11 and fig. 12 illustrate schematic layout views of the display device before the display panel included in the display device is bent, according to an embodiment of the inventive concept. descriptions for similar constituent elements as in the embodiments described above will be omitted. referring to fig. 11 , according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, the display device 1 may include the aforementioned display panel 100 and a printed circuit film 700 connected to the display panel 100. a plurality of signal wires may be disposed in the printed circuit film 700, and a driver 500 may be mounted on one surface of the printed circuit film 700. the first signal lines 10 included in the first group 510a, the signal lines included in the first additional group 510b, the second signal lines 20 included in the second group 520a, the signal lines included in the second additional group 520b, the fourth signal lines 40 included in the fourth group 540a, the signal lines included in the fourth additional group 540b, the fifth signal lines 50 included in the fifth group 550a, and the signal lines included in the fifth additional group 550b, which are described above, may be connected to the printed circuit film 700 through the pad (pad) to receive signals or voltages. the third signal lines 30 included in the third group 530a, the signal lines included in the third additional group 530b, and the data signal lines 60 included in the data signal line group 560, which are described above, may be connected to the signal wires of the printed circuit film 700 through the pad (pad) to receive signals from the driver 500. referring to fig. 12 , according to an embodiment of the inventive concept, the display device 1 is substantially the same as that shown in fig. 11 , but the driver 500 may be mounted on the display panel 100. the first signal lines 10 included in the first group 510a, the signal lines included in the first additional group 510b, the second signal lines 20 included in the second group 520a, the signal lines included in the second additional group 520b, the fourth signal lines 40 included in the fourth group 540a, the signal lines included in the fourth additional group 540b, the fifth signal lines 50 included in the fifth group 550a, and the signal lines included in the fifth additional group 550b, which are described above, may be connected to the printed circuit film 700 through the pad (pad) to receive signals or voltages. the third signal lines 30 included in the third group 530a, the signal lines included in the third additional group 530b, and the data signal lines 60 included in the data signal line group 560 may receive signals from the driver 500 through the pad (pad). while the inventive concept has been shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it is to be understood to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications in form and detail may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the inventive concept as defined by the following claims.
|
138-425-291-257-744
|
US
|
[
"US",
"WO",
"EP",
"JP",
"CA",
"AU"
] |
A61K31/41,A61K31/435,A61K31/495,C07D401/12,A61K31/55,A61P25/28,C07D209/52,C07D241/18,C07D271/08,C07D403/12,C07D413/12,C07D451/02,C07D451/06,C07D453/02,C07D471/08,C07D487/08
| 1994-10-24T00:00:00 |
1994
|
[
"A61",
"C07"
] |
heterocyclic compounds and their use
|
the present invention relates to therapeutically active azacyclic or azabicyclic compounds, a method of preparing the same and to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds. the novel compounds are useful in treating diseases in the central nervous system caused by malfunctioning of the muscarinic cholinergic system.
|
1. a compound of the formula: ##str20## wherein w is oxygen or sulphur; r is selected from the group consisting of --or.sup.4, --sr.sup.4, --sor.sup.4, --so.sub.2 r.sup.4, --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl), --o--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 and --s--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 ; r.sup.4 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, or c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, each of which is optionally substituted with one or more substituents independently selected from the group consisting of halogen(s), --cf.sub.3, --cn, phenyl and phenoxy wherein phenyl or phenoxy is optionally substituted with one or more selected from the group consisting of halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2 ; z is oxygen or sulphur; r.sup.5 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl; g is the azacyclic ring system selected from the group consisting of: ##str21## r.sup.1 and r.sup.2 independently are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c-.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl, c.sub.1-10 -alkoxy, and c.sub.1-5 -alkyl substituted with a substituent independently selected from the group consisting of --oh, --cor.sup.6 ', ch.sub.2 --oh, halogen, --nh.sub.2, carboxy, and phenyl; r.sup.6 ' is hydrogen or c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; r3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1-5 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl; r is 0, 1 or 2; {character pullout} is a single or double bond; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. 2. a compound of claim 1 wherein w is oxygen. 3. a compound of claim 1 wherein w is sulphur. 4. a compound of claim 2 wherein r is --or.sup.4. 5. a compound of claim 4 wherein r.sup.4 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl. 6. a compound of claim 2 wherein r is --sr.sup.4. 7. a compound of claim 6 wherein r.sub.4 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl. 8. a compound of claim 3 wherein r is --or.sup.4. 9. a compound of claim 8 wherein r.sup.4 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl. 10. a compound of claim 3 wherein r is --sr.sup.4. 11. a compound of claim 10 wherein r.sup.4 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl. 12. a compound of claim 2 wherein g is selected from the group consisting of ##str22## 13. a compound of claim 3 wherein g is selected from the group consisting of ##str23## 14. a compound according to claim 1 wherein r is selected form the group consisting of --sor.sup.4 and --so.sub.2 r.sup.4. 15. a compound according to claim 1 wherein r is selected from the group consisting of --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl). 16. a compound according to claim 1 wherein r is selected from the group consisting of --o--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 and --s--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4. 17. a pharmaceutical formulation comprising a compound of claim 1 together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or dilutent. 18. a method of treating alzheimer's disease comprising administering to a subject in need thereof and effective amount of compound of claim 1. 19. a method of treating decreased cognitive function, comprising administering to a subject in need thereof and effective amount of compound of claim 1. 20. a method of treating schizophrenia comprising administering to a subject in need thereof and effective amount of compound of claim 1. 21. a method of treating schizophreniform disorder comprising administering to a subject in need thereof and effective amount of compound of claim 1.
|
field of the invention the present invention relates to therapeutically active azacyclic or azabicyclic compounds, a method of preparing the same and to compositions for pharmaceutical or veterinary use comprising the compounds and a carrier therefore. the novel compounds are useful as stimulants of the cognitive function of the forebrain and hippocampus of mammals and especially in the treatment of alzheimer's disease. background of the invention due to the generally improved health situation in the western world, elderly-related diseases are much more common now than in the past and are likely to be even more common in the future. one of the elderly-related symptoms is a reduction of the cognitive functions. this symptom is especially pronounced in the pathophysiological disease known as alzheimer's disease. this disease is combined with, and also most likely caused by, an up to 90% degeneration of the cholinergic neurons in nucleus basalis, which is part of substantia innominata. these neurons project to the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus and have a general stimulatory effect on the cognitive functions of the forebrain as well as of hippocampus, namely learning, association, consolidation, and recognition. it is a characteristic of alzheimer's disease that although the cholinergic neurons degenerate, the postsynaptic receptors in the forebrain and hippocampus still exist. therefore, cholinergic agonists are useful in the treatment of alzheimer's disease, in halting its progression, and in improving the cognitive functions of elderly people. the compounds of this invention are also useful analgesic agents and therfore useful in the treatment of severe painful conditions. furthermore, the compounds of this invention are useful in the treatment of glaucoma, psychosis, mania, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or schizophreniform conditions, depression, sleeping disorders, epilepsy, and gastrointestinal motility disorders. summary of the invention it is an object of the invention to provide new muscarinic cholinergic compounds and nicotinic cholinergic compounds. the novel compounds of the invention are heterocyclic compounds having the formula i or i' ##str1## wherein w is oxygen or sulphur; r is hydrogen, amino, halogen, nhr.sup.6, nr.sup.6 r.sup.7, r.sup.4, --or.sup.4, --sr.sup.4, --sor.sup.4, --so.sub.2 r.sup.4, c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl), --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl) wherein r.sup.4 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, each of which is optionally substituted with one or more halogen(s), --cf.sub.3, --cn, y, phenyl or phenoxy wherein phenyl or phenoxy is optionally substituted with halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 or --csnh.sub.2 ; or r is phenyl or benzyloxycarbonyl, each of which is optionally substituted with halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 or --csnh.sub.2 ; or r is --or.sup.5 y, --sr.sup.5 y, or.sup.5 --z--y, --sr.sup.5 zy, --o--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 or --s--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 wherein z is oxygen or sulphur, r.sup.5 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, and y is a 5 or 6 membered heterocyclic group; and g is selected from one of the following azacyclic or azabicyclic ring systems: ##str2## or g can optionally be substituted c.sub.3 --c.sub.8 cycloalkyl or optionally substituted c.sub.1-6 -alkyl wherein the substitution is -nr.sup.6 r.sup.7 ; r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 independently are hydrogen, c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; or r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 together with the nitrogen atom optionally form a 4- to 6-member ring; r.sup.1 and r.sup.2 independently are hydrogen, c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl, c.sub.1-10 -alkoxy, c.sub.1-5 -alkyl substituted with --oh, --cor.sup.6 ', ch.sub.2 --oh, halogen, --nh.sub.2, carboxy, or phenyl; r.sup.3 is hydrogen, c.sub.1-5 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl or c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl; r.sup.6 ' is hydrogen, c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; n is 0, 1 or 2; m is 0, 1 or 2; p is 0, 1 or 2; q is 1 or 2; r is 0, 1 or 2; {character pullout} is a single or double bond; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof. it is to be understood that the invention extends to each of the stereoisomeric forms of the compounds of the present invention as well as the pure diastereomeric, pure enatiomeric, and racemic forms of the compounds of formula i and i'. detailed description as used herein the term "treating" includes prophylaxis of a physical and/or mental condition or amelioration or elimination of the developed physical and/or mental condition once it has been established or alleviation of the characteristic symptoms of such condition. as used herein with reference to the g substituent, the --(ch.sub.2).sub.r --w-oxadiazole or --(ch.sub.2).sub.r --w-pyrazine moiety can be attached at any carbon atom of the azacyclic or azabicyclic ring. further, r.sup.1 and r.sup.2 of the g substituent may be present at any position, including the point of attachment of the --(ch.sub.2).sub.r --w-oxadiazole or --(ch.sub.2).sub.r --w-pyrazine moiety. examples of pharmaceutically acceptable salts include inorganic and organic acid addition salts such as hydrochloride, hydrobromide, sulphate, phosphate, acetate, fumarate, maleate, citrate, lactate, tartrate, oxalate, or similar pharmaceutically-acceptable inorganic or organic acid addition salts, and include the pharmaceutically acceptable salts listed in journal of pharmaceutical science, 66, 2 (1977) which are known to the skilled artisan. the compounds of this invention may form solvates with standard low molecular weight solvents using methods known to the skilled artisan. as used herein with reference to the g substituent, the numbering shall be as follows: ##str3## as used herein the term a shall refer to a position on the g substituent which is one position away from the n atom of the g substituent. for example, in the following illustration (1e), both positions 2 and 6 are considered .alpha.. the term .gamma. shall refer to the position on the g substituent which is opposite the n atom. for example, in the illustration (1e), position 4 is considered .gamma.. likewise, .beta. shall refer to the 3 and 5 position in the illustration. ##str4## as used herein with reference to the g substituent, the phrase "r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 together with the nitrogen atom optionally form a 4- to 6-member ring" means that r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 are each independently hydrogen, c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl; the r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 groups may optionally join to form a 4- to 6-member ring including the nitrogen. for example, optionally joined groups include, but not limited to: ##str5## as used herein the phrase "interacting with a muscarinic cholinergic receptor" shall include compounds which block muscarinic cholinergic receptors or modulate such receptors. likewise, the term "interacting with a nicotinic cholinergic receptor" shall include compounds which block or modulate the receptor. the phrase shall include the effect observed when compounds act as agonists, partial agonists and/or antagonists at a cholinergic receptor. as used herein, the term "alkoxide metal" means a metal suitable for alkoxide formation. such alkoxide metals include, but are not limited to, li.sup.+, k.sup.+, na.sup.+, cs.sup.+, and ca.sup.++. especially preferred alkoxide metals include li.sup.+, k.sup.+, and na.sup.+. as used herein, the term "halogen" means cl, br, f, and i. especially preferred halogens include cl, br, and i. the terms "c.sub.1 -c.sub.n' alkyl" wherein n' can be from 2 through 15, as used herein, represent a branched or linear alkyl group having from one to the specified number of carbon atoms. typical c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl groups include methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, butyl, iso-butyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, pentyl, hexyl and the like. the terms "c.sub.2 -c.sub.n' alkenyl" wherein n' can be from 3 through 10, as used herein, represents an olefinically unsaturated branched or linear group having from 2 to the specified number of carbon atoms and at least one double bond. examples of such groups include, but are not limited to, 1-propenyl, 2-propenyl (--ch.sub.2 --ch.dbd.ch.sub.2), 1,3-butadienyl, (--ch.dbd.chch.dbd.ch.sub.2), 1-butenyl (--ch.dbd.chch.sub.2 ch.sub.3), hexenyl, pentenyl, and the like. the term "c.sub.2 -c.sub.5 alkynyl" refers to an unsaturated branched or linear group having from 2 to 5 carbon atoms and at least one triple bond. examples of such groups include, but are not limited to, 1-propynyl, 2-propynyl, 1-butynyl, 2-butynyl, 1-pentynyl, and the like. the terms "halogen(c.sub.1 -c.sub.6)alkyl" and "halogen (c.sub.2 -c.sub.6)alkenyl" refer to alkyl or alkenyl substituents having one or more independently selected halogen atoms attached at one or more available carbon atoms. these terms include, but are not limited to, chloromethyl, 1-bromoethyl, 2-bromoethyl, 1,1,1-trifluoroethyl, 1,1,2-trifluoroethyl, 1,2,2-trifluoroethyl, 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl, trifluoromethyl, trifluoroethylenyl, 3-bromopropyl, 3-bromo-1-propenyl, 2-bromopropyl, 2-bromo-1-propenyl, 3-chlorobutyl, 3-chloro-2-butenyl, 2,3-dichlorobutyl, 1-chloroethylenyl, 2-chloroethylenyl, 5-fluoro-3-pentenyl, 3-chloro-2-bromo-5-hexenyl, 3-chloro-2-bromobutyl, trichloromethyl, 1,1-dichloroethyl, 1,2-dichloroethyl, 2,2-dichloroethyl, 1,4-dichlorobutyl, 3-bromopentyl, 1,3-dichlorobutyl, 1,1-dichloropropyl, and the like. the term "c.sub.2 -c.sub.10 alkanoyl" represents a group of the formula c(o) (c.sub.1 -c.sub.9) alkyl. typical c.sub.2 -c.sub.10 alkanoyl groups include acetyl, propanoyl, butanoyl, and the like. the term "(c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl) amino" refers to a monoalkylamino group. examples of such groups are methylamino, ethylamino, iso-propylamino, n-propylamino, (n-propyl)amino, (iso-propyl)amino, n-propylamino, t-butylamino, and the like. the term "c.sub.3 -c.sub.n cycloalkyl" wherein n=4-8, represents cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, cycloheptyl, and cyclooctyl. the term "substituted(c.sub.5 -c.sub.n') cycloalkyl" refers to a cycloalkyl group as described supra wherein the cycloalkyl group may be substituted with from one to four substituents independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl, no.sub.2, halogen, halogen(c.sub.1 -c.sub.6)alkyl, halogen(c.sub.2 -c.sub.6)alkenyl, c.sub.2 -c.sub.6 alkenyl, co.sub.2 r.sup.20, (c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl) amino, --sr.sup.20, and or.sup.20 ; wherein r.sup.20 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl. the term "c.sub.3 -c.sub.8 cycloalkyl-(c.sub.1 -c.sub.3)alkyl" represents an alkyl group substituted at a terminal carbon with a c.sub.3 -c.sub.8 cycloalkyl group. typical cycloalkylalkyl groups include cyclohexylethyl, cyclohexylmethyl, 3-cyclopentylpropyl, and the like. the term "c.sub.5 -c.sub.8 cycloalkenyl" represents an olefinically unsaturated ring having five to eight carbon atoms. such groups include, but are not limited to, cyclohexyl-1,3-dienyl, cyclohexenyl, cyclopentenyl, cycloheptenyl, cyclooctenyl, cyclohexyl-1,4-dienyl, cycloheptyl-1,4-dienyl, cyclooctyl-1,3,5-trienyl and the like. the term "substituted (c.sub.5 -c.sub.8) cycloalkenyl" refers to a cycloalkenyl group as described supra. wherein the cycloalkenyl group may be substituted with from one to four substituents independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl, no.sub.2, halogen, halogen(c.sub.1 -c.sub.6)alkyl, halogen(c.sub.2 -c.sub.6)alkenyl, c.sub.2 -c.sub.6 alkenyl, cor.sup.20, c.sub.2 -c.sub.10 alkanoyl, c.sub.7 -c.sub.16 arylalkyl, co.sub.2 r.sup.20, (c.sub.1 -c.sub.6 alkyl) amino, --sr.sup.20, and --or.sup.20. wherein r.sup.20 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl. the term "c.sub.5 -c.sub.8 cycloalkenyl-(c.sub.1 -c.sub.3)alkyl" represents a c.sub.1 -c.sub.3 alkyl group substituted at a terminal carbon with a c.sub.5 -c.sub.8 cycloalkenyl group. as used herein, the phrase "5 or 6 membered heterocyclic group" means a group containing from one to four n, o or s atom(s) or a combination thereof, which heterocyclic group is optionally substituted at carbon or nitrogen atom(s) with c.sub.1-6 -alkyl, --cf.sub.3, phenyl, benzyl or thienyl, or a carbon atom in the heterocyclic group together with an oxygen atom form a carbonyl group, or which heterocyclic group is optionally fused with a phenyl group. the phrase "5 or 6 membered heterocyclic group" includes, but is not limited to, 5-membered heterocycles having one hetero atom (e.g. thiophenes, pyrroles, furans); 5-membered heterocycles having two heteroatoms in 1,2 or 1,3 positions (e.g. oxazoles, pyrazoles, imidazoles, thiazoles, purines); 5-membered heterocycles having three heteroatoms (e.g. triazoles, thiadiazoles); 5-membered heterocycles having 3-heteroatoms; 6-membered heterocycles with one heteroatom (e.g. pyridine, quinoline, isoquinoline, phenanthrine, 5,6-cycloheptenopyridine); 6-membered heterocycles with two heteroatoms (e.g. pyridazines, cinnolines, phthalazines, pyrazines, pyrimidines, quinazolines)i 6-membered heterocycles with three heteroatoms (e.g. 1,3,5-triazine); and 6-member heterocycles with four heteroatoms. particularly preferred are thiophenes, pyridines, and furans. the term "heteroaryl" refers to a group which is a 5 or 6 membered heterocycle containing one to four n, o, or s atoms or a combination thereof. as used herein the term "carboxy" refers to a substituent having the common meaning understood by the skilled artisan, wherein the point of attachment may be through the carbon or oxygen atom of the group. as used herein the term "aryl" means an organic radical derived from an aromatic hydrocarbon by the removal of one atom; e.g., phenyl or naphthyl. most preferably, aryl refers to c.sub.6 -c.sub.10 aryl, wherein the aryl ring system, including any alkyl substitutions, comprises from 6 to 10 carbon atoms; e.g., phenyl, 3,3-dimethylphenyl, naphthyl, and the like. the aryl radical may be substituted by one or two cc.sub.1 -c.sub.6 straight or branched alkyl. the term "aryl(c.sub.1 -c.sub.3)alkyl" refers to any aryl group which is attached to the parent moiety via the alkyl group. as used herein the term "malfunctioning of the muscarinic cholinergic system" shall have the meaning accepted by the skilled artisan. likewise, the term "malfunctioning of the nicotinic cholinergic system" shall have the art recognized meaning. for example the term shall refer to, but is not in any way limited to, conditions such as glaucoma, psychosis, schizophrenia or schizophreniform conditions, depression, sleeping disorders, epilepsy, and gastrointestinal motility disorders. other such conditions include alzheimer's disease and incontinence. compounds of this invention can be prepared by a) reacting a compound of formula ii ##str6## wherein g, w and r have the meaning defined above with h.sup.+ qr wherein h.sup.+ is an alkoxide metal; q is o or s and r has the meaning defined above, or b) reacting a compound of formula iii or iv ##str7## wherein p is r.sup.9 so.sub.2 or halogen; r.sup.9 is c.sub.1-8 straight or branched chain alkyl or aryl; and r has the meaning defined above; with g--(ch.sub.2).sub.r --w.sup.- -h.sup.+ wherein h.sup.+, g, w and r have the meanings defined above. the compounds of this invention can be prepared as described supra. and by using the chemical processes illustrated in scheme i. the starting materials for the illustrated process are commercially available or may be prepared using methods known to the skilled artisan. ##str8## as used in scheme i, r, h.sup.+, and g are as defined supra. as used in scheme i, the term "hal" refers to cl, br, i, and r.sup.9 so.sub.2. compounds of this invention may be prepared by the process illustrated in scheme ii ##str9## the artisan will recognize that the starting materials for the process of scheme ii are commercially available or can be prepared using methods familiar to the skilled artisan. compounds of formula i wherein r is an r.sup.4 group, can be prepared using methods well known in the art. see for example, u.s. pat. no. 5,043,345. further, compounds of formula i may be prepared using the process illustrated in the following scheme iii ##str10## as used in scheme iii, q may be n, o or s; r.sup.24 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, r.sup.4, r.sup.5, r.sup.6, and r.sup.7 ; r.sup.25 is selected from the group consisting of sor.sup.4 and so.sub.2 r.sup.4 ; all other meanings are as defined supra. additional compounds of formula i may be prepared using the process illustrated by scheme iv. ##str11## as used in scheme iv, hal, w, r, and g are as defined supra. as used in scheme iv, r.sup.22 and r.sup.23 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, r.sup.6 and r.sup.7. when the g substituent contains a secondary nitrogen protected by a protecting group, the protecting group may be removed using standard methods known to the skilled artisan. an especially preferred protecting group is carbamate. one particularly useful reference concerning protecting groups is greene, protecting groups in organic synthesis, (john wiley & sons, new york, 1981). certain compounds of this invention may more preferredly be prepared using the process of scheme v. ##str12## potassium t-butoxide or another appropriate alkali metal base was added at about 0.degree. c. to an alkylthiol in thf and stirred. the haloopyrazine was added and the reaction stirred at about room temperature. a sample of about 1 n acid was added and the aqueous solution washed. the ph was adjusted to about 12.0. the product was extracted, dried and evaporated. the salt was optionally formed using standard methods. certain of the compounds of this invention can more preferredly be prepared using the process illustrated by scheme vi ##str13## the alcohol was added to a mixture of potassium t-butoxide in thf at about room temperature. the reaction was cooled to about 5.degree. c. the 2,3-dichloropyrazine in thf was added to the mixture. the reaction mixture was stirred at about room temperature for about 2 hrs, condensed, diluted with water and ethyl acetate. the organic solution was dried and condensed. the chloropyrazine derivative and sodium sulfide (na.sub.2 s.multidot.9h.sub.2 o), were heated in dmf at about 50.degree. c. for about 3.5 hr, cooled to about 0.degree. c. then 2-bromoethylmethylether was added. the reaction was stirred at about room temperature overnight and diluted with ethyl acetate and about 5 n acid. the aqueous layer was washed and the ph adjusted to about 12.0. the product was extracted, dried, condensed and purified by hplc. the salt form of the product. was optionally formed using standard methods. the pharmacological properties of the compounds of the invention can be illustrated by determining their capability to inhibit the specific binding of .sup.3 h-oxotremorine-m (.sup.3 h--oxo). birdsdall n. j. m., hulme e. c., and burgen a.s.v. (1980). "the character of muscarinic receptors in different regions of the rat brain". proc. roy. soc. london (series b) 207,1. .sup.3 h--oxo labels muscarinic receptor in the cns (with a preference for agonist domains of the receptors). three different sites are labeled by .sup.3 h--oxo. these sites have affinity of 1.8, 20 and 3000 nm, respectively. using the present experimental conditions only the high and medium affinity sites are determined. the inhibitory effects of compounds on .sup.3 h-oxo binding reflects the affinity for muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. all preparations are performed at 0-4.degree. c. unless otherwise indicated. fresh cortex (0.1-1 g) from male wistar rats (150-250 g) is homogenized for 5-10 s in 10 ml 20 nm hepes ph: 7.4, with an ultra-turrax homogenizer. the homogenizer is rinsed with 10 ml of buffer and the combined suspension centrifuged for 15 min. at 40,000.times.g. the pellet is washed three times with buffer. in each step the pellet is homogenized as before in 2.times.10 ml of buffer and centrifuged for 10 min. at 40,000.times.g. the final pellet is homogenized in 20 mm hepes ph: 7.4 (100 ml per g of original tissue) and used for binding assay. aliquots of 0.5 ml is added 25 .mu.l of test solution and 25 .mu.l of .sup.3 h-oxotremorine (1.0 nm, final concentration) mixed and incubated for 30 min. at 25.degree. c. non-specific binding is determined in triplicate using arecoline (1 .mu.g/ml, final concentration) as the test substance. after incubation samples are added 5 ml of ice-cold buffer and poured directly onto whatman gf/c glass fiber filters under suction and immediately washed 2 times with 5 ml of ice-cold buffer. the amount of radioactivity on the filters are determined by conventional liquid scintillation counting. specific binding is total binding minus non specific binding. test substances are dissolved in 10 ml water (if necessary heated on a steam-bath for less than 5 min.) at a concentration of 2.2 mg/ml. 25-75% inhibition of specific binding must be obtained before calculation of ic.sub.50. the test value will be given as ic.sub.50 (the concentration (nm) of the test substance which inhibits the specific binding of .sup.3 h--oxo by 50% ). ic.sub.50 =(applied test substance concentration) x(c.sub.x /c.sub.o --c.sub.x)nm where c.sub.o is specific binding in control assays and c.sub.x is the specific binding in the test assay. (the calculations assume normal mass-action kinetics). furthermore the pharmacological properties of the compounds of the invention can also be illustrated by determining their capability to inhibit .sup.3 hprz (pirenzepine, [n-methyl-.sup.3 h]) binding to rat cerebral cortex membranes. pirenzepine binds selectively to subtype of muscarinic receptors. historically the type is named the m.sub.1 -site, whereas pirenzepine sensitive site would be more appropriate. although selective for m.sub.1 -sites pirenzepine also interact with m.sub.2 -sites. all preparations are performed at 0-4.degree. c. unless otherwise indicated. fresh cortex (0.1-1.9) from male wistar rats (150-200 g) is homogenized for 5-10 s in 10 ml 20 mm hepes ph: 7.4, with an ultra-turrax homogenizer. the homogenizer is rinsed with 2.times.10 ml of buffer and the combined suspension centrifuged for 15 min. at 40,000.times.g. the pellet is washed three times with buffer. in each step the pellet is homogenized as before in 3.times.10 ml of buffer and centrifuged for 10 min. at 40,000.times.g. the final pellet is homogenized in 20 mm hepes ph: 7.4 (100 ml per g of original tissue) and used for binding assay. aliquots of 0.5 ml is added 20 .mu.l of test solution and 25 .mu.l of .sup.3 hprz (1.0 nm, final conc.), mixed and incubated for 60 min. at 20.degree. c. non-specific binding is determined in triplicate using atropine (1.0 .mu.g/ml, final conc.) as the test substance. after incubation samples are added 5 ml of ice-cold buffer and poured directly onto whatman gf/c glass fiber filters under suction and immediately washed 2 times with 5 ml of ice-cold buffer. the amount of radioactivity on the filters are determined by conventional liquid scintillation counting. specific binding is total binding minus non-specific binding. test substances are dissolved in 10 ml water, at a concentration of 0.22 mg/ml. 25-75% inhibition of specific binding must be obtained before calculation of ic.sub.50. the test value will be given as ic.sub.50 (the concentration (nm) of the test substance which inhibits the specific binding of .sup.3 hprz by 50% ). ic.sub.50 =(applied test substance concentration) x(c.sub.x /c.sub.o --c.sub.x)nm where c.sub.o is specific binding in control assays and c.sub.x is the specific binding in the test assay. (the calculations assume normal mass-action kinetics). test results obtained by testing some compounds of the present invention will appear from the following table 1. table 1 .sup.3 h--oxo--m .sup.3 hprz compound ic.sub.50, nm ic.sub.50, nm 1 81 56 2 374 253 3 19.3 14.5 6 2.5 0.9 4 25 21 5 40 32 7 16 6.7 8 1040 >1000 9 36 30 oxo--m pir compound no. ic-50, nm ic-50, nm 10 354 223 11 56 53 12 25 13 13 74 42 14 26 21 15 14 13 16 39 23 17 17 4.5 18 21 5.4 19 121 108 20 245 246 21 26 123 22 140 52 23 4.9 2.7 24 2.2 0.54 25 180 680 26 >1000 >1000 27 >1000 >1000 28 >10,000 5710 29 1.7 0.68 30 4.4 0.82 41 3.2 1.6 42 9.1 4.8 43 8.1 2.2 31 3.4 1.7 32 3.9 4.0 33 1.5 0.7 34 2.0 0.66 35 3.2 0.54 36 0.34 5.8 37 1.3 0.76 38 6.2 3.3 39 10 80 40 60 17 nicotinic channel receptor binding protocol: the activity of the compounds claimed herein at the nicotinic receptor can be accomplished by the following assay. binding of [.sup.3 h]-cystine to nicotinic receptors was accomplished using crude synaptic membrane preparations from whole rat brain (pabreza et al. molecular pharmacol., 1990, 39:9). washed membranes were stored at about -80.degree. c. prior to use. frozen aliquots were slowly thawed and resuspended in 20 volumes of buffer (containing: 120 nm nacl, 5 mm kcl, 2 mm mgcl.sub.2,2 mm tris-cl, ph [email protected]. c.). after centrifuging at 20,000.times.g for 15 minutes, the pellets were resuspended in about 30 volumes of buffer. homogenate (containing about 125-150 ug protein) was added to tubes containing concentrations of test compound and [.sup.3 h-cystine] (1.25 nm) in a final volume of 500 ul. samples were incubated for about 60 minutes at about 4.degree. c., then rapidly filtered through gf/b filters presoaked in 0.5% polyethylimine using 3.times.4 ml of ice cold buffer. the filters were counted. nicotinic binding data cystine compound no. k.sub.i, nm 26 130 19 2780 17 21400 21 130 18 580 22 210 27 110 6 5490 some examples of compounds contemplated by this invention include, but are not limited to: (+/-)-3-butylthio-4-(azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, (+/-)-3-(2-butyloxy)-4-[(+/-)-3-azabicyclo[2.2. 2]octyloxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, (+/-)-3-butyloxy-4-[endo-(+/-)-6-[1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 2 -[exo-(+/-)-3-[1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)]pyrazine, 3-(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptaflurorobutyloxy)-4-[(+/-)-3-(1-azabicyclo[2.2. 2]octyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-methoxy-4-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-pentylthio-4-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]ocytl-3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, trans-3-butyloxy-4-(2-dimethylaminocyclopentyloxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-butylthio-4-(3-azetidinyloxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-(3-n-(2-thiazolidonyl)propylthio)-4-(1-azabicyclo[2.2. 2]octyl-3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-chloro-4-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-(2-2-thio-5-trifluoromethylthienyl)ethylthio)-4-azabicyclo[2.2. 2]octyl-3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-butylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]ocytl-3-oxy)]pyrazine, 3-butyloxy-2-[3-.+-.-endo-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptyloxy)]pyrazine, 3-butylthio-4-[3-.+-.-endo-(1-azabicyclo[2.2. 1]heptyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-(2-butynyloxy)-2-[6-.+-.-endo-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)pyrazine, 3-hexylthio-2-[6-.+-.-exo-(2-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptyloxy)]pyrazine, 3-hexyloxy-4-[6-.+-.-endo-(2-azabicyclo[2.2.2]ocyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-(3-phenylpropynylthio)-2-[2-.+-.-exo-(7-azabicyclo[2.2. 1]heptyloxy)]pyrazine, 3-(4,4,4-trifluorobutylthio)-4-[2-.+-.-exo-(7-azabicyclo[2.2. 1]heptyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-(2-phenoxyethylthio)-4-[3-.+-.-endo-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-(2-methylthioethoxy)-2-[3-.+-.-exo-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyloxy)]pyrazine, 3-propargyl-2-[4-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptyloxy)]pyrazine, 3-(5-hexenyloxy)-4-[7-.+-.-endo-(2-azabicyclo[2.2. 1]heptyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-butyl-4-[5-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole, 3-cyclopropylmethylthio-2-[2-.+-.-exo-(8-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyloxy)]pyrazine, and 3-cyclobutylmethyl-4-[2-.+-.-endo-(8-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyloxy)]-1,2,5-oxadiazole. the compounds of the invention are effective over a wide dosage range. for example, in the treatment of adult humans, dosages from about 0.05 to about 100 mg, preferably from about 0.1 to about 100 mg, per day may be used. a most preferable dosage is about 0.1 mg to about 70 mg per day, in choosing a regimen for patients suffering from diseases in the central nervous system caused by malfunctioning of the muscarinic cholinergic system it may frequently be necessary to begin with a dosage of from about 20 to about 70 mg per day and when the condition is under control to reduce the dosage as low as from about 0.1 to about 10 mg per day. the exact dosage will depend upon the mode of administration, form in which administered, the subject to be treated, the body weight of the subject to be treated, and the preference and experience of the physician or prescribing caregiver in charge. the route of administration may be any route, which effectively transports the active compound to the appropriate or desired site of action, such as oral or parenteral e.g. rectal, transdermal, depot, subcutaneous, intravenous, intramuscular or intranasal, the oral route being preferred. typical compositions include a compound of formula i or a pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salt thereof, associated with a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient which may be a carrier, or a diluent or be diluted by a carrier, or enclosed within a carrier which can be in the form of a capsule, sachet, paper, or other container. in making the compositions, conventional techniques for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions may be used. for example, the active compound will usually be mixed with a carrier, or diluted by a carrier, or enclosed within a carrier which may be in the form of a ampoule, capsule, sachet, paper, or other container. when the carrier serves as a diluent, it may be solid, semi-solid, or liquid material which acts as a vehicle, excipient, or medium for the active compound. the active compound can be adsorbed on a granular solid container for example in a sachet. some examples of suitable carriers are water, salt solutions, alcohols, polyethylene glycols, polyhydroxyethoxylated castor oil, gelatine, lactose, amylose, magnesium stearate, talc, silicic acid, fatty acid monoglycerides and diglycerides, pentaerythritol fatty acid esters, hydroxymethylcellulose and polyvinylpyrrolidone. the formulations may also include wetting agents, emulsifying and suspending agents, preserving agents, sweetening agents, or flavoring agents. the formulations of the invention may be formulated so as to provide quick, sustained, or delayed release of the active ingredient after administration to the patient by employing procedures well known in the art. the pharmaceutical preparations can be sterilized and mixed, if desired, with auxiliary agents, emulsifiers, salt for influencing osmotic pressure, buffers and/or coloring substances and the like, which do not deleteriously react with the active compounds. for parenteral application, particularly suitable are injectable solutions or suspensions, preferably aqueous solutions with the active compound dissolved in polyhydroxylated castor oil. tablets, dragees, or capsules having talc and/or a carbohydrate carrier or binder or the like are particularly suitable for oral application. preferable carriers for tablets, dragees, or capsules include lactose, corn starch, and/or potato starch. a syrup or elixir can be used in cases where a sweetened vehicle can be employed. generally, the compounds are dispensed in unit form comprising from about 0.1 to about 100 mg in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier per unit dosage. in order to more fully illustrate the operation of this invention, the following formulation examples are provided. the examples are illustrative only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. formulation 1 a typical tablet, appropriate for use in this method, may be prepared using conventional techniques and may contain: amount per concentration tablet by weight (%) (.+-.)-endo-3-butylthio- 5.0 mg 4.7 2-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]- octyl-6-oxy)-1,2,5- oxadiazole lactosum 67.8 mg ph. eur. 64.2 avicel .rtm. 31.4 mg 29.8 amberlite .rtm. 1.0 mg 1.0 magnesium stearate 0.25 mg ph. eur. 0.3 105.45 mg 100 formulation 2 hard gelatin capsules are prepared using the following ingredients: amount per concentration tablet by weight (%) (.+-.)-exo-3-butyloxy-2- 0.1 mg 0.05 (n-methyl-8-azabicyclo- [3.2.1]octyl-3-oxy)- pyrazine starch dried 200 mg 95.2 magnesium stearate 10 mg 4.8 210.1 mg 100 the above ingredients are mixed and filled into hard gelatin capsules in 210.1 mg quantities. formulation 3 suspensions each containing 1 mg of medicament per 5 ml dose are as follows: amount per 5 ml of suspension (.+-.)-3-(3-phenylethylthio)- 1 mg 4-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl- 3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole sodium carboxymethyl cellulose 50 mg syrup 1.25 ml benzoic acid solution 0.10 ml flavor q.v. color q.v. water q.s. to 5 ml the medicament is passed through a no. 45 mesh u.s. sieve and mixed with the sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and syrup to form a smooth paste. the benzoic acid solution, flavor and color is diluted with some of the water and added to the paste with stirring. sufficient water is then added to produce the required volume. the compounds of this invention may be suitable for administration to an animal. such animals include both domestic animals, for example livestock, laboratory animals, and household pets, and non-domestic animals such as wildlife. more preferredly, the animal is a vertebrate. most preferredly, a compound of this invention shall be administered to a mammal. it is especially preferred that the animal is a domestic mammal or a human. the most preferred mammal is a human. for such purposes, a compound of this invention may be adminstered as a feed additive or in bulk form. the intermediates and processes of the present invention are useful for preparing compounds having beneficial muscarinic receptor activity. the compounds of the present invention have such useful muscarinic receptor activity. certain compounds and conditions within the scope of this invention are preferred. the following conditions, invention embodiments, and compound characteristics listed in tabular form may be independently combined to produce a variety of preferred compounds and process conditions. the following list of embodiments of this invention is not intended to limit the scope of this invention in any way. some prefered characteristics of compounds of formula i are: a) w is s; b) r is 1 or 2; c) g is selected from het-1 and het-5; d) g is unsaturated; e) g is het-4; f) g is an azabicycle having 7 ring carbon atoms and a nitrogen atom; g) g is het-6; h) r is 0; i) r is selected from halogen, --or.sup.5 y, --sr.sup.5 y, --or.sup.5 zy, --sr.sup.5 zy, --or.sup.5 zr.sup.4, --sr.sup.5 zr.sup.4, --or.sup.4, and --sr.sup.4 ; j) w is 0; k) m is 1; l) n is 1; m) p is 2; n) g is het-3 o) g is het-2 p) a compound of formula i q) a compound of formula i, r) a compound of formula i wherein w is oxygen or sulphur; r is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, amino, halogen, nhr.sup.6, nr.sup.6 r.sup.7, r.sup.4, --or.sup.4, --sr.sup.4, --sor.sup.4, --so.sub.2 r.sup.4, c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl), --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkylo and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl); r.sup.4 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, each of which is optionally substituted with one or more independently selected from the group consisting of halogen(s), --cf.sub.3, --cn, y, phenyl and phenoxy wherein phenyl or phenoxy is optionally substituted with one or more selected from the group consisting of halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2 ; or r is phenyl or benzyloxycarbonyl, each of which is optionally substituted with one or more substituents independently selected from the group consisting of halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2 ; or r is selected from the group consisting of --or.sup.5 y, --sr.sup.5 y, or.sup.5 --z--y, --sr.sup.5 zy, --o--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 and --s--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 ; z is oxygen or sulphur; r5 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl; y is a 5 or 6 membered heterocyclic group; and g is selected from one of the following azacyclic or azabicyclic ring systems: ##str14## or g can optionally be substituted c.sub.3 -c.sub.8 cycloalkyl wherein the substitution is --nr.sup.6 r.sup.7 ; r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 independently are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; or r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 together with the nitrogen atom optionally form a 4- to 6-member ring; r.sup.1 and r.sup.2 independently are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl, c.sub.1-10 -alkoxy, and c.sub.1-5 -alkyl substituted with a subsituent independently selected from the group consisting of --oh, --cor.sup.6 ', ch.sub.2 --oh, halogen, --nh.sub.2, carboxy, and phenyl; r.sup.3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1-5 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl and c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl; r.sup.6 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; n is 0, 1 or 2; m is 0, 1 or 2; p is 0, 1 or 2; q is 1 or 2; r is 0, 1 or 2; {character pullout} is a single or double bond; provided that when w is o and g is a saturated azabicyclic group having from 7 to 11 ring carbon atoms and a nitrogen atom wherein the nitrogen atom is separated from the w atom by 2 to 3 ring carbon atoms; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof; s) a compound of formula i' wherein w is oxygen or sulphur; r is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, amino, halogen, nhr.sup.6, nr.sup.6 r.sup.7, r.sup.4, --or.sup.4, --sr.sup.4, --sor.sup.4, --so.sub.2 r.sup.4, c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl), --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl); r.sup.4 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, each of which is optionally substituted with one or more independently selected from the group consisting of halogen(s), --cf.sub.3, --cn, y, phenyl and phenoxy wherein phenyl or phenoxy is optionally substituted with one or more selected from the group consisting of halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2 ; or r is phenyl or benzyloxycarbonyl, each of which is optionally substituted with one or more substituents independently selected from the group consisting of halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2 ; or r is selected from the group consisting of --or.sup.5 y, --sr.sup.5 y, or.sup.5 --z--y, --sr.sup.5 zy, --o--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 and --s--r.sup.5 --z--r.sup.4 ; z is oxygen or sulphur; r.sup.5 is selected from the group consisting of c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl; y is a 5 or 6 membered heterocyclic group; and g is selected from one of the following azacyclic or azabicyclic ring systems: ##str15## or g can optionally be substituted c.sub.3 -c.sub.8 cycloalkyl wherein the substitution is --nr.sup.6 r.sup.7 ; r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 independently are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; or r.sup.6 and r.sup.7 together with the nitrogen atom optionally form a 4- to 6-member ring; r1 and r.sup.2 independently are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl, c.sub.1-10 -alkoxy, and c.sub.1-5 -alkyl substituted with a subsituent independently selected from the group consisting of --oh, --cor.sup.6 ', ch.sub.2 --oh, halogen, --nh.sub.2, carboxy, and phenyl; r.sup.3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, c.sub.1-5 -alkyl, c.sub.2-5 -alkenyl and c.sub.2-5 -alkynyl; r.sup.6 ' is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and c.sub.1-6 -alkyl; n is 0, 1 or 2; m is 0, 1 or 2; p is 0, 1 or 2; q is 1 or 2; r is 0, 1 or 2; {character pullout} is a single or double bond; provided that when w is o and g is a saturated azabicyclic group having from 7 to 11 ring carbon atoms and a nitrogen atom wherein the nitrogen atom is separated from the w atom by 2 to 3 ring carbon atoms; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof. t) the g substituent is selected from the group consisting of ##str16## u) the g substituent is ##str17## v) r is selected from the group consisting of --sr.sup.4 ', sor.sup.4 ', --so.sub.2 r.sup.4 ', substituted benzyloxycarbonyl wherein the substituents are one or more independently selected from the group consisting of --cn, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2 ; or c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl), --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl). w) r is selected from the group consisting of r.sup.4, c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl) --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl); and r.sup.4 is selected from the group consisting of substituted c.sub.5-15 -alkyl, optionally substituted c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and optionally substituted c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, wherein such substituent is one or more independently selected from the group consisting of halogen(s), --cf.sub.3, --cn, y, phenyl and phenoxy; wherein phenyl or phenoxy is optionally substituted with one or more substituents selected from the group consisting of halogen, --cn, c.sub.1-4 -alkyl, c.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, --ocf.sub.3, --cf.sub.3, --conh.sub.2 and --csnh.sub.2. x) g is selected from the group consisting of het-4, het-7, het-6 wherein n=2; het-3 wherein one of n and m is 0 or 2; and het-3 wherein the i or i' group is attached at the bridgehead of het-3. especially preferred compounds of this invention have the characteristics of a-f,p; a-f,q; characteristics of a, g, h, m, f; characteristics of g--o,q; or the characteristics of g-j,m,p; or g-j,m,q. the characteristics of r and s may be particularly preferred. further, especially preferred r groups include phenyl, benzyloxycarbonyl, --or.sup.5 y, --sr.sup.5 y, or.sup.5 --z--y, --sr.sup.5 zy, --o--r.sup.4 --z--r.sup.5 or --s--r.sup.4 --z--r.sup.5, --scr.sup.4, c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl, c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl), --z--c.sub.3-10 -cycloalkyl and --z--c.sub.4-12 -(cycloalkylalkyl) wherein z is oxygen or sulphur, r.sup.5 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl, y is a 5 or 6 membered heterocyclic group containing one to four n, o or s atom(s) or a combination thereof, r.sub.4 is c.sub.1-15 -alkyl, c.sub.2-15 -alkenyl, and c.sub.2-15 -alkynyl. further, especially preferred g groups include the following heterocycles: ##str18## wherein the point of attachment to the --(ch.sub.2).sub.r --w-- group is as indicated some particularly preferred g groups include ##str19## it is another preferred embodiment of this invention that g is not an azabicycle, particularly when w is oxygen. additionally, another embodiment of this invention which can be preferred is that when w is o and g is alkyl, r is not halogen. example 1 (+/-)-3-butyloxy-4-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)-1,2,5-oxadiazole a suspension of 3,4-diphenylsulfonyl-1,2,5-oxadiazole oxide (4.6 g, 0.126 mol, ref. j.chem. soc. 1964, 904.) in 1-butanol (400 ml) was heated to 55-60.degree. c. as a solution of sodium 1-butyloxide (0.3 g na, 40 ml 1-butanol) was added dropwise. after 1 h, the solvent was evaporated, residue was treated with h.sub.2 o, and the mixture extracted with ether (3.times.). the extracts were washed with h.sub.2 o, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give a white solid (3.15 g). the solid was heated to reflux overnight in p(och.sub.3).sub.3 (30 ml) then poured into ice-h.sub.2 o containing hcl (6 ml, 5n). the mixture was extracted with ether, the extracts washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give a yellow liquid. radial chromatography (15% etoac/hexane) gave a clear liquid (1.85 g). the liquid was dissolved in thf (30 ml) and added dropwise to a mixture prepared from 1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octan-3-ol(1.85 g 0.014 mol), thf (20 ml), and 1.6 m n-butyl lithium in hexane (8.4 ml, 0.013 mol). the reaction was then warmed to 52.degree. c. for 5 h. the cooled reaction was acidified with dilute hcl and diluted wit ether. the aqueous fraction was washed with ether, made basic, and extracted with ether. the extracts were dried and evaporated to give a clear liquid. the hcl salt (1.4 g) crystallized from chcl.sub.3 -etoac-ether, m.p. 186-188.degree. c. (compound 1). example 2 (+/-)-3-chloro-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of 1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octan-3-ol (5 g, 0.039 mol) in thf (400 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyllithium in hexane (25 ml, 0.04 mol). after 1 h, the solution was cooled in an ice-water bath and 2,3-dichloropyrazine (6.6 g, 0.044 mol) in thf (30 mol) was added in one portion. cooling was removed and after 30 min., the reaction was heated to reflux for 2.5 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with 1 n hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous fraction was made basic and extracted with ether. the extracts were washed with water, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give a tacky solid. recrystallization from ether gave a yellow solid (1.74 g), m.p. 112.5-114.degree. c. (compound 2). example 3 (+/-)-3-butyloxy-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of sodium butyloxide (0.25 g na, 0.0109 mol, 1-butanol, 30 ml) was added to (compound 2) (0.48 g, 0.002 mol), the reaction stirred overnight, then heated to 80.degree. c. for 4 h. the solution was acidified and the solvent evaporated. the residue was suspended in h.sub.2 o, extracted with ether, and the aqueous solution made basic. the aqueous fraction was extracted with etoac, the extracts washed with h.sub.2 o, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give a yellow oil. the hcl salt (0.32 g) crystallized from etoac as a white powder, m.p. 150-151.degree. c. (compound 3). example 4 (+/-)-3-propyloxy-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine to a solution of lithium 1-propyloxide (7 ml 1.6 m n-butyllithium, 0.011 mol, 1-propanol, 30 ml) was added (compound 2) (0.63 g, 0.0026 mol) and the reaction heated to reflux for 6 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue suspended in h.sub.2 o, and the mixture extracted with etoac. the extracts were washed with h.sub.2 o, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give an oil. the hcl salt (0.34 g) crystallized from acetone as a tan solid, m.p. 186-190.degree. c. (compound 4). example 5 (+/-)-3-hexyloxy-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine to a solution of lithium 1-hexyloxide (7.8 ml 1.6 m n-butyllithium, 0.013 mol, 1-hexanol, 20 ml) was added (compound 2) (0.6 g, 0.0025 mol) and the reaction heated to 80.degree. c. overnight. the solution was cooled, treated with 1 n hcl (15 ml) and the solvent evaporated. the residue was suspended in h.sub.2 o, the mixture washed with ether, and made basic. the aqueous fraction was extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, and the solvent evaporated to give an oil. the hcl salt (0.34 g) crystallized from etoac as a hemihydrate, m.p. 162-164.degree. c. (compound 5). example 6 (+/-)-3-butylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of 1-butanethiol (1.1 ml) in thf (100 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyl lithium in hexane (4.7 ml, 0.0075 mol). after 10 min, (compound 2) (0.6 g, 0.0025 mol) was added and the reaction heated to reflux for 3 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with ether. the ether was dried and the solvent evaporated to give a clear liquid. the hcl salt (0.59 g) crystallized from etoac as white crystals, m.p. 192-193.degree. c. (compound 6). example 7 (+/-)-3-pentylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of 1-pentanethiol (1.2 ml) in thf (50 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyl lithium in hexane (4.7 ml, 0.0075 mol). after 10 min, (compound 2) (0.6 g, 0.0025 mol) was added and the reaction heated to reflux for 2 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with etoac. the etoac was dried and the solvent evaporated to give a clear liquid. the hcl salt (0.44 g) crystallized from etoac, m.p. 169-171.degree. c. (compound 7). example 8 (+/-)-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a suspension of 60% nah in oil (1 g, 0.025 mol) in dmf (30 ml) was treated with 1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octan-3-ol (3.28 g, 0.025 mol) and the mixture heated to 50.degree. c. for 65 min. the mixture was treated dropwise with 2-chloropyrazine (3.16 g, 0.027 mol) and heating continued for 3 h. heating was discontinued and the reaction stirred overnight. the solvent was evaporated, the residue treated with water, acidified, and extracted with ether. the extracts were dried, the solvent evaporated, and the residue purified by radial chromatography (30% meoh-etoac-trace nh.sub.4 oh) to give an oil. the hcl salt (2.07 g) crystallized from meoh-etoac, m.p. 256-258.degree. c. (compound 8). example 9 (+/-)-3-(1-pentyloxy)-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)-pyrazine to a solution of lithium 1-pentoxide (1.6 m n-butyllithium, 7.6 ml, 0.012 mol, 1-pentanol, 20 ml) was added (compound 2) (0.58 g, 0.0024 mol) and the reaction heated to 90.degree. c. overnight. the solution was acidified and the solvent evaporated. the residue was suspended in h.sub.2 o, extracted with ether, and the aqueous solution made basic. the aqueous fraction was extracted with etoac, the extracts washed with h.sub.2 o, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give an oil. the oil was purified by raidal chromatography (10% etoh-1% nh4oh-chcl.sub.3) and the hcl salt (0.2 g) crystallized from etoac as a white powder, m.p. 163-165.degree. c. (compound 9). example 10 (+/-)-3-methoxy-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine to a solution of sodium methoxide (na, 0.4 g, 0.0174 mol, methanol, 25 ml) was added (compound 2) (0.8 g, 0.0033 mol) and the reaction heated to reflux overnight. the solvent was evaporated, the residue suspended in h.sub.2 o, and the mixture extracted with etoac. the extracts were dried, the solvent evaporated, and the residue purified by radial chromatography (10% etoh-1% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3). the hcl salt (0.34 g) crystallized from 2-propanol as a hemihydrate, m.p. 215-218.degree. c. (compound 10). example 11 (+/-)-3-ethoxy-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine to a solution of sodium ethoxide (na, 0.4 g, 0.0174 mol, ethanol, 25 ml) was added (compound 2) (0.8 g, 0.0033 mol) and the reaction heated to reflux overnight. the solvent was evaporated, the residue suspended in h.sub.2 o, and the mixture extracted with etoac. the extracts were dried, the solvent evaporated, and the residue purified by radial chromatography (10% etoh-1% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3). the hcl salt (0.086 g) crystallized from 2-propanol, m.p. 215-218.degree. c. (compound 11). example 12 (+/-)-3-(1-hexylthio)-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)-pyrazine a solution of 1-hexanethiol (1.4 ml) in thf (50 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyllithium in hexane (4.7 ml, 0.0075 mol). after 10 min, (compound 2) (0.6 g, 0.0025 mol) was added and the reaction heated to reflux for 4 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with etoac. the etoac was dried and the solvent evaporated to give a clear liquid. the hcl salt (0.57 g) crystallized from etoac, m.p. 171-174.degree. c. (compound 12). example 13 (+/-)-3-methylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a suspension of nah (0.42 g, 0.018 mol) in dmf (25 ml) was treated with 5.19 m methanethiol in dmf (6.44 ml, 0.033 mol). after 10 min, (compound 2) (0.8 g, 0.0033 mol) was added and the reaction heated to 50.degree. c. for 3 h. the reaction was cooled, acidified, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was suspended in cold water, extracted with ether, the aqueous made basic, and the mixture extracted with etoac. the etoac was dried and the solvent evaporated to give a clear liquid. the hcl salt (0.63 g) crystallized from meoh-etoac, m.p. 243-247.degree. c. (compound 13). example 14 (+/-)-3-ethylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of ethanethiol (2.6 ml) in thf (90 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyllithium in hexane (9 ml, 0.0167 mol). after 15 min, (compound 2) (0.6 g, 0.0025 mol) was added and the reaction heated to reflux for 4 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with etoac. the etoac was dried, the solvent evaporated, and the residue purified by radial chromatography (5% etoh-0.5% nh.sub.4 ohchcl.sub.3). the hcl salt (0.48 g) crystallized from etoac, m.p. 269-272.degree. c. (compound 14). example 15 (+/-)-3-(1-propylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of 1-propanethiol (2.7 ml) in thf (90 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyllithium in hexane (7 ml, 0.0117 mol). after 15 min, (compound 2) (0.7 g, 0.0029 mol) was added and the reaction heated to reflux for 4 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with etoac. the etoac was dried, the solvent evaporated to give an oil. the hcl salt (0.76 g) crystallized from meoh-etoac, m.p. 231-234.degree. c. (compound 15). example 16 (+/-)-3-(1-heptylthio-2-(1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of 1-heptanethiol (4.9 ml) in thf (90 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyllithium in hexane (7 ml, 0.0117 mol). after 15 min, (compound 2) (0.7 g, 0.0029 mol) was added and the reaction heated to reflux for 4 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with etoac. the etoac was dried, the solvent evaporated to give an oil. the hcl salt (0.767 g) crystallized from meoh-etoac as a hemihydrate, m.p. 169-173.degree. c. (compound 16). example 17 3-(1-butylthio-2-(2-(dimethylamino)ethoxy)pyrazine a solution of 2-dimethylaminoethanol (2.13 ml, 0.021 mol) in thf (130 ml) was treated with 1.6 m n-butyllithium in hexane (13.1 ml, 0.021 mol) with cooling in an ice-water bath. to the solution was added 2,3-dichloropyrazine (3.13 g, 0.021 mol) and the reaction heated to reflux overnight. the solvent was evaporated, the residue acidified with cold 1 n hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous was made basic and extracted with etoac. the extracts were washed with water, dried, and the solvent evaporated to give a clear oil (3.86 g). the oil was added to a solution of lithium 1-butanethioxide (1.6 m n-butanethioxide (1.6 m n-butyllithium, 17 ml, 0.0273 mol, 1-butanethiol, 19.7 ml, 0.184 mol) in thf (100 ml), the reaction heated to reflux for 2 h, heating removed, and the reaction stirred over the weekend. the solvent was evaporated, the residue dissolved in dilute hcl, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic, extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was purified by radial chromatography (5% etoh-0.5% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3) to give an oil (3.4 g). the hcl salt crystallized from etoac to give a white solid, m.p. 120-123.degree. c. (compound 17). example 18 3-(1-butylthio)-2-(2-(trimethylamino)ethoxy)pyrazine iodide a solution of (compound 17) (0.7 g, 0.0028 mol) in etoac (40 ml) was treated with iodomethane (0.4 ml) and the reaction stirred overnight. the white solid (1.04 g) was collected by filtration and dried, m.p. 140-142.degree. c. (compound 18). example 19 3-chloro-2-[endo-(+,-)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.]octyloxy)]-pyrazine a solution of potassium t-butoxide (0.62 g, 0.0055 mol) in thf (10 ml) was treated with endo-(+,-)-1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-6-ol (0.64 g, 0.005 mol). after 5 min, 2,3-dichloropyrazine (2 g, 0.0134 mol) was added and the reaction stirred overnight. the reaction was diluted with h.sub.2 o, acidified, and extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic and extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was purified by radial chromatography (20% etoh-2% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3) to give an oil. the hcl salt crystallized from acetone (0.44 g), m.p. 200.degree. c. dec. (compound 19). example 20 3-methyl-2-[endo-(+,-)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)]-pyrazine a solution of potassium t-butoxide (0.62 g, 0.0055 mol) in thf (10 ml) was treated with endo-(+,-)-1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-6-ol (0.64 g, 0.005 mol). after 5 min, reaction was cooled in an ice-water bath and 2-chloro-3-methylpyrazine (1.3 g, 0.01 mol) was added in a single portion. cooling was removed and the reaction stirred for 3 days. the solvent was evaporated, the residue diluted with h.sub.2 o, acidified, and extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic and extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was converted to an hcl salt and recrystallized from 2-propanol to give a floculant powder (0.5 g), m.p. 240.degree. c. dec. (compound 20). example 21 2-[endo-(+,-)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)]-pyrazine a solution of potassium t-butoxide (0.62 g, 0.0055 mol) in thf (10 ml) was treated with endo-(+,-)-1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-6-ol (0.64 g, 0.005 mol). after 5 min, reaction was cooled in an ice-water bath and 2-chloro-3-methylpyrazine (1.2 g, 0.01 mol) was added in a single portion. cooling was removed and the reaction stirred 4 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue diluted with h.sub.2 o, acidified, and extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic and extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated. the solid residue was converted to an hcl salt and recrystallized from 2-propanol to give a white solid (0.92 g), m.p. 250.degree. c. dec. (compound 21). example 22 6-chloro-2-[endo-(+,-)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)1-pyrazine a solution of potassium t-butoxide (0.62 g, 0.0055 mol) in thf (10 ml) was treated with endo-(+,-)-1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-6-ol (0.64 g, 0.005 mol). after 5 min, reaction was cooled in an ice-water bath and 2,6-dichloropyrazine (1 g, 0.0067 mol) was added in a single portion. cooling was removed and the reaction stirred over night. the solvent was evaporated, the residue diluted with h.sub.2 o, acidified, and extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic and extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was purified by radial chromatography (20% etoh-2% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3). the hcl salt crystallized from acetone to give a white solid (0.33 g), m.p. 211-213.degree. c. dec. (compound 22). example 23 3-(1-butyloxy)-2-[endo-(+,-)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)]-pyrazine a solution of potassium t-butoxide (1 g, 0.0089 mol) in thf (20 ml) was treated with 1-butanol (1 ml). after 5 min, reaction was cooled in an ice-water bath and compound 19 (0.65 g, 0.0027 mol) in thf (10 ml) was added. cooling was removed and the reaction stirred for 3 days. the solvent was evaporated, the residue diluted with h.sub.2 o, acidified, and extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic and extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was purified by radial chromatography (20% etoh-2% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3). the hcl salt crystallized from etoac to give a white solid (0.23 g), m.p. 171.5-172.5.degree. c. dec.(compound 23) example 24 3-(1-butylthio)-2-[endo-(+,-)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyloxy)]-pyrazine a solution of potassium t-butoxide (1 g, 0.0089 mol) in thf (20 ml) was cooled in ice-water and treated with 1-butanethiol (1 ml). after 5 min, cooling was removed and compound 19 (0.6 g, 0.0025 mol) in thf (10 ml) was added. after stirring overnight, the solvent was evaporated, the residue diluted with h.sub.2 o, acidified, and extracted with ether. the aqueous phase was made basic and extracted with etoac, the extracts dried, washed with brine, dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was purified by radial chromatography (20% etoh-2% nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3). the hcl salt crystallized from etoac to give a white solid (0.64 g), m.p. 157-158.degree. c. dec. (compound 24). example 25 endo-(8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine a solution of potassium tert-butoxide (0.62 g) in thf (15 ml) was treated with tropine (0.7 g). after 5 min, the reaction was cooled in ice-water and chloropyrazine (1.2 g) was added. the cooling was removed and the reaction stirred over night. the solvent was evaporated, the residue dissolved in cold 1 n hcl, and the mixture exracted with ether. the aqueous fraction was made basic, extracted with etoac, the extracts washed with water, brine, the solvent dried, and the solvent evaporated. the residue was purified by radial chromatography eluting with 20% -etoh-2% --nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3 to give endo-(8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-3-oxy)pyrazine (0.6 g) that was isolated as a hcl salt that crystallized from 2-propanol, m.p. 240.degree. c., dec. (compound 25). example 26 2-(2-dimethylaminoethoxy)-pyrazine a solution of 2-dimethylaminoethanol (1 ml) in thf (20 ml) was treated with potassium tert-butoxide (1.2 g). after 5 min, chloropyrazine (2 g) was added and the reaction stirred 2 h. the solvent was evaporated, the residue suspended in cold water, the mixture acidified, and the mixture extracted with ether. the aqueous fraction was made basic and extracted with etoac. the extracts were dried, the solvent evaporated, and the residue purified by radial chromatography eluting with 10%-etoh-1%-nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3 to give 2-(2-dimethylaminoethoxy)pyrazine (1.3 g). the hcl salt crystallized from 2-propanol as a white solid, m.p. 151-153.degree. c. (compound 26). example 27 2-(2-trimethylaminoethoxy)pyrazine iodide a solution of the free base of compound 26 (0.7 g) in etoac (40 ml) was treated with methyl iodide (1 ml) and the reaction stirred over night. the resulting solid was collected and dried to give 2-(2-trimethylaminoethoxy)pyrazine iodide as a off white solid (1.34 g).sub.7 m.p. 164.degree. c., dec. (compound 27). example 28 (s)-2-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinylmethoxy)-pyrazine a solution of (s)-1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinemethanol (1.15 g) in thf (45 ml) was treated with potassium tert-butoxide (1.2 g). after 10 min, chloropyrazine was added and the reaction stirred for 1.5 h. the reaction was quenched with 5 n hcl (4 ml) and the solvent evaporated. the residue was suspended in water and extracted with ether. the aqueous fraction was made basic and extracted with chcl.sub.3. the extracts were dried, the solvent evaporated, and the residue purified by radial chromatography eluting with 20% -etoh-2% --nh.sub.4 oh--chcl.sub.3 to give (s)-2-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinylmethoxy)pyrazine (1.1). the hcl salt crystallized from etoac as a white solid, m.p. 121-122.degree. c. (compound 28) example 29 (.+-.)-endo-2-prodylthio-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine potassium t-butoxide (0.9 g, 8 mmoles) was added at 0.degree. c. to propanethiol (0.61 g, 8 mmoles) in 20 ml thf and stirred for 5 min. compound 19 (0.5 g, 2 mmoles) was added and the reaction stirred for 24 hr at room temperature. 200 ml of 1 n hcl was added and the aqueous solution washed with ethyl acetate. the ph was adjusted to 12.0. the product was extracted with ethyl acetate, dried over sodium sulfate and evaporated. the hcl salt was formed in ether and filtered to yield (.+-.)-endo-2-propylthio-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine hydrochloride (0.38 g), m.p. 159-160.degree. c. (compound 29) the following compounds were prepared in substantially the same manner as compound 29 by substituting the appropriate alkylthiol for propanethiol. example 30 (.+-.)-endo-2-pentylthio-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and pentanethiol in 60% yield, m.p. 159-160.degree. c. (compound 30). example 31 (.+-.)-endo-2-(2-methylpropylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 2-methylpropanethiol in 8% yield, m.p. 142-143.degree. c. (compound 31). example 32 (.+-.)-endo-2-ethylthio-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and ethanethiol in 53% yield, m.p. 196-197.degree. c. (compound 32). example 33 (.+-.)-endo-2-(2,2,2,-trifluoroethylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanethiol in 14% yield, m.p. 116-117.degree. c. (compound 33). example 34 (.+-.)-endo-2-(trans-2-butenylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and trans-2-butenethiol in 13% yield, m.p. 128-130.degree. c. (compound 34). example 35 (.+-.)-endo-2-(4,4,4-trifluorobutylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 4,4,4-trifluorobutanethiol in 30% yield, m.p. 173-174.degree. c. (compound 35). example 36 (.+-.)-endo-2-(2-propenylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 2-propenethiol in 70% yield, m.p. 254-255.degree. c. (compound 36). example 37 (.+-.)-endo-2-(3-methylbutylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 3-methylbutanethiol in 26% yield, m.p. 174-176.degree. c. (compound 37). example 38 (.+-.)-endo-2-(4-trifluoromethoxybenzylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 4-trifluoromethoxybenzylthiol in 57% yield, m.p. 175-176.degree. c. (compound 38). example 39 (.+-.)-endo-2-propylthio-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine obtained from compound 22 and propanethiol in 11% yield as a foam. (compound 39). example 40 (.+-.)-endo-2-(2.2.2-trifluoroethylthio)-6-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)-pyrazine obtained from compound 22 and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanethiol in 7% yield, m.p. 125-126.degree. c. (compound 40). example 41 (.+-.)-endo-2-(2-methoxyethylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine compound 19 (1.15 g, 4.7 mmoles) and sodium sulfide (na.sub.2 s.9h.sub.2 o), 1.68 g, 7 mmoles) were heated in 30 ml dmf at 50.degree. c. for 3.5 hr, cooled to 0.degree. c. and 2-bromoethylmethylether (1.3 g, 9 mmoles) added. the reaction was stirred at room temperature overnight and diluted with ethyl acetate and 100 ml of 5 n hcl. the aqueous layer was washed with ethyl acetate and the ph adjusted to 12.0. the product was extracted with ethyl acetate , dried over sodium sulfate, condensed and purified by hplc eluted with 94% chcl.sub.3 /5% ethanol/1% ammonium hydroxide. the hcl salt was formed in ether and filtered to give (.+-.)-endo-2-(2-methoxyethylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine hydrochloride (0.3 g), m.p. 165-166.degree. c. (compound 41). the following compounds were prepared in substantially the same manner as compound 41 substituting the appropriate alkylhalide for 2-bromoethylmethylether. example 42 (.+-.)-endo-2-(3-phenyl-2-propenylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and cinnamyl bromide in 36% yield, m.p. 165-167.degree. c. (compound 42). example 43 (.+-.)-endo-2-(4-methyl-3-pentenylthio)-3-(1-azabicyclo[3.2. 1]octyl-6-oxy)pyrazine obtained from compound 19 and 1-bromo-4-methyl-3-pentene in 8% yield as a foam. (compound 43). example 44 alternate synthesis of compound 19 a sample of (.+-.)-(endo)-1-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-6-ol (3.0 g, 23.6 mmoles, was added to a stirred solution of potassium t-butoxide (2.9 g, 26 mmoles) in 60 ml thf at room temperature. the reaction was cooled to 5.degree. c. and 2,3-dichloropyrazine (7.03 g, 47 mmoles) in 15 ml thf was added. the solution was stirred at room temperature for 2 hrs, condensed, and diluted with water and ethyl acetate. the organic solution was dried and condensed. purification by hplc eluting with 94% chcl.sub.3, 5% ethanol, 1% ammonium hydroxide yielded 4.9 g, (compound 19).
|
141-111-950-099-273
|
KR
|
[
"BR",
"US",
"TW",
"AU",
"EP",
"JP",
"CN",
"WO",
"KR",
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C07D471/04,A61K31/437,A61K31/4545,A61K31/496,A61K31/506,A61P3/00,A61P11/00,A61P25/00,A61P27/02,A61P31/00,C07D519/00,A61K31/444,A61P1/00,A61P5/00,A61P9/00,A61P17/00,A61P19/00,A61P21/00,A61P35/00,A61P43/00
| 2020-02-25T00:00:00 |
2020
|
[
"C07",
"A61"
] |
1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compounds as histone deacetylase 6 inhibitor, and the pharmaceutical composition comprising the same
|
the present invention relates to a novel compound having a histone deacetylase 6 (hdac6) inhibitory activity, an isomer thereof or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, the use thereof for preparing a therapeutic medicament; a pharmaceutical composition containing the same, and a treatment method using the composition; and a preparation method thereof. the novel compound, the isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to the present invention has the hdac6 inhibitory activity, which is effective in the prevention or treatment of hdac6-mediated diseases including cancer, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurological or neurodegenerative diseases.
|
1 . a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i below, an optical isomer thereof, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof: in the chemical formula i above, li, l 2 and l 3 are each independently -(c 0 -c 2 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 , wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h, —x or -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); z is n, o, s, or nothing (null), wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—r a , —c(═o)—or b or —c(═o)—nr c r d , wherein when z is o or s, r 2 is nothing (null); r a is -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-o-(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, -nr a1 r a2 , r b to r d are each independently —h, —(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —(c 1 —c 4 alkyl)—o—(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c i -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -aryl or -heteroaryl; y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 , when y is n or ch, r y1 to r y4 are each independently —h, -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —(c 1 —c 4 alkyl)—o—(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —(c 1 —c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-aryl, -heteroaryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-heteroaryl, an amine protecting group, or wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-o-(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-aryl, heteroaryl and -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -heteroaryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o; when y is o or s(═o) 2 , r y1 to r y4 are nothing (null); m and n are each independently an integer of 1, 2 or 3; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl, wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , —nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl and -heteroaryl; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f, cl, br or i. 2 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 1 , wherein in the chemical formula i above, li, l 2 and l 3 are each independently -(c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 , wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or -x; z is n, o, or nothing (null), wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked; r 1 is -ch 2 x or -cx 3 ; r 2 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) or —c(═o)—r a , wherein when z is o, r 2 is nothing (null); r a is -nr a1 r a2 , y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 ; when y is n or ch, r y1 to r y4 are each independently —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, or wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with —x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl and heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or -heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o; when y is o or s(═o) 2 , r y1 to r y4 are nothing (null); m or n is each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl, wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(ci-c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , -nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f, cl or br. 3 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 2 , wherein in the chemical formula i above, l 1 and l 3 are each independently -(c 0 alkyl)-; l 2 is -(c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are cr 4 , wherein r 4 is —h or -x; z is n, o, or nothing (null), wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked; r 1 is —cf 2 h or —cf 3 ; r 2 is —h or —c(═o)—r a , wherein z is o, r 2 is nothing (null); r a is yisn; r y1 to r y4 are each independently -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -heteroaryl, or wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with —x or —oh; at least one h of the heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c1-c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or -heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is ch 2 or o; m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl, wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with —x, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , or —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f or cl. 4 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 2 , wherein in the chemical formula i above, li, l 2 or l 3 is each independently -(c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 , wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or —xuu; z is n; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —c(═o)—r a ; r a is y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 ; when y is n or ch, r y1 and r y3 are each independently —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, or wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl and heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or -heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o; when y is o or s(═o) 2 , r y1 and r y3 are nothing (null); m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl, wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with —x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , -nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl; r a3 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f, cl or br. 5 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 2 , wherein in the chemical formula i above, l 1 , l 2 and l 3 are each independently -(c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 , wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or —x; z is n; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —c(═o)—r a ; r a is —nr a1 r a2 , y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 ; when y is n or ch, r y2 and r y4 are each independently —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, or wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl or heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or -heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o; when y is o or s(═o) 2 , r y2 and r y4 are nothing (null); m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl, wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , -nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f, cl or br. 6 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 2 , wherein in the chemical formula i above, l 1 , l 2 are l 3 are each independently -(c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 , wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or -x; z is n, o, or nothing (null), wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked; r 1 is -ch 2 x or -cx 3 ; r 2 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), wherein when z is o, r 2 is nothing (null); r 3 is —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl, wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , -nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl; r a5 and r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f, cl or br. 7 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound, the optical isomer thereof or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 1 , wherein it is any one of compounds listed in the following table: excompstructureexcompstructure130092358533586435875358863589735908359193592103593113594123595133596143668153669163670173671183672193673203674213675223676233677243678253679263719273720283721293722303723313724323725333782343783353784363785374033384034394035404036414037424038434039444040454041464042474043484044494045504046514047524048534049544083554084564085574086584087594088604089614090624091634092644093654094664095674096684097694098704099714100724101734102744103754115764116774117784118794119804120814121824122834123844124854125864126874127884128894129904130914131924132934137944138954139964140974141984142994143100414410141451024146103414710441491054150106415110741521084153109415411041551114156112415711341581144159115416011641611174162118416311941641204165121416612241671234168124416912541701264171127417212841731294174130417513141761324177133418813441891354190136419113741921384193139419414041951414196142419714341981444199145420014642011474202148420314942041504205 . 8 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound, the optical isomer thereof or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 7 , wherein it is any one of compounds listed in the following table: excompstructureexcompstructure3337823437834040367541157641167741177841187941198041208141218241228341238441248541258641268741278841288941299041309141319241329341379441389541399641409741419841429941431004144101414510241461034147104414910541501064151107415210841531094154110415511141561124157113415811441591154160116416111741621184163119416412041651214166122416712341681244169125417012641711274172128417312941741304175131417613241771334188134418913541901364191137419213841931394194140419514141961424197143419814441991454200146420114742021484203149420415042051514206152420715346181544619 . 9 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound, the optical isomer thereof or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 7 , wherein it is any one of compounds listed in the following table: excompstructureexcompstructure3537843637853740333840343940354140374240384340394440404540414640424740434840444940455040465140475240485340495440835540845640855740865840875940886040896140906240916340926440936540946640956740966840976940987040997141007241017341027441031554620156462115746251586892 . 10 . the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound, the optical isomer thereof or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 7 , wherein it is any one of compounds listed in the following table: excompstructureexcompstructure130092358533586435875358863589735908359193592103593113594123595133596143668153669163670173671183672193673203674213675223676233677243678253679263719273720283721293722303723313724323725 . 11 . a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases comprising the compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 1 as an active ingredient. 12 . the pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases according to claim 11 , wherein the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases are infectious diseases; neoplasm; endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases; mental and behavioral disorders; neurological diseases; diseases of eyes and adnexa; circulatory diseases; respiratory diseases; digestive diseases; skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases; musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases; or congenital malformations, alterations, or chromosomal abnormalities. 13 . a method for preventing or treating the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of the compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to claim 1 as an active ingredient. 14 . the method for preventing or treating the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases according to claim 13 , wherein the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases are infectious diseases; neoplasm; endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases; mental and behavioral disorders; neurological diseases; diseases of eyes and adnexa; circulatory diseases; respiratory diseases; digestive diseases; skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases; musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases; or congenital malformations, alterations, or chromosomal abnormalities.
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technical field the present invention relates to a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound having a histone deacetylase 6 (hdac6) inhibitory activity, an optical isomer thereof, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof; the use for preparing a therapeutic medicament; a treatment method using the same; a pharmaceutical composition containing the same; and a preparation method thereof. background art post-translational modifications such as acetylation in cells are very important regulatory modules at the center of biological processes and are strictly controlled by a number of enzymes. histones are core proteins that make up the chromatin, acting as spools around which dna winds to help condensation of dna. in addition, the balance between acetylation and deacetylation of histones plays a very important role in gene expression. histone deacetylases (hdacs) are enzymes that remove the47 acetyl group of the histone protein lysine residues constituting the chromatin, which are known to be associated with gene silencing and to induce cell cycle arrest, angiogenesis inhibition, immune regulation, cell death, and the like (hassig et al., curr. opin. chem. biol. 1997, 1, 300-308). further, it has been reported that inhibition of hdac enzyme function induces cancer cell death by reducing the activity of cancer cell survival-related factors and activating cancer cell death-related factors in vivo (warrell et al, j. natl. cancer inst. 1998, 90, 1621-1625). in humans, 18 hdacs are known and are classified into 4 groups depending on their homology with yeast hdacs. here, 11 hdacs using zinc as a cofactor can be divided into three groups of class i (hdacs 1, 2, 3, and 8), class ii (iia: hdacs 4, 5, 7, and 9; iib: hdacs 6 and 10) and class iv (hdac11). further, 7 hdacs of class iii (sirt 1-7) employ nad + as a cofactor instead of zinc (bolden et al., nat. rev. drug. discov. 2006, 5(9), 769-784) . various hdac inhibitors are in the preclinical or clinical development stage. however, until now, only non-selective hdac inhibitors are known as anticancer agents, wherein vorinostat (saha) and romidepsin (fk228) have been approved as treatments for cutaneous t-cell lymphoma, and panobinostat (lbh-589) has been approved as a treatment for multiple myeloma. however, non-selective hdacs inhibitors are generally known to cause side effects such as fatigue and nausea, and the like, at high doses (piekarz et al., pharmaceuticals 2010, 3, 2751-2767). these side effects are reported to be caused by inhibition of class i hdacs, and due to these side effects, non-selective hdacs inhibitors have been limited in drug development in fields other than anticancer agents (witt et al., cancer letters 277 (2009) 8.21) . meanwhile, it has been reported that selective class ii hdac inhibition may not show the toxicity seen in class i hdac inhibition, and if a selective class ii hdac inhibitor is developed, side effects such as toxicity caused by the non-selective hdac inhibition may be solved, and thus the selective hdac inhibitor has the potential to be developed as effective therapeutic agent for various diseases (matthias et al., mol. cell. biol. 2008, 28, 1688-1701). hdac6, one of the class iib hdacs, is mainly present in the cytoplasma and is known to be involved in deacetylation of a number of non-histone substrates (hsp90, cortactin, and the like) including tubulin proteins (yao et al., mol. cell 2005, 18, 601-607). the hdac6 has two catalytic domains, and the c-terminal of zinc-finger domain may bind to ubiquitinated proteins. since the hdac6 has a large number of non-histone proteins as substrates, it is known to play an important role in various diseases such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurological diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders, and the like (santo et al., blood 2012 119: 2579-258; vishwakarma et al., international immunopharmacology 2013, 16, 72-78; hu et al., j. neurol. sci. 2011, 304, 1-8). a common structural feature of various hdac inhibitors is that they consist of a cap group, a linker group, and a zinc-binding group (zbg), as shown in the structure of vorinostat below. many researchers have studied the inhibitory activity and selectivity for enzymes through structural modifications of the cap group and linker group. among the groups, the zinc-binding group is known to play a more important role in the enzyme inhibitory activity and selectivity (wiest et al., j. org. chem. 2013 78: 5051-5065; methot et al., bioorg. med. chem. lett. 2008, 18, 973-978). most of the zinc-binding groups are hydroxamic acid or benzamide, and among them, hydroxamic acid derivatives exhibit a strong hdac inhibitory effect, but have problems such as low bioavailability and severe off-target activity. since benzamide contains aniline, there is a problem that toxic metabolites may be caused in vivo (woster et al., med. chem. commun. 2015, online publication). therefore, for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurological diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders, and the like, there is a need to develop a selective hdac6 inhibitor having a zinc-binding group with improved bioavailability without side effects, unlike non-selective inhibitors with side effects. disclosure technical problem an object of the present invention is to provide a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound having a selective histone deacetylase 6 (hdac6) inhibitory activity, an optical isomer thereof, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. another object of the present invention is to provide a pharmaceutical composition including a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound having a selective hdac6 inhibitory activity, an optical isomer thereof, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. still another object of the present invention is to provide a preparation method thereof. still another object of the present invention is to provide a pharmaceutical composition including the compounds for preventing or treating histone deacetylase 6(hdac6)-mediated diseases including infectious diseases; neoplasm; endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases; mental and behavioral disorders; neurological diseases; diseases of eyes and adnexa; circulatory diseases; respiratory diseases; digestive diseases; skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases; musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases; or congenital malformations, alterations, or chromosomal abnormalities. still another object of the present invention is to provide the use of the compounds for preparing a medicament for preventing or treating hdac6-mediated diseases. still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for preventing or treating hdac6-mediated diseases including administering a therapeutically effective amount of the composition including the compounds as described above. technical solution the present inventors found a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound having a histone deacetylase 6 (hdac6) inhibitory activity to inhibit or treat hdac6-mediated diseases, and completed the present invention. 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound in one general aspect, the present invention provides a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i below, an optical isomer thereof, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof: in the chemical formula i, l 1 , l 2 and l 3 are each independently —(c 0 —c 2 alkyl)—; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 {wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h, —x or —o(c 1 —c 4 alkyl) } ; z is n, o, s, or nothing (null) {wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked}; r 1 is -ch 2 x or -cx 3 ; r 2 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—r a , —c(═o)—or b or —c(═o)—nr c r d {wherein when z is o or s, r 2 is nothing (null)}; r a is - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-o-(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, -nr a1 r a2 , r b to r d are each independently —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 - c 4 alkyl)-o-(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), -aryl or -heteroaryl; y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 , when y is n or ch, r y1 to r y4 are each independently —h, -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-o-(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o) — (c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 - c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-aryl, -heteroaryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)- heteroaryl, an amine protecting group, or {wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), - (c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) —o— (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl) —c (═o) — o (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c (═o) — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), — c (═o) — (c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s (═o) 2 — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-aryl, heteroaryl and -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -heteroaryl or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o}; when y is o or s(═o) 2 , r y1 to r y4 are nothing (null); m and n are each independently an integer of 1, 2 or 3; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl)-o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), - (c 1 - c 4 alkyl)—c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one —h of -(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl and - heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), — (c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 - c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , —nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl or -heteroaryl}; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x is f, cl, br or i. according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the chemical formula i above, l 1 , l 2 and l 3 are each independently - (c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 {wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or —x}; z is n, o, or nothing (null) {wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked}; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) or —c(═o)—r a {wherein when z is o, r 2 is nothing (null)}; r a is -nr a1 r a2 , y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 ; when y is n or ch, r y1 to r y4 are each independently —h, - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), — c (═o) — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c (═o) —o (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c (═o) —nr a3 r a4 , —c (═o) —(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c (═o) — (c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s (═o) 2 — (c 1 - c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, or {wherein at least one h of - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), — c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl and heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or -heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o}; when y is o or s (═o) 2 , r y1 to r y4 are nothing (null); m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), - adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl and - heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with —x, —oh, - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 - c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , —nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl}; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x may be f, cl or br. further, according to another embodiment of the present invention, in the chemical formula i above, l 1 and l 3 are each independently -(c 0 alkyl)-; l 2 is -(c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently cr 4 {wherein r 4 is —h or - x}; z is n, o, or nothing (null) {wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked}; r 1 is —cf 2 h or —cf 3 ; r 2 is —h or —c(═o)—r a {wherein when z is o, r 2 is nothing (null)}; y is n; r y1 to r y4 are each independently -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), - (c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c (═o) —nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c (═o) — (c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s (═o) 2 — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -heteroaryl, or {wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with -x or —oh; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is ch 2 or o}; m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , or —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) } ; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x may be f or cl. further, according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in the chemical formula i above, l 1 , l 2 or l 3 is each independently -(c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 {wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or -x}; z is n; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —c(═o)—r a ; y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 ; when y is n or ch, r y1 and r y3 are each independently —h, - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), — c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o)— (c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 - c 4 alkyl), -aryl, -heteroaryl, or {wherein at least one h of -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), - (c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), — c (═o) — (c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s (═o) 2 — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with —x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl and heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —x, —oh or —cf 3 ; -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or -heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring; and w is nh, ch 2 or o}; when y is o or s(═o) 2 , r y1 and r y3 are nothing (null); m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); r 3 is —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), - (c 2 - c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), - adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —(c═o) — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , -nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl}; r a3 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x may be f, cl or br. further, according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in the chemical formula i above, l 1 , l 2 and l 3 are each independently -(c 0 -c 1 alkyl)-; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 {wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or -x}; z is n; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —c(═o)—r a ; r a is —nr a1 r a2 , m and n are each independently an integer of 1 or 2; r a to r d are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); y is n, ch, o or s(═o) 2 ; when y is n or ch, r y2 and r y4 are each independently —h, - (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—nr a3 r a4 , —c(═o) —(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 - c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one h of -(c 1 - c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), —c(═o)—(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—(c 3 - c 7 cycloalkyl, —c(═o)—c(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) and —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 - c 4 alkyl) may be substituted with —x or —oh; at least one h of the aryl and heteroaryl may be substituted with -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —o— (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —x, —oh or —cf 3 ; and -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl) or - heteroaryl may contain n, o or s atoms in the ring}; when y is o or s (═o) 2 , r y2 and r y4 are nothing (null); r 3 is —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), - (c 2 - c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one —h of —(c 3 —c 7 cycloalkyl), —(c 2 —c 6 heterocycloalkyl), - adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with -x, —oh, —(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —o(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —(c═o) — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , -nr a5 r a6 , —s(═o) 2 —(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -aryl, or -heteroaryl}; r a1 to r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl); and x may be f, cl or br. further, according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in the chemical formula i above, l 1 , l 2 and l 3 are each independently - (c 0 -c 1 alkyl) -; a, b and c are each independently n or cr 4 {wherein a, b and c cannot be n at the same time, and r 4 is —h or -x}; z is n, o, or nothing (null) {wherein when z is nothing (null), r 2 is also nothing (null), and l 2 and l 3 are directly linked}; r 1 is —ch 2 x or —cx 3 ; r 2 is —h, -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) {wherein when z is o, r 2 is nothing (null)}; r 3 is —c(═o)—o(c 1 -c 4 alkyl), -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), - (c 2 - c 6 heterocycloalkyl), -adamantyl, -aryl or -heteroaryl {wherein at least one —h of -(c 3 -c 7 cycloalkyl), -(c 2 -c 6 heterocycloalkyl), - adamantyl, -aryl and -heteroaryl may each independently be substituted with —x, —oh, —(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —o(c 1 —c 4 alkyl), —(c═o)— (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —c (═o) —o (c 1 -c 4 alkyl), —cf 3 , —cf 2 h, —ocf 3 , —nr a5 r a6 , —s (═o) 2 — (c 1 -c 4 alkyl ), -aryl, or -heteroaryl}; r a5 and r a6 are each independently —h or -(c 1 -c 4 alkyl) ; and x may be f, c1 or br. specific compounds represented by chemical formula i of the present invention are shown in table 1 below. table 1excompstructureexcompstructure13009235853358643587535886358973590835919359210359311359412359513359614366815366916367017367118367219367320367421367522367623367724367825367926371927372028372129372230372331372432372533378234378335378436378537403338403439403540403641403742403843403944404045404146404247404348404449404550404651404752404853404954408355408456408557408658408759408860408961409062409163409264409365409466409567409668409769409870409971410072410173410274410375411576411677411778411879411980412081412182412283412384412485412586412687412788412889412990413091413192413293413794413895413996414097414198414299414310041441014145102414610341471044149105415010641511074152108415310941541104155111415611241571134158114415911541601164161117416211841631194164120416512141661224167123416812441691254170126417112741721284173129417413041751314176132417713341881344189135419013641911374192138419313941941404195141419614241971434198144419914542001464201147420214842031494204150420515142061524207153461815446191554620156462115746251586892 according to an embodiment of the present invention, specific compounds represented by chemical formula i of the present invention may be shown in table 2 below: table 2excompstructureexcompstructure3337823437834040367541157641167741177841187941198041208141218241228341238441248541258641268741278841288941299041309141319241329341379441389541399641409741419841429941431004144101414510241461034147104414910541501064151107415210841531094154110415511141561124157113415811441591154160116416111741621184163119416412041651214166122416712341681244169125417012641711274172128417312941741304175131417613241771334188134418913541901364191137419213841931394194140419514141961424197143419814441991454200146420114742021484203149420415042051514206152420715346181544619 according to another embodiment of the present invention, specific compounds represented by chemical formula i of the present invention may be shown in table 3 below: table 3excompstructureexcompstructure3537843637853740333840343940354140374240384340394440404540414640424740434840444940455040465140475240485340495440835540845640855740865840875940886040896140906240916340926440936540946640956740966840976940987040997141007241017341027441031554620156462115746251586892 according to still another embodiment of the present invention, specific compounds represented by chemical formula i of the present invention may be shown in table 4 below: table 4excompstructureexcompstructure130092358533586435875358863589735908359193592103593113594123595133596143668153669163670173671183672193673203674213675223676233677243678253679263719273720283721293722303723313724323725 in the present invention, the pharmaceutically acceptable salt refers to a salt commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry, for example, may include inorganic ionic salts prepared from calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium, and the like, inorganic acid salts prepared from hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, bromic acid, iodic acid, perchloric acid, and sulfuric acid, and the like; organic acid salts prepared from acetic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, citric acid, maleic acid, succinic acid, oxalic acid, benzoic acid, tartaric acid, fumaric acid, manderic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid, glycolic acid, gluconic acid, galacturonic acid, glutamic acid, glutaric acid, glucuronic acid, aspartic acid, ascorbic acid, carbonic acid, vanillic acid, hydroiodic acid, and the like; sulfonic acid salts prepared from methanesulfonic acid, ethanesulfonic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, p-toluenesulfonic acid, and naphthalenesulfonic acid, and the like; amino acid salts prepared from glycine, arginine, lysine, and the like; and amine salts prepared with trimethylamine, triethylamine, ammonia, pyridine, picoline, and the like, but types of salts referred to in the present invention are not limited by these salts listed above. preferred salts in the present invention include hydrochloride, phosphate, sulfate, trifluoroacetate, citrate, bromate, maleate, or tartrate. the compound represented by chemical formula i of the present invention may contain one or more asymmetric carbons, thereby being able to exist as a racemate, a racemic mixture, a single enantiomer, a diastereomeric mixture, and each diastereomer. these isomers may be separated using conventional techniques, for example, by partitioning, such as by column chromatography, hplc, or the like, the compound represented by chemical formula i. alternatively, stereoisomers of each of the compounds represented by chemical formula i may be stereospecifically synthesized using optically pure starting materials and/or reagents with known arrangement. method for preparing 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound the present invention provides a method for preparing a 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, an optical isomer thereof, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. a preferred method for preparing the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to the present invention is the same as reaction schemes 1 to 4 below, which also includes preparation methods modified to a level obvious to those skilled in the art. reaction scheme 1 in reaction scheme 1, compound 1-1 is reacted with 1,3-dichloropropan-2-one to synthesize bicyclic compound 1-2, followed by substitution with various functional groups to synthesize compound 1-3, followed by reaction with hydrazine to synthesize hydrazide compound 1-4. finally, a cyclization reaction with difluoroacetic anhydride is performed to synthesize title compound 1-5. a compound prepared by the reaction scheme above is compound 3009. reaction scheme 2 in reaction scheme 2, compound 2-1 in which a protecting group is introduced into compound 1-1 is synthesized, and then reacted with hydrazine to synthesize hydrazide compound 2-2. a cyclization reaction with fluorine-substituted acetic anhydride is performed to synthesize compound 2-3, and then the protecting group is removed under an acidic condition to synthesize compound 2-4. by reacting with 1,3-dichloropropan-2-one, bicyclic compound 2-5 is synthesized and reacted with various functional groups to synthesize title compound 2-6. compounds prepared by the above reaction scheme are compounds 3585, 3586, 3587, 3588, 3589, 3590, 3591, 3592, 3593, 3594, 3595, 3596, 3668, 3669, 3670, 3671, 3672, 3673, 3674, 3675, 3676, 3677, 3678, 3679, 3719, 3720, 3721, 3722, 3723, 3724, and 3725. reaction scheme 3 reaction scheme 3 shows a method for synthesizing a compound having an amide structure, wherein compound 2-6 synthesized in reaction scheme 2 is reacted with compound 3-2 having an acetyl chloride functional group under a basic condition, thereby synthesizing compound 3-3. compound 3-4 from which the protecting group is removed under an acid condition is synthesized and reacted with various functional groups to synthesize title compound 3-5. compounds prepared by the above reaction scheme are compounds 3782, 3783, 4115, 4116, 4117, 4118, 4119, 4120, 4121, 4122, 4123, 4124, 4125, 4126, 4127, 4128, 4129, 4130, 4131, 4132, 4137, 4138, 4139, 4140, 4141, 4142, 4143, 4144, 4145, 4146, 4147, 4148, 4150, 4151, 4152, 4153, 4154, 4155, 4156, 4157, 4158, 4159, 4160, 4161, 4162, 4163, 4164, 4165, 4166, 4167, 4168, 4169, 4170, 4171, 4172, 4173, 4174, 4175, 4176, 4177, 4188, 4189, 4190, 4191, 4192, 4193, 4194, 4195, 4196, 4197, 4198, 4199, 4200, 4201, 4202, 4203, 4204, 4205, 4206, 4207, 4618, and 4619. reaction scheme 4 reaction scheme 4 shows a method for synthesizing a compound having a urea structure, wherein compound 2-6 synthesized in reaction scheme 2 is reacted with triphosgene and an amine compound under a basic condition, thereby synthesizing compound 4-1. compound 4-2 from which the protecting group is removed under an acid condition is synthesized and reacted with various functional groups to synthesize title compound 4-3. compounds prepared by the above reaction scheme are compounds 3784, 3785, 4033, 4034, 4035, 4036, 4037, 4038, 4039, 4040, 4041, 4042, 4043, 4044, 4045, 4046, 4047, 4048, 4049, 4083, 4084, 4085, 4086, 4087, 4088, 4089, 4090, 4091, 4092, 4093, 4094, 4095, 4096, 4097, 4098, 4099, 4100, 4101, 4102, 4103, 4620, 4621, 4625, and 6892. composition comprising 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound, use thereof, and treatment method using the same the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases containing the compound represented by chemical formula i below, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof as an active ingredient: the chemical formula i is the same as defined above. the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention exhibits a remarkable effect in the prevention or treatment of histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases by selectively inhibiting a histone deacetylase 6. the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases include infectious diseases such as prion disease; neoplasm such as benign tumors (e.g. myelodysplastic syndrome) or malignant tumors (e.g. multiple myeloma, lymphoma, leukemia, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, urinary tract epithelial cell carcinoma, breast cancer, melanoma, skin cancer, liver cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, head and neck cancer, oral cancer or glioma); endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases such as wilson’s disease, amyloidosis or diabetes; mental and behavioral disorders such as depression or rett syndrome; neurological diseases such as central nervous system atrophy (e.g. huntington’s disease, spinal muscular atrophy (sma), spinal cerebellar ataxia (sca)), neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. alzheimer’s disease), movement disorders (e.g. parkinson’s disease), neuropathy (e.g. hereditary neuropathy (charcot-marie-tooth disease), sporadic neuropathy, inflammatory neuropathy, drug-induced neuropathy), motor neuropathy (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als)), or central nervous system demyelination (e.g. multiple sclerosis (ms)); diseases of eyes and adnexa such as uveitis; circulatory diseases such as atrial fibrillation, stroke, and the like; respiratory diseases such as asthma; digestive diseases such as alcoholic liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, crohn’s disease, ulcerative bowel disease, and the like; skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases such as psoriasis; musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (sle), and the like; or congenital malformations, alterations, and chromosomal abnormalities such as autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, and also include symptoms or diseases related to abnormal functions of histone deacetylase. the pharmaceutically acceptable salt is the same as described above in the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the compound represented by chemical formula i of the present invention. the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may further include one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers for administration, in addition to the compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier may be used by mixing saline, sterile water, ringer’s solution, buffered saline, dextrose solution, maltodextrin solution, glycerol, ethanol and one or more of these ingredients, and if necessary, other conventional additives such as antioxidants, buffers, bacteriostatic agents, and the like, may be added. further, injectable formulations such as aqueous solutions, suspensions, emulsions, and the like, pills, capsules, granules or tablets may be formulated by further adding diluents, dispersants, surfactants, binders and lubricants. accordingly, the composition of the present invention may be a patch, liquid, pill, capsule, granule, tablet, suppository, or the like. these formulations may be prepared by a conventional method used for formulation in the art or by a method disclosed in remington’s pharmaceutical science (latest edition), mack publishing company, easton pa, and formulated into various formulations depending on respective diseases or ingredients. the composition of the present invention may be administered orally or parenterally (for example, intravenously, subcutaneously, intraperitoneally or topically) depending on the desired method, and the dosage range varies depending on the patient’s weight, age, sex, health condition, diet, administration time, administration method, excretion rate, and severity of disease, and the like. the daily dose of the compound represented by chemical formula i of the present invention may be about 1 to 1000 mg/kg, preferably 5 to 100 mg/kg, and may be administered once a day or divided into several times a day. the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may further include one or more active ingredients exhibiting the same or similar medicinal effects in addition to the compound represented by chemical formula i above, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. the present invention provides a method for preventing or treating histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases including administering a therapeutically effective amount of the compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. the term “therapeutically effective amount” used in the present invention refers to an amount of the compound represented by chemical formula i that is effective for preventing or treating the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases. in addition, the present invention provides a method for selectively inhibiting hdac6 by administering the compound represented by chemical formula i, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof to a mammal including humans. the method for preventing or treating the histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases of the present invention also includes administering the compound represented by chemical formula i to treat the disease itself before the onset of the symptom, but also to inhibit or avoid the symptom thereof. in the management of the disease, prophylactic or therapeutic dose of a specific active ingredient will vary depending on the nature and severity of the disease or condition, and the route to which the active ingredient is administered. the dose and frequency of dose will vary depending on the age, weight and response of the individual patients. a suitable dosage regimen may be readily selected by a person having ordinary knowledge in the art considering these factors for granted. in addition, the method for preventing or treating histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases of the present invention may further include administrating a therapeutically effective amount of an additional active agent useful for the treatment of the disease together with the compound represented by chemical formula i, wherein the additional active agent may exhibit synergistic or auxiliary effects together with the compound represented by chemical formula i. the present invention also aims to provide the use of the compound represented by chemical formula i above, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof for preparing a medicament for treating histone deacetylase 6-mediated diseases. the compound represented by chemical formula i above for preparing the medicament may be mixed with acceptable adjuvants, diluents, carriers, and the like, and may be prepared as a complex formulation with other active agents to have a synergistic effect of active ingredients. matters mentioned in the uses, compositions and treatment methods of the present invention are applied equally as long as they are inconsistent with each other. advantageous effects the compound represented by chemical formula i above of the present invention, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, is able to selectively inhibit histone deacetylase 6 (hdac6), thereby having remarkably excellent preventive or therapeutic effects on hdac6-mediated diseases. best mode hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail through examples and experimental examples. however, they are only examples of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. preparation of 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compounds of the present invention a specific method for preparing the compound represented by chemical formula i is the same as follows. example 1: synthesis of compound 3009, 2-(2-benzylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole [step 1] synthesis of methyl 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-carboxylate methyl 2-aminoisonicotinate (1.000 g, 6.572 mmol) and 1,3-dichloropropan-2-one (1.085 g, 8.544 mmol) were dissolved in ethanol (5 ml)/1,2-dimethoxyethane (6 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour and further stirred at 90° c. for 16 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 24 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.200 g, 13.5%) as a beige solid. [step 2] synthesis of methyl 2-benzylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-carboxylate methyl 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-carboxylate (0.200 g, 0.890 mmol) prepared in step 1, phenylboronic acid (0.217 g, 1.781 mmol), bis(triphenyl)phosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.062 g, 0.089 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.369 g, 2.671 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (8 ml)/water (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 105° c. for 16 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 24 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.076 g, 32.1%) as a white solid. [step 3] synthesis of 2-benzylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-carbohydrazide methyl 2-benzylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-7-carboxylate (0.075 g, 0.282 mmol) prepared in step 2 and hydrazine monohydrate (0.068 ml, 1.408 mmol) were dissolved in ethanol (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was heated to reflux for 16 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure to obtain the title compound (0.074 g, 98.7%) as a white solid. [step 4] synthesis of compound 3009 2-benzylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-7-carbohydrazide (0.065 g, 0.244 mmol) prepared in step 3 and imidazole (0.050 g, 0.732 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml), and 2,2-difluoroacetic anhydride (0.152 ml, 1.220 mmol) was added at room temperature and heated to reflux for 16 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 60%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 37.7%) as a bright red solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (m, 1h), 8.15-8.13 (m, 1h), 7.49-7.46 (m, 1h), 7.36-7.32 (m, 5h), 7.29-7.26 (m, 1h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.22 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 327.2 (m + + 1). example 2: synthesis of compound 3585, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(3-fluorobenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole [step 1] synthesis of methyl 2-((tertbutoxycarbonyl)amino)isonicotinate methyl 2-aminoisonicotinate (20.000 g, 131.449 mmol) and di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (37.295 g, 170.884 mmol) were dissolved in tert-butanol (800 ml) at room temperature. the resulting solution was stirred at 60° c. for 16 hours, and then the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. the precipitated solid was filtered, washed with ethanol, and dried to obtain the title compound (26.000 g, 78.4%) as a white solid. [step 2] synthesis of tert-butyl (4-(hydrazinecarbonyl)pyridin-2-yl) carbamate methyl 2-((tert-butoxycarbonyl)amino)isonicotinate (26.000 g, 103.064 mmol) prepared in step 1 and hydrazine monohydrate (100.182 ml, 2.061 mol) were dissolved in methanol (800 ml) at room temperature. the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 16 hours. methanol (500 ml) was added to the obtained product, followed by filtration through a plastic filter to obtain an organic layer, and the obtained organic layer was concentrated to obtain the title compound (25.000 g, 96.2%) as a white solid. [step 3] synthesis of tert-butyl (4-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl) carbamate tert-butyl (4-(hydrazinecarbonyl)pyridin-2-yl)carbamate (20.000 g, 79.280 mmol) prepared in step 2 and triethylamine (55.250 ml, 396.401 mmol) were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (600 ml), and 2,2-difluoroacetic anhydride (49.281 ml, 396.401 mmol) was added at room temperature and heated to reflux for 16 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. ethyl acetate (40 ml) and hexane (200 ml) were poured into the concentrate, suspended, and filtered to obtain a solid, and the obtained solid was washed with hexane and dried to obtain the title compound (11.500 g, 46.5%) as a white solid. [step 4] synthesis of 4-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-amine tert-butyl (4-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl)carbamate (11.500 g, 36.826 mmol) prepared in step 3 was dissolved in dichloromethane (300 ml), and trifluoroacetic acid (28.199 ml, 368.259 mmol) was added at 0° c. and stirred at room temperature for 4 hours. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution (150 ml) was poured into the concentrate and suspended, followed by filtration to obtain a solid. the obtained solid was washed with water and dried to obtain the title compound (7.500 g, 96.0%) as a white solid. [step 5] synthesis of 2-(2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 4-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-amine (7.500 g, 35.351 mmol) prepared in step 4, 1,3-dichloropropan-2-one (6.732 g, 53.026 mmol), and sodium hydrogen carbonate (14.848 g, 176.753 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (250 ml) at room temperature. the resulting solution was heated to reflux for 16 hours, and then the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. the reaction mixture was filtered through a plastic filter to remove solids, and the filtrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 80 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 10% to 90%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (7.000 g, 69.6%) as a beige solid. [step 6] synthesis of compound 3585 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5, (3-fluorophenyl)boronic acid (0.049 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.023 g, 38.0%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.27-8.19 (m, 1h), 8.10 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.44 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.34 (s, 1h), 7.23 (td, j = 8.0, 6.0 hz, 1h), 7.05 (dt, j = 7.6, 1.2 hz, 1h), 7.00-6.70 (m, 3h), 4.13 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 345.9 (m + + 1). example 3: synthesis of compound 3586, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(4-fluorobenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (4-fluorophenyl)boronic acid (0.049 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 49.6%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.18 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (d, j = 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.36-7.30 (m, 2h), 7.10-6.81 (m, 3h), 4.20 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 346.0 (m + + 1). example 4: synthesis of compound 3587, 2-(2-(3,4-difluorobenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (3,4-difluorophenyl)boronic acid (0.055 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.033 g, 51.9%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.21 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.45 (s, 1h), 7.21-6.81 (m, 4h), 4.19 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 364.0 (m + + 1). example 5: synthesis of compound 3588, 2-(2-(2,4-difluorobenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (2,4-difluorophenyl)boronic acid (0.055 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 48.7%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.20 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.47 (s, 1h), 7.37 (td, j = 8.7, 8.3, 6.4 hz, 1h), 7.11-6.80 (m, 3h), 4.22 (s, 2h) ; lrms (es) m/z 364.0 (m + + 1). example 6: synthesis of compound 3589, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(4-methylbenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, p-tolylboronic acid (0.048 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 cl 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 46.8%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.39-8.28 (m, 1h), 8.15 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.51 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (t, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.26 (d, j = 8.0 hz, 2h), 7.19-7.15 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.20 (s, 2h), 2.37 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 341.3 (m + + 1). example 7: synthesis of compound 3590, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(4-mehtylbenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (4-methoxyphenyl)boronic acid (0.053 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.015 g, 24.0%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29-8.16 (m, 1h), 8.06 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.41 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.19 (t, j = 4.3 hz, 3h), 7.00-6.71 (m, 3h), 4.08 (s, 2h), 3.73 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 356.9 (m + + 1). example 8: synthesis of compound 3591, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(4-trifluoromethyl)benzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)boronic acid (0.067 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.029 g, 41.9%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.40-8.27 (m, 1h), 8.20 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.61 (d, j = 8.0 hz, 2h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.48 (d, j = 8.0 hz, 2h), 7.44 (s, 1h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.28 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 394.7 (m + + 1). example 9: synthesis of compound 3592, 1-(4-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)phenyl)ethan-1-one 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (4-acetylphenyl)boronic acid (0.058 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.021 g, 32.5%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.35-8.30 (m, 1h), 8.19 (dd, j= 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.99-7.92 (m, 2h), 7.70 (ddd, j = 12.0, 8.3, 1.4 hz, 1h), 7.58 - 7.50 (m, 1h), 7.49 - 7.43 (m, 3h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.29 (s, 2h), 2.62 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 369.3 (m + + 1). example 10: synthesis of compound 3593, 2-(2-(4-chlorobenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (4-fluorophenyl)boronic acid (0.055 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 18.9%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.18 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.52 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (q, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.35-7.27 (m, 4h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.19 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 362.9 (m + + 1). example 11: synthesis of compound 3594, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(3-isopropylbenzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (3-isopropylphenyl)boronic acid (0.058 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 cl 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 49.5%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (s, 1h), 8.17 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.52 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.32-7.26 (m, 1h), 7.23 (d, j = 1.8 hz, 1h), 7.20-7.13 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.22 (s, 2h), 2.92 (p, j = 6.9 hz, 1h), 1.28 (d, j = 6.9 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 370.0 (m + + 1). example 12: synthesis of compound 3595, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(4-(methylsulfonyl)benzyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)boronic acid (0.070 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 cl 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.033 g, 46.5%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.22 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.95-7.87 (m, 2h), 7.56 (td, j = 6.6, 1.8 hz, 3h), 7.49 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.31 (s, 2h), 3.06 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 405.1 (m + + 1). example 13: synthesis of compound 3596, 2-(2-(benzo[d] [1,3]dioxol-5-ylmethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-ylboronic acid (0.058 g, 0.351 mmol), bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(ii) dichloride (pd(pph 3 ) 2 c1 2 , 0.012 g, 0.018 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.073 g, 0.527 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (4 ml)/water (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 1 hour. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.041 g, 63.0%) as a pink solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.18 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.52 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.41 (s, 1h), 7.10-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.96 (s, 2h), 4.15 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 372.0 (m + + 1). example 14: synthesis of compound 3668, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)aniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, aniline (0.024 ml, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.050 g, 83.4%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.68 (d, j = 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.25-7.18 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.80-6.70 (m, 3h), 4.62 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 342.9 (m + + 1). example 15: synthesis of compound 3669, 1-(3-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)amino)phenyl)ethan-1-one 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, m-toluidine (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.040 g, 59.4%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.74-7.67 (m, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.36-7.32 (m, 2h), 7.31-7.28 (m, 1h), 7.11-6.82 (m, 2h), 4.68-4.64 (m, 2h), 2.59 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 385.0 (m + + 1). example 16: synthesis of compound 3670, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-3-fluoroaniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 3-fluoroaniline (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.040 g, 59.4%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.34 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.68 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.18-6.76 (m, 2h), 6.54-6.32 (m, 3h), 4.59 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 360.9 (m + + 1). example 17: synthesis of compound 3671, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-3,4-difluoroaniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 3,4-difluoroaniline (0.029 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 38.0%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38 (s, 1h), 8.27 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.69 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.63 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.11-6.80 (m, 2h), 6.52 (ddd, j = 12.5, 6.6, 2.9 hz, 1h), 6.42 (ddd, j = 8.9, 3.2, 1.6 hz, 1h), 4.57 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 378.1 (m + + 1). example 18: synthesis of compound 3672, 3-chloro-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl )-4-fluoroaniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 3-chloro-4-fluoroaniline (0.038 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.041 g, 59.3%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37 (d, j = 1.5 hz, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.69 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.62 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.10-6.80 (m, 2h), 6.73 (dd, j = 6.0, 2.9 hz, 1h), 6.57 (ddd, j = 8.9, 3.8, 2.9 hz, 1h), 4.57 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 396.0 (m + + 1). example 19: synthesis of compound 3673, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)aniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 4-(trifluoromethyl)aniline (0.042 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.029 g, 40.3%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.36 (dt, j = 1.6, 0.7 hz, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.68 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.39 (m, 2h), 6.97 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.74 (d, j = 8.6 hz, 2h), 4.66 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 411.0 (m + + 1). example 20: synthesis of compound 3674, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(methylsulfonyl)aniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 4-(methylsulfonyl)aniline (0.045 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.034 g, 46.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.76-7.71 (m, 2h), 7.69 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 6.97 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.79-6.71 (m, 2h), 4.66 (d, j = 4.3 hz, 2h), 3.02 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 420.3 (m + + 1). example 21: synthesis of compound 3675, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)pyridin-3-amine 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, pyridine-3-amine (0.025 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.037 g, 61.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.19 (d, j = 2.8 hz, 1h), 8.05-7.99 (m, 1h), 7.70 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.17-6.82 (m, 3h), 4.62 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 343.1 (m + + 1). example 22: synthesis of compound 3676, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-6-fluoropyridin-3-amine 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 6-fluoropyridin-3-amine (0.030 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.033 g, 52.1%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.35 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.73-7.68 (m, 1h), 7.66 (dd, j = 3.1, 1.9 hz, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.16 (ddd, j = 8.8, 6.7, 3.1 hz, 1h), 6.97 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.79 (ddd, j = 8.7, 3.4, 0.6 hz, 1h), 4.59 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 362.1 (m + + 1). example 23: synthesis of compound 3677, (3s,5s,7s)-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)adamantane-1-amine 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, (3 s,5 s,7 s)-adamantan-1-amine (0.040 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were added to n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 25%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.023 g, 32.8%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (p, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.84 (s, 1h), 7.50 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.10 (s, 2h), 2.18-2.09 (m, 3h), 1.84 (d, j = 2.9 hz, 6h), 1.70 (q, j = 12.8 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 399.8 (m + + 1). example 24: synthesis of compound 3678, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)cyclohexanamine 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, cyclohexanamine (0.026 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml ) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 25%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 39.3%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.74 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 4.09 (s, 2h), 2.61 (tt, j = 10.0, 3.7 hz, 1h), 2.39 (s, 1h), 2.01 (d, j = 12.0 hz, 2h), 1.85-1.71 (m, 2h), 1.70-1.59 (m, 1h), 1.39-1.13 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 347.7 (m + + 1). example 25: synthesis of compound 3679, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-3-methylaniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, m-toluidine (0.028 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 4 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 51.3%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (p, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.19 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.67 (d, j = 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.52 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.77 (m, 2h), 6.63-6.50 (m, 3h), 4.60 (d, j = 0.9 hz, 2h), 2.29 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 356.2 (m + + 1). example 26: synthesis of compound 3719, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-(phenoxymethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.040 g, 0.141 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, phenol (0.019 ml, 0.211 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.039 g, 0.281 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 66.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.28 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.86-7.79 (m, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38-7.30 (m, 2h), 7.12-6.81 (m, 4h), 5.39-5.35 (m, 2h) ; lrms (es) m/z 342.7 (m + + 1). example 27: synthesis of compound 3720, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-( (m-tolyloxy)methyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.040 g, 0.141 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, m-cresol (0.023 g, 0.211 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.039 g, 0.281 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.037 g, 73.9%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38 (dd, j = 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.27 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (d, j = 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.22 (t, j = 7.8 hz, 1h), 7.12-6.78 (m, 4h), 5.36 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 2.37 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 356.7 (m + + 1). example 28: synthesis of compound 3721, 1-(3-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methoxy)phenyl)ethan-1-one 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.040 g, 0.141 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 1-(3-hydroxyphenyl)ethan-1-one (0.029 g, 0.211 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.039 g, 0.281 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.010 g, 18.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.28 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.19 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.91-7.86 (m, 2h), 7.74 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.50 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.05-6.74 (m, 3h), 5.33 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 2h), 2.50 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 384.8 (m + + 1). example 29: synthesis of compound 3722, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-((3-fluorophenoxy)methyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.040 g, 0.141 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 3-fluorophenol (0.024 g, 0.211 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.039 g, 0.281 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.036 g, 71.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.29 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.83 (t, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.61 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.28 (d, j = 6.9 hz, 1h), 7.11-6.68 (m, 4h), 5.35 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 360.7 (m + + 1). example 30: synthesis of compound 3723, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-((3,4-difluorophenoxy)methyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.040 g, 0.141 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 3,4-difluorophenol (0.027 g, 0.211 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.039 g, 0.281 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 60.2%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.29 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.15-6.73 (m, 4h), 5.30 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 378.7 (m + + 1). example 31: synthesis of compound 3724, 2-(difluoromethyl)-5-(2-((4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy)methyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.040 g, 0.141 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, 4-(trifluoromethyl)phenol (0.034 g, 0.211 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.039 g, 0.281 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.051 g, 88.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33-8.28 (m, 1h), 8.20 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.74 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.52 (ddd, j = 10.9, 8.1, 1.3 hz, 3h), 7.08-6.71 (m, 3h), 5.33 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 410.7 (m + + 1). example 32: synthesis of compound 3725, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-methylaniline 2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.050 g, 0.176 mmol) prepared in step 5 of example 2, n-methylaniline (0.028 g, 0.263 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.263 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.015 g, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; hexane/ethyl acetate = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.051 g, 81.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.15 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.53-7.48 (m, 2h), 7.30-7.23 (m, 2h), 7.10-6.75 (m, 4h), 4.80 (d, j = 0.9 hz, 2h), 3.16 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 355.7 (m + + 1). example 33: synthesis of compound 3782, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-methyl-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 4-(chlorocarbonyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate 1-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)piperidine-4-carboxylic acid (0.200 g, 0.872 mmol) was dissolved in dichloromethane (10 ml), and oxalyl chloride (2.00 m solution, 0.567 ml, 1.134 mmol) and n,n-dimethylformamide (0.007 ml, 0.087 mmol) were added at 0° c. and stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the title compound (0.216 g, 100.0%) was obtained as a yellow solid without further purification. [step 2] synthesis of tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate to a solution in which n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)aniline (0.200 g, 0.586 mmol) prepared in example 14 was dissolved in dichloromethane (20 ml) at 0° c., tert-butyl 4-(chlorocarbonyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (0.189 g, 0.762 mmol) prepared in step 1 and triethylamine (0.245 ml, 1.758 mmol) were added and stirred at room temperature for 16 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.200 g, 61.8%) as a yellow solid. [step 3] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (0.120 g, 0.217 mmol) prepared in step 2 and trifluoroacetic acid (0.333 ml, 4.343 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure, and the title compound (0.098 g, 99.7%) was obtained as a brown gel without further purification. [step 4] synthesis of compound 3782 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.111 mmol) prepared in step 3, formaldehyde (0.007 g, 0.221 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.111 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.070 g, 0.332 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.038 g, 73.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.27-7.21 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 2.89 (s, 2h), 2.25 (s, 4h), 1.93 (q, j = 11.6, 11.0 hz, 3h), 1.71 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 468.1 (m + + 1). example 34: synthesis of compound 3783, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(oxetan-3-yl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.111 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, oxetan-3-one (0.016 g, 0.221 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.111 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.070 g, 0.332 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (3 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.042 g, 74.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (dt, j = 1.6, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.33 (m, 3h), 7.27-7.22 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 4.59 (d, j = 6.6 hz, 4h), 3.38 (s, 1h), 2.70 (s, 2h), 2.25 (d, j = 12.0 hz, 1h), 1.92 (q, j = 11.8, 11.2 hz, 2h), 1.67 (s, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 508.9 (m + + 1). example 35: synthesis of compound 3784, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-methyl-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)aniline (0.200 g, 0.586 mmol) prepared in example 14, triphosgene (0.174 g, 0.586 mmol), and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (0.510 ml, 2.930 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (15 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 10 minutes. then, tert-butyl piperazine-1-carboxylate (0.142 g, 0.762 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 16 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.160 g, 49.3%) as a white solid. [step 2] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate (0.100 g, 0.181 mmol) prepared in step 1 was dissolved in dichloromethane (15 ml), and trifluoroacetic acid (0.277 ml, 3.613 mmol) was added at 0° c. and stirred at room temperature for 16 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and then filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer. after concentration under reduced pressure, the title compound (0.099 g, 96.6%) was obtained as a foam type solid without further purification. [step 3] synthesis of compound 3784 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.110 mmol) prepared in step 2, paraformaldehyde (0.007 g, 0.221 mmol), and acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.110 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. then, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.070 g, 0.331 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 16 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 58.2%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (m, 1h), 8.20 (m, 1h), 7.97 (m, 1h), 7.56-7.54 (m, 1h), 7.39-7.35 (m, 2h), 7.26-7.13 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.32 (m, 4h), 2.36 (m, 4h), 2.29 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 468.3 (m + + 1). example 36: synthesis of compound 3785, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(oxetan-3-yl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.110 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, oxetan-3-one (0.014 ml, 0.221 mmol), and acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.110 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. then, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.070 g, 0.331 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 16 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 49.8%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.58 (m, 1h), 8.19 (m, 1h), 7.96 (s, 1h), 7.55-7.52 (m, 1h), 7.39-7.34 (m, 2h), 7.26-7.13 (m, 4h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 4.63 (m, 2h), 4.52 (m, 2h), 3.41 (m, 1h), 3.32 (m, 4h), 2.17 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 510.1 (m + + 1). example 37: synthesis of compound 4033, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-ethyl-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, acetaldehyde (0.019 g, 0.441 mmol), acetic acid (0.013 ml, 0.221 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.140 g, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.027 g, 25.4%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.98 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38-7.13 (m, 6h), 5.03 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.32-3.27 (m, 4h), 2.38 (q, j = 7.3 hz, 2h), 2.31 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 1.06 (t, j = 7.2 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 482.2 (m + + 1). example 38: synthesis of compound 4034, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-isopropyl-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.110 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, propan-2-one (0.013 g, 0.221 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.110 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.070 g, 0.331 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 54.9%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.22 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.92 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39-7.02 (m, 6h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.30 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 2.65 (p, j = 6.5 hz, 1h), 2.40 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 1.02 (d, j = 6.5 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 496.5 (m + + 1). example 39: synthesis of compound 4035, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one (0.033 g, 0.441 mmol), acetic acid (0.013 ml, 0.221 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.140 g, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.011 g, 9.8%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31-8.27 (m, 1h), 8.20 (dt, j = 7.2, 1.4 hz, 1h), 7.79-7.74 (m, 1h), 7.51 (tt, j = 5.4, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38-7.30 (m, 2h), 7.27-7.21 (m, 2h), 7.20-7.09 (m, 1h), 7.09-6.80 (m, 1h), 5.07 (s, 2h), 3.33 (d, j = 23.0 hz, 4h), 3.24-3.15 (m, 2h), 2.40 (s, 2h), 2.12 (s, 2h), 2.04 (s, 1h), 1.28 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 512.3 (m + + 1). example 40: synthesis of compound 4036, 4-cyclobutyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, cyclobutanone (0.031 g, 0.441 mmol), acetic acid (0.013 ml, 0.221 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.140 g, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 25.0%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (p, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.98 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.40-7.14 (m, 6h), 5.03 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.29 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 2.73-2.66 (m, 1h), 2.18 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 2.06-1.98 (m, 2h), 1.89-1.79 (m, 2h), 1.70 (ddt, j = 12.8, 10.0, 5.7 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 508.3 (m + + 1). example 41: synthesis of compound 4037, 4-cyclohexyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, cyclohexanone (0.043 g, 0.441 mmol), acetic acid (0.013 ml, 0.221 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.140 g, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 26.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.57 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.22-8.20 (m, 1h), 7.96 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.41-7.09 (m, 6h), 5.04-5.01 (m, 2h), 3.29 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 2.43 (t, j = 5.0 hz, 4h), 2.23 (tt, j = 11.9, 3.6 hz, 1h), 1.86-1.74 (m, 4h), 1.63 (dt, j = 12.6, 3.3 hz, 1h), 1.24 (qt, j = 12.9, 3.2 hz, 2h), 1.19-1.07 (m, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 536.2 (m + + 1). example 42: synthesis of compound 4038, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-4-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, tetrahydro-4h-pyran-4-one (0.044 g, 0.441 mmol), acetic acid (0.013 ml, 0.221 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.140 g, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.016 g, 13.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.53 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.23-8.20 (m, 1h), 7.92 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.36 (dd, j = 8.5, 7.4 hz, 2h), 7.29-7.05 (m, 4h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.97 (dd, j = 11.3, 4.4 hz, 2h), 3.36 (td, j = 12.0, 1.9 hz, 2h), 3.31-3.28 (m, 4h), 2.43 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 5h), 1.75 (ddd, j = 12.4, 4.3, 2.1 hz, 2h), 1.47 (qd, j = 12.2, 4.5 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 538.1 (m + + 1). example 43: synthesis of compound 4039, 4-(4,4-difluorocyclohexyl)-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, 4,4-difluorocyclohexan-1-one (0.059 g, 0.441 mmol), acetic acid (0.013 ml, 0.221 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.140 g, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.034 g, 27.0%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.47 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.88 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37-7.32 (m, 2h), 7.25-7.00 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 3.30-3.26 (m, 4h), 2.47-2.27 (m, 5h), 2.08-2.04 (m, 2h), 1.81 (d, j = 13.1 hz, 2h), 1.72 (dddd, j = 30.7, 17.4, 13.1, 4.2 hz, 2h), 1.57-1.49 (m, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 572.3 (m + + 1). example 44: synthesis of compound 4040, 4-acetyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide *461 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, acetyl chloride (0.031 ml, 0.441 mmol), and triethylamine (0.092 ml, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 16.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37 (s, 1h), 8.24 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.59 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.37 (dd, j = 8.4, 7.2 hz, 2h), 7.33-7.28 (m, 2h), 7.21-7.13 (m, 1h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.07 (s, 2h), 3.43 (t, j = 5.3 hz, 2h), 3.30 (s, 4h), 3.23 (t, j = 5.4 hz, 2h), 2.04 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 496.0 (m + + 1). example 45: synthesis of compound 4041, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-4-propionylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, propionyl chloride (0.041 g, 0.441 mmol), and triethylamine (0.092 ml, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.014 g, 12.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.58 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.20 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.00-7.98 (m, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.40-7.14 (m, 6h), 5.06-5.03 (m, 2h), 3.44-3.38 (m, 4h), 3.32-3.24 (m, 4h), 2.35 (q, j = 7.5 hz, 2h), 1.07 (t, j = 7.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 510.3 (m + + 1). example 46: synthesis of compound 4042, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(2-hydroxyacetyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, 2-hydroxyacetyl chloride (0.042 g, 0.441 mmol), and triethylamine (0.092 ml, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.029 g, 25.7%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.42 (s, 1h), 8.26 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.80 (s, 1h), 7.64 (s, 1h), 7.43-7.30 (m, 4h), 7.24-7.16 (m, 1h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.07 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 2h), 4.09 (s, 2h), 3.50 (t, j = 5.3 hz, 2h), 3.29 (d, j = 9.9 hz, 4h), 3.10 (t, j = 5.2 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 513.2 (m + + 1). example 47: synthesis of compound 4043, 4-(cyclobutanecarbonyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, cyclobutanecarbonyl chloride (0.052 g, 0.441 mmol), and triethylamine (0.092 ml, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 25.4%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.02-7.98 (m, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.14 (m, 6h), 5.06-5.03 (m, 2h), 3.42-3.36 (m, 2h), 3.29-3.22 (m, 6h), 2.28-2.17 (m, 3h), 2.14 (ddddd, j = 12.2, 11.0, 8.8, 3.7, 1.8 hz, 2h), 2.02-1.94 (m, 1h), 1.84-1.78 (m, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 537.1 (m + + 1). example 48: synthesis of compound 4044, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-4-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.110 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentane-2,4-dione (0.046 g, 0.221 mmol), and triethylamine (0.046 ml, 0.331 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.041 g, 67.7%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.22 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.00 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.09 (m, 6h), 5.06 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.51 (q, j = 5.3 hz, 4h), 3.36 (dd, j = 6.7, 4.4 hz, 4h) ; lrms (es) m/z 550.4 (m + + 1). example 49: synthesis of compound 4045, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(methylsulfonyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.110 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, methanesulfonyl chloride (0.017 ml, 0.221 mmol), and triethylamine (0.046 ml, 0.331 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 20.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.22 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.99 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.45-7.06 (m, 6h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 2h), 3.39-3.35 (m, 4h), 3.07-3.02 (m, 4h), 2.80 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 532.4 (m + + 1). example 50: synthesis of compound 4046, methyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, methyl carbonochloridate (0.042 g, 0.441 mmol), and triethylamine (0.092 ml, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.034 g, 30.1%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.99 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.11 (m, 6h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.66 (s, 3h), 3.29 (d, j = 5.9 hz, 4h), 3.26 (dd, j = 7.0, 3.5 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 511.8 (m + + 1). example 51: synthesis of compound 4047, n1-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n4,n4-dimethyl-n1-phenylpiperazine-1,4-dicarboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, dimethylcarbamic chloride (0.047 g, 0.441 mmol), and triethylamine (0.092 ml, 0.662 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 24.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.99 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.43-7.07 (m, 6h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.32-3.28 (m, 4h), 3.09-3.05 (m, 4h), 2.81 (s, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 525.0 (m + + 1). example 52: synthesis of compound 4048, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-4-(pyridin-2-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.065 g, 0.143 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, 2-chloropyridine (0.033 g, 0.287 mmol), cesium carbonate (0.093 g, 0.287 mmol), and ruphos palladium g2 (0.006 g, 0.007 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 18 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.011 g, 14.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (s, 1h), 8.24 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.20-8.16 (m, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.53 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.39-7.29 (m, 5h), 7.16 (t, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.74 (s, 2h), 5.10 (d, j = 2.3 hz, 2h), 3.45 (s, 6h), 1.63 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 531.4 (m + + 1). example 53: synthesis of compound 4049, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-4-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.100 g, 0.221 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, 2-chloropyrimidine (0.051 g, 0.441 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.061 g, 0.441 mmol) were dissolved in acetonitrile (2 ml)/n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.015 g, 12.8%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.56 (d, j = 7.0 hz, 1h), 8.31-8.23 (m, 2h), 7.97 (d, j = 9.4 hz, 1h), 7.76-7.73 (m, 1h), 7.59 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.40-7.08 (m, 6h), 6.58 (t, j = 4.8 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.66-3.62 (m, 4h), 3.36-3.34 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 532.0 (m + + 1). example 54: synthesis of compound 4083, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methylpiperazine-1-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-3-fluoroaniline (0.200 g, 0.557 mmol) prepared in example 16, tert-butyl piperazine-1-carboxylate (0.135 g, 0.724 mmol), triphosgene (0.165 g, 0.557 mmol), and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (0.485 ml, 2.783 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (15 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at 0° c. for 1 hour and further stirred at room temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 40 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 60%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.240 g, 75.4%) as a white solid. [step 2] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate (2.000 g, 3.499 mmol) prepared in step 1, and trifluoroacetic acid (5.359 ml, 69.984 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (30 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure, and the title compound (1.650 g, 100.0%) was obtained as a brown gel without further purification. [step 3] synthesis of compound 4083 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2, formaldehyde (0.010 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 21.8%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.22 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.99 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (td, j = 8.4, 6.6 hz, 1h), 7.26 (t, j = 51.6 hz, 1h), 7.09-7.03 (m, 2h), 6.90 (tdd, j = 8.3, 2.5, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.32 (s, 2h), 3.28-3.25 (m, 2h), 2.31 (t, j = 5.0 hz, 4h), 2.25 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 486.1 (m + + 1). example 55: synthesis of compound 4084, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-ethyl-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, acetaldehyde (0.015 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.022 g, 26.0%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.99 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (td, j = 8.3, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.27 (t, j = 51.6 hz, 1h), 7.09-7.04 (m, 2h), 6.90 (tdd, j = 8.4, 2.4, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.33 (dd, j = 3.6, 2.0 hz, 4h), 2.40 (q, j = 7.2 hz, 2h), 2.35 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 1.07 (t, j = 7.2 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 500.1 (m + + 1). example 56: synthesis of compound 4085, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-isopropylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, propan-2-one (0.020 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 27.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.22 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.99 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (td, j = 8.3, 6.6 hz, 1h), 7.27 (t, j = 51.6 hz, 1h), 7.08-7.04 (m, 2h), 6.90 (tdd, j = 8.4, 2.4, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.33-3.31 (m, 4h), 2.65 (p, j = 6.5 hz, 1h), 2.42 (t, j = 5.1 hz, 4h), 1.03 (d, j = 6.5 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 514.4 (m + + 1). example 57: synthesis of compound 4086, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one (0.025 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.022 g, 24.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.00 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.36 (td, j = 8.3, 6.6 hz, 1h), 7.26 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 7.08-7.03 (m, 2h), 6.92-6.86 (m, 1h), 5.04 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.53 (dd, j = 11.1, 6.8 hz, 1h), 3.41 (dd, j = 11.2, 5.6 hz, 1h), 3.33-3.30 (m, 4h), 2.65 (td, j = 6.8, 5.7 hz, 1h), 2.50 (ddd, j = 10.6, 6.3, 3.8 hz, 2h), 2.43 (ddd, j = 10.9, 6.3, 4.2 hz, 2h), 0.96 (d, j = 6.7 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 530.1 (m + + 1). example 58: synthesis of compound 4087, 4-cyclobutyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, cyclobutanone (0.024 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.025 g, 28.0%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.24-8.21 (m, 1h), 7.94 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.34 (td, j = 8.4, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.20 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 7.05-6.99 (m, 2h), 6.90-6.85 (m, 1h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.31 (d, j = 7.4 hz, 4h), 2.74 (s, 1h), 2.24 (s, 4h), 2.06-2.00 (m, 2h), 1.90-1.79 (m, 2h), 1.71 (dtd, j = 15.6, 10.8, 10.3, 8.2 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 526.1 (m + + 1). example 59: synthesis of compound 4088, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(oxetan-3-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, oxetan-3-one (0.024 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol .) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.019 g, 21.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.94 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.34 (td, j = 8.4, 6.4 hz, 1h), 7.20 (t, j = 51.6 hz, 1h), 7.05-6.99 (m, h), 6.88 (tdd, j = 8.3, 2.5, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.05-4.98 (m, 2h), 4.66 (t, j = 6.7 hz, 2h), 4.55 (t, j = 6.2 hz, 2h), 3.47 (s, 1h), 3.36-3.34 (m, 4h), 2.24 (s, 4h) ; lrms (es) m/z 529.2 (m + + 1) . example 60: synthesis of compound 4089, 4-cyclohexyl-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, cyclohexanone (0.033 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 19.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (t, j = 1.1 hz, 1h), 7.94 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.34 (td, j = 8.5, 6.7 hz, 1h), 7.20 (t, j = 51.6 hz, 1h), 7.07-6.95 (m, 2h), 6.87 (ddd, j = 9.5, 8.0, 2.5 hz, 1h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.32 (s, 4h), 2.50 (s, 4h), 2.28 (s, 1h), 1.84 (d, j = 11.2 hz, 2h), 1.82-1.76 (m, 2h), 1.64 (d, j = 12.6 hz, 1h), 1.24 (ddd, j = 16.0, 11.2, 3.2 hz, 2h), 1.21-1.13 (m, 2h), 1.11 (dt, j = 12.9, 3.6 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 554.4 (m + + 1). example 61: synthesis of compound 4090, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, tetrahydro-4h-pyran-4-one (0.034 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 29.7%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.53 (dt, j = 6.8, 3.2 hz, 1h), 8.23 (s, 1h), 7.93 (d, j = 2.5 hz, 1h), 7.56 (d, j = 7.0 hz, 1h), 7.34 (q, j = 7.8 hz, 1h), 7.18 (tt, j = 51.7, 2.9 hz, 1h), 7.02 (t, j = 10.6 hz, 2h), 6.87 (td, j = 8.3, 2.6 hz, 1h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 4.00-3.96 (m, 2h), 3.41-3.32 (m, 7h), 2.48 (s, 4h), 1.77 (d, j = 12.5 hz, 2h), 1.50 (dd, j = 12.2, 4.3 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 556.1 (m + + 1). example 62: synthesis of compound 4091, 4-(4,4-difluorocyclohexyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 4,4-difluorocyclohexan-1-one (0.046 g, 0.339 mmol), acetic acid (0.010 ml, 0.170 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.108 g, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 30.0%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.28 (s, 1h), 8.21 (d, j = 7.0 hz, 1h), 7.75 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.53 (d, j = 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.32 (d, j = 7.8 hz, 1h), 7.09-6.78 (m, 4h), 5.07 (s, 2h), 4.01-3.87 (m, 1h), 3.30 (s, 2h), 2.40 (s, 3h), 2.23-2.05 (m, 3h), 1.98-1.83 (m, 4h), 1.76 (dt, j = 12.3, 6.3 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 590.3 (m + + 1). example 63: synthesis of compound 4092, 4-acetyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, acetyl chloride (0.024 ml, 0.339 mmol), and triethylamine (0.071 ml, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.037 g, 42.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (s, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.32 (td, j = 8.2, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.13-6.79 (m, 4h), 5.07 (s, 2h), 3.47 (dd, j = 6.6, 4.0 hz, 2h), 3.33 (s, 4h), 3.26-3.22 (m, 2h), 2.05 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 514.3 (m + + 1). example 64: synthesis of compound 4093, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-propionylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, propionyl chloride (0.031 g, 0.339 mmol), and triethylamine (0.071 ml, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 34.6%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.21 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.02-7.99 (m, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (td, j = 8.2, 6.4 hz, 1h), 7.27 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 7.13-7.06 (m, 2h), 6.91 (tdd, j = 8.4, 2.5, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.06 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.49-3.42 (m, 4h), 3.35-3.34 (m, 2h), 3.30-3.27 (m, 2h), 2.37 (q, j = 7.5 hz, 2h), 1.08 (t, j = 7.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 528.1 (m + + 1). example 65: synthesis of compound 4094, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(2-hydroxyacetyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 2-hydroxyacetyl chloride (0.032 g, 0.339 mmol), and triethylamine (0.071 ml, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.014 g, 15.6%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.01 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.2, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.26 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 7.13-7.06 (m, 2h), 6.92 (tdd, j = 8.3, 2.5, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.06 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 4.19 (s, 2h), 3.74 (p, j = 6.6 hz, 1h), 3.48 (t, j = 5.3 hz, 2h), 3.26-3.19 (m, 1h), 1.39 (d, j = 6.7 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 530.0 (m + + 1). example 66: synthesis of compound 4095, 4-(cyclobutanecarbonyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, cyclobutanecarbonyl chloride (0.040 g, 0.339 mmol), and triethylamine (0.071 ml, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.027 g, 28.7%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.24-8.21 (m, 1h), 8.01 (s, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.37 (td, j = 8.2, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.26 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 7.13-7.06 (m, 2h), 6.92 (tdd, j = 8.4, 2.5, 0.9 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.46-3.43 (m, 2h), 3.37 (td, j = 8.7, 1.1 hz, 1h), 3.32 (s, 1h), 3.30-3.26 (m, 4h), 2.28-2.19 (m, 3h), 2.17-2.10 (m, 2h), 2.04-1.95 (m, 1h), 1.84-1.78 (m, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 553.9 (m + + 1). example 67: synthesis of compound 4096, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentane-2,4-dione (0.044 g, 0.212 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.318 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.038 g, 63.1%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.59 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 1.6, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.01 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.42-6.86 (m, 5h), 5.07 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 2h), 3.56 (q, j = 5.0 hz, 4h), 3.38 (td, j = 7.2, 6.2, 4.0 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 568.4 (m + + 1). example 68: synthesis of compound 4097, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(methylsulfonyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, methanesulfonyl chloride (0.016 ml, 0.212 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.318 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.015 g, 25.7%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.60 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.01 (d, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.46-6.87 (m, 5h), 5.06 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 2h), 3.43-3.36 (m, 4h), 3.13-3.06 (m, 4h), 2.81 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 550.4 (m + + 1). example 69: synthesis of compound 4098, methyl 4-(((7-(5- (difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, methyl carbonochloridate (0.032 g, 0.339 mmol), and triethylamine (0.071 ml, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 35.6%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.96 (s, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.35 (td, j = 8.4, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.20 (t, j = 51.6 hz, 1h), 7.07-7.02 (m, 2h), 6.92-6.86 (m, 1h), 5.05-5.02 (m, 2h), 3.67 (s, 3h), 3.36-3.34 (m, 4h), 3.28 (dd, j = 6.6, 3.7 hz, 4h) ; lrms (es) m/z 531.3 (m + + 1). example 70: synthesis of compound 4099, n1-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n1-(3-fluorophenyl)-n4,n4-dimethylpiperazine-1,4-dicarboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, dimethylcarbamic chloride (0.036 g, 0.339 mmol), and triethylamine (0.071 ml, 0.509 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 19.6%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.58-8.55 (m, 1h), 8.26-8.24 (m, 1h), 7.97 (s, 1h), 7.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.36 (td, j = 8.4, 6.4 hz, 1h), 7.20 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 7.06-7.02 (m, 2h), 6.89 (tdd, j = 8.3, 2.4, 1.0 hz, 1h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 3.32-3.30 (m, 4h), 3.12-3.10 (m, 4h), 2.82 (s, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 542.9 (m + + 1). example 71: synthesis of compound 4100, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(pyridin-2-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.066 g, 0.140 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 2-chloropyridine (0.032 g, 0.280 mmol), cesium carbonate (0.091 g, 0.280 mmol), and ruphos palladium g2 (0.005 g, 0.007 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 18 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.014 g, 18.2%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (s, 1h), 8.25 (d, j = 7.0 hz, 1h), 8.21-8.17 (m, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.59-7.52 (m, 1h), 7.42 (ddt, j = 10.9, 7.4, 1.6 hz, 1h), 7.36-7.29 (m, 1h), 7.14-6.79 (m, 5h), 6.61 (d, j = 8.3 hz, 1h), 5.10 (s, 2h), 3.55 (d, j = 57.6 hz, 6h), 1.80-1.56 (m, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 549.4 (m + + 1). example 72: synthesis of compound 4101, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.080 g, 0.170 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 2-chloropyrimidine (0.039 g, 0.339 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.047 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in acetonitrile (2 ml)/n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.015 g, 16.1%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.50 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.8 hz, 1h), 8.28 (d, j = 4.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 7.93 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.34 (td, j = 8.1, 6.4 hz, 1h), 7.15 (td, j = 51.7, 2.0 hz, 1h), 7.07-7.02 (m, 2h), 6.87 (td, j = 8.3, 2.4 hz, 1h), 6.57 (t, j = 4.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.70-3.66 (m, 4h), 3.40-3.35 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 550.2 (m + + 1). example 73: synthesis of compound 4102, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-4-(oxetan-3-carbonyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.110 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 35, oxetane-3-carboxylic acid (0.023 g, 0.221 mmol), 1-[bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-1h-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b]pyridinium 3-oxide hexafluorophosphate (hatu, 0.050 g, 0.132 mmol), and triethylamine (0.043 ml, 0.331 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.015 g, 25.3%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.34-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dt, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.77 (dd, j = 5.3, 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.36 (tt, j = 7.4, 1.9 hz, 2h), 7.28-7.25 (m, 2h), 7.21-7.13 (m, 1h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.07 (d, j = 3.3 hz, 2h), 4.85 (dd, j = 7.1, 5.9 hz, 1h), 4.76 (dd, j = 8.7, 5.9 hz, 1h), 3.44 (dt, j = 10.2, 5.4 hz, 2h), 3.31 (s, 2h), 3.24 (ddt, j = 10.3, 7.4, 3.5 hz, 4h), 3.01 (t, j = 5.3 hz, 1h), 2.04 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 538.5 (m + + 1). example 74: synthesis of compound 4103, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-(oxetan-3-carbonyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, oxetane-3-carboxylic acid (0.022 g, 0.212 mmol), 1-[bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-1h-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b]pyridinium 3-oxide hexafluorophosphate (hatu, 0.048 g, 0.127 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.318 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 40.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (dd, j = 1.7, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.76 (dd, j = 4.5, 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.8 hz, 1h), 7.32 (tdd, j = 8.5, 6.6, 2.0 hz, 1h), 7.11-6.79 (m, 4h), 5.07 (d, j = 3.0 hz, 2h), 4.87 (dd, j = 7.1, 5.9 hz, 1h), 4.77 (dd, j = 8.7, 6.0 hz, 1h), 3.48 (dt, j = 10.5, 5.4 hz, 2h), 3.34 (s, 2h), 3.31-3.16 (m, 4h), 3.05 (t, j = 5.3 hz, 1h), 2.06 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 556.5 (m + + 1). example 75: synthesis of compound 4115, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-ethyl-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.088 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, acetaldehyde (0.010 ml, 0.177 mmol), and acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (0.5 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. then, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.056 g, 0.265 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.003 g, 7.8%) as a yellow gel. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 0.9, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 1.8, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.27-7.21 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 3.09 (s, 2h), 2.55 (s, 2h), 2.41 (s, 1h), 2.02 (s, 1h), 1.97 (d, j = 10.3 hz, 3h), 1.80 (s, 2h), 1.28 (s, 1h), 1.15 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 481.3 (m + + 1). example 76: synthesis of compound 4116, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-isopropyl-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.024 g, 0.053 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, propan-2-one (0.006 g, 0.106 mmol), and acetic acid (0.003 ml, 0.053 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. then, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.034 g, 0.159 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.006 g, 22.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, meod) δ 8.58 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 0.8, 1.8 hz, 1h), 7.94-7.89 (m, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.38 (m, 3h), 7.32-7.27 (m, 2h), 5.11 (s, 2h), 3.40 (d, j = 12.2 hz, 2h), 2.78 (s, 2h), 2.65 (d, j = 11.8 hz, 1h), 2.12-2.05 (m, 2h), 2.04-1.99 (m, 2h), 1.96 (s, 1h), 1.27 (d, j = 6.7 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 495.4 (m + + 1). example 77: synthesis of compound 4117, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.088 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one (0.012 m, 0.177 mmol), acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.088 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.056 g, 0.265 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.009 g, 19.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (s, 1h), 8.24 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.74 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 5.8, 8.3 hz, 3h), 7.26-7.18 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 3.71 (dd, j = 4.2, 12.2 hz, 1h), 3.48 (dd, j = 8.6, 12.0 hz, 1h), 3.30 (s, 1h), 3.14 (s, 2h), 2.80 (s, 1h), 2.50 (d, j = 26.3 hz, 2h), 2.05 (s, 2h), 1.97-1.82 (m, 2h), 1.06 (d, j = 6.7 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 510.55 (m + + 1). example 78: synthesis of compound 4118, 1-cyclobutyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.088 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, cyclobutanone (0.013 ml, 0.177 mmol), and acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (0.5 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. then, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.056 g, 0.265 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 27.2%) as a pale red solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (s, 1h), 8.24 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.74 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 5.8, 8.3 hz, 3h), 7.26-7.18 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 3.71 (dd, j = 4.2, 12.2 hz, 1h), 3.48 (dd, j = 8.6, 12.0 hz, 1h), 3.30 (s, 1h), 3.14 (s, 2h), 2.80 (s, 1h), 2.50 (d, j = 26.3 hz, 2h), 2.05 (s, 2h), 1.97-1.82 (m, 2h), 1.06 (d, j = 6.7 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 507.3 (m + + 1). example 79: synthesis of compound 4119, 1-cyclohexyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.088 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, cyclohexanone (0.018 ml, 0.177 mmol), and acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.088 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (0.5 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 1 hour. then, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.056 g, 0.265 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.004 g, 7.6%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.58 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.25-8.22 (m, 1h), 7.92 (s, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.31-7.15 (m, 3h), 5.10 (s, 2h), 2.84 (s, 1h), 2.58 (dd, j = 12.7, 22.7 hz, 3h), 2.11-1.81 (m, 8h), 1.68 (d, j = 13.0 hz, 1h), 1.41-1.31 (m, 5h), 1.20 (dd, j = 11.7, 23.7 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 535.3 (m + + 1). example 80: synthesis of compound 4120, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.111 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, tetrahydro-4h-pyran-4-one (0.020 ml, 0.221 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.111 mmol) and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.070 g, 0.332 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 20.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31-8.28 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.32 (m, 3h), 7.27-7.20 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 3.99 (dd, j = 4.2, 11.4 hz, 2h), 3.34 (td, j = 2.0, 11.8 hz, 2h), 2.92 (s, 2h), 2.34 (d, j = 64.4 hz, 2h), 1.88 (d, j = 14.6 hz, 4h), 1.76-1.48 (m, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 537.3 (m + + 1). example 81: synthesis of compound 4121, 1-(4,4-difluorocyclohexyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.088 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, 4,4-difluorocyclohexan-1-one (0.024 g, 0.177 mmol), acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.088 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.056 g, 0.265 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.014 g, 28.2%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (s, 1h), 8.23 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 1.8, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.32 (m, 3h), 7.27-7.19 (m, 2h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 3.93 (dt, j = 3.5, 7.0 hz, 1h), 2.85 (s, 2h), 2.41-1.51 (m, 15h); lrms (es) m/z 571.4 (m + + 1). example 82: synthesis of compound 4122, 1-acetyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, acetyl chloride (0.031 ml, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.038 ml, 0.272 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 26.6%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (s, 1h), 8.23 (d, j = 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.54 (d, j = 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.41 (dq, j = 7.0, 13.7 hz, 3h), 7.31-7.22 (m, 3h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.14-4.95 (m, 2h), 4.53 (d, j = 13.3 hz, 1h), 3.77 (d, j = 13.5 hz, 1h), 2.84 (t, j = 13.0 hz, 1h), 2.49 (d, j = 11.1 hz, 1h), 2.34 (t, j = 12.4 hz, 1h), 2.06 (s, 3h), 1.75 (dd, j = 14.2, 49.2 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 494.9 (m + + 1). example 83: synthesis of compound 4123, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-propionylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, propionyl chloride (0.017 g, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.038 ml, 0.272 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.023 g, 49.0%) as an orange solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32-8.26 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j= 0.9, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.33 (m, 3h), 7.29-7.21 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.10-4.95 (m, 2h), 4.55 (d, j = 13.4 hz, 1h), 3.81 (d, j = 13.6 hz, 1h), 2.84-2.74 (m, 1h), 2.50 (ddt, j = 4.3, 10.3, 15.0 hz, 1h), 2.31 (pd, j = 4.1, 7.5, 8.6 hz, 3h), 1.85-1.59 (m, 4h), 1.12 (t, j = 7.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 509.2 (m + + 1). example 84: synthesis of compound 4124, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(2-hydroxyacetyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, 2-hydroxyacetic acid (0.014 g, 0.181 mmol), triethylamine (0.038 ml, 0.272 mmol), and 1-[bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-1h-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b]pyridinium 3-oxide hexafluorophosphate (hatu, 0.052 g, 0.136 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 25.5%) as an orange solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 0.9, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.38 (m, 3h), 7.27 (d, j = 7.7 hz, 3h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.03 (d, j = 2.9 hz, 2h), 4.48 (d, j = 13.3 hz, 1h), 4.18-4.03 (m, 2h), 3.62 (s, 1h), 3.47 (d, j = 13.7 hz, 1h), 2.83-2.72 (m, 1h), 2.54 (td, j = 4.1, 10.1, 10.5 hz, 2h), 1.85-1.64 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 511.3 (m + + 1). example 85: synthesis of compound 4125, 1-(cyclobutanecarbonyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, cyclobutanecarbonyl chloride (0.021 g, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.038 ml, 0.272 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 40.9%) as an orange gel. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (dt, j = 0.8, 1.7 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.35 (m, 3h), 7.28-7.24 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.10-4.95 (m, 2h), 4.52 (d, j = 13.6 hz, 1h), 3.66 (d, j = 13.4 hz, 1h), 3.25-3.15 (m, 1h), 2.71 (t, j = 11.7 hz, 1h), 2.48 (ddt, j = 4.4, 10.4, 15.0 hz, 1h), 2.39-2.25 (m, 4h), 2.19-2.03 (m, 1h), 1.99-1.79 (m, 2h), 1.77-1.61 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 535.1 (m + + 1). example 86: synthesis of compound 4126, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(oxetan-3-carbonyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.111 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, oxetane-3-carboxylic acid (0.023 g, 0.221 mmol), 1-[bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-1h-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b]pyridinium 3-oxide hexafluorophosphate (hatu, 0.063 g, 0.166 mmol), and triethylamine (0.043 ml, 0.332 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.007 g, 12.0%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (s, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.48-7.35 (m, 3h), 7.30-7.23 (m, 2h), 7.02 (d, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.03 (d, j = 4.3 hz, 2h), 4.93 (dd, j = 5.9, 7.2 hz, 1h), 4.85 (dd, j = 5.9, 7.2 hz, 1h), 4.76 (ddd, j = 5.8, 8.7, 10.1 hz, 2h), 4.52 (d, j = 13.4 hz, 1h), 3.96 (tt, j = 7.2, 8.7 hz, 1h), 3.30 (d, j = 13.6 hz, 1h), 2.78-2.70 (m, 1h), 2.50 (dq, j = 4.8, 10.1 hz, 1h), 2.46-2.38 (m, 1h), 1.75-1.62 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 537.2 (m + + 1). example 87: synthesis of compound 4127, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, 2,2,2-trifluoroacetic anhydride (0.025 ml, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.038 ml, 0.272 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 40.0%) as a pale red solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33-8.26 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 0.9, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.43 (ddd, j = 5.9, 7.9, 10.5 hz, 3h), 7.28 (d, j = 6.2 hz, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 4.45-4.33 (m, 1h), 3.97 (d, j = 14.0 hz, 1h), 3.01-2.88 (m, 1h), 2.72-2.53 (m, 2h), 1.94-1.65 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 549.3 (m + + 1). example 88: synthesis of compound 4128, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(methylsulfonyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, methanesulfonyl chloride (0.014 ml, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.038 ml, 0.272 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.008 g, 15.6%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (s, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.48-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.28-7.25 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 3.74 (dd, j = 6.0, 10.1 hz, 2h), 2.74 (s, 3h), 2.54 (td, j = 2.9, 11.9 hz, 2h), 2.43-2.34 (m, 1h), 2.00-1.86 (m, 2h), 1.75 (dd, j = 3.6, 13.6 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 531.1 (m + + 1). example 89: synthesis of compound 4129, methyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, methyl carbonochloridate (0.017 g, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.025 ml, 0.181 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 43.7%) as a pale orange solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (dt, j = 0.9, 1.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 0.9, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.35 (m, 3h), 7.26-7.23 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 4.09 (s, 2h), 3.67 (s, 3h), 2.53 (s, 2h), 2.43 (tt, j = 3.8, 11.2 hz, 1h), 1.76 (qd, j = 4.4, 11.9, 12.4 hz, 2h), 1.62 (d, j = 12.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 511.1 (m + + 1). example 90: synthesis of compound 4130, n4-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n1,n1-dimethyl-n4-phenylpiperidine-1,4-dicarboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, dimethylcarbamic chloride (0.019 g, 0.181 mmol), and triethylamine (0.025 ml, 0.181 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 51.4%) as a red gel. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (dt, j = 0.8, 1.7 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.40 (dddd, j = 2.3, 4.6, 6.8, 11.7 hz, 3h), 7.27-7.23 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.59 (dd, j = 3.8, 13.3 hz, 2h), 2.79 (s, 6h), 2.44 (dtd, j = 5.1, 11.5, 12.2, 16.5 hz, 3h), 1.82 (qd, j = 4.0, 12.6 hz, 2h), 1.64 (dd, j = 3.5, 13.7 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 524.4 (m + + 1). example 91: synthesis of compound 4131, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.025 g, 0.055 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, 2-bromopyridine (0.017 g, 0.111 mmol), cesium carbonate (0.036 g, 0.111 mmol), and ruphos palladium g2 (0.002 g, 0.003 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (0.5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 120° c. for 18 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.006 g, 19.1%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (p, j = 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.15 (ddd, j = 0.9, 2.0, 4.9 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.48-7.37 (m, 4h), 7.31-7.26 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.63-6.55 (m, 2h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 4.25 (d, j = 13.1 hz, 2h), 2.57 (dt, j = 11.9, 34.6 hz, 3h), 1.90 (qd, j = 4.2, 12.7 hz, 2h), 1.73 (d, j = 13.1 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 530.3 (m + + 1). example 92: synthesis of compound 4132, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylpiperidine-4-carboxamide (0.041 g, 0.091 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 33, 2-chloropyrimidine (0.021 g, 0.181 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.038 g, 0.272 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (0.5 ml)/acetonitrile (0.5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.022 g, 45.6%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29-8.25 (m, 3h), 8.22 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.52 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.29-7.26 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.44 (t, j = 4.7 hz, 1h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 4.71 (dt, j = 3.4, 13.5 hz, 2h), 2.70-2.52 (m, 3h), 1.83 (dq, j = 5.8, 7.6, 19.8 hz, 2h), 1.70 (dd, j = 3.6, 13.9 hz, 2h) ; lrms (es) m/z 531.3 (m + + 1). example 93: synthesis of compound 4137, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-methylpiperidine-4-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 4-(chlorocarbonyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate 1-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)piperidine-4-carboxylic acid (1,000 g, 4.361 mmol), oxalyl chloride (2.00 m solution dry, in dcm, 2.835 ml, 5.670 mmol), and n,n-dimethylformamide (0.034 ml, 0.436 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (25 ml) at 0° c., and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the title compound (1.080 g, 100.0%) was obtained as a yellow solid without further purification. [step 2] synthesis of tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-3-fluoroaniline (1.000 g, 2.783 mmol) prepared in example 16, tert-butyl 4-(chlorocarbonyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (1.034 g, 4.175 mmol), and triethylamine (1.164 ml, 8.349 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (15 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an aqueous n-ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 24 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 90%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.680 g, 42.8%) as a pale orange solid. [step 3] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate (1,000 g, 1.753 mmol) prepared in step 2, and trifluoroacetic acid (2.684 ml, 35.053 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (30 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure, and the title compound (0.824 g, 99.9%) was obtained as a brown gel without further purification. [step 4] synthesis of compound 4137 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3, formaldehyde (35.00 %, 0.022 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 38.8%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (d, j = 1.7 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (td, j = 8.1, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.12-6.86 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 2.92-2.80 (m, 2h), 2.29-2.16 (m, 5h), 1.94-1.86 (m, 2h), 1.82-1.72 (m, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 485.3 (m + + 1). example 94: synthesis of compound 4138, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-ethyl-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, acetaldehyde (0.011 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 48.8%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (ddd, j = 7.1, 2.9, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (d, j = 8.3 hz, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.40 (tdd, j = 8.2, 6.3, 1.8 hz, 1h), 7.13-6.80 (m, 4h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.00 (s, 1h), 2.50-2.21 (m, 3h), 1.99-1.62 (m, 7h), 1.12 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 499.3 (m + + 1). example 95: synthesis of compound 4139, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-isopropylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, propan-2-one (0.015 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 27.5%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.13-6.85 (m, 4h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 2.86 (s, 2h), 2.68 (s, 1h), 2.29-2.19 (m, 1h), 1.91 (s, 4h), 1.66 (s, 2h), 1.00 (s, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 512.9 (m + + 1). example 96: synthesis of compound 4140, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one (0.019 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.019 g, 28.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.12 (dt, j = 8.3, 4.6 hz, 1h), 7.09-7.04 (m, 2h), 7.04-6.88 (m, 1h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.40 (d, j = 64.6 hz, 3h), 2.98-2.69 (m, 3h), 1.96 (d, j = 11.2 hz, 2h), 1.84 (s, 2h), 0.93-0.80 (m, 5h); lrms (es) m/z 529.3 (m + + 1). example 97: synthesis of compound 4141, 1-cyclobutyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, cyclobutanone (0.018 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol ) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.022 g, 32.9%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.29 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.10 (dt, j = 8.7, 4.7 hz, 1h), 7.07-6.87 (m, 3h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 2.87 (s, 2h), 2.61 (s, 1h), 2.30-2.19 (m, 1h), 1.98 (s, 2h), 1.90 (d, j = 10.9 hz, 4h), 1.65 (s, 4h), 1.56-1.44 (m, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 525.2 (m + + 1). example 98: synthesis of compound 4142, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(oxetan-3-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, oxetan-3-one (0.018 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 47.7%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (dd, j = 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.40 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.15-7.09 (m, 1h), 7.09-6.84 (m, 3h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 4.61 (s, 4h), 3.40 (s, 1h), 2.73 (s, 2h), 2.34-2.21 (m, 1h), 1.93 (d, j = 12.2 hz, 2h), 1.66 (s, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 527.0 (m + + 1). example 99: synthesis of compound 4143, 1-cyclohexyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, cyclohexanone (0.025 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.014 g, 19.9%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32-8.26 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.13-6.85 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 2.92 (s, 2h), 2.35-2.19 (m, 2h), 2.10-1.95 (m, 2h), 1.92-1.73 (m, 8h), 1.61 (d, j = 13.1 hz, 2h), 1.21 (d, j = 14.6 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 553.1 (m + + 1). example 100: synthesis of compound 4144, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, tetrahydro-4h-pyran-4-one (0.026 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.016 g, 22.6%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33-8.27 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.83-7.74 (m, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.40 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.10 (ddd, j = 8.4, 5.5, 2.2 hz, 1h), 7.09-6.86 (m, 3h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 4.04-3.95 (m, 2h), 3.35 (t, j = 11.7 hz, 2h), 2.93 (s, 2h), 2.45 (d, j = 22.4 hz, 1h), 2.31-2.20 (m, 1h), 1.89 (d, j = 10.6 hz, 4h), 1.67 (s, 4h), 1.56 (d, j = 11.5 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 555.3 (m + + 1). example 101: synthesis of compound 4145, 1-(4,4-difluorocyclohexyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 4,4-difluorocyclohexan-1-one (0.034 g, 0.255 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.128 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.081 g, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.026 g, 34.6%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31-8.27 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (td, j = 8.1, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.15-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 2.87 (s, 2h), 2.36 (s, 1h), 2.30-2.21 (m, 1h), 2.10 (d, j = 11.6 hz, 2h), 1.96 (s, 2h), 1.92-1.54 (m, 10h); lrms (es) m/z 589.2 (m + + 1). example 102: synthesis of compound 4146, 1-acetyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, acetyl chloride (0.018 ml, 0.255 mmol), and triethylamine (0.053 ml, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.021 g, 32.1%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.46 (s, 1h), 8.34-8.26 (m, 1h), 7.82 (s, 1h), 7.69 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.45 (td, j = 8.2, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.17-7.13 (m, 2h), 7.12-7.09 (m, 1h), 6.97 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 4.55 (d, j = 13.6 hz, 1h), 3.80 (d, j = 13.6 hz, 1h), 2.88 (t, j = 13.8 hz, 1h), 2.53 (d, j = 11.2 hz, 1h), 2.44-2.34 (m, 1h), 2.07 (s, 3h), 1.84-1.63 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 513.0 (m + + 1). example 103: synthesis of compound 4147, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-propionylpiperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, propionyl chloride (0.024 g, 0.255 mmol), and triethylamine (0.053 ml, 0.383 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.010 g, 14.9%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (700 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (s, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.6 hz, 1h), 7.42 (td, j = 8.1, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.16-7.05 (m, 3h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.08-4.94 (m, 2h), 4.57 (dd, j = 11.2, 6.8 hz, 1h), 3.83 (d, j = 13.7 hz, 1h), 2.88-2.74 (m, 1h), 2.52 (td, j = 11.8, 11.0, 5.7 hz, 1h), 2.33 (dddd, j = 23.0, 17.7, 15.3, 10.0 hz, 4h), 1.83-1.74 (m, 1h), 1.74-1.61 (m, 2h), 1.13 (t, j = 7.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 527.0 (m + + 1). example 104: synthesis of compound 4149, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(2-hydroxyacetyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.128 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 2-hydroxyacetyl chloride (0.024 g, 0.255 mmol), 1-[bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-1h-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b]pyridinium 3-oxide hexafluorophosphate (hatu, 0.097 g, 0.255 mmol), and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.255 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.017 g, 25.2%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.42 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.16-6.78 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 4.48 (d, j = 13.7 hz, 1h), 4.18-4.01 (m, 2h), 3.48 (d, j = 13.7 hz, 1h), 2.86-2.73 (m, 1h), 2.63-2.44 (m, 2h), 1.84 - 1.62 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 529.0 (m + + 1). example 105: synthesis of compound 4150, 1-(cyclobutanecarbonyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-sulfonamide (0.050 g, 0.099 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, cyclobutanecarbonyl chloride (0.023 g, 0.197 mmol), and triethylamine (0.041 ml, 0.296 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated, and then the obtained product was again purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/1%-dichloromethane aqueous solution = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.011 g, 20.0%) as a yellow gel. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dt, j = 1.2, 7.0 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 6.3, 8.3 hz, 1h), 7.16-6.80 (m, 4h), 5.01 (d, j = 3.4 hz, 2h), 4.53 (d, j = 13.3 hz, 1h), 3.68 (d, j = 13.6 hz, 1h), 3.21 (p, j = 8.5 hz, 1h), 2.74 (t, j = 12.7 hz, 1h), 2.48 (d, j = 12.2 hz, 1h), 2.34 (ddd, j = 9.3, 11.8, 20.7 hz, 3h), 2.12 (ddt, j = 3.6, 8.2, 11.8 hz, 2h), 2.00-1.59 (m, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 553.4 (m + + 1). example 106: synthesis of compound 4151, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(oxetane-3-carbonyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, oxetane-3-carboxylic acid (0.022 g, 0.213 mmol), 1-[bis(dimethylamino)methylene]-1h-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b]pyridinium 3-oxide hexafluorophosphate (hatu, 0.061 g, 0.159 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.319 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated, and then the obtained product was again purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/1%-dichloromethane aqueous solution = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.016 g, 27.3%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.34-8.28 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.42 (td, j = 6.2, 8.2 hz, 1h), 7.16-6.82 (m, 4h), 5.01 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 2h), 4.93 (dd, j = 5.9, 7.2 hz, 1h), 4.86 (dd, j = 5.9, 7.2 hz, 1h), 4.77 (td, j = 5.9, 8.6 hz, 2h), 4.53 (d, j = 13.4 hz, 1h), 4.01-3.91 (m, 1h), 3.31 (d, j = 13.5 hz, 1h), 2.77 (t, j = 11.9 hz, 1h), 2.56-2.38 (m, 2h), 1.71 (d, j = 18.8 hz, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 555.4 (m + + 1). example 107: synthesis of compound 4152, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 2,2,2-trifluoroacetic anhydride (0.045 g, 0.213 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.319 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 33.6%) as a brown solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33-8.28 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.43 (td, j = 6.3, 8.3 hz, 1h), 7.17-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 4.46-4.34 (m, 1h), 3.98 (d, j = 14.0 hz, 1h), 3.06-2.94 (m, 1h), 2.74-2.53 (m, 1h), 1.94-1.68 (m, 4h); lrms (es) m/z 566.7 (m + + 1). example 108: synthesis of compound 4153, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(methylsulfonyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, methanesulfonyl chloride (0.016 ml, 0.213 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.319 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.005 g, 8.7%) as a brown solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (d, j = 1.5 hz, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.39 (m, 1h), 7.16-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.76 (d, j = 12.3 hz, 2h), 2.75 (s, 3h), 2.57 (t, j = 11.6 hz, 2h), 2.40 (d, j = 11.4 hz, 1h), 2.01-1.84 (m, 2h), 1.75 (d, j = 13.5 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 549.4 (m + + 1). example 109: synthesis of compound 4154, methyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)piperidine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, methyl carbonochloridate (0.020 g, 0.213 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.319 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.021 g, 35.2%) as a red solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32-8.27 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.2 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.40 (td, j = 6.4, 8.3 hz, 1h), 7.16-6.80 (m, 4h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 4.10 (s, 2h), 3.67 (s, 3h), 2.65-2.37 (m, 3h), 1.75 (qd, j = 4.4, 11.9, 12.4 hz, 2h), 1.62 (d, j = 13.1 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 529.1 (m + + 1). example 110: synthesis of compound 4155, n4-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n4-(3-fluorophenyl)-n1,n1-dimethylpiperidine-1,4-dicarboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, dimethylcarbamic chloride (0.023 g, 0.213 mmol), and triethylamine (0.044 ml, 0.319 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.019 g, 33.5%) as a pale red solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32-8.28 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 6.4, 8.3 hz, 1h), 7.15-6.81 (m, 4h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.61 (d, j = 13.2 hz, 2h), 2.80 (s, 6h), 2.57-2.37 (m, 3h), 1.82 (qd, j = 4.0, 12.6 hz, 2h), 1.64 (d, j = 12.8 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 542.0 (m + + 1). example 111: synthesis of compound 4156, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 2-bromopyridine (0.034 g, 0.213 mmol), ruphos palladium g2 (0.004 g, 0.005 mmol), and cesium carbonate (0.069 g, 0.213 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (1 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 120° c. for 18 hours. then, the reaction was terminated by lowering the temperature to room temperature. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; methanol/dichloromethane = 0% to 7%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.013 g, 22.2%) as a brown solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 1.0, 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.16 (ddd, j = 0.8, 2.0, 5.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.48-7.36 (m, 2h), 7.16-6.80 (m, 4h), 6.65-6.55 (m, 2h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 4.26 (d, j = 13.5 hz, 2h), 2.65 (t, j = 12.6 hz, 2h), 2.53 (s, 1h), 1.89 (qd, j = 4.1, 12.5 hz, 2h), 1.72 (d, j = 13.1 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 548.2 (m + + 1). example 112: synthesis of compound 4157, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.106 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 2-chloropyrimidine (0.024 g, 0.213 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.044 g, 0.319 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (0.5 ml)/acetonitrile (0.5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. an saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. dichloromethane (3 ml) was added to the concentrate, followed by stirring, and the precipitated solid was filtered, washed with dichloromethane, and dried to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 30.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31-8.26 (m, 3h), 8.23 (dd, j = 0.9, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 1.7, 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.43 (td, j = 6.5, 8.3 hz, 1h), 7.15-6.81 (m, 4h), 6.46 (t, j = 4.7 hz, 1h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 4.73 (dt, j = 3.5, 13.4 hz, 2h), 2.69 (t, j = 13.0 hz, 2h), 2.56 (d, j = 11.5 hz, 1h), 1.83 (qd, j = 4.2, 12.0, 12.5 hz, 2h), 1.71 (d, j = 13.0 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 549.4 (m + + 1). example 113: synthesis of compound 4158, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-methyl-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 3-(chlorocarbonyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate 1-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)azetidine-3-carboxylic acid (1.200 g, 5.964 mmol) was dissolved in dichloromethane (150 ml), and oxalyl chloride (2.00 m solution in dcm, 3.578 ml, 7.156 mmol) and n,n-dimethylformamide (0.046 ml, 0.596 mmol) were added at 0° c. and stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, the title compound (1.250 g, 95.4%) was obtained as a colorless oil without further purification. [step 2] synthesis of tert-butyl 3-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate to a solution in which n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)aniline (1.500 g, 4.395 mmol) prepared in example 14 and triethylamine (1.838 ml, 13.184 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (150 ml) at room temperature, tert-butyl 3-(chlorocarbonyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate (1.255 g, 5.713 mmol) was added and stirred at the same temperature for 16 hours.a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 40 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 60%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (1.600 g, 69.4%) as a beige solid. [step 3] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide tert-butyl 3-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate (0.600 g, 1.144 mmol) prepared in step 2 and trifluoroacetic acid (1.752 ml, 22.878 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (7 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure, and the title compound (0.485 g, 99.9%) was obtained as a brown gel without further purification. [step 4] synthesis of compound 4158 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3, formaldehyde (0.007 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.014 g, 27.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.34 (m, 3h), 7.19-7.13 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 3.39-3.28 (m, 5h), 2.35 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 439.3 (m + + 1). example 114: synthesis of compound 4159, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-ethyl-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, acetaldehyde (0.010 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.022 g, 41.3%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.45-7.34 (m, 3h), 7.21-7.13 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.39 (s, 5h), 2.60 (s, 2h), 0.99 (t, j = 7.1 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 453.4 (m + + 1). example 115: synthesis of compound 4160, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-isopropyl-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, propan-2-one (0.014 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 43.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.8, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.35 (m, 3h), 7.20-7.13 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.40 (s, 5h), 2.63 (s, 1h), 1.01 (d, j = 5.4 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 467.4 (m + + 1). example 116: synthesis of compound 4161, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one (0.017 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.029 g, 51.0%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.80-7.73 (m, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.20-7.14 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.64-3.28 (m, 7h), 2.64 (s, 1h), 1.02 (d, j = 6.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 483.4 (m + + 1). example 117: synthesis of compound 4162, 1-cyclobutyl-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, cyclobutanone (0.017 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 31.9%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.76 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.35 (m, 3h), 7.16 (dd, j = 7.8, 1.9 hz, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.60-3.28 (m, 5h), 2.04 (d, j = 11.2 hz, 4h), 1.84 (s, 1h), 1.71 (q, j = 9.2 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 479.0 (m + + 1). example 118: synthesis of compound 4163, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(oxetan-3-yl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, oxetan-3-one (0.017 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.019 g, 33.6%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.6, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.45-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.21-7.15 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 4.69 (t, j = 6.8 hz, 2h), 4.53 (t, j = 6.1 hz, 2h), 3.81 (s, 1h), 3.54-3.29 (m, 5h); lrms (es) m/z 481.4 (m + + 1). example 119: synthesis of compound 4164, 1-cyclohexyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, cyclohexanone (0.023 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 46.9%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.34-8.29 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.34 (m, 3h), 7.17 (dd, j = 8.0, 1.7 hz, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.40 (s, 4h), 1.73 (d, j = 10.2 hz, 5h), 1.61 (s, 2h), 1.17 (d, j = 9.2 hz, 5h); lrms (es) m/z 507.4 (m + + 1). example 120: synthesis of compound 4165, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, tetrahydro-4h-pyran-4-one (0.024 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.023 g, 38.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32-8.30 (m, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.34 (m, 3h), 7.20-7.14 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.94 (d, j = 11.8 hz, 2h), 3.35 (td, j = 11.4, 2.3 hz, 6h), 2.35 (s, 1h), 1.84-1.69 (m, 1h), 1.64 (d, j = 12.8 hz, 2h), 1.28 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 509.0 (m + + 1). example 121: synthesis of compound 4166, 1-(4,4-difluorocyclohexyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, 4,4-difluorocyclohexan-1-one (0.032 g, 0.236 mmol), acetic acid (0.007 ml, 0.118 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.075 g, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 48.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44-7.34 (m, 3h), 7.22-7.16 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 3.28 (q, j = 7.5, 6.9 hz, 1h), 3.19 (s, 4h), 2.21 (s, 1h), 2.00 (s, 2h), 1.68 (q, j = 14.1 hz, 4h), 1.39 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 543.5 (m + + 1). example 122: synthesis of compound 4167, 1-acetyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, acetyl chloride (0.017 ml, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 36.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.39 (s, 1h), 8.29 (d, j = 7.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (s, 1h), 7.62 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.42 (dt, j = 9.3, 6.4 hz, 3h), 7.25-7.19 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.13-5.06 (m, 2h), 4.54-4.40 (m, 1h), 4.06 (dd, j = 9.6, 6.5 hz, 1h), 3.93 (t, j = 8.5 hz, 1h), 3.71 (t, j = 9.4 hz, 1h), 3.37 (ddd, j = 15.3, 9.0, 6.3 hz, 1h), 1.83 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 466.9 (m + + 1). example 123: synthesis of compound 4168, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-propionylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, propionyl chloride (0.022 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 56.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.36-8.31 (m, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.80 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.46-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.20 (dd, j = 8.1, 1.6 hz, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.18-4.96 (m, 2h), 4.45 (dd, j = 8.1, 6.2 hz, 1h), 4.05 (dd, j = 9.5, 6.5 hz, 1h), 3.91 (t, j = 8.4 hz, 1h), 3.71 (t, j = 9.3 hz, 1h), 3.36 (tt, j = 9.0, 6.3 hz, 1h), 2.07 (p, j = 7.5 hz, 2h), 1.09 (t, j = 7.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 480.9 (m + + 1). example 124: synthesis of compound 4169, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(2-hydroxyacetyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, 2-hydroxyacetyl chloride (0.022 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 52.8%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, meod) δ 8.58 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 7.98 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.57 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.48-7.11 (m, 6h), 5.14 (dd, j = 2.2, 0.7 hz, 2h), 4.48 (dd, j = 9.0, 6.2 hz, 1h), 4.22-4.17 (m, 1h), 4.14-4.07 (m, 1h), 3.82 (t, j = 9.4 hz, 1h), 3.57-3.48 (m, 1h), 3.22 (q, j = 7.3 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 483.0 (m + + 1). example 125: synthesis of compound 4170, 1-(cyclobutanecarbonyl)-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, cyclobutanecarbonyl chloride (0.028 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.029 g, 48.6%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.35 (s, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.80 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.22-7.15 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.15-4.96 (m, 2h), 4.44-4.30 (m, 1h), 4.04 (dd, j = 9.5, 6.5 hz, 1h), 3.85 (t, j = 8.4 hz, 1h), 3.70 (t, j = 9.4 hz, 1h), 3.35 (tt, j = 8.9, 6.4 hz, 1h), 3.09-2.92 (m, 1h), 2.43-2.21 (m, 3h), 2.14-1.89 (m, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 507.4 (m + + 1). example 126: synthesis of compound 4171, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(oxetan-3-carbonyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, oxetane-3-carbonyl chloride (0.028 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.039 g, 65.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.38 (s, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.0, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.61 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.38 (m, 3h), 7.24-7.18 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.09 (d, j = 2.9 hz, 2h), 4.90 (dd, j = 7.0, 5.8 hz, 1h), 4.83 (dd, j = 7.0, 5.7 hz, 1h), 4.72 (ddd, j = 14.5, 8.6, 5.8 hz, 2h), 4.40-4.32 (m, 1h), 4.11-4.04 (m, 1h), 3.83 (t, j = 8.4 hz, 1h), 3.79-3.71 (m, 2h), 3.39 (ddd, j = 15.1, 8.9, 6.3 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 509.4 (m + + 1). example 127: synthesis of compound 4172, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentane-2,4-dione (0.049 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.034 g, 55.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.36 (s, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.59 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.51-7.37 (m, 3h), 7.25-7.19 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.09 (d, j = 2.9 hz, 2h), 4.76-4.60 (m, 1h), 4.27 (dd, j = 10.4, 6.6 hz, 1h), 4.22-4.10 (m, 1h), 3.87 (t, j = 9.9 hz, 1h), 3.51 (tt, j = 9.1, 6.5 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 520.9 (m + + 1). example 128: synthesis of compound 4173, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-(methylsulfonyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, methanesulfonyl chloride (0.018 ml, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0 % to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 54.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.37 (s, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.80-7.75 (m, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.38 (m, 3h), 7.24-7.15 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.09 (s, 2h), 4.16 (dd, j = 8.1, 7.1 hz, 2h), 3.71 (t, j = 8.3 hz, 2h), 3.47-3.32 (m, 1h), 2.91 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 503.4 (m + + 1). example 129: synthesis of compound 4174, methyl 3-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, methyl carbonochloridate (0.022 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.023 g, 40.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.36 (s, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (s, 1h), 7.59 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.46 - 7.36 (m, 3h), 7.22-7.16 (m, 2h), 6.96 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.08 (s, 2h), 4.19 (s, 2h), 3.74 (t, j = 8.6 hz, 2h), 3.64 (s, 3h), 3.36 (tt, j = 8.8, 6.4 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 482.8 (m + + 1). example 130: synthesis of compound 4175, n3-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n1,n1-dimethy1-n3-phenylazetidine-1,3-dicarboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, dimethylcarbamic chloride (0.025 g, 0.236 mmol), and triethylamine (0.049 ml, 0.353 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 51.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.34 (s, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.84-7.80 (m, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.45-7.34 (m, 3h), 7.22-7.15 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 5.08 (s, 2h), 4.18 (dd, j = 8. 0, 6.8 hz, 2h), 3.70 (dd, j = 9.0, 8.0 hz, 2h), 3.35 (tt, j = 9.0, 6.8 hz, 1h), 2.82 (s, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 495.9 (m + + 1). example 131: synthesis of compound 4176, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 113, 2-chloropyridine (0.027 g, 0.236 mmol), cesium carbonate (0.077 g, 0.236 mmol), and ruphos palladium g2 (0.005 g, 0.006 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 18 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.028 g, 47.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.31 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.11 (ddd, j = 5.1, 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.82 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.49-7.35 (m, 4h), 7.25-7.21 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.61 (ddd, j = 7.1, 5.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 6.35-6.27 (m, 1h), 5.08 (s, 2h), 4.23 (t, j = 7.2 hz, 2h), 3.86 (t, j = 8.1 hz, 2h), 3.61-3.48 (m, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 502.4 (m + + 1). example 132: synthesis of compound 4177, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-1-(pyrimidin-2-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenylazetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.118 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 113, 2-chloropyrimidine (0.027 g, 0.236 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.033 g, 0.236 mmol) were dissolved in acetonitrile (2 ml)/n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.018 g, 30.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.33-8.28 (m, 3h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.54 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.47-7.36 (m, 3h), 7.26-7.18 (m, 2h), 6.95 (t, j = 51.7 hz, 1h), 6.54 (t, j = 4.8 hz, 1h), 5.09 (s, 2h), 4.36 (dd, j = 8.5, 6.5 hz, 2h), 3.95 (t, j = 8.6 hz, 2h), 3.51 (tt, j = 8.7, 6.5 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 503.4 (m + + 1). example 133: synthesis of compound 4188, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-methylazetidine-3-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 3-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate to a solution in which n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-3-fluoroaniline (1.500 g, 4.175 mmol) prepared in example 16 and triethylamine (1.746 ml, 12.524 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (150 ml) at room temperature, tert-butyl 3-(chlorocarbonyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate (1.192 g, 5.427 mmol) prepared in step 1 of example 113 was added and stirred at the same temperature for 16 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 40 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 60%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (1.200 g, 53.0%) as a yellow solid. [step 2] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide tert-butyl 4-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-y1)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate (0.700 g, 1.290 mmol) prepared in step 1, and trifluoroacetic acid (1.976 ml, 25.806 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (10 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure, and the title compound (0.570 g, 99.9%) was obtained as a brown gel without further purification. [step 3] synthesis of compound 4188 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2, formaldehyde (0.007 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.016 g, 31.0%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.33-8.30 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.80 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.45 (s, 2h), 3.36 (s, 3h), 2.39 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 457.4 (m + + 1). example 134: synthesis of compound 4189, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1-ethyl-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.136 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, acetaldehyde (0.012 g, 0.271 mmol), acetic acid (0.008 ml, 0.136 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.086 g, 0.407 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.021 g, 32.9%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.33-8.30 (m, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.43-7.34 (m, 1h), 7.14-6.78 (m, 4h), 5.04 (s, 2h), 3.38 (s, 4h), 2.59 (s, 1h), 1.68 (s, 5h); lrms (es) m/z 471.5 (m + + 1). example 135: synthesis of compound 4190, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-isopropylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.136 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, propan-2-one (0.016 g, 0.271 mmol), acetic acid (0.008 ml, 0.136 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.086 g, 0.407 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.025 g, 38.0%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dd, j = 1.7, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.80 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.43 (s, 2h), 3.35 (s, 3h), 2.54 (s, 1h), 0.97 (d, j = 6.3 hz, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 485.5 (m + + 1). example 136: synthesis of compound 4191, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(1-hydroxypropan-2-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, 1-hydroxypropan-2-one (0.017 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 35.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dd, j = 1.7, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.43-7.34 (m, 1h), 7.13-6.81 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.60-3.45 (m, 4h), 3.43-3.30 (m, 3h), 2.62 (d, j = 9.4 hz, 1h), 1.00 (d, j = 6.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 501.4 (m + + 1). example 137: synthesis of compound 4192, 1-cyclobutyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, cyclobutanone (0.016 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 42.8%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.2, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.12-6.81 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.23 (d, j = 61.3 hz, 5h), 2.01-1.94 (m, 2h), 1.86-1.59 (m, 5h); lrms (es) m/z 497.4 (m + + 1). example 138: synthesis of compound 4193, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(oxetan-3-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, oxetan-3-one (0.016 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.032 g, 56.8%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.39 (td, j = 8.2, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.79 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 4.67 (t, j = 6.7 hz, 2h), 4.49 (dd, j = 6.7, 5.2 hz, 2h), 3.74 (ddd, j = 11.9, 6.7, 5.2 hz, 1h), 3.44-3.32 (m, 3h), 3.28 (d, j = 5.6 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 499.4 (m + + 1). example 139: synthesis of compound 4194, 1-cyclohexyl-n-( (7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, cyclohexanone (0.022 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.034 g, 57.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.6, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.77 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.78 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.45 (d, j = 29.4 hz, 5h), 2.28 (s, 1h), 1.74 (d, j = 10.1 hz, 4h), 1.61 (s, 1h), 1.23-1.05 (m, 5h); lrms (es) m/z 525.1 (m + + 1). example 140: synthesis of compound 4195, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-4-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, tetrahydro-4h-pyran-4-one (0.023 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.015 g, 25.2%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdc1 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.6, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.13-6.79 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.92 (dt, j = 11.6, 3.7 hz, 2h), 3.41-3.15 (m, 7h), 2.36-2.22 (m, 1h), 1.61 (d, j = 13.0 hz, 2h), 1.31 (d, j = 4.3 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 527.5 (m + + 1). example 141: synthesis of compound 4196, 1-(4,4-difluorocyclohexyl)-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, 4,4-difluorocyclohexan-1-one (0.030 g, 0.226 mmol), acetic acid (0.006 ml, 0.113 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.072 g, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.021 g, 33.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.32 (dt, j = 1.7, 0.8 hz, 1h), 8.23 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.55 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38 (td, j = 8.4, 6.5 hz, 1h), 7.15-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.03 (s, 2h), 3.34-3.12 (m, 5h), 2.22 (s, 1h), 2.00 (dd, j = 12.7, 5.4 hz, 2h), 1.69 (q, j = 17.0, 15.4 hz, 4h), 1.40 (d, j = 11.4 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 561.3 (m + + 1). example 142: synthesis of compound 4197, 1-acetyl-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, acetyl chloride (0.016 ml, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 43.8%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.36 (d, j = 1.6 hz, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.81 (s, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 8.0, 6.4 hz, 1h), 7.18-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.15-4.97 (m, 2h), 4.50-4.42 (m, 1h), 4.06 (dd, j = 9.5, 6.4 hz, 1h), 3.97 (t, j = 8.5 hz, 1h), 3.81-3.69 (m, 1h), 3.38 (tt, j = 8.9, 6.3 hz, 1h), 1.84 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 485.0 (m + + 1). example 143: synthesis of compound 4198, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-isopropylazetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, propionyl chloride (0.021 g, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.027 g, 47.9%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.35 (s, 1h), 8.26 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.80 (s, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.41 (q, j = 7.6 hz, 1h), 7.17-6.81 (m, 4h), 5.14-4.97 (m, 2h), 4.51-4.38 (m, 1h), 4.06 (dd, j = 9.5, 6.5 hz, 1h), 3.95 (t, j = 8.4 hz, 1h), 3.76 (t, j = 9.3 hz, 1h), 3.38 (tt, j = 8.8, 6.2 hz, 1h), 2.14-2.00 (m, 2h), 1.10 (t, j = 7.5 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 499.5 (m + + 1). example 144: synthesis of compound 4199, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(2-hydroxyacetyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, 2-hydroxyacetyl chloride (0.021 g, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 21.2%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.33 (d, j = 2.0 hz, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.1 hz, 1h), 7.79 (s, 1h), 7.57 (dt, j = 7.1, 1.6 hz, 1h), 7.42 (td, j = 8.1, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.18-6.79 (m, 4h), 5.05 (d, j = 4.0 hz, 2h), 4.38 (t, j = 7.3 hz, 1h), 4.21-4.14 (m, 1h), 4.03-3.81 (m, 4h), 3.49 (ddd, j = 15.2, 8.9, 6.3 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 501.0 (m + + 1). example 145: synthesis of compound 4200, 1-(cyclobutanecarbonyl)-n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, cyclobutanecarbonyl chloride (0.027 g, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.038 g, 64.1%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.38 (s, 1h), 8.27 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.81 (s, 1h), 7.62 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 8.3, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.17-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.15-4.96 (m, 2h), 4.43-4.31 (m, 1h), 4.04 (dd, j = 9.4, 6.5 hz, 1h), 3.89 (t, j = 8.4 hz, 1h), 3.75 (t, j = 9.3 hz, 1h), 3.38 (ddd, j = 15.1, 8.9, 6.3 hz, 1h), 3.00 (dd, j = 9.4, 7.6 hz, 1h), 2.28 (dp, j = 27.9, 9.2, 8.8 hz, 3h), 2.13-1.90 (m, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 525.1 (m + + 1). example 146: synthesis of compound 4201, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(oxetane-3-carbonyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, oxetane-3-carbonyl chloride (0.027 g, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.033 g, 55.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.35 (d, j = 1.7 hz, 1h), 8.25 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.78 (s, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.42 (td, j = 8.0, 6.1 hz, 1h), 7.17-6.79 (m, 4h), 5.14-4.98 (m, 2h), 4.90 (dd, j = 7.0, 5.8 hz, 1h), 4.83 (dd, j = 7.0, 5.8 hz, 1h), 4.72 (ddd, j = 12.0, 8.6, 5.8 hz, 2h), 4.36 (dd, j = 8.1, 6.1 hz, 1h), 4.09 (dd, j = 9.7, 6.4 hz, 1h), 3.89-3.71 (m, 3h), 3.39 (tt, j = 8.8, 6.3 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 527.1 (m + + 1). example 147: synthesis of compound 4202, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.136 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoropentane-2,4-dione (0.056 g, 0.271 mmol), and triethylamine (0.057 ml, 0.407 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 42.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37 (s, 1h), 8.27 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.80 (s, 1h), 7.60 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.44 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.15 (tdd, j = 8.3, 2.5, 1.1 hz, 1h), 7.11-6.81 (m, 3h), 5.07 (d, j = 2.3 hz, 2h), 4.74-4.62 (m, 1h), 4.33-4.12 (m, 2h), 3.92 (t, j = 9.8 hz, 1h), 3.53 (tt, j = 9.1, 6.5 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 539.0 (m + + 1). example 148: synthesis of compound 4203, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(methylsulfonyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.060 g, 0.136 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, methanesulfonyl chloride (0.021 ml, 0.271 mmol), and triethylamine (0.057 ml, 0.407 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.030 g, 42.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37 (s, 1h), 8.27 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.79 (d, j = 0.7 hz, 1h), 7.61 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.50-7.36 (m, 1h), 7.19-7.10 (m, 1h), 7.10-6.79 (m, 3h), 5.07 (s, 2h), 4.17 (dd, j = 8.1, 7.1 hz, 2h), 3.75 (t, j = 8.4 hz, 2h), 3.49-3.35 (m, 1h), 2.91 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 521.1 (m + + 1). example 149: synthesis of compound 4204, methyl 3-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(3-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)azetidine-1-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, methyl carbonochloridate (0.021 g, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.031 g, 54.8%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.37-8.33 (m, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (s, 1h), 7.59 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.8 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 8.3, 6.2 hz, 1h), 7.17-6.78 (m, 4h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 4.19 (s, 2h), 3.78 (t, j = 8.6 hz, 2h), 3.65 (s, 3h), 3.37 (tt, j = 8.9, 6.4 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 501.0 (m + + 1). example 150: synthesis of compound 4205, n3-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n3-(3-fluorophenyl)-n1,n1-dimethylazetidine-1,3-dicarboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, dimethylcarbamic chloride (0.024 g, 0.226 mmol), and triethylamine (0.047 ml, 0.339 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.024 g, 41.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.34 (dd, j = 1.8, 0.9 hz, 1h), 8.26 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (s, 1h), 7.58 (dd, j = 7.2, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.40 (td, j = 8.3, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.15-6.77 (m, 4h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 4.17 (dd, j = 8.0, 6.7 hz, 2h), 3.74 (t, j = 8.5 hz, 2h), 3.36 (tt, j = 8.9, 6.7 hz, 1h), 2.82 (s, 6h); lrms (es) m/z 514.0 (m + + 1). example 151: synthesis of compound 4206, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, 2-chloropyridine (0.026 g, 0.226 mmol), cesium carbonate (0.074 g, 0.226 mmol), and ruphos palladium g2 (0.004 g, 0.006 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 100° c. for 18 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 30%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.012 g, 20.4%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.36-8.30 (m, 1h), 8.24 (ddd, j = 7.1, 6.0, 1.0 hz, 1h), 8.12 (ddd, j = 5.1, 1.9, 0.9 hz, 1h), 7.80 (d, j = 8.0 hz, 1h), 7.59-7.51 (m, 1h), 7.50-7.37 (m, 2h), 7.15-6.81 (m, 4h), 6.62 (ddd, j = 7.2, 5.0, 1.0 hz, 1h), 6.29 (d, j = 8.4 hz, 1h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 4.21 (t, j = 7.1 hz, 2h), 3.88 (t, j = 8.2 hz, 2h), 3.64 - 3.54 (m, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 520.5 (m + + 1). example 152: synthesis of compound 4207, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(pyrimidin-2-yl)azetidine-3-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)azetidine-3-carboxamide (0.050 g, 0.113 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 133, 2-chloropyrimidine (0.026 g, 0.226 mmol), and potassium carbonate (0.031 g, 0.226 mmol) were dissolved in acetonitrile (2 ml)/n,n-dimethylformamide (2 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was poured into the concentrate obtained by removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. next, the obtained product was filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.041 g, 69.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.35-8.29 (m, 3h), 8.24 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.0 hz, 1h), 7.82 (s, 1h), 7.56 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.41 (td, j = 8.2, 6.3 hz, 1h), 7.16-6.80 (m, 4h), 6.56 (t, j = 4.8 hz, 1h), 5.07 (s, 2h), 4.36 (dd, j = 8.6, 6.5 hz, 2h), 4.00 (t, j = 8.6 hz, 2h), 3.54 (tt, j = 8.7, 6.4 hz, 1h); lrms (es) m/z 521.4 (m + + 1). example 153: synthesis of compound 4618, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(spiro[3.3]heptan-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.085 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, spiro[3.3]heptan-2-one (0.019 g, 0.170 mmol), acetic acid (0.011 ml, 0.085 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.054 g, 0.255 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 41.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (s, 1h), 8.23 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.55 (d, j = 6.9 hz, 1h), 7.39 (dd, j = 14.6, 8.2 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.79 (m, 5h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 3.13 (d, j = 41.6 hz, 1h), 2.84 (s, 2h), 2.24 (s,2h), 1.89 (dt, j = 53.6, 40.7 hz, 12h), 1.57-1.37 (m, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 565.5 (m + +1). example 154: synthesis of compound 4619, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(2-oxaspiro[3.3]heptan-6-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperidine-4-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.085 mmol) prepared in step 3 of example 93, 2-oxaspiro[3.3]heptan-6-one (0.019 g, 0.170 mmol), acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.085 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.054 g, 0.255 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 41.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.30 (s, 1h), 8.23 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.55 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.39 (dd, j = 14.5, 8.1 hz, 1h), 7.14-6.79 (m, 5h), 5.01 (s, 2h), 4.69 (s, 2h), 4.59 (s, 2h), 3.23 (s, 1h), 2.83 (s, 2h), 2.30 (d, j = 47.7 hz, 4h), 2.04 (s, 2h), 1.96-1.77 (m, 2h), 1.50 (s, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 568.2 (m + +1). example 155: synthesis of compound 4620, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(spiro[3.3]heptan-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.085 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, spiro[3.3]heptan-2-one (0.019 g, 0.170 mmol), acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.085 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.054 g, 0.255 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 41.7%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.28 (s, 1h), 8.20 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.74 (s, 1h), 7.51 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.6 hz, 1h), 7.32-7.23 (m, 1h), 7.09-6.76 (m, 4h), 5.06 (s, 2h), 3.33 (s, 4h), 2.14 (d, j = 27.7 hz, 6h), 2.03-1.94 (m, 3h), 1.94-1.86 (m, 2h), 1.82 (dt, j = 8.1, 6.0 hz, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 566.4 (m + +1). example 156: synthesis of compound 4621, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)-1-(2-oxaspiro[3.3]heptan-6-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-(3-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxamide (0.040 g, 0.085 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 54, 2-oxaspiro[3.3]heptan-6-one (0.019 g, 0.170 mmol), acetic acid (0.005 ml, 0.085 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.054 g, 0.255 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 3 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 10%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.020 g, 41.5%) as a white solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl3) δ 8.28 (s, 1h), 8.20 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 7.74 (s, 1h), 7.51 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.6 hz, 1h), 7.33-7.23 (m, 1h), 7.09-6.75 (m, 4h), 5.05 (s, 2h), 4.69 (s, 2h), 4.58 (s, 2h), 3.30 (s, 4h), 2.46 (s, 1h), 2.37 (s, 2h), 2.25-2.04 (m, 3h), 1.95 (d, j = 17.0 hz, 2h); lrms (es) m/z 568.0 (m + +1). example 157: synthesis of compound 4625, n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-6-methyl-n-phenyl-2,6-diazaspiro[3.3]heptan-2-carboxamide [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl 6-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)(phenyl)carbamoyl)-2,6-diazaspiro[3.3]heptan-2-carboxylate n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)aniline (0.200 g, 0.586 mmol) prepared in example 14, tert-butyl 2,6-diazaspiro[3.3]heptan-2-carboxylate (0.081 g, 0.410 mmol), triphosgene (0.174 g, 0.586 mmol), and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (0.510 ml, 2.930 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (10 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at 0° c. for 1 hour and further stirred at room temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 12 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 60%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.210 g, 63.4%) as a brown solid. [step 2] synthesis of n-((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-2,6-diazaspiro[3.3]heptan-2-carboxamide tert-butyl 6-(((7-(5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) (phenyl)carbamoyl)-2,6-diazaspiro[3.3]heptan-2-carboxylate (0.210 g, 0.371 mmol) prepared in step 1 and trifluoroacetic acid (0.569 ml, 7.426 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (10 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 2 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with dichloromethane. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure, and the title compound (0.172 g, 99.5%) was obtained as a yellow gel without further purification. [step 3] synthesis of compound 4625 n-((5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-n-phenyl-2,6-diazaspiro[3.3]heptan-2-carboxamide (0.172 g, 0.370 mmol) prepared in step 2, formaldehyde (0.022 g, 0.739 mmol), acetic acid (0.021 ml, 0.370 mmol), and sodium triacetoxyborohydride (0.235 g, 1.109 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (5 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; dichloromethane/methanol = 0% to 20%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.100 g, 56.4%) as a yellow solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, cdcl 3 ) δ 8.27 (s, 1h), 8.19 (dt, j = 7.8, 3.9 hz, 1h), 7.81 (s, 1h), 7.50 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.7 hz, 1h), 7.38-7.29 (m, 4h), 7.25-7.19 (m, 1h), 6.94 (dd, j = 54.3, 49.1 hz, 1h), 5.02 (s, 2h), 3.64 (s, 4h), 3.18 (s, 4h), 2.21 (s, 3h); lrms (es) m/z 480.3 (m + +1). example 158: synthesis of compound 6892, tert-butyl 4-((3-fluorophenyl)((7-(5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-yl)methyl)carbamoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate [step 1] synthesis of tert-butyl (4-(5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl)carbamate tert-butyl (4-(hydrazinecarbonyl)pyridin-2-yl)carbamate (2.600 g, 10.306 mmol) prepared in step 2 of example 2 and triethylamine (14.365 ml, 103.064 mmol) were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (150 ml), and trifluoroacetic anhydride (7.279 ml, 51.532 mmol) was added at room temperature and heated to reflux for 16 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. a saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution was added to the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous sodium chloride solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. ethyl acetate (30 ml) and hexane (100 ml) were poured into the concentrate, suspended, and filtered to obtain a solid, and the obtained solid was washed with hexane and dried to obtain the title compound (1.500 g, 44.1%) as a white solid. [step 2] synthesis of 4-(5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-amine tert-butyl (4-(5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl)carbamate (1.500 g, 4.542 mmol) prepared in step 1 was dissolved in dichloromethane (70 ml). then, trifluoroacetic acid (6.956 ml, 90.835 mmol) was added at 0° c., and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 4 hours. after removing the solvent from the reaction mixture under reduced pressure, a saturated aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate solution (50 ml) was poured into the concentrate and suspended, followed by filtration to obtain a solid. the obtained solid was washed with water and dried to obtain the title compound (1.030 g, 98.5%) as a yellow solid. [step 3] synthesis of 2-(2-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole 4-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-amine (1.100 g, 4.779 mmol) prepared in step 2, 1,3-dichloropropan-2-one (1.214 g, 9.559 mmol), and sodium hydrogen carbonate (2.008 g, 23.897 mmol) were dissolved in 1,4-dioxane (60 ml) at room temperature. the resulting solution was heated to reflux for 16 hours, and then the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. the reaction mixture was filtered through a plastic filter to remove solids, and the filtrate was purified by column chromatography (sio 2 , 40 g cartridge; ethyl acetate/hexane = 5% to 70%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.850 g, 58.8%) as a beige solid. [step 4] synthesis of 3-fluoro-n-((7-(5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl) aniline 3-(chloromethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-7-yl)-5-(difluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (0.311 g, 1.028 mmol) prepared in step 3, 3-fluoroaniline (0.228 g, 2.055 mmol), potassium carbonate (0.213 g, 1.541 mmol), and potassium iodide (0.085 g, 0.514 mmol) were dissolved in n,n-dimethylformamide (6 ml) at room temperature, and the resulting solution was stirred at 60° c. for 18 hours. then, the temperature was lowered to room temperature to terminate the reaction. an aqueous n-ammonium chloride solution was poured into the reaction mixture, followed by extraction with ethyl acetate. the organic layer was washed with a saturated aqueous water solution, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 50%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.050 g, 12.9%) as a yellow solid. [step 5] synthesis of compound 6892 3-fluoro-n-((7-(5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2-yl)methyl)aniline (0.050 g, 0.133 mmol) prepared in step 4, bis(trichloromethyl)carbonate (0.039 g, 0.133 mmol), and n,n-diisopropylethylamine (0.115 ml, 0.663 mmol) were dissolved in dichloromethane (4 ml), and the resulting solution was stirred at room temperature for 10 minutes. then, tert-butyl piperazine-1-carboxylate (0.032 g, 0.172 mmol) was added and further stirred at the same temperature for 18 hours. water was poured into the reaction mixture, extracted with dichloromethane, and filtered through a plastic filter to remove a solid residue and an aqueous layer, and then concentrated under reduced pressure. the concentrate was purified by chromatography (sio 2 plate, 20 × 20 × 1 mm; ethyl acetate/hexane = 0% to 100%) and concentrated to obtain the title compound (0.040 g, 51.3%) as a brown solid. 1 h nmr (400 mhz, acetone-d6) δ 8.69 (d, j = 7.1 hz, 1h), 8.25 (d, j = 1.7 hz, 1h), 8.08 (s, 1h), 7.53 (dd, j = 7.1, 1.8 hz, 1h), 7.36 (td, j = 8.3, 6.7 hz, 1h), 7.14 (ddt, j = 8.0, 5.3, 2.3 hz, 2h), 6.86 (td, j = 8.4, 2.4 hz, 1h), 5.09 (s, 2h), 3.28 (qd, j = 6.2, 5.0, 2.5 hz, 8h), 1.42 (s, 10h); lrms (es) m/z 591.1 (m + +1). activity measurement and analysis protocol of the compounds of the present invention <experimental example 1> in vitro hdac enzyme activity inhibition assay in order to confirm the selectivity of the compounds represented by chemical formula i of the present invention to hdac6 through hdac1 and hdac6 enzyme activity inhibition experiments, a comparison experiment was performed using the material that has already been developed as a control group. hdac enzyme activity was measured using the hdac fluorimetric drug discovery kit (enzo life sciences, inc., bml-ak511, 516). for the hdac1 enzyme activity test, human recombinant hdac1 (bml-se456) was used as an enzyme source and fluor de lys®-sirt1 (bnl-ki177) was used as a substrate. after dispensing 5-fold diluted compounds into a 96-well plate, 0.3 µg of enzyme and 10 µm substrate were added to each well of the plate and allowed to react at 30° c. for 60 minutes. next, fluor de lys® developer ii (bml-ki176) was added and reacted for 30 minutes to complete the reaction, and then the fluorescence values (ex 360, em 460) were measured using a multi-plate reader (flexstation 3, molecular device). the hdac6 enzymes were tested using human recombinant hdac6 (382180) from calbiochem inc., according to the same protocol as the hdac1 enzyme activity test method. with respect to the final result values, respective ic50 values were calculated using graphpad prism 4.0 program, and results thereof were summarized in table 5 below. table 5results of hdac enzyme activity inhibition assayexamplecompoundshdac1 (nm)hdac6 (nm)hdac6 selectivity (fold)13009>50.00079.263123585>50.000129.538633586>50.000330.415143587>50.000334.415053588>50.000244.120563589>50.000530.39473590>50.000432.011683591>50.0001,0644793592>50.000457.4109103593>50.000261.4191113594>50.000564.489123595>50.000444.5112133596>50.000312.9160143668>50.000167.4299153669>50.000117.4426163670>50.000221.2226173671>50.000157.0318183672>50.000107.7464193673>50.000400.2125203674>50.000390.8128213675>50.000124.8401223676>50.000141.4354233677>50.000255.0196243678>50.000294.0170253679>50.000146.8341263719>50.000211.1237273720>50.000412.6121283721>50.000406.5123293722>50.000287.3174303723>50.000240.1174313724>50.000892.756323725>50.000177.4282333782>50.00067.6740343783>50.00071.8696353784>50.00068.8727363785>50.000114.3437374033>50.00093.0538384034>50.000103.0485394035>50.000297.5168404036>50.000155.7321414037>50.000123.9404424038>50.000130.8382434039>50.000147.8338444040>50.000118.8421454041>50.000259.2193464042>50.000254.2197474043>50.000165.6302484044>50.000130.2384494045>50.000127.5392504046>50.000125.0400514047>50.000125.0400524048>50.000246.8203534049>50.00092.8539544083>50.000464.9108554084>50.000272.5183564085>50.000214.2233574086>50.000201.1249584087>50.000233.4214594088>50.000320.3156604089>50.000442.8113614090>50.000231.9216624091>50.000257.3194634092>50.000266.8187644093>50.000195.2256654094>50.000232.4215664095>50.000270.4185674096>50.000413.4121684097>50.000149.4335694098>50.000158.8325704099>50.000138.7360714100>50.000468.4107724101>50.000107.8464734102>50.000305.3164744103>50.000200.8249754115>50.000353.6141764116>50.000314.0159774117>50.000376.9133784118>50.000331.8151794119>50.000402.4124804120>50.000509.198814121>50.000411.4122824122>50.000353.0142834123>50.000306.6163844124>50.000340.9147854125>50.000329.2152864126>50.000403.8124874127>50.000612.282884128>50.000315.3159894129>50.000401.5125904130>50.000375.4133914131>50.000547.091924132>50.000655.276934137>50.000176.9283944138>50.000171.2292954139>50.000124.0403964140>50.000203.1246974141>50.000244.82 04984142>50.000214.1234994143>50.000149.33351004144>50.0002:42.72061014145>50.000230.12171024146>50.000243.02061034147>50.000395.91261044149>50.000149.43351054150>50.000214.02341064151>50.000203.92451074152>50.000204.12451084153>50.000137.93631094154>50.000229.12181104155>50.000352.01421114156>50.000139.13591124157>50.000163.53061134158>50.000446.71121144159>50.000425.01181154160>50.000202.12471164161>50.000223.22241174162>50.000358.31401184163>50.000410.51221194164>50.000340.31471204165>50.000413.21211214166>50.000254.01971224167>50.000447.01121234168>50.000399.61251244169>50.000815.3611254170>50.000347.2144 41264171>50.000355.31411274172>50.000271.81841284173>50.000312.21601294174>50.000298.41681304175>50.000380.61311314176>50.000250.81991324177>50.000244.42051334188>50.000373.31341344189>50.000158.63151354190>50.000126.53951364191>50.000134.13731374192>50.000110.64521384193>50.000138.63611394194>50.000132.03791404195>50.000191.92611414196>50.000181.02761424197>50.000241.92071434198>50.000184.62711444199>50.000250.12001454200>50.000219.72281464201>50.000282.71771474202>50.000182.42741484203>50.000169.72951494204>50.000186.82681504205>50.000143.83481514206>50.000138.53611524207>50.000167.82981534618>50.0001623081544619>50.0001972531554620>50.0002631901564621>50.0001533261574625>50.000985101586892>50.0002,35821.2 as shown in table 5 above, it was found from the results of the activity inhibition assay for hdac1 and hdac6 that the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compounds of the present invention, the optical isomer thereof, or the pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof exhibited about 21 to about 740 times higher selective hdac6 inhibitory activity. <experimental example 2> in vitro analysis of effect of hdac6-specific inhibitor on mitochondrial axonal transport the effect of the hdac6-specific inhibitors on mitochondrial axonal transport was analyzed. specifically, in order to confirm whether the compounds represented by chemical formula i of the present invention selectively inhibit the hdac6 activity and increase the acetylation of tubulin, which is a major substrate of hdac6, thereby improving the mitochondrial axonal transport rates reduced by amyloid-beta treatment in neuronal axons, a comparison experiment was performed using the material that has already been developed as a control group. hippocampal neurons from sprague-dawley (sd) rat embryos at embryonic day 17-18 (e17-18) were cultured for 7 days in an extracellular matrix-coated culture dish for imaging, and then treated with 1 m of amyloid-beta peptide fragments. after 24 hours, the compound was treated on the 8th day of in vitro culture, and 3 hours later, treated with mitotracker red cmxros (life technologies, ny, usa) for the last 5 minutes to stain the mitochondria. with regard to the axonal transport of the stained neuron mitochondria, the transport rates of each mitochondrion were determined using the imaris analysis software (bitplane, zurich, switzerland) by taking images using a confocal microscope (leica 5p8; leica microsystems, uk) at 1-second intervals for 1 minute. as a result, it was confirmed that the 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivative compound of the present invention, the optical isomer thereof or the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof showed an improvement effect on the rates of mitochondrial axonal transport.
|
141-225-411-851-679
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
G01S7/4865,G01S17/06,G06F3/01,H04J3/06
| 2019-05-02T00:00:00 |
2019
|
[
"G01",
"G06",
"H04"
] |
multimedia system applying time of flight ranging and operating method thereof
|
a multimedia system applying tof ranging and its operating method are provided. the multimedia system includes a plurality of electronic devices. each of the electronic devices includes a processing module, a tof module, and a communication module. the tof module is configured to perform a tof operation. the communication module is configured to perform wireless communication. the electronic devices communicate via respective communication modules to formulate an operation protocol and respective uids and to perform a time slot synchronization between different electronic devices. the electronic devices sequentially perform the tof ranging operation according to the operation protocol and the respective uids.
|
1. a multimedia system applying time of flight ranging and comprising: a plurality of electronic devices, each comprising: a processing module; a time of flight module coupled to the processing module and configured to perform a time of flight ranging operation; and a communication module coupled to the processing module and configured to perform wireless communication, wherein the electronic devices communicate via the respective communication modules to formulate an operation protocol and respective unique identifiers and to perform a time slot synchronization between different electronic devices, and the electronic devices perform the time of flight ranging operation sequentially via the respective time of flight modules according to the operation protocol and the respective unique identifiers, wherein the operation protocol comprises a sequence of a plurality of time of flight ranging time slots of the electronic devices, and the time of flight ranging time slots are not overlapped with each other, wherein the time of flight module of each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation through an indirect time of flight ranging method or a direct time of flight ranging method, wherein a length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation is greater than or equal to a sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission. 2. the multimedia system according to claim 1 , wherein the time of flight module of each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation through the indirect time of flight ranging method, and the length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation is greater than a length of an indirect time of flight ranging cycle, wherein the length of the indirect time of flight ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission, and the time length of sensing light is greater than the time length of data transmission. 3. the multimedia system according to claim 1 , wherein the time of flight module of each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation through the direct time of flight ranging method, and the length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation is equal to a length of a direct time of flight ranging cycle, wherein the length of the direct time of flight ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission, and the time length of sensing light is less than the time length of data transmission. 4. the multimedia system according to claim 1 , wherein the multimedia system is a virtual reality system or an augmented reality system. 5. an operating method of a multimedia system applying time of flight ranging and comprising: communicating via respective communication modules of a plurality of electronic devices to formulate an operation protocol and respective unique identifiers and to perform a time slot synchronization between different electronic devices; and sequentially performing a time of flight ranging operation via respective time of flight modules of the electronic devices according to the operation protocol and the respective unique identifiers, wherein the operating protocol comprises a sequence of a plurality of time of flight ranging time slots of the electronic devices, and the time of flight ranging time slots are not overlapped with each other, wherein the time of flight module of each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation through an indirect time of flight ranging method or a direct time of flight ranging method, wherein a length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation is greater than or equal to a sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission. 6. the operating method according to claim 5 , wherein the time of flight module of each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation through the indirect time of flight ranging method, and the length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation is greater than a length of an indirect time of flight ranging cycle, wherein the length of the indirect time of flight ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission, and the time length of sensing light is greater than the time length of data transmission. 7. the operating method according to claim 5 , wherein the time of flight module of each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation through the direct time of flight ranging method, and the length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the time of flight ranging operation is equal to a length of a direct time of flight ranging cycle, wherein the length of the direct time of flight ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission, and the time length of sensing light is less than the time length of data transmission. 8. the operating method according to claim 5 , wherein the multimedia system is a virtual reality system or an augmented reality system.
|
cross-reference to related application this application claims the priority benefits of u.s. provisional application ser. no. 62/842,448, filed on may 2, 2019 and taiwan patent application serial no. 109101328, filed on jan. 15, 2020. the entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification. background technical field the disclosure relates to a ranging technology, and in particular to a multimedia system applying time of flight (tof) ranging and an operating method thereof. description of related art in a virtual reality (vr) system, an augmented reality (ar) system, or other multimedia systems that are interactively operated by a plurality of wearable electronic devices, information of distances between the wearable electronic devices is obtained by each of the wearable electronic devices transmitting positioning data back to a main control server for analysis and calculation, and the main control server then transmits the corresponding distance information to the wearable electronic devices, respectively. the acquisition of the distance information between the wearable electronic devices requires a large amount of data calculation time and data transmission time, which easily leads to delays during the interactive operations and continues to occupy parts of calculation resources of the main control server. in view of the above, several embodiments are proposed below. summary the disclosure provides a multimedia system applying tof ranging and an operating method thereof, whereby each of a plurality of electronic devices in the multimedia system is enabled to effectively perform a tof ranging function. according to an embodiment of the disclosure, a multimedia system applying tof ranging includes a plurality of electronic devices. each of the electronic devices includes a processing module, a tof module, and a communication module. the tof module is coupled to the processing module and configured to perform a tof ranging operation. the communication module is coupled to the processing module and configured to perform wireless communication. the electronic devices communicate via respective communication modules to formulate an operation protocol and respective unique identifiers (uids) and to perform a time slot synchronization between different electronic devices. the electronic devices perform the tof ranging operation sequentially via respective tof modules according to the operation protocol and the respective uids. in an embodiment of the disclosure, the operation protocol includes a sequence of a plurality of tof ranging time slots of the electronic devices, and the tof ranging time slots are not overlapped with each other. in an embodiment of the disclosure, the tof module of each of the electronic devices performs the tof ranging operation through an indirect time of flight (i-tof) method. a length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the tof ranging operation is greater than a length of an i-tof ranging cycle. the length of the i-tof ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission, and the time length of sensing light is greater than the time length of data transmission. in an embodiment of the disclosure, the tof module of each of the electronic devices performs the tof ranging operation through a direct time of flight (d-tof) method. a length of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices performs the tof ranging operation is equal to a length of a d-tof ranging cycle. the length of the d-tof ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length of sensing light and a time length of data transmission, and the time length of sensing light is less than the time length of data transmission. in an embodiment of the disclosure, the multimedia system is a vr system or an ar system. according to an embodiment of the disclosure, an operating method of the multimedia system applying tof ranging includes following steps: communicating via respective communication modules of a plurality of electronic devices to formulate an operation protocol and respective uids and to perform a time slot synchronization between different electronic devices, and sequentially performing a tof ranging operation via respective tof modules of the electronic devices according to the operation protocol and the respective uids. based on the above, the operating method of the multimedia system applying tof ranging as provided in one or more embodiments of the disclosure allows the electronic devices in the multimedia system to sequentially perform tof ranging without signal collision and misinterpretation. several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below to further describe the disclosure in details. brief description of the drawings reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multimedia system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. fig. 3 illustrates an i-tof signal time sequence according to an embodiment of the disclosure. fig. 4 illustrates a d-tof signal time sequence according to an embodiment of the disclosure. fig. 5 is a flowchart of an operating method of a multimedia system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. description of the embodiments in order to make the content of the disclosure easier to understand, the following specific embodiments are provided as to how the disclosure can be implemented. in addition, wherever possible, the same reference numbers of components/elements/steps are used in the drawings and embodiments to represent the same or similar components/elements/steps. fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure. with reference to fig. 1 , an electronic device 100 includes a processing module 110 , a tof module 120 , and a communication module 130 . the processing module 110 is coupled to the tof module 120 and the communication module 130 . in the embodiment, the electronic device 100 may first communicate with another electronic device via the communication module 130 to formulate an operation protocol and respective uids and to perform a time slot synchronization between the two electronic devices. the uid serves to identify the electronic device 100 , and the operation protocol includes a sequence of a plurality of tof ranging time slots based on different uids. therefore, in the embodiment, the processing module 110 of the electronic device 100 may, according to the operation protocol and the respective uids, determine the sequence of the tof ranging time slot corresponding to its own uid, so as to determine a time period during which the tof module 120 performs tof ranging. in the embodiment, the processing module 110 may include, for instance, a central processing unit (cpu), or a programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessor, a digital signal processor (dsp), a programmable controller, an application specific integrated circuits (asic), a programmable logic device (pld), another similar processing device, or a combination thereof. in the embodiment, the communication module 130 is a wireless communication module, such as a wi-fi module. fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multimedia system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. with reference to fig. 2 , a multimedia system 200 may be, for instance, a vr system, an ar system, etc., and the disclosure is not limited thereto. the multimedia system 200 may include a plurality of electronic devices 210 - 240 , and the electronic devices 210 - 240 operate in the same vr application program or the same ar application program for interactive operations. in the embodiment, the electronic devices 210 - 240 may be wearable electronic devices, for instance. each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 may include vr or ar modules, related control circuits, and so on, and may also include a plurality of modules in the electronic device 100 as provided the embodiment shown in fig. 1 . in the embodiment, the electronic devices 210 - 240 may communicate via respective communication modules to formulate an operation protocol and respective uids. the uids are configured to identify the electronic devices 210 - 240 , and the operation protocol includes a sequence of a plurality of tof ranging time slots based on different uids. therefore, the processing module 110 of each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 may, according to the operation protocol and respective uids, determine the sequence of the tof ranging time slot corresponding to its own uid in the operation protocol, so as to determine a time period during which the tof ranging is performed by each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 . for instance, as shown in fig. 2 , the electronic devices 210 - 240 have established the sequence of performing tof ranging. therefore, the tof module of the electronic device 210 first emits sensing light 201 to a user wearing the electronic device 220 , and after receiving the light correspondingly transmitted back, a distance between the user wearing the electronic device 210 and the user wearing the electronic device 220 may be obtained by calculation. similarly, the tof module of the electronic device 220 then emits sensing light 202 to a user wearing the electronic device 230 to perform ranging. the tof module of the electronic device 230 then emits sensing light 203 to the user wearing the electronic device 220 to perform ranging. the tof module of the electronic device 240 then emits sensing light 204 to the user wearing the electronic device 220 to perform ranging. since the electronic devices 210 - 240 may continuously and repeatedly perform ranging, the tof module of the electronic device 210 performs ranging again according to the sequence of the ranging time slot of the operation protocol and emits sensing light 205 to a user wearing the electronic device 240 (the user wearing the electronic device 210 may turn to another direction) to obtain the current distance between the user wearing the electronic device 210 and the user wearing the electronic device 240 . accordingly, the electronic devices 210 - 240 of the multimedia system 200 provided in the embodiment may effectively and quickly obtain the distance therebetween and may also upload the distance information to each other or to a main control server via the communication modules, so as to facilitate the ongoing application operation by timely providing the distance information between the electronic devices 210 - 240 for performing the corresponding operation. fig. 3 illustrates an i-tof signal time sequence according to an embodiment of the disclosure. with reference to fig. 2 and fig. 3 , a time sequence i-tof represents the time sequence of a periodic ranging operation performed by one single tof module. according to the time sequence i-tof, a length p 0 of an i-tof ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length pa of sensing light (shown by oblique lines) and a time length pb of data transmission (not shown by the oblique lines). in the embodiment, the time length pa of sensing light refers to the time length of the difference between the time at which a light emitting unit in the tof module emits the sensing light and the time at which a light sensing unit in the tof module receives the corresponding reflected light. the time length pb of data transmission refers to the time length of outputting distance data from an analog-to-digital converter (adc) circuit in the tof module. in the embodiment, time sequences t 1 -t 4 respectively correspond to the time sequences at which the respectively tof modules of the electronic devices 210 - 240 perform the periodic ranging operations. here, the tof module of each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 performs the tof ranging operation through the i-tof ranging method. the i-tof ranging method is to calculate the distance by calculating a phase difference between a waveform of the sensing light and a waveform of the reflected light; therefore, the required response time is relatively long, and the time length pa of sensing light is greater than the time length pb of data transmission. in other words, since the time length pa of sensing light is greater than the time length pb of data transmission, a length p 1 of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 respectively performs the tof ranging operation is necessarily greater than a length p 0 of an i-tof ranging cycle. in detail, with reference to the time sequences t 1 -t 4 , only after the light sensing operation by the electronic device 210 is completed, the electronic device 220 continues the light sensing operation. similarly, after the light sensing operation by the electronic device 240 is completed, the electronic device 210 performs the next round of light sensing operation. in other words, the electronic devices 210 - 240 may sequentially perform the ranging operation according to the i-tof ranging method, but the refresh rate descends. in addition, the sequence of the tof ranging time slots refers to the sequence of the respective light sensing periods (shown by the oblique lines) in the time sequences t 1 -t 4 . fig. 4 illustrates a d-tof signal time sequence according to an embodiment of the disclosure. with reference to fig. 2 and fig. 4 , a time sequence d-tof represents the time sequence of a periodic ranging operation performed by one single tof module. according to the time sequence d-tof, a length p 0 ′ of a d-tof ranging cycle is equal to the sum of a time length pa′ of sensing light (shown by the oblique lines) and a time length pb′ of data transmission (not shown by the oblique lines). in the embodiment, the time length pa′ of sensing light refers to the time length of the difference between the time at which a light emitting unit in the tof module emits the sensing light and the time at which a light sensing unit in the tof module receives the corresponding reflected light. the time length pb′ of data transmission refers to the time length of outputting distance data from an adc circuit in the tof module. in the embodiment, the time sequences t 1 ′-t 4 ′ respectively correspond to the time sequences at which the respectively tof modules of the electronic devices 210 - 240 perform the periodic ranging operation. here, the tof module of each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 performs the tof ranging operation through the d-tof ranging method. the d-tof ranging method is to calculate the distance by calculating a time difference between the time of emitting the sensing light and the time of receiving the reflected light; therefore, the required response time is relatively short, and the time length pb′ of data transmission is greater than the time length pa′ of sensing light. in other words, since the time length pa′ of sensing light is much shorter than the time length pb′ of data transmission, a length p 1 ′ of an operation cycle during which each of the electronic devices 210 - 240 respectively performs the tof ranging operation may be equal to a length p 0 ′ of the d-tof ranging cycle. in detail, with reference to the time sequences t 1 ′-t 4 p , only after the light sensing operation by the electronic device 210 is completed, the electronic device 220 continues the light sensing operation. similarly, after the light sensing operation by the electronic device 240 is completed, the electronic device 210 may just finish outputting distance data and directly continue to perform the next round of light sensing operation. in other words, the electronic devices 210 - 240 may sequentially perform the ranging operation according to the d-tof ranging method, but the refresh rate does not descend in comparison with the embodiment depicted in fig. 3 . in addition, the sequence of the tof ranging time slots refers to the sequence of the respective light sensing periods (shown by the oblique lines) in the time sequences t 1 ′-t 4 ′. fig. 5 is a flowchart of an operating method of a multimedia system according to an embodiment of the disclosure. with reference to fig. 2 and fig. 5 , the operating method provided in the embodiment may be adapted to the multimedia system 200 depicted in fig. 2 . in step s 510 , electronic devices 210 - 240 communicate via respective communication modules to formulate an operation protocol and respective uids and to perform a time slot synchronization between different electronic devices. in step s 520 , the electronic devices 210 - 240 sequentially perform the tof ranging operation via the respective tof modules according to the operation protocol and the respective uids. therefore, the operating method provided in the embodiment enables the electronic devices 210 - 240 in the multimedia system 200 to sequentially perform the tof ranging operation without signal collision and misinterpretation. in addition, other module features, implementations, or technical details of the multimedia system 200 and the electronic devices 210 - 240 provided in the embodiment may be referred to as those taught, disclosed, and suggested in the previous embodiments as depicted in fig. 1 to fig. 4 and thus will not be described hereinafter. to sum up, the multimedia system applying tof ranging and the operating method thereof as provided in one or more embodiments of the disclosure ensure effective and instant ranging through tof ranging; besides, according to the multimedia system applying tof ranging and the operating method thereof provided herein, the electronic devices in the multimedia system may communicate via respective communication modules to formulate the operation protocol and respective uids, and then the tof ranging operation is sequentially and respectively performed without signal collision and misinterpretation. it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. in view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure covers modifications and variations provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
|
141-877-565-272-665
|
FR
|
[
"EP",
"FR",
"US",
"WO"
] |
G09G1/20,H01J31/12
| 1989-05-24T00:00:00 |
1989
|
[
"G09",
"H01"
] |
cathodoluminescent display device using guided electrons and method of controlling it.
|
the present invention provides a cathodoluminescent display which uses guided electrons and a control process for such display. the display is in matrix form, an image or picture point or dot being formed at each row-column intersection. opposite the columns, outside the image dots, a source continuously emits electrons. as a function of the signal which it receives, a column electrode guides up to the selected row the electrons emitted opposite it, or drives them back to the source. the guidance column electrodes are covered by an electrically insulating layer, the guidance of the electrons taking place in a vacuum in the immediate vicinity of the insulant perpendicular to the guidance electrodes.
|
1. a cathodoluminescent display device comprising: a lower plate (1) covered by an array of n column electrodes (2), each column being referred to by a number j, j being an integer from 1 to n; an insulating layer (3) covering said lower plate and said column electrodes (2); an upper plate (5) covered by an array of l row electrodes (6), each electrode being referred to by a number i, i being an integer from 1 to l, said row electrodes (6) being in orthogonal relationship with said column electrodes (2), each overlapping zone of said column electrodes (2) and said row electrodes (6) defining an elementary display dot; a plurality of cathodoluminescent strips (7), each of the strips covering one of the row electrodes; an electron emission source (11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) located on said upper plate (5) along and aside said array of row electrodes (6) and facing an extremity of said array of column electrodes (2); a vacuum enclosure enclosing said arrays of electrodes and said electron emission source; electrical means for applying to said electron emission source a voltage for electrons to be emitted; means for applying to a selected column electrode (2) a first control voltage (v.sub.c"on") higher than the voltage applied to said electron emission source, the electrons emitted by said electron emission source being thus accelerated toward the extremity of said selected column electrode; means for applying to a selected row electrode (6') a second control voltage (v.sub.ls) exceeding said first control voltage (v.sub.c"on"), the electrons previously accelerated toward the extremity of said selected column electrode thus experiencing a lateral movement along said selected column electrode at the surface of said insulating layer (3) and being then attracted by said selected row electrode (6') and impinging upon said cathodoluminescent strip (7') covering said selected row electrode (6'), thus causing a light emission on the display dot corresponding to the overlapping of said selected column electrode (2) and said selected row column (6'). 2. a cathodoluminescent display device according to claim 1, wherein said array of column electrodes are covered by said insulating layer (3) but a portion of said column electrodes extends outside said vacuum enclosure. 3. a cathodoluminescent display device according to claim 1, wherein said array of row electrodes (6) are covered by said cathodoluminescent strip but a portion of said row electrodes extends outside said vacuum enclosure. 4. a cathodoluminescent display according to claim 1, wherein said electron emission source comprises a resistive filament connected to electrical means. 5. a cathodoluminescent display according to claim 1, wherein said electron emission source comprises a plurality of microfilaments and two conductive bars connected to said microfilaments, said conductive bars being connected to electrical means. 6. a cathodoluminescent display according to claim 1, wherein said electron emission source comprises microdots located on a first conducting layer deposited on said upper plate and a second conducting layer separated from said first conductive layer by an insulating layer, said second conductive layer having openings facing said microdots, said first and second conductive layers being connected to electrical means for making said microdots emit electrons through said holes. 7. a control process for controlling the cathodoluminescent display of any one of claims 1 to 6, comprising the steps of: supplying to each row electrode a recurrent signal of a given period t having a selection sequence with a duration .tau..sub.i for each of said i row electrodes, and a non-selection sequence with a duration t-.tau..sub.i ; applying to said electron emitting source a continuous voltage during the duration .tau..sub.i corresponding to the selection of one of said i row electrodes; supplying to the other row electrodes during a selection sequence of said one of said i row electrodes electrical voltages corresponding to a non-selected state; applying to said one of said i row electrodes a voltage having an amplitude v.sub.ls greater than the amplitude of the continuous voltage applied to said electron emitting source; applying to said one of said i row electrodes, during a non-selection period, a voltage having an amplitude v.sub.lns lower than the amplitude of the continuous voltage applied to said electron emitting source; applying to one of said j column electrodes a voltage of duration equal to said duration .tau..sub.i and of an amplitude v.sub.c"on" higher than the amplitude of said continuous voltage applied to said electron emitting source and lower than the amplitude v.sub.ls applied to said one of said i row electrodes for obtaining light emission from a dot corresponding to an overlap of said one of said i row electrodes and said one of said j column electrodes; applying to said one of said j column electrodes, during said duration .tau..sub.i, a voltage of amplitude v.sub.c"off" lower than the amplitude of said continuous voltage applied to said electron emitting source for obtaining no light emission from the dot corresponding to the recovering of said one of said i row electrodes and said one of said j column electrodes.
|
background of the invention the present invention relates to a cathodoluminescent display means using guided electrons and its control process. the invention more particularly applies to the production of displays permitting the display of fixed or moving pictures. known cathodoluminescent screens or displays are the cathode ray tube, the vacuum fluorescent display (v.f.d.) and the microdot fluorescent screen or display. the main known characteristics of these types of cathodoluminescent screen or displays will now be described. the cathode ray tube has a vacuum cell with a thick glass plate (several centimetres) of limited curvature, a thinner glass envelope (approximately 1 cm) and which is approximately conical and tightly sealed to the thick glass plate and an electron gun located in the narrow terminal part of the conical envelope. coils outside the conical envelope ensure the electromagnetic deflection of the electron beam from the gun. the electrons strike a cathodoluminescent layer deposited on the inner face of the thick glass plate, which is located in the vacuum enclosure and raised to a potential of several dozen kilovolts. the cathodoluminescent material is, for example, zinc sulphide. the minimum depth of the cathode ray tube is on the one hand given by the aperture angle of the conical envelope directly linked with the maximum electromagnetic deflection angle of the electron beam and on the other hand by the minimum length of the actual electron bean. the ratio of the diagonal of the display to the depth remains, in the case of the conventional cathode tube, less than two. therefore, the cathode tube does not constitute a fiat screen, even when the glass plate with the face forwards is approximately planar. moreover, with the useful size of the screen there is also an increase in the respective thicknesses of the plate and the envelope, both made of glass and therefore, a corresponding increase in the weight of the screen or delay. a cathode ray tube whereof the screen diagonal is 1 meter, at present weighs about 130 kg. the vacuum fluorescence display has a vacuum cell incorporating two planar glass plates sealed by a tight cord or bead. the first slab optionally carries on its inner face located in the vacuum enclosure, a single electrode constituting an earth plane. between the two plates within the vacuum enclosure there are in two successive planes two metal conductor levels. at the first level, close to the first plate, are located taut metal wires heated by the joule effect. they constitute cathodic filaments emitting electrons by the thermoionic effect. at the second level, close the second plate, are provided perforated, taut, metal strips. they constitute gate electrodes extracting and accelerating the electrons when they are selected, i.e. raised to a sufficiently high potential. the second plate carries on its inner face located within the vacuum enclosure an array of transparent electrodes covered with an electroluminescent and slightly conductive material. they constitute anodes collecting the electrons extracted in their vicinity by a selected gate when their potential is sufficiently high and in particular higher than the respective potentials of the gates. by striking the cathodoluminescent material the electrons bring about a light emission. the cathodoluminescent material is, for example, zinc sulphide. the filaments are, for example, of tungsten, the gates of aluminium and the anodes of indium oxide. the vacuum luminescent screen or display has a limited electron emission yield or efficiency outside the filaments. the filaments cannot be raised to high temperatures favourable for high efficiency levels, because they would be luminous and therefore visible. the vacuum fluorescent display can only offer an image of limited size. the intermediate metallic levels of taut gates and filaments require mechanical supports. they would be visible when located inside the useful zone of the display. located at the periphery of the display they cannot prevent the filaments and gates from bending under the effect of their own weight and thermal expansion and the plates under the effect of the atmospheric pressure. the greater the size of the display, the greater the bending effects. the surface of the vacuum fluorescent displays is at present limited to a few square decimeters. the microdot fluorescent display is known and described in the report of the international congress "japan display 86", p 512. the microdot fluorescent display incorporates a vacuum cell having a first glass plate on which are deposited cathode conductors supporting metal microdots. the cathode conductors are separated from a gate conductor deposited on the same plate by an electrically insulating layer. the gate conductor and the insulating layer are perforated in front of each microdot. the thus formed openings permit the passage of the microdots. a fluorescent material layer faces the gates and is deposited on the anode conductors, which rest on the second glass plate. the two glass plates are tightly sealed so as to form a vacuum enclosure. microspacers, positioned between the two glass plates, bear on the one hand on the metal of the gates of the first plate and on the other on the cathodoluminescent material of the second plate, making it possible to maintain a uniform distance between the two plates no matter what the surface of the cell and even when the glass of the plates is approximately 1 mm. the cathodoluminescent material is, for example, zinc sulphate, the material of the cathodes and the anodes being of tin-doped indium oxide, while the material of the dots is molybdenum and that of the gates aluminium. the microspacers are, for example, calibrated glass balls with a diameter of approximately 200 microns. the microdot fluorescent display has significant brightness inhomogeneities. the production of microdots with a height of approximately 1 micron and a base diameter of approximately 1 micron, uses microelectronic procedures. the present produced microdot fluorescent displays have a size less than 10 cm diagonal. summary of the invention the present invention makes it possible to combine in a single means qualities which have hitherto never listed simultaneously in known display means. the size limits of vacuum fluorescent or cathode ray tube-type screens or displays do not apply to the means according to the invention, which is compatible with the use of microspacers. the means according to the invention also has a good brightness uniformity, a high electron emission efficiency or yield when using one or more filaments as the electron sources thereof because these, outside the active area of the display, can be heated up to luminescence. more specifically, the present invention relates to a cathodoluminescent display means using, in a vacuum enclosure, the guidance of the electrons emitted by a known source using the thermoionic effect or the field effect, characterized in theft the electrons are guided, i.e. located and carried into finished volumes referred to as charge regions, which are located in the vacuum space of the enclosure and defined by guidance electrodes. each guidance electrode is deposited on one of the walls of the vacuum enclosure, covered by an electrically insulating layer and raised to a potential above the electron emission potential. each charge region is in contact with the electrical insulant, has a very fine thickness belong 1000 angstroms and contours faithfully reproducing those of the guidance electrode positioned in perpendicular manner beneath the electrical insulant. the electrons move into the charge region of a guide perpendicular to the electric field applied, i.e. under the sole effect of the diffusion forces. the movement of the electrons is brought about by the extraction through the vacuum of the electrons from the charge region of the guide by means of an anode located at one end of the guide and raised to a potential higher than that of the guidance electrode, said extraction reducing the density of the electrons of the charge region, and by injection through the vacuum of electrons into the charge region of the guide by means of an electron source located at the other end of the guide and using potentials below that of the guidance electrode, said injection reestablishing the density of the electrons in the charge region of the guide. according to a preferred embodiment, the display means comprises two glass plates assembled together by a tight sealing cord and forming a vacuum enclosure, the first plate carrying, on its inner face defining the vacuum enclosure, a first array of l independent electrodes known as row electrodes, the second plate carrying, on its inner face facing the first array of electrodes, a second array of n independent electrodes known as column electrodes, the two arrays intersecting in such a way that the intersection of the l rows and n columns defines the n times l elementary dots of the image, the surface occupied by said n times l dots being the active surface of the display, characterized in that the n column electrodes are covered, in the entire area within the sealing cord, by an electrically insulating layer, each of the row electrodes is covered in the active area by a slightly conductive cathodoluminescent material strip, each of the l strips being electrically in contact with the sole row electrode, the display means comprising an electron emitting source located within the vacuum enclosure, outside the active surface of the display, the electron source having electrical contact means outside the vacuum enclosure and the n columns and l lines have (n+l) electrical contact means outside the vacuum enclosure. according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electron source is constituted by a single filament facing the set of column electrodes, connected to the outside of the enclosure by two independent metal contacts, heated by the joule effect and emitting electrons by the thermoionic effect. according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electron source is constituted by a large number of microfilaments positioned facing the set of column electrodes, each microfilament being connected on its ends to two conductive bars, which are themselves connected to the outside of the enclosure by two independent metal contacts, heated by the joule effect and emitting electrons by the thermoionic effect. according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electron source is constituted by microdots positioned facing the array of column electrodes, the microdots being positioned on a cathodic conductor, which is itself deposited on the first plate and insulated by an electrical insulating layer from a second conductive level having an opening in front of each dot and fulfilling .the function of the extraction gate, the cathodic and gate conductors being connected to the outside of the enclosure by two independent contacts, the microdots emitting electrons by the field effect. the invention also relates to a control process of the display means, where in each row i (i varying from 1 to l) receives a recurrent signal of period t having two sequences. the first, selection sequence of the row i having a duration .tau.i, the second non-selection sequence of the row i having a duration (t-.tau.i). during the selection time of the row i.tau.ti, the (l-1) other rows receive electric signals corresponding to the non-selection state. the signals applied to the electron emitting source are continuous signals of constant amplitude, during the time .tau.i for the selection of the row i. the signal applied to the row i v.sub.row i has an amplitude v.sub.ls lower than the of the continuous signals applied to the electron emitting source. during the time (t-.tau.i) of non-selection of the row i, the signal applied to the row i v.sub.row i has an amplitude v.sub.lns lower than the amplitudes of the continuous signals applied to the electron emitting source. the light emission from a dot ij of the display at the intersection of the row i and the column j is obtained by applying to the column for the time .tau.i of the selection of the row i a signal v.sub.column j of amplitude v.sub.c"on" respectively higher than the amplitudes of the continuous signals applied to the electron emitting source and lower than the amplitude v.sub.ls applied to the row i during the seine time .tau.i. no light emission from a dot ij of the display is obtained by applying to the column j, during the selection time .tau.i of the row i, a signal v.sub.column j of amplitude v.sub.c"off" lower than the amplitudes of the continuous signals applied to the electron emitting source. brief description of the drawings figures the invention is described in greater detail hereinafter relative to non-limitative embodiments and the attached drawings, wherein show: fig. 1 exploded perspective view of a display cell according to the present invention in its form prior to assembly. fig. 2 top plan view of the display cell shown in fig. 1 following assembly thereof. figs. 3a-3c front perspective views of three electron emitting sources that can be used in the display cell of the present invention. fig. 4 front elevational view of the display cell in accordance with the present invention. fig. 5 front elevational view of a display cell illustrating the guidance of the electrons along a column from the electron emitting source to the selected row, said guidance being obtained when the column in question is in the "on" state in accordance with the control process of the present invention. fig. 6 front elevational view illustrating the confinement of the electrons around the electron emitting means, said confinement being obtained when the column in question is in the "off" state according to the control process of the present invention. fig. 7 a top and front perspective view of the display means of the present invention, with pieces broken away, to illustrate the operation of the display means. fig. 8a-8d examples of a chronogram of the potentials respectively applied to a filament-type electron emitting source with one row and one column according to the control process of the invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiment fig. 1 is an exploded view of the display cell in its form prior to assembly. the display cell has two plates, namely a lower plate and an upper plate 5. the lower glass plate 1 has an array of electrodes 2 deposited on the glass substrate, the electrodes being rectangular and arranged vertically and are subsequently referred to as column electrodes, an insulating layer 3 covering the electrodes 2 over their entire surface with the exception of areas 4 making it possible to ensure the electrical contact between the electrodes and the not shown, external control means, said contact zones 4 being located at the periphery, e.g. as shown along one horizontal edge of the glass plate 1. the thickness of the glass plate 1 is between 0.7 and 5 mm. the column electrodes are metallic, e.g. of aluminium. their thickness is between a few hundred and a few thousand angstroms. they are obtained by known means such as the deposition of a metal coating by vacuum evaporation followed by photolithography of the desired pattern. the insulating layer 3 is e.g. of silica or silicon nitride and its thickness is between a few thousand angstroms and a few microns. it is obtained by known means, e.g. vacuum sputtering of a uniform layer followed by photolithography of the desired pattern. the upper glass plate 5 has an array of electrodes 6 deposited on the glass substrate, said electrodes being rectangular, positioned horizontally and are subsequently referred to as row electrodes, an array of horizontal cathodoluminescent strips 7, each strip having approximately the same width as a row electrode, but a smaller length, each strip covering the corresponding row electrode on the area positioned facing the array of column electrodes 2 of the opposite plate, while leaving access to an area 8 making it possible to ensure the electrical contact between the row electrode and a not shown external control means. the contact area 8 is located along the periphery, e.g. in the manner shown along the straight vertical edge of the glass plate 5 an electron emitting means, also called the electron source, e.g. using the thermoionic effect is formed by two horizontal conductive bars 9, 10 located outside the area occupied by the array of row electrodes 6, but facing the array of column electrodes 2 of the opposite slab. there is also a plurality of filaments 11 connected by their ends to the conductive bars 9 and 10. the thickness of the glass plate 1 is between 0.7 and 5 mm. the row electrodes 6 are transparent, e.g. of tin-doped indium oxide and have a thickness between a few hundred and a few thousand angstroms. they are obtained by known means such as deposition by vacuum sputtering of a uniform layer, followed by the photolithography of the desired pattern. the cathodoluminescent strips 7 are produced by known processes, e.g. by screen process printing of cathodoluminescent pastes, which contain, apart from the binder, a cathodoluminescent material e.g. zinc sulphide and grains of indium oxide in a variable proportion from 1 to 10%, the presence of these grains improving the electrical conduction of the screen process printed layer. the thickness of the cathodoluminescent strips is between a few microns and a few dozen microns. the conductive bars of the electron emission means 9 and 10 are made from a metal having a high electrical conductivity, e.g. aluminium, whereas the filaments 11 are made from tungsten. fig. 2 is a plan view of the display cell once assembled. the intersection of the four rows and four columns defines 16 elementary points or dots of the image or picture referenced by a subscript of row i varying from 1 to 4 and a subscript of column j varying from 1 to 4, the dot p.sub.11 being located at the top left and the dot p.sub.44 at the bottom right. a tight seal 12 makes it possible to maintain under vacuum the interior of the cell in contact with the cathodoluminescent strip 7, the filaments 11, part of the column electrodes 2 and part of the row electrodes 6, said parts corresponding at least to the intersection zone of the two arrays which is known as the useful zone of the screen. the insulating layer 3 extends beyond the seal 12 so as to prevent any exchange of electrons between the interior of the cell and the column electrodes 4. the contact zones 4, 8, 13, 14 of the column electrodes 2, the row electrodes 6 and the conductive bars 9 and 10 of the electron emission means are accessible from the outside. figs. 3a-3c show three known electron sources such as can be used in the display cell. fig. 3a corresponds to an electron source constituted by microfilaments 11. the source is produced on the upper plate 5, parallel to the array of rows 6 and cathodoluminescent strips 7. the microfilaments 11 are connected to two conductive bars 9, 10 having ends 13, 14 which are accessible from the outside of the assembled cell. fig. 3b corresponds to an electron source constituted by a single filament 15, which is parallel to the arrays of the rows 6 and the cathodoluminescent strips 7. this filament is joined to the upper glass plate 5 by supports 13''and 14' serving as electrical contacts. fig. 3c corresponds to an electron source constituted by microdots emitting by the field effect. the electrons are extracted from a cathode 16 carrying the microdots 19. the gate 18 is separated from the cathode 16 by an electrically insulating layer 17. the gate and the insulating layer are perforated in front of each microdot. the gate can be connected to a not shown, external control means by means of the contact zone 14" and the cathode can be connected to a not shown, external control means by the contact zone 13". the microdot electron source is produced on the upper glass plate 5 by known vacuum deposition and photolithography means. the process e.g. described in the international report "japan display 86" is suitable for producing the necessary electron source for the display means according to the invention. a comparison of figs. 3a, 3b and 3c shows that the choice of the emission source does not modify the remainder of the display means. fig. 4 shows an assembly diagram for the display cell. between the two glass substrates 1 and 5 tightly assembled by a sealing cord or bead 19 is provided a vacuum volume 20. vacuum is understood to be a pressure below 1/100,000 of atmospheric pressure. the distance separating the two glass substrates 1, 5 is kept constant by two spacers 21. as a result of the pressure difference between the vacuum volume 20 and the exterior at atmospheric pressure, the glass plates 1 and 5 are engaged against one another until they are in direct contact with the spacers. the number of spacers per square centimeter and the thickness of the plates 1 and 5 are adjusted so that the bending of the plates is negligible. the spacers 21 can be glass bells arranged in an arbitrary manner prior to assembly on one of the plates. their diameter varies from a few dozen microns to a few hundred microns. a density of 100 to 1000 spacers per 1 cm.sup.2 is appropriate for a glass plate thickness of about 1 mm. the seal 19 is e.g. brought about on the basis of a meltable glass heated to beyond its melting point during the display cell assembly stage. fig. 5 shows how the electrons are guided along a column from the electron emitting source to a selected row, said guidance being obtained when the considered column is in the "on" state. a column is said to be in the "on" state when the corresponding guidance electrode 2 is raised to a voltage v.sub.c"on" higher than the voltages applied to the electron emission source, e.g. in the represented embodiment of a filament source above the voltages filament 1 and filament 2 respectively applied to the ends of the filaments via con-conductive bars 9 and 10. from the filament 11 to the guidance electrode 2 the electrons are accelerated by the electric field in the direction of the arrow 24a. blocked by the insulating layer 3, they cannot be evacuated by the guidance electrode positioned beneath the insulant. they accumulate in the vicinity of the insulant forming in the vacuum a charge region 22. an image of the electron density within the charge region is given by the density of the dots representing the charge region. a high dot density is the image of a high electron density. to the right of fig. 5, a selected row 6' is shown. the term selected row is understood to mean a row raised to a selected potential v.sub.1 or in abbreviation v.sub.ls exceeding v.sub.c"on". the electrons of the charge region facing the selected row are attracted in the direction indicated by the arrow 24e and accelerated by the electric field established between the guidance column 2 and the selected row 6'. a selected row pumps the electrons from the charge region. to the left of the drawing, three non-selected rows 6 are shown. the term non-selected row means a row raised to a non-selected potential v.sub.1 or abbreviated to v.sub.lns below the potentials applied to the electron source, e.g. in the case shown of a filament source below v.sub.filament 1 and v.sub.filament 2. the electric field established between the non-selected row 6 and the guidance electrode 2 is quasi-perpendicular to the plane of the display cell and is directed so as to drive back the electrons against the insulant, as indicated by the field lines 23. however, although the electric field is perpendicular to the plane of the cell, a lateral movement of the electrons is reserved, as is indicated by the successive arrows 24b, 24c and 24d. this movement takes place under the pressure of diffusion forces tending to maintain constant the electron density in the charge region, despite the pumping of the electrons out of the charge region by the selected row 6' and the injection into the charge region of electrons from the filament 11. light emission is caused by the impact of the electrons pumped by the selected row 6' against the cathodoluminescent material of the cathodoluminescent strip 7'. this emission has a wavelength spectrum characteristic of the properties of the fluorescent material used and is symbolized by the emission of photons of energy hv. fig. 6 shows the confinement of the electrons around the emission means, said confinement being obtained when the considered column is in the "off" state. a column is said to be in the "off" state when the guidance electrode corresponding thereto is raised to a voltage v.sub.c"off" below the voltages applied to the electron emitting means, e.g. in the case represented of a filament source below the voltages v.sub.filament 1 and v.sub.filament 2 applied to the filament 11 by means of the conductive bars 9 and 10. the adjacent row 6 is not selected, i.e. the row electrode corresponding thereto is raised to a non-selected voltage v.sub.1, abbreviated to v.sub.lns, below the voltages applied to the electron emitting means, e.g. in the represented case of a filament source below v.sub.filament 1 and v.sub.filament 2. the electrons emitted by the thermoionic effect outside the filament are driven back by the column and the adjacent first row and drop onto the filament. the charge region 22' is confined around the filament and no electron can reach the cathodoluminescent strip 7' covering the selected row 6'. fig. 7 shows an overall diagram of the operating display cell. a out made in the upper substrate reveals the mechanism separately described in figs. 5 and 6 and respectively corresponding to the guidance of the emitted electrons and to the confinement thereof on their source. the filament is symbolized by an accordion line 11. through the cut made in the upper plate it is possible to see the selected row electrode 6' and the cathodoluminescent strip 7' covering it. the other, non-selected rows are not shown. in front of the column electrode in the "on" state, the electrons represented by dots 22 leave the filament, strike against the insulant 3, pass along the guidance electrode until perpendicular to the selected row in the direction indicated by the arrow 24, come beck to the selected electrode by striking the cathodoluminescent strip and bring about a light emission symbolized by the emission of photons of energy hv. in front of the column electrode in the "off" state, the electrons represented by the dots 22' are confined in the vicinity of the filament 11. none of them are transported to a random catholuminescent strip and no light emission is obtained facing the column electrode in the "off" state. figs. 8a-8d illustrate a chronogram of the signals respectively applied to the filament-type electron source with one row and one column, said chronogram illustrating the control mode of the display means. the frame time t corresponds to the sum of the selection times of each row. a time t equal to four .tau. is shown, which corresponds to a four-row display with selection times .tau.1, .tau.2, .tau.3, .tau.4 of the four rows all equal to .tau.. fig. 8a shows the signal supplied to the electron source, which is of the filament type here and as shown in fig. 3a. the signals are v.sub.filament 1 and v.sub.filament 2, which are continuous signals of constant amplitudes v.sub.f1 and v.sub.f2. in the chosen embodiment, v.sub.f1 has been arbitrarily take as higher than v.sub.f2. fig. 8b shows the signal applied to the first row of the display and during the time 1 the row 1 is selected. the signal v.sub.row 1 has an amplitude v.sub.ls higher than v.sub.f1 and v.sub.f2. outside the selection time, v.sub.row 1 is equal to v.sub.lns below v.sub.f1 and v.sub.f2. fig. 8c represents the signal applied to the second row of the display. the signal v.sub.row 2 is obtained by delaying by a time .tau.1 the signal previously described for row 1. in general terms, the signal of a row k is obtained by delaying by a time k-1 the signal of the row .tau.k-1. fig. 8d represents the signal of a column so as to illuminate the image point or dot corresponding to said column and in front of row 1 and extinguishing the image points or dots facing the subsequent rows. during the time .tau.1 v.sub.column is equal to v.sub.c"on" than v.sub.f1, v.sub.f2 and v.sub.ls. outside the time .tau.l, v.sub.column is equal to v.sub.c"off" and below v.sub.f1 and v.sub.f2.
|
143-497-246-319-735
|
JP
|
[
"EP",
"JP",
"US",
"WO"
] |
B01J23/889,B01D53/94,B01J23/50,B01J23/72,B01J23/745,B01J23/75,B01J23/755,B01J23/83,B01J23/89,B01J35/00,B01J37/34,F01N3/10,B01J23/76,B01J37/02,B01J23/86,B01J35/02,B01J35/04
| 2012-12-27T00:00:00 |
2012
|
[
"B01",
"F01"
] |
catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification and catalyst for exhaust gas purification
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the invention relates to a catalyst composition using other metals different from precious metals as a catalytically active component and is to propose a novel catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification which has excellent catalytic activity, in particular, excellent treatment activity of hc even after a thermal durability treatment. the invention is to propose a catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification comprising catalyst particles having a constitution in which cu and a transition metal a including at least one of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles and a catalyst using the same.
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1. a catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification comprising catalyst particles having a constitution in which cu and a transition metal a including at least one of ni and zr are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles by an arc plasma method. 2. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , wherein a content ratio of the transition metal a to the ceria particles obtained by the following formula (2) is 0.05 to 20 mass %, content ratio of transition metal a ={amount of transition metal a /(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100. (2) 3. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , wherein a content ratio of the cu to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (1) is 0.05 to 20 mass % and a content ratio of the transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) is 0.05 to 20 mass %, content ratio of cu={amount of cu/(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100 (1) content ratio of transition metal a ={amount of transition metal a /(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100. (2) 4. a catalyst for exhaust gas purification comprising a constitution in which the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 is supported on a honeycomb substrate. 5. a catalyst for exhaust gas purification comprising a constitution in which the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 is formed in a pellet shape. 6. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , wherein cu, ni and zr are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. 7. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , wherein cu and ni are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. 8. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , wherein cu and zr are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. 9. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , wherein cu and the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of a composite oxide of cu and the transition metal a. 10. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , further comprising another catalyst particle in which a precious metal is supported on an inorganic porous particle, the another catalyst particle being different from the catalyst particles having the constitution in which cu and the transition metal a including at least one of ni and zr are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles by the arc plasma method. 11. a catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification containing catalyst particles having a constitution in which cu and a transition metal a including at least one of ni and zr are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles by an arc plasma method, wherein the cu and the transition metal a of the catalyst particles are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide or a metal or in a state of a composite oxide thereof. 12. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 , wherein a content ratio of the transition metal a to the ceria particles obtained by the following formula (2) is 0.05 to 20 mass %, content ratio of transition metal a ={amount of transition metal a /(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100. (2) 13. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 , wherein a content ratio of the cu to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (1) is 0.05 to 20 mass % and a content ratio of the transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) is 0.05 to 20 mass %, content ratio of cu={amount of cu/(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100 (1) content ratio of transition metal a ={amount of transition metal a /(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100. (2) 14. a catalyst for exhaust gas purification comprising a constitution in which the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 is supported on a honeycomb substrate. 15. a catalyst for exhaust gas purification comprising a constitution in which the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 is formed in a pellet shape. 16. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 , wherein cu, ni and zr are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. 17. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 , wherein cu and ni are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. 18. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 , wherein cu and zr are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. 19. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 11 , wherein cu and the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of a composite oxide of cu and the transition metal a. 20. the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification according to claim 1 , further comprising an osc material particle including at least one selected from a group consisting of a cerium compound particle, a zirconium compound particle and a ceria-zirconia composite oxide particle, the osc material particle being different from the catalyst particles having the constitution in which cu and the transition metal a including at least one of ni and zr are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles by the arc plasma method.
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technical field the present invention relates to a catalyst which can be used for purifying an exhaust gas to be discharged from an internal-combustion engine such as a gasoline engine and a diesel engine of two-wheel or four-wheel automobiles and a catalyst composition used in the catalyst. background art an exhaust gas of automobiles which use gasoline for fuel contains hazardous components such as hydrocarbon (thc), carbon monoxide (co), and nitrogen oxide (nox). therefore, it is necessary to purify each of the hazardous components in such a manner that the hydrocarbon (thc) is converted into water and carbon dioxide by oxidation; the carbon monoxide (co) is converted into the carbon dioxide by oxidation; and the nitrogen oxide (nox) is converted into nitrogen by reduction. as a catalyst (hereinafter, referred to as an “exhaust gas purification catalyst”) adapted to treat these exhaust gases, three way catalysts (twc) capable of oxidizing and reducing co, thc, and nox have been used. three way catalysts are known, in which a precious metal is supported on a refractory oxide porous material having a high-specific surface area, for example, an alumina porous material having a high-specific surface area and the precious metal is supported on a substrate, for example, a monolithic substrate made of a refractory ceramic or metallic honeycomb structure or on refractory particles. on the other hand, the exhaust gas discharged from the diesel engine contains sulfate salts based on sulfur content in a fuel, tar-like particulate matters (referred to as “pm”) derived from incomplete combustion, nitrogen oxide (nox) or the like. as an apparatus for removing the pm contained in the exhaust gas discharged from the diesel engine, an exhaust gas purification apparatus, which collects the pm in a diesel particulate filter (referred to as a “dpf”) and burns the collected pm at an appropriate timing to remove it, has been known. usually, this dpf is configured such that a porous filter substrate with a honeycomb structure forms a skeleton to collect the pm in a surface of a partition wall of the substrate when the exhaust gas flows inside the partition wall. in both of a catalyst for purifying the exhaust gas discharged from the gasoline engine and a catalyst for purifying the exhaust gas discharged from the diesel engine, conventionally, expensive precious metals such as platinum (pt) or rhodium (rh) have been used as a catalytically active component in many cases. however, these precious metals are very expensive due to a small amount of reserves and suffer sharp fluctuations in price depending on changes in demand. therefore, a catalyst, in which the expensive precious metals are not used or precious metal usage is reduced using other metals different from the precious metals, has been actively developed. for example, patent document 1 (jp 2011-140011 a) discloses a co oxidation catalyst which is obtained in such a manner that pd is supported on ceo 2 carrier particles and a heat treatment is carried out at a temperature in the range of 850 to 950° c. under an oxidizing atmosphere, the co oxidation catalyst exhibiting co oxidation activity at a wide temperature range including a low temperature. patent document 2 (jp 2008-156130 a) discloses a catalyst for exhaust gas purification which is obtained by supporting a delafossite-type oxide of 3r type represented by a general formula abox (wherein a represents at least one selected from the group consisting of cu, ag, pd, and pt; and b represents at least one selected from the group consisting of al, cr, ga, fe, mn, co, rh, ni, in, la, nd, sm, eu, y, and ti) on a carrier made of ceramics or metallic materials, the catalyst for exhaust gas purification having high oxygen storage capacity from a low temperature range to a high temperature range without requiring the presence of a precious metal. patent document 3 (jp 9-225267 a) discloses a catalyst which is obtained using a spinel-type oxide, the catalyst trapping hc at 200° c. or lower and being used in nox purification by reduction reaction or the like at a high temperature equal to or higher than 200° c. citation list patent document patent document 1: jp 2011-140011 a patent document 2: jp 2008-156130 a patent document 3: jp 2009-225267 a disclosure of the invention problem to be solved by the invention many of conventional catalyst compositions using other metals different from precious metals as a catalytically active component had a problem in that a catalytic activity such as an oxidation activity of hydrocarbon (thc) or carbon monoxide (co) was insufficient. in addition, there had a problem in that a catalytic activity was significantly reduced since the catalytically active component exists in a carrier and the like as a solid solution or is sintered by a thermal durability treatment. therefore, the invention relates to a catalyst composition using other metals different from precious metals as a catalytically active component and is to propose a novel catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification and a catalyst using the same, which have an excellent effect on a catalytic activity, in particular, on a treatment activity of hc or co and are not reduced in catalytic activity even after the thermal durability treatment. means for solving problem the invention is to propose a catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification containing catalyst particles having a constitution in which cu and a transition metal a including at least one of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles and a catalyst using the same. effect of the invention according to the catalyst composition for exhaust gas purification and the catalyst using the same which are proposed by the invention, since a combination of cu and the transition metal a including at least one of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag is supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles and thus the precious metals cannot be used or precious metal usage can be significantly reduced, it can be provided at low cost. furthermore, the catalytic activity after the thermal durability treatment, in particular, oxidation activity of hc and co is also excellent. mode(s) for carrying out the invention next, embodiments of the invention will be described. however, the invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments described below. <present catalyst composition> an exhaust gas purification catalyst composition (referred to as a “present catalyst composition”) according to an embodiment is a composition containing catalyst particles (referred to as “present catalyst particles”) having a constitution in which cu and a transition metal a including at least one of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag are supported on ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. (present catalyst particles) as described above, the present catalyst particles are catalyst particles having a constitution in which cu and the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. (ceria particles) a specific surface area of the ceria particles constituting the present catalyst particles is not particularly limited. as a guideline, the specific surface area of the ceria particles is preferably 20 to 200 m 2 /g, more preferably 40 m 2 /g or more or 160 m 2 /g or less, and most preferably 85 m 2 /g or more as a bet specific surface area. preferably, the ceria particles are contained in the present catalyst composition at a rate of 5 to 90 mass %. co and thc can be sufficiently purified under a fuel-rich atmosphere when the ceria particles are contained in the present catalyst composition at a rate of 5 mass % or more, and adhesion with a substrate can be reliably secured when the content of the ceria particles is 90 mass % or less. from such a viewpoint, the ceria particles are preferably contained in the present catalyst composition at a rate of 5 to 90 mass % and more preferably at a rate of 13 mass % or more or 40 mass % or less. (catalytically active component) the present catalyst particles are contained in a state where cu and the transition metal a including at least one of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles, as a catalytically active component. examples of the transition metal a may include one selected from the group consisting of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag or may a combination of two or more of these elements. among these examples, a combination of one or two or more selected from the group consisting of cr, mn, co, zr, and ni is particularly preferred in view of the fact that a melting point is relatively high. the cu and the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide or a metal or in a state of a composite oxide thereof. before the thermal durability treatment, for example, in a state (fresh) before the thermal durability treatment for heating to 400° c. or higher, the cu and the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in the state of an oxide. on the other hand, after the thermal durability treatment, for example, in a state (aged) after the thermal durability treatment for heating to 800° c. or higher, the cu and the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in the state of an oxide or in a state of a composite oxide thereof. at this time, when the thermal durability treatment is carried out by heating under a reducing atmosphere (for example, nitrogen atmosphere), for example, in a case where the transition metal a is fe or mn, cu and the transition metal a are turned into a state of a delafossite-type oxide and are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. further, whether it is in a state of the delafossite-type oxide can be confirmed by identifying peaks through an x-ray diffraction analysis (xrd). for example, in the case where the transition metal a is fe or mn, the transition metal a is turned into the delafossite-type oxide by heating at 800° c. for 5 hours in nitrogen gas of 100%. on the other hand, when the thermal durability treatment is carried out by heating under the oxidizing atmosphere, the transition metal a is supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in different states according to the kind of the transition metal a. for example, in the case where the transition metal a is mn, when the thermal durability treatment is carried out by heating under the oxidizing atmosphere, cu and mn are turned into a non-stoichiometry spinel (cu 1.5 mn 1.5 o 4 ) state and are then supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles; in the case where the transition metal a is fe, cu and fe are turned into a spinel-type oxide (cufe 2 o 4 ) state and are then supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles; and in the case where the transition metal a is ni or ag, cu and ni are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide (cuo—nio) and cu and ag are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide or a metal (cuo—ag 2 o or cuo—ag). however, in any case, excessive quantities of cu and transition metal a exist in the state of an oxide or a metal. with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of cu, the content ratio of cu to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (1) is preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.10 mass % or more or 15 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.15 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less. content ratio of cu={amount of cu/(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100 (1) with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of the transition metal a, the content ratio of transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) is preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.1 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.2 mass % or more or 5 mass % or less. content ratio of transition metal a ={amount of transition metal a /(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100 (2) above all, with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of mn, the content ratio of transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) is preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.1 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.5 mass % or more or 1.5 mass % or less. with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of ni, the content ratio of transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) is preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.1 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.2 mass % or more or 1.0 mass % or less. moreover, the present catalyst particles may contain catalytically active components, for example, precious metals different from cu and the transition metal a. when the present catalyst particles contain the precious metals, oxidation activity of co and hc can be further improved. examples of the precious metals may include metals such as platinum, rhodium, or palladium. (stabilizer and other components) the present catalyst particles may contain a stabilizer. examples of these types of stabilizers may include an alkaline-earth metal or an alkaline metal. preferably, the stabilizer can be one or two or more of metals selected from a group consisting of magnesium, barium, calcium, and strontium, and more preferably, the stabilizer can be one or two or more of metals selected from a group consisting of strontium and barium. (other components capable of being contained in present catalyst composition) the present catalyst composition may contain other components different from the present catalyst particles. for example, the present catalyst composition may contain catalyst particles, in which the catalytically active component such as the precious metal is supported on inorganic porous particles, osc material particles and the like. examples of the inorganic porous particles may include a porous material of the compound selected from a group consisting of silica, ceria, ceria-zirconia, alumina, or titania and more specifically a porous material consisting of the compound selected from alumina, silica, silica-alumina, alumino-silicates, alumina-zirconia, alumina-chromia, and alumina-ceria. the osc material particles may be particles consisting of materials having an oxygen storage capacity (osc). for example, the osc material particles may include cerium compound particles, zirconium compound particles, and ceria-zirconia composite oxide particles. (production method of present catalyst composition) a ceria (ceo 2 ) powder, a copper compound, a compound of the transition metal a, water, and other raw materials as needed are mixed and stirred with each other to obtain slurry, and then the present catalyst composition can be obtained by drying the obtained slurry. however, it is not intended to be limited to such production method. the present catalyst particles and the present catalyst composition can be produced by, for example, an arc plasma (ap) method. an arc plasma generator is generally configured by a cathode (a base metal of cu and the transition metal a in this example) as a base metal, an anode, a trigger electrode, an insulator and the like. a high-voltage pulse is applied between the base metal as the cathode and the trigger electrode between which the insulator is sandwiched to cause a creeping discharge, electric charges charged in a capacitor between the cathode and the anode are discharged by the creeping discharge, and precious metals of the cathode are turned into plasma and are jetted forward, thereby being precipitated onto the surface of a powder carrier as nanoparticles. the arc plasma (ap) method has characteristics capable of controlling a size and a precipitation density of precipitation particles by discharge energy. when the discharge is performed at high energy, molar numbers of the precious metals turned once into the plasma are increased, but the size of the precipitation particles becomes large. meanwhile, when the discharge is performed at low energy, the size of the precipitation particles becomes finer, but plasma generation probability is reduced. as examination results of a variety of energy, it was found that high dispersion of nanoparticles was most uniformly obtained by discharging energy of about 3 j to 5 j. the supported amount can be controlled by the number of times of discharges. when the present catalyst composition is prepared by the arc plasma (ap) method, it is possible to obtain the present catalyst particles having a constitution in which an oxide of cu and an oxide of the transition metal a are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in proximity to each other. then, when the present catalyst composition is prepared by the arc plasma (ap) method, it was found that a surprising effect could be obtained in which the catalytic activity after the thermal durability treatment was improved compared to that before the thermal durability treatment. <present catalyst> next, a catalyst for exhaust gas purification (hereinafter, referred to as a “present catalyst”) will be described, which can be prepared using the present catalyst composition. the catalyst can be prepared by supporting the present catalyst composition on a honeycomb substrate. in addition, the catalyst can be prepared by forming the present catalyst composition in a pellet shape. as a specific configuration example of the present catalyst, for example, the present catalyst may include a catalyst provided with a catalyst layer which is formed through processes of preparing a slurry by mixing the present catalyst composition with water and other components, stirring the mixed present catalyst composition using a ball mill, and applying the slurry on a substrate by a wash coat. in addition, another example of the present catalyst may include a catalyst provided with a catalyst layer which is formed on the surface of the substrate through processes of preparing a slurry by mixing the present catalyst composition with water and other components and stirring the mixed present catalyst composition using the ball mill, immersing the substrate into the slurry, and then pulling up the immersed substrate to calcine it. however, the method of producing the present catalyst can employ all of the known methods, and is not limited to the above examples. (substrate) examples of the substrate material used in the present catalyst may include refractory materials such as ceramics and metal materials. examples of the ceramic substrate material may include a refractory ceramic material, for example, cordierite, cordierite-alpha alumina, silicon nitride, zircon mullite, spodumene, alumina-silica magnesia, zircon silicate, sillimanite, magnesium silicate, zircon, petalite, alpha alumina, alumino-silicates, and the like. examples of the metal substrate material may include a refractory metal, for example, other suitable corrosion-resistant alloys based on stainless steel or iron. the shape of the substrate may include a honeycomb shape, a pellet shape, or a spherical shape. the honeycomb material may use, for example, a cordierite material such as the ceramics. in addition, the honeycomb material may use the honeycomb formed of a metal material such as ferritic stainless steel. in a case of using the substrate of the honeycomb shape, for example, it is possible to use a monolithic substrate which has a plurality of minute gas flow passages, that is, channels parallel to each other inside the substrate so that fluid flows through the inside of the substrate. at this time, catalyst compositions may be coated on the inner wall surface of each channel of the monolithic substrate by the wash coat to form the catalyst layer. (catalyst layer) the catalyst layer may be stacked with one or two or more in a vertical direction, and another catalyst layer may be formed in a flowing direction of an exhaust gas. (other components) the catalyst may contain known additive components such as a binder component. examples of the binder component may include an inorganic binder, for example, an aqueous solution such as alumina sol, silica sol, or zirconia sol. these can take a type of an inorganic oxide when being calcined. <explanation of expressions> in this specification, when the expression “x to y” (x and y are arbitrary numbers) is used, unless otherwise explicitly mentioned, the meaning of “x or greater but y or less” is included and at the same time, the meaning of “preferably greater than x” or “preferably less than y” is included. in addition, the expression “x or greater” (x is an arbitrary number) or “y or less” (y is an arbitrary number) includes the intention of “it is preferable to be greater than x” or “it is preferable to be less than y”. examples hereinafter, the invention will be described in detail based on the following examples and comparative examples. comparative example 1 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide was supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 99 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 1 part by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cuo was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . comparative example 2 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide was supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 90 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 10 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cuo was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 1 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and mn oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 2.5 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 2.5 parts by mass of manganese nitrate hexahydrate in terms of mn metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cu 1.5 mn 1.5 o 4 and mn 2 o 3 was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 2 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and mn oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 4 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 1 part by mass of manganese nitrate hexahydrate in terms of mn metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cu 1.5 mn 1.5 o 4 and mn 2 o 3 was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 3 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and mn oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 1 part by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 4 parts by mass of manganese nitrate hexahydrate in terms of mn metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cu 1.5 mn 1.5 o 4 and mn 2 o 3 was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 4 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and ni oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 2.5 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 2.5 parts by mass of nickel nitrate hexahydrate in terms of ni metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cuo and nio was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 5 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and ni oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 4 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 1 part by mass of nickel nitrate hexahydrate in terms of ni metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cuo and nio was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 6 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and ni oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 1 part by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 4 parts by mass of nickel nitrate hexahydrate in terms of ni metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cuo and nio was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . example 7 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide, ag oxide, and ag metal were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 2.5 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 2.5 parts by mass of silver nitrate in terms of ag metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. example 8 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and co oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 2.5 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 2.5 parts by mass of cobalt nitrate hexahydrate in terms of co metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. example 9 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and co oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 95 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 2.5 parts by mass of copper acetate monohydrate in terms of cu metal, 2.5 parts by mass of iron nitrate nonahydrate in terms of fe metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 800° c. for five hours under air atmosphere. an xrd measurement was performed on the catalyst composition (aged), and, as a result, a peak of cufe 2 o 4 was detected simultaneously with a peak of ceo 2 . (catalyst performance evaluation) with respect to the catalyst compositions (aged) obtained in comparative examples 1 and 2 and examples 1 to 9, purification performance of a simulation exhaust gas was measured using a fixed bed flow type reactor. a catalyst composition (powder) of 0.1 g was set in a reaction tube, and then the simulation exhaust gas was introduced into the catalyst powder at the following state, that is, 10° c./min, co: 500 ppm, c 3 h 6 : 500 ppmc, no: 200 ppm, o 2 : 4.8%, co 2 : 10%, h 2 o: 10%, n 2 : balance, and a total flow rate of 1000 cc/min. after a temperature was raised up to 500° c. at a temperature rising rate of 10° c./min, a pre-treatment was carried out by holding the temperature of 500° c. for 10 minutes. thereafter, the purification performance of the simulation exhaust gas was measured by raising a temperature from 100° c. to 500° c. at the temperature rising rate of 10° c./min after once cooling, outlet gas components were measured using hc analyzer (“vmf-1000f” manufactured by shimadzu co.), and a temperature (t20) at which hc was purified by 20% was measured. table 1hc (t20): ° c.comparative1 wt % cu/ceo 2474.0example 1comparative10 wt % cu/ceo 2442.2example 2example 1(2.5 wt % cu + 2.5 wt % mn)/ceo 2323.8example 2(4 wt % cu + 1 wt % mn)/ceo 2371.7example 3(1 wt % cu + 4 wt % mn)/ceo 2402.2example 4(2.5 wt % cu + 2.5 wt % ni)/ceo 2433.4example 5(4 wt % cu + 1 wt % ni)/ceo 2409.1example 6(1 wt % cu + 4 wt % ni)/ceo 2424.9example 7(2.5 wt % cu + 2.5 wt % ag)/ceo 2396.1example 8(2.5 wt % cu + 2.5 wt % co)/ceo 2376.1example 9(2.5 wt % cu + 2.5 wt % fe)/ceo 2430.8 from table 1, as compared to the case where only cu was supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles, it was found that the purification performance of hc was improved in the case where a combination of cu and other transition metals was supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. when the catalyst particles obtained in examples 1 to 9 were measured by an xrd, cu and the other transition metals were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide or a metal before the thermal durability treatment. meanwhile, when heating and thermal durability treatment were carried out under a reducing atmosphere, it was found that cu and other transition metals were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of a delafossite-type oxide. in addition, when the heating and thermal durability treatment were carried out under an oxidizing atmosphere, it was found that cu and mn were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of a non-stoichiometry spinel (cu 1.5 mn 1.5 o 4 ); cu and fe were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of a spinel-type oxide (cufe 2 o 4 ); cu and ni were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide (cuo—nio); and cu and ag were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in a state of an each oxide (cuo—ag 2 o) and a metal (cuo—ag). even in any case, it was also found that excessive quantities of cu and transition metal a exist in the state of an oxide or a metal. furthermore, from the above test results and test results which have been made, with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of cu, it was considered that the content ratio of cu to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (1) was preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.10 mass % or more or 15 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.15 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less. content ratio of cu={amount of cu/(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100 (1) on the other hand, with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of the transition metal a, it was considered that the content ratio of transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) was preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.1 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.2 mass % or more or 5 mass % or less. content ratio of transition metal a ={amount of transition metal a /(amount of ceria particles+amount of cu+amount of transition metal a )}×100 (2) above all, with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of mn, it was considered that the content ratio of transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) was preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.1 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.5 mass % or more or 1.5 mass % or less. with respect to the content (that is, supported amount) of ni, it was considered that the content ratio of transition metal a to the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles obtained by the following formula (2) was preferably 0.05 to 20 mass %, more preferably 0.1 mass % or more or 10 mass % or less, and most preferably 0.2 mass % or more or 1.0 mass % or less. comparative examples 3 to 7 and examples 10 to 13 in comparative examples 3 to 7 and examples 10 to 13, a catalyst composition was prepared by arc plasma (ap) method. using an arc plasma (ap) generator (“arl-300” manufactured by ulvac inc.) attached with various cylindrical metal cast body (10 mm×17 mm, purity of 99.9% or more, manufactured by furuya metal co., ltd.) as a cathode, ceo 2 as a carrier was put in a container in a vacuum chamber and a gas was exhausted by an oil rotary vacuum pump (rp) and a turbo molecular pump (tmp) under conditions indicated in table 2. under plasma irradiation, the container was rotated and thus powders (samples) were stirred by scraper. further, ceo 2 powders having a specific surface area of 120 m 2 /g was used. in order to precipitate a predetermined amount of metal nanoparticles onto the carrier, the preparation was made at a room temperature by generating an arc discharge at a frequency of 1 hz or 2 hz with a peak current of 2 ka and a pulse width of 0.2 ms while stirring the powders by rotating each container. after the plasma irradiation is finished, the vacuum chamber was opened to atmospheric pressure and the catalyst composition (fresh) prepared while stirring the powders by rotating each container was taken from the container. thereafter, a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at a temperature of 900° c. for 25 hours under water vapor of 10%/air atmosphere using an electric furnace. detailed conditions refer to table 2 described below. table 2capacityofdischargenumber ofstirring speedcapacitor/dischargefrequency/discharges/irradiationof carriercathodecarrierμfvoltage/vhzshottime/hpowder/kpacomparativefeceo 2 (2 g)3601251260007.260example 3comparativecuceo 2 (2 g)3631251260007.260example 4comparativeniceo 2 (2 g)3601251260007.260example 5comparativecrceo 2 (2 g)3601251260007.260example 6comparativezrceo 2 (2 g)3601251260007.260example 7example 10fe—cuceo 2 (2 g)3601251200005.660example 11ni—cuceo 2 (2 g)3601251200005.660example 12cr—cuceo 2 (2 g)3601251200005.660example 13zr—cuceo 2 (2 g)3601251200005.660 table 3amount supported oncarrier/wt %comparative example 3fe/ceo 20.70comparative example 4cu/ceo 20.74comparative example 5ni/ceo 20.74comparative example 6cr/ceo 20.70comparative example 7zr/ceo 21.04example 10fe—cu/ceo 20.18 (fe)0.11 (cu)example 11ni—cu/ceo 20.17 (ni)0.13 (cu)example 12cr—cu/ceo 20.20 (cr)0.10 (cu)example 13zr—cu/ceo 20.22 (zr)0.13 (cu) in each of examples, the supported amount of each element was calculated from analytical values of the xrf. (catalyst performance evaluation) with respect to each of the catalyst compositions (fresh) and the catalyst compositions (aged) obtained in comparative examples 3 to 7 and examples 10 to 13, purification performance of a simulation exhaust gas was measured using a fixed bed flow type reactor. a catalyst powder of 0.1 g was set in a reaction tube, and then the simulation exhaust gas was introduced into the catalyst powder at the following state, that is, 10° c./min, co: 1000 ppm, o 2 : 1.25%, he: balance, and w/f of 5.0×10 −4 g/min·cm −3 . after a temperature was raised up to 500° c. at a temperature rising rate of 10° c./min, a pre-treatment was carried out by holding the temperature of 500° c. for 10 minutes. thereafter, the purification performance of the simulation exhaust gas was measured by raising a temperature from 100° c. to 500° c. at the temperature rising rate of 10° c./min after once cooling, outlet gas components were measured using co/no analyzer (“pg240” manufactured by horiba ltd.), and a temperature (t50) at which co was purified by 50% was measured. table 4co (t50): ° c.freshagedcomparative example 3fe/ceo 2332400>comparative example 4cu/ceo 2155252comparative example 5ni/ceo 2150220comparative example 7zr/ceo 2254400>example 10fe—cu/ceo 2290152example 11ni—cu/ceo 2190146example 12cr—cu/ceo 2296117example 13zr—cu/ceo 2279150 from the results indicated in table 4, as compared to the case where only cu or one element of the transition metals was supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles, it was found that the purification performance of co was improved in the case where a combination of cu and other transition metals was supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles. even more surprisingly, it was found that the purification performance of co after the thermal durability treatment (aged) was improved compared to that before thermal durability treatment (fresh) when the combination of cu and other transition metals was supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles by the arc plasma (ap) method. in addition, it was found that an oxide of cu and an oxide of the transition metal a were supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles in proximity to each other when the present catalyst composition is prepared by the arc plasma (ap) method. example 14 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and fe oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 99.6 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 0.2 parts by mass of iron nitrate in terms of cu metal, 0.2 parts by mass of iron nitrate nonahydrate in terms of fe metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 900° c. for 25 hours under water vapor of 10%/air atmosphere using an electric furnace. example 15 a catalyst composition (fresh) including a constitution in which cu oxide and fe oxide were supported on ceria particles was obtained in such a manner that 80 parts by mass of ceo 2 , 10 parts by mass of iron nitrate in terms of cu metal, 10 parts by mass of iron nitrate nonahydrate in terms of fe metal, and an appropriate amount of ion exchange water were mixed and stirred to make slurry and then the slurry was subjected to drying. a catalyst composition (aged) was obtained in such a manner that the catalyst composition (fresh) was subjected to a thermal durability treatment so as to be calcined at 900° c. for 25 hours under water vapor of 10′/air atmosphere using an electric furnace. (catalyst performance evaluation) with respect to the catalyst compositions (aged) obtained in examples 14 and 15 and comparative examples 3 and 4, purification performance of a simulation exhaust gas was measured using a fixed bed flow type reactor. a catalyst powder of 0.1 g was set in a reaction tube, and then the simulation exhaust gas was introduced into the catalyst powder at the following state, that is, 10° c./min, co: 1000 ppm, o 2 : 1.25%, he: balance, and w/f of 5.0×10 −4 g/min·cm −3 . after a temperature was raised up to 500° c. at a temperature rising rate of 10° c./min, a pre-treatment was carried out by holding the temperature of 500° c. for 10 minutes. thereafter, the purification performance of the simulation exhaust gas was measured by raising a temperature from 100° c. to 500° c. at the temperature rising rate of 10° c./min after once cooling, outlet gas components were measured using co/no analyzer (“pg240” manufactured by horiba ltd.), and a temperature (t50) at which co was purified by 50% was measured. table 5co (t50):° c.example 14(0.2 wt % cu + 0.2 wt % fe)/ceo 2220example 15(10 wt % cu + 10 wt % fe)/ceo 2242comparative example 3fe/ceo 2400>comparative example 4cu/ceo 2252 from the results indicated in table 5, it was found that the catalyst compositions (aged) obtained in examples 14 and 15 had excellent purification performance of co as compared to that of the catalyst compositions (aged) obtained in comparative examples 3 and 4. thus, with respect to the catalyst composition containing the catalyst particles having the constitution in which cu and the transition metal a including at least one of cr, fe, mn, co, ni, zr, and ag are supported on the ceria (ceo 2 ) particles, it was found that the catalytic activity was high in the range where the cu and the transition metal a was supported with high concentration.
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145-437-831-283-647
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US
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[
"US",
"WO",
"EP"
] |
H04L12/70,H04L12/24,H04L29/08,H04W48/08,H04W4/70,H04W60/00,H04L41/0806,H04L67/12
| 2018-12-31T00:00:00 |
2018
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[
"H04"
] |
internet-of-things device autonomous activation
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various techniques are described herein for autonomously registering and/or activating internet-of-things (iot) devices, provisioning wireless network access of those devices, and connecting the iot device to an nb-iot network with agreed-to terms for network usage. in various embodiments, iot devices may be configured to negotiate for nb-iot network access by (i) sharing their data with the nb-iot network provider, (ii) security storing and using cryptocurrency to obtain nb-iot network access, and/or (iii) automatically providing the nb-iot network provider with access to data from other associated iot devices and/or with payment from a separate payment provider. individual iot devices may be preconfigured with negotiation terms for nb-iot network access, pre-associated with other devices/users, and/or pre-loaded with cryptocurrency in a secure storage.
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1. an internet-of-things (iot) device activation server, comprising: a processing unit comprising one or more processors; and memory coupled with and readable by the processing unit and storing therein a set of computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, causes the iot device activation server to: receive a request from an iot device for initial access to a first wireless network; determine a particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, based on data received from the iot device, wherein the iot device activation server supports a plurality of network access negotiation methods by which to negotiate use of currency and/or trading of data as payment for provisioning of network access to the iot device; determine at least one of a network access value or network access rate for providing wireless network access to the iot device, based on (a) the data received from the iot device, and (b) the particular network access negotiation method determined for the iot device; transmit the determined at least one network access value or network access rate to the iot device; receive, from the iot device, a device confirmation in response to at least one network access value or network access rate; and in response to the device confirmation, configure the first wireless network to enable network access by the iot device and provision the iot device to activate the iot device on the first wireless network. 2. the iot device activation server of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless network comprises a narrowband internet-of-things (nb-iot) network. 3. the iot device activation server of claim 1 , wherein the data received from the iot device comprises a device identifier, and wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: determining, based on the received device identifier, that a third-party entity is responsible for providing network access for the iot device. 4. the iot device activation server of claim 1 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot, one or more characteristics of sensor data collected by the iot device; and selecting, based on the characteristics of the sensor data collected by the iot device, a sensor data for network access exchange method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, and wherein the determined at least one network access value or network access rate comprises an amount of the sensor data collected by the iot device. 5. the iot device activation server of claim 4 , the memory storing therein additional computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the iot device activation server to: provide the iot device with ongoing access to the first wireless network, in accordance with the network access value or network access rate; during the ongoing access to the first wireless network, by the iot device, detect a change in the characteristics of the sensor data received by the iot device; in response to the change in the characteristics of the sensor data received by the iot device, determine an updated network access value or network access rate for providing wireless network access to the iot device; transmit the updated network access value or network access rate to the iot device; and receive, from the iot device, a device confirmation in response to the updated network access value or network access rate. 6. the iot device activation server of claim 1 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot, an indication that an amount of cryptocurrency is stored on the iot device; and determining a cryptocurrency payment method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, and wherein the determined at least one network access value or network access rate comprises a cryptocurrency amount or rate to be provided by the iot device in exchange for access to the first wireless network. 7. the iot device activation server of claim 1 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot device, at least one of an iot device identifier or an account identifier associated with the iot device; determining one or more additional iot devices associated with the iot device, based on the at least one iot device identifier or account identifier received from the iot device; retrieving, from the one or more additional iot devices associated with the iot device, one or more characteristics of sensor data collected by the additional iot devices; and selecting, based on the characteristics of the sensor data collected by the one or more additional iot devices, a third-party sensor data for network access exchange method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device. 8. a method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an internet-of-things (iot) device, the method comprising: receiving, by an iot device activation server, a request from an iot device for initial access to a first wireless network; determining, by the iot device activation server, a particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, based on data received from the iot device, wherein the iot device activation server supports a plurality of network access negotiation methods by which to negotiate use of currency and/or trading of data as payment for provisioning of network access to the iot device; determining, by the iot device activation server, at least one of a network access value or network access rate for providing wireless network access to the iot device, based on (a) the data received from the iot device, and (b) the particular network access negotiation method determined for the iot device; transmitting, by the iot device activation server, the determined at least one network access value or network access rate to the iot device; receiving, by the iot device activation server and from the iot device, a device confirmation in response to at least one network access value or network access rate; and in response to the device confirmation: configuring, by the iot device activation server, the first wireless network to enable network access by the iot device; and provisioning, by the iot device activation server, the iot device to activate the iot device on the first wireless network. 9. the method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an iot device of claim 8 , wherein the first wireless network comprises a narrowband internet-of-things (nb-iot) network. 10. the method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an iot device of claim 8 , wherein the data received from the iot device comprises a device identifier, and wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: determining, based on the received device identifier, that a third-party entity is responsible for providing network access for the iot device. 11. the method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an iot device of claim 8 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot, one or more characteristics of sensor data collected by the iot device; and selecting, based on the characteristics of the sensor data collected by the iot device, a sensor data for network access exchange method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, and wherein the determined at least one network access value or network access rate comprises an amount of the sensor data collected by the iot device. 12. the method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an iot device of claim 11 , further comprising: providing the iot device with ongoing access to the first wireless network, in accordance with the network access value or network access rate; during the ongoing access to the first wireless network, by the iot device, detecting a change in the characteristics of the sensor data received by the iot device; in response to the change in the characteristics of the sensor data received by the iot device, determining an updated network access value or network access rate for providing wireless network access to the iot device; transmitting the updated network access value or network access rate to the iot device; and receiving, from the iot device, a device confirmation in response to the updated network access value or network access rate. 13. the method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an iot device of claim 8 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot, an indication that an amount of cryptocurrency is stored on the iot device; and determining a cryptocurrency payment method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, and wherein the determined at least one network access value or network access rate comprises a cryptocurrency amount or rate to be provided by the iot device in exchange for access to the first wireless network. 14. the method of configuring a wireless network to enable network access by an iot device of claim 8 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot device, at least one of an iot device identifier or an account identifier associated with the iot device; determining one or more additional iot devices associated with the iot device, based on the at least one iot device identifier or account identifier received from the iot device; retrieving, from the one or more additional iot devices associated with the iot device, one or more characteristics of sensor data collected by the additional iot devices; and selecting, based on the characteristics of the sensor data collected by the one or more additional iot devices, a third-party sensor data for network access exchange method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device. 15. a non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising a set of instructions stored therein which, when executed by a processing unit within a computer server, causes the processing unit to: receive a request from an iot device for initial access to a first wireless network; determine a particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, based on data received from the iot device, wherein the computer server supports a plurality of network access negotiation methods by which to negotiate use of currency and/or trading of data as payment for provisioning of network access to the iot device; determine at least one of a network access value or network access rate for providing wireless network access to the iot device, based on (a) the data received from the iot device, and (b) the particular network access negotiation method determined for the iot device; transmit the determined at least one network access value or network access rate to the iot device; receive, from the iot device, a device confirmation in response to at least one network access value or network access rate; and in response to the device confirmation, configure the first wireless network to enable network access by the iot device, and provision the iot device to activate the iot device on the first wireless network. 16. the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 15 , wherein the data received from the iot device comprises a device identifier, and wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: determining, based on the received device identifier, that a third-party entity is responsible for providing network access for the iot device. 17. the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 15 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot, one or more characteristics of sensor data collected by the iot device; and selecting, based on the characteristics of the sensor data collected by the iot device, a sensor data for network access exchange method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, and wherein the determined at least one network access value or network access rate comprises an amount of the sensor data collected by the iot device. 18. the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17 , comprising additional instructions which, when executed by the processing unit, causes the processing unit to: provide the iot device with ongoing access to the first wireless network, in accordance with the network access value or network access rate; during the ongoing access to the first wireless network, by the iot device, detect a change in the characteristics of the sensor data received by the iot device; in response to the change in the characteristics of the sensor data received by the iot device, determine an updated network access value or network access rate for providing wireless network access to the iot device; transmit the updated network access value or network access rate to the iot device; and receive, from the iot device, a device confirmation in response to the updated network access value or network access rate. 19. the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 15 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot, an indication that an amount of cryptocurrency is stored on the iot device; and determining a cryptocurrency payment method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device, and wherein the determined at least one network access value or network access rate comprises a cryptocurrency amount or rate to be provided by the iot device in exchange for access to the first wireless network. 20. the non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 15 , wherein determining the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device comprises: receiving, from the iot device, at least one of an iot device identifier or an account identifier associated with the iot device; determining one or more additional iot devices associated with the iot device, based on the at least one iot device identifier or account identifier received from the iot device; retrieving, from the one or more additional iot devices associated with the iot device, one or more characteristics of sensor data collected by the additional iot devices; and selecting, based on the characteristics of the sensor data collected by the one or more additional iot devices, a third-party sensor data for network access exchange method as the particular network access negotiation method for the iot device.
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cross-reference to related applications the present application is a non-provisional of and claims priority to u.s. provisional patent application no. 62/787,056, filed dec. 31, 2018, entitled “internet-of-things device autonomous activation.” the entire contents of provisional application no. 62/787,056 is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. technical field the present disclosure relates to the activation and use of internet-of-things (iot) devices over narrowband internet-of-things (nb-iot) networks. background narrowband internet of things (nb-iot) refers to a standards-based low power wide area (lpwa) technology that can be used to support a wide range of iot devices and services. nb-iot, rather than operating in the lte construct, instead may work independently, in unused 200-khz bands used for gsm (global system for mobile communications), and/or on lte base stations allocating a resource block to nb-iot operations. compared to lte-m1, nb-iot has lower bitrates and better link budgets. among other advantages, nb-iot technologies allow for significantly reduced power consumption among iot devices, improved system capacity, and spectrum efficiency. for example, using nb-iot, the battery life for iot devices may exceed 10 years for a wide range of use cases. for these and other reasons, it is projected that many millions or even billions of iot devices may be purchased and activated on nb-iot networks in the coming years. however, conventional techniques of registering and activating such devices are often time-consuming, error-prone, and costly. to install new iot devices, users are often required to navigate the processes of device registration, network identification and connection, device configuration, association of the device with one or more persons or accounts, and association of the device with payment account information to be used for any iot device activities that require payment. these processes may be inefficient, error-prone, and time-consuming for both users and iot network providers. summary accordingly, aspects described herein provide techniques for autonomously activating and deactivating iot devices within nb-iot networks. embodiments described herein include autonomously registering and/or activating iot devices, provisioning network access, and connecting the iot device to an nb-iot network with an agreed-to contract for network usage. in various examples, iot devices may be configured to negotiate for nb-iot network access by (i) sharing their data with the nb-iot network provider, (ii) security storing and using cryptocurrency to obtain nb-iot network access, and/or (iii) automatically providing the nb-iot network provider with access to data from other associated iot devices and/or with payment from a separate payment provider. individual iot devices may be preconfigured with negotiation terms for nb-iot network access, pre-associated with other devices/users, and/or pre-loaded with cryptocurrency in a secure storage. thus, the iot devices may be autonomously registered and activated nb-iot network using smart contracts and/or block chain, quickly and partially or entirely transparently to the device user and owner. according to additional aspects described herein, after an iot device has been provisioned for the nb-iot network, compliance with the agreed-to terms (e.g., access to data, cryptocurrency exchanges, etc.) may be monitored by the nb-iot network provider. if the iot device fails out of compliance with the terms, the iot device may be automatically deactivated from the nb-iot network. additionally, the costs of various types of sensor data collected by iot devices, as well as network access costs, may change frequently based on a number of factors. therefore, both the iot device and/or the nb-iot network provider may attempt to renegotiate sensor data access and/or network access on-the-fly. in some examples, iot devices might agree to trade only certain subsets of their sensor data in exchange for nb-iot network access. further, depending on the value of device's data, the nb-iot network provider may agree to provide network access and also to pay the iot device (e.g., in cryptocurrency) for its sensor data. for iot devices associated with other devices, users/accounts, and/or third-party payers, the negotiation and terms of the initial iot network provisioning, as well as any changes in terms or on-the-fly renegotiations, may include granting/denying access to the sensor data from the other associated devices, obtaining authorizing from the associated users/accounts, and/or obtaining/denying funding from the third-party payers. brief description of the drawings the present invention is described in conjunction with the appended figures: fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computing environment support internet-of-things (iot) and/or other devices, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 2 a block diagram illustrating an example internet-of-things (iot) system, in which a number of iot devices are configured to communicate over one or more iot networks, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a video resource delivery and home automation/monitoring system, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a home automation system, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the components of an iot device, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process of selecting and providing an iot device configured to support autonomous activation within a network, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process of autonomously activating an iot device and provisioning the iot device to a network, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process of monitoring an active iot device on a network, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing system upon which various features of the present disclosure may be implemented. in the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same numerical reference label. further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a letter that distinguishes among the similar components and/or features. if only the first numerical reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components and/or features having the same first numerical reference label irrespective of the letter suffix. detailed description in the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various implementations and examples. it will be apparent, however, that various implementations may be practiced without these specific details. for example, circuits, systems, algorithms, structures, techniques, networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the implementations in unnecessary detail. the figures and description are not intended to be restrictive. some examples, such as those disclosed with respect to the figures in this disclosure, may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, a sequence diagram, or a block diagram. although a sequence diagram or a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. in addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. a process is terminated when its operations are completed, but could have additional steps not included in a figure. a process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. when a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function. the processes depicted herein, such as those described with reference to the figures in this disclosure, may be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, program) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors cores), hardware, or combinations thereof. the software may be stored in a memory (e.g., on a memory device, on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). in some examples, the processes depicted in sequence diagrams and flowcharts herein can be implemented by any of the systems disclosed herein. the particular series of processing steps in this disclosure are not intended to be limiting. other sequences of steps may also be performed according to alternative examples. for example, alternative examples of the present disclosure may perform the steps outlined above in a different order. moreover, the individual steps illustrated in the figures may include multiple sub-steps that may be performed in various sequences as appropriate to the individual step. furthermore, additional steps may be added or removed depending on the particular applications. one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, modifications, and alternatives. in some examples, each process in the figures of this disclosure can be performed by one or more processing units. a processing unit may include one or more processors, including single core or multicore processors, one or more cores of processors, or combinations thereof. in some examples, a processing unit can include one or more special purpose co-processors such as graphics processors, digital signal processors (dsps), or the like. in some examples, some or all of the processing units can be implemented using customized circuits, such as application specific integrated circuits (asics), or field programmable gate arrays (fpgas). various techniques (e.g., systems, methods, computer-program products tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, etc.) are described herein for autonomously activating and deactivating iot devices within nb-iot networks. embodiments described herein include autonomously registering and/or activating iot devices, provisioning network access, and connecting the iot device to an nb-iot network with an agreed-to contract for network usage. in various examples, iot devices may be configured to negotiate for nb-iot network access by (i) sharing their data with the nb-iot network provider, (ii) security storing and using cryptocurrency to obtain nb-iot network access, and/or (iii) automatically providing the nb-iot network provider with access to data from other associated iot devices and/or with payment from a separate payment provider. individual iot devices may be preconfigured with negotiation terms for nb-iot network access, pre-associated with other devices/users, and/or pre-loaded with cryptocurrency in a secure storage. thus, the iot devices may be autonomously registered and activated nb-iot network using smart contracts and/or block chain, quickly and partially or entirely transparently to the device user and owner. additional aspects described herein relate to monitoring compliance of the agreed-to terms for nb-iot network access (e.g., access to sensor data, transfers of cryptocurrency, etc.) between the iot device and the nb-iot network provider, after an iot device has initially been provisioned for the nb-iot network. if the iot device fails out of compliance with the terms, the iot device may be automatically deactivated from the nb-iot network. additionally, the costs of various types of sensor data collected by iot devices, as well as network access costs, may change frequently based on a number of factors. therefore, both the iot device and/or the nb-iot network provider may attempt to renegotiate sensor data access and/or nb-iot network access on-the-fly. in some examples, iot devices might agree to trade only certain subsets of their sensor data in exchange for nb-iot network access. further, depending on the value of device's data, the nb-iot network provider may agree to provide network access and also to pay the iot device (e.g., in cryptocurrency) for its sensor data. for iot devices associated with other devices, users/accounts, and/or third-party payers, the negotiation and terms of the initial iot network provisioning, as well as any changes in terms or on-the-fly renegotiations, may include granting/denying access to the sensor data from the other associated devices, obtaining authorizing from the associated users/accounts, and/or obtaining/denying funding from the third-party payers. the various embodiments described herein may be implemented on and within one or more different networks and systems, including satellite or terrestrial (e.g. cable) television distribution systems, telecommunications network systems, television distribution computer networks such as the internet, cellular and other mobile networking systems, and the like. therefore, although certain examples below are described in terms of specific types of user equipment (e.g., set-top boxes and other television receivers having digital video recorders, etc.) within specific systems (e.g., satellite television distribution systems), it should be understood that similar or identical embodiments may be implemented using other network systems and architectures (e.g., cable television networks, on-demand distribution networks, internet television computer networks), as well as other user equipment and devices (e.g., personal computers, servers, routers, gaming consoles, smartphones, etc.). referring now to fig. 1 , an example computing environment 100 is illustrated, including a number of iot devices 110 operating through a narrowband iot network 115 , a number of additional devices/networks 120 operating through one or more additional networks 125 , although with backend iot application servers 135 and a backend iot device activation/management server 140 . various aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented within a similar computing environment 100 , in which an iot device activation/management server 140 may communicate with iot devices 100 to negotiate and provision nb-iot network access, register and activate/deactivate the devices 100 , and communicate as needed with networks of associated devices 120 . iot devices 110 may include any physical object having internet connectivity. thus, the numbers and types of iot devices 110 in any particular implementation may be limitless. generally, iot devices 110 may be configured for nb-iot and/or long term evolution (lte) radio access. additionally, for iot devices 110 communicating via an nb-iot network 115 , there may be additionally technical advantages/efficiencies realized for those iot devices 110 which are inexpensive, require long transmission ranges, have a small power budget, and do not transmit large amounts of data. thus, potential examples of iot devices 110 may include security systems, intruder and fire alarm systems, utility meters (e.g., for gas, water, electrical, etc.), weather sensors, facility management services, vehicle-based systems, personal appliances/health monitoring devices, industrial appliances and systems (e.g., plc devices), personal electronic appliances, person or animal tracking devices, lighting systems or speaking systems in public or commercial environments, or governmental infrastructure devices (e.g., street lamps, traffic lights, trash bins, etc.). as discussed below in more detail in reference to fig. 5 , the design and features of different iot devices 110 may vary widely. however, most or all iot devices may have at least sensors for detecting/collecting data, processing units and memory, input devices, and/or wireless communication interfaces for communicating through one or more networks with a backend iot application server 135 . in some implementations, iot devices 110 may have circuitry and processing resources capable of obtaining location related measurements (also referred to as location measurements), such as measurements for signals received from gps or other satellite positioning system (sps) space vehicles (svs), measurements for cellular transceivers such as enbs, and/or measurements for local transceivers. iot devices 110 may further have circuitry and processing resources capable of computing its position fix or estimated location based on these location related measurements. in some implementations, location related measurements obtained by an iot device 110 may be transferred to an iot application server 135 , which may estimate or determine a location for the iot device 110 based on the measurements. the nb-iot network 115 may include one or more cellular or computer network infrastructures configured to a support a narrowband iot (nb-iot) standard (also referred to as lte cat-nb1). nb-iot is a radio access type (rat), supported by the evolved universal mobile telecommunications service (umts) terrestrial radio access network (e-utran), that was added by 3gpp in specifications for 3gpp release 13 to provide 200 khz ul/dl (uplink/downlink) carrier bandwidth (and 180 khz ul/dl usable bandwidth). the ciot concerns epc (evolved packet core) support for nb-iot, iot and mtc and is complimentary to nb-iot (e.g., nb-iot is concerned with e-utran and ciot is concerned with the epc). as noted above, an nb-iot network 115 may exist in independently licensed bands, in unused 200 khz bands that have previously been used for gsm or cdma, or on lte base stations that may allocate a resource block to nb-iot operations or in their guard bands. although several examples herein refer to nb-iot network(s) 115 , it should be understood that in other embodiments, long term evolution (lte) or other similar or equivalent network standards may be used. for example, an lte cat-m1 (also referred to as lte-m) network 115 may be used in certain embodiments. the lte-m and nb-iot standards have many similarities, although while an lte-m network may be deployed within a current cellular network, an nb-iot network by contrast does not operate in the lte construct. in some embodiments, nb-iot network 115 may include one or more of an e-utran and an epc, which may be part of a visited public land mobile network (vplmn) that is a serving network for one or more iot devices 110 , and which may communicates with a home public land mobile network (hplmn) for the iot device 110 . a vplmn e-utran, vplmn epc and/or hplmn may interconnect with other networks. for example, the internet may be used to carry messages to and from different networks such as the hplmn and the vplmn epc. for simplicity these networks and associated entities and interfaces are not shown. as shown, the network architecture 100 may provide packet-switched services to the iot devices 110 . however, as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be extended to networks providing circuit-switched services. examples of network technologies that may support wireless communication include nb-iot 115 , but may further include gsm, cdma, wcdma, lte, nr, hrpd and emtc radio types. nb-iot, ciot, gsm, wcdma, lte, emtc and nr are technologies defined by (or expected to be defined by) 3gpp. cdma and hrpd are technologies defined by the 3rd generation partnership project 2 (3gpp2). wcdma is also part of umts and may be supported by an hnb. cellular transceivers, such as enbs, may comprise deployments of equipment providing subscriber access to a wireless telecommunication network for a service (e.g., under a service contract). here, a cellular transceiver may perform functions of a cellular base station in servicing subscriber devices within a cell determined based, at least in part, on a range at which the cellular transceiver is capable of providing access service. in this example, the nb-iot network 115 may connect to a core network 130 , on which various iot applications server 135 and the iot device activation and management server 140 reside. core network 130 may be an ip-based internet backbone configured to interconnect several different nb-iot networks 115 , lans or subnetworks, and/or other access networks 125 . in this example, access networks 125 may include ethernets 120 , wired or wireless lans 120 , fiber optic networks 120 , cable networks 120 , satellite networks 120 , cellular networks 120 , etc. examples of several access networks are described below in more detail in reference to fig. 3 . as discussed below, the electronic devices 120 accessible via access networks 125 may be related to certain iot devices 110 , and may be associated with the same owner, subscription/account, physical location or organization. thus, although a first iot device 110 and a second appliance or user device 120 may be of different device types, installed at different locations, and communicate with backend servers over different networks, if the devices are commonly owned or otherwise related, the iot device activation and management server 140 may access/communicate with the associated user device 120 in order to provide network access to the iot device 110 . additionally, although the iot device activation and management server 140 , and related database 145 , are shown in this example as being accessible through the core network 130 , in other embodiments some or all of the iot device activation and management server 140 and/or database 145 may be implemented within the nb-iot network 115 . referring now to fig. 2 , an example iot system 200 is shown, in which a number of iot devices 220 are configured to communicate over one or more iot networks 210 . thus, iot system 200 may correspond to the iot devices 110 and nb-iot network 115 described above. as noted above, iot system 200 may consist of an nb-iot network, lte network, and/or any of the other iot compatible networks discussed herein. additionally, although only twenty different iot devices 221 - 240 (which may be referred to individually or collectively as iot device(s) 220 ), and three separate iot communication networks 210 a , 210 b , and 210 c (which may be referred to individually or collectively as iot network(s) 210 or iot interface (s) 210 ) are shown in this example, it should be understood that this architecture is illustrative only, and any number iot devices 220 may communicate via any number of different iot networks 210 in other embodiments. as noted above, iot devices 220 may include various nb-iot devices which are optimized and configured for nb-iot network standards. each iot device 220 may include specialized sensors and inputs configured for its specific purpose(s), and be configured to transmit data infrequently, over long transmission ranges, and to require a very small power budget. in this example, iot devices 220 may include wireless electronic devices such as security systems, intruder and fire alarm systems, utility meters (e.g., for gas, water, electrical, etc.), weather sensors, facility management services, vehicle-based systems, personal appliances/health monitoring devices, industrial appliances and systems (e.g., plc devices), personal monitoring/home monitoring electronic appliances, person or animal tracking devices, lighting systems or speaking systems in public or commercial environments, or governmental infrastructure devices (e.g., street lamps, traffic lights, trash bins, etc.). iot network(s) 210 may be built upon ip-based networks and/or cellular, cable, or satellite content provider networks. some or all of the iot device(s) 220 thus may be electronic devices operating at a residential location, business location, school or governmental office, or other installation network, and may communicate with a core network 130 and backend servers 135 - 140 via local network equipment (e.g., a television receiver, modem, router, etc.). in other examples, iot devices 220 may be installed at separate locations accessible via cellular based networks such as nb-iot or lte, and/or combinations of multiple network types (e.g., including the internet and one or more cellular/wireless data networks). thus, iot devices 220 may be widely distributed, operating separately and independently from other iot devices 220 or iot networks, both with respect to geography and with respect to the computing environments, networks, and protocols used to access the devices. in some embodiments, iot network(s) 210 may correspond to peer-to-peer (p2p) networks formed among the various iot devices 220 . such networks may be wired or wireless, and may use any combination of known network protocols and technologies, including ip-based networks (e.g., wifi, ieee 802.11), rf networks, bluetooth networks, cellular networks, nfc-based communications, etc. in some examples, iot network(s) 210 may be based on short-range wireless technologies, and thus iot devices 220 may discover and communicate with other iot devices 220 that are within close proximity of each other. of course, it should be understood that long-range embodiments are also possible, and thus iot devices 220 in direct or indirect communication might be located in different cities or different countries. in this example, iot devices 221 - 225 may correspond to multi-purpose and/or general purpose computing devices, including personal computer 221 , vehicle-based computer system (e.g., vehicle-based automation and assistant device) 222 , smartphone 223 , tablet computer 224 , and laptop 225 . such multi-purpose and/or general purpose devices 221 - 225 may be equipped with user input components (e.g., keyboard, mouse, microphone, touchscreen, etc.) and corresponding software to receive and process a variety of requests from users. additionally, iot device 221 - 225 also may have ip-based network interfaces and the capability to connect to the internet through one or more wide area network connections (e.g., cellular, wifi, etc.). therefore, such multi-purpose and/or general purpose devices 221 - 225 may correspond to iot controller devices in many examples discussed herein. in contrast, iot devices 226 - 240 in this example may correspond to various appliances, sensors, and/or simpler single-purpose electronic devices. devices 226 - 240 also may or may not have internet connectivity, and also may or may have general user input components. accordingly, such devices 226 - 240 may correspond to iot thing devices in many examples discussed herein. in some cases, iot thing devices may be passive devices, such as simple electronic devices having rfid tags, nfc tags, simple rf or infrared functionality, etc., which are capable of storing and transmitting device information over short ranges but could not act as iot controller devices. however, even appliances, sensor devices, and other simple single-purpose devices may act as iot controller devices in some cases, while general purpose devices such as personal computers 221 , vehicle-based systems 222 , smartphones 223 , tablets 224 , etc., may act as iot thing devices. different examples of the interactions between iot controller devices and iot thing devices are described in more detail below. in some examples, iot controller devices may receive and process user requests to perform tasks that will require interactions with one or more different iot devices (e.g., iot thing devices), and thus iot controller devices may perform the processes of discovering accessible iot thing devices, determining the purpose, status, and functions capable of being performed via the accessible iot thing devices, and then invoking the appropriate functions on selected iot thing devices to perform the tasks requested by the user. thus, iot controller devices may take the active role in discovering available (e.g., nearby) iot thing devices, learning their capabilities, and instructing them to perform a desired set of functions, while iot thing devices may take a more passive role of receiving and responding to requests from iot controller devices. however, in some cases, iot thing devices also may take active roles during iot device interactions, and perform the functions of iot controller devices. for example, during a device discovery process, an iot controller device 223 may broadcast a query to all accessible iot things devices, seeking an available printer. although none of the iot things devices accessible to the iot controller 223 is a printer, each iot thing device may be able to connect to a broader network of additional iot thing devices that are not directly accessible to the iot controller 223 . in this example, a monitor 229 iot thing device may perform its own device discovery process to locate a printer iot device 238 , and may relay information about the printer device 238 (e.g., a device id, description, status, location, etc.) to the iot controller 223 . as another example, an iot controller device (e.g., vehicle-based system 222 ) may receive a request from a user to open the front door of the user's house. through device discovery and inquiry, the iot controller 222 may identify door 228 as the correct iot thing device, and may transmit an open request to the door iot thing device 228 . in response, the door iot device 228 may, based on its own internal programming, decide to turn on one or more lights and/or begin playing music in response to the door being opened. thus, the door iot thing device 228 may take the role of an iot controller by discovering and then instructing one or more light iot thing devices 236 and/or speaker iot thing devices 236 to perform the desired functions. thus, the iot devices 220 more commonly used in nb-iot implementations, such as security systems, alarm systems, utility meters, weather sensors, facility management services, vehicle-based systems, personal appliances/health monitoring devices, industrial appliances and systems, personal electronic appliances, person or animal tracking devices, lighting systems or speaking systems in public or commercial environments, or governmental infrastructure devices (e.g., street lamps, traffic lights, trash bins, etc.), may be configured to individually collect their respective sensor data, and to individually communicate with backend servers 135 - 140 via the nb-iot 115 and core network 130 . however, in other cases, these iot devices 220 may work in collaboration (e.g., iot thing/iot controller relationships) and/or may discover and use combinations of device capabilities and network transmission techniques of nearby devices 220 to perform various data collecting and transmitting functionality. referring now to fig. 3 , an example home monitoring system 300 is shown, including one or more iot devices 220 and/or other home automation and monitoring devices or systems 190 , configured to operate at a residential location or other installation location (e.g., business, school, governmental building, etc.). thus, home monitoring system 300 may correspond to a residential/school/business network and devices 120 , and access network 125 , as described above in reference to fig. 1 . as noted above, aspects described herein relate to autonomous activation and management of iot devices 110 . however, techniques for activating, registering, and managing iot devices 110 via nb-iot networks 115 may be similarly used for activating, registering, and managing iot devices 120 or other home automation/monitoring devices 190 over non-nb-iot access networks 125 and other network infrastructures. further, as noted above, activation and management of iot devices 110 over nb-iot networks 115 may include communication with separate commonly-owned or associated devices over different networks. therefore, this example illustrates a home monitoring system 300 that may be implemented at a residential location, business location, school or governmental location, etc., using one or more access networks 125 to communicate with the same backend iot application servers 135 and/or iot activation/management servers 140 . it should also be understood that this architecture is illustrative only, and different types of network nodes 140 (e.g., television receivers, set-top boxes, modems, routers, laptops, tablets, etc.), any number/type of iot devices 220 , home automation devices 390 , and/or networks 115 - 117 may be implemented in other embodiments. in the example shown in fig. 3 , the television receiver 340 may collect data from iot devices 220 and/or other home monitoring devices 390 , analyze and transmit the sensor data to back-end services providers 310 , 320 , 330 (e.g., iot application servers 135 and/or activation management server 140 ), which may use the data received from the receiver 340 (which may be modem, router, or other network device) to negotiate nb-iot network access for iot devices and to provision those devices with network access. in some cases, the data transmitted from the receiver 340 to the one or more content providers 310 - 330 via the ip network 315 may be secure and/or confidential, and thus may use secure data transmission protocols and/or encryption to protect the user requests, transmissions of user monitoring data, location monitoring data, user tracking data, etc. additionally, in some embodiments, data from certain devices (e.g., 390 ) may be transmitted via a first network (e.g., ip network 315 ) while the data from other devices (e.g., 220 ) may be transmitted via different networks (e.g., television networks 316 - 317 ). in order to perform these features and the additional functionality described below, each of the components and sub-components shown in example system 300 , such as television receiver 340 , the servers and systems within the satellite, cable, and computer network-based television providers 310 - 330 , presentation device 350 , mobile device 360 , remote control 370 , iot devices 380 , and home automation devices/systems 390 , etc., may correspond to a single computing device or server, or to a complex computing system including a combination of computing devices, storage devices, network components, etc. each of these components and their respective subcomponents may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. the components shown in system 300 may communicate via communication networks 315 - 317 (as well as other communication networks not shown in this figure), either directly or indirectly by way of various intermediary network components, such as satellite system components, telecommunication or cable network components, routers, gateways, firewalls, and the like. although these physical network components have not been shown in this figure so as not to obscure the other elements depicted, it should be understood that any of the network hardware components and network architecture designs may be implemented in various embodiments to support communication between the television receiver 340 , television/video service providers 310 - 330 , and other components within system 300 . the television (and/or video) receiver 340 may be implemented using various specialized user equipment devices, such as cable system set-top boxes, satellite system set-top boxes, wifi or internet-based set-top boxes, gaming consoles, and the like. in other examples, the receiver 340 may be implemented using (or integrated into) other computing devices such as personal computers, network routers, tablet computers, mobile devices, etc. thus, the receiver 340 may be implemented as a single computing device or a computing system including a combination of multiple computing devices, storage devices, network components, etc. in some examples, a television receiver 340 may correspond to a primary television receiver (ptr) which may include one or more network interface components (nics) 341 , an electronic programming guide (epg) user interface component 342 , a digital video recorder (dvr) 343 , and/or a plurality of tuners 344 , and related hardware/software components (e.g., audio/video decoders, descramblers, demultiplexers, etc.). in some cases, television receivers 340 may include one or more internal data stores and/or external data stores (e.g., external storage systems, database servers, file-based storage, cloud storage systems, etc.) configured to store television programs (e.g., audio/video files corresponding to television shows or movies, sporting events, live broadcasts, etc.), as well as image data and music/audio content that may be stored on television receivers 340 and output via presentation devices 350 and/or mobile devices 360 . in some embodiments, such data stores may reside in a back-end server farm, storage cluster, and/or storage-area network (san). as shown in this example, an iot device activation engine 345 also may be implemented within the television receiver 340 to perform various functionality relating to configuring and activating iot devices 110 and 220 , both remote and local, as well as other electronic devices 390 , including transmitting monitoring data to back-end systems 310 - 330 , and/or performing specific functionality based on certain monitoring data, as described in more detail below. as shown in this example, television receiver 340 may be configured to communicate with television and/or video service providers 310 - 330 over multiple communication networks 315 - 317 . as shown in this example, receiver 340 may receive television and/or video content from multiple television providers simultaneously, including a satellite television service provider 310 , a cable television service provider 320 , and one or more computer-network based television providers. although three example providers 310 - 330 are shown in fig. 3 , it should be understood that any number of different television providers may be used in other embodiments, including embodiments in which a receiver 340 is only in communication with one or two of the providers 310 - 330 , and embodiments in which the receiver 340 is in communication with additional satellite and cable television service provider, on-demand television providers, pay-per-view (ppv) television providers, internet-based television providers, television streaming services, etc. additionally, although various components within the television receiver 340 and television service providers 310 - 330 are illustrated as standalone computer systems in this example, any or all of these components may be implemented within and/or integrated into one or more servers or devices of various content distribution systems and other computing architectures. for example, as discussed below, the iot device activation/management engine 345 may be implemented solely within a television receiver 340 , modem, router, or user computing device (e.g., as a smartphone application), or may be implemented within a combination of devices within a television/video distribution system, or other location monitoring systems. for example, the iot device activation/management engine 345 may be implemented within one or more back-end servers 311 , 321 , and 330 , or as a standalone component and/or in a distributed manner, within other types of content distribution systems, such as terrestrial (e.g., cable) television distribution systems, telecommunications network systems, lan or wan computer networks (e.g., the internet), cellular and other mobile networking systems, and any other computing environment. in any of these examples, the iot device activation/management engine 345 may be implemented within (or integrated into) television receivers 340 as shown in fig. 3 , and/or within one or more content servers (e.g., satellite hubs, cable headends, internet servers, etc.), one or more local computing devices (e.g., televisions, television receivers, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, standalone home monitoring stations, network routers, modems, personal computers, and the etc.), or a combination of server-side devices/services and local devices/services. television/video content received and/or decoded by television receiver 340 may be presented via one or more presentation devices 350 . presentation devices 350 may correspond to televisions and other television viewing devices (e.g., home computers, tablet computers, smartphones, etc.). additionally, various systems 300 may incorporate other user equipment and devices, such as mobile devices 360 and remote control devices 370 configured to communicate with associated television receivers 340 and/or presentation devices 350 . user devices 360 may include mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, as well as other various types of user computing devices (e.g., personal computers, laptops, home monitoring/security display devices, weather station displays, digital picture frames, smart watches, wearable computing devices, and/or vehicle-based display devices). in some embodiments, user devices 360 may be associated with specific television receivers 340 and/or specific users/customer accounts associated with the receiver 340 and/or system 300 . as shown in fig. 3 , user devices 360 may be configured to receive data from and transmit data to an associated television receiver 340 . additionally or alternatively, user devices 360 may be configured to communicate directly with one or more television service providers 310 - 330 , so that certain transmissions of video content and other functionality (e.g., collecting and transmitting sensor data from iot devices 220 and/or home automation and monitoring devices 390 , etc.) may potentially bypass the television receiver 340 in some embodiments. different presentation devices 350 , user devices 360 , and remote control devices 370 may include hardware and software components to support a specific set of output capabilities (e.g., lcd display screen characteristics, screen size, color display, video driver, speakers, audio driver, graphics processor and drivers, etc.), and a specific set of input capabilities (e.g., keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, voice control, cameras, facial recognition, gesture recognition, etc.). different such devices 350 - 370 may support different input and output capabilities, and thus different types of user notifications and user inputs in response to notifications (e.g., sensor detection from iot devices 220 and has devices 390 ) may be compatible or incompatible with certain devices 350 - 370 . for example, certain notifications generated and output by a television receiver 340 , or television/video service providers 310 - 330 , may require specific types of processors, graphics components, and network components in order to be displayed (or displayed optimally) on a user device 360 . additionally, different types of user notifications may include different interactive user response features that require various specific input capabilities for presentation devices 350 , user devices 360 , and remote control devices 370 , such as keyboards, mouses, touchscreens, voice control capabilities, gesture recognition, and the like. in some embodiments, the content of user notifications and/or the user response components may be customized based on the capabilities of the presentation device 350 and/or user device 360 selected to output the notification. additionally, in some cases, users may establish user-specific preferences, which may be stored in the memory of the television receiver 340 , for outputting specific types of user notifications to specific types of presentation devices 350 and/or user devices 360 . system 300 also may include one or more iot devices 220 , and one or more home monitoring (or personal monitoring) and automation devices or systems 390 . home automation devices 390 (discussed below in reference to fig. 4 ) and iot devices 220 (discussed in more below in reference to fig. 5 ) each may include a variety of devices configured to collect and analyze various sensor data proximate to the location of the system 300 , including location data (e.g., sights, sounds, smells, etc.), personal user monitoring data and/or device operational status data, etc. as described below in more detail, the sensor data received and analyzed by sensors 220 and/or 390 may be used to identify and track particular individuals and objects, as well as initiate communications, alerts, and/or other functionality via iot devices 220 and home monitoring devices 390 . home monitoring and automation devices and systems 390 may include networks of one or more location-based sensors, device sensors, and/or appliance sensors configured to collect and analyze data relating to a user location, such as user's home, office, etc. an example of a home monitoring and automation system 390 , has 400 , is described below in fig. 4 . devices and systems 390 may include personal and/or wearable computing devices configured to detect current health and activity data of a user near the system location 300 . as discussed below, in some embodiments, a home monitoring and automation system 390 may be hosted by receiver 340 , and may receive data from various sensors configured to monitor the current home environment and the operation of various home devices or appliances. the home monitoring and automation system 390 may collect such user/location data and transmit the data to the receiver 340 and/or other devices within the system 300 . personal and/or wearable computing devices 390 may be configured to detect current health and activity data of a user. such devices 390 may include various health and activity sensors, heartrate and blood pressure sensors, sleep monitors, temperature monitors, user movement monitors, and personal exercise/fitness sensors that may detect and track the physical state and condition of the user. in some examples, certain personal monitoring devices may be insertable and/or embedded devices with sensors for monitoring various chemicals within the user's bloodstream, such as continuous glucose monitors, alcohol monitoring systems, and other chemical monitoring systems. personal monitoring devices 390 , whether embedded, insertable, wearable, or entirely external to the user (e.g., external monitoring cameras, microphones, and other sensors), may collect personal user biostatistics data and transmit the user data to the receiver 340 and/or other devices within the system 300 . the television receivers 340 , television service providers 310 - 330 , presentation devices 350 , user devices 360 , iot devices 220 , and/or home/personal automation and monitoring devices 290 , each may include the necessary hardware and software components to establish network interfaces and transmit/receive video signals or data streams, user monitoring data and video output criteria, and/or user interfaces and notifications, etc. some or all of these devices may include security features and/or specialized hardware (e.g., hardware-accelerated ssl and https, ws-security, firewalls, etc.) in order to present the various confidential data transmitted between components (e.g., user and receiver identification data, user monitoring data, user video viewing data, user criteria and access restriction data for certain video resources, etc.), and to prevent hacking and other malicious access attempts within the system 300 . in some cases, the television receivers 340 may communicate with television service providers 310 - 330 , user devices 360 , and/or sensor-based monitoring devices 220 , 390 using secure data transmission protocols and/or encryption for data transfers, for example, file transfer protocol (ftp), secure file transfer protocol (sftp), and/or pretty good privacy (pgp) encryption. service-based implementations of the system 300 may use, for example, the secure sockets layer (ssl) or transport layer security (tls) protocol to provide secure connections between the television receivers 340 , video content providers 310 - 330 , user devices 360 , and/or monitoring devices 220 , 390 . ssl or tls may use http or https to provide authentication and confidentiality. as shown in this example, receiver 340 and providers 310 - 330 , user devices 360 , and/or user and location monitoring device/systems 380 - 390 may communicate over various different types of networks 315 - 317 . for example, network 315 is an internet protocol (ip) network, which may use the internet networking model and/or communication protocols. ip network 315 may include local area networks (lans), wide area networks (wans) (e.g., the internet), and/or various wireless telecommunications networks. for example, when an iot device activation/management engine 345 is implemented within a television receiver 340 , wireless router, modem, or other local user equipment, then ip network 315 may include wireless local area networks (wlans) or other short-range wireless technologies such as bluetooth®, mobile radio-frequency identification (m-rfid), and/or other such communication protocols. in other examples, when at least a portion or component of a user video output engine is implemented remotely as a service in a backend server 311 , 321 , or 330 , or other computer server, satellite hub, cable headend, etc., then ip network 315 may include one or more wans (e.g., the internet), various cellular and/or telecommunication networks (e.g., 3g, 4g or edge (enhanced data rates for global evolution), wifi (ieee 802.11 family standards, or other mobile communication technologies), or any combination thereof. additionally, system 300 includes satellite networks 316 and cable data networks 317 , which may be used in this example for respectively iot device sensor data and iot device network access terms and negotiation data to television receiver 340 and other user equipment. however, it should be understood that ip network 315 also may include various components of satellite communication networks and/or or terrestrial cable networks in some embodiments. for communication between presentation device 150 , user devices 360 , remote controls 370 , and monitoring devices 220 , 390 , and their associated television receivers 340 , then communications may include use of a wlan and/or other short-range wireless technologies. however, for communication between television receivers 340 and remotely located mobile user devices 360 (and/or for user devices 360 that are configured to communicate directly with television service providers 310 - 330 ), and remotely-based located monitoring devices/systems 220 , 390 , then communications may include wans, satellite networks, terrestrial cable networks, and/or cellular or other mobile telecommunication networks, etc. referring now to fig. 4 , an example home automation system (has) 400 is shown in accordance with certain embodiments. as discussed above, home monitoring and automation devices and systems 400 may be used separately from or in conjunction with one or more iot devices 220 . for example, home monitoring and automation devices and systems 400 may be used to monitor the same or related users and locations as iot devices 110 / 220 , and the sensor data may be combined in order to more accurately and efficiently monitor particular locations. additionally, as discussed below, sensor data from has devices/systems may be provided via an iot device activation/management engine 345 to a backend server 140 as part of the terms and conditions for activating and providing nb-iot network access to a separate iot device 110 . in this example, the home automation system 400 may be hosted by a receiver device 340 as shown in fig. 3 , and thus the receiver 340 may be considered a home automation gateway device or system. an overlay device 428 is also shown in fig. 4 . in another example, the has 400 may be hosted by the overlay device 428 of fig. 4 , and thus the overlay device 428 may be considered a home automation gateway device or system. still other examples are possible. for instance, in some example, features or functionality of the overlay device 428 may be wholly or at least partially incorporated into the receiver device 340 (and vice versa), so that the has 400 may be considered to be hosted or managed or controlled by both receiver 340 and the overlay device 428 . in this manner, the receiver 340 , the overlay device 428 , or any combination of functionality thereof, may be considered the central feature or aspect of the example has 400 . additionally, in still other examples, the has 400 might not be hosted by a receiver 340 or an overlay device, but may be operated by a standalone device 390 that may communicate with one or more receivers via an ip network 315 or other local communication protocols. in this example, the receiver device 340 and/or the overlay device 428 may be configured and/or arranged to communicate with multiple sensor devices, including at least the various in-home, personal/wearable, or on-residence home automation related systems and/or devices shown in fig. 4 . some examples of sensor devices may include, but are not limited to: at least one pet door/feeder 409 , at least one smoke/co 2 detector 410 , a home security system 411 , at least one security camera 412 , at least one window sensor 413 , at least one door sensor 414 , at least one weather sensor 415 , at least one shade controller 416 , at least one utility monitor 418 , at least one third party device 420 , at least one health sensor 422 , at least one communication device 424 , at least one intercom 426 , at least one overlay device 428 , at least one display device 430 , at least one cellular modem 432 , at least one light controller 434 , at least one thermostat 436 , and one or more appliance sensors/controllers (e.g., scale sensor 438 , water dispenser controller 440 , refrigerator controller 442 , a kitchen appliance controller 444 , and an electronic medication dispenser 446 ). it should be understood that the has 400 depicted in fig. 4 is just one example, and that other examples are possible as discussed further below. in various embodiments, each of the elements of fig. 4 , with which the receiver device 340 communicates, may use different communication standards. for example, one or more elements may use or otherwise leverage a zigbee® communication protocol, while one or more other devices may communicate with the receiver 340 using a z-wave® communication protocol. as another example, one or more elements may use or otherwise leverage a wifi communication protocol, while one or more other devices may communicate with the receiver 340 using a bluetooth communication protocol. any combination thereof is further contemplated, and other forms of wireless communication may be used by particular elements of fig. 4 to enable communications to and from the receiver 340 , such as any particular ieee (institute of electrical and electronics engineers) standard or specification or protocol, such as the ieee 802.11 technology for example. in some examples, a separate device may be connected with the receiver 340 to enable communication with the smart home automation systems or devices of fig. 4 . for instance, the communication device 424 as shown coupled with the receiver device 340 may take the form of a dongle. in some examples, the communication device 424 may be configured to allow for zigbee®, z-wave®, and/or other forms of wireless communication. in some example, the communication device 424 may connect with the receiver 340 via a usb (universal serial bus) port or via some other type of (e.g., wired) communication port. accordingly, the communication device 424 may be powered by the receiver 340 or may be separately coupled with another different particular power source. in some examples, the receiver 340 may be enabled to communicate with a local wireless network and may use communication device in order to communicate with devices that use a zigbee® communication protocol, z-wave® communication protocol, and/or some other wireless communication protocols. in some examples, the communication device 424 may also serve to allow or enable additional components to be connected with the receiver device 340 . for instance, the communication device 424 may include additional audio/video inputs (e.g., hdmi), component, and/or composite inputs to allow for additional devices (e.g., blu-ray players) to be connected with the receiver 340 . such a connection may allow video comprising home automation information to be “overlaid” with television programming, both being output for display by a particular presentation device. whether home automation information is overlaid onto video on display may be triggered based on a press of a remote control button by an end-user. regardless of whether the receiver 340 uses the communication device 242 to communicate with any particular home automation device shown in fig. 4 or other particular home automation device not explicitly shown in receiver 340 , the receiver 340 may be configured to output home automation information for presentation via the display device 430 . it is contemplated that the display device 430 could correspond to any particular one of the televisions and/or user devices describes above in figs. 1-3 . still other examples are possible. such information may be presented simultaneously, concurrently, in tandem, etc., with any particular television programming received by the receiver 340 via any particular communication channel as discussed above. it is further contemplated that the receiver 340 may also, at any particular instant or given time, output only television programming or only home automation information based on preferences or commands or selections of particular controls within an interface of or by any particular end-user. furthermore, an end-user may be able to provide input to the receiver 340 to control the has 400 , in its entirety as hosted by the receiver 340 or by the overlay device 428 , as discussed further below. in some examples (indicated by intermittent line in fig. 4 ), the overlay device 428 may be coupled with the receiver 340 to allow or enable home automation information to be presented via the display device 430 . it is contemplated that the overlay device 428 may be configured and/or arranged to overlay information, such as home automation information, onto a signal that will ultimately enable the home automation information to be visually presented via the display device 430 . in this example, the receiver 340 may receive, decode, descramble, decrypt, store, and/or output television programming. the receiver 340 may output a signal, such as in the form of an hdmi signal. rather than being directly input to the display device 430 , however, the output of the receiver 340 may be input to the overlay device 428 . here, the overlay device 428 may receive video and/or audio output from the receiver 340 . the overlay device 428 may add additional information to the video and/or audio signal received from the receiver 340 so as to modify or augment or even “piggyback” on the same. that video and/or audio signal may then be output by the overlay device 428 to the display device 430 for presentation thereon. in some examples, the overlay device 428 may include or exhibit an hdmi input/output, with the hdmi output being connected to the display device 430 . while fig. 4 shows lines illustrating communication between the receiver device 340 and other various devices, it will be appreciated that such communication may exist, in addition or in alternate via the communication device 424 and/or the overlay device 428 . in other words, any particular input to the receiver 340 as shown in fig. 4 may additionally, or alternatively, be supplied as input to one or both of the communication device 424 and the overlay device 428 . as alluded to above, the receiver 340 may be used to provide home automation functionality, but the overlay device 428 may be used to modify a particular signal so that particular home automation information may be presented via the display device 430 . further, the home automation functionality as detailed throughout in relation to the receiver 340 may alternatively be provided by or via the overlay device 428 . using the overlay device 428 to present automation information via the display device 430 may be beneficial and/or advantageous in many respects. for instance, it is contemplated that multiple devices may provide input video to the overlay device 428 . for instance, the receiver 340 may provide television programming to the overlay device 428 , a dvd/blu-ray player may provide video to the overlay device 428 , and a separate iptv device may stream other programming to the overlay device 428 . regardless of the source of particular video/audio, the overlay device 428 may output video and/or audio that has been modified or augmented, etc., to include home automation information and then output to the display device 430 . as such, regardless of the source of video/audio, the overlay device 428 may modify the audio/video to include home automation information and, possibly, solicit user input. for instance, in some examples the overlay device 428 may have four video inputs (e.g., four hdmi inputs) and a single video output (e.g., an hdmi output). in other examples, the receiver 340 may exhibit such features or functionality. as such, a separate device, such as a blu-ray player may be connected with a video input of the receiver 340 , thus allowing the receiver 340 to overlay home automation information when content from the blu-ray player is being output to the display device 430 . regardless of whether the receiver 340 is itself configured to provide home automation functionality and output home automation input for display via the display device 430 or such home automation functionality is provided via the overlay device 428 , home automation information may be presented by the display device 430 while television programming is also being presented by display device 430 . for instance, home automation information may be overlaid or may replace a portion of television programming, such as broadcast content, stored content, on-demand content, etc., presented via the display device 430 . for example, while television programming is being presented, the display may be augmented with information related to home automation. in general, the television programming may represent broadcast programming, recorded content, on-demand content, or some other form of content. an example of information related to home automation may include a security camera feed, as acquired by a camera at a front door of a residence. such augmentation of the television programming may be performed directly by the receiver 340 (which may or may not be in communication with the communication device 424 ), the overlay device 428 , or a combination thereof. such augmentation may result in solid or opaque or partially transparent graphics being overlaid onto television programming (or other forms of video) output by the receiver 340 and displayed by the display device 430 . furthermore, the overlay device 428 and/or the receiver 340 may add or modify sound to television programming also or alternatively. for instance, in response to a doorbell ring, a sound may be played through the television (or connected audio system). in addition or in alternate, a graphic may be displayed. in other examples, other particular camera data (e.g., nanny camera data) and/or associated sound or motion sensors may be integrated in the system and overlaid or otherwise made available to a user. for example, detection of a crying baby from a nanny camera may trigger an on-screen alert to a user watching television. returning to fig. 4 alone, the receiver 340 and/or the overlay device 428 , depending on implementation-specific details, may communicate with one or more wireless devices, such as the third party device 420 . the third party devices 420 may correspond to one or more user devices 360 discussed above, and represent a tablet computer, cellular phone, laptop computer, remote computer, or some other device through which a user may desire to control home automation (device) settings and view home automation information in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. such a device also need not necessarily be wireless, such as in a traditional desktop computer embodiment. it is contemplated that the receiver 340 , communication device 424 , and/or the overlay device 428 may communicate directly with the third party device 420 , or may use a local wireless network, such as network 315 - 317 for instance. the third party device 420 may be remotely located and not connected with a same local wireless network as one or more of the other devices or elements of fig. 4 . various home automation devices may be in communication with an event notification module of the receiver 340 and/or the overlay device 428 , depending on implementation-specific details. such home automation devices may use similar or dissimilar communication protocols. such home automation devices may communicate with the receiver 340 directly or via the communication device 424 . such home automation devices may be controlled by a user and/or have a status viewed by a user via the display device 430 and/or third party device 420 . examples of such home automation devices are described in the following sections. it should be understood that these examples are illustrative only and not limiting, and that other types of home automation devices may be used in other examples. one or more cameras, such as the security camera 412 may be included in the has 400 . it is contemplated that the security camera 412 may be installed indoors, outdoors, and may provide a video and/or an audio stream that may be presented via the third party device 420 and/or display device 430 . video and/or audio from the security camera 412 may be recorded by the overlay device 428 and/or the receiver 340 continuously, in a loop as per a predefined time period, upon an event occurring, such as motion being detected by the security camera 412 , and etc. for example, video and/or audio from security camera 412 may be continuously recorded such as in the form of a rolling window, thus allowing a period of time of video/audio to be reviewed by a user from before a triggering event and after the triggering event. video/audio may be recorded on a persistent storage device local to overlay device 428 and/or the receiver 340 , and/or may be recorded and stored on an external storage devices, such as a network attached storage device or back-end server memory. in some examples, video may be transmitted across a local and/or wide area network to other one or more other storage devices upon occurrence of a trigger event, for later playback. for initial setup for example, a still may be captured by the security camera 412 and stored by the receiver 340 for subsequent presentation as part of a user interface via the display device 430 . in this way, an end-user can determine which camera, if multiple cameras are present or enabled, is being set up and/or later accessed. for example, a user interface may display a still image from a front door camera, which may be easily recognized by the user because it shows a scene near or adjacent a front door of a residence, to allow a user to select the front door camera for viewing as desired. furthermore, video and, possibly, audio from the security camera 412 may be available live for viewing by a user via the overlay device 428 or the receiver 340 . such video may be presented simultaneously with television programming being presented. in some examples, video may only be presented if motion is detected by the security camera 412 , otherwise video from the security camera 412 may not be presented by a particular display device presenting television programming. also, such video (and, possibly, audio) from the security camera 408 may be recorded by the receiver 340 and/or the overlay device 428 . in some examples, such video may be recorded based upon a user-configurable timer. for instance, features or functionality associated with the security camera 412 may be incorporated into an epg that is output by the receiver 340 for display by a presentation or display device. for instance, data as captured by the security camera 412 may be presented or may otherwise be accessible as a “channel” as part of the epg along with other typical or conventional television programming channels. a user may be permitted to select that channel associated with the security camera 408 to access data as captured by the security camera 412 for presentation via the display device 430 and/or the third party device 420 , etc. the user may also be permitted to set a timer to activate the security camera 408 to record video and/or audio for a user-defined period of time on a user-defined date. such recording may not be constrained by the rolling window mentioned above associated with a triggering event being detected. such an implementation may be beneficial, for example, if a babysitter is going to be watching a child and the parents want to later review the babysitter's behavior in their absence. in some examples, video and/audio acquired by the security camera 412 may be backed up to a remote storage device, such as cloud-based storage hosted by an external server. other data may also be cached to the cloud, such as configuration settings. thus, if one or both of the receiver 340 and overlay device 428 malfunction, then a new device may be installed and the configuration data loaded onto the device from the cloud. further, one or more window sensors and door sensors, such as the window sensor 413 and the door sensor 414 may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and each may transmit data to the receiver 340 , possibly via the communication device 424 , or the overlay device 428 , that indicates the status of a window or door, respectively. such status may indicate open window or door, an ajar window or door, a closed window or door, and etc. when a status change occurs, an end-user may be notified as such via the third party device 420 and/or the display device 430 , within an epg or like interface for example. further, a user may be able to view a status screen within an epg or other interface to view the status one or more window sensors and/or one or more door sensors throughout the location. in some examples, the window sensor 413 and/or the door sensor 414 may have integrated “break” sensors to enable a determination as to whether glass or a hinge, or other integral component, etc., has been broken or compromised. in certain embodiments, one or both of the window sensor 413 and the door sensor 414 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by one or both of the window sensor 413 and door sensor 414 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or like interface, such as a pop-up window, banner, and/or other interface or display. further, one or more smoke and/or co detectors, such as detector 410 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 . as such, alerts as to whether a fire (e.g., heat, smoke), co, radon, etc., has been detected can be sent to the receiver 340 , third party device 420 , etc., and/or one or more emergency first responders. accordingly, when an alert occurs, a user may be notified as such the via third party device 420 or the display device 430 , within an epg or like interface for example. further, it is contemplated that such an interface may be utilized to disable false alarms, and that one or more sensors dispersed throughout a residence and/or integrated within the has 400 to detect gas leaks, radon, or various other dangerous situations. in various embodiments, a detector 410 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by the detector 410 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or other interface. further, a pet door and/or feeder, such as pet door and/or feeder 409 may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 . for instance, a predefined amount of food may be dispensed at predefined times to a pet. a pet door may be locked and/or unlocked. the pet's weight or presence may trigger the locking or unlocking of the pet door. for instance, a camera located at the pet door may be used to perform image recognition of the pet or a weight sensor near the door may identify the presence of the pet and unlock the door. a user may also lock/unlock a pet door and/or dispense food for example from a “remote” location. in various embodiments, a pet door and/or feeder 409 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or other interface, and data received from the pet door and/or feeder 409 may be consolidated, summarized, etc., and made accessible within or by an epg or other interface. further, one or more weather sensors, such as the weather sensor 415 may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may allow or enable the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 to receive, identify, and/or output various forms of environmental data, including local or non-local ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed, barometric pressure, etc. in various embodiments, weather sensors 415 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or other interface, and information or data received from weather sensors 415 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or other. further, a shade controller, such as shade controller 416 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may allow for control of one or more shades, such as window, door, and/or skylight shades, within a home or residence or any other location. the shade controller 416 may respond to commands received from the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 and may provide status updates, such as “shade up” or “shade 50% up” or “shade down” and etc. in various embodiments, shade controllers 416 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or other interfaces, and data received from shade controllers 416 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or other interface. further, one or more utility monitors, such as utility monitor 418 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may serve to provide the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 with utility data or information, such as electricity usage, gas usage, water usage, wastewater usage, irrigation usage, etc. a user may via an epg or like interface view a status page or may receive notifications upon predefined events occurring, such as electricity usage exceeding a defined threshold within a month, or current kilowatt usage exceeding a threshold. in various embodiments, utility monitors 418 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or other interface, and data received from utility monitors 418 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or other interface. further, one or more health sensors, such as health sensor 422 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may permit one or more vital characteristics of a particular individual to be acquired and/or monitored, such as a heart rate for instance. in some examples, additionally or alternatively, the health sensor 422 may contain a button or other type of actuator that a user can press to request assistance. as such, the health sensor 422 may be mounted to a fixed location, such as bedside, or may be carried by a user, such as on a lanyard. such a request may trigger a notification to be presented to other users via the display device 430 and/or the third party device 420 . additionally or if the notification is not cleared by another user within a predefined period of time, a notification may be transmitted to emergency first responders to request help. in some examples, a home automation service provider may first try contacting the user, such as via phone, to determine if an emergency is indeed occurring. such a health sensor 422 may have additional purposes, such as for notification of another form of emergency, such as a break-in, fire, flood, theft, disaster, etc. in some examples, health sensor 422 may be used as a medical alert pendant that can be worn or otherwise carried by an individual. it may contain a microphone and/or speaker to allow communication with other users and/or emergency first responders. the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 may be preprogrammed to contact a particular phone number, such as an emergency service provider, relative, medical professional, caregiver, etc., based on an actuator of the health sensor 422 being activated by a user. the user may be placed in contact with a person via the phone number and the microphone and/or speaker of the health sensor 422 . furthermore, camera data may be combined with such alerts in order to give a contacted relative more information regarding the medical situation. for example, the health sensor 422 , when activated in the family room, may generate a command which is linked with security camera footage from the same room. furthermore, in some examples, the health sensor 422 may be able to monitor vitals of a user, such as a blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, blood sugar, etc. in some examples, an event, such as a fall or exiting a structure can be detected. further, in response to an alert from the health sensor 422 or some other emergency or noteworthy event, parallel notifications may be sent to multiple users at approximately the same time. as such, multiple people can be made aware of the event at approximately the same time (as opposed to serial notification). therefore, whoever the event is most pertinent to or notices the notification first can respond. which users are notified for which type of event may be customized by a user of the receiver 340 . in addition to such parallel notifications being based on data from the health sensor 422 , data from other devices may trigger such parallel notifications. for instance, a mailbox open, a garage door open, an entry/exit door open during wrong time, an unauthorized control of specific lights during vacation period, a water sensor detecting a leak or flow, a temperature of room or equipment is outside of defined range, and/or motion detected at front door are examples of possible events which may trigger parallel notifications. additionally, a configuring user may be able to select from a list of users to notify and method of notification to enable such parallel notifications. the configuring user may prioritize which systems and people are notified, and specify that the notification may continue through the list unless acknowledged either electronically or by human interaction. for example, the user could specify that they want to be notified of any light switch operation in their home during their vacation. notification priority could be: 1) sms message; 2) push notification; 3) electronic voice recorder places call to primary number; and 4) electronic voice recorder places call to spouse's number. other examples are possible, however, it is contemplated that the second notification may never happen if the user replies to the sms message with an acknowledgment. or, the second notification would automatically happen if the sms gateway cannot be contacted. in various embodiments, health sensors 422 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or other interface, and data received from the health sensors 422 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or other interfaces. further, an intercom, such as the intercom 426 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may permit a user in one location to communicate with a user in another location, who may be using the third party device 420 , the display device 430 , or some other device, such another television receiver within the structure. the intercom 426 may be integrated with the security camera 408 or may use a dedicated microphone/speaker, such as a bluetooth® microphone. microphones/speakers of the third party device 420 , display device 430 , communication device, overlay device 428 , etc., may also or alternatively be used. a moca network or other appropriate type of network may be used to provide audio and/or video from the intercom 426 to the receiver 340 and/or to other television receivers and/or wireless devices in communication with the ptr 210 . here, as well as in other instances of home automation related data as acquired and served to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 by particular elements of fig. 4 , the intercom 426 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by the intercom 426 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or like interface in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. further, one or more light controllers, such as light controller 434 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may permit a light to be turned on, off, and/or dimmed by the receiver 340 or the overlay device 428 , such as based on a user command received from the third party device 420 or directly via receiver 240 or overlay device 428 , etc. the light controller 434 may control a single light. as such, multiple different light controllers 434 may be present within a house or residence. in some examples, a physical light switch, that opens and closes a circuit of the light, may be left in the “on” position such that light controller 434 can be used to control whether the light is on or off. the light controller 434 may be integrated into a light bulb or a circuit, such as between the light fixture and the power source, to control whether the light is on or off. an end-user, via the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 , may be permitted to view a status of each instance of the light controller 434 within a location. since the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 may communicate using different home automation protocols, different instances of the light controller 434 within a location may use disparate or different communication protocols, but may all still be controlled by the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 . in some examples, wireless light switches may be used that communicate with the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 . such switches may use a different communication protocol than any particular instance of the light controller 434 . such a difference may not affect functionality because the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 may serve as a hub for multiple disparate communication protocols and perform any necessary translation and/or bridging functions. for example, a tablet computer may transmit a command over a wifi connection and the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 may translate the command into an appropriate zigbee® or zwave® command for a wireless light bulb. in some examples, the translation may occur for a group of disparate or different devices. for example, a user may decide to turn off all lights in a room and select a lighting command on a tablet computer, the overlay device 428 may then identify the lights in the room and output appropriate commands to all devices over different protocols, such as a zigbee® wireless light bulb and a zwave® table lamp. additionally, it is contemplated that the ptr 140 may permit timers and/or dimmer settings to be set for lights via the light controller 434 . for instance, lights can be configured to turn on/off at various times during a day according to a schedule and/or events being detected by the has 400 , etc. here, as well as in other instances of home automation related data as acquired and served to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 by particular elements of fig. 4 , each particular instance of the light controller 434 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by each particular instance of the light controller 434 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or like interface in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. further, a thermostat, such as the thermostat 436 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 , and may provide heating/cooling updates to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 for display via display device 430 and/or third party device 420 . further, control of thermostat 436 may be effectuated via the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 , and zone control within a structure using multiple thermostats may also be possible. here, as well as in other instances of home automation related data as acquired and served to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 by particular elements of fig. 4 , the thermostat 436 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by the thermostat 436 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or like interface in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. additional appliance sensors and/or appliance controllers 438 - 446 also may be integrated into or included as part of the has 400 , in order to evaluate user readiness levels for completing physical conditioning videos and/or to determine if user's have completed criteria for physical conditioning videos. in various embodiments, appliance controllers 438 - 446 may permit the status of the corresponding appliances to be retrieved by the receiver 340 or overlay device 428 , as well as allowing commands to be sent by the receiver 240 or overlay device 428 to control operation of the appliances. appliance controllers 438 - 446 may be directly integrated as part of the corresponding appliance in some cases, or may use computer software and networks, wireless communications, and the like, to connect to the corresponding appliances. additionally or alternatively, appliance sensors and controller 438 - 446 may be configured to determine appliance usage data by monitoring electricity usage of one or more associated appliance (e.g., other home automation devices or circuits within a home that are monitored), or by implementing visual or audio monitoring of the appliance (e.g., using cameras 412 and microphones with video/audio analyses to detect appliance usage). as discussed above, both personal monitoring devices associated with users, and has devices and systems may collect and analyze personal user data and location data in order to determine current readiness levels for users to complete certain physical conditioning videos. in fig. 4 , appliance sensors and controllers 438 - 446 illustrate specific examples of appliance sensors and controllers 438 - 446 in a has 400 that may be used to collect and analyze relevant data for determining a user's readiness for completing a physical conditioning video. for example, one or more electronic scale sensors 438 may be configured to record user weight measurements and times, and to transmit that data to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 . additionally, one or more water dispenser controllers 440 , refrigerator appliance controllers 442 , and/or other kitchen appliance controllers 444 may be configured to determine a user's recent consumption of nourishment and nutrition, and this data may be transmit to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 . similarly, one or more electronic medication dispenser 446 may collect and analyze data relating to the user's use of medications and may transmit this data to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 . electronic medication dispensers 446 may include external appliances such as an electronic pill dispensers, insertable or embedded medical devices such as computerized intravenous (iv) drip devices, and/or other automated medication dispensing devices. further, one or more home security systems, such as the home security system 411 , may be integrated in to or as part of the has 400 . in general, the home security system 411 may detect motion, when a user has armed/disarmed the home security system 411 , when windows/doors are opened or broken, etc. the receiver 340 may adjust settings of the home automation devices of fig. 4 based on home security system 411 being armed or disarmed. for example, a virtual control and alarm panel may be presented to a user via the display device 430 . the functions of a wall mounted panel alarm can be integrated in the graphical user interface of the tv viewing experience such as a menu system with an underlying tree hierarchical structure. it is contemplated that the virtual control and alarm panel can appear in a full screen or pip (picture-in-picture) with tv content. alarms and event notifications may be in the form of scrolling text overlays, popups, flashing icons, etc. additionally, camera video and/or audio, such as from the security camera 412 , can be integrated with dvr content provided by the ptr 140 with additional search, zoom, time-line capabilities. the camera's video stream can be displayed full screen, pip with tv content, or as a tiled mosaic to display multiple camera's streams at a same time. in some examples, the display can switch between camera streams at fixed intervals. the ptr 140 may perform video scaling, adjust frame rate and transcoding on video received from the security camera 412 . in addition, the receiver 340 may adaptively transcode the camera content to match an internet connection. here, as well as in other instances of home automation related data as acquired and served to the receiver 340 and/or overlay device 428 by particular elements of fig. 4 , the home security system 411 may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by the home security system 411 may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or like interface in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. additional forms of appliance controllers and sensors not illustrated in fig. 4 may also be incorporated as part of the has 400 in various embodiments. for instance, doorbell sensors and mailbox sensors, garage door sensors, and the like, may be implemented in the has 400 to detect and identify visitors at the user's location. the ability to control one or more showers, baths, faucets and/or external irrigation systems from the receiver 340 and/or the third party device 420 may also be provided in some embodiments. in some examples, a vehicle “dashcam” may upload or otherwise make video/audio available to the receiver 340 when within range of a particular residence. for instance, when a vehicle has been parked within range of a local wireless network with which the receiver 340 is connected, video and/or audio may be transmitted from the dashcam to the receiver 340 for storage and/or uploading to a remote server. such systems or sensors or devices may be controlled via interaction with particular controls as provided within or by an epg or like interface, and information or data as acquired by such systems or sensors or devices may be manipulated, consolidated, etc., as desired, and also made accessible within or by an epg or like interface in certain embodiments. referring now to fig. 5 , a block diagram is shown illustrating the component of an example iot device 110 , which may be utilized as described in the embodiments described herein. it should be noted that fig. 5 is meant to provide only a general illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. as discussed above, iot devices 110 may include, for example, security systems, intruder and fire alarm systems, utility meters (e.g., for gas, water, electrical, etc.), weather sensors, facility management services, vehicle-based systems, personal appliances/health monitoring devices, industrial appliances and systems (e.g., plc devices), personal electronic appliances, person or animal tracking devices, lighting systems or speaking systems in public or commercial environments, or governmental infrastructure devices (e.g., street lamps, traffic lights, trash bins, etc.). in further examples, iot devices 110 may include any of the devices described above within the iot network 200 of fig. 2 , or the has system 400 of fig. 4 . because iot devices 110 may vary widely in functionality, any particular iot device 110 may include only a subset of the components shown in fig. 5 . additionally, in some cases, components illustrated in fig. 5 may be localized to a single physical device and/or distributed among various networked devices, which may be disposed at different physical locations. the iot device 110 is shown in fig. 5 comprising hardware elements that can be electrically coupled via a bus 505 (or may otherwise be in communication, as appropriate). the hardware elements may include a processing unit(s) 510 which may comprise without limitation one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing (dsp) chips, graphics acceleration processors, application specific integrated circuits (asics), and/or the like), and/or other processing structure or means, which can be configured to perform one or more of the methods described herein. as shown in fig. 5 , some embodiments may have a separate dsp 520 , depending on desired functionality. the iot device 110 also may comprise one or more input devices 570 , which may comprise without limitation one or more touch screens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 515 , which may comprise without limitation, one or more displays, light emitting diode (led)s, speakers, and/or the like. the iot device 110 may also include a wireless communication interface 530 , which may comprise without limitation a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and/or a chipset (such as a bluetooth® device, an ieee 802.11 device, an ieee 802.15.4 device, a wi-fi device, a wimax device, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or the like, which may enable iot device 110 to communicate via the networks and rats described above with regard to fig. 1 . the wireless communication interface 530 may permit data to be communicated with a network, wireless access points, wireless base stations, other computer systems, and/or any other electronic devices described herein. the communication can be carried out via one or more wireless communication antenna(s) 532 that send and/or receive wireless signals 534 . depending on desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 530 may comprise separate transceivers to communicate with base stations (e.g., enbs) and other terrestrial transceivers, such as wireless devices and access points, belonging to or associated with one or more wireless networks. these wireless networks may comprise various network types. for example, a wwan may be a cdma network, a time division multiple access (tdma) network, a frequency division multiple access (fdma) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (ofdma) network, a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (sc-fdma) network, a wimax (ieee 802.16) network, and so on. a cdma network may implement one or more radio access technologies (rats) such as cdma2000, wideband cdma (wcdma), and so on. cdma2000 includes is-95, is-2000, and/or is-856 standards. a tdma network may implement gsm, digital advanced mobile phone system (d-amps), or some other rat. an ofdma network may employ lte, lte advanced, nr and so on. lte, lte advanced, nr, gsm, and wcdma are described (or being described) in documents from 3gpp. cdma2000 is described in documents from a consortium named “3rd generation partnership project 2” (3gpp2). 3gpp and 3gpp2 documents are publicly available. a wlan may also be an ieee 802.11x network, and a wpan may be a bluetooth network, an ieee 802.15x, or some other type of network. the techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of wwan, wlan and/or wpan. the iot device 110 may further include sensor(s) 540 . such sensors may comprise, without limitation, one or more accelerometer(s), gyroscope(s), camera(s), magnetometer(s), altimeter(s), microphone(s), proximity sensor(s), light sensor(s), and the like. some or all of the sensor(s) 540 can be utilized, among other things, for sensing/detecting location data (e.g., sights, sounds, smells, substances, temperatures, etc.) at the location of the iot device 110 , or for obtaining operational status of an appliance or electrical device, and/or obtaining other types of data that may be communicated to an iot application server 135 . embodiments of iot device 110 may also include an sps receiver 580 capable of receiving signals 584 from one or more sps satellites using an sps antenna 582 , which may be combined with antenna(s) 532 in some implementations. positioning of iot device 110 using sps receiver 580 may be utilized to complement and/or incorporate the techniques described herein, e.g. may be used to obtain sensor data by iot device 110 . the sps receiver 580 may support measurement of signals from sps svs of an sps system, such as a gnss (e.g., global positioning system (gps)), galileo, glonass, quasi-zenith satellite system (qzss) over japan, indian regional navigational satellite system (irnss) over india, beidou over china, and/or the like. moreover, the sps receiver 580 may be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., a satellite based augmentation system (sbas)) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and/or regional navigation satellite systems. by way of example but not limitation, an sbas may include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as, e.g., wide area augmentation system (waas), european geostationary navigation overlay service (egnos), multi-functional satellite augmentation system (msas), gps aided geo augmented navigation or gps and geo augmented navigation system (gagan), and/or the like. thus, as used herein an sps may include any combination of one or more global and/or regional navigation satellite systems and/or augmentation systems, and sps signals may include sps, sps-like, and/or other signals associated with such one or more sps. additionally, the iot device 110 may include a cryptocurrency wallet 525 . cryptocurrency wallet 525 may include one or more executable software components configured to stores private and public keys, and to interact with one or more cryptocurrency blockchains to enable the iot device to send and receive digital currency. in some embodiments, one or more types of cryptocurrency may be preloaded onto an iot device 110 , along with predefined instructions specifying when and how much cryptocurrency the iot device 110 may exchange to an nb-iot network service provider in exchange for network access. additionally or alternatively, an iot device 110 may receive transfers of cryptocurrency from the network service provider (or other third-party system) in exchange for providing access to its sensor data. thus, iot devices 110 may be entirely standalone devices with respect to funding their own nb-iot network access. in other cases, multiple related iot devices 110 (e.g., commonly owned) may be configured to exchange cryptocurrencies with one another and/or with the primary cryptocurrency accounts of the owner. the iot device 110 may further include and/or be in communication with a memory 560 . the memory 560 may comprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a random access memory (“ram”), and/or a read-only memory (“rom”), which can be programmable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. such storage devices may be configured to implement any appropriate data stores, including without limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/or the like. the memory 560 may be used, among other things, to store sensor data received from sensors 540 using a database, linked list, or any other type of data structure. in some embodiments, wireless communication interface 530 may additionally or alternatively comprise memory. the memory 560 of iot device 110 also can comprise software elements (not shown), including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or other code, such as one or more application programs, which may comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may be designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided by other embodiments, as described herein. merely by way of example, one or more procedures described with respect to the functionality for iot device 110 discussed above might be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by iot device 110 (and/or a processing unit within the iot device 110 ). in an aspect, then, such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods. referring now to fig. 6 , a flow diagram is shown illustrating an example process of selecting and providing an iot device 110 to a user, so that the iot device 110 will be capable of interacting with the iot device activation and management server 140 to autonomously request, negotiate, and obtain access to the nb-iot network 115 . as described below, the steps in this process may be performed by the iot device activation and management server 140 and/or other related components, in response to a request from a customer for a particular iot device 110 . however, it should be understood that various other devices or combinations of systems/devices in figs. 1-4 may be used to perform the steps described below. in step 601 , the iot device activation and management server 140 may receive a request for an iot device 110 from a customer. the type of iot device 110 requested need not be relevant for the purposes of this example, as any type of iot device 110 may be selected, configured/provisioned, and provided to the customer to support autonomous activation and network access. therefore, the iot device 110 requested in step 601 may be, for example, a security system or alarm device, a utility meter device, a weather sensor device, a facility management device, a wearable health monitor device, an item or person tracking device, an industrial appliance monitor device, a governmental infrastructure device, and/or any other iot device or electronic sensor device described herein. in some embodiments, a customer may an initiate a purchase of an iot device 110 via a web site controlled by the iot device activation and management server 140 . additionally or alternatively, the customer may purchase the iot device 110 from a third-party provider, wherein the third-party provider is configured to support one or more of the purchase and configuration options in steps 602 - 604 below. after the selection of the generic iot device 110 step 601 , steps 602 - 604 relate to customizing the generic iot device 110 to perform autonomous activation and registration, without any customer intervention (or minimal customer intervention), once the customer receives and installs the device 110 at the desired location. in various embodiments, the generic iot device 110 selected in step 601 may be customized simply by selecting certain device features and/or purchase options, so that the iot device 110 is still an entirely off-the-shelf product. additional customization might not involve directly customizing the iot device 110 , but instead recording a unique device id of the iot device (e.g., product number, serial number, etc.) in a database 145 with the associated user and/or other associated devices. still other types of customization may involve directly modifying the iot device 110 , for example, by writing registration/network access data into the device memory 560 , or loading a requested amount of cryptocurrency into the device's cryptocurrency wallet 525 . additionally, as indicated by the dotted lines around each of steps 602 - 604 , these steps may be optional, so that one, two, or all three of these steps may be performed in various embodiments. in step 602 , the selected iot device 110 may be associated with the customer that initiated the purchase of the device in step 610 . as noted above, this step may be optional and need not be performed in all cases, including purchases of iot devices 110 from third-party providers or receiving used/second-hand devices from other customers. when an iot device 110 is associated with the customer and/or the customer's account in step 602 , the association may be done by writing into the memory 560 of the device 110 . alternatively (or additionally), the iot device activation and management server 140 may enter a record into database 145 associated a device identifier of the purchased iot device 110 with the customer identifier (e.g, name, account number) of the customer purchasing the device. thus, the iot device activation and management server 140 may have records associating a particular customer with multiple different iot devices 110 . in step 603 , the selected iot device 110 may be preconfigured with data sharing rules and/or network access rules that may be applied during the autonomous activation process after the device 110 is installed at the customer's location. the data sharing rules may refer to the terms and conditions regarding which data collected/stored by the iot device 110 may be shared with a network service provider 115 or other third-party. for example, a customer might not be willing to share any of the iot device's 110 data with any other entity, may be willing to share all of the data, or might only be willing to share certain subsets of the data collected and stored by the iot device 110 . additionally, in step 603 , it may be specified what amount (e.g., in dollars or cryptocurrency) the iot device 110 should charge for sharing its data. multiple amounts may be specified for different types of sensor data, different amounts/frequencies of data, etc. additionally, multiple amounts may be specified corresponding to a preferred data price, a minimum data price, etc., to be used in the negotiation for nb-iot network access. further, in some cases, an iot device 110 may be configured so that it will not trade its data in exchange for use of an nb-iot network 115 ; however, the iot device 110 may be willing to trade data from another device (e.g., another iot device 110 or has device 390 that is owned by the same customer), and thus the network access purchase rules configured in step 603 may include data sharing rules for other devices associated with the iot device 110 . in other examples, the iot device 110 may be configured to indicate that it is not willing to trade its data, but that a customer purchasing the device 100 and/or a company that owns the device is willing to pay for the network activation. also in step 603 , the configuration may include network access purchase rules, which may include the terms and conditions to be programed into the iot device 110 for negotiating and obtaining access to the nb-iot network 115 . thus, the network access purchase rules may indicated which types of data and how much of its data the iot device 110 will exchange for certain levels of network access, how much cryptocurrency it will exchange for certain levels of network access, etc. as discussed above in step 602 , step 603 may be performed by writing the user-selected configurations directly into the memory of the iot device 110 . alternatively, the configurations in step 603 may be performed by the customer selecting a particular version or flavor of the iot device 110 with the desired rules pre-programmed into the device, thus allowing the configured iot device 110 to remain a standard off-the-shelf product. in other embodiments, the iot device 110 may be indirectly configured, by storing the device identifier and the corresponding data sharing rules and/or network access rules into a database 145 maintained by the iot device activation and management server 140 . in step 604 , the selected iot device 110 may optionally be loaded with a predefined amount of cryptocurrency. for example, the customer may select one or more cryptocurrency types and corresponding amounts, to have the manufacturer or provider of the iot device 110 pre-load the requested amounts of cryptocurrency into the cryptocurrency wallet 525 of the device 110 . similar to the above configurations, step 604 may be performed by customizing a selected iot device 110 with the precise amounts cryptocurrencies selected by the customer. alternatively, step 604 may be performed by the customer selecting from one or more options of amounts for preloaded iot devices 110 , thus allowing the iot device 110 preloaded with cryptocurrency to remain a standard off-the-shelf product. finally, in step 605 , the iot device 110 selected in step 601 and configured/customized in steps 602 - 604 , may be provided to the customer. providing the iot device 110 in step 605 may include shipping the physical iot device 110 , transmitting an encrypted software image to be loaded onto a generic device 110 , and the like. referring now to fig. 7 , a flow diagram is shown illustrating an example process of autonomously activating an iot device 110 and provisioning the iot device 110 to a nb-iot network 115 , following installation of the device at the customer's location. as described below, the steps in this process may be performed by iot device 110 in conjunction with the iot device activation and management server 140 and/or other related components. however, it should be understood that various other devices or combinations of systems/devices in figs. 1-4 may be used to perform the steps described below. in step 701 , an iot device 110 is installed at a customer location (e.g., residence, vehicle, business, or any other location), in response to, the installed iot device 110 searches for at contacts an available nb-iot network to request access. as discussed above, although this example refers to an nb-iot network, it should be understood that lte networks and/or other network types configured to support iot devices 110 may be used in other embodiments. additionally, iot device 110 may initially search for compatible wireless networks and may contact multiple separate networks in step 701 . steps 702 - 709 represent one possible embodiment of a negotiation between the installed iot device 110 and the iot device activation and management server 140 , in which the parties communicate to determine one or more particular network access negotiation methods/techniques, and agree to terms by which iot device will be activated and provisioned, and the nb-iot network 115 may be configured to permit the iot device 110 to access the network 115 . as discussed below, these steps may be based on the customization and/or configuration of the iot device 110 performed when the device was selected or purchased by the customer. in this example, the iot device activation and management server 140 selects the network access negotiation methods/techniques and drives the negotiation with the iot device 110 , in the order shown in fig. 7 (i.e., 702 —another payer?, then 704 —cryptocurrency payment?, then 706 —data exchange?, and then 708 —different device data exchange?). however, it should be understood that in other implementations, these selected negotiation methods and/or other factors may be prioritized differently during the negotiation process. for example, in some embodiments, trading data (step 706 ) may be performed first, as it may result in a portion of overall payment but not the entire payment for the network access. in such embodiments, the system may be configured to query for data trading first, determine the partial payment based on the data trading, and then potentially still query for a cryptocurrency payment to cover the rest of the network access payment. alternatively, access may be granted with only data trading (steps 706 - 707 ), and then if there is a remaining balance it may be gathered as described in fig. 8 . additionally, while the negotiation in this example may be driven by the iot device activation and management server 140 , in other examples the iot device 110 may control the negotiation by querying the server 140 with specific requests for types of payments and amounts, rather than having the server 140 query the iot device 110 as in this example. in still other examples, both parties may drive the negotiation with initiated offers, counteroffers, and the like. in step 702 , after receiving the initial network access request from the iot device 110 , the iot device activation and management server 140 may initially inquire whether or not another payer is willing to pay for network access for the iot device 110 . in some cases, rather than the server 140 inquiring, the iot device 110 may indicate in its initial request in step 601 that another party will pay for its network access. in still other cases, the other party willing to pay may be configured into the memory of the iot device 110 and/or stored in a backend database 145 so that the iot device activation and management server 140 may immediately detect that another party will make payment. in some embodiments, the iot device 110 may have no cryptocurrency coins/tokens, and might not be willing to trade data for network access; however, the person that owns the device may be willing to pay for the iot device 110 to be active on the network. in this example, the iot device 110 may be shipped with a basic contract that indicating that a third-party will pay for the network activation (and/or identifying the third-party payer). in other examples, a company or other organization that owns the iot device 110 may be willing to pay the network activation for the customer. for example, a company (e.g., amazon) making virtual assistant devices (e.g., alexa) may pay for activation of the device 110 in the customer's car, in which case the device 110 may be shipped with a basic contract indication that the amazon will pay for the network activation. in step 703 , the device owner or device user has agreed to pay for the network activation, then the iot device activation and management server 140 may offer a smart contract to the iot device for network access. the device 110 may be configured to ask the owner/user to establish communication with the user's mobile device, for example, by using a qr code, bluetooth pairing, or similar method. for example, a qr code may be transmitted to the user's mobile device, and when activated the qr code may direct the user to make a payment using a standard payment method (e.g., apple pay, credit card, etc.) to the nb-iot access network, using the device identifier of the iot device. after receipt of a device confirmation and the payment, then the server 140 may provision the iot device 110 (step 710 ) to activate the iot device on the network 115 . if a company owning or manufacturing the iot device 110 has agreed to pay for the network activation, then the iot device activation and management server 140 may again initially offer a smart contract to the iot device with particular network access amounts, values, and/or rates for allowing network access to the iot device. because the server 140 knows that the company (e.g., amazon) has agreed to pay for the smart contract to provide nb-iot network access to the iot device 110 , the server 140 may immediately provision the iot device 110 (step 710 ), then contact the trusted company for payment after activation. in step 704 , the iot device activation and management server 140 may query the iot device 110 to ask if it will pay for its nb-iot network access using cryptocurrency. as discussed above in connection with fig. 6 , iot devices 110 may be pre-loaded with various amounts of cryptocurrencies, and may be configured with rules regarding payment preferences and limits for using cryptocurrency to pay for network access. if the iot device 110 respond that it will pay for network access using the cryptocurrency in its wallet 525 , then in step 705 the parties may negotiate the cryptocurrency amount/rate and complete the transfer from the wallet software components 525 of the iot device 110 to the server 140 (or other payment repository). after receipt of the confirmation from the iot device 110 and/or successful completion of the cryptocurrency transfer from the iot device 100 , the server 140 may provision the iot device 110 (step 710 ) to activate the iot device on the nb-iot network 115 . in step 706 , the iot device activation and management server 140 may query the iot device 110 again to ask if it will pay for its access to the nb-iot network by trading its own sensor data. as discussed above in reference fig. 6 , various iot devices 110 may be preconfigured to exchange some or all of their data to the network provider in exchange for network access ( 706 :yes), while other iot devices 110 may be configured not to share any of their data with the network provider ( 706 :no). for instance, if the iot device plans to encrypt its data for transmission to a separate backend server, such as an amazon virtual assistant device alexa 110 transmitting its data to an amazon server, these devices 110 might not agree to share their voice data with the nb-iot network provider. if the iot device 110 is willing to share some or all of its data in order to obtain network access to the nb-iot network 115 ( 706 :yes), then iot device 110 may respond to the query from the server 140 with a positive indication and a description of the data that the iot device 110 collects. in step 707 , one or both parties (i.e., the iot device activation/management server 140 , and the iot device 110 ) may determine subjective values/costs for the nb-iot network and for the data collected by the particular iot device 110 . for instance, the iot device activation/management server 140 may determine its costs of granting the iot device 110 access to its nb-iot network 115 , in comparison to the value of the data collected by the iot device 110 . the value of the data may be calculated based on a number of factors such as the type of data being collection, the volume of data being collected, the location of iot device sensors, the geographic area, individuals, and/or devices within the range of the iot device sensors. additionally, the value of the data collected by the iot device 110 also may be based on any substitute data (e.g., similar data from other nearby iot devices) and/or complementary data that the iot device activation and management server 140 has access to. similarly, the iot device 110 may determine its costs (if any) of sharing its data with the network provider, in comparison to the value it gains by being granted access to the nb-iot network 115 . based on the subjective costs and values calculated by both parties, an agreement may be reached in step 707 to trade some or all of the data collected by the iot device 110 in exchange for allowing the iot device to use the nb-iot network 115 . if the data amount and value from the iot device 110 exceeds the cost of the network access, then the customer/owner of the iot device 110 may potentially make money by receiving a supplement payment (e.g., in cryptocurrency) that can be stored on the iot device 110 (e.g., in the cryptocurrency wallet 525 ) and/or transferred to a separate account of the customer or device owner. in some embodiments, both the iot device 110 and the iot device activation and management server 140 may periodically re-evaluate their respective value propositions of trading data for network access (or vice versa). even after the parties have negotiated and agreed to a data-for-network-access trade in step 707 , the costs and value gained to both parties may change constantly based on a number of business-related and technical factors. thus, as discussed below, one or both parties may wish to cease or renegotiate an agreement previously made between the parties in step 707 . in some embodiments, the agreements may have contract terms that effectively lock-in the parties for a period of time. in other embodiments, no length term may be set and either party may withdraw at any time. in step 708 , the iot device activation and management server 140 may query the iot device 110 once more to ask if it will pay for its access to the nb-iot network 115 by trading data from another related device. as discussed above, different iot devices 110 may be commonly owned by the same customer or business/organization, or multiple iot devices 110 may otherwise reach an agreement to share data with one other. in such cases, if a first iot device ( 110 - 1 ) has the authority to grant the nb-iot network provider with access to the sensor data of other iot devices (e.g., 110 - 2 , 110 - 3 ) or other devices, then the device 110 - 1 may agree to do so in step 708 ( 708 :yes), in order to obtain access for itself to the nb-iot network 115 . the negotiation and agreement process in step 709 may be similar or identical to that described in step 707 , with the exception that the first iot device 110 - 1 is negotiating and agreeing to share data from a different device (e.g., iot device 110 - 2 ) rather than its own data. in some embodiments the other device may or may not already be on the network 115 . additionally, the other device may be another iot device (e.g., 110 - 2 ) or it may be a connected mobile phone, computing device, or an entirely separate electronic device accessible via an iot network, cloud network, or other access network. thus, an iot device 110 may negotiate for and obtain nb-iot network access in exchange for the data collected by any of (and/or any combination of) the iot devices described in connection with fig. 2 , and/or any of the home automation system devices described in connection with fig. 4 . in some embodiments, immediately following an autonomous activation in step 710 , the server 140 may initiate another contract with the person (or legal entity) who owns and/or is using the iot device 110 . this is done to ensure proper legal use of the data, and may be done by the user entering an identification document into an application, using a qr code from the device, and/or by using a locally transmitted communication with the user's smartphone (e.g., via bluetooth, nfc, etc.). this connection and contract with the person can also be used to exchange actual currency (i.e., us dollars). referring now to fig. 8 , a flow diagram is shown illustrating an example process of monitoring an active iot device 110 on a network, after previously provisioning and allowing the iot device 110 to access the network. as with fig. 7 , the steps in this process may be performed by iot device 110 in conjunction with the iot device activation and management server 140 and/or other related components. however, it should be understood that various other devices or combinations of systems/devices in figs. 1-4 may be used to perform the steps described below. in step 801 , the usage of the nb-iot network 115 , and the recurring/periodic payments made by the iot device 110 for access to the network 115 are monitored, and in step 802 the server 140 confirms whether both parties (i.e., the iot device 110 and the network provider) are fulfilling the terms of their previous agreement. as discussed in detail above, the iot device 110 may “pay” for access to the nb-iot network 115 in several different ways. first, an individual (e.g., device owner or user) or a third-party company/organization may agree to pay for the iot device 110 to access the network (see step 703 ). in this case, if the responsible person or company stops making the required payments ( 802 :no), or notifies the server 140 that the iot device 110 should be deactivated, then in step 803 the iot device activation and management server 140 may deactivate the iot device 110 and remote its network access. second, the iot device 110 may have agreed to pay in cryptocurrency (see step 705 ). in this case, if the iot device 110 either runs out of cryptocurrency its wallet 525 , or stops making payments for any other reason ( 802 :no), then the iot device 110 will also be deactivated in step 803 . third, the iot device 110 may have agreed to pay by sharing its data with the network provider (see step 707 ). in this case, if receipt of the agreed-to data from the iot device 110 stops ( 802 :no), then the iot device 110 will also be deactivated in step 803 . finally, the iot device 110 may have agreed to pay by sharing data from one or more other devices with the network provider (see step 709 ). in this case, if receipt of the agreed-to data from the other devices stops ( 802 :no), then the iot device 110 will be deactivated in step 803 . in step 804 , the iot device activation and management server 140 may receive an indication of a change potentially affecting the previous agreement between an iot device 110 and network provider. in some cases, the indication of a change in step 804 may be received as a notification from the iot device 110 , or from an owner or user of the device. in other cases, the server 140 may determine that a change has occurred based on the characteristics of payments or data between received, and/or based on the network usage of the iot device 110 . as shown in this example, potential changes identified in step 804 may include one or more of: changes to the iot device 110 ( 805 :yes), changes to the data being collected by the iot device 110 ( 806 :yes), and/or changes to the person(s) associated with the iot device 110 ( 807 :yes). to illustrate, in a first use case, a solar sensor iot device 110 is installed on the roof a person's house. when the person sells the house, neither the iot device 110 nor the data being collected changes, but the person associated with the iot device does change ( 807 :yes). therefore, in this use case, the smart contract made with the iot device 110 may stay the same, but the server 140 may initiate a change to the person (or legal entity) contract made with the original homeowner in step 808 . as a second use case, a camera iot device 110 is installed in the kitchen of a home. when the homeowner sells the house, the iot device 110 device and its location does not change, but both the person(s) associated with the iot device 110 and the characteristics of the data being collected by the device 100 change ( 806 :yes; 807 :yes). therefore, in this use case, the server 140 may initiate both a new smart contract and a new person/legal entity contract in step 808 . as a third use case, a coffee cup iot device 110 is sold from one user to another. when the new person receives and begins to use the coffee cup, both the person(s) associated with the coffee cup iot device 110 and the characteristics of the data being collected by the coffee cup iot device 110 change ( 806 :yes; 807 :yes). therefore, in this use case, the server 140 may again initiate both a new smart contract and a new person/legal entity contract in step 808 . finally, in a fourth use case, a homeowner moves and takes his solar sensor iot device 110 with him from his old house to his new house. in this use case, neither the iot device 110 nor the person associated with the iot device 110 changes, but the characteristics of the data being collected by the solar sensor iot device 100 change ( 806 :yes). therefore, in this use case, the person/legal entity contract made with the homeowner may stay the same, but the server 140 may initiate a change to the smart contract made with the solar sensor iot device 110 in step 808 . referring now to fig. 9 , an example is shown of a computer system or device 900 in accordance with the disclosure. examples of computer systems or devices 900 may include systems, controllers, servers, monitors, sensors, or the like, an enterprise server, blade server, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, personal data assistant, smartphone, gaming console, set-top box, television receiver, “smart” home automation-related sensor or device or system or controller or monitor or detector, and/or any other type of machine configured for performing calculations. any particular one of the previously-described computing devices may be wholly or at least partially configured to exhibit features similar to the computer system 900 , such as any of the respective elements or components of figs. 1-4 . in this manner, any of one or more of the respective elements of those figures may be configured and/or arranged, wholly or at least partially, for selecting and providing iot devices configured to support autonomous activation within a network, autonomously activating iot devices and provisioning the iot devices to the network, and monitoring active iot devices on a network, as discussed above. still further, any of one or more of the respective elements of figs. 1-4 may be configured and/or arranged to include computer-readable instructions that, when executed, instantiate and implement various functionality described herein (e.g., one or more user output engines, devices, or services 145 ). the computer device 900 is shown comprising hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 902 (or may otherwise be in communication, as appropriate). the hardware elements may include a processing unit with one or more processors 904 , including without limitation one or more general-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, and/or the like); one or more input devices 906 , which may include without limitation a remote control, a mouse, a keyboard, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 908 , which may include without limitation a presentation device (e.g., television), a printer, and/or the like. the computer system 900 may further include (and/or be in communication with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 910 , which may comprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or may include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a random access memory, and/or a read-only memory, which may be programmable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. such storage devices may be configured to implement any appropriate data stores, including without limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/or the like. the computer device 900 might also include a communications subsystem 912 , which may include without limitation a modem, a network card (wireless and/or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and/or a chipset such as a bluetooth™ device, 802.11 device, wifi device, wimax device, cellular communication facilities such as gsm (global system for mobile communications), w-cdma (wideband code division multiple access), lte (long term evolution), etc., and/or the like. the communications subsystem 912 may permit data to be exchanged with a network (such as the network described below, to name one example), other computer systems, and/or any other devices described herein. in many examples, the computer system 900 will further comprise a working memory 914 , which may include a random access memory and/or a read-only memory device, as described above. the computer device 900 also may comprise software elements, shown as being currently located within the working memory 914 , including an operating system 916 , device drivers, executable libraries, and/or other code, such as one or more application programs 918 , which may comprise computer programs provided by various examples, and/or may be designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided by other examples, as described herein. by way of example, one or more procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed above, and/or system components might be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by a computer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then, such code and/or instructions may be used to configure and/or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods. a set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storage device(s) 910 described above. in some cases, the storage medium might be incorporated within a computer system, such as computer system 900 . in other examples, the storage medium might be separate from a computer system (e.g., a removable medium, such as flash memory), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storage medium may be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a general purpose computer with the instructions/code stored thereon. these instructions might take the form of executable code, which is executable by the computer device 900 and/or might take the form of source and/or installable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on the computer system 900 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities, etc.), then takes the form of executable code. it will be apparent that substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. for example, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed. as mentioned above, in one aspect, some examples may employ a computer system (such as the computer device 900 ) to perform methods in accordance with various examples of the disclosure. according to a set of examples, some or all of the procedures of such methods are performed by the computer system 900 in response to processor 904 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which might be incorporated into the operating system 916 and/or other code, such as an application program 918 ) contained in the working memory 914 . such instructions may be read into the working memory 914 from another computer-readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s) 910 . merely by way of example, execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the working memory 914 may cause the processor(s) 904 to perform one or more procedures of the methods described herein. the terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium,” as used herein, may refer to any non-transitory medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. in an example implemented using the computer device 900 , various computer-readable media might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s) 904 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry such instructions/code. in many implementations, a computer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium. such a medium may take the form of a non-volatile media or volatile media. non-volatile media may include, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 910 . volatile media may include, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as the working memory 914 . example forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable media may include a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a compact disc, any other optical medium, rom (read only memory), ram (random access memory), and etc., any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer may read instructions and/or code. various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 904 for execution. by way of example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer. a remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to be received and/or executed by the computer system 900 . the communications subsystem 912 (and/or components thereof) generally will receive signals, and the bus 902 then might carry the signals (and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to the working memory 914 , from which the processor(s) 904 retrieves and executes the instructions. the instructions received by the working memory 914 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device 910 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 904 . it should further be understood that the components of computer device 900 can be distributed across a network. for example, some processing may be performed in one location using a first processor while other processing may be performed by another processor remote from the first processor. other components of computer system 900 may be similarly distributed. as such, computer device 900 may be interpreted as a distributed computing system that performs processing in multiple locations. in some instances, computer system 900 may be interpreted as a single computing device, such as a distinct laptop, desktop computer, or the like, depending on the context. the methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various method steps or procedures, or system components as appropriate. for instance, in alternative configurations, the methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and/or various stages or steps or modules may be added, omitted, and/or combined. also, features described with respect to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. different aspects and elements of the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. also, technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or claims. specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). however, configurations may be practiced without these specific details. for example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the configurations. this description provides example configurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. rather, the preceding description of the configurations will provide those of skill with an enabling description for implementing described techniques. various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted as a flow diagram or block diagram. although each may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. in addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. a process may have additional steps not included in the figure. furthermore, examples of the methods may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. when implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium. processors may perform the described tasks. furthermore, the examples described herein may be implemented as logical operations in a computing device in a networked computing system environment. the logical operations may be implemented as: (i) a sequence of computer implemented instructions, steps, or program modules running on a computing device; and (ii) interconnected logic or hardware modules running within a computing device. although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
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145-743-069-819-248
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
F15B21/0423,B64C9/00,B64D33/02,B64F5/00
| 2019-06-04T00:00:00 |
2019
|
[
"F15",
"B64"
] |
portable external oil cooler process for performing hydraulic system functional tests on unfueled airplanes
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an external cooling system for hydraulic fluid of an aircraft hydraulic system. the external cooling system includes a heat exchanger, where an input side of the heat exchanger is connected to a hydraulic fluid reservoir of the aircraft hydraulic system and an output side of the heat exchanger is connected to suction ports of a return side of an electric motor driven pump (emdp) of the aircraft hydraulic system. the external cooling system operates on 120 vac power and the hydraulic fluid does not exceed a maximum pressure of 50 pounds per square inch gauge. the emdp pumps hydraulic fluid through the hydraulic system under conditions wherein fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty, and the external cooling system cools the hydraulic fluid as the emdp pumps the hydraulic fluid, wherein the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the external cooling system before entering the emdp.
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1. a method of cooling hydraulic fluid for an aircraft hydraulic system of an aircraft, the method comprising: connecting an output side of an external cooling system directly to a return side of an electric motor driven pump through a first hose connection, wherein the electric motor driven pump is a component of the connecting an input side of the external cooling system directly to a hydraulic fluid reservoir through a second hose connection, wherein the hydraulic fluid reservoir is another component of the aircraft turning on the external cooling system; and pumping hydraulic fluid through the aircraft hydraulic system onboard the aircraft with the electric motor driven pump under conditions wherein fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty, wherein the external cooling system cools the hydraulic fluid as the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the external cooling system before entering the return side the electric motor driven pump. 2. the method of claim 1 , further comprising conducting hydraulic system function tests on the aircraft hydraulic system as the electric motor driven pump pumps the hydraulic fluid through the aircraft hydraulic system and the external cooling system is cooling the hydraulic fluid. 3. the method of claim 1 , wherein the external cooling system comprises a number of air-cooled heat exchangers. 4. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: monitoring, by a temperature sensor in the external cooling system, a temperature of hydraulic fluid entering the electric motor driven pump; in response to a determination that the temperature of the hydraulic fluid is below a specified lower threshold, turning off cooling fans in the external cooling system or preventing the cooling fans from turning on; and in response to a determination that the temperature of the hydraulic fluid exceeds a specified upper threshold, activating an alarm. 5. the method of claim 4 , wherein the specified lower threshold is 15.6° c. 6. the method of claim 4 , wherein the specified upper threshold is 60° c. 7. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: monitoring, by a pressure sensor in the external cooling system, an air pressure in the hydraulic fluid reservoir; and activating an alarm if the air pressure is below a specified threshold. 8. the method of claim 7 , wherein the specified threshold is 20 psig. 9. the method of claim 1 , wherein the external cooling system operates on 120 vac power. 10. the method of claim 1 , wherein the external cooling system operates at a maximum pressure of 50 psig. 11. a cooling system comprising: an aircraft; and an external cooling system for cooling hydraulic fluid for an aircraft hydraulic system of the aircraft, the external cooling system comprising: an output side including a first hose connected to a return side of an electric motor driven pump, wherein the electric motor driven pump is a component of the aircraft hydraulic system of the aircraft; an input side including a second hose connected to a hydraulic fluid reservoir, wherein the hydraulic fluid reservoir is another component of the aircraft hydraulic system of the aircraft; and a number of heat exchangers configured to cool hydraulic fluid as the electric motor driven pump pumps the hydraulic fluid through the aircraft hydraulic system under conditions wherein fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty, wherein the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the external cooling system before entering the electric motor driven pump; in operation, a path of the hydraulic fluid through the external cooling system includes the first hose, a heat exchanger of the number of heat exchangers, and the second hose without passing through a pump. 12. the system of claim 11 , wherein the external cooling system is configured to cool the hydraulic fluid during hydraulic system function tests on the aircraft hydraulic system of the aircraft. 13. the system of claim 11 , further comprising: a temperature sensor configured to monitor a temperature of hydraulic fluid entering the electric motor driven pump; and a controller configured to: turn off cooling fans in the external cooling system or prevent the cooling fans from turning on if the temperature of the hydraulic fluid is below a specified lower threshold; or activate an alarm if the temperature of the hydraulic fluid exceeds a specified upper threshold. 14. the system of claim 13 , wherein the specified lower threshold is 15.6° c. 15. the system of claim 13 , wherein the specified upper threshold is 60° c. 16. the system of claim 11 , further comprising: a pressure sensor configured to monitor air pressure in the hydraulic fluid reservoir; and a controller configured to activate an alarm if the air pressure is below a specified threshold. 17. the system of claim 16 , wherein the specified threshold is 20 psig. 18. the system of claim 11 , wherein the external cooling system operates on 120 vac power. 19. the system of claim 11 , wherein the external cooling system operates at a maximum pressure of 50 psig. 20. a cooling system comprising: an aircraft; and an external cooling system for cooling hydraulic fluid of the aircraft; the aircraft having an aircraft hydraulic system comprising an electric motor driven pump and a hydraulic fluid reservoir; the external cooling system comprising: a number of heat exchangers external of the aircraft; an input hose connected to the number of heat exchangers and directly connected to the hydraulic fluid reservoir through a first hose connection; and; an output hose connected to the number of heat exchangers and directly connected to a return side of the electric motor driven pump through a second hose connection; wherein the number of heat exchangers are configured to cool hydraulic fluid of the aircraft hydraulic system as the electric motor driven pump pumps the hydraulic fluid through the aircraft hydraulic system under conditions wherein fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty, wherein the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the input hose, the number of heat exchangers, and the output hose before entering the electric motor driven pump, and wherein a path of the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the input hose, the number of heat exchangers, and the output hose before entering the electric motor driven pump without passing through a pump external to the aircraft.
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background information 1. field the present disclosure relates generally to aircraft hydraulic systems and more particularly to externally cooling hydraulic fluid during hydraulic system function tests when fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty. 2. background in the airline industry, hydraulic system functional tests (hsfts) are routinely performed by original equipment manufacturers (oems), airlines, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (mro) facilities. when an aircraft is in flight, engine driven pumps (edps) and electric motor driven pumps (emdps) work together to pressurize hydraulic fluid and circulate it through closed hydraulic systems. as the fluid circulates, it heats. on its return to onboard reservoirs the fluid is cooled as it runs through heat exchangers typically found in wing fuel tanks. when the tanks are full, the liquid fuel acts as a heat sink medium that absorbs heat from the heat exchangers as the hydraulic fluid passes through them. when an airplane is on the ground, the emdps can only operate for extended periods if there is enough fuel in the tanks to cool the hydraulic fluid. however, if the wing tanks are empty, the emdps can typically only operate for a couple of minutes before the hydraulic fluid heats up beyond acceptable operating temperatures, requiring the system to be shut down in order to cool. during manufacturing or maintenance of airplanes, the hydraulic system might need to be run so that testing, repairs, or adjustments can be performed on flight control surfaces such as rudders, elevators, flaps, as well as other hydraulic-operated components. such manufacturing and maintenance procedures are typically performed with the fuel tanks empty. without the heat sink provided by liquid fuel in the tanks, the circulating hydraulic fluid must be cooled by external ground support equipment. summary an illustrative embodiment provides a method of cooling hydraulic fluid for an aircraft hydraulic system. the method comprises connecting an output side of an external cooling system to a return side of an electric motor driven pump (emdp) in the hydraulic system and connecting an input side of the external cooling system to a hydraulic fluid reservoir in the hydraulic system. the emdp pumps hydraulic fluid through the hydraulic system under conditions wherein fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty, and the external cooling system cools the hydraulic fluid as the emdp pumps the hydraulic fluid, wherein the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the external cooling system before entering the emdp. another illustrative embodiment provides an external cooling system for hydraulic fluid for an aircraft hydraulic system. the cooling system comprises an output side configured to connect to a return side of an electric motor driven pump (emdp) in the hydraulic system and an input side of the external cooling system to a hydraulic fluid reservoir in the hydraulic system. the cooling system further comprises a number of heat exchangers configured to cool hydraulic fluid as the emdp pumps the hydraulic fluid through the hydraulic system under conditions wherein fuel tanks in the aircraft are empty, wherein the hydraulic fluid passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir and through the external cooling system before entering the emdp. the features and functions can be achieved independently in various examples of the present disclosure or may be combined in yet other examples in which further details can be seen with reference to the following description and drawings. brief description of the drawings the novel features believed characteristic of the illustrative examples are set forth in the appended claims. the illustrative examples, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and features thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative example of the present disclosure when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an airplane hydraulic system and external oil cooler in accordance with illustrative embodiments; fig. 2 is a block diagram depicting the layout and operation of an airplane hydraulic system in which illustrative embodiments can be implemented; fig. 3 depicts a portable external cooler connected to an airplane hydraulic system under conditions of empty fuel tanks in accordance with an illustrative embodiment; fig. 4 is a diagram of a portable external cooler in accordance with illustrative embodiments; fig. 5 depicts an electrical control panel for a portable external cooler in accordance with an illustrative embodiment; fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the process flow of cooling hydraulic fluid with an external cooler in accordance with illustrative embodiments; and fig. 7 is an illustration of an aircraft manufacturing and service method in the form of a block diagram in accordance with an illustrative example; fig. 8 is an illustration of an aircraft in the form of a block diagram in accordance with an illustrative example. detailed description the illustrative examples recognize and take into account different considerations. for example, the illustrative examples recognize and take into account that emdps on aircraft can only operate for a few minutes at a time when the fuel tanks are empty due to overheating of hydraulic fluid. the illustrative embodiments also recognize and take into account that hydraulic system functional tests (hsfts) are typically performed with the wing fuel tanks empty, necessitating the use of ground support equipment (gse) to externally cool the hydraulic fluid. one type of gse typically used during manufacturing hsft is a test bench that supplies the airplane with cooled, pressurized hydraulic fluid for performing hsfts from a central hydraulic power unit and reservoir built into the manufacturing facility. the central hydraulic power unit consists of an electric motor and pumps as well as heat exchangers which all require 480 volts alternating current (vac) power. the test bench controls pressure, while temperature is controlled by the heat-exchangers located on the central power unit in the facility. consequently, hsfts using test benches are limited by access to special facilities. such test benches are typically custom designed and cost about $200,000 each. test benches employ multiple hoses and connections, requiring a two-person setup and teardown. because the test bench connects to the pressure side of the airplane's hydraulic system it requires high input pressure, typically about 3000 psig. another type of gse used to externally cool hydraulic fluid during hsfts is mobile hydraulic pump usually referred to as a “mule.” like test benches, mules also externally control fluid pressure and temperature. mules are self-contained and have an onboard hydraulic fluid reservoir and electric motor pump. the mule gets its power from an electric power source on the ground, not from the airplane and has its own air-fan cooled heat exchanger that transfers heat from the hydraulic fluid to the atmosphere by blowing air over the heat exchanger tubes. like test benches, mules require a 480 vac power supply and a two-person setup and teardown and cost in the range of $200,000. because they also connect to the pressure side of the airplane's hydraulic system, mules also operate at about 3000 psig and have the same safety, ergonomic, and environmental concerns as hydraulic bench tests. the illustrative embodiments also recognize and take into account that because mules are used in the field, the hoses and couplers as well as cam lock panels often sustain damage that they would otherwise not incur if the hsfts were performed inside a factory using a hydraulic test bench. thus, the illustrative examples provide a portable external oil cooler (peoc) for performing hsfts. the peoc connects to the return side of an airplane hydraulic system and relies on the airplane's own onboard emdp to provide fluid pressure to the hydraulic system. as a consequence, the peoc operates at much lower pressures than hydraulic test benches or hydraulic mules. the peoc system draws hot hydraulic fluid from a reservoir in the airplane hydraulic system and cools it before returning it to the emdps. the peoc thereby allows the airplane's hydraulic system to operate off its own internal pumps without overheating during hsfts when the wing fuel tanks are empty. fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an airplane hydraulic system and external oil cooler in accordance with illustrative embodiments. airplane 100 comprises a hydraulic system 102 that is used to move many elements of the aircraft including, e.g., control elements such as rudders, flaps, elevators, landing gears, etc. the hydraulic system 102 can comprise multiple hydraulic subsystems or self-contained hydraulic circuits 104 responsible for movement of elements in different sections of the airplane 100 such as, e.g., the right and left sides, or fore and aft. each hydraulic circuit/subsystem 106 within hydraulic circuits 104 comprises an emdp 108 that provides fluid pressure from a pressure side ejection port 110 to move the hydraulic fluid through the system. the emdp 108 is in fluid communication with hydraulic operated systems 114 such as control surfaces, landing gear, etc. the emdp 108 comprises a return side suction port 112 that sucks hydraulic fluid from a reservoir 120 , which is where the fluid returns after passing through the rest of the circuit 106 . as hydraulic fluid is pumped through the system it heats up. in order to prevent the hydraulic fluid from overheating and damaging the hydraulic system, the fluid in each circuit 106 moves through a heat exchanger 118 designed to remove heat from the fluid. typically, the heat exchanger 118 is located inside a fuel tank 116 in a wing of the airplane. when the fuel tank 116 is filled, the fuel acts as thermodynamic heat sink to absorb heat from the heat exchanger and cool the hydraulic fluid efficiently. however, when the tank 116 is empty the heat exchanger 118 must transfer heat to air in the tank, which is a far less efficient convection medium than liquid fuel. the portable external oil cooler (peoc) 122 provides cooling for the hydraulic fluid when the hydraulic system 102 has to be operated under conditions of empty fuel tanks such as hsfts performed during manufacture or maintenance. peoc 122 connects to the hydraulic system 102 via hoses 124 and draws hydraulic fluid from the reservoir 120 and cools it with air-cooled heat exchangers 126 before sending the fluid to the return side 112 of emdp 108 . the operation of heat exchangers 126 can be supplemented with fans 128 to increase heat convection. as the hydraulic fluid moves through peoc 122 temperature sensors 130 is configured to monitor the temperature of the fluid, and pressure sensors/switches 132 is configured to monitor air pressure within the fluid reservoir 120 . temperature sensors 130 can be, e.g., resistance temperature detectors (rtds) mounted on the output ports of the heat exchangers 126 . control logic 134 determines if the temperature and pressure of the hydraulic fluid are within specified operating parameters. in an illustrative embodiment, if the temperature of the hydraulic fluid drops below ˜15.6° c. (60° f.) the control logic 134 deactivates the fans 128 or prevents them from turning on. conversely, if the temperature of the fluid exceeds 60° c. (140° f.), the fans 128 continue to runs, but the control logic also activates an audio/visual alarm to warn the operator. the pressure switch 132 is built in to the peoc 122 to protect the emdp 108 from insufficient head pressure at the return side suction port 112 . insufficient pressure may lead to pump damage from cavitation. the airplane hydraulic reservoirs 120 typically must be pressurized with air to at least 20 psig (pounds per square inch gauge). if reservoir air pressure drops below 20 psig, the audio/visual alarm indicator 136 is activated by control logic 134 to alert the operators. fig. 2 is a block diagram depicting the layout and operation of an airplane hydraulic system in which illustrative embodiments can be implemented. airplane hydraulic system 200 is an example of hydraulic system 102 depicted in fig. 1 . in this example, the hydraulic system 200 comprises two self-contained subsystems/circuits: hydraulic subsystem a 202 and hydraulic subsystem b 222 . hydraulic subsystem a 202 and hydraulic subsystem b 222 are examples of hydraulic circuits 104 in fig. 1 . fig. 2 depicts the movement of the hydraulic fluid under normal operating conditions wherein the fuel tanks 206 , 226 in the wings are filled with liquid fuel. the hydraulic fluid is drawn from the fluid reservoirs 208 , 228 into the respective suction ports of emdps 210 , 230 . the emdps 210 , 230 pressurize the hydraulic fluid before it enters hydraulic system a 202 and hydraulic system b 222 . hydraulic system a 202 and hydraulic system b 222 include rudders, flaps, elevators, landing gears, and other hydraulically operated elements of the airplane. after passing through hydraulic system a 202 and hydraulic system b 222 the hydraulic fluid passes through heat exchangers 204 , 224 located in the wing fuel tanks 206 , 226 . under conditions of filled tanks, liquid fuel provides an effective heat sink to absorb heat from the heat exchangers 204 , 224 and cool the hydraulic fluid before it returns to the reservoirs 208 , 228 to begin the circuit again. without fuel in the tanks 206 , 226 (such as during hsfts), the hydraulic fluid is not cooled effectively before returning to the reservoirs 208 , 228 and recirculating through the system. therefore, the pumps 210 , 230 can only operate for approximately two minutes before having to be shut down to let the system and fluid cool. fig. 3 depicts a portable external cooler connected to an airplane hydraulic system under conditions of empty fuel tanks in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. peoc 300 is an example of peoc 122 depicted in fig. 1 . in the present example, peoc 300 comprises two air-cooled heat exchangers: heat exchanger a 310 and heat exchanger b 320 , which cool the hydraulic fluid for hydraulic system a 202 and hydraulic system b 222 , respectively. referring back to fig. 2 , under normal operating conditions, hydraulic fluid flows from reservoirs 208 , 228 to emdps 210 , 230 through fluid lines 212 , 232 . fluid line 212 is connected to reservoir 208 and emdp 210 by quick disconnects 214 , 216 . similarly, fluid line 232 is connected to reservoir 228 and emdp 230 by quick disconnects 234 , 236 . as shown in fig. 3 , when peoc 300 is connected to airplane hydraulic system 200 , fluid lines 212 , 232 are removed, and the hydraulic fluid is instead routed through peoc heat exchangers 310 , 320 between the reservoirs 208 , 228 and pumps 210 , 230 . hoses 314 , 314 of heat exchanger a 310 are connected to the same quick disconnects 214 , 216 to which fluid line 212 is normally connected. similarly, hoses 322 , 324 of heat exchanger b 320 are connected to quick disconnects 234 , 236 in place of fluid line 232 . with the fuel tanks 206 , 226 empty (as during hsfts) the hydraulic fluid is not effectively cooled as it passes through heat exchangers 204 , 224 before returning to the reservoirs 208 , 228 . therefore, peoc heat exchangers 310 , 320 are used to cool the hydraulic fluid before it returns to the emdps 210 , 230 . though the cooling of the hydraulic fluid occurs in a different place in the hydraulic circuits in fig. 3 , the net thermodynamic effect is the same as the operation of the hydraulic system 200 shown in fig. 2 . heat exchanger a 310 and heat exchanger b 320 thereby allow the emdps 210 , 230 to operate continuously without interruption as if the fuel tanks 206 , 226 were filled with fuel. by allowing the airplane hydraulic system 200 to operate using its own internal pumps 210 , 230 , the peoc 300 is able to operate at significantly lower pressure than hydraulic test benches and mules because it returns the hydraulic fluid to the return side suction ports of the pumps 210 , 230 rather than the pressure side. whereas a hydraulic mule pump typically operates at 3000 psig and requires a 480 vac power source, peoc 300 only requires a maximum pressure of 50 psig and can operate on a 120 vac power source. fig. 4 is a diagram of a portable external cooler in accordance with illustrative embodiments. peoc 400 is an example of peoc 122 in fig. 1 and peoc 300 in fig. 3 . like peoc 300 in fig. 3 , peoc 400 comprises two air-cooled heat exchangers. in the view shown in fig. 4 only system a heat exchanger 402 is visible. the system b heat exchanger (not visible) is on the opposite side. the heat exchangers are supplemented by electric fans that can increase air circulation over the exchanger coils and hence convection. in the view shown in fig. 4 , the fan 410 for the system b heat exchanger is visible. a corresponding fan behind system a heat exchanger 402 is hidden from view. peoc 400 includes hoses 404 for the system a heat exchanger 402 and hoses 406 for the system b heat exchanger. each heat exchanger also include a temperature sensor 412 and a pressure sensor/switch 414 . the electrical control panel 408 for peoc 400 is shown more clearly in fig. 5 . each heat exchanger has a separate temperature display meter 502 that receives temperature data from rtd probes mounted on the output ports of the heat exchangers. each heat exchanger also has a fan on indicator 506 and a fan off/low temperature indicator 504 . since each heat exchanger operates on a separate, self-contained hydraulic system/circuit, it is possible one system can deviate from the specified temperature range while the other stays within parameters. there is also a separate on/off selector switch 508 for each cooling fan motor. a motor-stop 510 turns off power to the electric motors. a high temperature/low pressure audio/visual alarm 512 alerts operators that the hydraulic fluid temperature has exceeded 140° f. or the head pressure on the suction side of the emdp pump circuit is below 20 psig. fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the process flow of cooling hydraulic fluid with an external cooler in accordance with illustrative embodiments. process 600 is an example of the operation of peoc 300 in fig. 3 . process 600 begins by connecting the output side of the peoc to the return side suction port of an emdp 210 / 230 in an aircraft hydraulic system (step 602 ) and connecting the input side of the peoc to the output port of the hydraulic fluid reservoir 208 / 228 in the aircraft hydraulic system (step 604 ). after the peoc is connected to the airplane hydraulic system it is turned on (step 606 ), and the emdp is turned on to pump fluid (oil) through the hydraulic system (step 608 ). in this manner, as the emdp 210 / 230 is pumping the hydraulic fluid through the hydraulic system under conditions wherein the aircraft fuel tanks 206 / 226 are empty, the external cooling system 300 cools the hydraulic fluid as it passes from the hydraulic fluid reservoir 208 / 228 and through the external cooling system before entering the return side of the electric motor driven pump 210 / 230 . once the peoc and hydraulic pumps are turned on, process 600 further comprises conducting (step 610 ) or performing hydraulic system function tests (hstfs) on the hydraulic system as the electric motor driven pump 210 / 230 pumps the hydraulic fluid through the hydraulic system 200 and the external cooling system 300 is cooling the hydraulic fluid. the peoc allows the emdp to pump hydraulic fluid indefinitely until the hsfts are complete. the operation of the peoc undergoes continual monitoring ( 630 ) by a temperature sensor 130 and pressure sensor 132 during process 600 . monitoring 630 comprising monitoring (steps 612 and 618 ), by the temperature sensor 130 in the external cooling system, the temperature of hydraulic fluid entering the electric motor driven pump 210 / 230 , and if the temperature of the hydraulic fluid is below the specified lower threshold (step 612 ) of 15.6° c. (i.e. 60° f.), turning off (step 614 ) cooling fans in the external cooling system or preventing the cooling fans from turning on, and if the temperature of the hydraulic fluid exceeds the specified upper threshold (step 618 ) of 140° f. (i.e. 60° c.), activating (step 620 ) an alarm. since the fans are already on and the peoc is working at maximum cooling capacity, the control logic in the peoc activates the audio/visual alarm to alert the operators. if the hydraulic fluid does not fall below the lower threshold of ˜15.6° c. (i.e. 60° f.), the control logic in the peoc leaves the fans on (step 616 ) and continues monitoring temperature (step 612 ). similarly, if the hydraulic fluid temperature does not exceed the upper threshold 140° f. (i.e. 60° c.) the peoc simply continues monitoring (step 618 ). monitoring 630 also comprises monitoring (step 622 ), by the pressure sensor 132 in the external cooling system, an air pressure in the hydraulic fluid reservoir and activating (step 624 ) the alarm if the air pressure is below a specified threshold of 20 psig. if the pressure does not fall below the specified threshold the system continues to monitor the pressure (step 622 ). illustrative examples of the disclosure may be described in the context of aircraft manufacturing and service method 700 as shown in fig. 7 and aircraft 800 as shown in fig. 8 . turning first to fig. 7 , an illustration of an aircraft manufacturing and service method is depicted in the form of a block diagram in accordance with an illustrative example. during pre-production, aircraft manufacturing and service method 700 may include specification and design 702 of aircraft 800 in fig. 8 and material procurement 704 . during production, component and subassembly manufacturing 706 and system integration 708 of aircraft 800 in fig. 8 takes place. thereafter, aircraft 800 in fig. 8 may go through certification and delivery 710 in order to be placed in service 712 . while in service 712 by a customer, aircraft 800 in fig. 8 is scheduled for routine maintenance and service 714 , which may include modification, reconfiguration, refurbishment, and other maintenance or service. each of the processes of aircraft manufacturing and service method 700 may be performed or carried out by a system integrator, a third party, and/or an operator. in these examples, the operator may be a customer. for the purposes of this description, a system integrator may include, without limitation, any number of aircraft manufacturers and major-system subcontractors; a third party may include, without limitation, any number of vendors, subcontractors, and suppliers; and an operator may be an airline, a leasing company, a military entity, a service organization, and so on. with reference now to fig. 8 , an illustration of an aircraft is depicted in which an illustrative example may be implemented. in this example, aircraft 800 is produced by aircraft manufacturing and service method 700 in fig. 7 and may include airframe 802 with systems 804 and interior 806 . examples of systems 804 include one or more of propulsion system 808 , electrical system 810 , hydraulic system 812 , and environmental system 814 . any number of other systems may be included. although an aerospace example is shown, different illustrative examples may be applied to other industries, such as the automotive industry. apparatuses and methods embodied herein may be employed during at least one of the stages of aircraft manufacturing and service method 700 in fig. 7 . in particular, hsfts can be performed on aircraft 800 during aircraft manufacturing and service method 700 . in one illustrative example, components or subassemblies produced in component and subassembly manufacturing 706 in fig. 7 may be fabricated or manufactured in a manner similar to components or subassemblies produced while aircraft 800 is in service 712 in fig. 7 . as yet another example, one or more apparatus examples, method examples, or a combination thereof may be utilized during production stages, such as component and subassembly manufacturing 706 and system integration 708 in fig. 7 . one or more apparatus examples, method examples, or a combination thereof may be utilized while aircraft 800 is in service 712 and/or during maintenance and service 714 in fig. 7 . the use of a number of the different illustrative examples may substantially expedite the assembly of and/or reduce the cost of aircraft 800 . as used herein, the phrase “a number” means one or more. the phrase “at least one of”, when used with a list of items, means different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one of each item in the list may be needed. in other words, “at least one of” means any combination of items and number of items may be used from the list, but not all of the items in the list are required. the item may be a particular object, a thing, or a category. as used herein, the term “substantially” or “approximately” when used with respect to measurements is determined by the ordinary artisan and is within acceptable engineering tolerances in the regulatory scheme for a given jurisdiction, such as but not limited to the federal aviation administration federal aviation regulations. the flowcharts and block diagrams in the different depicted embodiments illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of some possible implementations of apparatuses and methods in an illustrative embodiment. in this regard, each block in the flowcharts or block diagrams may represent at least one of a module, a segment, a function, or a portion of an operation or step. the steps shown in the flowchart might occur in a different order than the specific sequence of blocks shown. the description of the different illustrative examples has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the examples in the form disclosed. many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. further, different illustrative examples may provide different features as compared to other desirable examples. the example or examples selected are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the examples, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various examples with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
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147-928-237-621-809
|
US
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[
"JP",
"US",
"WO",
"KR",
"CN",
"EP"
] |
B82Y20/00,F21S2/00,B82Y40/00,C09K11/08,C09K11/54,C09K11/56,C09K11/58,C09K11/62,C09K11/66,C09K11/70,C09K11/74,C09K11/88,C09K11/89,F21V9/30,F21V8/00,F21V9/14,F21V11/00,G02B1/14,G02B5/02,G02F1/1335,G02F1/13357,G02F2/02,F21V9/16
| 2014-06-26T00:00:00 |
2014
|
[
"B82",
"F21",
"C09",
"G02"
] |
emitting film with improved light-out coupling
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the present invention provides an optically active structure and the use thereof in a backlight unit. the optically active structure comprises a plurality of optically active particles configured to emit light of one or more predetermined wavelength range in response to pumping energy, and a plurality of light scattering elements. the plurality of light scattering elements comprises optically transparent void regions, such as void regions surrounding filler particles.
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1. an optically active structure, comprising a light emitting layer defined by a common matrix, wherein the common matrix has embedded therein a plurality of optically active semiconductor nanoparticles configured to emit light of one or more predetermined wavelength range in response to pumping energy, and a plurality of light scattering elements; wherein each of said plurality of light scattering elements is formed by an optically transparent void region surrounding a filler particle, said filler particles also embedding some of the optically active semiconductor nanoparticles therewithin; such that each of the light scattering elements scatters light originated by emission of the optically active semiconductor nanoparticles surrounded by the respective void regions. 2. the optically active structure of claim 1 , wherein said filler particles comprise optically transparent filler particles, configured for being optically transparent for at least wavelength range of the emitted light. 3. the optically active structure of claim 2 , wherein said pumping energy comprises optical pumping with at least one excitation wavelength range, said optically transparent filler particles being transparent to said at least one excitation wavelength range. 4. the optically active structure of claim 2 , wherein said optically transparent filler particles are configured with absorption of below 20% of the corresponding wavelength range. 5. the optically active structure of claim 1 , where said optically active semiconductor nanoparticles being embedded within the filler particles comprise rod shaped optically active nanoparticles aligned along a predetermined axis. 6. the optically active structure of claim 1 , wherein said optically emitting semiconductor nanoparticles comprise at least one semiconducting material selected from the group consisting of: cds, cdse, cdte, zns, cdzns, znse, znses, znte, zno, gaas, gap, gaas, gasb, hgs, hgse, hgte, inas, inp, insb, alas, alp, ingap, alsb, cu 2 s, cu 2 se, cuins 2 , cuinse 2 , cu 2 (znsn)s 4 , and cu 2 (inga)s 4 . 7. the optically active structure of claim 1 , where said optically active semiconductor nanoparticles in the common matrix and in the filler comprise anisotropic semiconductor nanoparticles, having a dimension along one axis being longer with respect to a perpendicular axis thereof. 8. the optically active structure of claim 7 , wherein said anisotropic semiconductor nanoparticles are configured as dot-in-rod or rod-in-rod nanostructures. 9. the optically active structure of claim 7 , wherein said anisotropic semiconductor nanoparticles are configured as nanorods, said nanorods being aligned along a predetermined axis to thereby emit light having a selected polarization orientation. 10. the optically active structure of claim 1 , wherein said void regions are anisotropic regions having a dimension along one axis longer with respect to a dimension along at least one other axis. 11. the optically active structure of claim 10 , wherein said anisotropic voids are aligned such that the longer axis thereof is within a plane defined by the optically active structure. 12. the optically active structure of claim 10 , where said optically active semiconductor nanoparticles in the common matrix and/or in the filler comprise semiconductor nanorods, said semiconductor nanorods and said anisotropic voids being aligned along a common axis. 13. the optically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of said plurality of scattering elements is selected in accordance with thickness of the optically active structure to provide a haze level between 60% and 95% to the optically active structure. 14. the optically active structure of claim 13 , wherein the concentration of said plurality of scattering elements is selected to provide a haze level between 80% and 95%. 15. the optically active structure of claim 13 , wherein the concentration of said plurality of scattering elements is selected to provide a haze level between 87% and 95%. 16. the optically active structure of claim 1 , further comprising at least one barrier layer configured for reducing interaction of at least one of oxygen and moisture with said optically active structure. 17. a method for producing an optically active structure according to claim 1 , the method comprising providing a liquid solution comprising a mixture of a polymeric material to form the common matrix, a plurality of optically active semiconductor nanoparticles of one or more predetermined size and material composition, and a plurality of optically transparent filler particles having optically active semiconductor nanoparticles embedded therein; drying and stretching said solution along at least one axis to a predetermined length variation ratio to thereby form elongated void regions around said optically transparent filler particles within said common matrix. 18. the method of claim 17 , wherein said optically active semiconductor nanoparticles are rod shaped semiconductor nanoparticles having a predetermined length ratio being such that said stretching aligns said rod shaped semiconductor nanoparticles along said predetermined axis. 19. the method of claim 17 , further comprising, selecting said polymeric material and said optically transparent filler particles as having a first and second glass-liquid transition temperatures (t g ) respectively, said first glass-liquid transition temperatures being lower than the second glass-liquid transition temperatures. 20. the method of claim 19 , wherein said stretching is performed at a temperature being between said first and second glass-liquid transition temperature. 21. the optically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the optically active semiconductor nanoparticles in the common matrix comprise optically emitting semiconductor nanoparticles. 22. the optically active structure of claim 1 , wherein the optically active semiconductor nanoparticles in the filler comprise optically emitting semiconductor nanoparticles. 23. a backlight unit configured for use in a display device, wherein the backlight unit comprises an optically active film formed by a common matrix, wherein the common matrix comprises optically active semiconductor nanoparticles configured to emit light of one or more predetermined wavelength range in response to pumping energy, and a plurality of light scattering elements formed by optically transparent material filler particles surrounded with a void region; wherein said optically active semiconductor nanoparticles comprise optically active semiconductor nanoparticles embedded within said common matrix and optically active semiconductor nanoparticles embedded in said filler particles. 24. the backlight unit of claim 23 , where said optically active semiconductor nanoparticles in the common matrix and in the filler comprise a plurality of optically active rod shaped semiconductor nanoparticles aligned along a predetermined axis. 25. the backlight unit of claim 23 , wherein said light scattering elements comprise anisotropic void regions, said anisotropic void regions being aligned along a predetermined axis.
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technological field this invention is generally in the field of light source systems, and relates to a light source device configured to emit light. the technique of the invention is particularly useful for a backlight unit in a display device. background art references considered to be relevant to the background to the presently disclosed subject matter are listed below: 1. wo 2012/059931, qlight nanotech2. u.s. pat. no. 7,327,415, rohm and hass3. u.s. pat. no. 6,958,860, eastman kodak4. u.s. pat. no. 8,197,931, toray industries5. us 2012/0113672, nanosys6. us 2014/0021440, qd vision7. wo 2010/095140, qlight nanotech acknowledgement of the above references herein is not to be inferred as meaning that these are in any way relevant to the patentability of the presently disclosed subject matter. background flat-panel displays are widely used in various electronic devices such as computers, mobile phones and televisions sets. liquid crystal displays (lcds) present a major part in image generation in flat-panel displays. lcd devices typically include a backlight unit for illumination of the lc panel, which is a multi-layer structure including a liquid crystal spatial modulation layer selectively transmitting light within each pixel of the display. the selective light transmission through the different pixels is controlled by changing orientation and arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules and thus allowing light of corresponding polarization to be transmitted therethrough. lcd devices and the operation thereof relates to affecting polarization of light passing through the lc panel. therefore, to provide efficient operation of the display, the input illumination arriving into the lc panel should preferably be polarized. such polarized input illumination may be provided by transmitting light from a backlight unit through a polarizer (or a plurality of polarizers). however, operation of the display device may benefit from a use of backlight unit configured to provide polarized light by itself. typical commercially available white color lcd backlight units use non-polarized light sources (i.e. light that has no specific polarization) and a polarizer located in optical path between the backlight unit and the liquid crystal panel. in such configuration, the selection of a particular polarization for the back-illumination comes at the cost of energy loss. generally, about 50% of light emitted by a non-polarized light source may be lost due to the light passage through a linear polarizer. this problem may be significant for various display systems, where energy saving is a crucial factor. in portable devices such as laptops, cellular-phones, tablets, etc. where battery life and increased backlight brightness are important factors. backlight units based on emission properties of nanoparticles have been developed and are described for example in wo 2012/059931, assigned to the assignee of the present application. according to this technique, an optically active structure is provided, which may be used as color polarized light source for display systems. the structure comprises at least two different groups of optically active nanorods differing from one another in at least one of wavelength and polarization of light emitted thereby in response to a pumping field. the nanorods of the same group are homogeneously aligned with a certain axis of alignment. general description there is a need in the art for a novel approach for configuring a high efficiency light emitting film. such film may utilize wavelength conversion of input light and/or emit light in response to pumping energy. specifically, the light emitting film may generate substantially polarized light. the optically active film as described below utilizes light scattering elements embedded within the optically active film and configured for maximizing light emission in a desired direction while maintaining or at least partially maintaining polarization state of the emitted light (i.e. specific polarization state/orientation). typically according to the present invention the plurality of scattering elements comprise optically transparent void regions around filler particles within the film/structure. the configuration of the optically active structure according to the present invention may provide increased illumination efficiency. typically such increased efficiency enables providing similar brightness to the display system while utilizing reduced power consumption, or increase brightness for a given power consumption. this could be beneficial for portable devices such as laptops, cellular-phones, tablets, etc. where battery life and increased backlight brightness are important factors. additionally, it should be noted that high resolution display system such as ultra-high definition (such as 4k or 8k display systems) may utilize greater brightness due to reduced transmission characteristics though the highly dense lc panel. the present invention provides a light source system and an optically active structure (film) suitable for use in a light source system which provides polychromatic optical radiation. the optically active structure of the invention utilizes optically active particles embedded in a matrix and configured to emit light of one or more predetermined wavelength ranges in response to a pumping field (e.g. optical pumping or electrical excitation). the optically active particles may generally be nanoparticles (e.g. semiconductor nanoparticles) configured to emit light in response to pumping energy. the structure also comprises plurality of scattering elements configured of particles (filler particles), surrounded by void regions. the scatterers are preferably embedded in the same matrix defining a layer of the optically active structure or embedded in one or more additional layer thereby defining an optically active structure comprising two or more layers. generally, the filler particles are optically transparent, i.e. not absorbing, with respect to one or more wavelength ranges (corresponding to the pumping field and to the emitted light). it should be noted that in the context of the present application the term void refers not only to an “empty” region filled by vacuum, but generally refers to a region within the film that includes material being different from its surroundings and typically with a refractive index lower than the surroundings. more specifically, a void is a region with vacuum or filled with gas, but may also be a region filled with material which is similar to that of the surrounding but is defined by lower density and lower refractive index. thus, the scatterers are generally configured as particles/fillers being transparent to optical radiation of the emitted light and being surrounded by regions of voids within the material of the layer matrix. the optically active nanoparticles may comprise anisotropic nanoparticles (nanorods) that may be aligned within the layer/film so as to emit substantially polarized light with a predetermined polarization orientation. in this connection it should be noted that the term substantially polarized light refers to light having polarization ratio (ratio between intensity of light component having the desired polarization and light components having the undesired polarization) higher than 1.1, and preferably higher than 2.5 and more preferably higher than 3.5. in some configurations, the use of aligned anisotropic nanoparticles (nanorods) provides illumination with polarization ratio of 4 and more. additionally, the scatterers are configured to be polarization preserving or at least partially polarization preserving scatterers such that light emitted out of the film maintains its polarization state (i.e. polarization orientation). the scatterers are configured for maximizing light output from the layer/film while maintaining its polarization state (e.g. polarization orientation). more specifically, in some embodiments of the invention, the optically active structure/film comprises a matrix containing aligned nanorods of selected sizes, material composition and structure. the nanorods are configured to emit light in response to exciting field (e.g. optical pumping) while alignment of the nanorods provides the emitted light with a predetermined polarization orientation. the optically active structure/film also comprise a scattering configuration, which comprises plurality of scatterers configured to vary propagation direction of light components impinging thereon. the scattering configuration may be integral with the optically active structure/film or attached thereto, and may also include additional optical elements external to the film. the scattering configuration is preferably configured to be polarization preserving (i.e. maintaining the polarization state and/or orientation of light interacting therewith). for example, the optically active structure may include, or be attached to, one or more light directing/redirecting elements as described in pct application number il2015/050341 assigned to assignee of the present application. it should be noted that, generally, the light scattering configuration may or may not be polarization preserving with regard to light passing through/interacting with various optical elements commonly used inside an lcd backlight, e.g. reflector, light-guides, diffusers, brightness enhancement film, etc. as well as with respect to light propagation between the backlight unit and a spatial modulation (liquid crystal) layer. in some embodiments of the present invention, it provides various backlight film stack configurations in order to obtain polarized or partially polarized emission based backlighting by integrating the polarized light source together with other complementary optical elements. thus, the structure and composition of the backlight optical stack comprising of optical elements such as reflector, light-guides, diffusers, brightness enhancement film of the invention may, in some embodiments, be carefully designed to maintain or at least partially maintain the desired polarization of output light directed to the liquid crystal layer (e.g. pixel matrix). the light emitting film may generally be configured for use in a backlight unit within a liquid crystal display device (lcd). in such applications, emission of polarized light is beneficial, providing the lcd device with higher energetic efficiency. the use of optically active nanorods as emitting media may provide additional advantages over the use of isotropic emitting particles. generally, emission of nanorods, acting typically as dipole-like emitting elements, is substantially directional being substantially perpendicular to the long axis of the nanorods. this enables the aligned ensemble of nanorods in the film to provide better emission compared with “regular” quantum dots since more light is emitted in a required direction and less light needs to be scattered by the scattering elements. this reduces the energy loss associated with light components scattered towards undesired direction as well as reduces loss due to absorbing properties and depolarization properties of the scattering material. thus, the use of aligned nanorods provides not only substantially polarized illumination, but may also be beneficial over spherical particles or non-aligned nanorods in providing greater efficiency in light conversion as well as certain preference in direction of the emitted light. the polarized light source according to the present invention is configured to operate utilizing backlight unit that provides polarized emission. as indicated above, this reduces losses caused by filtering of light components of the undesired polarization and thus provides for lower power consumption and/or brighter screens. as also indicated above, the polarized emission of the backlight unit originates as a result from the use of a polarized light source based on aligned anisotropic nanostructures, which may be colloidal semiconductor nanorods. for the purposes of a backlight unit, a polarized light source may contain a homogeneous mixture of at least two groups of optically active nanorods, differing from each other in the emission wavelength. preferably, such mixture contains green (central wavelength in the range of 520-560 nm) and red (central wavelength in the range of 600-650 nm) emitting nanorods, and may also include nanorods configured to emit light in additional wavelength ranges (e.g. blue). the polarized light source may be excited by pumping light from a pumping light source e.g. leds, and may include illumination with blue light, e.g. having central wavelength in the range of 440-460 nm. the concentration of emitting nanorods in the active layer may be adjusted to allow part of the incident pumping light to be transferred through the layer, or configured to provide maximal absorbance of the pumping light. for example, in configuration where the pumping light is of wavelength range corresponding to blue light, the optically active structure is configured such that the nanorods emit the complementary green and red light needed to produce white light. alternatively, the optically active structure may include nanorods emitting in red, green and blue, in response to uv or violet pumping light. in this configuration the optically active structure is preferably configured for maximal absorption of the pumping light to reduce losses due to filtering out of the remaining intensity of the pumping light. thus, according to a broad aspect of the present invention there is provided an optically active film/layer, comprising optically active particles configured to emit light of one or more predetermined wavelength range in response to pumping energy, and plurality of light scattering elements comprising filler particles formed from an optically transparent material surrounded with void regions. the void region may be filled with gas. generally, the optically active structure may comprise optically active semiconductor nanoparticles of two or more types configured to emit light of two or more predetermined wavelength ranges. the optically active nanoparticles and the void regions may typically be embedded in a common matrix. in some embodiments of the invention, the void regions may be regions surrounding filler particles. the filler particles may comprise optically transparent filler particles, configured for being optically transparent for at least wavelength range of the emitted light. generally the filler particles may be configured absorb no more than 20% of optical radiation of the emitted wavelength range. in some embodiments the pumping energy may be optical pumping in one or more exciting wavelength range, the filler particles may be configured to be optically transparent to the emitted light and the exciting light. in some embodiments, the filler particles may comprise filler particles having optically active particles embedded therein (e.g. rod shaped optically active nanoparticles). the optically active particles may be semiconductor nanoparticles configured to emit light in response to input pumping energy (e.g. pumping light). the semiconductor nanoparticles may be quantum dots type nanoparticles or anisotropic nanoparticles (i.e. having a dimension along one axis being longer with respect to a perpendicular axis thereof), such as rod shaped (nanorod) type semiconductor nanoparticles. in the case of nanorod nanoparticles or general anisotropic nanoparticles, the nanoparticles may be aligned along a predetermined axis to thereby provide substantially polarized emission of the optically active film. the optically active anisotropic semiconductor nanoparticles (nanorods) may be configured as dot-in-rod or rod-in-rod nanostructures. in some embodiments the semiconductor nanoparticles may have material composition selected from the groups consisting of: cds, cdse, cdte, zns, znse, znses, cdzns, znte, zno, gaas, gap, gaas, gasb, hgs, hgse, hgte, inas, inp, insb, ingap, alas, alp, alsb, cu 2 s, cu 2 se, cuins 2 , cuinse 2 , cu 2 (znsn)s 4 , cu 2 (inga)s 4 . according to some embodiments, the filler particles may comprise particles containing at least some of the optically active semiconductor nanoparticles, thereby absorbing light of a predetermined wavelength range and emitting light of another predetermined wavelength range. in this configuration, light emitted from nanorods located within the filler particles or between them may generally be scattered by interfaces associated with the void regions surrounding the filler particles. it should be understood that the filler particles are made of an optically transparent material, and these particles are thus generally described herein below as optically transparent filler particles. however, in some configurations where the filler particles contain optically active particles, the resulting structure of the filler particle with the emitting nanoparticles embedded therein, becomes absorbing to a certain level. according to some embodiment, the void regions may be anisotropic region having dimension along one axis longer with respect to at least one other axis. the anisotropic void regions may be aligned such that a longer axis thereof being within a plane defined by the optically active structure. when aligned nanorods are used as optically active particles, the anisotropic void regions and nanorods may be aligned along a common axis. generally, the optically active structure may be configured with concentration of the plurality of scattering elements selected in accordance with thickness of the optically active structure to provide haze level between 60% and 95% to the optically active structure. in some embodiments the concentration of scattering elements may be selected to provide haze level between 80% and 95%, or haze level between 87% and 95%. the optically active structure may further comprise at least one barrier layer configured for reducing interaction of at least one of oxygen and moisture with said optically active structure. according to some embodiments, the optically active structure is configured for use in a back lighting unit for a display device, typically a flat panel display such as liquid crystal display device (lcd). according to one other broad aspect of the invention, there is provided a backlight unit configured for use in a display device. the back light unit comprises an optically active film comprising optically active particles configured to emit light of one or more predetermined wavelength range in response to pumping energy, and plurality of light scattering elements comprising filler particles formed from an optically transparent material surrounded with a void region. the optically active structure of the backlight unit may comprise a plurality of optically active rod shaped semiconductor nanoparticles aligned along a predetermined axis. additionally or alternatively, the scattering elements may be configured as filler particles surrounded by anisotropic void regions, said anisotropic void regions being aligned along a predetermined axis. according to yet another broad aspect, the present invention provides a method for use in producing optically active structure. the method comprising providing a liquid solution comprising a mixture of a polymeric material, a plurality of optically active nanoparticles of one or more predetermined size and material composition, and a plurality of optically transparent filler particles; drying and stretching said solution along at least one axis to a predetermined length variation ratio to thereby form elongated void regions around said optically transparent filler particles. the optically active nanoparticles may be rod shapes semiconductor nanoparticles, the predetermined length ratio of stretching may be set to be such that stretching of the material cause alignment of the rod shapes semiconductor nanoparticles along the predetermined axis. in some embodiments, the method may further comprise: selecting said polymeric material and said optically transparent filler particles as having a first and second glass-liquid transition temperatures (t g ) respectively, said first glass-liquid transition temperatures is lower than the second glass-liquid transition temperatures. stretching of the structure may be performed at a temperature being between said first and second glass-liquid transition temperature. in the embodiments utilizing the optically active nanorods, the stretching provides for concurrently creating the scattering voids, alignment of the nanorods and the alignment of the voids-filler structure. brief description of the drawings in order to better understand the subject matter that is disclosed herein and to exemplify how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: fig. 1a illustrates schematically an optically active film containing light emitters and scattering elements configured small filler particles located within elongated voids in the film; fig. 1b illustrates schematically an additional configuration of an optically active film containing anisotropic light emitters and anisotropic scattering elements configured of small particles located within elongated voids in the film; figs. 2a and 2b illustrate schematically a use of void surrounded particle according to some embodiments of the invention; fig. 2a shows an elongated scattering element surrounded by a matrix material and surrounds an inside filler particle containing nonaligned semiconductor quantum material; and fig. 2b shows an elongated scattering element surrounded by the matrix material and surrounds an inside filter particle containing aligned anisotropic semiconductor quantum material; fig. 3 shows an optical microscope image of an optically active film including optically active nanorods and scatterers according to embodiments of the present invention; fig. 4 shows experimental measurements of intensity of emitted polarized light of different wavelength, the graph shows intensity of light emitted with polarization parallel and perpendicular to the alignment direction of the nanorods; and fig. 5 shows experimental measurements of intensity of emitted polarized light of different wavelength as compared between an optically active layer including scatterers according to the present invention and an optically active layer without such scatterers; this was measured for a film placed on a light-guide with a rear reflective film and a prism film on top of the optically active layer. detailed description the present invention provides a novel configuration for an optically active structure, e.g. for use in backlighting unit of a display device (typically liquid crystal display (lcd) devices). the optically active structure according to the invention is configured for increasing out-coupling of emitted light away from a film/layer that contains light emitters. more specifically, the optical active structure (also referred to herein as film or as layer) may be configured in the form of a matrix, e.g. polymer, which contains emissive materials such as semiconductor nanoparticles (e.g. nanocrystals). as indicated above, such film/layer may be configured for use as a light source for various lighting applications and in particular the backlight of flat panel displays such as lcd devices. in some cases the optically active structure is configured to emit polarized light providing increased efficiency of backlight and output intensity from the flat panel display (e.g. lcd). typically, such increased efficiency of the back lighting may be beneficial for high resolution displays (such as 4k or 8k display systems), which generally have lower transmission characteristics though the lc panel. generally, the optically active structure is configured to emit substantially polarized light, to thereby reduce losses due to filtering of light components having undesired polarization orientation. additionally, the optically active structure is preferably configured to output the emitted light substantially towards a desired direction and reduce light intensity directed to undesired directions, e.g. sides. as also indicated, the optically active structure comprises scatterers generating certain haze levels. this provides a diffusive effect affecting light emission from the film, which may be sufficient to provide uniform illumination and omit the need for using an additional diffuser film within the backlight unit. for example, in an edge-lit backlight the optically active structure according to the present invention may be placed on a lightguide directing light from the pumping light source towards the optically active structure. in this configuration, the optically active structure changes the directionality of the pumping light (e.g. blue pumping light), enabling more pumping light to be directed normal to the film instead of propagating at large angles. more specifically, the optically active structure is typically configured as a solid slab-like structure that is substantially transparent to the wavelength ranges of light that are emitted by the nanoparticles of the structure (transmitting more than 70% of the emitted light). the matrix (e.g. polymer) of the optically active structure is generally also transparent to wavelength range of the pumping light (i.e. transmitting more than 85% of the light). specifically, the optically active structure includes at least one layer/film including light emitters and at least partially polarization preserving scatterers. the scattering elements are generally embedded in a common matrix with the light emitting particles. the scatterers are configured to be substantially transparent to the wavelength of at least the emitted light, and typically include elongated voids. the voids are typically configured to be around filler particles (surrounding the filler particles), which are substantially transparent to the pumping light and the emitted wavelength range (or typically absorbing less than 20% of emitted and pumping light). as indicated above, the optically active structure (oas) is generally configured to provide color converting function to provide optical illumination of predetermined wavelength composition, e.g. white light having desired color temperature, and additional desired characteristics. typically, the oas is configured for absorbing pumping light of light of relatively short wavelength, e.g. blue, violet or ultra violet (uv), and emit in response light of one or more longer wavelength (e.g. green and red). additionally, the oas is configured to direct the emitted light such that at least a substantial component of the emitted light propagates along a desired one or more directions away of the oas, preventing light trapping (wave guiding) in one or more layers. to this end, the oas includes plurality of light emitters and scatterers within the matrix of at least one layer of the oas. as indicated above, the light emitters are generally semiconductor nano-particles having material composition and size selected to provide desired wavelength of emission in response to appropriate pumping. the scatterers in the oas are configured to deflect propagation of light components emitted by the nanoparticles to thereby cause light to propagate outside of the oas and prevent as much as possible light trapping within the optically active film by total internal reflection (tir). in addition, the scatterers may be configured to deflect the pumping light as well and thus providing increased diffusion, and prolonged optical path, of the pumping light within the oas. such increased diffusion may contribute to provide better homogeneity of the outputted light by ensuring that the pumping light reaches all regions of the oas to excite the nanoparticles therein. additionally, prolonged optical path of the pumping light increases the interaction of the pumping light with optically active nanoparticles, and therefore allows minimizing of the required nanoparticles quantity in the oas. moreover, scattering and diffusion of the pumping light in addition to scattering of the emitted light may also provide increased angular directionality of emission and provide similar properties for both pumping light and nanoparticles' emitted light. this in turn reduces any color dependence on angular viewing direction. to provide the above described light conversion and scattering functions, the optically active structure 100 is designed to contain both semiconductor nano-particles (e.g. quantum dot material) 110 and light scattering structures 120 as exemplified in fig. 1a . the nano-particles 110 may be spherical or anisotropic nano-particles. it should be noted that the selection of nano-particles may be based on material properties, desired wavelength ranges of emitted light and additional characteristics of the emitted light such as polarization properties. additionally, when anisotropic nano-particles used in order to emit at least partially polarized light, the nano-particles (e.g. nanorods) are preferably substantially aligned to provide substantially uniform polarization properties of the emitted light. this is exemplified in fig. 1b . generally, the nanorods are aligned along a predetermined axis while allowing deviation of up to 30° to provide light emission with polarization ratio of at least 1.1. as shown in figs. 1a and 1b , the light emitting particles 110 and scatterers 120 are embedded in a common matrix 150 while being dispersed within the matrix. it should be noted that to provide efficient transmission of the emitted light through the preferred surface of the oas providing desired illumination, the oas may include, or be attached to, a reflecting surface located on the opposite surface with respect to direction of light out propagation. the reflecting surface may be partially or fully reflecting, and may be configured to transmit light of the wavelength of the pumping light for back-pumping configurations. reference is made to figs. 2a and 2b illustrating additional configuration of the emitting particles and scatterers in the oas according to some embodiments of the invention. figs. 2a and 2b show an exemplary scattering element 120 , being one of a plurality used in the oas, where one or more light emitting particles are embedded within a substantially transparent element (i.e. absorbing less than 20% of input light and emitted light), filler 130 , surrounded by a void region. the filler 130 may generally be of scale dimension of 0.5-50 micrometer in diameter, or preferably 1.5-10 micrometer in diameter, and having refractive index being not extremely different than that of the matrix 150 of the oas with respect to wavelength range of the emitted light. for example, the filler particles 130 may be selected to be particles of transparent material. the fillers 130 are surrounded by a cavity that contains material of lower refractive index (e.g. close to 1) such as gas (e.g. air, nitrogen, or other gasses) defining a “void” 140 . thus the light scatterers 120 (light scattering structures) are embedded in the transparent matrix 150 , referred to as “matrix”, to provide a light emitting layer of the oas. as indicated above, the matrix 150 may typically be formed of a polymer film or polymer layer. in the structure according to this embodiment, light is efficiently scattered and out-coupled at the gas-polymer interface 160 of the voids 140 and as a result light trapping in the matrix layer 150 by total internal reflection is minimized. also shown in figs. 2a and 2b are nanoparticles 180 embedded in the material of the filler particles 130 . these nanoparticles may or may not be used in accordance with specific embodiments of the present invention as will be described further below. as indicated above, the scattering elements 120 may be configured as voids 140 contain a transparent filler particles surrounded by a region of gas. generally, the void scatterers are configured to be anisotropic and having a one longer dimension with respect to two shorter dimensions. thus the voids may be elongated, having a long axis d 2 and a short axis d 1 being of a different scale. additionally, the void regions 140 surrounding the filler particles 130 may be significantly larger along at least one dimension with respect to the filler particles 130 . for example, a typical dimension of the long axis d 2 of the voids may be a multiple of 1.5-10 with respect to a typical dimension of the filler 130 located therein. in some configurations, the short axis of the voids may be of the order of the dimension of the filler particle. thus, the anisotropic shaped voids 160 may have an oval, or oval-like shape (as shown in figs. 2a and 2b ) where the short axis size, d 1 , is determined by the filler size and the longer axis, d 2 , is larger with respect to the filler size. generally the longer axis d 2 of the void 160 can be controlled by the filler size as well as by the production methods. typically the dimensions of the long axis, d 2 , is a multiple of 1-10 of the lateral dimension of the filler 130 . the shape of void 160 determines the long axis of the light scattering structure 120 . therefore the light scattering structure 120 can have one axis with longer dimension and the population of the light scattering structures inside the (polymer) matrix may have a preferred alignment direction ( 155 in fig. 1b ). according to some embodiments of the invention, the refractive index of the filler and the matrix may be substantially similar (i.e. a difference of refractive index between the filler particles and the matrix is below 0.1). this causes the direct interfaces between the filler and the matrix to be substantially not scattering, while the interfaces between the matrix and the void region, or filler and void region exhibit change in refractive index and thus cause scattering. these configurations provide a strong geometrical selective scattering. for example, turning back to fig. 1b , when rod shaped nanoparticles (nanorods) are used as the light emitting structures 180 , the oas may be configured such that a long axis of the void 160 thereof is oriented within the plane of the film, i.e. for a relatively thin film, and even parallel to alignment axis of the nanorods (when aligned). this orientation of the scatterers 120 provides that light components propagating within the plane of the film interact with the matrix-void interface and scatter away from the film, while light components propagating in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the film propagate through the film and output therefrom, undergoing only limited scattering effects. such orientation of the scatterers provides for selective scattering of light components propagating within a plane defined by the oas with respect to light components passing through the oas (such as pumping light). more specifically, the orientation of the scatterers provides greater cross section for scattering for light components propagating within the film of the oas containing the emitting particles and lower cross section for scattering for light components propagation in a direction perpendicular to the plane defined by the film of the oas. generally light components (rays) emitted by the particles may propagate within the embedding film/matrix in a direction of propagation parallel to the plane to the film surface, thus being trapped in the film due to total internal reflection and impinging onto the interface thereof with an angle θ being larger that θ c the critical angle for existence of total internal reflection. by scattering such light components, the oas according to the present invention increases light out coupling from the oas. as indicated above, the nanoparticles in the oas provide emitted light being at least partially polarized, and thus reducing loss of light components (by reducing the intensity of light components of the undesired polarization that need to be filtered out). according to some embodiments of the invention, the light emitting nanoparticles are anisotropic nano-particles, defining anisotropic quantum material, and more specifically nanorods. typical size and dimensions of the nanorods are generally determined in accordance with material composition and desired wavelength of emission. generally, the nanorods may be configured with long axis of typical size between 7-100 nm while the short axes thereof may be of typical size between 3-10 nm. in some embodiments, the nanorods may have long axis of 14-50 nm and short axes of 3-7 nm. light emission from optically active nanorods is substantially polarized along the orientation of the long axis of the nanorods and is directed perpendicular to the long axis of the nanorods, generally providing polarization ratio of 1.1 or more, and preferably providing polarization ratio of 2 or more. according to some embodiments of the invention, the oas includes light emitting nanorods and elongated void-type scatterers as described above. in these configurations both the elongated scatterers and the rod-shaped light emitters (nanorods) are aligned along a common axis, as exemplified in fig. 1b . as shown in fig. 1b , both the nanorods emitters and the elongated scatterers (long axis of the void) are aligned along a common axis 155 . in this configuration, the elongated scatterers substantially maintain polarization orientation of light components emitted by the nanorods and undergo scattering. generally, the oas may be configured with scatterers' concentration such that the oas has haze level of 60% to 95%, preferably between 80% and 95%, more preferable between 87 and 95%. this is provided by adjusting the concentration of the scattering elements (and the fillers). it should be noted that higher haze level (e.g. higher than 95%) may typically reduce the luminance of the backlight due to over-scattering of light components. similarly, low haze levels, e.g. below 60% haze, may result in reduced excitation of the optically active nanoparticles as well as reduced out-coupling of emitted light from the oas. the term “haze” means the ratio between the diffuse transmitted light and the total transmitted light. diffuse transmittance is defined as the percent of light passing though the sample excluding a 2.5 degree angular range from the incident light angle. to simplify matters, haze values are used herein in percentage rather than fractures. for example, the optically active structure (oas) may include filler concentration between 0.5% wt to 40% wt, which is substantially similar to weight concentration of the scatterers including the voids, as air or any gas used is relatively light. additionally or alternatively, the oas may contain scattering elements (voids) that occupy 5% to 50% from the total volume of the oas (more preferably 5% to 30%) and are spread evenly or unevenly in the film. more specifically it should be noted that the optimal level of filler concentration depends on thickness of the film of the oas. for example, in an oas having film thickness of about 50 μm is preferably embedded with 3-8% wt fillers. a substantially similar oas of thickness of about 30 μm may preferably include double the filler concentration, i.e. 6-16% wt, in order to compensate for the shorter optical path within the oas. an oas of thickness of about 10-15 μm may be used with 20-40% wt fillers. according to some other embodiments, as exemplified above with reference to figs. 2a and 2b , the light emitting nanoparticles 180 are encapsulated within the filler particles 130 , which are in turn, surrounded by the voids 140 . as also noted, the light emitting nanoparticles 180 may include both isotropic shaped quantum dots (qds) and preferably non spherical, anisotropic, nanoparticles such as elongated shaped nanorods 180 as exemplified in figs. 2a and 2b . when nanorods are used as optically active nanoparticles, the orientation of the nanorods 180 is preferably aligned in accordance with geometry of scattering element, generally being parallel to the long axis of the voids 140 . this configuration provides increased uniformity in distribution of the emitted light as well as reduces changes in polarization of light due to scattering. the above effect of proper alignment of the nanoparticles 180 and the scattering particles/voids 140 is a result of interaction properties of light at the interface between the film and the scattering voids 140 . it should be noted that the use of void-type scattering elements in the oas according to different embodiments of the present invention provides for greater maintenance of polarization properties of emitted light with respect to particles type scatterers alone. specifically, light interaction with the interface of the void and the matrix or the void and the filler (or the void the matrix) may behave as a preferential light redirecting element for the polarized emission from the nanorods that maintains the polarization. the light scattering structure may also provide for diffusing of the excitation/pumping light and increase optical path thereof within the oas. this provides more efficient absorption of the excitation light and improved directional properties for the combined outputted light. generally when visible light is used as pumping light, e.g. blue pumping illumination, a portion of the pumping light may take part in the output light of the oas. in such configurations, the pumping light has substantially similar directionality as the emitted light from the nanoparticles (i.e. both pumping and emitted light have similar trend of angular distribution). the degree of light out-coupling from the optically active film may depend on the following factors: (a) scatterers dimensions and in particular dimensions of the voids; (b) the size of the fillers, typically between 0.5 to 50 μm, and preferably is 1 to 25 μm; and (c) fillers concentration in the optically active layer as indicated above. it should however be noted the additional factors may effect light out coupling from the film. in general the light traveling in the matrix is be effectively redirected by the voids in accordance with the cross section for scattering of the scatterers and with the angle of propagation, and the geometry of the scattering voids and on the respective refractive indices of matrix and void. in this connection, the filler, or filler particles, may be made of various materials including epoxy, glass, silica, sapphire or different types of polymers (including cross-linked polymers). specific examples of polymers include polymers selected from fluorinated polymers, polymers of ployacrylamide, polymers of polyacrylic acids, polymers of polyacrylonitrile, polymers of polyaniline, polymers of polybenzophenon, polymers of poly(methyl mathacrylate), silicone polymers, aluminium polymers, polymers of polybisphenol, polymers of polybutadiene, polymers of polydimethylsiloxane, polymers of polyethylene, polymers of polyisobutylene, polymers of polypropylene, polymers of polystyrene, polyvinyl polymers (e.g. polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl alcohol) and acrylic polymers (polymethyl methacrylate). the filler may be spherical but can also be of other shapes such as an oval shape or hollow spheres. as indicated above, the oas generally includes light scattering elements located within the same film as the nanorods. additionally, according to some embodiment of the invention the oas may be configured with light scattering structure/elements placed in specific regions of the oas, e.g. located closer to one surface of the oas/film. in some embodiment the oas may include two or more films that contain light scattering structure and nanorods in various configurations such as: two nanorod films with a light scattering structure film inside; one nanorod film with two light scattering structure films etc. the films should preferably be optically attached between them to provide the required scattering function of disrupting the total internal reflection (tir) condition. it should also be noted that the oas of the present invention may include, or be attached to one or more barrier layers. such barrier layers may be configured to provide mechanical and/or chemical protection to the oas films. for example, the barrier layers may provide protection from scratching, folding, shrinkage, damage from moisture absorption, damage from oxidation of the nanoparticles or any other external damage. the one or more barrier layers are preferably configured to be thin and substantially parallel to reduce any refractive effects on the emitted light. in some embodiments the optically active film can be used as a lightguide edge-coupled to blue leds. in such a structure the optically active film can contain nanorods and light scattering structure elements evenly distributed within the optically active film. as indicated above, the oas of the present invention may preferably be configured for use in a backlighting unit, e.g. of a display device. to this end the oas may be placed in an optical stack with additional diffusers, additional light redirecting films (e.g. prism films) and polarization recycling films (e.g. brightness enhancement film, dual brightness enhancement film (dbef), etc.). the optically active film may preferably be optically connected to different optical elements in the backlight stack or to the bottom polarizer of the lc cell. the optically active film can have blue pumping and provide red and green nanorods emission or other possibilities (e.g. uv pumping with rgb nanorod emission). it should also be noted that the oas according to the present invention may be configured to operate as a lightguide/waveguide for directing pumping light from a side-illumination pumping unit. additionally, the oas may be configured for use in an omnidirectional display unit (e.g. lcd) providing wide solid angle for view. a single light redirecting film attached to the oas may also be used to provide uniform illumination within a relatively wide solid angle associated with a single axis or more. generally, as also indicated above, an appropriate film stack utilizing the oas of the invention may be used in backlighting unit and an lc panel to constitute a flat panel display device. in addition to the capability of the optically active film of the present invention to provide emission of substantially polarized light of one or more predetermined wavelength ranges and direct the emitted light towards a preferred direction. the oas, of the present invention provides additional advantages involving production techniques thereof. in this connection, the oas may be produced by uniaxial or bi-axial stretching of the matrix, at ambient temperatures being higher than room temperature. in this method addition of a thermoplastic polymer or resin filler particles which are not miscible into a host matrix (e.g. polymer matrix) and after stirring of the mixture, allowing it to dry and then stretching the film along one or more axes. alternatively or additionally, the filler particles may be or include organic or inorganic filler particles. it should be noted that stretching of the film is generally preferred as it require relatively low processing temperatures, and thus have no, or very limited, influence on the performance of the emissive material embedded in the film. additionally, stretching of the film may also be used to provide alignment of embedded nanorods, as well as alignment of the void scatterers around the filler particles. the direction of stretching of the film is typically also the direction of alignment for both the nanorods and for the light scattering structures. generally, stretching of the film provides high performance in creating voids around the filler particles when the glass-liquid transition temperature [t g ] of the filler is higher compared with the t g of the matrix material. this causes the matrix to stretch around the filler particles and generate void regions around the fillers. this is preferred for some embodiments, where the light emitting nanoparticles are embedded in the matrix, while not being within the filler particles. to provide alignment of filler embedded nanorods the stretching is performed at temperatures higher than the glass-liquid transition temperatures of both the matrix and the filler particles. more specifically, the temperature condition is preferably such that t amb >t g [film matrix], t amb >t g [filler] and t g [filler]>t g [film matrix]. this will enable the filler to stretch but still to produce a void due to different response of the two materials at the same ambient temperature. the entire film is stretched and the inner particles may also be elongated with its nanorods aligned by the stretching. the stretching may be of the order of ×1.5 to ×10 preferably ×3 to ×6 with respect to original dimension of the film. apart from the stretching method described above, additional mechanical methods are often used. typical methods include extrusion of polymer films which contain the emissive material and filler as follows: foaming method: adding a foaming agent to the polymer to make the polymer film foamed by heat in the step of extrusion or film processing or foamed through chemical decomposition; bubbling method: adding a vapor such as nitrogen or other vaporizable substances to the polymer during or after its extrusion to thereby make the polymer film foamed; pure melt-extrusion method: melt-extrusion of films that contain thermoplastic polymer or resin not miscible with host polymer or organic/inorganic filler particles. if the oas is composed of two or more layers/films each layer can be produced with a different technique optimized for its function and material composition. for example lower melt temperature for the emitting nanoparticles containing film. the films can be laminated or optically attached in a subsequent production step. the dimension and geometry of the light scattering structures are selected in accordance with demands of the manufacturing process with respect to the chemical composition of the selected particles. the efficiency of the light out-coupling and the polarization preserving properties can be controlled by changing the manufacturing process. the light out-coupling efficiency of the oas may be controlled by proper selection of the dimensions and the concentration of the voids within the film. the concentration for example can be increased by increasing the amount of immiscible fillers inside the film. typical concentration of fillers provided sufficient improvement in light-out-coupling may preferably be in the range of 0.1 to 50% wt, more preferably 3 to 40% wt. it should be noted, as indicated above, that the actual concentration of the fillers generally depends on the thickness of the optically active film. generally, thinner layers will require higher concentrations to compensate for the shorter optical path length. typically, as also indicated above, the amount of fillers is adjusted to achieve high level of haze, in the range of 65 to 95%, preferably between 80 and 95% and more preferably in the range of 87 to 95%. the shape and size of the voids is controlled in a few manners. the length of the voids is determined in accordance with a stretching ratio (×2 to ×10) of the oas. larger stretching factor will produce longer voids. additionally selection of the ambient temperature for stretching may be used to determined dimension of the voids. the filler particles may be made of inorganic materials such as tio 2 , baso 4 , silica or polymer micron-sized beads made of materials such as poly(methyl)methacrylate (pmma) or polystyrene (ps) or other materials as indicated above. selection of the refractive index and t g of the materials provide tunability for the light scattering properties of the light scattering structures. it should be noted that, as indicated above, additional protective films, such as gas barrier films and mechanical support films, may be used, being connected or laminated to the optically active film. these additional films may also provide additional optical activities such as light redirecting and diffusion of the emitted light to adjust optical out-coupling properties. the processes described above can take place at ambient atmosphere or under inert gas at room atmosphere or above. in some cases only part of the process may be conducted under inert atmosphere while other parts of the process, such as stirring or stretching may be performed in ambient conditions. as indicated above, the oas utilizing nanorods according to the present invention provides significantly higher optical output as compared with films that do not utilize scatterers. the oas provides emission of polarized light with polarization ratio (pr) values ranging between 1.1 and 10, or between 2 and 7, or between 3 and 5, depending on the nanorods intrinsic polarization (determined by geometrical parameters and material composition of the nanorods), the degree of nanorods alignment in the film and the concentration of scatterers. utilizing optional suitable polarization maintaining optical stack in addition to the optically active film described above may provide up to 60% increase in the energy efficiency as compared to films that use qd films, while improvement of 30% may also be a significant energy saving. in addition to the energetic efficiency associated with light emission from the oas, the use of aligned nanorods providing polarized output illumination contributes to optical stacks that are thinner or have less components, e.g. by obviating the need to “recycle” light of non-preferred polarization. as greater ratio of the emitted light is of the preferred polarization orientation, the efficiency of a corresponding display device is increased. additionally, some elements of the optical stack (e.g. reflective polarizer) may be left oat with little to no reduction in brightness. example a layer of the optically active structure, configured for emitting polarized light with efficient light out-coupling was prepared by alignment of nanorods within a polymer matrix which can be made to contain scattering voids. the nanorods were aligned by mechanical stretching of the polymer film. as a first step, the required amount of nanorods and cross-linked pmma micro-beads (diameter 6 μm, refractive index 1.48, t g =125° c.) were mixed with an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol (pva), typically 5-7% wt. the concentration of the beads was 6% wt of the pva. the mixed solution was then cast into a mold and dried at 40° c. in an oven for 18 hours to form a film having thickness of 50 μm. to align the nanorods, the film was stretched uniaxially at 100° c. by a factor of 3. since the stretching temperature was above t g of pva and below t g of the pmma beads, voids were formed around the polymer beads during stretching. the pmma beads and pva matrix have similar refractive index (n filler −n matrix =δn=−0.03) and therefore the scattering at the pmma-pva interface is negligible. however transparent material with higher mismatch or different sign (δn≈±0.1, δn≈±0.18 or even more) can also be used although some refraction would occur at the interface. this refraction would be still weak compared to the one introduced at the void polymer interface that has a typical refractive index mismatch typically δn≈−0.5. additionally, the light emitted by the nanorods is out-coupled at the air-pva interface of the voids. the structure of the film was imaged in an optical microscope as shown in fig. 3 showing the transparent pmma beads 210 with an air filled void 220 . the interface of the void with the matrix is seen as bright horseshoe-shaped regions 230 due to the strong scattering at the interface. the stretching direction 400 that is also the direction of the long axis of the light scattering structures population is also shown in the arrow in fig. 3 . the formation of scattering voids maintains polarization of the polarized emission from the aligned nanorods. this is taking place along with scattering of light from the void/matrix interface. the measured polarization ratio parallel and perpendicular to the alignment axis was 2:1, measured for a film excited by a blue emitting led (peak wavelength of 450 nm). measurements of the light output spectrum are shown in fig. 4 for the two polarization states: the polarization parallel 310 (perpendicular 320 ) so the nanorods and light scattering structure alignment direction. in order to construct a backlight unit, the aligned nanorods film with scatterers was placed on a surface of a lightguide plate (slab) coupled to a blue emitting led bar (central wavelength 450 nm fwhm=20 nm, edge-lit). a highly reflective sheet based on silver layer coating (“bl film”, commercially available from oike) was placed in the back surface of the light-guide in order to recycle the light emitted backwards. in order to increase the on-axis luminance, prism films with 160 μm pitch and prisms with 90° degrees angle were used. specific films with a non-birefringent polymethyl-methacrylate (pmma) substrate were chosen (250 micrometer substrate with retardation below 25 nm). this film was placed parallel to the nanorods alignment axis or in a perpendicular alignment. in fig. 5 we show the emission of a film with scattering voids 410 and without scattering voids 420 placed in this configuration with a polarizer placed parallel to the nanorods alignment axis. both films contain the same concentration of nanorods; however the film with voids exhibits higher red and green emission due to improved light out-coupling. thus, the present invention provides an optically active structure configured for increased lighting efficiency and out-coupling, and a method for production thereof. the oas of the invention generally utilizes scatterers in combination with light emitting particles to provide improved light out-coupling and improved energetic efficiency. those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications and changes can be applied to the embodiments of the invention as hereinbefore described without departing from its scope defined in and by the appended claims.
|
148-653-228-515-218
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
F41B15/04,F41C23/16,F41C27/00,F41G1/34,F41H13/00
| 2002-09-09T00:00:00 |
2002
|
[
"F41"
] |
electrical discharge weapon for use as forend grip of rifles
|
a taser and a vertical grip are combined to be attached to the stud post under the forend or the barrel of a conventional long arm. a taser may also be combined with the forend or barrel of a conventional long arm itself. stud posts come standard on certain long arms like the m-16 rifle. stud posts can be installed on single shot and pump action shotgun forends as well. the taser power supply can serve as a power source for a strobe lamp, which may be sighted by rescuers either visually or with infrared night viewing or other special viewing equipment for miles. the optical signal could be produced in the infrared, visible light and ultraviolet light regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. the signal lamp is inserted into a taser's firing chamber in lieu of an ammunition cartridge.
|
1 . an electrical discharge immobilization weapon for selectively propelling at least one wire-tethered dart toward a remote target; the weapon comprising: a body configured as an existing, functional part of a firearm without diminishing operation of said firearm in a conventional manner. 2 . the weapon recited in claim 1 wherein said firearm is a long arm and wherein said existing functional part is a forend grip of said long arm. 3 . the weapon recited in claim 1 wherein said body comprises a hollow interior for receiving a battery and electronics of said weapon. 4 . the weapon recited in claim 1 wherein said body comprises a chamber for receiving a taser cartridge. 5 . the weapon recited in claim 1 wherein said body comprises a trigger switch for selective activation of said weapon. 6 . the weapon recited in claim 1 wherein said body comprises a lockable latch for selectively attaching said weapon to said firearm. 7 . the weapon recited in claim 1 wherein said body is positioned on said firearm to selectively fire said at least one wire-tethered dart in substantially the same direction as a bullet fired from said firearm. 8 . the weapon recited in claim 4 further comprising an optical emitter and wherein said chamber is configured for receiving said optical emitter instead of a taser cartridge. 9 . the weapon recited in claim 8 wherein said optical emitter comprises a strobe light which emits pulsed light in the visual spectrum. 10 . the weapon recited in claim 8 wherein said optical emitter comprises a strobe light which emits pulsed light in the infrared spectrum. 11 . a forend grip for attachment to a firearm; the grip comprising: a chamber for receiving a cartridge having a pair of wire-tethered electrodes for propulsion toward a target to be immobilized; a hollow interior for receiving a battery and electronics electrically attached to said electrodes for transmitting a target disabling electrical discharge through said electrodes; and an activation switch for firing said electrodes toward the target and transmitting said electrical discharge. 12 . the grip recited in claim 11 further comprising: a light generating cartridge configured for insertion into said chamber instead of said electrode cartridge for generating a pulsed light upon closing of said activation switch. 13 . the grip recited in claim 11 further comprising: a strobe lamp activated by selectively switching power from the said cartridge receiving chamber.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates generally to apparatus for improving the versatility of rifles and more specifically to a forend grip configured to provide an electrical discharge weapon (i.e., taser) which can receive either a cartridge having wire-tethered darts or a strobe light for signaling friends or for blinding enemies. 2. background art tasers are weapons that can connect a disabling shock from a remote power supply to a violent assailant. the taser launches a pair of electrically opposed darts with trailing wires from its power supply to an assailant to connect the assailant to the supply. tasers have a lower lethality than conventional firearms. u.s. pat. no. 3,803,463 was issued to cover for the taser in 1974. since that time, the taser has seen application in the united states as a law enforcement tool and the u.s. military has interest in the taser for policing actions. tasers are regularly used by peace officers to humanely capture suicidal or otherwise violent, even armed suspects, who are themselves victims of intoxicants, drugs and/or emotional disturbance, without serious injury to suspects, officers or bystanders. the main problem with the taser, which has several tactical limitations, is that it is a discrete weapon. to be readily accessible for potential application, it must be separately holstered on the already quite limited space on a peace officer's utility belt or otherwise on the already quite limited space available for additional ordnance and weight on the person of the peace officer or soldier. sufficient unused space to holster a taser may not be available. the taser is necessarily a relatively large side arm. the space is needed to isolate the weapon's arcing high voltage circuitry. a typical taser is described in u.s. pat. no. 5,654,867 to murray. at least partially for the above reasons, the taser has only been deployed on a limited basis by law enforcement, and the taser has not seen use in military policing actions. deployment of conventional weapons could be reduced and countless lives saved and injuries avoided, if the taser were more convenient for peace officers to bear and, thereby, more available for their use. combining the taser with a conventional firearm can overcome the taser's heretofore described storage and transport disadvantages. several patentees, including the inventor herein, have previously attempted to combine the taser with conventional firearms. u.s. pat. no. 5,698,815 issued to ragner. the ragner apparatus has proved impractical and has never been commercially manufactured. u.s. pat. no. 5,831,199 issued to mcnulty. with the current state of the art, the ammunition cartridge descried therein can only be manufactured as a minimum 38 to 40 mm diameter and 8 length cartridge and is, therefore, only suitable for discharge through the barrels of certain breech loading tear gas guns. manufactured as the discharger cup described in the specification, the apparatus has no transport or storage advantages over discrete tasers. summary of the invention in the present invention a taser and a vertical grip are combined to be attached to the stud post under the forend or the barrel of a conventional long arm. a taser may also be combined with the forend or barrel of a conventional long arm itself. stud posts come standard on certain long arms like the m-16 rifle. stud posts can be installed on single shot and pump action shotgun forends as well. installation kits are sold for this purpose. the taser and vertical grip combination eliminates the taser's earlier described storage and transport disadvantages. it also eliminates many of the other of the taser's problems described in u.s. pat. no. 5,831,199 to mcnulty at lines 30 to 53 of column 3 and lines 1 to 39 of column 4. the taser is less likely to be fired at an ineffectively close range because the firearm barrel extending beyond the taser's launcher, serves as a stand off. conventional firearms used for home protection need not be kept loaded, thereby, risking injury and death to innocent children and others, as the combined taser can serve as the first line of home defense. if a taser deployment should fail or if a confrontation should escalate, the peace officer or soldier would have the conventional firearm for immediate backup. moreover, the taser may alternately serve as a signaling device or rescue beacon for both combatants or sportsmen in need of rescue. the taser power supply can serve as a power source for a strobe lamp, which may be sighted by rescuers either visually or with infrared night viewing or other special viewing equipment for miles. the optical signal could be produced in the infrared, visible light and ultraviolet light regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. visible light occupies the region with wavelengths from approximately 400 nanometers to 700 nanometers. when produced outside of the visible light region of the spectrum the signal would be visible to rescuers with special viewing equipment while the signaler remained concealed to less technically sophisticated enemies. the signal lamp is inserted into a taser's firing chamber in lieu of an ammunition cartridge. the taser power supply's high voltage output might alternatively be switched from the taser's firing chamber to the lamp. it would be undesirable to operate both the lamp and shock circuits simultaneously as this would likely give away the combatants position to his enemies. with either configuration, after the lamp or beacon is switched on, the frequency of the power output might be decreased to extend operation time. when detached from the rifle, the forend grip lantern might also serve as a roadside hazard marker or as a landing zone marker for emergency helicopters. brief description of the drawings the aforementioned objects and advantages of the present invention, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be more fully understood hereinafter as a result of a detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the following drawings in which: fig. 1 is a side view of the invention shown installed on an m16 rifle; fig. 2 is a three-dimensional view of a preferred embodiment of the invention; fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the embodiment of fig. 2 ; fig. 4 is a top view of the embodiment of fig. 2 ; fig. 5 is a partial three-dimensional view showing the preferred embodiment with a strobe light installed in the invention instead of a taser cartridge; fig. 6 is a partial side view of the invention shown on a rifle and being used to propel wire-tethered electrode darts toward a target; fig. 7 illustrates a military scenario for use of the preferred embodiment with a strobe light or infrared light attachment; and fig. 8 illustrates a non-military scenario similar to that of fig. 7 . detailed description of a preferred embodiment referring to the accompanying drawings and particularly fig. 1 , it will be seen that a rifle 10 comprises a main body 12 , a butt stock 14 , a magazine receptacle 15 , a pistol grip 16 , a hand guard 18 , a sight 19 , a barrel 20 , a forend grip 22 and a sling 24 . the rifle depicted in fig. 1 will be recognized as an m16a2 semiautomatic rifle which is currently the u.s. military standard. however, the present invention is not limited to deployment in an m16a2 rifle which is shown in fig. 1 solely for purposes of illustrating the preferred configuration of the invention and its preferred method of attachment to a rifle. the invention herein resides in the forend grip 22 which uniquely provides an additional and highly advantageous function of backup weapon and/or strobe light. a prior art standard vertical forend grip, such as that grip sold under the trademark steadyhold by steadyhold products of cedar rapids iowa or the grip sold under the trademark ergogrip by falcon industries of tijeras, n.m., is known in the firearms trade as an after-market accessory for rifles. it provides a comfortable additional holder for the non-trigger hand and adds a stabilizing function for better accuracy. it is typically a substantially monolithic, rubberized structure having means for attachment to the rifle along the barrel or hand guard. the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a vertical forend grip substitute which, for the most part, retains the external configuration of prior art grips. however, in the present invention the grip is configured to enclose a battery and electronics to house a taser immobilization weapon having a chamber for receiving a taser cartridge. the preferred embodiment of this unique, grip-configured taser apparatus is seen best in figs. 2 - 5 . grip 22 will be seen as comprising a chamber 30 in a housing 32 integrally constructed as a part of the grip body 34 . the latter is hollow to provide an interior for receiving a battery and electronics (not shown) for taser weapon operation. such electronics are well known in the taser art and need not be described herein in any detail. suffice it say that such electronics are substantially the same as those described in u.s. pat. nos. 3,803,463 and 4,253,132 to cover, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein. chamber 30 receives a standard two-wire tethered dart cartridge 35 which may be selectively activated by a trigger switch 40 . grip/taser 22 is attached to the rifle using a grip latch 36 and a latch lock 38 , both of which are prior art elements of the existing forend grip and need not be described herein in greater detail. a sling hook 42 permits the sling 24 to be attached to the grip/taser 22 in a conventional manner. because the taser cartridge is typically activated by a high voltage pulsed signal, cartridge 35 may be replaced by a strobe light 45 as shown in fig. 5 which, in the preferred embodiment herein, is configured to operate at the same voltage and pulse rate to provide a visual signal as depicted in figs. 7 and 8 . the light from strobe 45 may be either in the visual spectrum or in the infrared, the latter providing surreptitious optical signaling in a hostile environment. as shown in figs. 7 and 8 , it may be desirable to remove grip/taser 22 from the rifle to facilitate its use as an optical signaling device. operation of the preferred embodiment of the invention is depicted in fig. 6 which illustrates deployment of the grip/taser 22 as an immobilization weapon. more specifically, the trigger switch 40 has been depressed thereby activating propellant in the cartridge 35 to propel darts 44 toward a target, each such dart being tethered by a thin wire 46 to the electronics in the grip/taser body 34 . having thus disclosed an illustrative example of the present invention, it will be understood that the disclosed embodiment is not limiting of the invention, but merely a description of its salient features in the presently contemplated best mode. by way of example, those having skill in the relevant art and having the benefit of applicant's teaching herein, will now perceive various modifications and additions which may be beneficial. other structures, means for attachment to a rifle and activation will almost certainly come to mind, particularly in conjunction with other rifles. thus, the scope hereof is to be limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents.
|
149-834-938-655-53X
|
US
|
[
"DE",
"JP",
"WO",
"US",
"KR"
] |
F16H41/26,F16D33/00,F16H41/24,F16H45/02
| 2006-04-13T00:00:00 |
2006
|
[
"F16"
] |
toroidal forms for torque converters
|
the invention relates to a torque converter, in which the toroidal form has a shear, i.e. imaginary axial sections through the toroidal form, starting from the inner passage diameter of the stator, are axially displaced in a progressive manner by an incremental radius in one direction.
|
1 . a torque converter for a motor vehicle, comprising a housing and a pump located therein, a turbine, a stator, and a bridging clutch, wherein the pump, the turbine and the stator together form a torus and wherein a torus shape is sheared such that imagined axial sections through the torus shape, starting from an inner stator passage diameter, are shifted increasingly axially in one direction as an effective radius increases. 2 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein the shearing is linear such that over a running variable of an effective radius a quotient of the axial shift to the difference in effective radius is constant. 3 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein the torus shape is sheared in a direction toward the turbine. 4 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein the torus shape is sheared in a direction toward the pump. 5 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein an output height at an output opening of the stator is greater than an input height at a stator input level. 6 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of an inner, ring-shaped boundary surface at an output opening of the stator is smaller than a diameter of the inner ring-shaped boundary surface at an input opening of the stator. 7 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of an outer, ring-shaped boundary surface at an output opening of the stator is larger than a diameter of the outer ring-shaped boundary surface at an input opening of the stator. 8 . the torque converter of claim 7 , wherein the stator further comprises a plurality of vanes and wherein the outer ring-shaped boundary surface is designed as a separate ring slidable onto an outer diameter of the plurality of vanes. 9 . the torque converter of claim 8 , wherein the separate ring is fixed on the plurality of vanes by one of a step, a groove, and staking. 10 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein the pump comprises a plurality of output openings, the turbine comprises a plurality of input openings, and the plurality of output openings of the pump form a cone-shaped figure such that an outer rim of the pump extends further toward the turbine than an inner diameter of the pump, and so that the plurality of input openings of the turbine are essentially parallel to the plurality of output openings of the pump, where a diameter for a portion of the housing radially aligned with a transition area from the pump to the turbine is uniform. 11 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein an inner stator passage diameter is 0.5 to 0.7 times an outer diameter of the pump. 12 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of an inner turbine output diameter and an inner pump input diameter is smaller than an inner stator passage diameter. 13 . the torque converter of claim 1 , wherein an inner turbine output diameter and an inner pump input diameter are smaller than the inner stator passage diameter. 14 . the torque converter of claim 1 , further comprising at least one torsional vibration damper.
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cross reference to related applications this application claims the benefit under 35 u.s.c. §119(e) of u.s. provisional application no. 60/791,865, filed apr. 13, 2006, which application is incorporated herein by reference. field of the invention the invention relates to a torque converter, in particular, a torque converter with a torus shape that is sheared. background of the invention torque converters have been known since 1905 (de 22 14 22 and de 23 88 04). the inventor, föttinger, installed a pump and a turbine between two halves of a shell which were joined together in a fluid-tight connection after assembly. in a further refinement of the invention, a stator is also positioned. in the pump, the turbine and the stator there are vanes that extend essentially radially. filling the housing with a fluid, preferably oil, brings about a transfer of force and torque from the pump to the turbine. the introduction of force into the torque converter in a motor vehicle occurs by having the housing of the converter attached to the crankshaft of a combustion engine in a rotationally fixed connection. the output takes place through the turbine, with the transmission input shaft of the subsequent transmission being connected, directly or indirectly, to the hub of the turbine in a rotationally fixed connection. through the rotation of the housing, and hence of the pump, the oil is thrown outward by the effect of centrifugal force. the oil flows in an arc within the pump. in the radially outer area of the pump the oil stream is diverted in the axial direction and then flows into the turbine. the power that the oil must deliver slows the oil flow, so that the flow cross section in the turbine must expand increasingly in the direction of flow. since the oil must be directed again to the inflow area of the pump, the outer wall of the turbine is curved toward the inflow area of the pump. before the stream of oil coming from the turbine can again reach the inflow openings of the pump, the oil also flows through the stator. the stream of oil undergoes another change of direction in the stator, so that the flow against the pump vanes is optimized maximally. the oil circulation can then begin again. as long as the circulation is maintained, and as long as the turbine rotates at a lower speed than the pump, torque can be transmitted. however, the closer the turbine speed approaches the pump speed, the poorer the efficiency becomes. the pump, the turbine and the stator together form the torus of a torque converter. the corresponding flow is then a toroidal flow. the concept is derived from mathematics, since the rotating ring of oil at the same time rotates around the rotational axis of the torque converter with its axis offset. since the invention of the torque converter, additional important components have been invented and added to the torque converter. the bridging clutch, for example, represents an important improvement, since it can be actuated when efficiency is low. as a result, the power flows, directly or indirectly, into the transmission shaft. another known improvement provides for a torsion vibration damper, called a damper for short, to be installed in the power path, so that inconsistencies in the rotation of the crankshaft do not reach the transmission input shaft. also, many shapes for the torus have been invented in the last hundred years, in order to improve the efficiency of the torque converter. but in recent years a standard shape has evolved for the motor vehicle, which has now been adapted essentially only to the power requirement and to the possibilities for installation in the transmission. brief summary of the invention the object of the invention was therefore to search for possibilities which improve the efficiency of the torus. in a first embodiment of the invention the torus shape varies from the state of the art in such a manner that it undergoes shearing. this shearing is to be understood in the context of the theory of strength of materials, however, when shaping the torus it is not shear stresses that are of significance, but the deformation itself. for further clarification we here refer to the description of the figures given below. in another embodiment of the invention, lengthening the outlet, or output, openings of the turbine in the direction of the rotational axis of the torque converter while retaining the dimensions of the flow-through openings of the stator results in an improvement in the efficiency. this result is unexpected. that is, according to the knowledge available in the art at the time, there was no expectation that the improvement would occur. this improvement occurs even if the inflow openings of the pump are lengthened in the direction of the rotational axis of the torque converter. the two measures can also be combined. a simulation by means of a special program, computational fluid dynamics (cfd), found an efficiency improvement of 2 to 3 percent for the two combined measures. according to the state of the art, in the radially outer area of the torus an outflow of the oil from the pump occurs that is substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the torque converter. this is important so that an axial flow against the turbine can again occur. because the shell in which the vanes of the turbine are located must be at a distance from the housing of the torque converter so that no contact with the housing occurs, and because the outer flow surface in the pump is formed by the housing itself, a ring-shaped step must be stamped into the housing at the transition from the pump to the turbine, so that the outer diameter of the pump is at the level of the outer diameter of the turbine. however as a result, the outside diameter of the pump is always somewhat smaller than the adjacent diameter of the converter. since the fifth power of the diameter of the pump enters into the formula for the efficiency and the output of a torque converter, it is desirable to maximize the diameter of the pump. according to another embodiment of the invention, a form of the housing, and hence of the torus, is proposed without a step. the shape of the housing is described in further detail below in connection with the description of the figures. in another embodiment of the invention, the stator is designed as a diffuser. this means that the cross section between the vanes of the stator expands from the inflow opening in the direction of the outflow opening. this causes the oil to be retarded in the stator. since the expansion cannot be extensive, because otherwise adjacent intermediate spaces (which are formed by the neighboring vanes) would have to, be smaller, the expansion occurs in the radial direction. cfd simulations have shown that the reduction of the static pressure in the pump results in more power from the torque converter. to achieve a reduction of the static pressure in the pump, the flow of oil in the pump must be accelerated from the inlet opening to the outlet opening, for example, making the input opening of the pump larger than the output opening of the pump. in the state of the art these two openings are the same. to prepare the flow of oil for the flow cross-section of the pump before it enters the pump, the stator is designed as a diffuser. in a final embodiment of the invention, the torus is shaped so that the toroidal flow is almost circular. this is achieved by making the inside diameter of the stator, i.e., the diameter of the stator hub, 0.5 to 0.7 times the outside diameter of the pump. brief description of the drawings the nature and mode of operation of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description of the invention taken with the accompanying drawing figures, in which: fig. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a torus according to the state of the art; fig. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a present invention torus with outflow and inflow openings of the turbine or pump lengthened in the direction of the axis of rotation in comparison to fig. 1 ; fig. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of a torus according to the state of the art; fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of a present invention torus with enlarged pump diameter in comparison to fig. 3 ; fig. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of a torus according to the state of the art; fig. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of a present invention torus that is sheared on the turbine side in comparison to fig. 5 ; fig. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of a present invention torus that is sheared on the pump side in comparison to fig. 5 ; fig. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of a torus according to the state of the art; fig. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of a present invention torus with a diffuser stator in comparison to fig. 8 ; fig. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of a torus according to the state of the art; and, fig. 11 is a partial cross-sectional view of a present invention torus with a nearly circular cross section. detailed description of the invention it should be explained in advance that reference labels which are not mentioned in the descriptive portion are to be taken from the list of reference labels. equivalent reference labels represent an equivalent element. at the outset, it should be appreciated that like drawing numbers on different drawing views identify identical, or functionally similar, structural elements of the invention. while the present invention is described with respect to what is presently considered to be the preferred aspects, it is to be understood that the invention as claimed is not limited to the disclosed aspects. furthermore, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the particular methodology, materials and modifications described and as such may, of course, vary. it is also understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, which is limited only by the appended claims. unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. although any methods, devices or materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the preferred methods, devices, and materials are now described. fig. 2 is best seen in connection with fig. 1 , because the differences with the prior art are well illustrated by comparing figs. 1 and 2 . the cross section through the torus shown in the figures consists essentially of a pump 1 , a turbine 2 and a stator 3 . the outer contour of the pump 1 is formed by the housing 4 . the torus rotates around an axis of rotation 5 , which is identical to the axis of rotation of the crankshaft of a combustion engine. through the cross-sectional depiction it is also possible to simultaneously see the outlines of the vanes positioned in pump 1 , turbine 2 and stator 3 . the vanes are curved in space, but that cannot be recognized here due to the two-dimensional depiction. the vanes of turbine 2 are arranged in a shell of the turbine, which simultaneously represents the outer contour of the turbine vanes. the curved inner contours of pump 1 and of turbine 2 are also covered according to the state of the art by a shell, known as the inner ring. this configuration guides the toroidal oil flow between the outer shells, the inner shells and the vanes. in fig. 1 , the inner diameters 12 , 13 , 14 of turbine 2 , stator 3 and pump 1 , respectively, are all at the same level. in fig. 2 , an embodiment according to the invention, the radially inner ends of turbine outlet, or output, opening 8 and of pump inflow opening 11 have been placed further inside from diameter 12 . however, stator 3 remains unchanged in its dimensions of the inlet and outlet openings 9 , 10 . although the inner diameters 12 ′, 13 ′ of turbine 2 and pump 1 are smaller than that of stator 3 , the result, according to a cfd simulation, is nevertheless an improvement in efficiency. in another embodiment of a torus according to fig. 4 , the outer diameter 21 of pump 1 as shown in fig. 3 , has been enlarged to a greater diameter 21 ′. fig. 3 shows the state of the art for comparison. in fig. 3 , a step is located in the housing 4 of the converter in a transition zone 20 , and the outer diameter of turbine 2 corresponds to that of pump 1 . the enlarged pump outer diameter 21 ′ became possible because opening 20 (for the outflow of the oil from pump 1 into turbine 2 ) is located at approximately an 11 o'clock position in comparison to the 12 o'clock position shown for opening 20 in fig. 3 . however, since the fifth power of the pump diameter enters as a positive figure into the formula for the efficiency and the output, the larger pump diameter 21 ′ represents a clear improvement in output and efficiency. in patent specification de 22 14 22 fig. 6, in patent specification u.s. pat. no. 1,199,360 fig. 8, and on page 265 of the monograph “vehicle transmissions” from the year 1994 by the authors lechner and naunheimer, respective toruses are shown with respective separation lines between pump output opening 6 and turbine input opening 7 at about the 11 o'clock position. however, an overall oval housing is indicated in these references, so that oil exiting from pump 1 necessarily must flow into the turbine. the above references also fail to specify the nature of the housing. for example, these references do not teach an enlarged pump outer diameter 21 ′. figs. 6 and 7 show another embodiment of the invention, with fig. 5 showing the state of the art. the housings are portrayed more realistically here than in the earlier figures, but the indicated axial connecting technology in the radially outer area is atypical for series products. the illustrated connecting technology is used in the experimental realm, to enable installed parts of the converter to be exchanged faster and more easily. in the case of series products, the left and right housing shells are welded together at the circumference. to clarify the presentation, the converter bridging clutch and torsion vibration damper components are intentionally not shown in these figures. according to one aspect of the invention, the torus is sheared in each case in figs. 6 and 7 . in fig. 6 there is shearing in the direction of turbine 2 . in fig. 7 the torus is sheared in the direction of the pump. to prevent misunderstandings, it should be emphasized that the examples in figs. 6 and 7 do not show a tilted torus. if the torus were tilted instead of sheared, then for example the lowest point of fig. 5 (state of the art) between turbine output opening 8 and stator input opening 9 in fig. 6 would be lower than the intersection of the vertical dashed-dotted line and the center line c. in fig. 7 the vertical line is positioned in the center of the inner stator outlet diameter 14 . this is illustrated by the intervals a, b, which are both the same size. if one imagines an infinite number of assumed axial sections through the torus, and if they are shifted with an increased effective radius 15 , increasing axially in the direction of the pump, a sheared torus results. at the level of the pump outer diameter 21 , the value s represents the total magnitude of the shearing. the shearing has the advantage that in fig. 6 there is more space in the radially inner area for installed parts—for example for a torsion vibration damper—and at the same time the total length of the converter becomes shorter compared to the existing art. the maximum available axial construction space is increasingly a problem for the designers. with the shearing according to fig. 7 , space has been created in the radially outer area. this construction space can be used specifically for a damper, since a damper effects a larger spring deflection with increasing effective diameter. from the state of the art (de 10081340 t1 fig. 14 and u.s. pat. no. 4,129,000 fig. 1), torus forms are known that look similar to the present invention, but either no parallelism of the pump output opening 6 to the turbine input opening 7 is revealed there, or the parallelism does in fact exist but this transition point is of radial form and not sheared. if pump output opening 6 and turbine input opening 7 are not parallel, efficiency is lost. the decisive advantage of this inventive embodiment is that the torus form can be produced through axial shaping processes. this is especially advantageous in the case of the stator 3 , which according to the state of the art is produced by aluminum die casting, because costly slide tools are made superfluous by the axial shaping employed there. fig. 9 shows an additional invention, with fig. 8 showing the state of the art. in this embodiment of the invention stator 3 is provided with a diffuser effect; i.e., the oil is retarded as it flows through. this is achieved by having the stator output openings 10 designed longer than the stator input openings 9 . since an expansion of the cross section between the vanes is not permitted in the circumferential direction, and since then the cross sections between the adjacent vanes would be reduced, the cross section is expanded in the radial direction. for that reason the input height 17 is smaller than the output height 16 . this design has the advantage that when the stator 3 is produced by means of die casting it is possible to use axial deformation. the expansion can be accomplished either by, having only the outer ring-shaped boundary surface 19 open radially outwardly, or by having only the inner radial boundary surface 18 open radially inwardly, or by having both ring-shaped surfaces expand toward the pump. as already explained earlier, the design of stator 3 as a diffuser also has hydrokinetic benefits. in another embodiment of the diffuser, the outer ring—which is provided on the inside with the outer ring-shaped boundary surface 19 —can be designed as a separate ring. this ring can then be pressed onto the outer diameter of the stator vanes by pressing. in additional embodiments this ring can also be secured on the stator vanes by means of a step, a groove, or by staking. from the state of the art, for example, in patent specification u.s. pat. no. 2,737,827, a converter is known that also has a diffuser-type stator. however, the converter depicted there is a converter that has more than three torus sections. in the claimed invention on the other hand, there are a maximum of only the three torus sections, namely pump, turbine and stator. in addition, in the state of the art the stator cannot be produced by means of an axial deformation, because this results in an undercut due to the curvature in the radially outer area of the inflow end. it would not be possible then to pull a core out to the right. fig. 11 shows an embodiment of the invention, with fig. 10 showing the state of the art for direct comparison. the shaded narrow areas in pump 1 , turbine 2 and stator 3 come about because the vanes are also drawn in here, and they are also cut in part by the sectional plane. the horizontal lines are intended for better comparison of the construction sizes. it is conspicuous that stator 3 in fig. 11 has been pushed into the torus to a certain extent. the formerly oval torus of fig. 10 has become an almost circular torus in fig. 11 . the inside stator diameter 14 is shifted radially to the stator diameter 14 ′. in the same way, the outer stator diameter 22 is shifted radially outward to the outer stator diameter 22 ′. the inner stator passage diameter 14 ′ is preferably 0.5 to 0.7 times the outer diameter 21 of the pump. converter output data are typically depicted in a diagram of “mp 2000(nm)” over “speed ratio.” here “mp 2000” is the input torque of the pump in newton meters at 2000 revolutions per minute. the “speed ratio” is the ratio of the rotational speed of the turbine to the rotational speed of the pump. since the rotational speed of the turbine without a converter bridging clutch is always lower than the rotational speed of the pump, with a disengaged converter bridging clutch this value is also always less than 1. in such a diagram (not shown) for the present invention of fig. 11 , the pump torques for small speed ratios (<0.5) are lower than the values for the existing art. this is especially beneficial when a combustion engine is first to be disengaged in its lower speed range, i.e., is not yet to be loaded to the full extent by driving power. this is especially important for diesel engines. the present invention performs differently however at an upper speed ratio (>0.5). here the pump torques are greater than those of the state of the art. this is also advantageous if the efficiency worsens as the speed ratio approaches 1 (or 0.8, the possible clutch point), but the turbine power can nevertheless be increased in this speed range by the invention. the turbine power is the power that is ultimately forwarded to the transmission. thus, it is seen that the objects of the present invention are efficiently obtained, although modifications and changes to the invention should be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, which modifications are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. it also is understood that the foregoing description is illustrative of the present invention and should not be considered as limiting. therefore, other embodiments of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. reference numbers 1 pump2 turbine3 stator4 housing5 axis of rotation6 pump output opening7 turbine input opening8 turbine output opening9 stator input opening10 stator output opening11 pump input opening12 inside turbine output diameter12 ′ reduced inside turbine output diameter13 inside pump input diameter13 ′ reduced inside pump input diameter14 inside stator passage diameter15 effective radius16 output height on the output side of the stator17 input height on the input side of the stator18 inner ring-shaped boundary surface19 outer ring-shaped boundary surface20 transition area21 pump outside diameter21 ′ enlarged pump outside diameter22 outside stator passage diameter22 ′ outside stator passage diameterw axial width of the toruss shearingc center linea separationb separation
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150-136-928-635-487
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US
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[
"US"
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A61K8/64,A61K8/04,A61K8/06,A61K8/29,A61K8/34,A61K8/37,A61K8/41,A61K8/49,A61K8/60,A61K8/63,A61K8/67,A61K8/891,A61K8/97,A61Q5/00,A61Q5/12,A61Q19/00,A61K38/00,A61K38/05,A61Q5/02,A61Q17/04,A61Q19/02
| 2005-04-27T00:00:00 |
2005
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[
"A61"
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personal care compositions
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personal care compositions comprising a dipeptide and methods of using such compositions to treat the condition of keratinous tissue. the c terminal amino acid of said dipeptide is threonine. the personal care composition can be applied topically, ingested orally, injected, or used as part of a combined treatment regimen.
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1 . a topical personal care composition for treating skin, comprising: a. an effective amount of a dipeptide selected from the group consisting of his-thr, arg-thr, lys-thr, alk-his-thr, alk-arg-thr, alk-lys-thr, his-thr-oalk, arg-thr-oalk, lys-thr-oalk, his-thr-nr 1 r 2 , arg-thr-nr 1 r 2 , lys-thr-nr 1 r 2 , alk-his-thr-oalk, alk-lys-thr-nr 1 r 2 , alk-lys-thr-oalk, wherein alk is an n-acyl group of 2 to 22 carbon atoms in length, oalk is an ester group of 1 to 24 carbons in length, and r 1 and r 2 are, independently, hydrogen or an alkyl group of 1 to 12 carbons in length; and b. a dermatologically acceptable carrier. 2 . the composition of claim 1 , further comprising an additional active ingredient selected from the group consisting of niacinamide, n-acetylglucosamine, sodium dehydroacetate, phytosterols, soy derivatives, hexamidines, retinoids, water soluble vitamins, water insoluble vitamins, sunscreen actives, butylated hydroxytoluene, butylated hydroxyanisole, pentapeptides, and combinations thereof. 3 . the composition of claim 2 , wherein the additional active comprises retinyl propionate. 4 . the composition of claim 1 , further comprising an optional ingredient selected from n-acyl phenylalanine, palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser, or a combination of these. 5 . the composition of claim 1 , further comprising from 0.01% to about 20% of a particulate material. 6 . the composition of claim 5 , wherein the particulate material comprises a spherical powder with an average primary particle size of about 0.1 to about 75 microns. 7 . the composition of claim 6 , wherein the particulate material comprises a modified starch, silicone polymer, or combination of these. 8 . the composition of claim 5 , wherein the particulate material comprises titanium dioxide. 9 . the composition of claim 1 , further comprising a non-volatile silicone fluid. 10 . the composition of claim 9 , wherein the non-volatile silicone fluid comprises dimethicone. 11 . a topical personal care composition for treating hair, comprising: a. an effective amount of a dipeptide selected from the group consisting of his-thr, arg-thr, lys-thr, alk-his-thr, alk-arg-thr, alk-lys-thr, his-thr-oalk, arg-thr-oalk, lys-thr-oalk, his-thr-nr 1 r 2 , arg-thr-nr 1 r 2 , lys-thr-nr 1 r 2 , alk-his-thr-oalk, alk-lys-thr-nr 1 r 2 , alk-lys-thr-oalk, wherein alk is an n-acyl group of 2 to 22 carbon atoms in length, oalk is an ester group of 1 to 24 carbons in length, and r 1 and r 2 are, independently, hydrogen or an alkyl group of 1 to 12 carbons in length; and b. a dermatologically acceptable carrier. 12 . the composition of claim 11 , further comprising from about 0.01% to about 10% of a silicone conditioning agent. 13 . the composition of claim 11 , further comprising from about 0.1% to about 4% of an anti-dandruff active. 14 . the composition of claim 11 , further comprising a detersive surfactant.
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technical field the present invention relates to personal care compositions comprising a dipeptide and optionally one or more other ingredients. such compositions are useful for regulating the condition of mammalian keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, and/or nails). background many personal care products currently available to consumers are directed primarily to improving the health and/or physical appearance of the skin, hair, or nails. among these skin, hair, or nail care products, many are directed to delaying, minimizing or even eliminating skin, hair, or nail changes typically associated with the aging or the environmental damage to human skin, hair, or nails. numerous compounds have been described in the art as being useful for regulating skin, hair, or nail condition. skin, hair, and nails are subject to insults by many extrinsic and intrinsic factors. extrinsic factors include ultraviolet radiation (e.g., from sun exposure), environmental pollution, wind, heat, low humidity, harsh surfactants, abrasives, and the like. intrinsic factors include chronological aging and other biochemical changes from within the skin, hair, or nails. whether extrinsic or intrinsic, these factors result in visible signs of skin, hair, and nail aging and environmental damage (e.g., such as sunlight damage, smoke damage, and damage from pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, ozone, and metals such as lead). to many people, the loss of the attractiveness of skin, hair, or nails is a reminder of the disappearance of youth. as a result, the maintenance of a youthful appearance has become a booming business in youth-conscious societies. numerous products and treatments are available in various forms to help maintain the appearance of younger hair, skin, and nails. extrinsic or intrinsic factors may result in the thinning and general degradation of the skin, hair, or nails. for example, as the skin, hair, and nails naturally age, there is a reduction in the cells and blood vessels that supply the skin, hair, or nails. there is also a flattening of the dermal-epidermal junction which results in weaker mechanical resistance of this junction. see, for example, oikarinen, “the aging of skin: chronoaging versus photoaging,” photodermatol. photoimmunol. photomed., vol. 7, pp. 3-4, 1990. a large number of skin, hair, and nail care actives are known in the art and used to improve the health and/or cosmetic appearance of the skin, hair, or nails. for instance, various peptides are included in skin, hair, and nail care compositions to provide skin, hair, or nail care benefits. however, not all peptides can provide the benefits desired. for instance, c terminal serine residues can yield dipeptides which may not be dermopharmaceutically and/or cosmetically active or which may not be useful in preferred applications. for instance, dipeptides including, for example, lysine and serine (lys-ser) can have inadequate properties for many dermopharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. thus, it would be desirable to provide personal care compositions comprising a dipeptide that can provide superior properties when compared to the corresponding lys-ser dipeptide. summary the present invention provides personal care compositions comprising a dipeptide that can provide superior properties when compared to the corresponding lys-ser dipeptide. the dipeptide of the present invention is a dipeptide wherein the c terminal amino acid is threonine (“thr”). more preferably, the n terminal amino acid of such dipeptide is a basic amino acid, and still more preferably one which is positively charged at a ph of 6.0. these include the naturally occurring amino acids lysine (lys), arginine (arg) and histidine (his). most preferred is the use of lysine. thus, a particularly preferred dipeptide in accordance with the present invention has the sequence lys-thr and n-acyl derivatives and esters, and nitrogen containing c terminal derivatives thereof. the personal care compositions comprise one or more of such dipeptides and/or derivatives of such dipeptides, preferably in a safe and effective amount. the present invention also relates to methods of using such compositions to regulate the condition of mammalian keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nails). said methods generally comprise the step of topically applying a composition of the present invention to the keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nails) of a mammal in need of such treatment. in another aspect, the method comprises the step of orally ingesting the dipeptide, preferably a safe and effective amount of the dipeptide, to regulate the condition of mammalian keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nails). in one embodiment, the method comprises a dual treatment regimen comprising both oral ingestion of a composition and topical application of a composition, wherein at least one of the compositions comprises a dipeptide according to the present invention. in another aspect, the method comprises the step of injecting the dipeptide, preferably injecting the dipeptide into and/or under the skin. in a particular embodiment, the method comprises a treatment regimen comprising a combination of injection and/or oral administration and/or topical application. these and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become evident to those skilled in the art from a reading of the present disclosure. detailed description while the specification concludes with the claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the invention, it is believed that the present invention will be better understood from the following description. as used herein, the singular term “dipeptide” is broad enough to include one or more dipeptides, dipeptide derivatives, or combinations thereof. thus, the terms “dipeptide”, “dipeptides”, and “derivatives of dipeptides” are used interchangeably throughout. “dipeptide” refers to both naturally occurring dipeptides and synthesized dipeptides, including naturally occurring and commercially available compositions that contain at least one dipeptide. as used herein, the singular term “peptide” is broad enough to include one or more peptides, peptide derivatives, or combinations thereof. thus, the terms “peptide”, “peptides”, and “derivatives of peptides” are used interchangeably throughout. “peptide” refers to both naturally occurring peptides and synthesized peptides, including naturally occurring and commercially available compositions that contain at least one peptide. all percentages and ratios used herein are by weight of the total composition and all measurements made are at 25° c., unless otherwise designated. the term “keratinous tissue,” as used herein, refers to keratin-containing layers disposed as the outermost protective covering of mammals (e.g., humans, dogs, cats, etc.) which includes, but is not limited to, skin, mucosa, lips, hair, toenails, fingernails, cuticles, hooves, etc. the terms “topical application”, “topically”, and “topical”, as used herein, mean to apply (e.g., spread, spray) the compositions of the present invention onto the surface of the keratinous tissue. the terms “oral”, “orally”, and “oral administration”, as used herein, refer to orally ingesting a composition of the present invention. the term “dermatologically acceptable,” as used herein, means that the compositions or components thereof so described are suitable for use in contact with mammalian keratinous tissue without undue toxicity, incompatibility, instability, allergic response, and the like. the term “orally acceptable”, as used herein, means that the compositions or components thereof so described are suitable for oral ingestion by a mammal without undue toxicity, incompatibility, instability, allergic response, and the like. as used herein, “effective amount” means an amount of a compound or composition sufficient to significantly induce a positive keratinous tissue benefit, including independently or in combination with other benefits disclosed herein. this means that the content and/or concentration of dipeptide in the formulation is sufficient that when the formulation is applied with normal frequency and in a normal amount, the formulation can result in the treatment of one or more undesired keratinous tissue conditions (e.g., skin wrinkles). for instance, the amount can be an amount sufficient to inhibit or enhance some biochemical function occurring within the keratinous tissue. this amount of dipeptide may vary depending upon the type of product, the type of keratinous tissue condition to be addressed, and the like. the term “safe and effective amount” as used herein means an amount of a compound or composition sufficient to significantly induce a positive benefit, preferably a positive keratinous tissue appearance or feel benefit, including independently or in combinations with the benefits disclosed herein, but low enough to avoid serious side effects, i.e., to provide a reasonable benefit to risk ratio, within the scope of sound judgment of the skilled artisan. the personal care compositions of the present invention can be useful for treating keratinous tissue (e.g., hair, skin, or nails) condition. as use herein, “treating” or “treatment” or “treat” includes regulating and/or immediately improving keratinous tissue cosmetic appearance and/or feel. as used herein, “regulating” or “regulation” means maintaining or improving the health and/or cosmetic appearance, and includes both prophylactically regulating and/or therapeutically regulating. regulation of keratinous tissue condition, namely mammalian and in particular human skin, hair, or nail condition, is often required due to conditions which may be induced or caused by factors internal and/or external to the body. examples include environmental damage, radiation exposure (including ultraviolet radiation), chronological aging, menopausal status (e.g., post-menopausal changes in skin, hair, or nails), stress, diseases, disorders, etc. for instance, “regulating skin, hair, or nail condition” includes prophylactically regulating and/or therapeutically regulating skin, hair, or nail condition, and may involve one or more of the following benefits: thickening of skin, hair, or nails (e.g, building the epidermis and/or dermis and/or sub-dermal [e.g., subcutaneous fat or muscle] layers of the skin, and where applicable the keratinous layers of the nail and hair shaft) to reduce skin, hair, or nail atrophy, increasing the convolution of the dermal-epidermal border (also known as the rete ridges), preventing loss of skin or hair elasticity (loss, damage and/or inactivation of functional skin elastin) such as elastosis, sagging, loss of skin or hair recoil from deformation; melanin or non-melanin change in coloration to the skin, hair, or nails such as under eye circles, blotching (e.g., uneven red coloration due to, e.g., rosacea) (hereinafter referred to as “red blotchiness”), sallowness (pale color), discoloration caused by telangiectasia or spider vessels, and graying hair. as used herein, prophylactically regulating keratinous tissue condition includes delaying, minimizing and/or preventing visible and/or tactile discontinuities in keratinous tissue (e.g., texture irregularities in the skin, hair, or nails which may be detected visually or by feel), including signs of skin, hair, or nail aging. this is also encompassed within the term “treating.” as used herein, therapeutically regulating keratinous tissue condition includes ameliorating, e.g., diminishing, minimizing and/or effacing, discontinuities in keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nails). this is also encompassed within the term “treating.” as used herein, “personal care composition” means a composition in a form intended for topical application to keratinous tissue, and/or oral ingestion, and/or injection, for the purpose of treating keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, nails), and not intended for subsequent manufacture or modification. the compositions of the present invention can also be useful for immediately improving keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nail) cosmetic appearance and/or feel. for example, topical compositions of the present invention can be useful for regulating the cosmetic appearance of skin, hair, or nail condition by providing an immediate visual improvement in skin, hair, or nail appearance following application of the composition to the skin, hair, or nails. generally speaking, topical compositions of the present invention which further contain particulate materials (e.g., pigments) can be most useful for providing immediate visual improvement. the term “sagging” as used herein means the laxity, slackness, or the like condition of skin that occurs as a result of loss of, damage to, alterations to, and/or abnormalities in dermal elastin, muscle and/or subcutaneous fat. the terms “smoothing” and “softening” as used herein mean altering the surface of the keratinous tissue such that its tactile feel is improved. “signs of keratinous tissue aging” include, but are not limited to, all outward visibly and tactilely perceptible manifestations as well as any other macro or micro effects due to keratinous tissue aging. such signs may be induced or caused by intrinsic factors or extrinsic factors, e.g., chronological aging and/or environmental damage. these signs may result from processes which include, but are not limited to, the development of textural discontinuities such as wrinkles and coarse deep wrinkles, fine lines, skin lines, crevices, bumps, large pores (e.g., associated with adnexal structures such as sweat gland ducts, sebaceous glands, or hair follicles), or unevenness or roughness, loss of skin elasticity (loss and/or inactivation of functional skin elastin), sagging (including puffiness in the eye area and jowls), loss of skin firmness, loss of skin tightness, loss of skin recoil from deformation, discoloration (including undereye circles), blotching, sallowness, hyperpigmented skin regions such as age spots and freckles, keratoses, abnormal differentiation, hyperkeratinization, elastosis, collagen breakdown, and other histological changes in the stratum corneum, dermis, epidermis, the skin vascular system (e.g., telangiectasia or spider vessels), and underlying tissues (e.g., fat and/or muscle), especially those proximate to the skin. the compositions of the present invention are described in detail hereinafter. i. personal care compositions in one aspect, the personal care compositions of the present invention comprise: (1) a dipeptide; (2) a dermatologically or orally acceptable carrier or an injectible liquid; and (3) optionally, optional components. the personal care compositions of the present invention can be in any suitable form. all forms of topical and oral personal care compositions comprising these dipeptides are contemplated and can include, for instance, creams, gels, lotions, emulsions, serums, colloids, solutions, suspensions, ointments, milks, sprays, capsules, tablets, liquids, sticks, solids, pastes, powders, compacts, pencils, spray-on formulations, brush-on formulations, cloths, wipes, and the like. non-limiting examples of topical personal care compositions can include, without limitation, lipstick, mascara, rouge, foundation, blush, eyeliner, lipliner, lip gloss, facial or body powder, sunscreens and blocks, nail polish, mousse, sprays, styling gels, nail conditioner, bath and shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, cream rinses, hair dyes and coloring products, leave-on conditioners, sunscreens and sunblocks, lip balms, skin conditioners, cold creams, moisturizers, hair sprays, soaps, body scrubs, exfoliants, astringents, depilatories and permanent waving solutions, antidandruff formulations, antisweat and antiperspirant compositions, shaving, preshaving and after shaving products, moisturizers, deodorants, cold creams, cleansers, skin gels, and rinses. furthermore, the composition can be applied topically through the use of a patch or other delivery device. delivery devices can include, but are not limited to, those that can be heated or cooled, as well as those that utilize iontophoresis or ultrasound. non-limiting examples of oral personal care compositions can include, without limitation, tablets, pills, capsules, drinks, beverages, powders, vitamins, supplements, health bars, candies, chews, and drops. in another aspect, the present invention provides a personal care regimen comprising the use of at least one topical composition in combination with at least one oral composition. at least one of the compositions in this regimen comprises a dipeptide according to the present invention. preferably, the regimen includes at least one topical composition comprising such dipeptide and at least one oral composition comprising such dipeptide. in another aspect, the method comprises the step of injecting the dipeptide, preferably injecting the dipeptide into and/or under the skin. in a particular embodiment, the method comprises a treatment regimen comprising a combination of injection and/or oral administration and/or topical application of the dipeptide of the present invention. ii. dipeptide the compositions of the present invention comprise a dipeptide active. as used herein, the term “dipeptide” is broad enough to include one or more dipeptides, one or more derivatives of dipeptides, and combinations thereof. preferably, the compositions comprise an effective amount, preferably a safe and effective amount, of such dipeptide. a suitable peptide active for use herein is the dipeptide lys-thr and derivatives thereof. a preferred dipeptide derivative-containing composition is palmitoyl-lys-thr from sederma, france. the use of threonine (thr) as the c terminal residue in a dipeptide is particularly desirable, and can provide superior attributes in comparison to similar dipeptides terminating with a serine. for instance, the dipeptide lys-thr and n-acyl derivatives and esters, and nitrogen containing c terminal derivatives thereof can provide superior properties when compared to the corresponding lys-ser dipeptide. thus, the dipeptide of the present invention is a dipeptide where the c terminal amino acid is threonine (“thr”). more preferably, the n terminal amino acid of such dipeptides is a basic amino acid, one which is positively charged at a ph of 6.0. these include the naturally occurring amino acids lysine (lys), arginine (arg) and histidine (his). most preferred is the use of lysine. thus, a particularly preferred dipeptide in accordance with the present invention has the sequence lys-thr and n-acyl derivatives and esters, and nitrogen containing c terminal derivatives thereof. dipeptides and derivatives in accordance with the present invention include, without limitation, his-thr, arg-thr, lys-thr, alk-his-thr, alk-arg-thr, alk-lys-thr, his-thr-oalk, arg-thr-oalk, lys-thr-oalk, his-thr-nr 1 r 2 , arg-thr-nr 1 r 2 , lys-thr-nr 1 r 2 , alk-his-thr-oalk, alk-lys-thr-nr 1 r 2 , alk-lys-thr-oalk. when used on the left side of the sequence, “alk” refers to an n-acyl derivative as defined herein. when used on the right side of the sequence, “oalk” refers to an ester group attached to the c terminal carbonyl of thr (e.g., cooalk). “nr 1 r 2 ” is as defined herein. in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, dipeptides of the present invention have the following structure: wherein a=nh 3 + (ch 2 ) 4 —, nh 2 + ═c(nh 2 )nh—(ch 2 ) 3 — or b═—nh 2 , —nh 3 +, —nh-d, d=an acyl group of 2-22 carbon atoms in length, or biotinyl and e=—o-alk, —nr 1 r 2 , —h, —o − , or —oh, wherein alk is an alkyl group of 1-24 carbons in length, and r 1 and r 2 are independently h or an alkyl group of 1-12 carbons in length. in a particularly preferred embodiment, b═—nh-d. note that the molecules of a (lys, arg and his respectively) are shown in their respective charged states at ph 6.0. it is understood that they may be present in an uncharged state as well and the representation of a above is meant to include both. the dipeptides in accordance with the present invention, when provided in personal care compositions, are preferably provided in an amount which is safe and effective to treat at least one sign of an undesired keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nail) condition. the phrase “to treat at least one undesired keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nail) condition” as used herein means that the dipeptide provides an objectively measurable increase in its effect on some aspect of the keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nail) condition when used topically and/or orally in an effective amount. this can be, for example, a greater reduction in wrinkles, increased potency, the ability to stimulate or inhibit at least one biochemical process within the skin, hair, or nails to a greater degree, and the like. generally, this is determined based on comparison to a control. the dipeptide is preferably included in an amount of from about 1×10-6% to about 10%, more preferably from about 1×10-6% to about 0.1%, and even more preferably from about 1×10-5% to about 0.01%, by weight of the personal care composition. reference to a “dipeptide” in accordance with the present invention means a dipeptide whose c terminal amino acid is thr. these include, unless the context specifies otherwise, n-acyl derivatives thereof, as well as c terminal derivatives such as esters, acid halides, and nitrogen containing compounds as discussed herein. the n-acyl derivatives are groups attached to the n terminal amino acid in place of a hydrogen and can include alkyl chains of carbon lengths of between 2 and 22 carbons. these can be linear or branched, substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated, hydroxylated or not, containing sulfur or not. n-acyl may also represent a biotinyl group. similarly, the threonine may be in the form of a c terminal derivative including, for example, an acid, an ester with an alkyl chain having a carbon length of between 1 and 24 carbons (“oalk”), preferably 1 to 3 carbons or 14 to 18 carbons. these can be linear or branched, substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated, hydroxylated or not, containing sulfur or not. the c terminal derivative may also be nr1r2, in which r1 and r2 are independent of each other h or an alkyl chain of carbon length of between 1 and 12 carbons. these can be linear or branched, substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated, hydroxylated or not, containing sulfur or not. preferably, the acyl derivative attached to the n terminal amino acid is a palmitoyl group and most preferably, the c terminal amino acid is in the form of an acid. all terms such as “skin aging”, “signs of skin aging”, and the like are used in the sense in which they are generally and widely used in the art of developing, testing and marketing personal care products. “wrinkles” means furrows in the otherwise smooth surface of the facial skin, visible to the naked eye, generally in the average depth of 50 to more than 200 μm and essentially appearing with progressive age. the term “amino acid” as employed herein includes and encompasses all of the naturally occurring and synthetic amino acids, either in the d- or l-configuration if optically active. the term “dipeptide” means a molecule comprising two amino acids as defined herein. in order to enhance the bioavailability and cutaneous and/or epithelial barrier crossing of those peptides, their lipophilicity or lipophilic character can be increased either by acylation of the n-terminal nh 2 group of the peptide, by esterification of the carboxyl group with an alcohol, linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, hydroxylated or not, or both. in preferred methods of implementation of the invention, n-acyl groups used are lauroyl (c 12 ) or myristoyl (c 14 ) or palmitoyl (c 16 ) or stearoyl (cis) or oleoyl (c 18:1 ) or arachidic (c 20 ) or linoleoyl (c 18:2 ). biotinyl groups (biotin or derivatives) are also preferred. in a particularly preferred embodiment, the n terminal group is either h or palmitoyl. iii. optional components/ingredients the compositions of the present invention can comprise one or more suitable desired optional components. for example, the composition can optionally include other active or inactive ingredients. compositions comprising a peptide in combination with an optional keratinous tissue active, such as niacinamide, can be capable of providing additive and/or synergistic keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nail) benefits. for instance, such materials can be selected from the group consisting of sugar amines (e.g., n-acetylglucosamine), vitamin b3 compounds, sodium dehydroacetate, dehydroacetic acid and its salts, phytosterols, soy derivatives (e.g., equol and other isoflavones), niacinamide, phytantriol, farnesol, bisabolol, salicylic acid compounds, hexamidines, dialkanoyl hydroxyproline compounds, flavonoids, n-acyl amino acid compounds, retinoids (e.g., retinyl propionate), water-soluble vitamins, ascorbates (e.g., vitamin c, ascorbic acid, ascorbyl glucoside, ascorbyl palmitate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, sodium ascorbyl phosphate), particulate materials, sunscreen actives, anti-cellulite agents, butylated hydroxytoluene, butylated hydroxyanisole, their derivatives, and combinations thereof. other examples of optional ingredients can include cationic polymers, conditioning agents (hydrocarbon oils, fatty esters, silicones), anti dandruff agents, antiseborrheic agents, antipsoriasis agents, suspending agents, viscosity modifiers, dyes, nonvolatile solvents or diluents (water soluble and insoluble), pearlescent aids, foam boosters, surfactants, nonionic cosurfactants, pediculocides, ph adjusting agents, perfumes, preservatives, chelants, chelating agents, proteins, uv absorbers, pigments, other amino acids, and other vitamins for instance, the compositions of the present invention may comprise one or more vitamins and/or amino acids such as: water soluble vitamins such as vitamin b1, b2, b6, b12, c, pantothenic acid, pantothenyl ethyl ether, panthenol, biotin, and their derivatives, water soluble amino acids such as asparagine, alanine, indole, glutamic acid and their salts, water insoluble vitamins such as vitamin a, d, e, and their derivatives, water insoluble amino acids such as tyrosine, tryptamine, and their salts. the compositions of the present invention may also contain one or more pigment materials such as inorganic, nitroso, monoazo, disazo, carotenoid, triphenyl methane, triaryl methane, xanthene, quinoline, oxazine, azine, anthraquinone, indigoid, thionindigoid, quinacridone, phthalocianine, botanical, natural colors, including: water soluble components such as those having c. i. names. the compositions of the present invention may also contain antimicrobial agents which are useful as cosmetic biocides and antidandruff agents including: water soluble components such as piroctone olamine, water insoluble components such as 3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide (trichlosan), triclocarban and zinc pyrithione. furthermore, the composition can comprise other peptides, such as those disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 6,492,326, issued dec. 10, 2002, to robinson et al. (e.g., pentapeptides such as lys-thr-thr-lys-ser, and derivatives thereof). suitable pentapeptide derivatives include palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser, available from sederma, france. another optional dipeptide that can be used in the composition herein is carnosine. as used herein, the term “peptide” is broad enough to include one or more peptide, one or more peptide derivatives, and combinations thereof. in one embodiment, the optional ingredients do not comprise a peptide. in a particular embodiment, the optional ingredients comprise a peptide wherein said peptide is not a pentapeptide (e.g., palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser). in another embodiment, the optional ingredients do not comprise the pentapeptide palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser. in yet another embodiment, the optional ingredients comprise a peptide, such as a pentapeptide (e.g., palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser) but said peptide is not present in an effective amount (e.g., it is included for a purpose other than the desired benefits disclosed herein) or such peptide is not present in a safe and effective amount. any other suitable optional component can also be included in the personal care composition of the present invention, such as those ingredients that are conventionally used in given product types. the ctfa cosmetic ingredient handbook, tenth edition (published by the cosmetic, toiletry, and fragrance association, inc., washington, d.c.) (2004) (hereinafter “ctfa”), describes a wide variety of nonlimiting materials that can be added to the composition herein. examples of these ingredient classes include, but are not limited to: abrasives, absorbents, aesthetic components such as fragrances, pigments, colorings/colorants, essential oils, skin sensates, astringents, etc. (e.g., clove oil, menthol, camphor, eucalyptus oil, eugenol, menthyl lactate, witch hazel distillate), anti-acne agents, anti-caking agents, antifoaming agents, antimicrobial agents (e.g., iodopropyl butylcarbamate), antibacterial agents, antifungal agents, antioxidants, binders, biological additives, buffering agents, bulking agents, chelating agents, chemical additives, colorants, cosmetic astringents, cosmetic biocides, denaturants, drug astringents, external analgesics, film formers or materials, e.g., polymers, for aiding the film-forming properties and substantivity of the composition (e.g., copolymer of eicosene and vinyl pyrrolidone), opacifying agents, ph adjusters, plant derivatives, plant extracts, plant tissue extracts, plant seed extracts, plant oils, botanicals, botanical extracts, preservatives, propellants, reducing agents, sebum control agents, sequestrants, skin bleaching and lightening agents, (e.g. hydroquinone, kojic acid, ascorbic acid, magnesiuim ascorbyl phosphate, ascorbyl glucoside, pyridoxine), enzymes, coenzymes, skin-conditioning agents (e.g. humectants and occlusive agents), skin soothing and/or healing agents and derivatives (e.g. panthenol, and derivatives such as ethyl panthenol, aloe vera, pantothenic acid and its derivatives, allantoin, bisabolol, and dipotassium glycyrrhizinate), skin treating agents (e.g. vitamin d compounds, mono-,di-, and tri-terpenoids, beta-ionol, cedrol), thickeners, and vitamins and derivatives thereof. several preferred optional components are discussed in more detail below. 1. sugar amines (amino sugars) the compositions of the present invention can comprise a sugar amine, which is also known as amino sugar. sugar amine compounds useful in the present invention can include those described in pct publication wo 02/076423 and u.s. pat. no. 6,159,485. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.01% to about 15%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 10%, and even more preferably from about 0.5% to about 5% by weight of the composition, of sugar amine sugar amines can be synthetic or natural in origin and can be used as pure compounds or mixtures of compounds (e.g., extracts from natural sources or mixtures of synthetic materials). for example, glucosamine is generally found in many shellfish and can also be derived from fungal sources. as used herein, “sugar amine” includes isomers and tautomers of such and its salts (e.g., hcl salt) and is commercially available from sigma chemical co. examples of sugar amines that are useful herein include glucosamine, n-acetyl glucosamine, mannosamine, n-acetyl mannosamine, galactosamine, n-acetyl galactosamine, their isomers (e.g., stereoisomers), and their salts (e.g., hcl salt). preferred for use herein are glucosamine, particularly d-glucosamine and n-acetyl glucosamine, particularly n-acetyl-d-glucosamine 2. vitamin b 3 compounds the compositions of the present invention can include a vitamin b3 compound. vitamin b3 compounds are particularly useful for regulating skin conditions, as described in u.s. pat. no. 5,939,082. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.001% to about 50%, more preferably from about 0.01% to about 20%, even more preferably from about 0.05% to about 10%, and still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 7%, even more preferably from about 0.5% to about 5%, by weight of the composition, of the vitamin b3 compound. as used herein, “vitamin b3 compound” means a compound having the formula: wherein r is —conh 2 (i.e., niacinamide), —cooh (i.e., nicotinic acid) or —ch2oh (i.e., nicotinyl alcohol); derivatives thereof; and salts of any of the foregoing. exemplary derivatives of the foregoing vitamin b3 compounds include nicotinic acid esters, including non-vasodilating esters of nicotinic acid (e.g, tocopherol nicotinate, myristyl nicotinate), nicotinyl amino acids, nicotinyl alcohol esters of carboxylic acids, nicotinic acid n-oxide and niacinamide n-oxide. suitable esters of nicotinic acid include nicotinic acid esters of c 1 -c 22 , preferably c 1 -c 16 , more preferably c 1 -c 6 alcohols. the alcohols are suitably straight-chain or branched chain, cyclic or acyclic, saturated or unsaturated (including aromatic), and substituted or unsubstituted. the esters are preferably non-vasodilating. as used herein, “non-vasodilating” means that the ester does not commonly yield a visible flushing response after application to the skin in the subject compositions (the majority of the general population would not experience a visible flushing response, although such compounds may cause vasodilation not visible to the naked eye, i.e., the ester is non-rubifacient). non-vasodilating esters of nicotinic acid include tocopherol nicotinate and inositol hexanicotinate; tocopherol nicotinate is preferred. other derivatives of the vitamin b 3 compound are derivatives of niacinamide resulting from substitution of one or more of the amide group hydrogens. nonlimiting examples of derivatives of niacinamide useful herein include nicotinyl amino acids, derived, for example, from the reaction of an activated nicotinic acid compound (e.g., nicotinic acid azide or nicotinyl chloride) with an amino acid, and nicotinyl alcohol esters of organic carboxylic acids (e.g., c1-c18). specific examples of such derivatives include nicotinuric acid (c8h8n2o3) and nicotinyl hydroxamic acid (c6h6n2o2), which have the following chemical structures: nicntinuric acid: nicotinyl hydroxamic acid: exemplary nicotinyl alcohol esters include nicotinyl alcohol esters of the carboxylic acids salicylic acid, acetic acid, glycolic acid, palmitic acid and the like. other non-limiting examples of vitamin b3 compounds useful herein are 2-chloronicotinamide, 6-aminonicotinamide, 6-methylnicotinamide, n-methyl-nicotinamide, n,n-diethylnicotinamide, n-(hydroxymethyl)-nicotinamide, quinolinic acid imide, nicotinanilide, n-benzylnicotinamide, n-ethylnicotinamide, nifenazone, nicotinaldehyde, isonicotinic acid, methyl isonicotinic acid, thionicotinamide, nialamide, 1-(3-pyridylmethyl) urea, 2-mercaptonicotinic acid, nicomol, and niaprazine. examples of the above vitamin b3 compounds are well known in the art and are commercially available from a number of sources, e.g., the sigma chemical company (st. louis, mo.); icn biomedicals, inc. (irvin, calif.) and aldrich chemical company (milwaukee, wis.). one or more vitamin b3 compounds may be used herein. preferred vitamin b3 compounds are niacinamide and tocopherol nicotinate. niacinamide is more preferred. when used, salts, derivatives, and salt derivatives of niacinamide are preferably those having substantially the same efficacy as niacinamide. salts of the vitamin b3 compound are also useful herein. nonlimiting examples of salts of the vitamin b3 compound useful herein include organic or inorganic salts, such as inorganic salts with anionic inorganic species (e.g., chloride, bromide, iodide, carbonate, preferably chloride), and organic carboxylic acid salts (including mono-, di- and tri-c1-c18 carboxylic acid salts, e.g., acetate, salicylate, glycolate, lactate, malate, citrate, preferably monocarboxylic acid salts such as acetate). these and other salts of the vitamin b3 compound can be readily prepared by the skilled artisan, for example, as described by w. wenner, “the reaction of l-ascorbic and d-iosascorbic acid with nicotinic acid and its amide”, j. organic chemistry, vol. 14, 22-26 (1949). wenner describes the synthesis of the ascorbic acid salt of niacinamide in a preferred embodiment, the ring nitrogen of the vitamin b3 compound is substantially chemically free (e.g., unbound and/or unhindered), or after delivery to the skin becomes substantially chemically free (“chemically free” is hereinafter alternatively referred to as “uncomplexed”). more preferably, the vitamin b3 compound is essentially uncomplexed. therefore, if the composition contains the vitamin b3 compound in a salt or otherwise complexed form, such complex is preferably substantially reversible, more preferably essentially reversible, upon delivery of the composition to the skin. for example, such complex should be substantially reversible at a ph of from about 5.0 to about 6.0. such reversibility can be readily determined by one having ordinary skill in the art. more preferably the vitamin b3 compound is substantially uncomplexed in the composition prior to delivery to the keratinous tissue. exemplary approaches to minimizing or preventing the formation of undesirable complexes include omission of materials which form substantially irreversible or other complexes with the vitamin b3 compound, ph adjustment, ionic strength adjustment, the use of surfactants, and formulating wherein the vitamin b3 compound and materials which complex therewith are in different phases. such approaches are well within the level of ordinary skill in the art. thus, in a preferred embodiment, the vitamin b3 compound contains a limited amount of the salt form and is more preferably substantially free of salts of a vitamin b3 compound. preferably the vitamin b3 compound contains less than about 50% of such salt, and is more preferably essentially free of the salt form. the vitamin b3 compound in the compositions hereof having a ph of from about 4 to about 7 typically contain less than about 50% of the salt form. the vitamin b3 compound may be included as the substantially pure material, or as an extract obtained by suitable physical and/or chemical isolation from natural (e.g., plant) sources. the vitamin b3 compound is preferably substantially pure, more preferably essentially pure. 3. dehydroacetic acid (dha) the composition of this invention can include dehydroacetic acid, having the structure: or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, derivatives or tautomers thereof. as used herein, “pharmaceutically acceptable” means that the salts of dehydroacetic acid are suitable for use in contact with the tissues of mammals to which they will be exposed without undue toxicity, incompatibility, instability, irritation, allergic response, and the like. the technical name for dehydroacetic acid is 3-acetyl-6-methyl-2h-pyran-2,4(3h)-dione and can be commercially purchased from lonza. pharmaceutically acceptable salts include alkali metal salts, such as sodium and potassium; alkaline earth metal salts, such as calcium and magnesium; non-toxic heavy metal salts; ammonium salts; and trialkylammonium salts, such astrimethylammonium and triethylammonium. sodium, potassium, and ammonium salts of dehydroacetic acid are preferred. highly preferred is sodium dehydroacetate which can be purchased from tri-k, as tristat sdha. derivatives of dehydroacetic acid incude, but are not limited to, any compounds wherein the ch 3 groups are individually or in combination replaced by amides, esters, amino groups, alkyls, and alcohol esters. tautomers of dehydroacetic acid are the isomers of dehydroacetic acid which can change into one another with great ease so that they ordinarily exist in equilibrium. thus, tautomers of dehydroacetic acid can be described as having the chemical formula c 8 h 8 o 4 and generally having the structure above. in one embodiment, the compositions of the present invention can comprise from about 0.001% to about 25% by weight of the composition, preferably from about 0.01% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.05% to about 5%, and even more preferably from about 0.1% to about 1%, of dehydroacetic acid or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, derivatives or tautomers thereof. 4. phytosterol the compositions of the present invention can comprise a phytosterol. for example, one or more phytosterols can be selected from the group consisting of β-sitosterol, campesterol, brassicasterol, δ5-avennasterol, lupenol, α-spinasterol, stigmasterol, their derivatives, analogs, and combinations thereof. more preferably, the phytosterol is selected from the group consisting of β-sitosterol, campesterol, brassicasterol, stigmasterol, their derivatives, and combinations thereof. more preferably, the phytosterol is stigmasterol. phytosterols can be synthetic or natural in origin and can be used as essentially pure compounds or mixtures of compounds (e.g., extracts from natural sources). phytosterols are generally found in the unsaponifiable portion of vegetable oils and fats and are available as free sterols, acetylated derivatives, sterol esters, ethoxylated or glycosidic derivatives. more preferably, the phytosterols are free sterols. as used herein, “phytosterol” includes isomers and tautomers of such and is commercially available from aldrich chemical company, sigma chemical company, and cognis. in one embodiment, the composition of the present invention comprises from about 0.0001% to about 25%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 15%, even more preferably from about 0.01% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, and even more preferably from about 0.2% to about 2% phytosterol, by weight of the composition. 5. salicylic acid compound the compositions of the present invention may comprise a salicylic acid compound, its esters, its salts, or combinations thereof. in one embodiment of the compositions of the present invention, the salicylic acid compound preferably comprises from about 0.0001% to about 25%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 15%, even more preferably from about 0.01% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, and even more preferably from about 0.2% to about 2%, by weight of the composition, of salicylic acid. 6. hexamidine the compositions of the present invention can include hexamidine compounds, its salts, and derivatives. suitable hexamidine compounds useful in the present invention include those compositions that correspond to those of the following chemical structure: wherein r 1 and r 2 are organic acids (e.g., sulfonic acids, etc.). in one embodiment, the hexamidine comprises from about 0.0001% to about 25%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.01% to about 5%, and even more preferably from about 0.02% to about 2.5% by weight of the composition. as used herein, hexamidine derivatives include any isomers and tautomers of hexamidine compounds including but not limited to organic acids and mineral acids, for example sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, etc. preferably, the hexamidine compounds include hexamidine diisethionate, commercially available as eleastab® hp100 from laboratoires serobiologiques. 7. dialkanoyl hydroxyproline compounds the compositions of the present invention can comprise one or more dialkanoyl hydroxyproline compounds and their salts and derivatives. suitable dialkanoyl hydroxyproline compounds of the present invention can include those corresponding to the following chemical structure: wherein r 1 is h, x, c 1 -c 20 straight or branched alkyl, x is metals (na, k, li, mg, ca) or amines (dea, tea); r 2 is c 1 -c 20 straight or branched alkyl; r 3 is c 1 -c 20 straight or branched alkyl. in one embodiment, the dialkanoyl hydroxyproline compounds preferably comprise from about 0.01% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, even more preferably from about 0.1% to about 2% by weight of the composition suitable derivatives include but are not limited to esters, for example fatty esters, including, but not limited to tripalmitoyl hydroxyproline and dipalmityl acetyl hydroxyproline. a particularly useful compound is dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline. as used herein, dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline includes any isomers and tautomers of such and is commercially available under the tradename sepilift dphp® from seppic, inc. further discussion of dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline appears in pct publication wo 93/23028. preferably, the dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline is the triethanolamine salt of dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline. 8. flavonoids the compositions of the present invention can comprise a flavonoid compound. flavonoids are broadly disclosed in u.s. pat. nos. 5,686,082 and 5,686,367. examples of flavonoids particularly suitable for use in the present invention are one or more flavones, one or more isoflavones, one or more coumarins, one or more chromones, one or more dicoumarols, one or more chromanones, one or more chromanols, isomers (e.g., cis/trans isomers) thereof, and mixtures thereof. preferred for use herein are flavones and isoflavones, in particular daidzein (7,4′-dihydroxy isoflavone), genistein (5,7,4′-trihydroxy isoflavone), equol (7,4′-dihydroxy isoflavan), 5,7-dihydroxy-4′-methoxy isoflavone, soy isoflavones (a mixture extracted from soy) and other plant sources of such mixtures (e.g., red clover), and mixtures thereof. also preferred are favanones such as hesperitin, hesperidin, and mixtures thereof. flavonoid compounds useful herein are commercially available from a number of sources, e.g., indofine chemical company, inc., steraloids, inc., and aldrich chemical company, inc. in one embodiment, the herein described flavonoid compounds comprise from about 0.01% to about 20%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 10%, and even more preferably from about 0.5% to about 5%, by weight of the composition. 9. n-acyl amino acid compound the topical compositions of the present invention can comprise one or more n-acyl amino acid compounds. the amino acid can be one of any of the amino acids known in the art. the n-acyl amino acid compounds of the present invention can correspond to the formula: wherein r can be a hydrogen, alkyl (substituted or unsubstituted, branched or straight chain), or a combination of alkyl and aromatic groups. a list of possible side chains of amino acids known in the art are described in stryer, biochemistry, 1981, published by w.h. freeman and company. r 1 can be c 1 to c 30 , saturated or unsaturated, straight or branched, substituted or unsubstituted alkyls; substituted or unsubstituted aromatic groups; or mixtures thereof. preferably, the n-acyl amino acid compound is selected from the group consisting of n-acyl phenylalanine, n-acyl tyrosine, their isomers, their salts, and derivatives thereof. the amino acid can be the d or l isomer or a mixture thereof. n-acyl phenylalanine corresponds to the following formula: wherein r 1 can be c 1 to c 30 , saturated or unsaturated, straight or branched, substituted or unsubstituted alkyls; substituted or unsubstituted aromatic groups; or mixtures thereof. n-acyl tyrosine corresponds to the following formula: wherein r 1 can be c 1 to c 30 , saturated or unsaturated, straight or branched, substituted or unsubstituted alkyls; substituted or unsubstituted aromatic groups; or mixtures thereof. particularly useful as a topical skin tone evening cosmetic agent is n-undecylenoyl-l-phenylalanine. this agent belongs to the broad class of n-acyl phenylalanine derivatives, with its acyl group being a c11 mono-unsaturated fatty acid moiety and the amino acid being the l-isomer of phenylalanine. n-undecylenoyl-l-phenylalanine corresponds to the following formula: as used herein, n-undecylenoyl-l-phenylalanine is commercially available under the tradename sepiwhite® from seppic. in one embodiment, of the present invention, the n-acyl amino acid preferably comprises from about 0.0001% to about 25%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.01% to about 5%, and even more preferably from about 0.02% to about 2.5% by weight of the composition. 10. retinoid the compositions of this invention can comprise a retinoid, preferably in a safe and effective amount such that the resultant composition is safe and effective for regulating keratinous tissue condition, preferably for regulating visible and/or tactile discontinuities in keratinous tissue (e.g., regulating signs of skin aging). the compositions can comprise from about 0.001% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.005% to about 2%, even more preferably from about 0.01% to about 1%, still more preferably from about 0.01% to about 0.5%, by weight of the composition, of the retinoid. the optimum concentration used in a composition will depend on the specific retinoid selected since their potency can vary considerably. as used herein, “retinoid” includes all natural and/or synthetic analogs of vitamin a or retinol-like compounds which possess the biological activity of vitamin a in the skin as well as the geometric isomers and stereoisomers of these compounds. the retinoid is preferably selected from retinol, retinol esters (e.g., c2-c22 alkyl esters of retinol, including retinyl palmitate, retinyl acetate, retinyl propionate), retinal, and/or retinoic acid (including all-trans retinoic acid and/or 13-cis-retinoic acid), or mixtures thereof. more preferably the retinoid is a retinoid other than retinoic acid. these compounds are well known in the art and are commercially available from a number of sources, e.g., sigma chemical company (st. louis, mo.), and boerhinger mannheim (indianapolis, ind.). other retinoids which are useful herein are described in u.s. pat. no. 4,677,120, issued jun. 30, 1987 to parish et al.; u.s. pat. no. 4,885,311, issued dec. 5, 1989 to parish et al.; u.s. pat. no. 5,049,584, issued sep. 17, 1991 to purcell et al.; u.s. pat. no. 5,124,356, issued jun. 23, 1992 to purcell et al.; and reissue 34,075, issued sep. 22, 1992 to purcell et al. other suitable retinoids can include tocopheryl-retinoate [tocopherol ester of retinoic acid (trans- or cis-), adapalene {6-[3-(1-adamantyl)-4-methoxyphenyl]-2-naphthoic acid}, and tazarotene (ethyl 6-[2-(4,4-dimethylthiochroman-6-yl)-ethynyl]nicotinate). preferred retinoids include retinol, retinyl palmitate, retinyl acetate, retinyl propionate, retinal and combinations thereof. more preferred is retinyl propionate, used most preferably from about 0.1% to about 0.3%. 11. optional peptide the compositions of the present invention can comprise a peptide in addition to the peptide of the present invention. suitable peptides can include, but are not limited to, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexa-peptides and derivatives thereof. in one embodiment, the compositions comprise from about 1×10-7% to about 20%, more preferably from about 1×10-6% to about 10%, even more preferably from about 1×10-5% to about 5%, by weight of optional peptide. as used herein, “peptide” refers to peptides containing ten or fewer amino acids and their derivatives, isomers, and complexes with other species such as metal ions (e.g., copper, zinc, manganese, magnesium, and the like). as used herein, peptide refers to both naturally occurring and synthesized peptides. also useful herein are naturally occurring and commercially available compositions that contain peptides. preferred peptides contain at least one basic amino acid (e.g., histidine, lysine, arginine). more preferred peptides are the dipeptide carnosine (beta-ala-his), the tripeptide gly-his-lys, the tripeptide his-gly-gly, the tripeptide gly-gly-his, the tripeptide gly-his-gly, the tetrapeptide gly-gln-pro-arg, the pentapeptide lys-thr-thr-lys-ser, lipophilic derivatives of peptides, and metal complexes of the aforementioned (e.g., copper complex of the tripeptide his-gly-gly (also known as iamin)) other suitable peptides include peptide ck (arg-lys-arg); peptide ck+ (ac-arg-lys-arg-nh2); and peptide e, arg-ser-arg-lys. a preferred commercially available tripeptide derivative-containing composition is biopeptide cl®, which contains 100 ppm of palmitoyl-gly-his-lys and is commercially available from sederma, france. a preferred commercially available pentapeptide derivative-containing composition is matrixyl®, which contains 100 ppm of palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser and is commercially available from sederma, france. peptide derivatives useful herein include lipophilic derivatives, preferably palmitoyl derivatives. preferably, the peptide is selected from palmitoyl-lys-thr-thr-lys-ser, palmitoyl-gly-his-lys, their derivatives, and combinations thereof. 12. ascorbates and other vitamins the compositions of the present invention may comprise one or more vitamins, such as ascorbates (e.g., vitamin c, vitamin c derivatives, ascorbic acid, ascorbyl glucoside, ascorbyl palmitate, magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, sodium ascorbyl phosphate). such vitamins can include, but are not limited to, vitamin b, vitamin b derivatives, vitamin k, vitamin k derivatives, vitamin d, vitamin d derivatives, vitamin e, vitamin e derivatives, and provitamins thereof, such as panthenol and mixtures thereof. in one embodiment, when vitamin compounds are present in the compositions of the instant invention, the compositions comprise from about 0.0001% to about 50%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.01% to about 8%, and still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition, of the vitamin compound. 13. particulate material the compositions of the present invention can comprise one or more particulate materials. nonlimiting examples of particulate materials useful in the present invention include colored and uncolored pigments, interference pigments, inorganic powders, organic powders, composite powders, optical brightener particles, and combinations thereof. these particulates can, for instance, be platelet shaped, spherical, elongated or needle-shaped, or irregularly shaped, surface coated or uncoated, porous or non-porous, charged or uncharged, and can be added to the current compositions as a powder or as a pre-dispersion. in one embodiment, particulate materials are present in the composition in levels of from about 0.01% to about 20%, more preferably from about 0.05% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition. there are no specific limitations as to the pigment, colorant or filler powders used in the composition. particulate materials useful herein can include, but are not limited to, bismuth oxychloride, sericite, mica, mica treated with barium sulfate or other materials, zeolite, kaolin, silica, boron nitride, lauroyl lysine, nylon, polyethylene, talc, styrene, polypropylene, polystyrene, ethylene/acrylic acid copolymer, aluminum oxide, silicone resin, barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, cellulose acetate, ptfe, polymethyl methacrylate, starch, modified starches such as aluminun starch octenyl succinate, silk, glass, and mixtures thereof. preferred organic powders/fillers include, but are not limited, to polymeric particles chosen from the methylsilsesquioxane resin microspheres such as, for example, those sold by toshiba silicone under the name tospearl 145a, microspheres of polymethylmethacrylates such as those sold by seppic under the name micropearl m 100, the spherical particles of crosslinked polydimethylsiloxanes, especially such as those sold by dow corning toray silicone under the name trefil e 506c or trefil e 505c, sphericle particles of polyamide and more specifically nylon 12, especially such as those sold by atochem under the name orgasol 2002d nat c05, polystyerene microspheres such as for example those sold by dyno particles under the name dynospheres, ethylene acrylate copolymer sold by kobo under the name flobead ea209, ptfe, polypropylene, aluminium starch ocetenylsuccinate such as those sold by national starch under the name dry flo, microspheres of polyethylene such as those sold by equistar under the name of microthene fn510-00, silicone resin, polymethylsilsesquioxane silicone polymer, platelet shaped powder made from l-lauroyl lysine, and mixtures thereof. especially preferred are spherical powders with an average primary particle size of from about 0.1 to about 75 microns, preferably from about 0.2 to about 30 microns. also useful herein are interference pigments. interference pigments, for purposes of the present specification, are defined as thin platelike layered particles having two or more layers of controlled thickness with different refractive indices that yield a characteristic reflected color from the interference of typically two, but occasionally more, light reflections, from different layers of the platelike particle. the most common examples of interference pigments are micas layered with about 50-300 nm films of tio2, fe2o3, silica, tin oxide, and/or cr2o3. such pigments are often peralescent. pearl pigments reflect, refract and transmit light because of the transparency of pigment particles and the large difference in the refractive index of mica platelets and, for example, the titanium dioxide coating. useful intereference pigments are available commercially from a wide variety of suppliers, for example, rona (timiron™ and dichrona™), presperse (flonac™), englehard (duochrome™), kobo (sk-45-r and sk-45-g), basf (sicopearls) and eckart (e.g. prestige silk red). especially preferred are interference pigments with smaller particle sizes, with an average diameter of individual particles less than about 75 microns in the longest direction, preferably with an average diameter less than about 50 microns. other pigments useful in the present invention can provide color primarily through selective absorption of specific wavelengths of visible light, and include inorganic pigments, organic pigments and combinations thereof. examples of such useful inorganic pigments include iron oxides, ferric ammonium ferrocyanide, manganese violet, ultramarine blue, and chrome oxide. organic pigments can include natural colorants and synthetic monomeric and polymeric colorants. an example is phthalocyanine blue and green pigment. also useful are lakes, primary fd&c or d&c lakes and blends thereof. also useful are encapsulated soluble or insoluble dyes and other colorants. inorganic white or uncolored pigments useful in the present invention, for example tio2, zno, or zro2, are commercially available from a number of sources. one example of a suitable particulate material contains the material available from u.s. cosmetics (tronox tio2 series, sat-t cr837, a rutile tio2). particularly preferred are charged dispersions of titanium dioxide, as are disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 5,997,887. preferred colored or uncolored non-interference-type pigments have a primary average particle size of from about 10 nm to about 100,000 nm, more preferably from about 15 nm to about 5,000 nm, even more preferably from about 20 nm to about 1000 nm. mixtures of the same or different pigment/powder having different particle sizes are also useful herein (e.g., incorporating a tio2 having a primary particle size of from about 100 nm to about 400 nm with a tio2 having a primary particle size of from about 10 nm to about 50 nm). the pigments/powders of the current invention can be surface treated to provide added stability of color and/or for ease of formulation. non-limiting examples of suitable coating materials include silicones, lecithin, amino acids, metal soaps, polyethylene and collagen. these surface treatments may be hydrophobic or hydrophilic, with hydrophobic treatments being preferred. particularly useful hydrophobic pigment treatments include polysiloxane treatments such as those disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 5,143,722. the composition of the present invention can include dispersed particles. in one embodiment, the composition can include at least 0.025% by weight of dispersed particles, more preferably at least 0.05%, still more preferably at least 0.1%, even more preferably at least 0.25%, and yet more preferably at least 0.5% by weight of the dispersed particles. in particular embodiments of the present invention, it is preferable to incorporate no more than about 20% by weight of dispersed particles, more preferably no more than about 10%, still more preferably no more than 5%, even more preferably no more than 3%, and yet more preferably no more than 2% by weight of dispersed particles. 14. sunscreen actives the compositions of the subject invention may optionally contain a sunscreen active. as used herein, “sunscreen active” includes both sunscreen agents and physical sunblocks. suitable sunscreen actives may be organic or inorganic. a wide variety of conventional sunscreen actives are suitable for use herein. sagarin, et al., at chapter viii, pages 189 et seq., of cosmetics science and technology (1972), discloses numerous suitable actives. particularly suitable sunscreen agents are 2-ethylhexyl-p-methoxycinnamate (commercially available as parsol mcx), 4,4′-t-butyl methoxydibenzoyl-methane (commercially available as pars ol 1789), 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone, octyldimethyl-p-aminobenzoic acid, digalloyltrioleate, 2,2-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone, ethyl-4-(bis(hydroxy-propyl))aminobenzoate, 2-ethylhexyl-2-cyano-3,3-diphenylacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl-salicylate, glyceryl-p-aminobenzoate, 3,3,5-tri-methylcyclohexylsalicylate, methylanthranilate, p-dimethyl-aminobenzoic acid or aminobenzoate, 2-ethylhexyl-p-dimethyl-amino-benzoate, 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid, 2-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-5-sulfonicbenzoxazoic acid, octocrylene, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and mixtures of these compounds. preferred organic sunscreen actives useful in the compositions of the present invention are 2-ethylhexyl-p-methoxycinnamate, butylmethoxydibenzoyl-methane, 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzo-phenone, 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid, octyldimethyl-p-aminobenzoic acid, octocrylene, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and mixtures thereof. especially preferred sunscreen actives include 4,4′-t-butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane, 2-ethylhexyl-p-methoxycinnamate, phenyl benzimidazole sulfonic acid, octocrylene, zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide, and mixtures thereof. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 1% to about 20%, more typically from about 2% to about 10% by weight of the composition, of the sun screen active. exact amounts will vary depending upon the sunscreen chosen and the desired sun protection factor (spf). 15. anti-cellulite agents the compositions of the present invention may also comprise an anti-cellulite agent. suitable agents may include, but are not limited to, xanthine compounds (e.g., caffeine, theophylline, theobromine, and aminophylline in one embodiment, when anti-cellulite compounds are present in the compositions of the instant invention, the compositions comprise from about 0.0001% to about 50%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.01% to about 8%, and still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition, of the anti-cellulite compound. 16. butylated hydroxytoluene (bht) and butylated hydroxyanisole (bha) the topical compositions of the present invention may comprise bht or bha. for instance, bht useful herein can be described by the general structure: wherein x is oh or sh; y is selected from the group consisting of h, oh, or 5 , coor 5 , alkyl, cycloalkyl, heteroalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, aromatic, heteroaromatic, carboxamido, sulfonamido, carbamate, urea, and trialkylsilyl; r 1 , r 2 , r 3 , r 4 are selected from the group consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl, heteroalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, aromatic, heteroaromatic, or 5 , carboxamido, sulfonamido, formyl, acyl, carboxyl, carboxylate, carbamate, urea, trialkylsilyl, hydroxyl, and hydrogen; r 5 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl, heteroalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, aromatic, heteroaromatic, trialkylsilyl, acyl, and hydrogen. in one embodiment, bht and/or bha comprises from about 0.0001% to about 20% by weight of the composition, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, even more preferably from about 0.01% to about 5%, and still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 0.5%. 17. desquamation actives a desquamation active may be added to the compositions of the present invention. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.01% to about 10%, preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, more preferably from about 0.5% to about 2%, by weight of the composition, of a desquamation active. one desquamation system that is suitable for use herein comprises salicylic acid and zwitterionic surfactants and is described in u.s. pat. no. 5,652,228. another desquamation system that is suitable for use herein contains sulfhydryl compounds and zwitterionic surfactants and is described in u.s. pat. no. 5,681,852, to bissett. zwitterionic surfactants such as those described in this referenced patent can also be useful as desquamatory agents herein, with cetyl betaine being particularly preferred. 18. anti-acne actives the compositions of the present invention can comprise one or more anti-acne actives. examples of useful anti-acne actives include resorcinol, sulfur, erythromycin, and zinc. further examples of suitable anti-acne actives are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,607,980. in one embodiment, when anti-acne compounds are present in the compositions of the instant invention, the compositions comprise from about 0.0001% to about 50%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.01% to about 8%, and still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition, of the anti-acne compound. 19. anti-wrinkle actives/anti-atrophy actives the compositions of the present invention can comprise a one or more anti-wrinkle actives or anti-atrophy actives. exemplary anti-wrinkle/anti-atrophy actives suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention include hydroxy acids (e.g., glycolic acid, lactic acid, lactobionic acid), keto acids (e.g., pyruvic acid), phytic acid, lysophosphatidic acid, stilbenes, cinnamates, resveratrol, kinetin, zeatin, dimethylaminoethanol, peptides from natural sources (e.g., soy peptides), and salts of sugar acids (e.g., mn gluconate, zn gluconate). in one embodiment, when anti-wrinkle/anti-atrophy compounds are present in the compositions of the instant invention, the compositions comprise from about 0.0001% to about 50%, more preferably from about 0.001% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.01% to about 8%, and still more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition, of the anti-wrinkle/anti-atrophy compound. 20. anti-oxidants/racial scavengers the compositions of the present invention can include an anti-oxidant/radical scavenger. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.01% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, of an anti-oxidant/radical scavenger. anti-oxidants/radical scavengers such as ascorbic acid (vitamin c), tocopherol (vitamin e), tocopherol sorbate, tocopherol acetate, other esters of tocopherol, 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (commercially available under the tradename trolox®), amines (e.g., n,n-diethylhydroxylamine, amino-guanidine), nordihydroguaiaretic acid, bioflavonoids, amino acids, silymarin, sorbic acids and its salts, lipoic acid, olive extracts, tea extracts, polyphenols such as proanthocyanidine from pine bark, carotenoids, curcumin compounds such as tetrahydrocurcumin, octa (l-2-oxo-4-thiazolidine carboxylic acid), glutathione, and grape skin/seed extracts may be used. preferred anti-oxidants/radical scavengers can be selected from esters of tocopherol, more preferably tocopherol acetate. in one embodiment, the composition comprises tocopherol sorbate. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.001% to about 20%, more preferably from about 0.01% to about 15%, even more preferably from about 0.1% to about 10%, still more preferably from about 0.5% to 5%, by weight of the composition, of the tocopherol sorbate. as used herein, “tocopherol sorbate” refers to the sorbic acid ester of tocopherol, a detailed description of which can be found in issued u.s. pat. no. 5,922,758 granted on jul. 13, 1999 (“methods and compositions employing 2,4-dienoic acid esters of tocopherols to prevent or reduce skin damage.” 21. conditioning agents the compositions of the present invention can contain a safe and effective amount of a conditioning agent selected from, for example, humectants, moisturizers, and skin conditioners. a variety of these materials can be employed and in one embodiment can be present at a level of from about 0.01% to about 20%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 10%, and still more preferably from about 0.5% to about 7%, by weight of the composition. these materials can include, but are not limited to, guanidine, urea, glycolic acid, glycolate salts (e.g. ammonium and quaternary alkyl ammonium), salicylic acid, lactic acid, lactate salts (e.g., ammonium and quaternary alkyl ammonium), aloe vera in any of its variety of forms (e.g., aloe vera gel), polyhydroxy alcohols such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, erythritol, glycerol, hexanetriol, butanetriol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, hexylene glycol and the like, polyethylene glycols, sugars (e.g., melibiose), starches, sugar and starch derivatives (e.g., alkoxylated glucose, fucose), hyaluronic acid, lactamide monoethanolamine, acetamide monoethanolamine, panthenol, allantoin, and mixtures thereof. also useful herein are the propoxylated glycerols described in u.s. pat. no. 4,976,953. also useful are various c 1 -c 30 monoesters and polyesters of sugars and related materials. these esters are derived from a sugar or polyol moiety and one or more carboxylic acid moieties. preferably, the conditioning agent is selected from urea, guanidine, sucrose polyester, panthenol, dexpanthenol, allantoin, glycerol, and combinations thereof. 22. chelators the compositions of the present invention may also comprise a chelator or chelating agent. as used herein, “chelator” or “chelating agent” means an active agent capable of removing a metal ion from a system by forming a complex so that the metal ion cannot readily participate in or catalyze oxygen radical formation. in one embodiment, a chelating agent is added to a composition of the present invention, preferably from about 0.1% to about 10%, more preferably from about 1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition. exemplary chelators that are useful herein include those that are disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 5,487,884. preferred chelators useful in compositions of the subject invention include furildioxime and derivatives thereof. also preferred is phytic acid. 23. anti-inflammatory agents an anti-inflammatory agent may be added to the compositions of the present invention. in one embodiment, an anti-inflammatory agent is added at a level of from about 0.01% to about 10%, preferably from about 0.5% to about 5%, by weight of the composition. steroidal anti-inflammatory agents can include, but are not limited to, corticosteroids such as hydrocortisone. in addition, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents can be useful herein. the varieties of compounds encompassed by this group are well known to those skilled in the art. specific non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents that can be useful in the composition of the present invention include, but are not limited to, salicylates, flufenamic acid, etofenamate, aspirin, and mixtures thereof. additional anti-inflammatory agents useful herein include allantoin and compounds of the licorice (the plant genus/species glycyrrhiza glabra ) family, including glycyrrhetic acid, glycyrrhizic acid, and derivatives thereof (e.g., salts and esters). 24 tanning actives the compositions of the present invention can comprise a tanning active. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.1% to about 20%, more preferably from about 2% to about 7%, and even more preferably from about 3% to about 6%, by weight of the composition, of a tanning active. a preferred tanning active is dihydroxyacetone. 25. skin lightening agents the compositions of the present invention can comprise a skin lightening agent. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.1% to about 10%, preferably from about 0.2% to about 5%, more preferably from about 0.5% to about 2%, by weight of the composition, of a skin lightening agent. suitable skin lightening agents include those known in the art, including ascorbyl glucoside, kojic acid, arbutin, and tranexamic acid. other skin lightening materials suitable for use herein can include acitwhite (cognis), emblica® (rona), azeloglicina (sinerga) and extracts (e.g. mulberry extract). a preferred skin lightening agent is ascorbyl glucoside. 26. antimicrobial, antibacterial and antifungal actives the compositions of the present invention can comprise an antimicrobial or antifungal active. a safe and effective amount of an antimicrobial or antifungal active can be added to the present compositions. in one embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.001% to about 10%, preferably from about 0.01% to about 5%, and more preferably from about 0.05% to about 2%, by weight of the composition, of an antimicrobial or antifungal active. preferred examples of actives useful herein include those selected from the group consisting of benzoyl peroxide, 3-hydroxy benzoic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid, 2-hydroxybutanoic acid, 2-hydroxypentanoic acid, 2-hydroxyhexanoic acid, phytic acid, lipoic acid, azelaic acid, arachidonic acid, benzoylperoxide, tetracycline, ibuprofen, naproxen, hydrocortisone, acetominophen, resorcinol, phenoxyethanol, phenoxypropanol, phenoxyisopropanol, 2,4,4′-trichloro-2′-hydroxy diphenyl ether, 3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide, octopirox, ciclopirox, lidocaine hydrochloride, clotrimazole, miconazole, ketoconazole, neocycin sulfate, and mixtures thereof. 27. thickening agents (including thickeners and gelling agents) the compositions of the present invention can comprise one or more thickening agents. in one embodiment, a thickening agent is present at a level of from about 0.05% to about 10%, preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, and more preferably from about 0.25% to about 4%, by weight of the composition. nonlimiting classes of thickening agents include those selected from the group consisting of: a. carboxylic acid polymers these polymers are crosslinked compounds containing one or more monomers derived from acrylic acid, substituted acrylic acids, and salts and esters of these acrylic acids and the substituted acrylic acids, wherein the crosslinking agent contains two or more carbon-carbon double bonds and is derived from a polyhydric alcohol. examples of commercially available carboxylic acid polymers useful herein include the carbomers, which are homopolymers of acrylic acid crosslinked with allyl ethers of sucrose or pentaerytritol. the carbomers are available as the carbopol® 900 series from b.f. goodrich (e.g., carbopol® 954). in addition, other suitable carboxylic acid polymeric agents include copolymers of c10-30 alkyl acrylates with one or more monomers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, or one of their short chain (i.e., c1-4 alcohol) esters, wherein the crosslinking agent is an allyl ether of sucrose or pentaerytritol. these copolymers are known as acrylates/c10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymers and are commercially available as carbopol® 1342, carbopol® 1382, pemulen tr-1, and pemulen tr-2, from b.f. goodrich. examples of carboxylic acid polymer thickeners useful herein include those selected from the group consisting of carbomers, acrylates/c10-c30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymers, and mixtures thereof. b. crosslinked polyacrylate polymers the compositions of the present invention can optionally comprise crosslinked polyacrylate polymers useful as thickeners or gelling agents including both cationic and nonionic polymers, with the cationics being generally preferred. examples of useful crosslinked nonionic polyacrylate polymers and crosslinked cationic polyacrylate polymers include those described in u.s. pat. nos. 5,100,660; 4,849,484; 4,835,206; 4,628,078; 4,599,379; and ep 228,868. c. polyacrylamide polymers the compositions of the present invention can optionally comprise polyacrylamide polymers, especially nonionic polyacrylamide polymers including substituted branched or unbranched polymers. preferred among these polyacrylamide polymers is the nonionic polymer given the ctfa designation polyacrylamide and isoparaffin and laureth-7, available under the tradename sepigel 305 from seppic corporation. other polyacrylamide polymers useful herein include multi-block copolymers of acrylamides and substituted acrylamides with acrylic acids and substituted acrylic acids. commercially available examples of these multi-block copolymers include hypan sr150h, ss500v, ss500w, sssa100h, from lipo chemicals, inc. d. polysaccharides a wide variety of polysaccharides can be useful herein. “polysaccharides” refer to gelling agents that contain a backbone of repeating sugar (i.e., carbohydrate) units. nonlimiting examples of polysaccharide gelling agents include those selected from the group consisting of cellulose, carboxymethyl hydroxyethylcellulose, cellulose acetate propionate carboxylate, hydroxyethylcellulose, hydroxyethyl ethylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, methyl hydroxyethylcellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium cellulose sulfate, and mixtures thereof. also useful herein are the alkyl-substituted celluloses. preferred among the alkyl hydroxyalkyl cellulose ethers is the material given the ctfa designation cetyl hydroxyethylcellulose, which is the ether of cetyl alcohol and hydroxyethylcellulose. this material is sold under the tradename natrosol® cs plus from aqualon corporation. other useful polysaccharides include scleroglucans comprising a linear chain of (1-3) linked glucose units with a (1-6) linked glucose every three units, a commercially available example of which is clearogel™ cs11 from michel mercier products inc. e. gums other thickening and gelling agents useful herein include materials that are primarily derived from natural sources. nonlimiting examples of these gelling agent gums include materials selected from the group consisting of acacia, agar, algin, alginic acid, ammonium alginate, amylopectin, calcium alginate, calcium carrageenan, carnitine, carrageenan, dextrin, gelatin, gellan gum, guar gum, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, hectorite, hyaluroinic acid, hydrated silica, hydroxypropyl chitosan, hydroxypropyl guar, karaya gum, kelp, locust bean gum, natto gum, potassium alginate, potassium carrageenan, propylene glycol alginate, sclerotium gum, sodium carboyxmethyl dextran, sodium carrageenan, tragacanth gum, xanthan gum, and mixtures thereof. 28. antiperspirant actives antiperspirant actives may also be included in the compositions of the present invention. suitable antiperspirant actives include astringent metallic salts, especially the inorganic and organic salts of aluminum zirconium and zinc, as well as mixtures thereof. particularly preferred are the aluminum containing and/or zirconium-containing materials or salts, such as aluminum halides, aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum hydroxyhalides, zirconyl oxyhalides, zirconyl hydroxyhalides, and mixtures thereof. in one embodiment, when antiperspirant actives are present in the compositions of the instant invention, the compositions comprise from about 0.01% to about 50%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 40%, and still more preferably from about 1% to about 30%, by weight of the composition, of the antiperspirant compound. 29. detersive surfactants the compositions of the present invention can include detersive surfactant. the detersive surfactant component can be included to provide cleaning performance to the composition. the detersive surfactant component in turn can comprise anionic detersive surfactant, zwitterionic or amphoteric detersive surfactant, or a combination thereof. such surfactants should be physically and chemically compatible with the essential components described herein, or should not otherwise unduly impair product stability, aesthetics or performance. suitable anionic detersive surfactant components for use in the composition herein include those which are known for use in hair care or other personal care cleansing compositions. when included, the concentration of the anionic surfactant component in the composition can preferably be sufficient to provide the desired cleaning and lather performance, and generally can range from about 5% to about 50%, preferably from about 8% to about 30%, more preferably from about 10% to about 25%, even more preferably from about 12% to about 22%. preferred anionic surfactants suitable for use in the compositions are the alkyl and alkyl ether sulfates. these materials have the respective formulae roso 3 m and ro(c 2 h 4 o) x so 3 m, wherein r is alkyl or alkenyl of from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms, x is an integer having a value of from 1 to 10, and m is a cation such as ammonium, alkanolamines, such as triethanolamine, monovalent metals, such as sodium and potassium, and polyvalent metal cations, such as magnesium, and calcium. preferably, r has from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms, more preferably from about 10 to about 16 carbon atoms, even more preferably from about 12 to about 14 carbon atoms, in both the alkyl and alkyl ether sulfates. the alkyl ether sulfates are typically made as condensation products of ethylene oxide and monohydric alcohols having from about 8 to about 24 carbon atoms. the alcohols can be synthetic or they can be derived from fats, e.g., coconut oil, palm kernel oil, tallow. lauryl alcohol and straight chain alcohols derived from coconut oil or palm kernel oil are preferred. such alcohols are reacted with between about 0 and about 10, preferably from about 2 to about 5, more preferably about 3, molar proportions of ethylene oxide, and the resulting mixture of molecular species having, for example, an average of 3 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol, is sulfated and neutralized. other suitable anionic detersive surfactants are the water-soluble salts of organic, sulfuric acid reaction products conforming to the formula r 1 —so 3 -m where r 1 is a straight or branched chain, saturated, aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having from about 8 to about 24, preferably about 10 to about 18, carbon atoms; and m is a cation described hereinbefore. still other suitable anionic detersive surfactants are the reaction products of fatty acids esterified with isethionic acid and neutralized with sodium hydroxide where, for example, the fatty acids are derived from coconut oil or palm kernel oil; sodium or potassium salts of fatty acid amides of methyl tauride in which the fatty acids, for example, are derived from coconut oil or palm kernel oil. other similar anionic surfactants are described in u.s. pat. nos. 2,486,921; 2,486,922; and 2,396,278. other anionic detersive surfactants suitable for use in the compositions are the succinnates, examples of which include disodium n-octadecylsulfosuccinnate; disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate; diammonium lauryl sulfosuccinate; tetrasodium n-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)-n-octadecylsulfosuccinnate; diamyl ester of sodium sulfosuccinic acid; dihexyl ester of sodium sulfosuccinic acid; and dioctyl esters of sodium sulfosuccinic acid. other suitable anionic detersive surfactants include olefin sulfonates having about 10 to about 24 carbon atoms. in addition to the true alkene sulfonates and a proportion of hydroxy-alkanesulfonates, the olefin sulfonates can contain minor amounts of other materials, such as alkene disulfonates depending upon the reaction conditions, proportion of reactants, the nature of the starting olefins and impurities in the olefin stock and side reactions during the sulfonation process. a non limiting example of such an alpha-olefin sulfonate mixture is described in u.s. pat. no. 3,332,880. another class of anionic detersive surfactants suitable for use in the compositions are the beta-alkyloxy alkane sulfonates. these surfactants conform to the formula where r 1 is a straight chain alkyl group having from about 6 to about 20 carbon atoms, r 2 is a lower alkyl group having from about 1 to about 3 carbon atoms, preferably 1 carbon atom, and m is a water-soluble cation as described hereinbefore. preferred anionic detersive surfactants for use in the compositions include ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, triethylamine lauryl sulfate, triethylamine laureth sulfate, triethanolamine lauryl sulfate, triethanolamine laureth sulfate, monoethanolamine lauryl sulfate, monoethanolamine laureth sulfate, diethanolamine lauryl sulfate, diethanolamine laureth sulfate, lauric monoglyceride sodium sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, potassium lauryl sulfate, potassium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sarcosinate, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, lauryl sarcosine, cocoyl sarcosine, ammonium cocoyl sulfate, ammonium lauroyl sulfate, sodium cocoyl sulfate, sodium lauroyl sulfate, potassium cocoyl sulfate, potassium lauryl sulfate, triethanolamine lauryl sulfate, triethanolamine lauryl sulfate, monoethanolamine cocoyl sulfate, monoethanolamine lauryl sulfate, sodium tridecyl benzene sulfonate, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, sodium cocoyl isethionate and combinations thereof. suitable amphoteric or zwitterionic detersive surfactants for use in the composition herein include those which are known for use in hair care or other personal care cleansing. concentration of such amphoteric detersive surfactants preferably ranges from about 0.5% to about 20%, preferably from about 1% to about 10%. non limiting examples of suitable zwitterionic or amphoteric surfactants are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,104,646 (bolich jr. et al.), u.s. pat. no. 5,106,609 (bolich jr. et al.). amphoteric detersive surfactants suitable for use in the composition are well known in the art, and include those surfactants broadly described as derivatives of aliphatic secondary and tertiary amines in which the aliphatic radical can be straight or branched chain and wherein one of the aliphatic substituents contains from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms and one contains an anionic group such as carboxy, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphate, or phosphonate. preferred amphoteric detersive surfactants for use in the present invention include cocoamphoacetate, cocoamphodiacetate, lauroamphoacetate, lauroamphodiacetate, and mixtures thereof. zwitterionic detersive surfactants suitable for use in the composition are well known in the art, and include those surfactants broadly described as derivatives of aliphatic quaternary ammonium, phosphonium, and sulfonium compounds, in which the aliphatic radicals can be straight or branched chain, and wherein one of the aliphatic substituents contains from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms and one contains an anionic group such as carboxy, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphate or phosphonate. zwitterionics such as betaines are preferred. the compositions of the present invention may further comprise additional surfactants for use in combination with the anionic detersive surfactant component described hereinbefore. suitable optional surfactants include nonionic and cationic surfactants. any such surfactant known in the art for use in hair or personal care products may be used, provided that the optional additional surfactant is also chemically and physically compatible with the essential components of the composition, or does not otherwise unduly impair product performance, aesthetics or stability. the concentration of the optional additional surfactants in the composition may vary with the cleansing or lather performance desired, the optional surfactant selected, the desired product concentration, the presence of other components in the composition, and other factors well known in the art. non limiting examples of other anionic, zwitterionic, amphoteric or optional additional surfactants suitable for use in the compositions are described in mccutcheon's, emulsifiers and detergents, 1989 annual, published by m. c. publishing co., and u.s. pat. nos. 3,929,678, 2,658,072; 2,438,091; 2,528,378. 30. cationic polymers the compositions of the present invention can comprise cationic polymer. when included, concentrations of the cationic polymer in the composition can typically range from about 0.05% to about 3%, preferably from about 0.075% to about 2.0%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 1.0%. preferred cationic polymers will have cationic charge densities of at least about 0.9 meq/gm, preferably at least about 1.2 meq/gm, more preferably at least about 1.5 meq/gm, but also preferably less than about 7 meq/gm, more preferably less than about 5 meq/gm, at the ph of intended use of the composition, which ph will generally range from about ph 3 to about ph 9, preferably between about ph 4 and about ph 8. herein, “cationic charge density” of a polymer refers to the ratio of the number of positive charges on the polymer to the molecular weight of the polymer. the average molecular weight of such suitable cationic polymers will generally be between about 10,000 and 10 million, preferably between about 50,000 and about 5 million, more preferably between about 100,000 and about 3 million. suitable cationic polymers for use in the compositions of the present invention contain cationic nitrogen-containing moieties such as quaternary ammonium or cationic protonated amino moieties. the cationic protonated amines can be primary, secondary, or tertiary amines (preferably secondary or tertiary), depending upon the particular species and the selected ph of the composition. any anionic counterions can be used in association with the cationic polymers so long as the polymers remain soluble in water, in the composition, or in a coacervate phase of the composition, and so long as the counterions are physically and chemically compatible with the essential components of the composition or do not otherwise unduly impair product performance, stability or aesthetics. non limiting examples of such counterions include halides (e.g., chloride, fluoride, bromide, iodide), sulfate and methylsulfate. non limiting examples of such polymers are described in the ctfa. non limiting examples of suitable cationic polymers include copolymers of vinyl monomers having cationic protonated amine or quaternary ammonium functionalities with water soluble spacer monomers such as acrylamide, methacrylamide, alkyl and dialkyl acrylamides, alkyl and dialkyl methacrylamides, alkyl acrylate, alkyl methacrylate, vinyl caprolactone or vinyl pyrrolidone. suitable cationic protonated amino and quaternary ammonium monomers, for inclusion in the cationic polymers of the composition herein, include vinyl compounds substituted with dialkylaminoalkyl acrylate, dialkylaminoalkyl methacrylate, monoalkylaminoalkyl acrylate, monoalkylaminoalkyl methacrylate, trialkyl methacryloxyalkyl ammonium salt, trialkyl acryloxyalkyl ammonium salt, diallyl quaternary ammonium salts, and vinyl quaternary ammonium monomers having cyclic cationic nitrogen-containing rings such as pyridinium, imidazolium, and quaternized pyrrolidone, e.g., alkyl vinyl imidazolium, alkyl vinyl pyridinium, alkyl vinyl pyrrolidone salts. other suitable cationic polymers for use in the compositions include copolymers of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone and 1-vinyl-3-methylimidazolium salt (e.g., chloride salt) (referred to in the industry by the cosmetic, toiletry, and fragrance association, “ctfa”, as polyquaternium-16); copolymers of 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (referred to in the industry by ctfa as polyquaternium-11); cationic diallyl quaternary ammonium-containing polymers, including, for example, dimethyldiallylammonium chloride homopolymer, copolymers of acrylamide and dimethyldiallylammonium chloride (referred to in the industry by ctfa as polyquaternium 6 and polyquaternium 7, respectively); amphoteric copolymers of acrylic acid including copolymers of acrylic acid and dimethyldiallylammonium chloride (referred to in the industry by ctfa as polyquaternium 22), terpolymers of acrylic acid with dimethyldiallylammonium chloride and acrylamide (referred to in the industry by ctfa as polyquaternium 39), and terpolymers of acrylic acid with methacrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride and methylacrylate (referred to in the industry by ctfa as polyquaternium 47). preferred cationic substituted monomers are the cationic substituted dialkylaminoalkyl acrylamides, dialkylaminoalkyl methacrylamides, and combinations thereof. these preferred monomers conform the to the formula: wherein r 1 is hydrogen, methyl or ethyl; each of r 2 , r 3 and r 4 are independently hydrogen or a short chain alkyl having from about 1 to about 8 carbon atoms, preferably from about 1 to about 5 carbon atoms, more preferably from about 1 to about 2 carbon atoms; n is an integer having a value of from about 1 to about 8, preferably from about 1 to about 4; and x is a counterion. the nitrogen attached to r 2 , r 3 and r 4 may be a protonated amine (primary, secondary or tertiary), but is preferably a quaternary ammonium wherein each of r 2 , r 3 and r 4 are alkyl groups a non limiting example of which is polymethyacrylamidopropyl trimonium chloride, available under the trade name polycare 133, from rhone-poulenc, cranberry, n.j., u.s.a. other suitable cationic polymers for use in the composition include polysaccharide polymers, such as cationic cellulose derivatives and cationic starch derivatives. suitable cationic polysaccharide polymers include those which conform to the formula: wherein a is an anhydroglucose residual group, such as a starch or cellulose anhydroglucose residual; r is an alkylene oxyalkylene, polyoxyalkylene, or hydroxyalkylene group, or combination thereof; r1, r2, and r3 independently are alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, arylalkyl, alkoxyalkyl, or alkoxyaryl groups, each group containing up to about 18 carbon atoms, and the total number of carbon atoms for each cationic moiety (i.e., the sum of carbon atoms in r1, r2 and r3) preferably being about 20 or less; and x is an anionic counterion as described in hereinbefore. preferred cationic cellulose polymers are salts of hydroxyethyl cellulose reacted with trimethyl ammonium substituted epoxide, referred to in the industry (ctfa) as polyquaternium 10 and available from amerchol corp. (edison, n.j., usa) in their polymer lr, jr, and kg series of polymers. other suitable types of cationic cellulose includes the polymeric quaternary ammonium salts of hydroxyethyl cellulose reacted with lauryl dimethyl ammonium-substituted epoxide referred to in the industry (ctfa) as polyquaternium 24. these materials are available from amerchol corp. under the tradename polymer lm-200. other suitable cationic polymers include cationic guar gum derivatives, such as guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, specific examples of which include the jaguar series commercially avaialable from rhone-poulenc incorporated and the n-hance series commercially available from aqualon division of hercules, inc. other suitable cationic polymers include quaternary nitrogen-containing cellulose ethers, some examples of which are described in u.s. pat. no. 3,962,418. other suitable cationic polymers include copolymers of etherified cellulose, guar and starch, some examples of which are described in u.s. pat. no. 3,958,581. when used, the cationic polymers herein are either soluble in the composition or are soluble in a complex coacervate phase in the composition formed by the cationic polymer and the anionic, amphoteric and/or zwitterionic detersive surfactant component described hereinbefore. complex coacervates of the cationic polymer can also be formed with other charged materials in the composition. techniques for analysis of formation of complex coacervates are known in the art. for example, microscopic analyses of the compositions, at any chosen stage of dilution, can be utilized to identify whether a coacervate phase has formed. such coacervate phase will be identifiable as an additional emulsified phase in the composition. the use of dyes can aid in distinguishing the coacervate phase from other insoluble phases dispersed in the composition. 31. nonionic polymers the compositions herein can comprise nonionic polymers. for instance, polyalkylene glycols having a molecular weight of more than about 1000 can be used. these can include those having the following general formula: wherein r 95 is selected from the group consisting of h, methyl, and mixtures thereof. preferred polyethylene glycol polymers can include peg-2m (also known as polyox wsr® n-10, which is available from union carbide and as peg-2,000); peg-5m (also known as polyox wsr® n-35 and polyox wsr® n-80, available from union carbide and as peg-5,000 and polyethylene glycol 300,000); peg-7m (also known as polyox wsr® n-750 available from union carbide); peg-9m (also known as polyox wsr® n-3333 available from union carbide); and peg-14 m (also known as polyox wsr® n-3000 available from union carbide). 32. conditioning agents conditioning agents include any material which is used to give a particular conditioning benefit to keratinous tissue. for instance, in hair treatment compositions, suitable conditioning agents include those which deliver one or more benefits relating to shine, softness, combability, antistatic properties, wet-handling, damage, manageability, body, and greasiness. conditioning agents useful in the compositions of the present invention can comprise a water insoluble, water dispersible, non-volatile liquid that forms emulsified, liquid particles. suitable conditioning agents for use in the composition include those conditioning agents characterized generally as silicones (e.g., silicone oils, cationic silicones, silicone gums, high refractive silicones, and silicone resins), organic conditioning oils (e.g., hydrocarbon oils, polyolefins, and fatty esters) or combinations thereof, or those conditioning agents which otherwise form liquid, dispersed particles in the aqueous surfactant matrix herein. when included, the concentration of the conditioning agent in the composition can be sufficient to provide the desired conditioning benefits, and as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. such concentration can vary with the conditioning agent, the conditioning performance desired, the average size of the conditioning agent particles, the type and concentration of other components, and other like factors. a. silicones the conditioning agent of the compositions of the present invention is preferably an insoluble silicone conditioning agent. the silicone conditioning agent particles may comprise volatile silicone, non-volatile silicone, or combinations thereof. preferred are non-volatile silicone conditioning agents. if volatile silicones are present, it will typically be incidental to their use as a solvent or carrier for commercially available forms of non-volatile silicone materials ingredients, such as silicone gums and resins. the silicone conditioning agent particles may comprise a silicone fluid conditioning agent and may also comprise other ingredients, such as a silicone resin to improve silicone fluid deposition efficiency or enhance glossiness of the hair. the concentration of the silicone conditioning agent typically ranges from about 0.01% to about 10%, preferably from about 0.1% to about 8%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 5%, more preferably from about 0.2% to about 3%. non-limiting examples of suitable silicone conditioning agents, and optional suspending agents for the silicone, are described in u.s. reissue pat. no. 34,584, u.s. pat. no. 5,104,646, and u.s. pat. no. 5,106,609. the silicone conditioning agents for use in the compositions of the present invention preferably have a viscosity, as measured at 25° c., from about 20 to about 2,000,000 centistokes (“csk”), more preferably from about 1,000 to about 1,800,000 csk, even more preferably from about 50,000 to about 1,500,000 csk, more preferably from about 100,000 to about 1,500,000 csk. the dispersed silicone conditioning agent particles typically have a number average particle diameter ranging from about 0.01 μm to about 50 μm. for small particle application to hair, the number average particle diameters typically range from about 0.01 μm to about 4 μm, preferably from about 0.01 μm to about 2 μm, more preferably from about 0.01 μm to about 0.5 μm. for larger particle application to hair, the number average particle diameters typically range from about 4 μm to about 50 μm, preferably from about 6 μm to about 30 μm, more preferably from about 9 μm to about 20 μm, more preferably from about 12 μm to about 18 μm. background material on silicones including sections discussing silicone fluids, gums, and resins, as well as manufacture of silicones, are found in encyclopedia of polymer science and engineering , vol. 15, 2d ed., pp 204-308, john wiley & sons, inc. (1989). b. silicone oils silicone fluids include silicone oils, which are flowable silicone materials having a viscosity, as measured at 25° c., less than 1,000,000 csk, preferably from about 5 csk to about 1,000,000 csk, more preferably from about 100 csk to about 600,000 csk. suitable silicone oils for use in the compositions of the present invention include polyalkyl siloxanes, polyaryl siloxanes, polyalkylaryl siloxanes, polyether siloxane copolymers, and mixtures thereof. other insoluble, non-volatile silicone fluids having hair conditioning properties may also be used. silicone oils include polyalkyl or polyaryl siloxanes which conform to the following formula (m): wherein r is aliphatic, preferably alkyl or alkenyl, or aryl, r can be substituted or unsubstituted, and x is an integer from 1 to about 8,000. suitable r groups for use in the compositions of the present invention include, but are not limited to: alkoxy, aryloxy, alkaryl, arylalkyl, arylalkenyl, alkamino, and ether-substituted, hydroxyl-substituted, and halogen-substituted aliphatic and aryl groups. suitable r groups also include cationic amines and quaternary ammonium groups. preferred alkyl and alkenyl substituents are c 1 to c 5 alkyls and alkenyls, more preferably from c 1 to c 4 , more preferably from c 1 to c 2 . the aliphatic portions of other alkyl-, alkenyl-, or alkynyl-containing groups (such as alkoxy, alkaryl, and alkamino) can be straight or branched chains, and are preferably from c 1 to c 5 , more preferably from c 1 to c 4 , even more preferably from c 1 to c 3 , more preferably from c 1 to c 2 . as discussed above, the r substituents can also contain amino functionalities (e.g. alkamino groups), which can be primary, secondary or tertiary amines or quaternary ammonium. these include mono-, di- and tri-alkylamino and alkoxyamino groups, wherein the aliphatic portion chain length is preferably as described herein. c. amino and cationic silicones cationic silicone fluids suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention include, but are not limited to, those which conform to the general formula (v): (r 1 ) a g 3-a -si—(—osig 2 ) n -(—osigb(r 1 ) 2-b ) m —o-sig 3-a (r 1 ) a wherein g is hydrogen, phenyl, hydroxy, or c 1 -c 8 alkyl, preferably methyl; a is 0 or an integer having a value from 1 to 3, preferably 0; b is 0 or 1, preferably 1; n is a number from 0 to 1,999, preferably from 49 to 499; m is an integer from 1 to 2,000, preferably from 1 to 10; the sum of n and m is a number from 1 to 2,000, preferably from 50 to 500; r 1 is a monovalent radical conforming to the general formula cqh2 q l, wherein q is an integer having a value from 2 to 8 and l is selected from the following groups: —n(r 2 )ch 2 —ch 2 —n(r 2 ) 2 —n(r 2 ) 2 —n(r 2 ) 3 a − —n(r 2 )ch 2 —ch 2 —nr 2 h 2 a − wherein r 2 is hydrogen, phenyl, benzyl, or a saturated hydrocarbon radical, preferably an alkyl radical from about c 1 to about c 20 , and a − is a halide ion. an especially preferred cationic silicone corresponding to formula (v) is the polymer known as “trimethylsilylamodimethicone”, which is shown below in formula (vi): other silicone cationic polymers which may be used in the compositions of the present invention are represented by the general formula (vii): wherein r 3 is a monovalent hydrocarbon radical from c 1 to c 18 , preferably an alkyl or alkenyl radical, such as methyl; r 4 is a hydrocarbon radical, preferably a c 1 to c 18 alkylene radical or a c 10 to c 18 alkyleneoxy radical, more preferably a c 1 to c 8 alkyleneoxy radical; q − is a halide ion, preferably chloride; r is an average statistical value from 2 to 20, preferably from 2 to 8; s is an average statistical value from 20 to 200, preferably from 20 to 50. a preferred polymer of this class is known as ucare silicone ale 56™, available from union carbide. d. silicone gums other silicone fluids suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are the insoluble silicone gums. these gums are polyorganosiloxane materials having a viscosity, as measured at 25° c., of greater than or equal to 1,000,000 csk. silicone gums are described in u.s. pat. no. 4,152,416; noll and walter, chemistry and technology of silicones , new york: academic press (1968); and in general electric silicone rubber product data sheets se 30, se 33, se 54 and se 76. specific non-limiting examples of silicone gums for use in the compositions of the present invention include polydimethylsiloxane, (polydimethylsiloxane) (methylvinylsiloxane) copolymer, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (diphenyl siloxane)(methylvinylsiloxane) copolymer and mixtures thereof. e. high refractive index silicones other non-volatile, insoluble silicone fluid conditioning agents that are suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are those known as “high refractive index silicones,” having a refractive index of at least about 1.46, preferably at least about 1.48, more preferably at least about 1.52, more preferably at least about 1.55. the refractive index of the polysiloxane fluid will generally be less than about 1.70, typically less than about 1.60. in this context, polysiloxane “fluid” includes oils as well as gums. the high refractive index polysiloxane fluid includes those represented by general formula (iii) above, as well as cyclic polysiloxanes such as those represented by formula (viii) below: wherein r is as defined above, and n is a number from about 3 to about 7, preferably from about 3 to about 5. the high refractive index polysiloxane fluids contain an amount of aryl-containing r substituents sufficient to increase the refractive index to the desired level, which is described herein. additionally, r and n must be selected so that the material is non-volatile. aryl-containing substituents include those which contain alicyclic and heterocyclic five and six member aryl rings and those which contain fused five or six member rings. the aryl rings themselves can be substituted or unsubstituted. generally, the high refractive index polysiloxane fluids will have a degree of aryl-containing substituents of at least about 15%, preferably at least about 20%, more preferably at least about 25%, even more preferably at least about 35%, more preferably at least about 50%. typically, the degree of aryl substitution will be less than about 90%, more generally less than about 85%, preferably from about 55% to about 80%. preferred high refractive index polysiloxane fluids have a combination of phenyl or phenyl derivative substituents (more preferably phenyl), with alkyl substituents, preferably c 1 -c 4 alkyl (more preferably methyl), hydroxy, or c 1 -c 4 alkylamino (especially —r 1 nhr 2 nh2 wherein each r 1 and r 2 independently is a c 1 -c 3 alkyl, alkenyl, and/or alkoxy). when high refractive index silicones are used in the compositions of the present invention, they are preferably used in solution with a spreading agent, such as a silicone resin or a surfactant, to reduce the surface tension by a sufficient amount to enhance spreading and thereby enhance the glossiness (subsequent to drying) of hair treated with the compositions. silicone fluids suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 2,826,551, u.s. pat. no. 3,964,500, u.s. pat. no. 4,364,837, british pat. no. 849,433, and silicon compounds , petrarch systems, inc. (1984). f. silicone resins silicone resins may be included in the silicone conditioning agent of the compositions of the present invention. these resins are highly cross-linked polymeric siloxane systems. the cross-linking is introduced through the incorporation of trifunctional and tetrafunctional silanes with monofunctional or difunctional, or both, silanes during manufacture of the silicone resin. silicone materials and silicone resins in particular, can conveniently be identified according to a shorthand nomenclature system known to those of ordinary skill in the art as “mdtq” nomenclature. under this system, the silicone is described according to presence of various siloxane monomer units which make up the silicone. briefly, the symbol m denotes the monofunctional unit (ch 3 ) 3 sio 0.5 ; d denotes the difunctional unit (ch 3 ) 2 sio; t denotes the trifunctional unit (ch 3 )sio 1.5 ; and q denotes the quadra- or tetra-functional unit sio 2 . primes of the unit symbols (e.g. m′, d′, t′, and q′) denote substituents other than methyl, and must be specifically defined for each occurrence. preferred silicone resins for use in the compositions of the present invention include, but are not limited to mq, mt, mtq, mdt and mdtq resins. methyl is a preferred silicone substituent. especially preferred silicone resins are mq resins, wherein the m:q ratio is from about 0.5:1.0 to about 1.5:1.0 and the average molecular weight of the silicone resin is from about 1000 to about 10,000. the weight ratio of the non-volatile silicone fluid, having refractive index below 1.46, to the silicone resin component, when used, is preferably from about 4:1 to about 400:1, more preferably from about 9:1 to about 200:1, more preferably from about 19:1 to about 100:1, particularly when the silicone fluid component is a polydimethylsiloxane fluid or a mixture of polydimethylsiloxane fluid and polydimethylsiloxane gum as described herein. insofar as the silicone resin forms a part of the same phase in the compositions hereof as the silicone fluid, i.e. the conditioning active, the sum of the fluid and resin should be included in determining the level of silicone conditioning agent in the composition. 33. organic conditioning oils compositions of the present invention may also comprise organic conditioning oil. in one embodiment, from about 0.05% to about 3%, preferably from about 0.08% to about 1.5%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 1%, of at least one organic conditioning oil is included as a conditioning agent, either alone or in combination with other conditioning agents, such as the silicones (described herein). a. hydrocarbon oils suitable organic conditioning oils for use as conditioning agents in the compositions of the present invention include, but are not limited to, hydrocarbon oils having at least about 10 carbon atoms, such as cyclic hydrocarbons, straight chain aliphatic hydrocarbons (saturated or unsaturated), and branched chain aliphatic hydrocarbons (saturated or unsaturated), including polymers and mixtures thereof. straight chain hydrocarbon oils preferably are from about c 12 to about c 19 . branched chain hydrocarbon oils, including hydrocarbon polymers, typically will contain more than 19 carbon atoms. specific non-limiting examples of these hydrocarbon oils include paraffin oil, mineral oil, saturated and unsaturated dodecane, saturated and unsaturated tridecane, saturated and unsaturated tetradecane, saturated and unsaturated pentadecane, saturated and unsaturated hexadecane, polybutene, polydecene, and mixtures thereof. branched-chain isomers of these compounds, as well as of higher chain length hydrocarbons, can also be used, examples of which include highly branched, saturated or unsaturated, alkanes such as the permethyl-substituted isomers, e.g., the permethyl-substituted isomers of hexadecane and eicosane, such as 2,2,4,4,6,6,8,8-dimethyl-10-methylundecane and 2,2,4,4,6,6-dimethyl-8-methylnonane, available from permethyl corporation. hydrocarbon polymers such as polybutene and polydecene. a preferred hydrocarbon polymer is polybutene, such as the copolymer of isobutylene and butene. a commercially available material of this type is l-14 polybutene from amoco chemical corporation. the concentration of such hydrocarbon oils in the composition preferably range from about 0.05% to about 20%, more preferably from about 0.08% to about 1.5%, and even more preferably from about 0.1% to about 1%. b. polyolefins organic conditioning oils for use in the compositions of the present invention can also include liquid polyolefins, more preferably liquid poly-α-olefins, more preferably hydrogenated liquid poly-α-olefins. polyolefins for use herein are prepared by polymerization of c 4 to about c 14 olefenic monomers, preferably from about c 6 to about c 12 . non-limiting examples of olefenic monomers for use in preparing the polyolefin liquids herein include ethylene, propylene, 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, 1-dodecene, 1-tetradecene, branched chain isomers such as 4-methyl-1-pentene, and mixtures thereof. also suitable for preparing the polyolefin liquids are olefin-containing refinery feedstocks or effluents. preferred hydrogenated α-olefin monomers include, but are not limited to: 1-hexene to 1-hexadecenes, 1-octene to 1-tetradecene, and mixtures thereof. c. fatty esters other suitable organic conditioning oils for use as the conditioning agent in the compositions of the present invention include, but are not limited to, fatty esters having at least 10 carbon atoms. these fatty esters include esters with hydrocarbyl chains derived from fatty acids or alcohols (e.g. mono-esters, polyhydric alcohol esters, and di- and tri-carboxylic acid esters). the hydrocarbyl radicals of the fatty esters hereof may include or have covalently bonded thereto other compatible functionalities, such as amides and alkoxy moieties (e.g., ethoxy or ether linkages, etc.). specific examples of preferred fatty esters include, but are not limited to: isopropyl isostearate, hexyl laurate, isohexyl laurate, isohexyl palmitate, isopropyl palmitate, decyl oleate, isodecyl oleate, hexadecyl stearate, decyl stearate, isopropyl isostearate, dihexyldecyl adipate, lauryl lactate, myristyl lactate, cetyl lactate, oleyl stearate, oleyl oleate, oleyl myristate, lauryl acetate, cetyl propionate, and oleyl adipate. other fatty esters suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are mono-carboxylic acid esters of the general formula r′coor, wherein r′ and r are alkyl or alkenyl radicals, and the sum of carbon atoms in r and r is at least 10, preferably at least 22. still other fatty esters suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are di- and tri-alkyl and alkenyl esters of carboxylic acids, such as esters of c 4 to c 8 dicarboxylic acids (e.g. c 1 to c 22 esters, preferably c 1 to c 6 , of succinic acid, glutaric acid, and adipic acid). specific non-limiting examples of di- and tri-alkyl and alkenyl esters of carboxylic acids include isocetyl stearyol stearate, diisopropyl adipate, and tristearyl citrate. other fatty esters suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are those known as polyhydric alcohol esters. such polyhydric alcohol esters include alkylene glycol esters, such as ethylene glycol mono and di-fatty acid esters, diethylene glycol mono- and di-fatty acid esters, polyethylene glycol mono- and di-fatty acid esters, propylene glycol mono- and di-fatty acid esters, polypropylene glycol monooleate, polypropylene glycol 2000 monostearate, ethoxylated propylene glycol monostearate, glyceryl mono- and di-fatty acid esters, polyglycerol poly-fatty acid esters, ethoxylated glyceryl monostearate, 1,3-butylene glycol monostearate, 1,3-butylene glycol distearate, polyoxyethylene polyol fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid esters, and polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid esters. still other fatty esters suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are glycerides, including, but not limited to, mono-, di-, and tri-glycerides, preferably di- and tri-glycerides, more preferably triglycerides. for use in the compositions described herein, the glycerides are preferably the mono-, di-, and tri-esters of glycerol and long chain carboxylic acids, such as c 10 to c 22 carboxylic acids. a variety of these types of materials can be obtained from vegetable and animal fats and oils, such as castor oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, olive oil, cod liver oil, almond oil, avocado oil, palm oil, sesame oil, lanolin and soybean oil. synthetic oils include, but are not limited to, triolein and tristearin glyceryl dilaurate. other fatty esters suitable for use in the compositions of the present invention are water insoluble synthetic fatty esters. some preferred synthetic esters conform to the general formula (ix): wherein r 1 is a c 7 to c 9 alkyl, alkenyl, hydroxyalkyl or hydroxyalkenyl group, preferably a saturated alkyl group, more preferably a saturated, linear, alkyl group; n is a positive integer having a value from 2 to 4, preferably 3; and y is an alkyl, alkenyl, hydroxy or carboxy substituted alkyl or alkenyl, having from about 2 to about 20 carbon atoms, preferably from about 3 to about 14 carbon atoms. other preferred synthetic esters conform to the general formula (x): wherein r 2 is a c 8 to c 10 alkyl, alkenyl, hydroxyalkyl or hydroxyalkenyl group; preferably a saturated alkyl group, more preferably a saturated, linear, alkyl group; n and y are as defined above in formula (x). specific non-limiting examples of suitable synthetic fatty esters for use in the compositions of the present invention include: p-43 (c 8 -c 10 triester of trimethylolpropane), mcp-684 (tetraester of 3,3 diethanol-1,5 pentadiol), mcp 121 (c 8 -c 10 diester of adipic acid), all of which are available from mobil chemical company. 34. other conditioning agents also suitable for use in the compositions herein are the conditioning agents described by the procter & gamble company in u.s. pat. nos. 5,674,478, and 5,750,122. also suitable for use herein are those conditioning agents described in u.s. pat. no. 4,529,586 (clairol), u.s. pat. no. 4,507,280 (clairol), u.s. pat. no. 4,663,158 (clairol), u.s. pat. no. 4,197,865 (l′oreal), u.s. pat. no. 4,217,914 (l′oreal), u.s. pat. no. 4,381,919 (l′oreal), and u.s. pat. no. 4,422,853 (l′oreal). 35. anti-dandruff actives the compositions of the present invention may also contain an anti-dandruff agent. suitable, non-limiting examples of anti-dandruff particulates include: pyridinethione salts, azoles, selenium sulfide, particulate sulfur, and mixtures thereof. preferred are pyridinethione salts. pyridinethione anti-dandruff particulates, especially 1-hydroxy-2-pyridinethione salts, are highly preferred particulate anti-dandruff agents for use in compositions of the present invention. the concentration of pyridinethione anti-dandruff particulate typically ranges from about 0.1% to about 4%, by weight of the composition, preferably from about 0.1% to about 3%, more preferably from about 0.3% to about 2%. preferred pyridinethione salts include those formed from heavy metals such as zinc, tin, cadmium, magnesium, aluminum and zirconium, preferably zinc, more preferably the zinc salt of 1-hydroxy-2-pyridinethione (known as “zinc pyridinethione” or “zpt”), more preferably 1-hydroxy-2-pyridinethione salts in platelet particle form, wherein the particles have an average size of up to about 20μ, preferably up to about 5μ, more preferably up to about 2.5μ. salts formed from other cations, such as sodium, may also be suitable. pyridinethione anti-dandruff agents are described, for example, in u.s. pat. no. 2,809,971; u.s. pat. no. 3,236,733; u.s. pat. no. 3,753,196; u.s. pat. no. 3,761,418; u.s. pat. no. 4,345,080; u.s. pat. no. 4,323,683; u.s. pat. no. 4,379,753; and u.s. pat. no. 4,470,982. it is contemplated that when zpt is used as the anti-dandruff particulate in the compositions herein, that the growth or re-growth of hair may be stimulated or regulated, or both, or that hair loss may be reduced or inhibited, or that hair may appear thicker or fuller. 36. other anti-microbial actives the present invention can comprise one or more anti-fungal or anti-microbial actives. suitable anti-microbial actives include coal tar, sulfur, whitfield's ointment, castellani's paint, aluminum chloride, gentian violet, octopirox (piroctone olamine), 3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide (trichlosan), triclocarban, ciclopirox olamine, undecylenic acid and it's metal salts, potassium permanganate, selenium sulphide, sodium thiosulfate, propylene glycol, oil of bitter orange, urea preparations, griseofulvin, 8-hydroxyquinoline ciloquinol, thiobendazole, thiocarbamates, haloprogin, polyenes, hydroxypyridone, morpholine, benzylamine, allylamines (such as terbinafine), tea tree oil, clove leaf oil, coriander, palmarosa, berberine, thyme red, cinnamon oil, cinnamic aldehyde, citronellic acid, hinokitol, ichthyol pale, sensiva sc-50, elestab hp-100, azelaic acid, lyticase, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate (ipbc), isothiazalinones such as octyl isothiazalinone and azoles, and combinations thereof. preferred anti-microbials include itraconazole, ketoconazole, selenium sulphide and coal tar. in one embodiment, one or more anti-fungal or anti-microbial active is combined with an anti-dandruff active selected from polyvalent metal salts of pyrithione. a. azoles azole anti-microbials include imidazoles such as benzimidazole, benzothiazole, bifonazole, butaconazole nitrate, climbazole, clotrimazole, croconazole, eberconazole, econazole, elubiol, fenticonazole, fluconazole, flutimazole, isoconazole, ketoconazole, lanoconazole, metronidazole, miconazole, neticonazole, omoconazole, oxiconazole nitrate, sertaconazole, sulconazole nitrate, tioconazole, thiazole, and triazoles such as terconazole and itraconazole, and combinations thereof. when present in the composition, the azole anti-microbial active is included in an amount from about 0.01% to about 5%, preferably from about 0.1% to about 3%, and more preferably from about 0.3% to about 2%, by weight of the composition. especially preferred herein are ketoconazole and climbazole. b. selenium sulfide selenium sulfide is a particulate anti-dandruff agent suitable for use in the anti-microbial compositions of the present invention, effective concentrations of which range from about 0.1% to about 4%, by weight of the composition, preferably from about 0.3% to about 2.5%, more preferably from about 0.5% to about 1.5%. selenium sulfide is generally regarded as a compound having one mole of selenium and two moles of sulfur, although it may also be a cyclic structure that conforms to the general formula se x s y , wherein x+y=8. average particle diameters for the selenium sulfide are typically less than 15 μm, as measured by forward laser light scattering device (e.g. malvern 3600 instrument), preferably less than 10 μm. selenium sulfide compounds are described, for example, in u.s. pat. no. 2,694,668; u.s. pat. no. 3,152,046; u.s. pat. no. 4,089,945; and u.s. pat. no. 4,885,107. c. sulfur sulfur may also be used as a particulate anti-microbial/anti-dandruff agent in the anti-microbial compositions of the present invention. effective concentrations of the particulate sulfur are typically from about 1% to about 4%, by weight of the composition, preferably from about 2% to about 4%. d. keratolytic agents the present invention may further comprise one or more keratolytic agents such as salicylic acid. e. additional anti-microbial actives additional anti-microbial actives of the present invention may include extracts of melaleuca (tea tree) and charcoal. the present invention may also comprise combinations of anti-microbial actives. such combinations may include octopirox and zinc pyrithione combinations, pine tar and sulfur combinations, salicylic acid and zinc pyrithione combinations, octopirox and climbasole combinations, and salicylic acid and octopirox combinations, and mixtures thereof. 37. humectant the compositions of the present invention may contain a humectant. humectants can be selected from the group consisting of polyhydric alcohols, water soluble alkoxylated nonionic polymers, and mixtures thereof. humectants, when used herein, are preferably used at levels of from about 0.1% to about 20%, more preferably from about 0.5% to about 5%. polyhydric alcohols useful herein include glycerin, sorbitol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, hexylene glycol, ethoxylated glucose, 1, 2-hexane diol, hexanetriol, dipropylene glycol, erythritol, trehalose, diglycerin, xylitol, maltitol, maltose, glucose, fructose, sodium chondroitin sulfate, sodium hyaluronate, sodium adenosine phosphate, sodium lactate, pyrrolidone carbonate, glucosamine, cyclodextrin, and mixtures thereof. water soluble alkoxylated nonionic polymers useful herein include polyethylene glycols and polypropylene glycols having a molecular weight of up to about 1000 such as those with ctfa names peg-200, peg-400, peg-600, peg-1000, and mixtures thereof. 38. suspending agent the compositions of the present invention may further comprise a suspending agent, preferably at concentrations effective for suspending water-insoluble material in dispersed form in the compositions or for modifying the viscosity of the composition. such concentrations can preferably range from about 0.1% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.3% to about 5.0%. suspending agents useful herein include anionic polymers and nonionic polymers. useful herein are vinyl polymers such as cross linked acrylic acid polymers with the ctfa name carbomer, cellulose derivatives and modified cellulose polymers such as methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, nitro cellulose, sodium cellulose sulfate, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, crystalline cellulose, cellulose powder, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, guar gum, hydroxypropyl guar gum, xanthan gum, arabia gum, tragacanth, galactan, carob gum, guar gum, karaya gum, carragheenin, pectin, agar, quince seed ( cydonia oblonga mill), starch (rice, corn, potato, wheat), algae colloids (algae extract), microbiological polymers such as dextran, succinoglucan, pulleran, starch-based polymers such as carboxymethyl starch, methylhydroxypropyl starch, alginic acid-based polymers such as sodium alginate, alginic acid propylene glycol esters, acrylate polymers such as sodium polyacrylate, polyethylacrylate, polyacrylamide, polyethyleneimine, and inorganic water soluble material such as bentonite, aluminum magnesium silicate, laponite, hectonite, and anhydrous silicic acid. commercially available viscosity modifiers highly useful herein include carbomers with tradenames carbopol 934, carbopol 940, carbopol 950, carbopol 980, and carbopol 981, all available from b. f. goodrich company, acrylates/steareth-20 methacrylate copolymer with tradename acrysol 22 available from rohm and hass, nonoxynyl hydroxyethylcellulose with tradename amercell polymer hm-1500 available from amerchol, methylcellulose with tradename benecel, hydroxyethyl cellulose with tradename natrosol, hydroxypropyl cellulose with tradename klucel, cetyl hydroxyethyl cellulose with tradename polysurf 67, all supplied by hercules, ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide based polymers with tradenames carbowax pegs, polyox wasrs, and ucon fluids, all supplied by amerchol. other optional suspending agents include crystalline suspending agents which can be categorized as acyl derivatives, long chain amine oxides, and mixtures thereof. these suspending agents are described in u.s. pat. no. 4,741,855. these preferred suspending agents include ethylene glycol esters of fatty acids preferably having from about 16 to about 22 carbon atoms. more preferred are the ethylene glycol stearates, both mono and distearate, but particularly the distearate containing less than about 7% of the mono stearate. other suitable suspending agents include alkanol amides of fatty acids, preferably having from about 16 to about 22 carbon atoms, more preferably about 16 to 18 carbon atoms, preferred examples of which include stearic monoethanolamide, stearic diethanolamide, stearic monoisopropanolamide and stearic monoethanolamide stearate. other long chain acyl derivatives include long chain esters of long chain fatty acids (e.g., stearyl stearate, cetyl palmitate, etc.); long chain esters of long chain alkanol amides (e.g., stearamide diethanolamide distearate, stearamide monoethanolamide stearate); and glyceryl esters (e.g., glyceryl distearate, trihydroxystearin, tribehenin) a commercial example of which is thixin r available from rheox, inc. long chain acyl derivatives, ethylene glycol esters of long chain carboxylic acids, long chain amine oxides, and alkanol amides of long chain carboxylic acids in addition to the preferred materials listed above may be used as suspending agents. other long chain acyl derivatives suitable for use as suspending agents include n,n-dihydrocarbyl amido benzoic acid and soluble salts thereof (e.g., na, k), particularly n,n-di(hydrogenated) c.sub.16, c.sub.18 and tallow amido benzoic acid species of this family, which are commercially available from stepan company (northfield, ill., usa). examples of suitable long chain amine oxides for use as suspending agents include alkyl dimethyl amine oxides, e.g., stearyl dimethyl amine oxide. other suitable suspending agents include primary amines having a fatty alkyl moiety having at least about 16 carbon atoms, examples of which include palmitamine or stearamine, and secondary amines having two fatty alkyl moieties each having at least about 12 carbon atoms, examples of which include dipalmitoylamine or di(hydrogenated tallow)amine still other suitable suspending agents include di(hydrogenated tallow)phthalic acid amide, and crosslinked maleic anhydride-methyl vinyl ether copolymer. 39. terpene alcohol the compositions of the present invention may comprise a terpene alcohol or combinations of terpene alcohols. as used herein, “terpene alcohol” refers to organic compounds composed of two or more 5-carbon isoprene units [ch 2 ═c(ch 3 )—ch═ch 2 ] with a terminal hydroxyl group. preferably, the composition can comprise from about 0.001% to about 50%, preferably from about 0.01% to about 15%, more preferably from about 0.1% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.5% to about 5%, still more preferably from about 1% to about 3%, by weight of the composition, of the terpene alcohol. examples of terpene alcohols that can be useful herein include farnesol, derivatives of farnesol, isomers of farnesol, geraniol, derivatives of geraniol, isomers of geraniol, phytantriol, derivatives of phytantriol, isomers of phytantriol, and mixtures thereof. a preferred terpene alcohol for use herein is farnesol. a. farnesol and derivatives thereof farnesol is a naturally occurring substance which is believed to act as a precursor and/or intermediate in the biosynthesis of squalene and sterols, especially cholesterol. farnesol is also involved in protein modification and regulation (e.g., farnesylation of proteins), and there is a cell nuclear receptor which is responsive to farnesol. chemically, farnesol is [2e,6e]-3,7,11-trimethyl-2,6,10-dodecatrien-1-ol and as used herein “farnesol” includes isomers and tautomers of such. farnesol is commercially available, e.g., under the names farnesol (a mixture of isomers from dragoco, 10 gordon drive, totowa, n.j.) and trans-trans-farnesol (sigma chemical company, p. o. box 14508, st. louis, mo.). a suitable derivative of farnesol is farnesyl acetate which is commercially available from aldrich chemical company, p. o. box 2060, milwaukee, wis. b. geraniol and derivatives thereof geraniol is the common name for the chemical known as 3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadien-1-ol. as used herein, “geraniol” includes isomers and tautomers of such. geraniol is commercially available from aldrich chemical company (p. o. box 2060, milwaukee, wis.). suitable derivatives of geraniol include geranyl acetate, geranylgeraniol, geranyl pyrophosphate, and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, all of which are commercially available from sigma chemical company, p. o. box 14508, st. louis, mo. for example, geraniol is useful as a spider vessel/red blotchiness repair agent, a dark circle/puffy eye repair agent, sallowness repair agent, a sagging repair agent, an anti-itch agent, a skin thickening agent, a pore reduction agent, oil/shine reduction agent, a post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation repair agent, wound treating agent, an anti-cellulite agent, and regulating skin texture, including wrinkles and fine lines. c. phytantriol and derivatives thereof phytantriol is the common name for the chemical known as 3,7,11,15,tetramethylhexadecane-1,2,3,-triol. phytantriol is commercially available from basf (1609 biddle avenue, whyandotte, mich.). for example, phytantriol is useful as a spider vessel/red blotchiness repair agent, a dark circle/puffy eye repair agent, sallowness repair agent, a sagging repair agent, an anti-itch agent, a skin thickening agent, a pore reduction agent, oil/shine reduction agent, a post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation repair agent, wound treating agent, an anti-cellulite agent, and regulating skin texture, including wrinkles and fine lines. iv. carrier the compositions of the present invention can comprise an orally or a dermatologically acceptable carrier, or injectible liquid, depending upon the desired product form. a. dermatologically acceptable carrier the topical compositions of the present invention can also comprise a dermatologically acceptable carrier for the composition. in one embodiment, the carrier is present at a level of from about 50% to about 99.99%, preferably from about 60% to about 99.9%, more preferably from about 70% to about 98%, and even more preferably from about 80% to about 95%, by weight of the composition. the carrier can be in a wide variety of forms. non-limiting examples include simple solutions (water or oil based), emulsions, and solid forms (gels, sticks). for example, emulsion carriers can include, but are not limited to, oil-in-water, water-in-oil, water-in-silicone, water-in-oil-in-water, and oil-in-water-in-silicone emulsions. depending upon the desired product form, preferred carriers can comprise an emulsion such as oil-in-water emulsions (e.g., silicone in water) and water-in-oil emulsions, (e.g., water-in-silicone emulsions). as will be understood by the skilled artisan, a given component will distribute primarily into either the water or oil phase, depending on the water solubility/dispensability of the component in the composition. in one embodiment, oil-in-water emulsions are especially preferred. emulsions according to the present invention can contain an aqueous phase and a lipid or oil. lipids and oils may be derived from animals, plants, or petroleum and may be natural or synthetic (i.e., man-made). preferred emulsions can also contain a humectant, such as glycerin. emulsions can further comprise from about 0.1% to about 10%, more preferably from about 0.2% to about 5%, of an emulsifier, based on the weight of the composition. emulsifiers may be nonionic, anionic or cationic. suitable emulsifiers are disclosed in, for example, u.s. pat. no. 3,755,560, u.s. pat. no. 4,421,769, and mccutcheon's detergents and emulsifiers , north american edition, pages 317-324 (1986). suitable emulsions may have a wide range of viscosities, depending on the desired product form. the compositions of the present invention can be in the form of pourable liquids (under ambient conditions). the compositions can therefore comprise an aqueous carrier, which is typically present at a level of from about 20% to about 95%, preferably from about 60% to about 85%. the aqueous carrier may comprise water, or a miscible mixture of water and organic solvent, but preferably comprises water with minimal or no significant concentrations of organic solvent, except as otherwise incidentally incorporated into the composition as minor ingredients of other essential or optional components. preferred water-in-silicone and oil-in-water emulsions are described in greater detail below. a. water-in-silicone emulsion water-in-silicone emulsions contain a continuous silicone phase and a dispersed aqueous phase. (1) continuous silicone phase preferred water-in-silicone emulsions of the present invention contain from about 1% to about 60%, preferably from about 5% to about 40%, more preferably from about 10% to about 20%, by weight of a continuous silicone phase. the continuous silicone phase exists as an external phase that contains or surrounds the discontinuous aqueous phase described hereinafter. the continuous silicone phase contains a polyorganosiloxane oil. a preferred water-in-silicone emulsion system is formulated to provide an oxidatively stable vehicle for the retinoid. the continuous silicone phase of these preferred emulsions contain between about 50% and about 99.9% by weight of organopolysiloxane oil and less than about 50% by weight of a non-silicone oil. in an especially preferred embodiment, the continuous silicone phase contains at least about 50%, preferably from about 60% to about 99.9%, more preferably from about 70% to about 99.9%, and even more preferably from about 80% to about 99.9%, polyorganosiloxane oil by weight of the continuous silicone phase, and up to about 50% non-silicone oils, preferably less about 40%, more preferably less than about 30%, even more preferably less than about 10%, and even more preferably less than about 2%, by weight of the continuous silicone phase. these preferred emulsion systems provide more oxidative stability to the retinoid over extended periods of time than comparable water-in-oil emulsions containing lower concentrations of the polyorganosiloxane oil. concentrations of non-silicone oils in the continuous silicone phase are minimized or avoided altogether so as to further enhance oxidative stability of the selected retinoid in the compositions. water-in-silicone emulsions of this type are described in pct application wo 97/21423, published jun. 19, 1997. the organopolysiloxane oil for use in the composition may be volatile, non-volatile, or a mixture of volatile and non-volatile silicones. the term “nonvolatile” as used in this context refers to those silicones that are liquid under ambient conditions and have a flash point (under one atmospheric of pressure) of or greater than about 100° c. the term “volatile” as used in this context refers to all other silicone oils. suitable organopolysiloxanes can be selected from a wide variety of silicones spanning a broad range of volatilities and viscosities. examples of suitable organopolysiloxane oils include polyalkylsiloxanes, cyclic polyalkylsiloxanes, and polyalkylarylsiloxanes. polyalkylsiloxanes useful in the composition herein include polyalkylsiloxanes with viscosities of from about 0.5 to about 1,000,000 centistokes at 25° c. such polyalkylsiloxanes can be represented by the general chemical formula r 3 sio[r 2 sio] x sir 3 wherein r is an alkyl group having from one to about 30 carbon atoms (preferably r is methyl or ethyl, more preferably methyl; also mixed alkyl groups can be used in the same molecule), and x is an integer from 0 to about 10,000, chosen to achieve the desired molecular weight which can range to over about 10,000,000. commercially available polyalkylsiloxanes include the polydimethylsiloxanes, which are also known as dimethicones, examples of which include the vicasil® series sold by general electric company and the dow corning® 200 series sold by dow corning corporation. specific examples of suitable polydimethylsiloxanes include dow corning® 200 fluid having a viscosity of 0.65 centistokes and a boiling point of 100° c., dow corning® 225 fluid having a viscosity of 10 centistokes and a boiling point greater than 200° c., and dow corning® 200 fluids having viscosities of 50, 350, and 12,500 centistokes, respectively, and boiling points greater than 200° c. suitable dimethicones include those represented by the chemical formula (ch 3 ) 3 sio[ch 3 ) 2 sio] x [ch 3 rsio] y si(ch 3 ) 3 wherein r is straight or branched chain alkyl having from two to about 30 carbon atoms and x and y are each integers of 1 or greater selected to achieve the desired molecular weight which can range to over about 10,000,000. examples of these alkyl-substituted dimethicones include cetyl dimethicone and lauryl dimethicone. cyclic polyalkylsiloxanes suitable for use in the composition include those represented by the chemical formula [sir 2 —o] n wherein r is an alkyl group (preferably r is methyl or ethyl, more preferably methyl) and n is an integer from about 3 to about 8, more preferably n is an integer from about 3 to about 7, and still more preferably n is an integer from about 4 to about 6. when r is methyl, these materials are typically referred to as cyclomethicones. commercially available cyclomethicones include dow corning® 244 fluid having a viscosity of 2.5 centistokes, and a boiling point of 172° c., which primarily contains the cyclomethicone tetramer (i.e. n=4), dow corning® 344 fluid having a viscosity of 2.5 centistokes and a boiling point of 178° c., which primarily contains the cyclomethicone pentamer (i.e. n=5), dow corning® 245 fluid having a viscosity of 4.2 centistokes and a boiling point of 205° c., which primarily contains a mixture of the cyclomethicone tetramer and pentamer (i.e. n=4 and 5), and dow corning® 345 fluid having a viscosity of 4.5 centistokes and a boiling point of 217°, which primarily contains a mixture of the cyclomethicone tetramer, pentamer, and hexamer (i.e. n=4, 5, and 6). also useful are materials such as trimethylsiloxysilicate, which is a polymeric material corresponding to the general chemical formula [(ch 2 ) 3 sio 1/2 ] x [sio 2 ]y, wherein x is an integer from about 1 to about 500 and y is an integer from about 1 to about 500. a commercially available trimethylsiloxysilicate is sold as a mixture with dimethicone as dow corning® 593 fluid. dimethiconols are also suitable for use in the composition. these compounds can be represented by the chemical formulas r 3 sio[r 2 sio] x sir 2 oh and hor 2 sio[r 2 sio] x sir 2 oh wherein r is an alkyl group (preferably r is methyl or ethyl, more preferably methyl) and x is an integer from 0 to about 500, chosen to achieve the desired molecular weight. commercially available dimethiconols are typically sold as mixtures with dimethicone or cyclomethicone (e.g. dow corning® 1401, 1402, and 1403 fluids). polyalkylaryl siloxanes are also suitable for use in the composition. polymethylphenyl siloxanes having viscosities from about 15 to about 65 centistokes at 25° c. are especially useful. preferred for use herein are organopolysiloxanes selected from polyalkylsiloxanes, alkyl substituted dimethicones, cyclomethicones, trimethylsiloxysilicates, dimethiconols, polyalkylaryl siloxanes, and mixtures thereof. more preferred for use herein are polyalkylsiloxanes and cyclomethicones. preferred among the polyalkylsiloxanes are dimethicones. as stated above, the continuous silicone phase may contain one or more non-silicone oils. concentrations of non-silicone oils in the continuous silicone phase are preferably minimized or avoided altogether so as to further enhance oxidative stability of the selected retinoid in the compositions. suitable non-silicone oils have a melting point of about 25° c. or less under about one atmosphere of pressure. examples of non-silicone oils suitable for use in the continuous silicone phase are those well known in the chemical arts in topical personal care products in the form of water-in-oil emulsions, e.g., mineral oil, vegetable oils, synthetic oils, semisynthetic oils, etc. (2) dispersed aqueous phase the topical compositions of the present invention contain from about 30% to about 90%, more preferably from about 50% to about 85%, and still more preferably from about 70% to about 80% of a dispersed aqueous phase. in emulsion technology, the term “dispersed phase” is a term well-known to one skilled in the art which means that the phase exists as small particles or droplets that are suspended in and surrounded by a continuous phase. the dispersed phase is also known as the internal or discontinuous phase. the dispersed aqueous phase is a dispersion of small aqueous particles or droplets suspended in and surrounded by the continuous silicone phase described hereinbefore. the aqueous phase can be water, or a combination of water and one or more water soluble or dispersible ingredients. nonlimiting examples of such ingredients include thickeners, acids, bases, salts, chelants, gums, water-soluble or dispersible alcohols and polyols, buffers, preservatives, sunscreening agents, colorings, and the like. the topical compositions of the present invention will typically contain from about 25% to about 90%, preferably from about 40% to about 80%, more preferably from about 60% to about 80%, water in the dispersed aqueous phase by weight of the composition. (3) emulsifier for dispersing the aqueous phase the water-in-silicone emulsions of the present invention preferably contain an emulsifier. in a preferred embodiment, the composition contains from about 0.1% to about 10% emulsifier, more preferably from about 0.5% to about 7.5%, still more preferably from about 1% to about 5%, emulsifier by weight of the composition. the emulsifier helps disperse and suspend the aqueous phase within the continuous silicone phase. a wide variety of emulsifying agents can be employed herein to form the preferred water-in-silicone emulsion. known or conventional emulsifying agents can be used in the composition, provided that the selected emulsifying agent is chemically and physically compatible with components of the composition of the present invention, and provides the desired dispersion characteristics. suitable emulsifiers include silicone emulsifiers, non-silicon-containing emulsifiers, and mixtures thereof, known by those skilled in the art for use in topical personal care products. preferably these emulsifiers have an hlb value of or less than about 14, more preferably from about 2 to about 14, and still more preferably from about 4 to about 14. emulsifiers having an hlb value outside of these ranges can be used in combination with other emulsifiers to achieve an effective weighted average hlb for the combination that falls within these ranges. silicone emulsifiers are preferred. a wide variety of silicone emulsifiers are useful herein. these silicone emulsifiers are typically organically modified organopolysiloxanes, also known to those skilled in the art as silicone surfactants. useful silicone emulsifiers include dimethicone copolyols. these materials are polydimethyl siloxanes which have been modified to include polyether side chains such as polyethylene oxide chains, polypropylene oxide chains, mixtures of these chains, and polyether chains containing moieties derived from both ethylene oxide and propylene oxide. other examples include alkyl-modified dimethicone copolyols, i.e., compounds which contain c2-c30 pendant side chains. still other useful dimethicone copolyols include materials having various cationic, anionic, amphoteric, and zwitterionic pendant moieties. the dimethicone copolyol emulsifiers useful herein can be described by the following general structure: wherein r is c1-c30 straight, branched, or cyclic alkyl and r 2 is selected from the group consisting of —(ch 2 ) n —o—(ch 2 chr 3 o) m —h, and —(ch 2 ) n —o—(ch 2 chr 3 o) m —(ch 2 chr 4 o) o —h, wherein n is an integer from 3 to about 10; r 3 and r 4 are selected from the group consisting of h and c1-c6 straight or branched chain alkyl such that r 3 and r 4 are not simultaneously the same; and m, o, x, and y are selected such that the molecule has an overall molecular weight from about 200 to about 10,000,000, with m, o, x, and y being independently selected from integers of zero or greater such that m and o are not both simultaneously zero, and z being independently selected from integers of 1 or greater. it is recognized that positional isomers of these copolyols can be achieved. the chemical representations depicted above for the r 2 moieties containing the r 3 and r 4 groups are not meant to be limiting but are shown as such for convenience. also useful herein, although not strictly classified as dimethicone copolyols, are silicone surfactants as depicted in the structures in the previous paragraph wherein r 2 is: —(ch 2 ) n —o—r 5 , wherein r 5 is a cationic, anionic, amphoteric, or zwitterionic moiety. nonlimiting examples of dimethicone copolyols and other silicone surfactants useful as emulsifiers herein include polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant polyethylene oxide sidechains, polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant polypropylene oxide sidechains, polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant mixed polyethylene oxide and polypropylene oxide sidechains, polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant mixed poly(ethylene)(propylene)oxide sidechains, polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant organobetaine sidechains, polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant carboxylate sidechains, polydimethylsiloxane polyether copolymers with pendant quaternary ammonium sidechains; and also further modifications of the preceding copolymers containing pendant c2-c30 straight, branched, or cyclic alkyl moieties. examples of commercially available dimethicone copolyols useful herein sold by dow corning corporation are dow corning® 190, 193, q2-5220, 2501 wax, 2-5324 fluid, and 3225c (this later material being sold as a mixture with cyclomethicone). cetyl dimethicone copolyol is commercially available as a mixture with polyglyceryl-4 isostearate (and) hexyl laurate and is sold under the tradename abil® we-09 (available from goldschmidt). cetyl dimethicone copolyol is also commercially available as a mixture with hexyl laurate (and) polyglyceryl-3 oleate (and) cetyl dimethicone and is sold under the tradename abil® ws-08 (also available from goldschmidt). other nonlimiting examples of dimethicone copolyols also include lauryl dimethicone copolyol, dimethicone copolyol acetate, diemethicone copolyol adipate, dimethicone copolyolamine, dimethicone copolyol behenate, dimethicone copolyol butyl ether, dimethicone copolyol hydroxy stearate, dimethicone copolyol isostearate, dimethicone copolyol laurate, dimethicone copolyol methyl ether, dimethicone copolyol phosphate, and dimethicone copolyol stearate. see international cosmetic ingredient dictionary , fifth edition, 1993. dimethicone copolyol emulsifiers useful herein are described, for example, in u.s. pat. no. 4,960,764, to figueroa, jr. et al., issued oct. 2, 1990; european patent no. ep 330,369, to sanogueira, published aug. 30, 1989; g. h. dahms, et al., “new formulation possibilities offered by silicone copolyols,” cosmetics & toiletries , vol. 110, pp. 91-100, march 1995; m. e. carlotti et al., “optimization of w/o—s emulsions and study of the quantitative relationships between ester structure and emulsion properties,” j. dispersion science and technology, 13(3), 315-336 (1992); p. hameyer, “comparative technological investigations of organic and organosilicone emulsifiers in cosmetic water-in-oil emulsion preparations,” happi 28(4), pp. 88-128 (1991); j. smid-korbar et al., “efficiency and usability of silicone surfactants in emulsions,” provisional communication, international journal of cosmetic science, 12, 135-139 (1990); and d. g. krzysik et al., “a new silicone emulsifier for water-in-oil systems,” drug and cosmetic industry, vol. 146(4) pp. 28-81 (april 1990). among the non-silicone-containing emulsifiers useful herein are various non-ionic and anionic emulsifying agents such as sugar esters and polyesters, alkoxylated sugar esters and polyesters, c1-c30 fatty acid esters of c1-c30 fatty alcohols, alkoxylated derivatives of c1-c30 fatty acid esters of c1-c30 fatty alcohols, alkoxylated ethers of c1-c30 fatty alcohols, polyglyceryl esters of c1-c30 fatty acids, c1-c30 esters of polyols, c1-c30 ethers of polyols, alkyl phosphates, polyoxyalkylene fatty ether phosphates, fatty acid amides, acyl lactylates, soaps, and mixtures thereof. other suitable emulsifiers are described, for example, in mccutcheon's, detergents and emulsifiers , north american edition (1986), published by allured publishing corporation; u.s. pat. no. 5,011,681 to ciotti et al., issued apr. 30, 1991; u.s. pat. no. 4,421,769 to dixon et al., issued dec. 20, 1983; and u.s. pat. no. 3,755,560 to dickert et al., issued aug. 28, 1973. nonlimiting examples of these non-silicon-containing emulsifiers include: polyethylene glycol 20 sorbitan monolaurate (polysorbate 20), polyethylene glycol 5 soya sterol, steareth-20, ceteareth-20, ppg-2 methyl glucose ether distearate, ceteth-10, polysorbate 80, cetyl phosphate, potassium cetyl phosphate, diethanolamine cetyl phosphate, polysorbate 60, glyceryl stearate, peg-100 stearate, polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan trioleate (polysorbate 85), sorbitan monolaurate, polyoxyethylene 4 lauryl ether sodium stearate, polyglyceryl-4 isostearate, hexyl laurate, steareth-20, ceteareth-20, ppg-2 methyl glucose ether distearate, ceteth-10, diethanolamine cetyl phosphate, glyceryl stearate, peg-100 stearate, and mixtures thereof. b. oil-in-water emulsions other preferred topical carriers include oil-in-water emulsions, having a continuous aqueous phase and a hydrophobic, water-insoluble phase (“oil phase”) dispersed therein. examples of suitable oil-in-water emulsion carriers are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,073,371, to turner, d. j. et al., issued dec. 17, 1991, and u.s. pat. no. 5,073,372, to turner, d. j. et al., issued dec. 17, 1991. an especially preferred oil-in-water emulsion, containing a structuring agent, hydrophilic surfactant and water, is described in detail hereinafter. (1) structuring agent a preferred oil-in-water emulsion contains a structuring agent to assist in the formation of a liquid crystalline gel network structure. without being limited by theory, it is believed that the structuring agent assists in providing rheological characteristics to the composition which contribute to the stability of the composition. the structuring agent may also function as an emulsifier or surfactant. preferred compositions of this invention contain from about 0.5% to about 20%, more preferably from about 1% to about 10%, even more preferably from about 1% to about 5%, by weight of the composition, of a structuring agent. the preferred structuring agents of the present invention include stearic acid, palmitic acid, stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, stearic acid, palmitic acid, the polyethylene glycol ether of stearyl alcohol having an average of about 1 to about 21 ethylene oxide units, the polyethylene glycol ether of cetyl alcohol having an average of about 1 to about 5 ethylene oxide units, and mixtures thereof. more preferred structuring agents of the present invention are selected from stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, the polyethylene glycol ether of stearyl alcohol having an average of about 2 ethylene oxide units (steareth-2), the polyethylene glycol ether of stearyl alcohol having an average of about 21 ethylene oxide units (steareth-21), the polyethylene glycol ether of cetyl alcohol having an average of about 2 ethylene oxide units, and mixtures thereof. even more preferred structuring agents are selected from stearic acid, palmitic acid, stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, steareth-2, steareth-21, and mixtures thereof. (2) hydrophilic surfactant the preferred oil-in-water emulsions contain from about 0.05% to about 10%, preferably from about 1% to about 6%, and more preferably from about 1% to about 3% of at least one hydrophilic surfactant which can disperse the hydrophobic materials in the water phase (percentages by weight of the topical carrier). the surfactant, at a minimum, must be hydrophilic enough to disperse in water. preferred hydrophilic surfactants are selected from nonionic surfactants. among the nonionic surfactants that are useful herein are those that can be broadly defined as condensation products of long chain alcohols, e.g. c8-30 alcohols, with sugar or starch polymers, i.e., glycosides. these compounds can be represented by the formula (s) n —or wherein s is a sugar moiety such as glucose, fructose, mannose, and galactose; n is an integer of from about 1 to about 1000, and r is a c8-30 alkyl group. examples of long chain alcohols from which the alkyl group can be derived include decyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol, myristyl alcohol, oleyl alcohol, and the like. preferred examples of these surfactants include those wherein s is a glucose moiety, r is a c8-20 alkyl group, and n is an integer of from about 1 to about 9. commercially available examples of these surfactants include decyl polyglucoside (available as apg 325 cs from henkel) and lauryl polyglucoside (available as apg 600 cs and 625 cs from henkel). other useful nonionic surfactants include the condensation products of alkylene oxides with fatty acids (i.e. alkylene oxide esters of fatty acids). these materials have the general formula rco(x) n oh wherein r is a c10-30 alkyl group, x is —och 2 ch 2 — (i.e. derived from ethylene glycol or oxide) or —och 2 chch 3 — (i.e. derived from propylene glycol or oxide), and n is an integer from about 6 to about 200. other nonionic surfactants are the condensation products of alkylene oxides with 2 moles of fatty acids (i.e. alkylene oxide diesters of fatty acids). these materials have the general formula rco(x) n oocr wherein r is a c10-30 alkyl group, x is —och 2 ch 2 — (i.e. derived from ethylene glycol or oxide) or —och 2 chch 3 — (i.e. derived from propylene glycol or oxide), and n is an integer from about 6 to about 100. other nonionic surfactants are the condensation products of alkylene oxides with fatty alcohols (i.e. alkylene oxide ethers of fatty alcohols). these materials have the general formula r(x) n or′ wherein r is a c10-30 alkyl group, x is —och 2 ch 2 — (i.e. derived from ethylene glycol or oxide) or —och 2 chch 3 — (i.e. derived from propylene glycol or oxide), and n is an integer from about 6 to about 100 and r′ is h or a c10-30 alkyl group. still other nonionic surfactants are the condensation products of alkylene oxides with both fatty acids and fatty alcohols [i.e. wherein the polyalkylene oxide portion is esterified on one end with a fatty acid and etherified (i.e. connected via an ether linkage) on the other end with a fatty alcohol]. these materials have the general formula rco(x) n or′ wherein r and r′ are c10-30 alkyl groups, x is —och 2 ch 2 (i.e. derived from ethylene glycol or oxide) or —och 2 chch 3 — (derived from propylene glycol or oxide), and n is an integer from about 6 to about 100. nonlimiting examples of these alkylene oxide derived nonionic surfactants include ceteth-6, ceteth-10, ceteth-12, ceteareth-6, ceteareth-10, ceteareth-12, steareth-6, steareth-10, steareth-12, steareth-21, peg-6 stearate, peg-10 stearate, peg-100 stearate, peg-12 stearate, peg-20 glyceryl stearate, peg-80 glyceryl tallowate, peg-10 glyceryl stearate, peg-30 glyceryl cocoate, peg-80 glyceryl cocoate, peg-200 glyceryl tallowate, peg-8 dilaurate, peg-10 distearate, and mixtures thereof. still other useful nonionic surfactants include polyhydroxy fatty acid amide surfactants corresponding to the structural formula: wherein: r 1 is h, c 1 -c 4 alkyl, 2-hydroxyethyl, 2-hydroxy-propyl, preferably c 1 -c 4 alkyl, more preferably methyl or ethyl, most preferably methyl; r 2 is c 5 -c 31 alkyl or alkenyl, preferably c 7 -c 19 alkyl or alkenyl, more preferably c 9 -c 17 alkyl or alkenyl, most preferably c 11 -c 15 alkyl or alkenyl; and z is a polhydroxyhydrocarbyl moiety having a linear hydrocarbyl chain with a least 3 hydroxyls directly connected to the chain, or an alkoxylated derivative (preferably ethoxylated or propoxylated) thereof. z preferably is a sugar moiety selected from the group consisting of glucose, fructose, maltose, lactose, galactose, mannose, xylose, and mixtures thereof. an especially preferred surfactant corresponding to the above structure is coconut alkyl n-methyl glucoside amide (i.e., wherein the r 2 co— moiety is derived from coconut oil fatty acids). processes for making compositions containing polyhydroxy fatty acid amides are disclosed, for example, in g.b. patent specification 809,060, published feb. 18, 1959, by thomas hedley & co., ltd.; u.s. pat. no. 2,965,576, to e. r. wilson, issued dec. 20, 1960; u.s. pat. no. 2,703,798, to a. m. schwartz, issued mar. 8, 1955; and u.s. pat. no. 1,985,424, to piggott, issued dec. 25, 1934. preferred among the nonionic surfactants are those selected from the group consisting of steareth-21, ceteareth-20, ceteareth-12, sucrose cocoate, steareth-100, peg-100 stearate, and mixtures thereof. other nonionic surfactants suitable for use herein include sugar esters and polyesters, alkoxylated sugar esters and polyesters, c1-c30 fatty acid esters of c1-c30 fatty alcohols, alkoxylated derivatives of c1-c30 fatty acid esters of c1-c30 fatty alcohols, alkoxylated ethers of c1-c30 fatty alcohols, polyglyceryl esters of c1-c30 fatty acids, c1-c30 esters of polyols, c1-c30 ethers of polyols, alkyl phosphates, polyoxyalkylene fatty ether phosphates, fatty acid amides, acyl lactylates, and mixtures thereof. nonlimiting examples of these emulsifiers include: polyethylene glycol 20 sorbitan monolaurate (polysorbate 20), polyethylene glycol 5 soya sterol, steareth-20, ceteareth-20, ppg-2 methyl glucose ether distearate, ceteth-10, polysorbate 80, cetyl phosphate, potassium cetyl phosphate, diethanolamine cetyl phosphate, polysorbate 60, glyceryl stearate, polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan trioleate (polysorbate 85), sorbitan monolaurate, polyoxyethylene 4 lauryl ether sodium stearate, polyglyceryl-4 isostearate, hexyl laurate, ppg-2 methyl glucose ether distearate, peg-100 stearate, and mixtures thereof. another group of non-ionic surfactants useful herein are fatty acid ester blends based on a mixture of sorbitan or sorbitol fatty acid ester and sucrose fatty acid ester, the fatty acid in each instance being preferably c 8 -c 24 , more preferably c 10 -c 20 . the preferred fatty acid ester emulsifier is a blend of sorbitan or sorbitol c 16 -c 20 fatty acid ester with sucrose c 10 -c 16 fatty acid ester, especially sorbitan stearate and sucrose cocoate. this is commercially available from ici under the trade name arlatone 2121. other suitable surfactants useful herein include a wide variety of cationic, anionic, zwitterionic, and amphoteric surfactants such as are known in the art and discussed more fully below. see, e.g., mccutcheon's, detergents and emulsifiers , north american edition (1986), published by allured publishing corporation; u.s. pat. no. 5,011,681 to ciotti et al., issued apr. 30, 1991; u.s. pat. no. 4,421,769 to dixon et al., issued dec. 20, 1983; and u.s. pat. no. 3,755,560 to dickert et al., issued aug. 28, 1973. the hydrophilic surfactants useful herein can contain a single surfactant, or any combination of suitable surfactants. the exact surfactant (or surfactants) chosen will depend upon the ph of the composition and the other components present. also useful herein are cationic surfactants, especially dialkyl quaternary ammonium compounds, examples of which are described in u.s. pat. no. 5,151,209; u.s. pat. no. 5,151,210; u.s. pat. no. 5,120,532; u.s. pat. no. 4,387,090; u.s. pat. no. 3,155,591; u.s. pat. no. 3,929,678; u.s. pat. no. 3,959,461 ; mccutcheon's, detergents & emulsifiers , (north american edition 1979) m.c. publishing co.; and schwartz, et al., surface active agents, their chemistry and technology , new york: interscience publishers, 1949. the cationic surfactants useful herein include cationic ammonium salts such as those having the formula: wherein r 1 , is an alkyl group having from about 12 to about 30 carbon atoms, or an aromatic, aryl or alkaryl group having from about 12 to about 30 carbon atoms; r 2 , r 3 , and r 4 are independently selected from hydrogen, an alkyl group having from about 1 to about 22 carbon atoms, or aromatic, aryl or alkaryl groups having from about 12 to about 22 carbon atoms; and x is any compatible anion, preferably selected from chloride, bromide, iodide, acetate, phosphate, nitrate, sulfate, methyl sulfate, ethyl sulfate, tosylate, lactate, citrate, glycolate, and mixtures thereof. additionally, the alkyl groups of r 1 , r 2 , r 3 , and r 4 can also contain ester and/or ether linkages, or hydroxy or amino group substituents (e.g., the alkyl groups can contain polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol moieties). more preferably, r 1 is an alkyl group having from about 12 to about 22 carbon atoms; r 2 is selected from h or an alkyl group having from about 1 to about 22 carbon atoms; r 3 and r 4 are independently selected from h or an alkyl group having from about 1 to about 3 carbon atoms; and x is as described previously. still more preferably, r 1 is an alkyl group having from about 12 to about 22 carbon atoms; r 2 , r 3 , and r 4 are selected from h or an alkyl group having from about 1 to about 3 carbon atoms; and x is as described previously. alternatively, other useful cationic emulsifiers include amino-amides, wherein in the above structure r 1 is alternatively r 5 conh—(ch 2 ) n , wherein r 5 is an alkyl group having from about 12 to about 22 carbon atoms, and n is an integer from about 2 to about 6, more preferably from about 2 to about 4, and still more preferably from about 2 to about 3. nonlimiting examples of these cationic emulsifiers include stearamidopropyl pg-dimonium chloride phosphate, behenamidopropyl pg dimonium chloride, stearamidopropyl ethyldimonium ethosulfate, stearamidopropyl dimethyl (myristyl acetate) ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethyl cetearyl ammonium tosylate, stearamidopropyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethyl ammonium lactate, and mixtures thereof. especially preferred is behenamidopropyl pg dimonium chloride. nonlimiting examples of quaternary ammonium salt cationic surfactants include those selected from cetyl ammonium chloride, cetyl ammonium bromide, lauryl ammonium chloride, lauryl ammonium bromide, stearyl ammonium chloride, stearyl ammonium bromide, cetyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, cetyl dimethyl ammonium bromide, lauryl dimethyl ammonium chloride, lauryl dimethyl ammonium bromide, stearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, stearyl dimethyl ammonium bromide, cetyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, lauryl trimethyl ammonium chloride, lauryl trimethyl ammonium bromide, stearyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, stearyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, lauryl dimethyl ammonium chloride, stearyl dimethyl cetyl ditallow dimethyl ammonium chloride, dicetyl ammonium chloride, dicetyl ammonium bromide, dilauryl ammonium chloride, dilauryl ammonium bromide, distearyl ammonium chloride, distearyl ammonium bromide, dicetyl methyl ammonium chloride, dicetyl methyl ammonium bromide, dilauryl methyl ammonium chloride, dilauryl methyl ammonium bromide, distearyl methyl ammonium chloride, distearyl methyl ammonium bromide, and mixtures thereof. additional quaternary ammonium salts include those wherein the c 12 to c 30 alkyl carbon chain is derived from a tallow fatty acid or from a coconut fatty acid. the term “tallow” refers to an alkyl group derived from tallow fatty acids (usually hydrogenated tallow fatty acids), which generally have mixtures of alkyl chains in the c 16 to c 18 range. the term “coconut” refers to an alkyl group derived from a coconut fatty acid, which generally have mixtures of alkyl chains in the c 12 to c 14 range. examples of quaternary ammonium salts derived from these tallow and coconut sources include ditallow dimethyl ammonium chloride, ditallow dimethyl ammonium methyl sulfate, di(hydrogenated tallow) dimethyl ammonium chloride, di(hydrogenated tallow) dimethyl ammonium acetate, ditallow dipropyl ammonium phosphate, ditallow dimethyl ammonium nitrate, di(coconutalkyl)dimethyl ammonium chloride, di(coconutalkyl)dimethyl ammonium bromide, tallow ammonium chloride, coconut ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl pg-dimonium chloride phosphate, stearamidopropyl ethyldimonium ethosulfate, stearamidopropyl dimethyl (myristyl acetate) ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethyl cetearyl ammonium tosylate, stearamidopropyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethyl ammonium lactate, and mixtures thereof. an example of a quaternary ammonium compound having an alkyl group with an ester linkage is ditallowyl oxyethyl dimethyl ammonium chloride. more preferred cationic surfactants are those selected from behenamidopropyl pg dimonium chloride, dilauryl dimethyl ammonium chloride, distearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, dimyristyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, dipalmityl dimethyl ammonium chloride, distearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl pg-dimonium chloride phosphate, stearamidopropyl ethyldiammonium ethosulfate, stearamidopropyl dimethyl (myristyl acetate) ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethyl cetearyl ammonium tosylate, stearamidopropyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, stearamidopropyl dimethyl ammonium lactate, and mixtures thereof. still more preferred cationic surfactants are those selected from behenamidopropyl pg dimonium chloride, dilauryl dimethyl ammonium chloride, distearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, dimyristyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, dipalmityl dimethyl ammonium chloride, and mixtures thereof. a preferred combination of cationic surfactant and structuring agent is behenamidopropyl pg dimonium chloride and/or behenyl alcohol, wherein the ratio is preferably optimized to maintained to enhance physical and chemical stability, especially when such a combination contains ionic and/or highly polar solvents. this combination is especially useful for delivery of sunscreening agents such as zinc oxide and octyl methoxycinnamate. a wide variety of anionic surfactants can also be useful herein. see, e.g., u.s. pat. no. 3,929,678, to laughlin et al., issued dec. 30, 1975. nonlimiting examples of anionic surfactants include the alkoyl isethionates, and the alkyl and alkyl ether sulfates. the alkoyl isethionates typically have the formula rco—och 2 ch 2 so 3 m wherein r is alkyl or alkenyl of from about 10 to about 30 carbon atoms, and m is a water-soluble cation such as ammonium, sodium, potassium and triethanolamine nonlimiting examples of these isethionates include those alkoyl isethionates selected from ammonium cocoyl isethionate, sodium cocoyl isethionate, sodium lauroyl isethionate, sodium stearoyl isethionate, and mixtures thereof. the alkyl and alkyl ether sulfates typically have the respective formulae roso 3 m and ro(c 2 h 4 o) x so 3 m, wherein r is alkyl or alkenyl of from about 10 to about 30 carbon atoms, x is from about 1 to about 10, and m is a water-soluble cation such as ammonium, sodium, potassium and triethanolamine another suitable class of anionic surfactants are the water-soluble salts of the organic, sulfuric acid reaction products of the general formula: r 1 —so 3 —m wherein r 1 is chosen from the group including a straight or branched chain, saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having from about 8 to about 24, preferably about 10 to about 16, carbon atoms; and m is a cation. still other anionic synthetic surfactants include the class designated as succinamates, olefin sulfonates having about 12 to about 24 carbon atoms, and β-alkyloxy alkane sulfonates. examples of these materials are sodium lauryl sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate. other anionic materials useful herein are soaps (i.e. alkali metal salts, e.g., sodium or potassium salts) of fatty acids, typically having from about 8 to about 24 carbon atoms, preferably from about 10 to about 20 carbon atoms. the fatty acids used in making the soaps can be obtained from natural sources such as, for instance, plant or animal-derived glycerides (e.g., palm oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, castor oil, tallow, lard, etc.) the fatty acids can also be synthetically prepared. soaps are described in more detail in u.s. pat. no. 4,557,853. amphoteric and zwitterionic surfactants are also useful herein. examples of amphoteric and zwitterionic surfactants which can be used in the compositions of the present invention are those which are broadly described as derivatives of aliphatic secondary and tertiary amines in which the aliphatic radical can be straight or branched chain and wherein one of the aliphatic substituents contains from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms (preferably c 8 -c 18 ) and one contains an anionic water solubilizing group, e.g., carboxy, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphate, or phosphonate. examples are alkyl imino acetates, and iminodialkanoates and aminoalkanoates of the formulas rn[ch 2 ) m co 2 m] 2 and rnh(ch 2 ) m co 2 m wherein m is from 1 to 4, r is a c 8 -c 22 alkyl or alkenyl, and m is h, alkali metal, alkaline earth metal ammonium, or alkanolammonium. also included are imidazolinium and ammonium derivatives. specific examples of suitable amphoteric surfactants include sodium 3-dodecyl-aminopropionate, sodium 3-dodecylaminopropane sulfonate, n-alkyltaurines such as the one prepared by reacting dodecylamine with sodium isethionate according to the teaching of u.s. pat. no. 2,658,072; n-higher alkyl aspartic acids such as those produced according to the teaching of u.s. pat. no. 2,438,091; and the products sold under the trade name “miranol” and described in u.s. pat. no. 2,528,378. other examples of useful amphoterics include phosphates, such as coamidopropyl pg-dimonium chloride phosphate (commercially available as monaquat ptc, from mona corp.). other amphoteric or zwitterionic surfactants useful herein include betaines. examples of betaines include the higher alkyl betaines, such as coco dimethyl carboxymethyl betaine, lauryl dimethyl carboxymethyl betaine, lauryl dimethyl alphacarboxyethyl betaine, cetyl dimethyl carboxymethyl betaine, cetyl dimethyl betaine (available as lonzaine 16sp from lonza corp.), lauryl bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) carboxymethyl betaine, stearyl bis-(2-hydroxypropyl) carboxymethyl betaine, oleyl dimethyl gamma-carboxypropyl betaine, lauryl bis-(2-hydroxypropyl)alpha-carboxyethyl betaine, coco dimethyl sulfopropyl betaine, stearyl dimethyl sulfopropyl betaine, lauryl dimethyl sulfoethyl betaine, lauryl bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) sulfopropyl betaine, and amidobetaines and amidosulfobetaines (wherein the rconh(ch 2 ) 3 radical is attached to the nitrogen atom of the betaine), oleyl betaine (available as amphoteric velvetex olb-50 from henkel), and cocamidopropyl betaine (available as velvetex bk-35 and ba-35 from henkel). other useful amphoteric and zwitterionic surfactants include the sultaines and hydroxysultaines such as cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine (available as mirataine cbs from rhone-poulenc), and the alkanoyl sarcosinates corresponding to the formula rcon(ch 3 )ch 2 ch 2 co 2 m wherein r is alkyl or alkenyl of about 10 to about 20 carbon atoms, and m is a water-soluble cation such as ammonium, sodium, potassium and trialkanolamine (e.g., triethanolamine), a preferred example of which is sodium lauroyl sarcosinate. (3) water the preferred oil-in-water emulsion contains from about 25% to about 98%, preferably from about 65% to about 95%, more preferably from about 70% to about 90% water by weight of the topical carrier. the hydrophobic phase is dispersed in the continuous aqueous phase. the hydrophobic phase may contain water insoluble or partially soluble materials such as are known in the art, including but not limited to the silicones described herein in reference to silicone-in-water emulsions, and other oils and lipids such as described above in reference to emulsions. the topical compositions of the subject invention, including but not limited to lotions and creams, may contain a dermatologically acceptable emollient. such compositions preferably contain from about 1% to about 50% of the emollient. as used herein, “emollient” refers to a material useful for the prevention or relief of dryness, as well as for the protection of the skin. a wide variety of suitable emollients are known and may be used herein. sagarin, cosmetics, science and technology, 2nd edition, vol. 1, pp. 32-43 (1972) contains numerous examples of materials suitable as an emollient. a preferred emollient is glycerin. glycerin is preferably used in an amount of from or about 0.001 to or about 30%, more preferably from or about 0.01 to or about 20%, still more preferably from or about 0.1 to or about 10%, e.g., 5%. lotions and creams according to the present invention generally contain a solution carrier system and one or more emollients. lotions and creams typically contain from about 1% to about 50%, preferably from about 1% to about 20%, of emollient; from about 50% to about 90%, preferably from about 60% to about 80%, water; and the pentapeptide and/or pentapeptide derivative and the additional skin care active (or actives) in the above described amounts. creams are generally thicker than lotions due to higher levels of emollients or higher levels of thickeners. ointments of the present invention may contain a simple carrier base of animal or vegetable oils or semi-solid hydrocarbons (oleaginous); absorption ointment bases which absorb water to form emulsions; or water soluble carriers, e.g., a water soluble solution carrier. ointments may further contain a thickening agent, such as described in sagarin, cosmetics, science and technology, 2nd edition, vol. 1, pp. 72-73 (1972), and/or an emollient. for example, an ointment may contain from about 2% to about 10% of an emollient; from about 0.1% to about 2% of a thickening agent; and the pentapeptide and/or pentapeptide derivative and the additional skin care active (or actives) in the above described amounts. compositions of this invention useful for cleansing (“cleansers”) can be formulated with a suitable carrier, e.g., as described above, and preferably comprise from about 1% to about 90%, more preferably from about 5% to about 10%, of a dermatologically acceptable surfactant. the surfactant is suitably selected from anionic, nonionic, zwitterionic, amphoteric and ampholytic surfactants, as well as mixtures of these surfactants. such surfactants are well known to those skilled in the detergency art. nonlimiting examples of possible surfactants include isoceteth-20, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, sodium methyl oleoyl taurate, and sodium lauryl sulfate. see u.s. pat. no. 4,800,197, to kowcz et al., issued jan. 24, 1989, for exemplary surfactants useful herein. examples of a broad variety of additional surfactants useful herein are described in mccutcheon's detergents and emulsifiers , north american edition (1986), published by allured publishing corporation. the cleansing compositions can optionally contain, at their art-established levels, other materials which are conventionally used in cleansing compositions. the physical form of the cleansing compositions is not critical. the compositions can be, for example, formulated as toilet bars, liquids, shampoos, bath gels, hair conditioners, hair tonics, pastes, or mousses. rinse-off cleansing compositions, such as shampoos, require a delivery system adequate to deposit sufficient levels of actives on the skin and scalp. a preferred delivery system involves the use of insoluble complexes. for a more complete disclosure of such delivery systems, see u.s. pat. no. 4,835,148, barford et al., issued may 30, 1989. as used herein, the term “foundation” refers to a liquid, semi-liquid, semi-solid, or solid skin cosmetic which includes, but is not limited to lotions, creams, gels, pastes, cakes, and the like. typically the foundation is used over a large area of the skin, such as over the face, to provide a particular look. foundations are typically used to provide an adherent base for color cosmetics such as rouge, blusher, powder and the like, and tend to hide skin imperfections and impart a smooth, even appearance to the skin. foundations of the present invention include a dermatologically acceptable carrier and may include conventional ingredients such as oils, colorants, pigments, emollients, fragrances, waxes, stabilizers, and the like. exemplary carriers and such other ingredients which are suitable for use herein are described, for example, in pct application, wo 96/33689, to canter, et al., published on oct. 31, 1996 and u.k. patent, gb 2274585, issued on aug. 3, 1994. b. orally acceptable carrier the compositions of the present invention can also comprise an orally acceptable carrier if they are to be ingested. any suitable orally ingestible carrier or carrier form, as known in the art or otherwise, can be used. non-limiting examples of oral personal care compositions can include, but are not limited to, tablets, pills, capsules, drinks, beverages, powders, vitamins, supplements, health bars, candies, chews, and drops. c. injectible liquid the compositions of the present invention can also comprise a liquid that is acceptable for injection in and/or under the skin if the composition is to be injected. any suitable acceptable liquid as known in the art or otherwise can be used. v. composition preparation the compositions useful for the methods of the present invention are generally prepared by conventional methods such as are known in the art of making topical and oral compositions and compositions for injection. such methods typically can involve mixing of the ingredients in one or more steps to a relatively uniform state, with or without heating, cooling, application of vacuum, and the like. vi. methods for treating keratinous tissue condition the compositions of the present invention can be useful for treating a number of mammalian keratinous tissue conditions. such treatment of keratinous tissue conditions can include prophylactic and therapeutic regulation, including regulating the cosmetic appearance of the mammalian keratinous tissue. more specifically, such treatment methods can be directed to, but are not limited to, preventing, retarding, and/or treating uneven skin tone, reducing the size of pores in mammalian skin, regulating oily/shiny appearance of mammalian skin, thickening keratinous tissue (i.e., building the epidermis and/or dermis and/or subcutaneous layers of the skin and where applicable the keratinous layers of the nail and hair shaft), preventing, retarding, and/or treating uneven skin tone by acting as a lightening or pigmentation reduction cosmetic agent, preventing, retarding, and/or treating atrophy of mammalian skin, softening and/or smoothing lips, hair and nails of a mammal, preventing, retarding, and/or treating itch of mammalian skin, preventing, retarding, and/or treating the appearance of dark under-eye circles and/or puffy eyes, preventing, retarding, and/or treating sallowness of mammalian skin, preventing, retarding, and/or treating sagging (i.e., glycation) of mammalian skin, preventing and/or retarding tanning of mammalian skin, desquamating, exfoliating, and/or increasing turnover in mammalian skin, preventing, retarding, and/or treating hyperpigmentation such as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, preventing, retarding, and/or treating the appearance of spider vessels and/or red blotchiness on mammalian skin, preventing, retarding, and/or treating fine lines and wrinkles of mammalian skin, preventing, retarding, and/or treating skin dryness (i.e., roughness, scaling, flaking) and preventing, retarding, and/or treating the appearance of cellulite in mammalian skin. in a preferred embodiment, the composition is used to treat the signs of aging; in one aspect, the composition is used to regulate the signs of aging; in another aspect, the composition is used to reduce or decrease the signs of aging; in yet another aspect the composition is used to prevent the signs of aging in keratinous tissue (e.g., skin, hair, or nails). for instance, the present invention can be useful for therapeutically regulating visible and/or tactile discontinuities in mammalian keratinous tissue, including discontinuities in skin texture and color. for example, the apparent diameter of pores can be decreased, the apparent height of tissue immediately proximate to pore openings can approach that of the interadnexal skin, the skin tone/color can become more uniform, and/or the length, depth, and/or other dimension of lines and/or wrinkles can be decreased. furthermore, compositions of the present invention can also be useful for cleansing (e.g, hair, body, facial), improving keratinous tissue feel (wet & dry) such as for hair (e.g., improving appearance/look, detangling, shine, gloss, decrease coefficient of friction, increase smoothness, color retention, decrease split ends, prevent hair breakage, prevent environmental damage such as sunlight damage, smoke damage, and damage from pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, ozone, and metals such as lead), odor control, oil control, conditioning, hair volume control, hair growth, and hair growth inhibition. regulating keratinous tissue conditions can involve topically applying to the keratinous tissue a safe and effective amount of a composition of the present invention. the amount of the composition that is applied, the frequency of application, and the period of use will vary widely depending upon the level of components of a given composition and the level of regulation desired, e.g., in view of the level of keratinous tissue damage present or expected to occur. furthermore, regulating keratinous tissue conditions can involve orally ingesting a safe and effective amount of a composition of the present invention. the amount of the composition that is ingested, the frequency of ingestion, and the period of use will vary widely depending upon the level of components of a given composition and the level of regulation desired, e.g., in view of the level of keratinous tissue damage present or expected to occur. in one embodiment, the composition is chronically applied to the skin, e.g. topically. by “chronic application” is meant continued topical application of the composition over an extended period during the subject's lifetime, preferably for a period of at least about one week, more preferably for a period of at least about one month, even more preferably for at least about three months, even more preferably for at least about six months, and more preferably still for at least about one year. while benefits are obtainable after various maximum periods of use (e.g., five, ten or twenty years), it is preferred that chronic applications continue throughout the subject's lifetime. typically applications would be on the order of about once per day over such extended periods, however, application rates can vary, and can include from about once per week up to about three times per day or more. a wide range of quantities of the compositions of the present invention can be employed to provide a keratinous tissue appearance and/or feel benefit when applied topically. for example, quantities of the present compositions, which are typically applied per application are, in mg composition/cm 2 keratinous tissue, from about 0.1 mg/cm 2 to about 20 mg/cm 2 . a particularly useful application amount is about 0.5 mg/cm 2 to about 10 mg/cm 2 . treating keratinous tissue condition can be practiced, for example, by applying a composition in the form of a skin lotion, clear lotion, milky lotion, cream, gel, foam, ointment, paste, emulsion, spray, conditioner, tonic, cosmetic, lipstick, foundation, nail polish, after-shave, or the like which is intended to be left on the skin or other keratinous tissue for some aesthetic, prophylactic, therapeutic or other benefit (i.e., a “leave-on” composition). after applying the composition to the keratinous tissue (e.g., skin), it is preferably left on for a period of at least about 15 minutes, more preferably at least about 30 minutes, even more preferably at least about 1 hour, even more preferably for at least several hours, e.g., up to about 12 hours. any part of the external portion of the face, hair, and/or nails can be treated, (e.g., face, lips, under-eye area, eyelids, scalp, neck, torso, arms, hands, legs, feet, fingernails, toenails, scalp hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, etc.) the application of the present compositions may be done using the palms of the hands and/or fingers or a device or implement (e.g., a cotton ball, swab, pad, applicator pen, spray applicator, etc.) another approach to ensure a continuous exposure of the keratinous tissue to at least a minimum level of the composition is to apply the compound by use of a patch applied, e.g., to the face. such an approach is particularly useful for problem skin areas needing more intensive treatment (e.g., facial crows feet area, frown lines, under eye area, upper lip, and the like). the patch can be occlusive, semi-occlusive or non-occlusive, and can be adhesive or non-adhesive. the composition can be contained within the patch or be applied to the skin prior to application of the patch. the patch can also include additional actives such as chemical initiators for exothermic reactions such as those described in pct application wo 9701313, and in u.s. pat. nos. 5,821,250, 5,981,547, and 5,972,957 to wu, et al. the patch can also contain a source of electrical energy (e.g., a battery) to, for example, increase delivery of the composition and active agents (e.g., iontophoresis). the patch is preferably left on the keratinous tissue for a period of at least about 5 minutes, more preferably at least about 15 minutes, more preferably still at least about 30 minutes, even more preferably at least about 1 hour, even more preferably at night as a form of night therapy. in another embodiment, a personal care regimen is used to regulate the condition of keratinous tissue. by “regimen” is meant the use of an oral composition in conjunction with a topical composition. in a particular embodiment, the oral composition and the topical composition are packaged together as a kit. in another embodiment, the oral composition and the topical composition are not packaged together as a kit, but potential users of the regimen are informed (e.g. through advertisements, product labeling) that the oral and the topical compositions may be used in conjunction with one another to regulate the condition of kerationous tissue. at least one of the compositions, either oral or topical, comprises a dipeptide of the present invention. preferably, both the oral and the topical compositions comprise a dipeptide of the present invention. examples the following are non-limiting examples of compositions of the present invention. the examples are given solely for the purpose of illustration and are not to be construed as limitations of the present invention, as many variations thereof are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art. in the examples, all concentrations are listed as weight percent, unless otherwise specified and may exclude minor materials such as diluents, filler, and so forth. the listed formulations, therefore, comprise the listed components and any minor materials associated with such components. as is apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, the selection of these minors will vary depending on the physical and chemical characteristics of the particular ingredients selected to make the present invention as described herein. examples 1-5: moisturizing oil-in-water lotions/creams 12345water phase:waterqsqsqsqsqsglycerin3571015disodium edta0.10.10.050.10.1methylparaben0.10.10.10.10.1niacinamide20.5—35triethanolamine—0.25———d-panthenol0.50.1—0.51.5sodium dehydroacetate0.50.10.50.10.5benzyl alcohol0.250.250.250.250.25glw75cap-mp (75% aq.—0.50.5——tio2 dispersion) 1hexamidine diisethionate—0.1———palmitoyl-dipeptide 20.000550.000550.00010.000550.00055n-acetyl glucosamine21221soy isoflavone0.5————oil phase:salicylic acid——1.5——isohexadecane33343ppg15 stearyl ether——4——isopropyl isostearate10.51.31.51.3sucrose polyester0.7—0.710.7dipalmitoylhydroxyproline———1.0—undecylenoyl—0.5———phenylalaninephytosterol——0.5—1.0cetyl alcohol0.40.30.40.50.4stearyl alcohol0.50.350.50.60.5behenyl alcohol0.40.30.40.50.4peg-100 stearate0.10.10.10.20.1cetearyl glucoside0.10.10.10.250.1thickener:polyacrylamide/c13-141.5—22.52isoparaffin/laureth-7sodium acrylate/sodium—3———acryloyldimethyl tauratecopolymer/isohexadecane/polysorbate80additional ingredients:dimethicone/dimethiconol—120.52polymethylsilsequioxane——0.25—1nylon-12—0.5———prestige silk violet 3————1timiron splendid red 4—1.0—2—1 available from kobo products2 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma3 titanium dioxide coated mica violet interference pigment available from eckart4 silica and titanium dioxide coated mica red interference pigment available from rona in a suitable vessel, combine the water phase ingredients and heat to 75° c. in a separate suitable vessel, combine the oil phase ingredients and heat to 75° c. next, add the oil phase to the water phase and mill the resulting emulsion (e.g., with a tekmar t-25). then, add the thickener to the emulsion and cool the emulsion to 45° c. while stirring. at 45° c., add the remaining ingredients. cool the product and stir to 30° c. and pour into suitable containers. examples 6-11: moisturizing silicone-in-water serums/lotions 67891011water phase:waterqsqsqsqsqsqsglycerin357101510disodium edta0.10.10.050.10.10.1niacinamide20.5—353sodium dehydroacetate0.50.1—0.10.50.1d-panthenol0.50.10.51.50.5glw75cap-mp (75%—0.4———0.4aq. tio2 dispersion) 1ascorbyl glucoside—————1palmitoyl dipeptide 20.000550.000550.000550.000550.000550.00055soy isoflavone—1————n-acetyl glucosamine2—2—5—silicone/oil phase:cyclomethicone d51055107.510dow corning 9040—10557.55silicone elastomer 3ks g-15ap silicone5—557.55elastomer 4dimethione/dimethiconol—22121dimethicone 50 csk1—————salicylic acid——1.5———phytosterol———1.0—0.1ppg-15 stearyl ether——44——dehydroacetic acid——0.5———undecylenoyl——0.5———phenylalaninebht—0.5————vitamin e acetate—0.50.10.1—0.1thickener:polyacrylamide/c1 3-142.52.5———3isoparaffin/laureth-7sodiumacrylate/sodium———3——acryloyl dimethyl tauratecopolymer/isohexadecane/polysorbate 80acrylates/c10-30 alkyl——0.6—0.5—acrylates crosspolymerundecylenoyl phenylalanine premixundecylenoyl————1—phenylalaninewater————24—triethanolamine————0.5—dipalmitoyl hydroxy-proline premix:water—————4.4triethanolamine—————0.1dipalmitoylhyroxyproline—————1.0additional ingredients:triethanolamine————0.6—polymethylsilsequioxane0.50.51.0110.5polyethylene—0.50.51.0——flamenco summit green——1.0———g30d 5silca——10.5——prestige silk red 6———1.01.01.01 glw75cap-mp, 75% aqueous titanium dioxide dispersion from kobo2 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma3 a silicone elastomer dispersion from dow corning corp4 a silicone elastomer dispersion from shin etsu,5 titanium dioxide and tin oxide coated mica green interference pigment from engelhard6 titanium dioxide coated mica red interference pigment from eckart in a suitable vessel, combine the water phase ingredients and mix until uniform. in a separate suitable container, combine the silicone/oil phase ingredients and mix until uniform. separately, prepare the dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline premix and/or undecylenoyl phenylalanine premix by combining the premix ingredients in a suitable container, heat to about 70° c. while stirring, and cool to room temperature while stirring. add half the thickener and then the silicone/oil phase to the water phase and mill the resulting emulsion (e.g., with a tekmar t-25). add the remainder of the thickener, the dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline premix and/or undecylenoyl phenylalanine premix, and then the remaining ingredients to the emulsion while stirring. once the composition is uniform, pour the product into suitable containers. examples 12-17: moisturizing water-in-silicone creams/lotions component121314151617phase awaterqsqsqsqsqsqsallantoin0.20.20.20.20.20.2disodium edta0.10.10.10.10.10.1ethyl paraben0.20.20.20.20.20.2propyl paraben0.10.10.10.10.10.1caffeine—1———1bht—0.1—0.015——dexpanthenol10.51111glycerin7.510157.5515hexamidine isethionate——0.10.5——niacinamide2——23.55palmitoyl-dipeptide 10.000550.000550.000550.000550.000550.00055phenylbenzimidazole————1—sulfonic acidsodium dehydroacetate0.5——0.10.50.5benzyl alcohol0.250.250.250.250.250.25triethanolamine————0.6—green tea extract111111soy isoflavone—0.5————n-acetyl glucosamine5—252—sodium metabisulfite0.10.10.10.10.10.1phase bcyclopentasiloxane151518151518titanium dioxide0.50.50.750.50.50.75phase cc12-c15 alkyl benzoate———1.51.5—vitamin e acetate0.5—10.50.51retinyl propionate0.3——0.20.2—undecylenoyl——0.5———phenylalaninedipalmitoyl hydroxyproline—1————salicylic acid—1.51.5———ppg-15 stearyl ether444———dehydroacetic acid—0.50.1———phytosterol10.5————phase dksg-21 silicone elastomer 2445445dow corning 9040 silicone151512151512elastomer 3abil em-97 dimethicone0.5——0.50.5—copolyol 4polymethylsilsesquioxane2.52.522.52.52undecylenoyl phenylalanine premixundecylenoyl————1—phenylalaninewater————24—triethanolamine————0.5—phase ewater8.8————8.85triethanolamine0.2————0.25dipalmitoylhyroxyproline0.5————11 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma2 ksg-21 is an emulsifying silicone elastomer available from shin etsu3 a silicon elastomer dispersion from dow corning corp4 abil em-97 available from goldschmidt chemical corporation in a suitable vessel, blend the phase a components together with a suitable mixer (e.g., tekmar model rw20dzm) and mix until all of the components are dissolved. then, blend the phase b components together in a suitable vessel and mill using a suitable mill (e.g., tekmar rw-20) for about 5 minutes. add the phase c components to the phase b mixture with mixing. then, add the phase d components to the mixture of phases b and c and then mix the resulting combination of phase b, c and d components using a suitable mixer (e.g., tekmar rw-20) for about 1 hour. if applicable, prepare the undecylenoyl phenylalanine premix and/or phase e by combining all ingredients, heating the ingredients to 70° c. while stirring, and cooling back to room temperature while stirring. add the undecylenoyl phenylalanine premix and/or phase e to phase a while mixing. next, slowly add phase a to the mixture of phases b, c and d with mixing. mix the resulting mixture continually until the product is uniform. mill the resulting product for about 5 minutes using an appropriate mill (e.g., tekmar t-25). examples 18-22: oil in water mousse 1819202122water phase:waterqsqsqsqsqsglycerin3571015disodium edta0.10.10.050.10.1methylparaben0.10.10.10.10.1niacinamide20.5—35triethanolamine—0.25———d-panthenol0.50.1—0.51.5sodium dehydroacetate0.50.10.50.10.5benzyl alcohol0.250.250.250.250.25glw75cap-mp (75%—0.50.5——aq. tio2 dispersion) 1undecylenoyl1—0.5——phenylalaninehexamidine diisethionate—0.1———palmitoyl-dipeptide 20.000550.000550.00010.000550.00055n-acetyl glucosamine21221soy isoflavone0.5————oil phase:salicylic acid——1.5——isohexadecane33343ppg15 stearyl ether——4——isopropyl isostearate10.51.31.51.3sucrose polyester0.7—0.710.7undecylenoyl—0.5———phenylalaninedipalmitoylhyroxyproline———1.0—phytosterol——0.5—1.0cetyl alcohol0.40.30.40.50.4stearyl alcohol0.50.350.50.60.5behenyl alcohol0.40.30.40.50.4peg-100 stearate0.10.10.10.20.1cetearyl glucoside0.10.10.10.250.1thickener:polyacrylamide/c13-141.5—22.52isoparaffin/laureth-7sodium acrylate/sodium—3———acryloyldimethyl tauratecopolymer/isohexadecane/polysorbate 80additional ingredients:dimethicone/dimethiconol—120.52polymethylsilsequioxane——0.25—1nylon-12—0.5———prestige silk violet 3————1timiron splendid red 4—1.0—2—propellant phase152 a hfc propellant34232a-70 propellant324341 available from kobo products2 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma3 titanium dioxide coated mica violet interference pigment available from eckart4 silica and titanium dioxide coated mica red interference pigment available from rona in a suitable vessel, combine the water phase ingredients and heat to 75° c. in a separate suitable vessel, combine the oil phase ingredients and heat to 75° c. next, add the oil phase to the water phase and mill the resulting emulsion (e.g., with a tekmar t-25). add the thickener to the emulsion and cool the emulsion to 45° c. while stirring. at 45° c., add the remaining ingredients. cool the product with stirring to 30° c. and pour into suitable containers. add propellant and product to a suitable aerosol container, and seal the container. examples 23-28: silicone in water mousse 232425262728water phase:waterqsqsqsqsqsqsglycerin357101510disodium edta0.10.10.050.10.10.1niacinamide20.5—353sodium dehydroacetate0.50.1—0.10.50.1d-panthenol0.50.1—0.51.50.5glw75cap-mp (75%—0.4———0.4aq. tio2 dispersion) 1ascorbyl glucoside—————1palmitoyl dipeptide 20.000550.000550.000550.000550.000550.00055soy isoflavone—1————n-acetyl glucosamine2—2—5—silicone/oil phase:cyclomethicone d51055107.510dow corning 9040—10557.55silicone elastomer 3ks g-15ap silicone5—557.55elastomer 4dimethione/dimethiconol—22121dimethicone 50 csk1—————salicylic acid——1.5———phytosterol———1.0—0.1ppg-15 stearyl ether——44——dehydroacetic acid——0.5———undecylenoyl——0.5———phenylalaninebht—0.5————vitamin e acetate—0.50.10.1—0.1thickener:polyacrylamide/c13-142.52.5———3isoparaffin/laureth-7sodiumacrylate/sodium———3——acryloyldimethyl tauratecopolymer/isohexadecane/polysorbate 80acrylates/c10-30 alkyl——0.6—0.5—acrylates crosspolymerundecylenoyl phenylalanine/dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline premixundecylenoyl————1—phenylalaninewater————249triethanolamine————0.50.2dipalmitoylhyroxyproline—————1.0additional ingredients:triethanolamine————0.6—polymethyl silsequioxane0.50.51.0110.5polyethylene—0.50.51.0——flamenco summit green——1.0———g30d 5silica——10.5——prestige silk red 6———1.01.01.0propellant phase152a hfcpropellant324153a-70 propellant3425131 glw75cap-mp, 75% aqueous titanium dioxide dispersion from kobo2 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma3a silicone elastomer dispersion from dow corning corp4 a silicone elastomer dispersion from shin etsu,5 titanium dioxide and tin oxide coated mica green interference pigment from engelhard6 titanium dioxide coated mica red interference pigment from eckart in a suitable vessel, combine the water phase ingredients and mix until uniform. in a separate suitable container, combine the silicone/oil phase ingredients and mix until uniform. separately, prepare the undecylenoyl phenylalanine and/or dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline premix by combining the premix ingredients in a suitable container, heat to about 70° c. while stirring, and cool to room temperature while stirring. add half the thickener and then the silicone/oil phase to the water phase and mill the resulting emulsion (e.g., with a tekmar t-25). add the remainder of the thickener, the undecylenoyl phenylalanine and/or dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline premix, and then the remaining ingredients to the emulsion while stirring. once the composition is uniform, pour the product into suitable containers. add the product and propellant into an aerosol container. seal the aerosol container. examples 29-34: water based stick formulations 293031323334water phase:waterqsqsqsqsqsqspalmitoyl dipeptide 10.000550.000550.000550.000550.000550.00055propylene glycol152520152520dipropylene glycol504045504045sodium stearate666666triethanolamine0.20.25—0.70.6—n-acetyl-d-—2.00.5——2.0glucosamineundecyenoyl—0.5—1——phenylalanineniacinamide23.523.5sodium0.50.50.10.10.51.0dehydroacetatedipalmitoyl1——10.5—hydroxyproline1 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma all ingredients are combined into an appropriate size container, heated to 85° c., cooled and poured into stick containers at approximately 65° c. examples 35-40: anhydrous stick formulations 353637383940oil phase:isopropyl isostearate543543palmitoyl dipeptide 10.000550.000550.000550.000550.000550.00055octylmethoxycinnamate522522cyclomethiconeqsqsqsqsqsqsphenyl trimethicone555555stearyl alcohol151715151715behenyl alcohol111111undecylenoyl phenyl—0.5—1.00.50.5alaninedehydroacetic acid0.10.50.10.50.11.0dipalmitoyl1—1.0—0.5—hydroxyprolinephytosterol10.5——0.51salicylic acid——0.51.5—1.01 palmitoyl-lysine-threonine available from sederma all ingredients added to an appropriate size container, heated to 75° c. then cooled with stirring until mixture reaches approximately 45° c. the mixture is poured into stick containers. the dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. for example, a dimension disclosed as “40 mm” is intended to mean “about 40 mm” every document cited herein, including any cross referenced or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. the citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such invention. further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to that term in this document shall govern. while particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. it is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
|
150-919-484-750-927
|
US
|
[
"EP",
"US",
"IN",
"CN"
] |
H02P9/02,H02J3/00,H02J3/38,G05B19/04,G06Q50/06,B63H21/20
| 2012-07-02T00:00:00 |
2012
|
[
"H02",
"G05",
"G06",
"B63"
] |
generator management system that selectively activates generators based on an operating parameter
|
some embodiments relate to an example generator management system. the generator management system includes a first generator that is adapted to supply power to a load and a first generator controller that operates the first generator. the generator management system further includes a second generator that is adapted to supply power to the load and a second generator controller that operates the second generator. the generator management system further includes a communication bus that connects the first generator controller and the second generator controller such that the first generator controller and the second generator controller exchange data. at least one of the first generator controller and the second generator controller selectively activates the first generator and the second generator in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator (as opposed to a fixed sequence which is done in existing systems).
|
a generator management system comprising: a first generator that is adapted to supply power to a load; a first generator controller that operates the first generator; a second generator that is adapted to supply power to the load; a second generator controller that operates the second generator; a communication bus connecting the first generator controller and the second generator controller such that the first generator controller and the second generator controller exchange data; and wherein at least one of the first generator controller and the second generator controller selectively activates the first generator and the second generator in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator. the generator management system of claim 1, further comprising a server that is connected to the communication buss via a network, wherein at least one of the first generator controller, the second generator controller and the server selectively activates the first generator and the second generator in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator. the generator management system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the order depends on a total number of run hours that is associated with each of the first and second generators. the generator management system of claim 3, wherein the order is established such that the one of the first generator and the second generator with the lower number of total run hours is selected first. the generator management system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the order depends on a total amount of emissions that are generated by each of the first and second generators. the generator management system of claim 5, wherein the order is established such that the one of the first generator and the second generator which generates fewer emissions is selected first. the generator management system of claim 5 or 6, wherein the emissions that establish the order are hydrocarbon emissions or sound emissions. the generator management system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the order depends on a cost that is associated with operating each of the first and second generators. the generator management system of claim 8, wherein the cost is determined by a rate of fuel consumption of each of the first and second generators or maintenance costs that are associated with operating each of the first and second generators. the generator management system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the order depends on whether a pre-fault condition exists for each of the first and second generators. the generator management system of claim 10, wherein the pre-fault condition is low fuel level. the generator management system of claim 10, wherein the first and second generators each include an engine, and wherein the pre-fault condition relates to an operating parameter of the respective engine. the generator management system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the order depends on a minimum load requirement for each of the first and second generators. the generator management system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the first and second generators includes a diesel engine that has a particulate filter, and wherein the minimum load requirement is due to the particulate filter regeneration cycle. the generator management system of claim 1, wherein a user selects the particular operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator that the controller utilizes to selectively activate the first generator and the second generator based on the operating parameter.
|
technical field embodiments pertain to a generator management system, and more particularly to a generator management system that selectively activates generators based on an operating parameter. background electric generators are typically used to provide electrical power. one common use of electric generators is as a standby power source. another common use of electric generators is to provide power at a remote location where utility company power is not available. one common type of electric generator includes an internal combustion engine. the internal combustion engine drives an electrical alternator that produces alternating electricity. many existing system often include multiple electric generators, especially in situations where there is a potential high demand for power. there can be advantages to employing multiple small generators rather than a single large generator. one of the advantages is that if one generator fails, or requires maintenance, a multi-generator system can still supply some power while a single generator system would otherwise not be able to meet demand. another advantage is that load growth may be addressed by adding another generator rather than replacing an existing generator with a larger (and more expensive) generator. another advantage of using multiple generators is that it is possible to stop generators that are not needed to provide power at a particular point in time. stopping generators (i) saves wear and tear on the generators; (ii) decreases sound emissions at a location; (iii) decreases fuel consumption (and corresponding harmful environmental emissions). stopped generators can also be restarted as demand increases. this starting and stopping of certain generators within a plurality of generators is referred to as generator management. some of the drawbacks with existing generator management systems may include (i) the need for expensive external controls in order to adequately start and stop particular generators; or (ii) unequal wear of the generators resulting from the inability to dynamically change the order in which each of the plurality of generators are started and stopped in response to changes in demand. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of an example generator management system. detailed description the following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims. fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of an example generator management system 10. the generator management system 10 includes a first generator 11 that is adapted to supply power to a load l and a first generator controller 12 that operates the first generator 11. the generator management system 10 further includes a second generator 13 that is adapted to supply power to the load l and a second generator controller 14 that operates the second generator 13. the generator management system 10 further includes a communication bus 15 that connects the first generator controller 12 and the second generator controller 14 such that the first generator controller 12 and the second generator controller 14 exchange data. at least one of the first generator controller 12 and the second generator controller 14 selectively activates the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 (as opposed to a fixed sequence or order which is done in existing systems). therefore, the generator management system 10 is able to dynamically change the order in which each of the first and second generators 11, 13 are started and stopped in order to meet a changing demand for power at the load l. in the example embodiment illustrated in fig. 1 , the generator management system 10 further includes a server 16 that is connected to the first and second generator controllers 12, 14 via a network (e.g. the internet i). it should be noted that in embodiments that include server 16, at least one of the first generator controller 12, the second generator controller 14 and the server 16 may selectively activate the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator 11 and the second generator 13. in some embodiments, the order in which the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 are selectively activated depends on a total number of run hours that is associated with each of the first and second generators 11, 13. as an example, the order may be established such that the one of the first generator and the second generator 11, 13 with the lower number of total run hours is selected to activate first. embodiments are also contemplated where the order depends on a total amount of emissions that are generated by each of the first and second generators 11, 13. as an example, the order is established such that the one of the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 which generates fewer emissions is selected to activate first. it should be noted that various different types of emissions may be used to establish the order for selectively activating the first generator 11 and the second generator 13. example emissions include hydrocarbon emissions and sound emissions (among others). in some embodiments, the order in which the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 are selectively activated depends on a cost that is associated with operating each of the first and second generators 11, 13. as an example, the cost may be determined by a rate of fuel consumption of each of the first and second generators 11, 13. as another example, the cost may be determined by maintenance costs that are associated with operating each of the first and second generators 11, 13. embodiments are also contemplated where the order depends on a pre-fault condition that exists for each of the first and second generators 11, 13. one example pre-fault condition may be low fuel level. as an example, when one of the first and second generators 11, 13 has a low fuel level, the other of the first and second generators 11, 13 may be selectively activated first. in embodiments where the first and second generators 11, 13 each supply the load through circuit breakers, an example pre-fault condition may be that one of the circuit breakers is unable to open. in this example, the generator that is connected to the load through the circuit breaker that is unable to open is selectively activated first. in embodiments where the first and second generators 11, 13 each include an engine, the pre-fault condition may relate to an operating parameter of the respective engine. some examples of pre-fault condition that relates to engines include; high coolant temperature warning, low oil pressure warning, sensor malfunction and low battery voltage warning. embodiments are also contemplated where the order depends on the age of the fuel with each respective engine. as an example, when one of the first and second generators 11, 13 has an older fuel supply, that generator 11, 13 that includes the older fuel supply may be selectively activated first to consume the older fuel. in some embodiments, the order in which the first generator 11 and the second generator 13 are selectively activated depends on a minimum load requirement for each of the first and second generators 11, 13. as an example, the minimum load requirement may be set by local emissions standards. embodiments are contemplated where a secondary operating parameter is designated for selectively activating one of the first and second generators when the primary operating parameter is effectively equal. as an example, during operation of the generator management system 10, the first and second generators 11, 13 will tend to equalize their primary operating parameter (e.g., fuel levels within the first and second generators 11, 13 will tend to equalize when the fuel level is the primary operating parameter). in addition, external activity may tend to equalize the primary operating parameter (e.g., when a fuel equalizing tube is placed between the first and second generators 11, 13). it should be noted although only first and second generators 11, 13 are described herein, the generator management system 10 may include any additional number of generators. the generator management system 10 would be able to selectively activate some (or all) of the additional generators in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the generators. the generator management systems 10 described herein may serve to equalize some primary (and possibly secondary) operating parameter of the generators that are part of the generator management system 10. in addition, the generator management systems 10 described may be able to dynamically change the order in which each of the generators within the generator management systems 10 are started and stopped to meet changing load demands (without the need for expensive external controls). the abstract is provided to comply with 37 c.f.r. section 1.72(b) requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. it is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of the claims. the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. the present invention can also be described by the following clauses: 1. a generator management system comprising: a first generator that is adapted to supply power to a load; a first generator controller that operates the first generator; a second generator that is adapted to supply power to the load; a second generator controller that operates the second generator; a communication bus connecting the first generator controller and the second generator controller such that the first generator controller and the second generator controller exchange data; and wherein at least one of the first generator controller and the second generator controller selectively activates the first generator and the second generator in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator. 2. the generator management system of clause 1, further comprising a server that is connected to the communication buss via a network, wherein at least one of the first generator controller, the second generator controller and the server selectively activates the first generator and the second generator in an order that depends on an operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator. 3. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on a total number of run hours that is associated with each of the first and second generators. 4. the generator management system of clause 3, wherein the order is established such that the one of the first generator and the second generator with the lower number of total run hours is selected first. 5. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on a total amount of emissions that are generated by each of the first and second generators. 6. the generator management system of clause 5, wherein the order is established such that the one of the first generator and the second generator which generates fewer emissions is selected first. 7. the generator management system of clause 5, wherein the emissions that establish the order are hydrocarbon emissions. 8. the generator management system of clause 5, wherein the emissions that establish the order are sound emissions. 9. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on a cost that is associated with operating each of the first and second generators. 10. the generator management system of clause 9, wherein the cost is determined by a rate of fuel consumption of each of the first and second generators. 11. the generator management system of clause 9, wherein the cost is determined by maintenance costs that are associated with operating each of the first and second generators. 12. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on whether a pre-fault condition exists for each of the first and second generators. 13. the generator management system of clause 12, wherein the pre-fault condition is low fuel level. 14. the generator management system of clause 12, wherein the first and second generators each include an engine, and wherein the pre-fault condition relates to an operating parameter of the respective engine. 15. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on a minimum load requirement for each of the first and second generators. 16. the generator management system of clause 15, wherein at least one of the first and second generators includes a diesel engine that has a particulate filter, and wherein the minimum load requirement is due to the particulate filter regeneration cycle. 17. the generator management system of clause 15, wherein the minimum load requirement is set by local emissions standards. 18. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein a user selects the particular operating parameter of the first generator and the second generator that the controller utilizes to selectively activate the first generator and the second generator based on the operating parameter. 19. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on an age of fuel that is used to run each of the first and second generators. 20. the generator management system of clause 1, wherein the order depends on a secondary operating parameter that the controller utilizes to selectively activate the first and second generator when the first operating parameter of the first and second generators is effectively equal.
|
151-660-595-359-804
|
US
|
[
"US",
"DE",
"EP",
"CA",
"JP"
] |
B32B5/02,B32B3/10,B32B7/027,D04H1/42,D04H1/54,D04H13/00
| 1994-06-15T00:00:00 |
1994
|
[
"B32",
"D04"
] |
thermally apertured nonwoven product and process for making same
|
a process for producing an apertured nonwoven fabric combines one or two outer nonwoven layer(s) with a layer of polymeric material having a lower melting temperature and a property of shrinking when melted. heat and pressure are applied through a calender roll such that the polymeric material becomes bonded to the fibers of the nonwoven layer(s) and simultaneously shrinks and takes back the fibers away from the calendering points, thereby generating apertures through the nonwoven fabric. preferably, the fibers are polyethylene or polypropylene fibers, and the layer of polymeric material is a thin plastic film of polyethylene stretch-wrap, elastomeric, or heat shrink material. one outer nonwoven layer may be combined with the plastic film layer to form a bi-laminate product, or two outer nonwoven layers may be combined with an intermediate plastic film to form a tri-laminate product. low denier polypropylene/polyethylene bi-component fibers or a blend of higher and lower melting fibers may also be used. apertured products can also be obtained with non-thermoplastic outer layers and an intermediate plastic film layer.
|
1. a process for producing an apertured nonwoven fabric comprising the steps of: combining a layer of carded fibers having a first melting temperature and a layer of polymeric material having a second melting temperature lower than said first melting temperature and a property of shrinking under application of heat, and applying heat and pressure to the combination of said carded fibers and said polymeric material through calendering points of a calender roll, such that said polymeric material becomes bonded to said carded fibers at said calendering points and simultaneously shrinks and pulls back said carded fibers away from said calendering points, thereby forming the nonwoven fabric and generating apertures having a fused border completely through the nonwoven fabric. 2. a process according to claim 1, wherein said carded fibers are olefinic fibers. 3. a process according to claim 2, wherein said carded fibers are polypropylene fibers. 4. a process according to claim 3, wherein said polypropylene fibers have a melting temperature of about 330.degree. f. 5. a process according to claim 1, wherein said polymeric material is a plastic film of olefinic material. 6. a process according to claim 1, wherein said polymeric material is a plastic film of elastomeric material. 7. a process according to claim 1, wherein said polymeric material is a plastic film of heat shrink material. 8. a process according to any of claims 5-7, wherein said polymeric material is a polyethylene stretch wrap film. 9. a process according to any of claims 5-7, wherein said polymeric material is made from a resin comprising an elastomeric styrene block copolymer film. 10. a process according to any of claims 5-7, wherein said polymeric material is an apertured ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer film. 11. a process according to claim 8, wherein said polyethylene film has a melting temperature of about 125.degree. c. 12. a process according to claim 1, wherein the fabric is formed by combining two outer layers of said carded fibers and an intermediate layer of said polymeric material, wherein said polymeric material is a plastic film. 13. a process according to claim 12, wherein said carded fibers comprise olefinic fibers. 14. a process according to claim 12, wherein one of said two outer layers comprises olefinic fibers and another of said two outer layers comprises non-thermoplastic fibers. 15. a process according to claim 12, wherein said carded fibers in said two outer layers are non-thermoplastic fibers. 16. a process according to claim 15, wherein said non-thermoplastic fibers are rayon fibers. 17. a process according to claim 1, wherein the fabric is formed by combining one layer of said carded fibers and a layer of said polymeric material, wherein said polymeric material is a plastic film. 18. a process according to claim 1, wherein the fabric is formed with the layer of carded fibers and layer of polymeric material combined as a layer of bi-component fibers made of a lower-melting sheath and a higher-melting core. 19. a process according to claim 1, wherein the fabric is formed with the layer of carded fibers and layer of polymeric material combined as a blend of low and high melting fibers. 20. a process according to claim 1, wherein the calendering roll applies heat at a temperature in the range of 280.degree. f. to 450.degree. f. 21. a process according to claim 1, wherein the calendering roll applies pressure in the range of 200 to 600 pounds/linear-inch. 22. a process according to claim 1, wherein the apertured area is in the range of 9% to 16% of the fabric area.
|
field of the invention this invention relates generally to apertured nonwoven fabrics and, particularly, to an apertured nonwoven topsheet product formed by a thermal aperturing process. background art apertured nonwoven fabrics are used in environments where it is desired to combine the properties of a fluid pervious outer layer for contact with the skin of a user with an absorbent layer having fluid absorption capacity. such apertured nonwoven fabrics find use as a topsheet in diapers, sanitary napkins, and adult incontinence products, etc. traditionally, apertured nonwoven fabrics are formed by hydraulic processes such as hydroentangling a fibrous web with an apertured pattern or spunlacing, by mechanical processes such as perforating or punching a nonwoven fabric, or by thermo-mechanical processes such as hot pin perforation, embossed roll calender, etc. hydraulic processes require rather costly equipment and complex processing operations. mechanical or thermo-mechanical processes also require multiple processing steps, e.g., by first forming a bonded nonwoven fabric then perforating or aperturing the same. some thermo-mechanical processes, such as taught in u.s. pat. nos. 3,507,943 and 3,542,634, can bond and aperture a fibrous layer in one step by pressure fusing the fibers of the nonwoven layer between contact points of embossed rolls or land-groove rolls and at the same time forming apertures therethrough by melting with sufficient heat and pressure, shearing action, etc. however, a high amount of heat and pressure is required to produce well-formed through-holes in the nonwoven layer. other processes, such as taught in u.s. pat. no. 4,184,902 to karami or u.s. pat. no. 4,780,352 to palumbo, form a topsheet in one processing step by perforating and/or spot bonding a fluid-pervious nonwoven layer with a plastic intermediate layer. however, the holes or aperture areas generated may not be of sufficient dimension or well-formed shape, and may require additional processing such as hot blowing or stretching to generate apertures of sufficient size and shape. it is therefore a principal object of the present invention to produce an apertured nonwoven fabric through a one-step cost-effective process using a simplified technique for generating apertures of sufficient size and shape. it is a particular object that such process take advantage of a physical interaction between polymeric materials of different melting temperatures under application of heat and pressure from the calendering points of an calender roll to accomplish simultaneously bonding of the fibers and forming of apertures through the nonwoven fabric. summary of the invention in accordance with the present invention, a process for producing an apertured nonwoven fabric comprises the steps of combining a nonwoven layer of fibers having a higher melting temperature and a polymeric material having a lower melting temperature and a property of shrinking under application of heat, and applying heat and pressure to the combination of the first-mentioned fibers and the other polymeric material through calendering points of a calender roll, such that the melted polymeric material becomes bonded to the first-mentioned fibers and simultaneously shrinks and takes back the first-mentioned fibers away from the calendering points, thereby generating apertures through the nonwoven fabric. in the preferred process, the fibers of the nonwoven layer are carded olefinic fibers, preferably polyethylene or polypropylene fibers, and the layer of polymeric material is a thin plastic film of olefinic material, such as a polyethylene stretch-wrap, or elastomeric material, or heat shrink material. the apertured product can have anywhere from 1-50% open (apertured) area. the process can be utilized for apertured nonwoven fabrics having basis weights ranging anywhere from 10.0 to 90.0 grams/yd.sup.2 (gsy). one outer nonwoven layer may be combined with the plastic film layer to form a bi-laminate product, or two outer nonwoven layers may be combined with an intermediate plastic film to form a tri-laminate product. in one particular example, the fibers of the nonwoven layer(s) are polypropylene having a melting point of about 165.degree. c., and the plastic film is a 16-gsy polyethylene stretch-wrap having a melting point of 125.degree. c. alternatively, low denier polypropylene/polyethylene bi-component fibers or a selected blend of low and high melting fibers may be used to obtain the same physical effect of shrinking and taking back the fibers to form apertures through the nonwoven fabric. a similar effect can be obtained when non-thermoplastic fibers in the outer layers are bonded to and pulled back by an intermediate plastic layer. the resulting products exhibit good bonding, suitable strength, and well-formed apertures. brief description of the drawings figs. 1a-1b illustrate the thermal aperturing technique in accordance with the invention for the general example of a tri-laminate product having outer nonwoven layers and an intermediate polymeric layer. fig. 2 is a schematic view of a process line for the manufacture of apertured nonwoven fabric. figs. 3-8 are photographic examples of apertured nonwoven products produced in accordance with the thermal aperturing technique. detailed description of the invention in the present invention, a one-step bonding and aperturing process is used for manufacturing a thermally apertured nonwoven product using thermal bonding (heated calendering) technology. the apertured nonwoven product is produced by combining one or two nonwoven layer(s) of fibers with a layer of polymeric material having a lower melting temperature and a property of shrinking when melted, such that under the application of heat and pressure the polymeric material becomes bonded to the fiber layer(s) and shrinks and takes back the fibers to form apertures through the nonwoven fabric. an example of the general process for forming thermally aperturing nonwoven fabric in accordance with the invention is illustrated in figs. 1a-1d using a plastic film as the layer of polymeric material. one or two outer nonwoven layers 10a, 10b and a thin plastic film 12 are fed in superposed relation through the nip of a pair of heated calender rolls 20a, 20b. the calender rolls have a plurality of calendering points or lands 22a, 22b which come together to apply heat and pressure to the superposed layers fed in between. the fibers of the nonwoven layers are made of a polymeric material. preferably, they are olefinic fibers such as polyethylene or, most preferably, polypropylene. the plastic film 12 is made of a polymeric material that has a melting temperature lower than that of the olefinic fibers and a property of shrinking upon application of heat above its melting temperature. films which can be used include olefinic, such as polyethylene stretch-wrap, elastomeric, or heat shrink films. as shown in fig. 1c, application of suitable heat and pressure causes the plastic film 12 to melt and shrink away from the area of the calendering points 20a, 20b. while shrinking back, the melting plastic film fuses to the fibers of the webs 10a, 10b and takes them back away from the calendering points. as shown in fig. 1d, the result is that the plastic film 12 and the fibers of the webs 10a, 10b become fused to each other, forming a fused border 32 around the area of the calendering points which serves simultaneously to bond the layers together and to define an aperture 30 through the nonwoven fabric. the film acts as a carrier to create the aperture. on a per weight basis, some plastic films are cheaper than the fiber. therefore, in some cases, the cost of making the apertured fabric is significantly less than making a conventional apertured fabric of comparable weight using fibers alone. in fig. 2, a process line is shown schematically for the manufacture of apertured nonwoven fabric as a continuous roll product. the olefinic fibers are carded at card stations #1 and #2 and fed on card conveyors 14a, 14b, respectively, for the webs 10a, 10bof fibers. the thin plastic film 12 is unwound from an unwind stand 16 and fed in superposed relation between the two carded webs on the card conveyors, and the composite of plastic film enclosed between two carded webs is fed by conveyors 16a, 16b to hot calender rolls 20a, 20b to be thermally bonded and apertured. the preferred practice employs dual engraved rolls (novonette #2 pattern), although anvil rolls or even a single engraved roll may also be utilized. on entering the heated calender rolls, the olefinic fibers is bonded together and the plastic film melts and shrinks away from the calendering points to generate a pattern of apertures. on exiting the calender rolls, the bonded and apertured nonwoven fabric is wound up on a roll. the apertured product can be formed with typically 1-50% open (apertured) area. however, the product can be tailored with any required open area by modifying the calender bond pattern, process conditions, etc. while the apertures appear to the naked eye as ovals, they are in fact somewhat irregular in shape when observed under a microscope. the apertured product can also be mechanically tentered (stretched) as it exits in a hot condition from the calender. tentering can significantly enhance the aperture clarity and size. depending on the kind of plastic film used and the type of fiber employed, the fluid handling properties of the apertured nonwoven product can be modified as required for suitable strike-through, re-wet, liquid distribution, and other properties. comparison trials showed that apertured products can be formed having the strike-through and re-wet properties of a typical diaper topsheet. the fabric can be formed to possess the desired softness for skin contact in various consumer disposable applications, as measured by hand-feel. however, a trade-off exists between fabric softness and the aperture clarity that is obtained. the elasticity of the apertured structure can be easily altered by using elastomeric materials instead of an olefinic film. apertured products can be made in almost any weight, e.g., ranging from 10.0 to 90.0 gsy. a typical fabric for consumer disposable applications could be in the range of 35.0 to 55.0 gsy. different variations utilizing other types of plastic films and polymeric materials can produce apertured product using the same basic concept of the invention. fibers other than olefinic fibers, for example polyesters, polyamides, etc., may be used for the nonwoven layer. where a plastic film is used, apertured fabric can be made one-sided or two-sided. when the plastic film is embedded between two layers of fiber, a soft product having the same feel on both sides is made, referred to herein as a "tri-laminate" product. on the other hand, attaching the plastic film to either side of the fiber layer results in a product having a different feel on its two sides. one side feels soft due to the presence of fibers, while the other side feels like plastic. this is referred to as a "bi-laminate" product. it is found that using polyethylene (pe) stretch-wrap as the thin film and embedding it between two layers of fiber gives a tri-laminate product with good aperture quality at the lowest cost. a desirable product can be made at anywhere from 30 to 46 gsy weights using low-elongation, high tenacity polypropylene (pp) fibers for the nonwoven layers, such as fibers designated t101 1.8 dpf.times.38 mm obtained from hercules corp., of norcross, ga., and 16 gsy clear stretch wrap film, such as loadmaster-s, pc-3400, 1.0 mil, ldpe stretch wrap film, from borden packaging and industrial products, of north andover, mass. the above-mentioned polypropylene fibers have a melting point of about 165.degree. c. (330.degree. f.), and the polyethylene stretch-wrap has a melting point of about 125.degree. c. (260.degree. f.). optimum softness and hole clarity were obtained at calender roll temperatures of 320.degree. f. in particular and 300.degree. f. to 360.degree. f. in general when using pp fibers, and at calender roll pressures in the range of 55 psi (pounds/sq. in.) or 300 pli (pounds/linear inch). an apertured plastic film can be used in place of the stretch wrap film. for example, apertured polytheylene (pe) films of different grades, thicknesses, and compositions with or without ethylvinyl acetate (eva) can be used. the apertured film embedded between two layers of fibers results in a tri-laminate product with very good aperture quality, particularly for apertured pe film with eva. the product inherits the excellent fluid handling characteristics of the apertured film, e.g., good uni-directional passage of fluid. a bi-laminate variation can also be made. low denier polypropylene/polyethylene bi-component (pp/pe) fibers are also suitable for this thermal aperturing technique. the low melting polyethylene sheath in contrast to the higher melting polypropylene core acts similar to the thin olefinic film described above. in typical examples, cleanly apertured products were manufactured using chisso es 0.9 dpf.times.38 mm bi-component fibers obtained from the chisso company of japan carded in two layers without any intermediate layer. calender roll temperatures of 290.degree. f. to 295.degree. f. were found to work best with the pp/pe bi-component fibers. a similar variation exploits the same physical effect by blending fibers with higher and lower melting points. the melting point differential is selected to simulate the effect of the thin olefinic film in taking back the fibers from the aperture areas. as an example, 20% of low melting polyethylene fiber can be blended with 80% polypropylene fibers to produce a suitable apertured product. elastic properties can be imparted to the apertured product by the use of an elastomeric film in place of the thin olefinic film. as an example, an elastomeric film such as one designated xexx56.tm. obtainable from exxon chemicals corp., of lake zurich, ill., can produce a product of good aperture clarity and excellent elastic properties in both the machine and cross directions. both tri- and bi-laminate products can be made. heat shrink films may also be used to obtain the same physical effect of shrinking and taking back the fibers to form apertures through the nonwoven fabric. for example, low-melting high-shrink films obtained from exxon chemicals corp. produced a product with good aperture quality. another high shrink film, designated clysar.tm., grade #60llp, from dupont corp., gave a unique, bulky, apertured fabric. only tri-laminates are possible in this case because of the shrink film's reaction to a surface applying heat. the above observations were made using a pilot thermal bonding line with 10" width. scaling up to a 32" wide line tested successfully. pilot line speeds of up to 150 feet/minute were run without any problems. the use of stretch wrap film and apertured pe film with eva embedded in pp fiber layers produced very good aperture quality, particularly at 32 gsy fabric weight. calender roll temperatures of between 328.degree. to 332.degree. f. and calender pressures of 400-550 pli on the 10" line and 250-300 pli on the wider thermal bonding line were found to provide optimum results. good aperture quality was obtained with calender lolls having the novonette pattern and land widths of 0.065" and 0.081", for percentage of apertured areas of 9% and 16%, respectively. the thermal aperturing technique was also found to be adaptable to tri-laminate products having non-thermoplastic fibers, e.g., rayon for the nonwoven layers, and a suitable plastic film in between. good apertured products were obtained using 15 gsy hercules t101 pp fiber in one layer and 15 gsy rayon (1.5 dpf.times.40 mm) fibers in the other layer, with ldpe stretch wrap, apertured pe with eva, and elastomeric styene block (sb) copolymer based films. a unique product having good to excellent aperture quality can be made with 15 gsy rayon fibers in both layers and an apertured pe with eva or elastomeric sbr film in between. a product having excellent aperture quality can also be obtained with rayon fibers in both layers and a stretch wrap film in between if the calender roll temperature is increased substantially higher, e.g., 412.degree. f. (instead of 320.degree. f.). a product with excellent aperture quality can also be produced using the hercules t101 pp fibers as the intermediate layer, but the resulting fabric has lower tensile strengths than when using plastic films. photographic examples of the apertured products described above show the aperture quality obtained with the thermal aperturing method of the present invention. fig. 3 shows a tri-laminate product obtained with polypropylene outer layers and an intermediate thin film. fig. 4 shows a tri-laminate product with pp/pp outer layers using calender rolls of a greater land width (16% apertured area). fig. 5 shows a bi-laminate product obtained with one polypropylene outer layer and an elastomeric film. fig. 6 shows an apertured product obtained with pp/pe bi-component fibers in two layers without any intermediate layer. fig. 7 shows a tri-laminate product with pp and rayon outer layers and an apertured pe film in between. fig. 8 shows a tri-laminate product obtained with both outer layers of rayon fibers and an apertured pe film in between. in each case, good aperture quality and shape are obtained by having the the lower melting, shrinking plastic material (thin film layer or bicomponent fiber) fusing to and pulling back the fibers of the outer layers. the fusing and taking back of the fibers by the melting/shrinking polymeric material is evident from the crusted ring of fused or congealed material surrounding the apertures and bonding the layers together. although the invention has been described with reference to certain preferred processes and examples, it will be appreciated that many other variations and modifications thereof may be devised in accordance with the principles disclosed herein. the invention and all such variations and modifications thereof within the scope and spirit of the invention are defined in the following claims.
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152-265-743-478-917
|
CN
|
[
"US",
"CN",
"WO"
] |
H01G11/08,H01M10/052,H02J7/34,H02J3/32
| 2019-07-01T00:00:00 |
2019
|
[
"H01",
"H02"
] |
hierarchical voltage control system of multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system and energy management method
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a hierarchical voltage control system is provided. a supercapacitor unit and a lithium battery unit are both connected to a dc bus to form a parallel-structure-type hybrid energy storage system, and are each configured with a power device and a switch to control a connection relationship between the corresponding unit and the dc bus. a detection circuit detects current and voltage values of the supercapacitor unit, the lithium battery unit, and the dc bus, detects an operating parameter of a power conversion system, and transmits the operating parameter to a processor, the power conversion system being connected in parallel to the dc bus for bidirectional power conversion of ac and dc energy sources. a microprocessor determines a system operating condition and uses a hierarchical voltage control strategy to control charging and discharging states of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit.
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1 . a hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system, comprising: a supercapacitor unit, a lithium battery unit, a power conversion system, a detection circuit, and a processor, wherein the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are both connected to a dc bus to form a parallel-structure-type hybrid energy storage system, and the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are each configured with a power device and a switch to control a connection relationship with the dc bus according to a charging or discharging state of the corresponding unit; the detection circuit detects current and voltage values of the supercapacitor unit, the lithium battery unit, and the dc bus, detects an operating parameter of the power conversion system, and transmits the operating parameter to the processor, the power conversion system being connected in parallel to the dc bus for bidirectional power conversion of ac and dc energy sources; and the processor determines a system operating condition according to a relationship between a voltage of the supercapacitor unit and a voltage of the lithium battery unit that are collected, and uses a hierarchical voltage control strategy to control charging and discharging states of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit. 2 . the hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the supercapacitor unit comprises a supercapacitor bank, the power device, and the switch, a positive terminal of the supercapacitor bank being connected to a positive terminal dc+ of the dc bus through the power device and the switch that are connected in series, the power device being connected in parallel to a diode connected inversely, and a negative terminal of the supercapacitor bank being connected to a negative terminal dc− of the dc bus. 3 . the hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the lithium battery unit comprises a lithium battery pack, the power device, and the switch, a positive terminal of the lithium battery pack being connected to a positive terminal dc+ of the dc bus through the power device and the switch that are connected in series, the power device being connected in parallel to a diode connected inversely, and a negative terminal of the lithium battery pack being connected to a negative terminal dc− of the dc bus. 4 . the hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is connected to and controls the power devices and switches of the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through an isolation drive circuit. 5 . an energy release management method for a hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system, comprising: a supercapacitor unit, a lithium battery unit, a power conversion system, a detection circuit, and a processor, wherein the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are both connected to a dc bus to form a parallel-structure-type hybrid energy storage system, and the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are each configured with a power device and a switch to control a connection relationship with the dc bus according to a charging or discharging state of the corresponding unit; the detection circuit detects current and voltage values of the supercapacitor unit, the lithium battery unit, and the dc bus, detects an operating parameter of the power conversion system, and transmits the operating parameter to the processor, the power conversion system being connected in parallel to the dc bus for bidirectional power conversion of ac and dc energy sources; and the processor determines a system operating condition according to a relationship between a voltage of the supercapacitor unit and a voltage of the lithium battery unit that are collected, and uses a hierarchical voltage control strategy to control charging and discharging states of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the lithium battery unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit; opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges; in an energy release process of the supercapacitor unit, obtaining and calculating a discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether the discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of discharging, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges, the lithium battery unit discharges, and the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit release energy simultaneously. 6 . the energy release management method according to claim 5 , wherein: in the energy release process, obtaining and simultaneously calculating discharge amounts of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit through a detection circuit, determining whether the discharge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that discharging of the supercapacitor unit ends, and the lithium battery unit continues discharging; or in the energy release process, obtaining and calculating the discharge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining whether the discharge amount of the lithium battery unit being greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; and opening the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the energy release process is completed. 7 . an energy storage management method for a hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system, comprising: a supercapacitor unit, a lithium battery unit, a power conversion system, a detection circuit, and a processor, wherein the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are both connected to a dc bus to form a parallel-structure-type hybrid energy storage system, and the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are each configured with a power device and a switch to control a connection relationship with the dc bus according to a charging or discharging state of the corresponding unit; the detection circuit detects current and voltage values of the supercapacitor unit, the lithium battery unit, and the dc bus, detects an operating parameter of the power conversion system, and transmits the operating parameter to the processor, the power conversion system being connected in parallel to the dc bus for bidirectional power conversion of ac and dc energy sources; and the processor determines a system operating condition according to a relationship between a voltage of the supercapacitor unit and a voltage of the lithium battery unit that are collected, and uses a hierarchical voltage control strategy to control charging and discharging states of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is less than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the lithium battery unit is less than the voltage of the supercapacitor unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning on the power device of the lithium battery unit, opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit; and charging the lithium battery unit through the power conversion system; in an energy storage process of charging the lithium battery unit, obtaining and calculating a charge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining whether the charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of charging, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning on the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and simultaneously charging the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through the power conversion system. 8 . the energy storage management method according to claim 7 , wherein: in the energy storage process, obtaining and simultaneously calculating charge amounts of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, determining whether the charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning on the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning off the power device of the lithium battery unit, closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that charging of the lithium battery unit ends, and the supercapacitor unit is continuously charged through the power conversion system. 9 . the energy storage management method according to claim 7 , wherein: in the energy storage process, obtaining and calculating the charge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether the charge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and opening the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the energy storage process is completed. 10 . a computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions, the instructions being adapted to be loaded by a processor of a terminal device and perform the management method according to claim 5 . 11 . an energy release management method for the system according to claim 2 , comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the lithium battery unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit; opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges; in an energy release process of the supercapacitor unit, obtaining and calculating a discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether the discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of discharging, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges, the lithium battery unit discharges, and the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit release energy simultaneously. 12 . an energy release management method for the system according to claim 3 , comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the lithium battery unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit; opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges; in an energy release process of the supercapacitor unit, obtaining and calculating a discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether the discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of discharging, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges, the lithium battery unit discharges, and the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit release energy simultaneously. 13 . an energy release management method for the system according to claim 4 , comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the lithium battery unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit; opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges; in an energy release process of the supercapacitor unit, obtaining and calculating a discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether the discharge amount of the supercapacitor unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of discharging, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges, the lithium battery unit discharges, and the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit release energy simultaneously. 14 . an energy storage management method for the system according to claim 2 , comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is less than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the lithium battery unit is less than the voltage of the supercapacitor unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning on the power device of the lithium battery unit, opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit; and charging the lithium battery unit through the power conversion system; in an energy storage process of charging the lithium battery unit, obtaining and calculating a charge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining whether the charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of charging, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning on the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and simultaneously charging the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through the power conversion system. 15 . an energy storage management method for the system according to claim 3 , comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is less than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the lithium battery unit is less than the voltage of the supercapacitor unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning on the power device of the lithium battery unit, opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit; and charging the lithium battery unit through the power conversion system; in an energy storage process of charging the lithium battery unit, obtaining and calculating a charge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining whether the charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of charging, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning on the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and simultaneously charging the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through the power conversion system. 16 . an energy storage management method for the system according to claim 4 , comprising the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is less than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the lithium battery unit is less than the voltage of the supercapacitor unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning on the power device of the lithium battery unit, opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit; and charging the lithium battery unit through the power conversion system; in an energy storage process of charging the lithium battery unit, obtaining and calculating a charge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining whether the charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to a set threshold of charging, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning on the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and simultaneously charging the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through the power conversion system. 17 . the energy storage management method according to claim 7 , wherein: in the energy storage process, obtaining and calculating the charge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether the charge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise continuing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and opening the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the energy storage process is completed. 18 . a computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions, the instructions being adapted to be loaded by a processor of a terminal device and perform the management method according to claim 6 . 19 . a computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions, the instructions being adapted to be loaded by a processor of a terminal device and perform the management method according to claim 7 . 20 . a computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions, the instructions being adapted to be loaded by a processor of a terminal device and perform the management method according to claim 8 .
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background technical field the present disclosure belongs to the field of new energy power generation, and in particular, to a hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system and an energy management method. related art the description in this section merely provides background information related to the present disclosure and does not necessarily constitute the prior art. a photovoltaic wind power of a distributed ac-dc microgrid is connected to a dc bus through dc-dc conversion (dc/dc) circuit or a rectifier circuit, and works in the maximum power point tracking (mppt) mode. an output power varies with the fluctuation of illumination and wind power, which may result in fluctuations in the dc bus. according to understanding of the inventor, a part of the existing energy storage system is composed of a single lithium battery, of which charging and discharging rates are bound to fluctuate continuously, which will seriously affect the life of the lithium battery. in a common dc bus microgrid system involving a plurality of types of energy storage systems, an energy storage unit, such as a super capacitor and a lithium battery, is mostly connected to the dc bus through dc/dc. due to the commutation characteristics of inductance in dc/dc, seamless and off-grid switching cannot be achieved for the microgrid. the existing control method generally cannot solve the damage caused by frequent charging of an energy storage device, and cannot control a working state of each interface converter according to a change of the dc bus voltage, and automatically switch the working state of the energy storage device, to implement orderly charging and discharging of the energy storage device. currently, power balance in the microgrid cannot be ensured to maintain stability of the ac/dc bus voltage. summary in order to solve the above problems, the present disclosure proposes a hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system and an energy management method. according to the present disclosure, a dc bus voltage can be adjusted, and system energy and power can be balanced. according to some embodiments, the present disclose adopts the following technical solutions. a hierarchical voltage control system of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system includes: a supercapacitor unit, a lithium battery unit, a power conversion system, a detection circuit, and a processor, wherein: the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are both connected to a dc bus to form a parallel-structure-type hybrid energy storage system, and the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit are each configured with a power device and a switch to control a connection relationship with the dc bus according to a charging or discharging state of the corresponding unit; the detection circuit detects current and voltage values of the supercapacitor unit, the lithium battery unit and the dc bus, detects an operating parameter of the power conversion system, and transmits the operating parameter to the processor, the power conversion system being connected in parallel to the dc bus for bidirectional power conversion of ac and dc energy sources; and the processor determines a system operating condition according to a relationship between a voltage of the supercapacitor unit and a voltage of the lithium battery unit that are collected, and uses a hierarchical voltage control strategy to control charging and discharging states of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit. the above technical solutions can make full use of the advantage of high energy density of lithium batteries, but have the disadvantage of low power density, limited cycle life, and slow dynamic response. the supercapacitor has obvious advantages such as a fast response speed, high power density, and low operating requirements, can provide or absorb a larger amount of energy in an instant, can control a working state of each interface converter according to a change of the dc bus voltage, and can automatically switch the working state of an energy storage device, to implement orderly charging and discharging of the energy storage device, thereby ensuring power balance in the microgrid to maintain voltage stability of the ac/dc bus. in a possible embodiment, the supercapacitor unit includes a supercapacitor bank, a power device, and a switch, a positive terminal of the supercapacitor bank being connected to a positive terminal dc+ of the dc bus through the power device and the switch that are connected in series, the power device being connected in parallel to a diode connected inversely, and a negative terminal of the supercapacitor bank being connected to a negative terminal dc− of the dc bus. in a possible embodiment, the lithium battery unit includes a lithium battery pack, a power device, and a switch, a positive terminal of the lithium battery pack being connected to a positive terminal dc+ of the dc bus through the power device and the switch that are connected in series, the power device being connected in parallel to a diode connected inversely, and a negative terminal of the lithium battery being connected to a negative terminal dc− of the dc bus. in a possible embodiment, the processor is connected to and controls the power devices and switches of the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through an isolation drive circuit. the energy release management method for the system above includes the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the super capacitor unit is greater than the voltage of the lithium battery unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit; opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges; in an energy release process of the supercapacitor bank, obtaining and calculating a discharge amount of the supercapacitor bank, determining whether a discharge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to a set discharge threshold, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise performing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; and closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the supercapacitor unit discharges, the lithium battery unit discharges, and the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit release energy simultaneously. in a possible embodiment, the method further includes: in the energy release process, obtaining and calculating discharge amounts of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit through a detection circuit, determining whether a discharge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to a set threshold, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise performing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; and opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that discharging of the supercapacitor unit ends, and the lithium battery unit continues discharging. in a possible embodiment, the method further includes: in the energy release process, obtaining and calculating a discharge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining the discharge amount of the lithium battery unit being greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise performing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit; and opening the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the energy release process is completed. the energy storage management method for the system above includes the following steps: determining whether the voltage of the supercapacitor unit is less than the voltage of the dc bus, and whether the voltage of the lithium battery pack is less than the voltage of the supercapacitor unit, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, performing next step, and if not, issuing an alarm; turning off the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning on the power device of the lithium battery unit, opening the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and closing the switch of the lithium battery unit; charging the lithium battery unit through the power conversion system; in a process of charging the lithium battery unit, obtaining and calculating a charge amount of the lithium battery unit, determining whether the charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to a set charging threshold, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise performing this step; and turning on the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, closing the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and simultaneously charging the lithium battery unit and the supercapacitor unit through a power conversion system. in a possible embodiment, the method further includes: in the energy storage process, obtaining and calculating charge amounts of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, determining whether a charge amount of the lithium battery unit is greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise performing this step; and turning on the power device of the supercapacitor unit, turning off the power device of the lithium battery unit, closing the switch of the supercapacitor unit, and opening the switch of the lithium battery unit, so that charging of the lithium battery unit ends, and the supercapacitor unit is continuously charged through the power conversion system. in a possible embodiment, the method further includes: in the energy storage process, obtaining and calculating the charge amount of the supercapacitor unit, determining whether a charge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to the set threshold, if the charge amount exceeds the set threshold, performing next step, and otherwise performing this step; and turning off the power devices of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, and opening the switches of the supercapacitor unit and the lithium battery unit, so that the energy storage process is completed. a computer readable storage medium is provided, storing a plurality of instructions, the instructions being adapted to be loaded by a processor of a terminal device and perform the energy management method. a terminal device is provided, including a processor and a computer readable storage medium, the processor being configured to implement instructions; the computer readable storage medium being configured to store a plurality of instructions, the instructions being adapted to be loaded by a processor and perform the management method. compared to the prior art, the present disclosure has the following beneficial effects. (1) the energy storage system can give full play to the various advantages of the lithium battery and the supercapacitor. the lithium battery can provide long-term power supply, and the supercapacitor can provide fast energy supply, so that power balance in the microgrid can be achieved, and voltages of the ac and dc bus are stable, which indicates that the proposed method is simple and effective. (2) a topology of a circuit is simple to avoid high switching frequency of key devices and prolong its life. (3) the supercapacitor and the lithium battery are connected to the dc bus through a semiconductor switch without dc/dc, so that seamless and off-grid switching is implemented as required by the microgrid. (4) the supercapacitor and the lithium battery system work at stagger times in voltage segments. the supercapacitor responds to shocks and instability of photovoltaic wind power, as well as instantaneous load impacts, and the lithium battery system provides long-term load support. (5) whether the supercapacitor and the lithium battery need to overlap, the degree of overlapping can be achieved by adjusting the set threshold according to the actual situation. the adjustment method is simple and convenient. brief description of the drawings the accompanying drawings constituting a part of the present disclosure are used to provide further understanding of the present disclosure. exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and descriptions thereof are used to explain the present disclosure, and do not constitute an improper limitation to the present disclosure. fig. 1 is a diagram of a hybrid energy storage system according to an embodiment. fig. 2 is a flowchart of energy release through a hierarchical voltage control strategy according to an embodiment. fig. 3 is a flowchart of energy storage through a hierarchical voltage control strategy according to an embodiment. wherein, 1. positive terminal dc+ of a dc bus; 2. power device ssc for a supercapacitor bank, which can actively control turn-on and turn-off of an igbt; 3. diode dsc for the supercapacitor bank; 4. power device sbat for a lithium battery pack, which can actively control turn-on and turn-off of an igbt; 5. diode dbat for the lithium battery pack; 6. switch of the supercapacitor bank, ksc being a switch that controls the supercapacitor; 7. switch of the lithium battery pack, kbat being a switch that controls a lithium iron phosphate system; 8. power conversion system (pcs); 9. supercapacitor bank; 10. lithium battery pack; 11. negative terminal dc− of the dc bus; 12. isolation drive circuit; 13. microprocessor; 14. voltage and circuit detection circuit. detailed description the present disclosure is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. it should be noted that the following detailed descriptions are all exemplary and are intended to provide a further description of the present disclosure. unless otherwise specified, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. it should be noted that terms used herein are only for describing specific implementations and are not intended to limit exemplary implementations according to the present disclosure. as used herein, the singular form is intended to include the plural form, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. in addition, it should further be understood that terms “comprise” and/or “include” used in this specification indicate that there are features, steps, operations, devices, components, and/or combinations thereof. a hierarchical voltage control apparatus of a multi-energy complementary hybrid energy storage system (hess) and a power management method are provided. a hybrid energy storage system is composed of a lithium battery pack and a supercapacitor bank with strong complementary performance, which is specific to the advantage of high energy density of lithium batteries and the disadvantage of low power density, limited cycle life, slow dynamic response, and the like. the supercapacitor has obvious advantages such as a fast response speed, high power density, and low operation requirements, and can provide or absorb a larger amount of energy in an instant. the hybrid energy storage system control strategy of an ac and dc microgrid proposed by using a simple and effective control circuit, a detection circuit, and a microprocessor plays the role of adjusting a dc bus voltage and balancing the energy and power of the system. in order to achieve the above objective, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions. as shown in fig. 1 , a hierarchical voltage control apparatus for hybrid energy storage system includes: 1. positive terminal dc+ of a dc bus; 2. power device ssc for a supercapacitor bank, which can actively control turn-on and turn-off of an igbt; 3. diode dsc for the supercapacitor bank; 4. power device sbat for a lithium battery pack, which can actively control turn-on and turn-off of an igbt; 5. diode dbat for the lithium battery pack; 6. switch of the supercapacitor bank, ksc being a switch that controls the supercapacitor; 7. switch of the lithium battery pack, kbat being a switch that controls a lithium iron phosphate system; 8. power conversion system (pcs); 9. supercapacitor bank; 10. lithium battery pack; 11. negative terminal dc− of the dc bus; 12. isolation drive circuit; 13. microprocessor; 14. voltage and circuit detection circuit. the positive terminal of the supercapacitor bank is connected to the positive terminal dc+ of the dc bus through the power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank, the diode dsc for the supercapacitor bank, and the switch of the supercapacitor bank. the negative terminal of the supercapacitor bank is connected to the negative terminal dc− of the dc bus. the positive terminal of the lithium battery pack is connected to the positive terminal dc+ of the dc bus through the power device sbat for the lithium battery pack, the diode dbat for the lithium battery pack, and the switch of the lithium battery pack. the negative terminal of the lithium battery pack is connected to the negative terminal dc− of the dc bus. the supercapacitor bank and the lithium battery pack form a parallel-structure-type hybrid energy storage system, which implements effective control of the hess system by collecting the dc bus voltage and current, a voltage at a terminal of the supercapacitor and an output current of the supercapacitor, and a voltage and an output current at a terminal of the lithium battery. the power conversion system (pcs) can implement power conversion of ac and dc energy sources in the ac and dc microgrid system. the isolation drive circuit can implement the isolation between the microprocessor and a switching device and the drive control of the switching device. the microprocessor implements external signal processing, hierarchical voltage control, and the energy management strategy. the voltage and current detection circuit implements the collection and processing of the voltages and currents of the dc bus, the lithium battery pack, and the supercapacitor bank in the system. the energy management strategy for the hierarchical voltage control includes the following steps. as shown in fig. 2 , an energy release mode management strategy is provided, including the following steps. step 1: at the start of energy release, first determine whether a voltage usc of a supercapacitor bank is greater than a voltage udcbus of a dc bus, and whether the voltage usc of the supercapacitor unit is greater than a voltage ubat of a lithium battery pack, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, perform next step, and if not, issue an alarm. step 2: turn off a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn off a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; close a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; and open a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack, so that the supercapacitor bank discharges through a diode dsc. step 3: in an energy release process of the supercapacitor bank, obtain and calculate a battery level released by the supercapacitor bank, determine whether a discharge amount of the supercapacitor is greater than or equal to a set discharge threshold, if the discharge amount exceeds the set threshold, perform next step, and otherwise perform this step. step 4: turn off a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn off a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; close a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; and close a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack, so that the supercapacitor bank discharges through a diode dsc, the lithium battery pack discharges through a diode dbat, and the lithium battery pack and the supercapacitor bank simultaneously release energy. step 5: in the energy release process, obtain and calculate discharge amounts of the two through a detection circuit, if the discharge amount of the supercapacitor exceeds the set threshold, perform next step, and otherwise perform this step. step 6: turn off a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn off a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; open a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; and close a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack, so that discharging of the supercapacitor bank ends, and the lithium battery pack continues discharging through the diode dbat. step 7: in the energy release process, obtain and calculate a discharge amount of the lithium battery pack, if the discharge amount of the lithium battery pack exceeds the set threshold, perform next step, and otherwise perform this step. step 8: turn off a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn off a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; open a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; and open a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack, so that the energy release process is completed. as shown in fig. 3 , a management strategy for an energy storage mode is provided, including the following steps. step 1: at the start of energy storage, first determine whether a voltage usc of a supercapacitor bank is less than a voltage udcbus of a dc bus, and whether a voltage of a lithium battery pack is less than the voltage usc of the supercapacitor bank, if the foregoing condition is satisfied, perform next step, and if not, issue an alarm. step 2: turn off a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn on a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; open a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; close a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack; and charging the lithium battery pack through a power conversion system (pcs). step 3: in a process of charging the lithium battery pack, obtain and calculate a charge amount of the lithium battery pack, if the charge amount of the lithium battery pack exceeds the set threshold, perform next step, and otherwise perform this step. step 4: turn on a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn on a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; close a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; close a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack; and simultaneously charge the lithium battery pack and the supercapacitor bank through a power conversion system (pcs). step 5: in the energy storage process, obtain and calculate charge amounts of the supercapacitor bank and the lithium battery pack, if the charge amount of the lithium battery pack exceeds the set threshold, perform next step, and otherwise perform this step. step 6: turn on a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn off a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; close a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; and open a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack, so that charging the lithium battery pack ends, and the supercapacitor bank is continuously charged through a power conversion system (pcs). step 7: in the energy storage process, obtain and calculate the charge amount of the supercapacitor bank, if the charge amount of the supercapacitor exceeds the set threshold, perform next step, and otherwise perform this step. step 8: turn off a power device ssc for the supercapacitor bank; turn off a power device sbat for the lithium battery pack; open a switch ksc of the supercapacitor bank; and open a switch kbat of the lithium battery pack, so that energy storage is completed. a person skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. therefore, the present disclosure may use a form of hardware-only embodiments, software-only embodiments, or embodiments combining software and hardware. in addition, the present disclosure may use a form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer available storage media (including but not limited to a disk memory, a cd-rom, an optical memory, and the like) including computer available program code. the present disclosure is described with reference to flowcharts and/or block diagrams of the method, device (system), and computer program product in the embodiments of the present disclosure. it should be understood that computer program instructions can implement each procedure and/or block in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams and a combination of procedures and/or blocks in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams. these computer program instructions may be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or a processor of another programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that an apparatus configured to implement functions specified in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and/or one or more blocks in the block diagrams is generated by using instructions executed by a computer or a processor of another programmable data processing device. these computer program instructions may alternatively be stored in a computer-readable memory that can instruct a computer or another programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory generate an artifact that includes an instruction apparatus. the instruction apparatus implements a specific function in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams. these computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or another programmable data processing device, so that a series of operations and steps are performed on the computer or the another programmable device, thereby generating computer-implemented processing. therefore, the instructions executed on the computer or the another programmable device provide steps for implementing a specific function in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and/or in one or more blocks in the block diagrams. the foregoing descriptions are merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, but are not intended to limit the present disclosure. the present disclosure may include various modifications and changes for a person skilled in the art. any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure. the specific implementations of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present disclosure. a person skilled in the art should understand that various modifications or deformations may be made without creative efforts based on the technical solutions of the present disclosure, and such modifications or deformations shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
|
154-538-538-495-615
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
G05B23/02,H05B37/02,H05B37/03,G06F19/00,G08B19/00,G08B25/00,G06F11/00
| 1997-04-16T00:00:00 |
1997
|
[
"G05",
"H05",
"G06",
"G08"
] |
lamp monitoring and control system and method
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a system and method for remotely monitoring and/or controlling an apparatus and specifically for remotely monitoring and/or controlling street lamps. the lamp monitoring and control system comprises lamp monitoring and control units, each coupled to a respective lamp to monitor and control, and each transmitting monitoring data having at least an id field and a status field; and at least one base station, coupled to a group of the lamp monitoring and control units, for receiving the monitoring data, wherein each of the base stations includes an id and status processing unit for processing the id field of the monitoring data.
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1. a remote device monitoring and control system for monitoring and controlling a plurality of remote devices, comprising: 2. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein the id field includes a remote device monitoring and control unit id. 3. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein the id field includes a base station id. 4. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring data further includes a data field. 5. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 4 , wherein the data field includes current data related to one of the plurality of remote devices. 6. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 4 , wherein the data field includes voltage data related to one of the plurality of remote devices. 7. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of remote device monitoring and control units receives control information from at least one of said at least one base station. 8. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of remote device monitoring and control units transmits the monitoring data to at least one of said at least one base station via an rf link. 9. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 8 , wherein the rf link is in a frequency range of 218-219 mhz. 10. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of remote device monitoring and control units transmits the monitoring data to at least one of said at least one base station via a wire link. 11. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of remote device monitoring and control units transmits the monitoring data to at least one of said at least one base station via a coaxial cable link. 12. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of remote device monitoring and control units transmits the monitoring data to at least one of said at least one base station via a fiber optic link. 13. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein a group of said at least one base station is coupled together in a network topology. 14. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , further comprising: 15. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring data from the plurality of remote device monitoring and control units is staggered in time to avoid collisions. 16. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring data from the plurality of remote device monitoring and control units is staggered in frequency to avoid collisions. 17. a method of making a remote device monitoring and control system for monitoring and controlling a plurality of remote devices, comprising: 18. the system of claim 1 , wherein the id field is indicative of a location of the respective remote device. 19. the system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of remote device monitoring and control units receives a signal originating away from the at least one of the plurality of remote device monitoring and control units. 20. the system of claim 19 , wherein the signal originates from the at least one base station. 21. a system for monitoring a plurality of remote devices, comprising: 22. the system of claim 21 , wherein the id field is indicative of a location of the respective remote device. 23. the system of claim 21 , wherein at least one of the plurality of remote device monitoring units receives a signal originating away from the at least one of the plurality of remote device monitoring units. 24. the system of claim 23 , wherein the signal originates from the at least one base station. 25. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 1 , wherein the remote device comprises a street lamp mounted on a lamp pole substantially near a top the lamp pole. 26. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 25 , wherein each of the plurality of stationery remote device monitoring and control units is affixed to the corresponding street lamp. 27. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 25 , wherein each of the plurality of stationery remote device monitoring and control units is attached to a three prong connector of the corresponding street lamp. 28. the device of claim 1 , wherein each of the stationary remote device monitoring and control units is affixed to the respective remote device. 29. the device of claim 1 , wherein each of the stationary remote device monitoring and control units is configured to receive signals from the respective remote device to which it is attached. 30. the method of claim 17 , wherein each of the plurality of remote devices comprises a street lamp mounted on a lamp pole. 31. the method of claim 30 , wherein each of the plurality of stationery remote device monitoring control units is mounted to a corresponding one of the street lamps. 32. the remote device monitoring and control system of claim 30 , wherein each of the plurality of stationery remote device monitoring and control units is attached to a three prong connector of the corresponding street lamp. 33. the method of claim 17 , wherein transmitting monitoring data comprises wireless transmission from the monitoring and control units to the at least one base station. 34. the device of claim 17 , wherein each of the stationary remote device monitoring and control units is affixed to the respective remote device. 35. the device of claim 17 , wherein each of the stationary remote device monitoring and control units is configured to receive signals from the respective remote device to which it is attached. 36. the system of claim 21 , wherein the light fixture is located substantially near a top of the light pole. 37. the system of claim 21 , wherein each of the plurality of remote device monitoring units wirelessly transmits data to the least one base station. 38. the system of claim 21 , wherein the remote device is the light fixture. 39. the system of claim 21 , wherein each of the stationary remote device monitoring units is affixed to the respective remote device. 40. the system of claim 21 , wherein each of the stationary remote device monitoring units is configured to receive signals from the respective remote device to which it is attached.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention this invention relates generally to a system and method for remotely monitoring and/or controlling an apparatus and specifically to a lamp monitoring and control system and method for use with street lamps. the present invention includes a monitoring and control unit, such as the lamp monitoring and control unit disclosed in co-pending application entitled lamp monitoring and control unit and method, ser. no. 08/838,302, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 2. background of the related art the first street lamps were used in europe during the latter half of the seventeenth century. these lamps consisted of lanterns which were attached to cables strung across the street so that the lantern hung over the center of the street. in france, the police were responsible for operating and maintaining these original street lamps while in england contractors were hired for street lamp operation and maintenance. in all instances, the operation and maintenance of street lamps was considered a government function. the operation and maintenance of street lamps, or more generally any units which are distributed over a large geographic area, can be divided into two tasks: monitor and control. monitoring comprises the transmission of information from the distributed unit regarding the unit's status and controlling comprises the reception of information by the distributed unit. for the present example in which the distributed units are street lamps, the monitoring function comprises periodic checks of the street lamps to determine if they are functioning properly. the controlling function comprises turning the street lamps on at night and off during the day. this monitor and control function of the early street lamps was very labor intensive since each street lamp had to be individually lit (controlled) and watched for any problems (monitored). because these early street lamps were simply lanterns, there was no centralized mechanism for monitor and control and both of these functions were distributed at each of the street lamps. eventually, the street lamps were moved from the cables hanging over the street to poles which were mounted at the side of the street. additionally, the primitive lanterns were replaced with oil lamps. the oil lamps were a substantial improvement over the original lanterns because they produced a much brighter light. this resulted in illumination of a greater area by each street lamp. unfortunately, these street lamps still had the same problem as the original lanterns in that there was no centralized monitor and control mechanism to light the street lamps at night and watch for problems. in the 1840's, the oil lamps were replaced by gaslights in france. the advent of this new technology began a government centralization of a portion of the control function for street lighting since the gas for the lights was supplied from a central location. in the 1880's, the gaslights were replaced with electrical lamps. the electrical power for these street lamps was again provided from a central location. with the advent of electrical street lamps, the government finally had a centralized method for controlling the lamps by controlling the source of electrical power. the early electrical street lamps were composed of arc lamps in which the illumination was produced by an arc of electricity flowing between two electrodes. currently, most street lamps still use arc lamps for illumination. the mercury-vapor lamp is the most common form of street lamp in use today. in this type of lamp, the illumination is produced by an arc which takes place in a mercury vapor. fig. 1 shows the configuration of a typical mercury-vapor lamp. this figure is provided only for demonstration purposes since there are a variety of different types of mercury-vapor lamps. the mercury-vapor lamp consists of an arc tube 110 which is filled with argon gas and a small amount of pure mercury. arc tube 110 is mounted inside a large outer bulb 120 which encloses and protects the arc tube. additionally, the outer bulb may be coated with phosphors to improve the color of the light emitted and reduce the ultraviolet radiation emitted. mounting of arc tube 110 inside outer bulb 120 may be accomplished with an arc tube mount support 130 on the top and a stem 140 on the bottom. main electrodes 150 a and 150 b , with opposite polarities, are mechanically sealed at both ends of arc tube 110 . the mercury-vapor lamp requires a sizeable voltage to start the arc between main electrodes 150 a and 150 b. the starting of the mercury-vapor lamp is controlled by a starting circuit (not shown in fig. 1 ) which is attached between the power source (not shown in fig. 1 ) and the lamp. unfortunately, there is no standard starting circuit for mercury-vapor lamps. after the lamp is started, the lamp current will continue to increase unless the starting circuit provides some means for limiting the current. typically, the lamp current is limited by a resistor, which severely reduces the efficiency of the circuit, or by a magnetic device, such as a choke or a transformer, called a ballast. during the starting operation, electrons move through a starting resistor 160 to a starting electrode 170 and across a short gap between starting electrode 170 and main electrode 150 b of opposite polarity. the electrons cause ionization of some of the argon gas in the arc tube. the ionized gas diffuses until a main arc develops between the two opposite polarity main electrodes 150 a and 150 b . the heat from the main arc vaporizes the mercury droplets to produce ionized current carriers. as the lamp current increases, the ballast acts to limit the current and reduce the supply voltage to maintain stable operation and extinguish the arc between main electrode 150 b and starting electrode 170 . because of the variety of different types of starter circuits, it is virtually impossible to characterize the current and voltage characteristics of the mercury-vapor lamp. in fact, the mercury-vapor lamp may require minutes of warm-up before light is emitted. additionally, if power is lost, the lamp must cool and the mercury pressure must decrease before the starting arc can start again. the mercury-vapor lamp has become one of the predominant types of street lamp with millions of units produced annually. the current installed base of these street lamps is enormous with more than 500,000 street lamps in los angeles alone. the mercury-vapor lamp is not the most efficient gaseous discharge lamp, but is preferred for use in street lamps because of its long life, reliable performance, and relatively low cost. although the mercury-vapor lamp has been used as a common example of current street lamps, there is increasing use of other types of lamps such as metal halide and high pressure sodium. all of these types of lamps require a starting circuit which makes it virtually impossible to characterize the current and voltage characteristics of the lamp. fig. 2 shows a lamp arrangement 201 with a typical lamp sensor unit 210 which is situated between a power source 220 and a lamp assembly 230 . lamp assembly 230 includes a lamp 240 (such as the mercury-vapor lamp presented in fig. 1 ) and a starting circuit 250 . most cities currently use automatic lamp control units to control the street lamps. these lamp control units provide an automatic, but decentralized, control mechanism for turning the street lamps on at night and off during the day. a typical street lamp assembly 201 includes a lamp sensor unit 210 which in turn includes a light sensor 260 and a relay 270 as shown in fig. 2 . lamp sensor unit 210 is electrically coupled between external power source 220 and starting circuit 250 of lamp assembly 230 . there is a hot line 280 a and a neutral line 280 b providing electrical connection between power source 220 and lamp sensor unit 210 . additionally, there is a switched line 280 c and a neutral line 280 d providing electrical connection between lamp sensor unit 210 and starting circuit 250 of lamp assembly 230 . from a physical standpoint, most lamp sensor units 210 use a standard three prong plug, for example a twist lock plug, to connect to the back of lamp assembly 230 . the three prongs couple to hot line 280 a , switched line 280 c , and neutral lines 280 b and 280 d . in other words, the neutral lines 280 b and 280 d are both connected to the same physical prong since they are at the same electrical potential. some systems also have a ground wire, but no ground wire is shown in fig. 2 since it is not relevant to the operation of lamp sensor unit 210 . power source 220 may be a standard 115 volt, 60 hz source from a power line. of course, a variety of alternatives are available for power source 220 . in foreign countries, power source 220 may be a 220 volt, 50 hz source from a power line. additionally, power source 220 may be a dc voltage source or, in certain remote regions, it may be a battery which is charged by a solar reflector. the operation of lamp sensor unit 210 is fairly simple. at sunset, when the light from the sun decreases below a sunset threshold, light sensor 260 detects this condition and causes relay 270 to close. closure of relay 270 results in electrical connection of hot line 280 a and switched line 280 c with power being applied to starting circuit 250 of lamp assembly 230 to ultimately produce light from lamp 240 . at sunrise, when the light from the sun increases above a sunrise threshold, light sensor 260 detects this condition and causes relay 270 to open. opening of relay 270 eliminates electrical connection between hot line 280 a and switched line 280 c and causes the removal of power from starting circuit 250 which turns lamp 240 off. lamp sensor unit 210 provides an automated, distributed control mechanism to turn lamp assembly 230 on and off. unfortunately, it provides no mechanism for centralized monitoring of the street lamp to determine if the lamp is functioning properly. this problem is particularly important in regard to the street lamps on major boulevards and highways in large cities. when a street lamp burns out over a highway, it is often not replaced for a long period of time because the maintenance crew will only schedule a replacement lamp when someone calls the city maintenance department and identifies the exact pole location of the bad lamp. since most automobile drivers will not stop on the highway just to report a bad street lamp, a bad lamp may go unreported indefinitely. additionally, if a lamp is producing light but has a hidden problem, visual monitoring of the lamp will never be able to detect the problem. some examples of hidden problems relate to current, when the lamp is drawing significantly more current than is normal, or voltage, when the power supply is not supplying the appropriate voltage level to the street lamp. furthermore, the present system of lamp control in which an individual light sensor is located at each street lamp, is a distributed control system which does not allow for centralized control. for example, if the city wanted to turn on all of the street lamps in a certain area at a certain time, this could not be done because of the distributed nature of the present lamp control circuits. because of these limitations, a new type of lamp monitoring and control system is needed which allows centralized monitoring and/or control of the street lamps in a geographical area. one attempt to produce a centralized control mechanism is a product called the radioswitch made by cetronic. the radioswitch is a remotely controlled time switch for installation on the din-bar of control units. it is used for remote control of electrical equipment via local or national paging networks. unfortunately, the radioswitch is unable to address most of the problems listed above. since the radioswitch is receive only (no transmit capability), it only allows one to remotely control external equipment. furthermore, since the communication link for the radioswitch is via paging networks, it is unable to operate in areas in which paging does not exist (for example, large rural areas in the united states). additionally, although the radioswitch can be used to control street lamps, it does not use the standard three prong interface used by the present lamp control units. accordingly, installation is difficult because it cannot be used as a plug-in replacement for the current lamp control units. because of these limitations of the available equipment, there exists a need for a new type of lamp monitoring and control system which allows centralized monitoring and/or control of the street lamps in a geographical area. more specifically, this new system must be inexpensive, reliable, and able to handle the traffic generated by communication with the millions of currently installed street lamps. although the above discussion has presented street lamps as an example, there is a more general need for a new type of monitoring and control system which allows centralized monitoring and/or control of units distributed over a large geographical area. the above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background. summary of the invention the present invention provides a lamp monitoring and control system and method for use with street lamps which solves the problems described above. while the invention is described with respect to use with street lamps, it is more generally applicable to any application requiring centralized monitoring and/or control of units distributed over a large geographical area. accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system for monitoring and controlling lamps or any remote device over a large geographical area. another object of the invention is to provide a method for randomizing transmit times and channel numbers to reduce the probability of a packet collision. an additional object of the present invention is to provide a base station for receiving monitoring data from remote devices. another object of the current invention is to provide an id and status processing unit in the base station for processing an id and status field in the monitoring data and allowing storage in a database to create statistical profiles. an advantage of the present invention is that it solves the problem of efficiently providing centralized monitoring and/or control of the street lamps in a geographical area. another advantage of the present invention is that by randomizing the frequency and timing of redundant transmissions, it reduces the probability of collisions while increasing the probability of a successful packet reception. an additional advantage of the present invention is that it provides for a new type of monitoring and control unit which allows centralized monitoring and/or control of units distributed over a large geographical area. another advantage of the present invention is that it allows bases stations to be connected to other base stations or to a main station in a network topology to increase the amount of monitoring data in the overall system. a feature of the present invention, in accordance with one embodiment, is that it includes the base station with an id and status processing unit for processing the id field of the monitoring data. another feature of the present invention is that in accordance with an embodiment, the monitoring data further includes a data field which can store current or voltage data in a lamp monitoring and control system. an additional feature of the present invention, in accordance with another embodiment, is that it includes remote device monitoring and control units which can be linked to the bases station via rf, wire, coaxial cable, or fiber optics. these and other objects, advantages and features can be accomplished in accordance with the present invention by the provision of a lamp monitoring and control system comprising lamp monitoring and control units, each coupled to a respective lamp to monitor and control, and each transmitting monitoring data having at least an id field and a status field; and at least one base station, coupled to a group of the lamp monitoring and control units, for receiving the monitoring data, wherein each of the base stations includes an id and status processing unit for processing the id field of the monitoring data. these and other objects, advantages and features can additionally be accomplished in accordance with the present invention by the provision of a remote device monitoring and control system comprising remote device monitoring and control units, each coupled to a respective remote device to monitor and control, and each transmitting monitoring data having at least an id field and a status field; and at least one base station, coupled to a group of the remote device monitoring and control units, for receiving the monitoring data, wherein each of the base stations includes an id and status processing unit for processing the id field of the monitoring data. these and other objects, advantages and features can also be accomplished in accordance with the present invention by the provision of a method for monitoring the status of lamps, comprising the steps of collecting monitoring data for the lamps and transmitting the monitoring data. additional objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims. brief description of the drawings the invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like elements wherein: fig. 1 shows the configuration of a typical mercury-vapor lamp. fig. 2 shows a typical configuration of a lamp arrangement comprising a lamp sensor unit situated between a power source and a lamp assembly. fig. 3 shows a lamp arrangement, according to one embodiment of the invention, comprising a lamp monitoring and control unit situated between a power source and a lamp assembly. fig. 4 shows a lamp monitoring and control unit, according to another embodiment of the invention, including a processing and sensing unit, a tx unit, and an rx unit. fig. 5 shows a general monitoring and control unit, according to another embodiment of the invention, including a processing and sensing unit, a tx unit, and an rx unit. fig. 6 shows a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention, including a base station and a plurality of monitoring and control units. fig. 7 shows a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention, including a plurality of base stations, each having a plurality of associated monitoring and control units. fig. 8 shows an example frequency channel plan for a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention. figs. 9a-b show packet formats, according to another embodiment of the invention, for packet data between the monitoring and control unit and the base station. fig. 10 shows an example of bit location values for a status byte in the packet format, according to another embodiment of the invention. figs. 11a-c show a base station for use in a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention. fig. 12 shows a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention, having a main station coupled through a plurality of communication links to a plurality of base stations. fig. 13 shows a base station, according to another embodiment of the invention. figs. 14a-e show a method for one implementation of logic for a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention. detailed description of preferred embodiments the preferred embodiments of a lamp monitoring and control system (lmcs) and method, which allows centralized monitoring and/or control of street lamps, will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures. while the invention is described with reference to an lmcs, the invention is not limited to this application and can be used in any application which requires a monitoring and control system for centralized monitoring and/or control of devices distributed over a large geographical area. additionally, the term street lamp in this disclosure is used in a general sense to describe any type of street lamp, area lamp, or outdoor lamp. fig. 3 shows a lamp arrangement 301 which includes lamp monitoring and control unit 310 , according to one embodiment of the invention. lamp monitoring and control unit 310 is situated between a power source 220 and a lamp assembly 230 . lamp assembly 230 includes a lamp 240 and a starting circuit 250 . power source 220 may be a standard 115 volt, 60 hz source supplied by a power line. it is well known to those skilled in the art that a variety of alternatives are available for power source 220 . in foreign countries, power source 220 may be a 220 volt, 50 hz source from a power line. additionally, power source 220 may be a dc voltage source or, in certain remote regions, it may be a battery which is charged by a solar reflector. recall that lamp sensor unit 210 included a light sensor 260 and a relay 270 which is used to control lamp assembly 230 by automatically switching the hot line 280 a to a switched line 280 c depending on the amount of ambient light received by light sensor 260 . on the other hand, lamp monitoring and control unit 310 provides several functions including a monitoring function which is not provided by lamp sensor unit 210 . lamp monitoring and control unit 310 is electrically located between the external power supply 220 and starting circuit 250 of lamp assembly 230 . from an electrical standpoint, there is a hot line 280 a and a neutral line 280 b between power supply 220 and lamp monitoring and control unit 310 . additionally, there is a switched line 280 c and a neutral line 280 d between lamp monitoring and control unit 310 and starting circuit 250 of lamp assembly 230 . from a physical standpoint, lamp monitoring and control unit 310 may use a standard three-prong plug to connect to the back of lamp assembly 230 . the three prongs in the standard three-prong plug represent hot line 280 a , switched line 280 c , and neutral lines 280 b and 280 d . in other words, the neutral lines 280 b and 280 d are both connected to the same physical prong and share the same electrical potential. although use of a three-prong plug is recommended because of the substantial number of street lamps using this type of standard plug, it is well known to those skilled in the art that a variety of additional types of electrical connection may be used for the present invention. for example, a standard power terminal block or amp power connector may be used. fig. 4 includes lamp monitoring and control unit 310 , the operation of which will be discussed in more detail below along with particular embodiments of the unit. lamp monitoring and control unit 310 includes a processing and sensing unit 412 , a transmit (tx) unit 414 , and an optional receive (rx) unit 416 . processing and sensing unit 412 is electrically connected to hot line 280 a , switched line 280 c , and neutral lines 280 b and 280 d . furthermore, processing and sensing unit 412 is connected to tx unit 414 and rx unit 416 . in a standard application, tx unit 414 may be used to transmit monitoring data and rx unit 416 may be used to receive control information. for applications in which external control information is not required, rx unit 416 may be omitted from lamp monitoring and control unit 310 . fig. 5 shows a general monitoring and control unit 510 including a processing and sensing unit 520 , a tx unit 530 , and an optional rx unit 540 . monitoring and control unit 510 differs from lamp monitoring and control unit 310 in that monitoring and control unit 510 is general-purpose and not limited to use with street lamps. monitoring and control unit 510 can be used to monitor and control any remote device 550 . monitoring and control unit 510 includes processing and sensing unit 520 which is coupled to remote device 550 . processing and sensing unit 520 is further coupled to tx unit 530 for transmitting monitoring data and may be coupled to an optional rx unit 540 for receiving control information. fig. 6 shows a monitoring and control system 600 , according to one embodiment of the invention, including a base station 610 and a plurality of monitoring and control units 510 a-d. monitoring and control units 510 a-d each correspond to monitoring and control unit 510 as shown in fig. 5 , and are coupled to a remote device 550 (not shown in fig. 6 ) which is monitored and controlled. each of monitoring and control units 510 a-d can transmit monitoring data through its associated tx unit 530 to base station 610 and receive control information through a rx unit 540 from base station 610 . communication between monitoring and control units 510 a-d and base station 610 can be accomplished in a variety of ways, depending on the application, such as using: rf, wire, coaxial cable, or fiber optics. for lamp monitoring and control system 600 , rf is the preferred communication link due to the costs required to build the infrastructure for any of the other options. fig. 7 shows a monitoring and control system 700 , according to another embodiment of the invention, including a plurality of base stations 610 a-c, each having a plurality of associated monitoring and control units 510 a-h. each base station 610 a-c is generally associated with a particular geographic area of coverage. for example, the first base station 610 a , communicates with monitoring and control units 510 a-c in a limited geographic area. if monitoring and control units 510 a-c are used for lamp monitoring and control, the geographic area may consist of a section of a city. although the example of geographic area is used to group monitoring and control units 510 a-c, it is well known to those skilled in the art that other groupings may be used. for example, to monitor and control remote devices 550 made by different manufacturers, monitoring and control system 700 may use groupings in which base station 610 a services one manufacturer and base station 610 b services a different manufacturer. in this example, bases stations 610 a and 610 b may be servicing overlapping geographical areas. fig. 7 also shows a communication link between base stations 610 a-c. this communication link is shown as a bus topology, but can alternately be configured in a ring, star, mesh, or other topology. an optional main station 710 can also be connected to the communication link to receive and concentrate data from base stations 610 a-c. the media used for the communication link between base stations 610 a-c can be: rf, wire, coaxial cable, or fiber optics. fig. 8 shows an example of a frequency channel plan for communications between monitoring and control unit 510 and base station 610 in monitoring and control system 600 or 700 , according to one embodiment of the invention. in this example table, interactive video and data service (ivds) radio frequencies in the range of 218-219 mhz are shown. the ivds channels in fig. 8 are divided into two groups, group a and group b, with each group having nineteen channels spaced at 25 khz steps. the first channel of the group a frequencies is located at 218.025 mhz and the first channel of the group b frequencies is located at 218.525 mhz. figs. 9a-b show packet formats, according to two embodiments of the invention, for packet data transferred between monitoring and control unit 510 and base station 610 . fig. 9a shows a general packet format, according to one embodiment of the invention, including a start field 910 , an id field 912 , a status field 914 , a data field 916 , and a stop field 918 . start field 910 is located at the beginning of the packet and indicates the start of the packet. id field 912 is located after start field 910 and indicates the id for the source of the packet transmission and optionally the id for the destination of the transmission. inclusion of a destination id depends on the system topology and geographic layout. for example, if an rf transmission is used for the communications link and if base station 610 a is located far enough from the other base stations so that associated monitoring and control units 510 a-c are out of range from the other base stations, then no destination id is required. furthermore, if the communication link between base station 610 a and associated monitoring and control units 510 a-c uses wire or cable rather than rf, then there is also no requirement for a destination id. status field 914 is located after id field 912 and indicates the status of monitoring and control unit 510 . for example, if monitoring and control unit 510 is used in conjunction with street lamps, status field 914 could indicate that the street lamp was turned on or off at a particular time. data field 916 is located after status field 914 and includes any data that may be associated with the indicated status. for example, if monitoring and control unit 510 is used in conjunction with street lamps, data field 916 may be used to provide an a/d value for the lamp voltage or current after the street lamp has been turned on. stop field 918 is located after data field 916 and indicates the end of the packet. fig. 9b shows a more detailed packet format, according to another embodiment of the invention, including a start byte 930 , id bytes 932 , a status byte 934 , a data byte 936 , and a stop byte 938 . each byte comprises eight bits of information. start byte 930 is located at the beginning of the packet and indicates the start of the packet. start byte 930 will use a unique value that will indicate to the destination that a new packet is beginning. for example, start byte 930 can be set to a value such as 02 hex. id bytes 932 can be four bytes located after start byte 930 which indicate the id for the source of the packet transmission and optionally the id for the destination of the transmission. id bytes 932 can use all four bytes as a source address which allows for 2 ^{ 32 } (over 4 billion) unique monitoring and control units 510 . alternately, id bytes 932 can be divided up so that some of the bytes are used for a source id and the remainder are used for a destination id. for example, if two bytes are used for the source id and two bytes are used for the destination id, the system can include 2 ^{ 16 } (over 64,000) unique sources and destinations. status byte 934 is located after id bytes 932 and indicates the status of monitoring and control unit 510 . the status may be encoded in status byte 934 in a variety of ways. for example, if each byte indicates a unique status, then there exists 2 ^{ 8 } (256) unique status values. however, if each bit of status byte 934 is reserved for a particular status indication, then there exists only 8 unique status values (one for each bit in the byte). furthermore, certain combinations of bits may be reserved to indicate an error condition. for example, a status byte 934 setting of ff hex (all ones) can be reserved for an error condition. data byte 936 is located after status byte 934 and includes any data that may be associated with the indicated status. for example, if monitoring and control unit 510 is used in conjunction with street lamps, data byte 936 may be used to provide an a/d value for the lamp voltage or current after the street lamp has been turned on. stop byte 938 is located after data byte 936 and indicates the end of the packet. stop byte 938 will use a unique value that will indicate to the destination that the current packet is ending. for example, stop byte 938 can be set to a value such as 03 hex. fig. 10 shows an example of bit location values for status byte 934 in the packet format, according to another embodiment of the invention. for example, if monitoring and control unit 510 is used in conjunction with street lamps, each bit of the status byte can be used to convey monitoring data. the bit values are listed in the table with the most significant bit (msb) at the top of the table and the least significant bit (lsb) at the bottom. the msb, bit 7 , can be used to indicate if an error condition has occurred. bits 6 - 2 are unused. bit 1 indicates whether daylight is present and will be set to 0 when the street lamp is turned on and set to 1 when the street lamp is turned off. bit 0 indicates whether ac voltage has been switched on to the street lamp. bit 0 is set to 0 if the ac voltage is off and set to 1 if the ac voltage is on. figs. 11a-c show a base station 1100 for use in a monitoring and control system using rf, according to another embodiment of the invention. fig. 11a shows base station 1100 which includes an rx antenna system 1110 , a receiving system front end 1120 , a multi-port splitter 1130 , a bank of rx modems 1140 a-c, and a computing system 1150 . rx antenna system 1110 receives rf monitoring data and can be implemented using a single antenna or an array of interconnected antennas depending on the topology of the system. for example, if a directional antenna is used, rx antenna system 1110 may include an array of four of these directional antennas to provide 360 degrees of coverage. receiving system front end 1120 is coupled to rx antenna system 1110 for receiving the rf monitoring data. receiving system front end 1120 can also be implemented in a variety of ways. for example, a low noise amplifier (lna) and pre-selecting filters can be used in applications which require high receiver sensitivity. receiving system front end 1120 outputs received rf monitoring data. multi-port splitter 1130 is coupled to receiving system front end 1120 for receiving the received rf monitoring data. multi-port splitter 1130 takes the received rf monitoring data from receiving system front end 1120 and splits it to produce split rf monitoring data. rx modems 1140 a-c are coupled to multi-port splitter 1130 and receive the split rf monitoring data. rx modems 1140 a-c each demodulate their respective split rf monitoring data line to produce a respective received data signal. rx modems 1140 a-c can be operated in a variety of ways depending on the configuration of the system. for example, if twenty channels are being used, twenty rx modems 1140 can be used with each rx modem set to a different fixed frequency. on the other hand, in a more sophisticated configuration, frequency channels can be dynamically allocated to rx modems 1140 a-c depending on the traffic requirements. computing system 1150 is coupled to rx modems 1140 a-c for receiving the received data signals. computing system 1150 can include one or many individual computers. additionally, the interface between computing system 1150 and rx modems 1140 a-c can be any type of data interface, such as rs-232 or rs-422 for example. computing system 1150 includes an id and status processing unit (ispu) 1152 which processes id and status data from the packets of monitoring data in the demodulated signals. ispu 1152 can be implemented as software, hardware, or firmware. using ispu 1152 , computing system 1150 can decode the packets of monitoring data in the demodulated signals, or can simply pass, without decoding, the packets of monitoring data on to another device, or can both decode and pass the packets of monitoring data. for example, if ispu 1152 is implemented as software running on a computer, it can process and decode each packet. furthermore, ispu 1152 can include a user interface, such as a graphical user interface, to allow an operator to view the monitoring data. furthermore, ispu 1152 can include or interface to a database in which the monitoring data is stored. the inclusion of a database is particularly useful for producing statistical norms on the monitoring data either relating to one monitoring and control unit over a period of time or relating to performance of all of the monitoring and control units. for example, if the present invention is used for lamp monitoring and control, the current draw of a lamp can be monitored over a period of time and a profile created. furthermore, an alarm threshold can be set if a new piece of monitored data deviates from the norm established in the profile. this feature is helpful for monitoring and controlling lamps because the precise current characteristics of each lamp can vary greatly. by allowing the database to create a unique profile for each lamp, the problem related to different lamp currents can be overcome so that an automated system for quickly identifying lamp problems is established. fig. 11b shows an alternate configuration for base station 1100 , according to a further embodiment of the invention, which includes all of the elements discussed in regard to fig. 11 a and further includes a tx modem 1160 , transmitting system 1162 , and tx antenna 1164 . base station 1100 as shown in fig. 11b can be used in applications which require a tx channel for control of remote devices 550 . tx modem 1160 is coupled to computing system 1150 for receiving control information. the control information is modulated by tx modem 1160 to produce modulated control information. transmitting system 1162 is coupled to tx modem 1160 for receiving the modulated control information. transmitting system 1162 can have a variety of different configurations depending on the application. for example, if higher transmit power output is required, transmitting system 1162 can include a power amplifier. if necessary, transmitting system 1162 can include isolators, bandpass, lowpass, or highpass filters to prevent out-of-band signals. after receiving the modulated control information, transmitting system 1162 outputs a tx rf signal. tx antenna 1164 is coupled to transmitting system 1162 for receiving the tx rf signal and transmitting a transmitted tx rf signal. it is well known to those skilled in the art that tx antenna 1164 may be coupled with rx antenna system 1110 using a duplexer for example. fig. 11c shows base station 1100 as part of a monitoring and control system, according to another embodiment of the invention. base station 1100 has already been described with reference to fig. 11 a. additionally, computing system 1150 of base station 1100 can be coupled to a communication link 1170 for communicating with a main station 1180 or a further base station 1100 a. communication link 1170 may be implemented using a variety of technologies such as: a standard phone line, dds line, isdn line, t1, fiber optic line, or rf link. the topology of communication link 1170 can vary depending on the application and can be: star, bus, ring, or mesh. fig. 12 shows a monitoring and control system 1200 , according to another embodiment of the invention, having a main station 1230 coupled through a plurality of communication links 1220 a-c to a plurality of respective base stations 1210 a-c. base stations 1210 a-c can have a variety of configurations such as those shown in figs. 11a-b . communication links 1220 a-c allow respective base stations 1210 a-c to pass monitoring data to main station 1230 and to receive control information from main station 1230 . processing of the monitoring data can either be performed at base stations 1210 a-c or at main station 1230 . fig. 13 shows a base station 1300 which is coupled to a communication server 1340 via a communication link 1330 , according to another embodiment of the invention. base station 1300 includes an antenna and preselector system 1305 , a receiver modem group (rmg) 1310 , and a computing system 1320 . antenna and preselector system 1305 are similar to rx antenna system 1110 and receiving system front end 1120 which were previously discussed. antenna and preselector system 1305 can include either one antenna or an array of antennas and preselection filtering as required by the application. antenna and preselector system 1305 receives rf monitoring data and outputs preselected rf monitoring data. receiver modem group (rmg) 1310 includes a low noise pre-amp 1312 , a multi-port splitter 1314 , and several rx modems 1316 a-c. low noise pre-amp 1312 receives the preselected rf monitoring data from antenna and preselector system 1305 and outputs amplified rf monitoring data. multi-port splitter 1314 is coupled to low noise pre-amp 1312 for receiving the amplified rf monitoring data and outputting split rf monitoring data lines. rx modems 1316 a-c are coupled to multi-port splitter 1314 for receiving and demodulating one of the split rf monitoring data lines and outputting received data (rxd) 1324 , received clock (rxc) 1326 , and carrier detect (cd) 1328 . these signals can use a standard interface such as rs-232 or rs-422 or can use a proprietary interface. computing system 1320 includes at least one base site computer 1322 for receiving rxd, rxc, and cd from rx modems 1316 a-c, and outputting a serial data stream. computing system 1320 further includes an id and status processing unit (ispu) 1323 which processes id and status data from the packets of monitoring data in rxd. ispu 1323 can be implemented as software, hardware, or firmware. using ispu 1323 , computing system 1320 can decode the packets of monitoring data in the demodulated signals, or can simply pass, without decoding, the packets of monitoring data on to another device in the serial data stream, or can both decode and pass the packets of monitoring data. communication link 1330 includes a first communication interface 1332 , a second communication interface 1334 , a first interface line 1336 , a second interface line 1342 , and a link 1338 . first communication interface 1332 receives the serial data stream from computing system 1320 of base station 1300 via first interface line 1336 . first communication interface 1332 can be co-located with computing system 1320 or be remotely located. first communication interface 1332 can be implemented in a variety of ways using, for example, a csu, dsu, or modem. second communication interface 1334 is coupled to first communication interface 1332 via link 1338 . link 1338 can be implemented using a standard phone line, dds line, isdn line, t1, fiber optic line, or rf link. second communication interface 1334 can be implemented similarly to first communication interface 1332 using, for example, a csu, dsu, or modem. communication link 1330 outputs communicated serial data from second communication interface 1334 via second communication line 1342 . communication server 1340 is coupled to communication link 1330 for receiving communicated serial data via second communication line 1342 . communication server 1340 receives several lines of communicated serial data from several computing systems 1320 and multiplexes them to output multiplexed serial data on to a data network. the data network can be a public or private data network such as an internet or intranet. figs. 14a-e show methods for implementation of logic for lamp monitoring and control system 600 , according to a further embodiment of the invention. fig. 14a shows one method for energizing and de-energizing a street lamp and transmitting associated monitoring data. the method of fig. 14a shows a single transmission for each control event. the method begins with a start block 1400 and proceeds to step 1410 which involves checking ac and daylight status . the check ac and daylight status step 1410 is used to check for conditions where the ac power and/or the daylight status have changed. if a change does occur, the method proceeds to step 1420 which is a decision block based on the change. if a change occurred, step 1420 proceeds to a debounce delay step 1422 which involves inserting a debounce delay. for example, the debounce delay may be 0.5 seconds. after debounce delay step 1422 , the method leads back to check ac and daylight status step 1410 . if no change occurred, step 1420 proceeds to step 1430 which is a decision block to determine whether the lamp should be energized. if the lamp should be energized, then the method proceeds to step 1432 which turns the lamp on. after step 1432 when the lamp is turned on, the method proceeds to step 1434 which involves current stabilization delay to allow the current in the street lamp to stabilize. the amount of delay for current stabilization depends upon the type of lamp used. however, for a typical vapor lamp a ten minute stabilization delay is appropriate. after step 1434 , the method leads back to step 1410 which checks ac and daylight status. returning to step 1430 , if the lamp is not to be energized, then the method proceeds to step 1440 which is a decision block to check to deenergize the lamp. if the lamp is to be deenergized, the method proceeds to step 1442 which involves turning the lamp off. after the lamp is turned off, the method proceeds to step 1444 in which the relay is allowed a settle delay time. the settle delay time is dependent upon the particular relay used and may be, for example, set to 0.5 seconds. after step 1444 , the method returns to step 1410 to check the ac and daylight status. returning to step 1440 , if the lamp is not to be deenergized, the method proceeds to step 1450 in which an error bit is set, if required. the method then proceeds to step 1460 in which an a/d is read. the method then proceeds from step 1460 to step 1470 which checks to see if a transmit is required. if no transmit is required, the method proceeds to step 1472 in which a scan delay is executed. the scan delay depends upon the circuitry used and, for example, may be 0.5 seconds. after step 1472 , the method returns to step 1410 which checks ac and daylight status. returning to step 1470 , if a transmit is required, then the method proceeds to step 1480 which performs a transmit operation. after the transmit operation of step 1480 is completed, the method then returns to step 1410 which checks ac and daylight status. fig. 14b is analogous to fig. 14a with one modification. this modification occurs after step 1420 . if a change has occurred, rather than simply executing step 1422 , the debounce delay, the method performs a further step 1424 which involves checking whether daylight has occurred. if daylight has not occurred, then the method proceeds to step 1426 which executes an initial delay. this initial delay may be, for example, 0.5 seconds. after step 1426 , the method proceeds to step 1422 and follows the same method as shown in fig. 14 a. returning to step 1424 which involves checking whether daylight has occurred, if daylight has occurred, the method proceeds to step 1428 which executes an initial delay. the initial delay associated with step 1428 should be a significantly larger value than the initial delay associated with step 1426 . for example, an initial delay of 45 seconds may be used. the initial delay of step 1428 is used to prevent a false triggering which deenergizes the lamp. in actual practice, this extended delay can become very important because if the lamp is inadvertently deenergized too soon, it requires a substantial amount of time to reenergize the lamp (for example, ten minutes). after step 1428 , the method proceeds to step 1422 which executes a debounce delay and then returns to step 1410 as shown in figs. 14a and 14b . fig. 14c shows a method for transmitting monitoring data multiple times in monitoring and control unit 510 , according to a further embodiment of the invention. this method is particularly important in applications in which monitoring and control unit 510 does not have a rx unit 540 for receiving acknowledgments of transmissions. the method begins with a transmit start block 1482 and proceeds to step 1484 which involves initializing a count value, i.e. setting the count value to zero. the method proceeds from step 1484 to step 1486 which involves setting a variable x to a value associated with a serial number of monitoring and control unit 510 . for example, variable x may be set to 50 times the lowest nibble of the serial number. the method proceeds from step 1486 to step 1488 which involves waiting a reporting start time delay associated with the value x. the reporting start time is the amount of delay time before the first transmission. for example, this delay time may be set to x seconds where x is an integer between 1 and 32,000 or more. this example range for x is particularly useful in the street lamp application since it distributes the packet reporting start times over more than eight hours, approximately the time from sunset to sunrise. the method proceeds from step 1488 to step 1490 in which a variable y representing a channel number is set. for example, y may be set to the integer value of rtc/12.8, where rtc represents a real time clock counting from 0-255 as fast as possible. the rtc may be included in processing and sensing unit 520 . the method proceeds from step 1490 to step 1492 in which a packet is transmitted on channel y. step 1492 proceeds to step 1494 in which the count value is incremented. step 1494 proceeds to step 1496 which is a decision block to determine if the count value equals an upper limit n. if the count is not equal to n, the method returns from step 1496 to step 1488 and waits another delay time associated with variable x. this delay time is the reporting delta time since it represents the time difference between two consecutive reporting events. if the count is equal to n, the method proceeds from step 1496 to step 1498 which is an end block. the value for n must be determined based on the specific application. increasing the value of n decreases the probability of a unsuccessful transmission since the same data is being sent multiple times and the probability of all of the packets being lost decreases as n increases. however, increasing the value of n increases the amount of traffic which may become an issue in a monitoring and control system with a plurality of monitoring and control units. fig. 14d shows a method for transmitting monitoring data multiple times in a monitoring and control system according to a another embodiment of the invention. the method begins with a transmit start block 1410 and proceeds to step 1412 which involves initializing a count value, i.e., setting the count value to 1. the method proceeds from step 1412 to step 1414 which involves randomizing the reporting start time delay. the reporting start time delay is the amount of time delay required before the transmission of the first data packet. a variety of methods can be used for this randomization process such as selecting a pseudo-random value or basing the randomization on the serial number of monitoring and control unit 510 . the method proceeds from step 1414 to step 1416 which involves checking to see if the count equals 1. if the count is equal to 1, then the method proceeds to step 1420 which involves setting a reporting delta time equal to the reporting start time delay. if the count is not equal to 1, the method proceeds to step 1418 which involves randomizing the reporting delta time. the reporting delta time is the difference in time between each reporting event. a variety of methods can be used for randomizing the reporting delta time including selecting a pseudo-random value or selecting a random number based upon the serial number of the monitoring and control unit 510 . after either step 1418 or step 1420 , the method proceeds to step 1422 which involves randomizing a transmit channel number. the transmit channel number is a number indicative of the frequency used for transmitting the monitoring data. there are a variety of methods for randomizing the transmit channel number such as selecting a pseudo-random number or selecting a random number based upon the serial number of the monitoring and control unit 510 . the method proceeds from step 1422 to step 1424 which involves waiting the reporting delta time. it is important to note that the reporting delta time is the time which was selected during the randomization process of step 1418 or the reporting start time delay selected in step 1414 , if the count equals 1. the use of separate randomization steps 1414 and 1418 is important because it allows the use of different randomization functions for the reporting start time delay and the reporting delta time, respectively. after step 1424 the method proceeds to step 1426 which involves transmitting a packet on the transmit channel selected in step 1422 . the method proceeds from step 1426 to step 1428 which involves incrementing the counter for the number of packet transmissions. the method proceeds from step 1428 to step 1430 in which the count is compared with a value n which represents the maximum number of transmissions for each packet. if the count is less than or equal to n, then the method proceeds from step 1430 back to step 1418 which involves randomizing the reporting delta time for the next transmission. if the count is greater than n, then the method proceeds from step 1430 to the end block 1432 for the transmission method. in other words, the method will continue transmission of the same packet of data n times, with randomization of the reporting start time delay, randomization of the reporting delta times between each reporting event, and randomization of the transmit channel number for each packet. these multiple randomizations help stagger the packets in the frequency and time domain to reduce the probability of collisions of packets from different monitoring and control units. fig. 14e shows a further method for transmitting monitoring data multiple times from a monitoring and control unit 510 , according to another embodiment of the invention. the method begins with a transmit start block 1440 and proceeds to step 1442 which involves initializing a count value, i.e., setting the count value to 1. the method proceeds from step 1442 to step 1444 which involves reading an indicator, such as a group jumper, to determine which group of frequencies to use, group a or b. examples of group a and group b channel numbers and frequencies can be found in fig. 8 . step 1444 proceeds to step 1446 which makes a decision based upon whether group a or b is being used. if group a is being used, step 1446 proceeds to step 1448 which involves setting a base channel to the appropriate frequency for group a. if group b is to be used, step 1446 proceeds to step 1450 which involves setting the base channel frequency to a frequency for group b. after either step 1448 or step 1450 , the method proceeds to step 1452 which involves randomizing a reporting start time delay. for example, the randomization can be achieved by multiplying the lowest nibble of the serial number of monitoring and control unit 510 by 50 and using the resulting value, x, as the number of milliseconds for the reporting start time delay. the method proceeds from step 1452 to step 1454 which involves waiting x number of seconds as determined in step 1452 . the method proceeds from step 1454 to step 1456 which involves setting a value z0, where the value z represents an offset from the base channel number set in step 1448 or 1450 . step 1456 proceeds to step 1458 which determines whether the count equals 1. if the count equals 1, the method proceeds from step 1458 to step 1472 which involves transmitting the packet on a channel determined from the base channel frequency selected in either step 1448 or step 1450 plus the channel frequency offset selected in step 1456 . if the count is not equal to 1, then the method proceeds from step 1458 to step 1460 which involves determining whether the count is equal to n, where n represents the maximum number of packet transmissions. if the count is equal to n, then the method proceeds from step 1460 to step 1472 which involves transmitting the packet on a channel determined from the base channel frequency selected in either step 1448 or step 1450 plus the channel number offset selected in step 1456 . if the count is not equal to n, indicating that the count is a value between 1 and n, then the method proceeds from step 1460 to step 1462 which involves reading a real time counter (rtc) which may be located in processing and sensing unit 412 . the method proceeds from step 1462 to step 1464 which involves comparing the rtc value against a maximum value, for example, a maximum value of 152. if the rtc value is greater than or equal to the maximum value, then the method proceeds from step 1464 to step 1466 which involves waiting x seconds and returning to step 1462 . if the value of the rtc is less than the maximum value, then the method proceeds from step 1464 to step 1468 which involves setting a value y equal to a value indicative of the channel number offset. for example, y can be set to an integer of the real time counter value divided by 8, so that y value would range from 0 to 18. the method proceeds from step 1468 to step 1470 which involves computing a frequency offset value z from the channel number offset value y. for example, if a 25 khz channel is being used, then z is equal to y times 25 khz. the method then proceeds from step 1470 to step 1472 which involves transmitting the packet on a channel determined from the base channel frequency selected in either step 1448 or step 1450 plus the channel frequency offset computed in step 1470 . the method proceeds from step 1472 to step 1474 which involves incrementing the count value. the method proceeds from step 1474 to step 1476 which involves comparing the count value to a value n1 which is related to the maximum number of transmissions for each packet. if the count is not equal to n1, the method proceeds from step 1476 back to step 1454 which involves waiting x number of milliseconds. if the count is equal to n1, the method proceeds from step 1476 to the end block 1478 . the method shown in fig. 14e is similar to that shown in fig. 14d , but differs in that it requires the first and the nth transmission to occur at the base frequency rather than a randomly selected frequency. the foregoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. the present teaching can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. the description of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
|
154-777-360-466-507
|
US
|
[
"AU",
"US",
"JP",
"CN",
"EP",
"ES",
"CA"
] |
A61B17/068,A61B17/072,A61B90/00,A61B17/295
| 2013-03-13T00:00:00 |
2013
|
[
"A61"
] |
surgical stapling apparatus
|
surgical stapling apparatus a surgical stapling apparatus (stapler) (100) is provided and is configured to couple to a reload (106). the reload (106) includes a first jaw member (108) releasably supporting a cartridge (112) that includes a slide deflector (130) that is movable from a first position to a second position. one or more lockout steps (120a, 120b) are provided on one of the first and second jaw members (106, 110) of the reload (106). a drive member ("d") includes a working end (101) urged to move toward the lockout step (120a, 120b). in the first position, the slide deflector (130) is positioned to prevent engagement of the working end (101) of the drive member ("d") with the lockout step (120a, 120b), and in the second position the slide deflector (130) is positioned to allow engagement of the working end (101) with the lockout step (120a, 120b) to prevent further advancement of the working end (101). distal translation of the working end (101) causes the slide deflector (130) to move from the first position to the second position. co
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1. a reload comprising: a tool assembly including a first jaw and a second jaw, the first jaw supporting a staple cartridge and the second jaw member supporting an anvil, the staple cartridge supporting a slide deflector that is movable from a first position to a second position, the tool assembly having at least one lockout member, the staple cartridge including an actuation sled that is movable through the staple cartridge to eject staples from the staple cartridge: and a drive member movable through the tool assembly from a retracted position to an extended position, the slide deflector movable from the first position to the second position in response to movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position, wherein in the first position, the slide deflector is positioned to prevent engagement of the drive member with the at least one lockout member to facilitate movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position, and in the second position, the slide deflector is positioned to permit movement of the drive member into engagement with the at least one lockout member to prevent movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position. 2. the reload of claim 1 , wherein the drive member includes a beam including a distal end with a pre-bent configuration that biases the drive member towards the at least one lockout member. 3. the reload of claim 1 , further including a resilient member positioned within the tool assembly to bias the drive member towards the at least one lockout member. 4. the reload of claim 3 , wherein the resilient member includes a generally arcuate contacting portion that allows the drive member to slide past the resilient member and into contact with one of the slide deflector or the at least one lockout member. 5. the reload of claim 3 , wherein the at least one lockout member is provided on each of the anvil and first jaw member. 6. the reload of claim 3 , wherein the actuation sled is positioned distally of the drive member such that movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position advances the actuation sled through the staple cartridge. 7. the reload of claim 6 , wherein the slide deflector is movably coupled to the actuation sled of the staple cartridge. 8. the reload of claim 6 , wherein the actuation sled and the drive member are positioned such that when the drive member is initially advanced from its retracted position, the actuation sled moves independently of the slide deflector. 9. the reload of claim 8 , wherein the actuation sled and the drive member are positioned such that further advancement of the drive member causes the slide deflector to become coupled with the actuation sled. 10. the reload of claim 9 , wherein the drive member and the actuation sled move the slide deflector to the second position. 11. the reload of claim 10 , wherein the slide deflector remains in the second position when the drive member is retracted. 12. the reload of claim 11 , wherein the second position is an advanced position. 13. the reload of claim 1 , wherein the slide deflector includes a detent and the drive member and the staple cartridge include indents, wherein the detent is received within the indents. 14. the reload of claim 1 , wherein the slide deflector includes a mechanical interface that is configured to engage a corresponding mechanical interface disposed within the staple cartridge. 15. the reload of claim 1 , wherein the mechanical interface on the slide deflector and the corresponding interface on the staple cartridge form a dovetail joint. 16. the reload of claim 1 , wherein the at least one lockout member includes at least one lockout step provided on one of the first or second jaw members, the drive member being urged to move toward the at least one lockout step, and the slide deflector is positioned to allow engagement of the drive member with the at least one lockout step to prevent further advancement of the drive member. 17. a surgical stapling apparatus, comprising: a housing; an elongated member extending from the housing; and a reload coupled to the elongated member, the reload comprising: a tool assembly including a first jaw and a second jaw, the first jaw supporting a staple cartridge and the second jaw member supporting an anvil, the staple cartridge supporting a slide deflector that is movable from a first position to a second position, the tool assembly supporting a lockout member, the staple cartridge including an actuation sled that is movable through the staple cartridge to eject staples from the staple cartridge; and a drive member movable through the tool assembly from a retracted position to an extended position, the slide deflector movable from the first position to the second position in response to movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position, wherein in the first position, the slide deflector is positioned to prevent engagement of the drive member with the lockout member to facilitate movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position, and in the second position, the slide deflector is positioned to permit movement of the drive member into engagement with the lockout member to prevent movement of the drive member from the retracted position to the extended position. 18. the surgical stapling apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the drive member includes a beam including a distal end with a pre-bent configuration that biases the drive member towards the lockout member. 19. the surgical stapling apparatus of claim 18 , further including a resilient member positioned within the tool assembly to bias the drive member towards the lockout member. 20. the surgical stapling apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the resilient member includes a generally arcuate contacting portion that allows the drive member to slide past the resilient member and into contact with one of the slide deflector and the lockout member.
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cross-reference to related applications this application is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 15/463,373, filed mar. 20, 2017, which is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 14/161,995, filed jan. 23, 2014, now u.s. pat. no. 9,629,628, which claims the benefit of and priority to u.s. provisional patent application ser. no. 61/779,669, filed mar. 13, 2013. each of these disclosures is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. background technical field the present disclosure relates to surgical stapling apparatuses. more particularly, the present disclosure relates to surgical stapling apparatuses including knife drive lockout mechanisms. description of related art surgical stapling apparatus configured to staple, and subsequently sever tissue are well known in the art. such stapling apparatuses typically include a housing or handle and an elongated member that extends from the housing. in certain instances, single use or multi use loading unit (mulu) reload may be configured to releasably couple to a distal end of the elongated member. in either of the aforementioned reload configurations, a tool assembly including an anvil and a cartridge may be provided on respective jaws of the reload to staple tissue. the tool assembly can include a knife to sever the stapled tissue. the reload can include a drive member having a working end which supports the knife and advances an actuation sled through the tool assembly to staple and sever tissue. while the aforementioned reload configurations provide numerous advantages, it may be desirable to prevent inadvertent advancement of the drive member of the reload when a staple cartridge is absent from the tool assembly or has been fired. summary as can be appreciated, surgical stapling apparatuses that include knife drive lockout mechanisms may prove useful in the surgical arena. embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to the drawing figures wherein like reference numerals identify similar or identical elements. as used herein, the term “distal” refers to the portion that is being described which is further from a user, while the term “proximal” refers to the portion that is being described which is closer to a user. an aspect of the present disclosure provides a surgical stapling apparatus (a stapler). the stapler includes a housing. an elongated member extends from the housing. a reload is supported on a distal end of the elongated member. the reload includes a first jaw member that releasably supports a cartridge and a second jaw member that supports an anvil. the cartridge includes a slide deflector that is movable from a first position to a second position. one or more lockout steps are provided on one of the first and second jaw members. a drive member includes a working end that is configured to translate through the reload when the first and second jaw members are in a closed configuration. the working end urged to move toward the lockout step(s). in the first position, the slide deflector is positioned to prevent engagement of the working end of the drive member with the lockout step(s). and, in the second position the slide deflector is positioned to allow engagement of the working end of the slide deflector with the lockout step(s) to prevent further advancement of the working end. distal translation of the working end causes the slide deflector to move from the first position to the second position. the drive member may include a beam including a distal end having a pre-bent configuration that biases the working end towards the lockout step(s). one or more resilient member may be configured to bias the working end towards the lockout step(s). the resilient member(s) may be coupled to a pivoting member of the surgical stapling apparatus. the resilient member(s) may include a generally arcuate contacting portion that allows the working end to slide therepast and into contact with one of the slide deflector and lockout step(s). the lockout step(s) may be provided on each of the anvil and first jaw member. the slide deflector may be removably coupled to an actuation sled of the cartridge. the slide deflector may include one or more detents thereon that may be configured to engage a corresponding indent on the working end and a corresponding indent disposed within the cartridge. the slide deflector includes a mechanical interface that is configured to engage a corresponding mechanical interface disposed within the cartridge. the mechanical interfaces disposed on the slide deflector and within the cartridge form a dovetail joint. an aspect of the present disclosure provides a surgical stapling apparatus (a stapler). the stapler includes a housing. an elongated member extends from the housing. a reload is supported on a distal end of the elongated member. the reload includes a first jaw member that releasably supports a cartridge and a second jaw member that supports an anvil. the cartridge includes a slide deflector that is movable from a first position to a second position. one or more lockout steps are provided on one of the first and second jaw members. a drive member includes a working end that is configured to translate through the reload when the first and second jaw members are in a closed configuration. the working end urged to move toward the lockout step(s). one or more resilient members are positioned for biasing the working end towards the at least one lockout step. in the first position, the slide deflector is positioned to prevent engagement of the working end of the drive member with the lockout step(s). and, in the second position the slide deflector is positioned to allow engagement of the working end of the slide deflector with the lockout step(s) to prevent further advancement of the working end. distal translation of the working end causes the slide deflector to move from the first position to the second position. the resilient member(s) may be coupled to a pivoting member of the surgical stapling apparatus. the resilient member(s) may include a generally arcuate contacting portion that allows the working end to slide therepast and into contact with one of the slide deflector and lockout step(s). the lockout step(s) may be provided on each of the anvil and first jaw member. the slide deflector may be removably coupled to an actuation sled of the cartridge. the slide deflector may include one or more detents thereon that may be configured to engage a corresponding indent on the working end and a corresponding indent disposed within the cartridge. the slide deflector includes a mechanical interface that is configured to engage a corresponding mechanical interface disposed within the cartridge. the mechanical interfaces disposed on the slide deflector and within the cartridge form a dovetail joint. an aspect of the present disclosure provides a reload configured to couple to a surgical stapling apparatus. the reload includes a cartridge that is supported on a first jaw member of the reload. the cartridge includes a slide deflector movable from movable from a first position to a second position. one or more lockout steps are provided on one of the first and second jaw members. a drive member includes a working end configured to translate through the reload when the first and second jaw members are in a closed configuration. the working end urged to move toward the lockout step(s). in the first position, the slide deflector is positioned to prevent engagement of the working end of the drive member with the lockout step(s). and, in the second position the slide deflector is positioned to allow engagement of the working end of the slide deflector with the lockout step(s) to prevent further advancement of the working end. distal translation of the working end causes the slide deflector to move from the first position to the second position. brief description of the drawing various embodiments of the present disclosure are described hereinbelow with references to the drawings, wherein: fig. 1 is a side, perspective view of a powered surgical stapling apparatus supporting a reload; fig. 2 is a side, perspective view of a manual surgical stapling apparatus supporting a reload; fig. 3a is a side, perspective view of the reload of figs. 1 and 2 including a drive lockout mechanism according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 3b is a top, perspective view of a tool assembly and drive member of the reload with parts separated to illustrate a channel assembly configured to provide a path for translation of a knife; fig. 4 is an exploded view of a cartridge usable with the tool assembly shown in fig. 3b with parts separated; fig. 5 is a perspective view of the actuation sled of the cartridge shown in fig. 4 ; fig. 6 is a top, perspective view of the cartridge; fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the indicated area of detail of fig. 6 ; fig. 8 is a perspective view of a proximal end of the cartridge with the actuation sled and a slide deflector of the cartridge separated from the proximal end of the cartridge; fig. 9 is a perspective view of the proximal end of the cartridge with the actuation sled and the slide deflector supported within the cartridge; fig. 10 is a side, perspective view of the knife and the slide deflector of the reload; fig. 11 is a perspective view of the jaw member of the tool assembly of the reload shown in fig. 3b with the cartridge shown in fig. 4 separated from one another; fig. 12 is an enlarged view of the indicated area of detail of fig. 11 ; fig. 13 is a top, perspective view of the distal end of the reload illustrating the tool assembly with a cartridge coupled to a jaw member and the jaw members in an approximated position; fig. 14 is an enlarged view of the indicated area of detail of fig. 13 ; fig. 15 is a bottom, perspective view of the distal end of the reload shown in fig. 13 ; fig. 16 is an enlarged view of the indicated area of detail of fig. 15 with the anvil removed; fig. 17 is an elevational view illustrating a proximal end of the tool assembly with the drive member and slide deflector in a retracted configuration; fig. 18 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a proximal end of the tool assembly with the drive member and slide deflector in a retracted configuration; fig. 19 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a proximal end of the tool assembly with the drive member and slide deflector as the knife and slide deflector start to move distally; fig. 20 is a partial, cross-sectional view illustrating a proximal end of the tool assembly with the knife retracted after the tool assembly has been fired and the slide deflector in the distal most position and the drive member in a locked-out configuration; fig. 21 is a top, elevational view illustrating a proximal end of the tool assembly shown in fig. 20 with the drive member in the locked-out configuration; fig. 22 is a top, elevational view of a drive member configured for the use with the reload depicted in fig. 3 according to an alternate embodiment of the instant disclosure; and fig. 23 is an enlarged view of the indicated area of detail of fig. 22 . detailed description detailed embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein; however, the disclosed embodiments are merely examples of the disclosure, which may be embodied in various forms. therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present disclosure in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. fig. 1 illustrates a powered surgical stapling apparatus shown generally as 100 . fig. 2 illustrates a manual surgical stapling apparatus shown generally as 200 . the powered apparatus includes one or more motors and an internal or external power source, whereas the manual apparatus 200 has a movable handle 236 and a mechanism for driving the functions of the apparatus. see u.s. pat. nos. 5,865,361; 5,782,396; international wo 04/032,760; u.s. patent publication no. 2010/0276741; and u.s. patent application ser. no. 13/444,228, the entire contents of each of these disclosures is hereby incorporated by reference. briefly, the surgical stapling apparatus 100 includes a housings or stationary handle 102 having an actuator 136 and an elongated member 104 extending from housing 102 ( fig. 1 ). likewise, surgical stapling apparatus 200 includes a housing 202 or stationary handle supporting a movable handle 236 and an elongated member 204 extending from housing 202 . surgical stapling apparatus 200 includes a retraction mechanism 216 ( fig. 2 ) that can be manually grasped and pulled proximally to retract a firing mechanism of the apparatus 200 . each of elongated members 104 , 204 is configured to removably couple to a reload 106 . referring to fig. 3a , the reload 106 includes a shaft portion 109 and a tool assembly 107 supported on a distal end of the shaft portion 109 . the tool assembly 107 includes first and second jaw members 108 , 110 which are movable from a spaced apart configuration ( fig. 2 ) for positioning tissue therebetween to an approximated configuration ( fig. 13 ) for clamping tissue for subsequent stapling thereof. fig. 3b illustrates the tool assembly 107 with the jaw members 108 , 110 separated and a drive member “d” having a drive beam 103 having which supports a working end 101 . working end 101 has an i-beam configuration having top and bottom flanges 118 a , 118 b and includes distal abutment surface 118 c which engages a central support wedge 113 a ( fig. 4 ) of an actuation sled 115 . working end 101 is configured to move through the tool assembly 107 which includes knife channel portions 114 a , 114 b that are defined through an anvil 111 which is supported on the jaw member 110 and jaw member 108 , respectively. specifically, the working end 101 of the drive beam 103 moves from a retracted position to an extended position to advance knife 105 and the actuation sled 115 to staple and sever tissue. the knife 105 is positioned to travel slightly behind the actuation sled 115 during a stapling procedure to form an incision between rows of stapled tissue. referring to fig. 3b , a pivot assembly 150 is provided at a distal end of shaft 109 which pivotally couples tool assembly 107 to shaft 109 . pivot assembly 150 includes bottom and top portions 151 a , 151 b that are operably coupled to one another and to jaw members 108 , 110 , respectively, so as to allow articulation of jaw members 108 , 110 ( fig. 3b ) about an axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the reload 106 . reference may be made to u.s. pat. nos. 5,865,361 and 7,225,963, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, for a more detailed discussion of the construction and operation of reload 106 . with reference to figs. 3b-5 , jaw member 108 of tool assembly 107 is configured to support a removable cartridge assembly 112 (cartridge 112 ) thereon. cartridge 112 includes a plurality of fasteners 117 a and a plurality of pusher members 117 b that are operatively engaged with one or more the fasteners 117 a . cartridge 112 includes one or more retention slots 119 that are positioned longitudinally along a tissue contacting surface 121 of cartridge 112 and are configured to house fasteners 117 a . a cartridge housing 123 ( fig. 4 ) is couple to jaw member 108 . in any of the embodiments disclosed herein, cartridge 112 may be coupled to jaw 108 using detents 125 ( fig. 4 ), latches, clips or the like. a removable and replaceable cartridge is disclosed in u.s. patent application ser. no. 13/280,880 entitled multi-use loading unit, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. referring to figs. 3a-12 , the reload 106 includes a locking mechanism that is configured to lock-out the drive member “d” so as to prevent firing of the apparatus when a cartridge 112 has not been installed in the jaw member 108 or when the cartridge 112 installed in jaw member 108 has already been fired. the locking mechanism includes a slide deflector 130 provided at a proximal end of cartridge 112 which is configured to prevent deflection of the working end 101 of the drive member “d” when the slide deflector 130 is in a retracted position prior to firing of the staple cartridge 112 . slide deflector 130 includes a generally elongated configuration having proximal and distal ends 131 a , 131 b , respectively, and is and releasably coupled to actuation sled 115 . in the illustrated embodiment, the slide deflector 130 is supported between raised wedge supports of the actuation sled 115 to releasably couple the slide deflector 130 to the actuation sled 115 . more specifically, slide deflector 130 is coupled to actuation sled 115 between central wedge support 113 a and a right wedge support 113 b of actuation sled 115 ( fig. 5 ). referring to figs. 6 and 7 , in the pre-installed configuration of cartridge 112 , proximal end 131 a of slide deflector 130 extends proximally past a proximal edge of actuation sled 115 . proximal end 131 a of slide deflector 130 defines an angled surface which is positioned to deflect abutment surfaces 118 c , 118 d of working end 101 of the drive member “d” away from respective lockout steps 120 a , 120 b that are provided on anvil 111 and cartridge 112 , respectively, when the cartridge 112 is installed into the jaw member 108 . by deflecting working end 101 in this manner, the drive member “d” is permitted to translate distally past lockout steps 120 a , 120 b and through knife channels 114 a , 114 b to effect the stapling and severing of tissue. a detent 133 is provided adjacent a distal end 131 b of slide deflector 130 and includes an inside portion 134 a that is configured to securely engage a corresponding indent 137 a that is provided on an interior sidewall 137 b of cartridge 112 ( fig. 7 ). detent 133 includes an outside portion 134 b that is configured to releasably engage a corresponding indent 138 that is provided on working end 101 of the drive member “d.” detent 138 is positioned adjacent top flange 118 a . in accordance with the instant disclosure, as working end 101 of drive member “d” moves distally and advances actuation sled 115 within cartridge 112 , outside portion 134 b releasably engages indent 138 on working end 101 to advance the slide deflector 130 distally within cartridge 112 . the slide deflector 130 will move distally with working end 101 of drive member “d” until the inside portion 134 a of detent 133 engages indent 137 a on interior wall 137 b of cartridge 112 . slide deflector 130 includes a sidewall 140 that extends along one side of the slide deflector 130 and defines a groove 141 configured to receive therein a corresponding guide member 139 which extends from an interior sidewall 137 b of cartridge 112 ( fig. 8 ). interior sidewall 137 b including guide member 139 is positioned within cartridge 112 to allow distal translation of actuation sled 115 through cartridge 112 . in one embodiment, groove 141 has a dovetail configuration and receives the guide member 139 of corresponding shape. referring to figs. 7-9 , in accordance with the instant disclosure, when working end 101 of drive member “d” is advanced to contact and advance the actuation sled 115 , actuation sled 115 initially moves independently of the slide deflector 130 . continued distal translation of working end 101 causes outside portion 134 b of detent 133 of slide deflector 130 to releasably engage corresponding indent 138 of working end 101 to couple slide deflector 130 to working end 101 such that slide deflector 130 and working end 101 move distally in unison. further distal translation of working end 101 causes groove 141 to receive guide member 139 . guide member 139 guides slide deflector 130 into engagement with interior wall 145 to prevent further distal movement of the slide deflector 130 . when distal end 131 b of slide deflector 130 contacts interior wall 145 , outside portion 134 b of slide deflector 130 disengages from corresponding indent 138 of working end 101 of drive member “d.” with groove 141 engaged with guide member 139 , slide deflector 130 is secured to interior sidewall 137 b and prevented from further movement within cartridge 112 . more specifically, when working end 101 is moved back to the retracted configuration slide deflector 130 is retained in the advanced position with the distal end 131 b in contact with interior wall 145 . referring again to fig. 3b , and with reference to fig. 11 , resilient member 152 is provided adjacent a proximal end of jaw member 108 and is configured to bias working end 101 of drive member “d” towards lockout steps 120 a , 120 b of anvil 111 and cartridge 112 , respectively. specifically, resilient member 152 is coupled to an extension 153 of bottom portion 151 b of pivot assembly 150 ( fig. 3b ). in the illustrated embodiment, for example, a pair of rivets 155 a , 155 b are configured to extend through apertures 157 a , 157 b that are provided at a proximal coupling end 156 a of resilient member 152 and corresponding apertures 158 a , 158 b defined in extension 153 to secure the resilient member 152 to the pivot assembly 150 at the proximal end of the tool assembly 107 . alternatively, other coupling methods may be used to secure the resilient member 142 to the cartridge 112 . in some embodiments, resilient member 152 may be operably coupled to an interior wall of jaw member 108 and/or cartridge 112 . a generally arcuate contacting portion 156 b is provided on resilient member 152 and extends from proximal coupling end 156 a to bias working end 101 of drive member “d” towards slide deflector 130 (when the slide deflector 130 is in a retracted position) and/or lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . the arcuate contacting portion 156 b is configured to allow working end 101 of drive member “d” to move past the contacting portion 156 b and into contact with slide deflector 130 and/or lockout steps 120 a , 120 b ( figs. 17-21 ). in addition, arcuate contacting portion 156 b is configured to permit movement of the working end 101 back to the retracted configuration after the cartridge 112 has been fired. arcuate contacting portion 156 b is configured to extend into knife channels 114 a , 114 b (see figs. 17-18 ) and includes a spring constant that is capable of biasing the working end 101 towards slide deflector 130 without imparting too much biasing force that would substantially alter a translation path of the working end 101 . with reference to figs. 11-14 , lockout out step 120 b is provided adjacent knife channel 114 b ( figs. 12 and 14 ) and is configured to contact abutment surface 118 d of the working end 101 ( fig. 21 ). lockout step 120 b may be formed in jaw member 108 during a manufacturing process thereof. contact between lockout step 120 b and abutment surface 118 d of working end 101 of drive member “d” prevents re-advancement of the drive member “d”, as discussed in further detail below. figs. 15-16 illustrate jaw member 110 having anvil 111 coupled thereto. anvil 111 includes a plurality of buckets or depressions 107 (see fig. 3a , for example) that are configured to receive corresponding fasteners 117 a therein when fasteners 117 a are deployed from cartridge 112 . lockout step 120 a is provided at a proximal end of anvil 111 adjacent knife channel 114 a and functions in a manner similar to lockout step 120 b . specifically, lock out step 120 a is configured to contact abutment surface 118 c of working end 101 to prevent re-advancement of the drive member “d”. lockout step 120 a is defined in anvil 111 and covered by jaw member 110 ( fig. 15 ). lockout step 120 a may be aligned with lockout step 120 b . alternatively, lockout step 120 a and 120 b may offset or otherwise configured to accommodate various surgical procedures and/or needs. while cartridge 112 and anvil 111 have both been described herein as including respective lockout steps 120 b , 120 a , it is within the purview of the instant disclosure for only one of anvil 111 or cartridge 112 to include a lockout step. as can be appreciated, however, having two lockout steps 120 a , 120 b provides more protection to prevent re-advancement of the drive member “d” after firing of a cartridge 112 . for purposes herein, it is assumed that abutment surface 118 c contacts lockout step 120 a at approximately the same time abutment surface 118 d contacts lockout step 120 b. in use, when a cartridge assembly 112 is not installed on jaw member 108 , knife contacting portion 156 b of resilient member 152 extends into knife channels 114 a , 114 b ( fig. 17 ). with knife contacting portion 156 b in this configuration, engagement between knife contacting portion 156 b and working end 101 of drive member “d” biases abutment surfaces 118 c , 118 d into respective lockout steps 120 a , 120 b as the drive member “d” is advanced distally within cartridge 112 to prevent further advancement of drive member “d”. when cartridge 112 is installed on jaw member 108 , proximal end 131 a of slide deflector 130 is positioned proximally past lockout steps 120 a , 120 b ( fig. 18 ). in this position, slide deflector 130 prevents abutment surfaces 118 , 118 d of working end 101 from engaging respective lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . as a result thereof, drive member “d” including working end 101 is allowed to translate distally past slide deflector 130 ( fig. 19 ) and engage actuation sled 115 in a manner as described above. drive member “d” may then be moved proximally past slide deflector 103 and resilient member 152 until working end 101 returns to the retracted configuration. with the working end 101 of drive member “d” in the retracted position and the slide deflector 130 in the advanced position the slide deflector 130 is no longer positioned to prevent deflecting of the working end 101 into steps 120 a , 120 b by resilient member 152 . once working end 101 returns back to the retracted configuration, knife contacting portion 156 b of resilient member 152 deflects the working end 101 of drive member “d” towards steps 120 a , 120 b to prevent further advancement of dive member “d” in a manner as described above ( figs. 20-21 ). the unique configuration of the locking mechanism including slide deflector 130 and resilient member 152 overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks that are, typically, associated with conventional surgical stapling apparatus. specifically, slide deflector 130 including resilient member 152 prevents inadvertent advancement of the drive member “d” when a staple cartridge is absent from the tool assembly 107 or has been fired. from the foregoing and with reference to the various figure drawings, those skilled in the art will appreciate that certain modifications can also be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the same. for example, the surgical stapling apparatus 100 , 200 have been described herein as including a resilient member 152 that is configured to bias working end 101 towards lockout steps 120 a , 120 b , other methods and/or devices may be utilized to bias working end 101 towards lockout steps 120 a , 120 b. for example, with reference to figs. 22-23 , an alternate embodiment of locking mechanism is illustrated. this embodiment is substantially similar to the aforementioned embodiment that utilized working end 101 . accordingly, only those features that are unique to the embodiment illustrated in figs. 22-23 are described herein. unlike working end 101 that is configured to be biased towards lockout steps 120 a , 120 b via resilient member 152 , a distal end 203 a of drive beam 203 is self biased towards lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . specifically, distal end 203 a is pre-bent in a direction towards lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . distal end 203 a may be bent to provide any suitable spring constant, e.g., a spring constant approximately equal to the spring constant provided by resilient member 152 . in use, when cartridge assembly 112 is not installed on jaw member 108 , the pre-bent distal end 203 a of the drive beam 203 biases the working end 201 into engagement with the aforementioned lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . accordingly, working end 201 of the drive member “d” is prevented form advancing distally. when cartridge 112 is installed on jaw member 108 , proximal end 131 a of slide deflector 130 is positioned proximally of lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . accordingly, slide deflector 130 deflects the abutment surfaces of working end 201 from engaging respective lockout steps 120 a , 120 b . as a result thereof, the drive member including working end 201 is allowed to translate distally past slide deflector 130 and engage actuation sled 115 in a manner as described above. the drive member may then be moved proximally until the working end 201 is back to the retracted configuration. once working end 201 is moved back to the retracted configuration and the slide deflector 130 is in its distal position (no longer positioned to deflect working end 201 past lockout steps 120 a , 120 b ), the pre-bent configuration of distal end 203 a locks out the drive member in a manner as described above. the figures show a replaceable loading unit with surgical stapling and a shaft (such as a shaft 109 ) that can be attached to a surgical stapling apparatus. other configurations are contemplated. for example, the replaceable loading unit can itself have a removable and replaceable cartridge assembly. alternatively, the jaws of the instrument can be permanently attached and configured to receive a removable and replaceable cartridge. further, in embodiments it may prove advantageous not to utilize outside portion 134 b and corresponding indent 138 . in this embodiment, the aforementioned indent/detent configuration that was described above in conjunction with coupling slide deflector 130 with actuation sled 125 may be configured to maintain slide deflector 130 engaged with actuation sled 125 after working end 101 contacts actuation sled 115 . as can be appreciated, certain other modifications may need to be made to cartridge 112 , actuation sled 115 , slide deflector 130 and/or working end 101 such that the locking mechanism functions in a manner in accordance herewith. while several embodiments of the disclosure have been shown in the drawings, it is not intended that the disclosure be limited thereto, as it is intended that the disclosure be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplifications of particular embodiments. those skilled in the art will envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of the claims appended hereto.
|
157-069-634-399-105
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
A01G9/02,A01G9/12
| 1999-12-01T00:00:00 |
1999
|
[
"A01"
] |
plant support and container lifting devices
|
a detachable container lifting device includes a handle with first and second longitudinal members extending from the handle. each longitudinal member has an end section. a first aperture engaging structure is positioned on the end section of the first longitudinal member while a second aperture engaging structure is positioned on the end section of the second longitudinal member. a first stabilizing extension is positioned along the first longitudinal member between the handle and the first aperture engaging structure. a second stabilizing extension is positioned along the longitudinal member between the handle and the second aperture engaging structure. the stabilizing extensions and the longitudinal members enclose an edge region of a container adjacent to a main opening of the container while the aperture engaging structures pass through apertures adjacent to a region of the container spaced from the main opening. the stabilizing extensions and the aperture engaging structures increase a number of contact points with the container to increase structural rigidity of the container lifting device.
|
1. an apparatus for use with a container, comprising: 2. the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said lower hook members are substantially j-shaped. 3. the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said inverted upper hook members are shaped substantially like an inverted j. 4. the apparatus of claim 1 , 5. the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: 6. the apparatus of claim 5 , wherein said inverted upper hook members and said cross member are formed as a unitary structure. 7. the apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: 8. the apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a cross member extending between said first and second longitudinal members and spaced upward from said lower hook members, said third longitudinal member being attached to said cross member, and wherein said third longitudinal member is connected to said first and second longitudinal members by way of said cross member. 9. the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said handle portion, said first longitudinal member, and said second longitudinal member is flexible such that said longitudinal members are capable of being displaced relative to one another to facilitate coupling said longitudinal members to a container. 10. an apparatus for storing and transporting potted plants, comprising: 11. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each of said first and second aperture engaging structures is substantially j-shaped. 12. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claims 10 , wherein each of said first and second stabilizing extensions is shaped substantially like an inverted j. 13. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 10 , 14. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising: 15. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 14 , wherein said first and second stabilizing extensions and said cross member are formed as a unitary structure. 16. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising: 17. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 16 , wherein said apparatus further comprises a cross member attached to and extending between said first and second longitudinal members and spaced upward from said container, wherein said third longitudinal member is attached to said cross member, and wherein said third longitudinal member is connected to said first longitudinal member and said second longitudinal member by way of said cross member. 18. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 10 , wherein at least one of said handle, said first longitudinal member, and said second longitudinal member is flexible such that said longitudinal members are capable of being displaced relative to one another to facilitate coupling said longitudinal members to said container. 19. the plant storage and transportation apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said container has a maximum diameter, and wherein said first and second longitudinal members are normally spaced apart by a distance substantially corresponding to said maximum diameter of said container. 20. an apparatus for use with a container, comprising: 21. the apparatus of claim 20 , wherein said lower hook members are substantially j-shaped. 22. the apparatus of claim 20 , wherein said inverted upper hook members are shaped substantially like an inverted j. 23. the apparatus of claim 20 , wherein said lower hook members are substantially j-shaped; 24. the apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising: 25. the apparatus of claim 24 , wherein said inverted upper hook members and said cross member are formed as a unitary structure. 26. the apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising: 27. the apparatus of claim 26 , further comprising a cross member extending between said first and second longitudinal members and spaced upward from said lower hook members, said third longitudinal member being attached to said cross member, and wherein said third longitudinal member is connected to said first and second longitudinal members by way of said cross member. 28. the apparatus of claim 20 , wherein at least one of said handle portion, said first longitudinal member, and said second longitudinal member is flexible such that said longitudinal members are capable of being displaced relative to one another to facilitate coupling said longitudinal members to a container. 29. an apparatus for storing and transporting potted plants, comprising: 30. the apparatus of claim 29 , wherein each of said first and second aperture engaging structures is substantially j-shaped. 31. the apparatus of claim 29 , wherein each of said first and second stabilizing extensions is shaped substantially like and inverted j. 32. the apparatus of claim 29 , 33. the apparatus of claim 29 , further comprising: 34. the apparatus of claim 33 , wherein said first and second stabilizing extensions and said cross members are formed as a unitary structure. 35. the apparatus of claim 29 , further comprising: 36. the apparatus of claim 35 , wherein said apparatus further comprises a cross member attached to and extending between said first and second longitudinal members and spaced upward from said container, wherein said third longitudinal member is attached to said cross member, and wherein said third longitudinal member is connected to said first longitudinal member and said second longitudinal member by way of said cross member. 37. the apparatus of claim 29 , wherein at least one of said handle, said first longitudinal member, and said second longitudinal member is flexible such that said longitudinal members are capable of being displaced relative to one another to facilitate coupling said longitudinal members to said container. 38. the apparatus of claim 29 , wherein said container has a maximum diameter, and wherein said first and second longitudinal members are normally spaced apart by a distance substantially corresponding to said maximum diameter of said container.
|
technical field the present invention relates generally to methods and devices for lifting a container and relates more specifically to a detachable handle that also provides support for plants growing in a container. background of the invention many container lifting devices are designed to support containers by grasping or clamping an upper edge region of the container that is adjacent to the main aperture of the container. such mechanisms are rather complex and require a substantial amount of clamping or gripping force on this upper edge region in order to support the weight of the container. the conventional container lifting devices are likely to slip or disengage from the upper edge region of container if they are subjected to abrupt or sudden lateral forces applied to the lifting device. if a container is elevated during the application of such lateral forces, the container lifting device could release its container and the container could be damaged as a result of a fall. while a container lifting device may slip or inadvertently release a container due to sudden lateral forces, conventional container lifting devices may also inadvertently release the container due to excessive weight of the material disposed within the container. for example, when a container includes soil and a plant disposed within the soil, a container lifting device could release an upper edge region of the container due to the excessive weight created by the plant and its respective soil. further, excessive weight is also created when water is added to the soil in the plant container. some conventional container lifting devices are also designed to function as a trellis or a structure or frame of lattice work that supports climbing plants. however, such trellis type lifting devices focus more on the esthetic features and plant supporting function as opposed to properly securing the container so that the container is easily lifted without the inadvertent or sudden release of the container. thus there is need for container lifting devices that provide rigid support of a container when subjected to abrupt lateral forces or when the container is filled with dense material such as potting soil and plants or the like. there is a further need for a container lifting device that can support growing plants while having an increased contact area with the container in order to provide more rigid support thereof. summary of the invention the present invention overcomes the problems associated with conventional lifting devices which have inherent limitations based upon their intended gripping or clamping region of a container. the container lifting device of the present invention increases the number of contact points with a container without requiring a rather complex mechanical structure. the present invention contacts an edge region of a container in addition to apertures already existing in the container. consequently, the complexity and inadvertent release of containers associated with conventional container lifting devices are substantially eliminated by the present invention. further, the container lifting device of the present invention has the capability of rigidly supporting a container while facilitating proper plant growth of plants disposed within the soil of the container. in other words, the present invention serves as a trellis to foster growth of a plant such that breakage or bowing of a plant is substantially eliminated. the container lifting device of the present invention provides rigid support of the container while being readily detachable from the container. stated more specifically, the present invention relates generally to container lifting devices employing a handle, stabilizing extensions, and aperture engaging structures. the container lifting devices of the present invention comprise a handle and first and second longitudinal members extending from the handle. each longitudinal member includes an end section where an aperture engaging structure is positioned. the container lifting device further includes stabilizing extensions that are positioned along respective longitudinal members between the handle and the aperture engaging structures. the stabilizing extensions and the longitudinal members enclose an edge region of the container adjacent to a main opening of the container while the aperture engaging structures pass through existing apertures adjacent to the bottom of the container or a region of the container spaced from a main opening. to enclose the edge region of a container, each stabilizing extension can have a substantially j-shape. similarly, in order to readily engage existing apertures of a container, each aperture engaging structure can have a substantially j-shape. due to the relative positioning of the aperture engaging structures and the stabilizing extensions of the container lifting device and when each has a substantially j-shape, the mechanisms face each other in such a manner to form a substantially c-shape for increasing the number of contact points with the container. in order to increase portability and facilitate attaching and detaching of the container lifting device, the container lifting device of the present invention is flexible such that each longitudinal member is capable of being moved towards an opposing longitudinal member. such a feature permits the aperture engaging structures to pass through and lock into apertures of containers having various diameters. in order words, the container lifting device can adapt to many different containers having multiple sizes or shapes or both. similar to the flexibility of the longitudinal members, each stabilizing structure is movable relative to a respective longitudinal member. in one aspect of the present invention, each stabilizing structure is movable relative to a respective longitudinal member such that the stabilizing structure can adjust for various thicknesses of edge regions of a container. in another aspect of the present invention, each stabilizing extension is slideable along a respective longitudinal member in order to adjust to a height of a container. to facilitate movement of each stabilizing extension outwardly relative to a longitudinal member, each stabilizing extension can include a spring section. each spring section can include a coil spring or a region designed to flex in response to a predetermined amount of force. in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the container is a plant container and the apertures disposed within the container are water drain holes. while the container lifting device of the present invention is adjustable to containers of various sizes, shapes, thicknesses, etc., the container lifting device can include cross members connecting the longitudinal members together. the cross members are capable of supporting additional longitudinal members or plants that are disposed within the container. each cross member can be connected to respective longitudinal member by a spot weld. in yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for moving a plant container with a detachable handle includes flexing at least two end members of the handle toward each other. the method further includes moving the flexed end members through material disposed within the plant container. next, each flexed end of the handle is guided towards an aperture of the plant container. each end member is released such that each end member passes through a respective aperture. next, the stabilizing extensions are engaged with sides of the plant container. a force is then applied to the handle such that each end member contacts a side of a respective aperture within the container. thus, it is the object of the present invention to provide an improved container lifting device. it is another object of the present invention to provide a container lifting device that provides rigid support of a container but is also capable of adjusting to containers of various sizes and without complex grasping or clamping mechanisms. a further object of the present invention is to provide a container lifting device that also facilitates the proper growth of plants such that breakage or bowing thereof is substantially reduced or eliminated. that the invention improves over the conventional container lifting devices and accomplishes the advantages described above will become apparent in the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments and the appended drawings and claims. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a front view of a container lifting device according to one embodiment of the present invention. fig. 2 is a partial side view of an aperture engaging structure of the present invention. fig. 3 is a front view of a container lifting device according to another embodiment of the present invention, where the stabilizing extensions include a coiled spring section. fig. 4 is a front view of a container lifting device according to another embodiment of the present invention, where each stabilizing extension and a respective longitudinal member form a unitary structure. fig. 5 is a front view of a container lifting device according to a further embodiment of the present invention, where each stabilizing extension is slideable relative to a respective longitudinal member. fig. 6 is a functional block diagram illustrating possible alternate embodiments for the adjustable slider type mechanisms that can facilitate movement of the stabilizer extension relative to a respective longitudinal member. fig. 7 is a logic flow diagram illustrating a method for moving a plant container. detailed description of exemplary embodiments referring now to the drawings in which like numerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, fig. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of a container lifting device 20 of the present invention. the container lifting device 20 includes a u-shaped handle 22 and first and second longitudinal members 24 , 26 extending therefrom. the u-shaped handle provides a grip that readily conforms to a human hand. however, other handles with different shapes, sizes, and configurations are not beyond the scope of the present invention. each longitudinal member 24 , 26 includes a respective end section 28 , 30 . each end section 28 , 30 includes an aperture engaging structure 32 or 34 . each longitudinal member 24 , 26 also includes a respective stabilizing extension 36 or 38 . the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 are positioned along a respective longitudinal member 24 or 26 between the handle 22 and a respective aperture engaging structure 32 , 34 . the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 and the longitudinal members 24 , 26 enclose an edge region 40 of a container 42 illustrated in phantom. the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 provide increased resistance to any lateral forces that can be applied to the handle 22 or longitudinal members 24 , 26 . similar to the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 , the aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 increase the rigidity or grasping ability of the container lifting device by passing through and locking into apertures 44 . this locking capability is attributed to the flexibility of the longitudinal members 24 , 26 relative to each other. in other words, the container lifting device 20 of the present invention is made from a material such that the longitudinal members 24 and 26 can be flexed inwardly towards each other in order to accommodate containers 42 of various sizes and shapes where the apertures 44 are spaced apart in accordance with the respective size or shape of the container 42 . the container lifting device 20 is designed such that the longitudinal members 24 , 26 will expand outwardly so that the aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 will pass through the respective apertures 44 . each aperture engaging structure 32 , 34 is spaced apart from a respective aperture engaging structure by a predetermined distance d _{ 1 } . this predefined distance d _{ 1 } is designed such that it is substantially equal to or greater than the diameter d of the container 42 after inserting the aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 into the container 42 . the container 42 is preferably a plant container and the apertures 44 are preferably pre-existing waterholes 44 in the plant container 42 . however, other apertures such as pre-existing or preformed holes designed for hanging the container are not beyond the scope of the present invention. to facilitate the flexing of the longitudinal members 24 , 26 of the container lifting 20 , the container lifting device 20 can be made from pliable materials such as metal or plastic. for example, the containing lifting device 20 of the present invention can be made of a ferrous alloy such as steel, a non-ferrous alloy such as aluminum or titanium, or polymers such as thermoplastics. however, the present invention is not limited to these materials and can include other materials such as ceramic materials, composite materials that can include wood, and other like materials. to further facilitate flexing of the container lifting device 20 of the present invention, the handle 22 , longitudinal members 24 , 26 , aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 , and stabilizing extensions 38 , and 36 preferably have a substantially circular cross section. however, other cross sections are not beyond the scope of the present invention. other possible cross sectional shapes include, but are not limited to, rectangular, octagonal, pentagonal, triangular, trapezoidal, and other like shapes. the shape and materials for the container lifting device 20 are chosen such that the longitudinal members 24 , and 26 are flexible relative to each other when a lateral force is applied thereto, but in absence of such lateral forces, the longitudinal members 24 , 26 remain in their predefined or preformed shape. increased number of contact points with a container the container lifting device 20 of the present invention provides for an increased number of contact points with the container 42 through the aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 , and stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 . each stabilizing extension 36 , 38 and each aperture engaging structure 32 , 34 has a predefined shape to provide this increased number of contact points with the container 42 . in the preferred embodiment, the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 and the aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 have a substantially similar predefined shape. one shape which facilitates locking of the aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 with their respective aperture 44 is a j-shape. this j-shape also facilitates contact of the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 with the edge region 40 of the container 42 . in the preferred embodiment, each aperture engaging structure 32 , 34 has substantially j-shape that faces a respective opposing stabilizing extension 36 or 38 that also has a substantially j-shape. due to the relative positioning of the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 and aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 and the shapes thereof, these structures form a substantially c-shape that increases the number of contact points of the container lifting device 20 with the container 42 . spaced between the stabilizing extensions 38 , 36 and the handle 22 are cross members 46 . each cross member 46 and the connecting cross member 56 are preferably spot welded to the longitudinal members 24 , 26 . however, other fastening mechanisms are not beyond the scope of the present invention. other fastening mechanisms include, but are not limited to, rivets, bolts, screws, nails, and other like fastening devices. the cross members 46 can support a plant 48 disposed within the container 42 and material 50 filling the container 42 . the material 50 can be any one of air, water, mud, soil, sand, disintegrated rock, and add mixture or organic matter and soluble salts, and other materials. in addition to supporting the plant 48 , the cross members 46 can also support a third longitudinal member 52 that is disposed parallel with respect to the first and second longitudinal members 24 , 26 . the third longitudinal member 52 preferably includes a tying device 54 that can fasten a portion of the plant 48 to the third longitudinal member 52 . the longitudinal members 24 , 26 , cross members 46 , third longitudinal member 52 , and tying device 54 are designed to facilitate growth of the plant 48 such that breakage or bowing of the plant 48 is substantially eliminated. the longitudinal members 24 , 26 , cross members 46 , and third longitudinal member 52 form a trellis structure for any plants 48 disposed within the container 42 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 1 , the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 are fastened to one another by a connecting cross member 56 . in this embodiment, the connecting cross member 56 and stabilizing extensions 38 , 36 form a unitary structure. however, separate stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 are not beyond the scope of the present invention. for example, as illustrated in fig. 3 , each stabilizing extension 36 , 38 is separately secured to a respective longitudinal member 24 , 26 . the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3 , each stabilizing extension 36 , 38 further includes a spring section 58 disposed between the extension 36 , 38 and respective longitudinal member 24 , 26 . in the spring section 58 can be either an actual mechanical spring or a region designed to flex in response to a predetermined amount of force. in fig. 3 , only one cross member 46 is illustrated to support the third longitudinal member 52 . increasing or decreasing the number of cross members 46 is dependent upon the type of plants 48 disposed within the container 42 and the anticipated amount of growth of the plants. for example, as illustrated in fig. 4 , cross members 46 and the connecting cross member 56 have been eliminated from this embodiment. in this embodiment, the container lifting device 20 can support plants 48 with first and second longitudinal members 24 , 26 . also in this embodiment, the spring section 58 is preferably part of the stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 where both structures form a unitary member. the spring section 58 can be made of materials such that the first and second stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 are pliable and can be moved outwardly or inwardly relative to a respective longitudinal member 24 , 26 . height adjustment mechanism as illustrated in fig. 5 , the container lifting device 20 can further include slideable stabilizing extensions 36 , 38 that move relative to each longitudinal member 24 , 26 . in one embodiment, the connecting cross member 56 can be attached to each longitudinal member 24 , 26 by a spring biased pin-slot arrangement 60 . in such an arrangement 60 , a pin 62 is biased a spring 64 while the slot 66 contains the sliding movement of the pin 62 . with such an arrangement, the container lifting device 20 can fit containers 42 having various diameters and heights or both. while one embodiment provides the spring biased pin-slot arrangement 60 , other types of sliding mechanisms are not beyond the scope of the present invention. for example, as illustrated in the functional block diagram of fig. 6 , each stabilizer extension 36 , 38 can be fastened to a respective longitudinal member 24 , 26 by either a clamp, bolt, wingnut arrangement, other types of pin and slots, and other adjustable slider type mechanisms. the present invention is not limited to the mechanical embodiments disclosed herein and can include other equivalent adjustable slider type mechanisms (not shown) that provide for adjustable stabilizer extensions 36 , 38 . description of operation of the preferred apparatus with reference to the logic flow diagram of fig. 7 fig. 7 is a logic flow diagram of the process of moving a plant container 42 with the detachable container lifting device 20 of the present invention. step 100 in fig. 7 is the first step of the process of moving a plant container 42 with the detachable container lifting device 20 of the present invention. in step 100 , each of the longitudinal members 22 , 24 having the curved ends or aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 are moved through the material 50 within the container 42 . following step 200 , in step 300 the curved ends or aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 are guided into the apertures 44 of the plant container 42 . in step 400 , the longitudinal members 22 , 24 having the curved ends or aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 are released such that each curved end or aperture engaging structure 32 , 34 penetrates through a respective aperture 44 in the plant container 42 . in step 500 , the container lifting device 20 is adjusted such that the stabilizer arms or extensions 36 , 38 extend over the sides of the container 42 while the curved ends or aperture engaging members 32 , 34 penetrate through the respective apertures. in step 600 , a force is applied to the handle 22 of the container lifting device 20 such that the curved members or aperture engaging structures 32 , 34 contact or engage with sides of the apertures 44 . with the present invention, a stable yet relatively simple container lifting device is provided. the container lifting device 20 provides strong support for a container 42 while also providing a structure to facilitate plant growth of plants 48 disposed within the container 42 . finally, it will be understood that the preferred embodiments have been disclosed by way of example and that other modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.
|
158-485-949-998-62X
|
KR
|
[
"CN",
"DE",
"JP",
"EP",
"KR",
"US"
] |
G11C5/06,G11C7/10,G11C16/04,H01L27/11573,H01L27/11582,H01L27/115,H01L27/24,G11C5/02,G11C16/26,H01L21/336,G11C7/02,G11C5/10,H01L27/112,H01L27/1157,H01L27/02,G11C16/10,H01L23/528,H01L27/11526,G06F3/06
| 2020-08-10T00:00:00 |
2020
|
[
"G11",
"H01",
"G06"
] |
memory device
|
a memory device is described. the memory device includes: a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells; and a page buffer circuit provided in a page buffer region including a main region and a cache region provided in a first horizontal direction, and including a first page buffer unit and a second page buffer unit adjacent to each other in a second horizontal direction in the main region. a first sensing node of the first page buffer unit includes a first lower metal pattern, and a first upper metal pattern, and electrically connected to the first lower metal pattern. a second sensing node of the second page buffer unit includes a second lower metal pattern, and a second upper metal pattern, electrically connected to the second lower metal pattern, and not adjacent to the first upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction.
|
a memory device comprising: a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells; and a page buffer circuit connected to the memory cell array, the page buffer circuit being provided in a page buffer region, the page buffer region including a main region and a cache region arranged in a first horizontal direction, and the page buffer circuit comprising a first page buffer unit and a second page buffer unit arranged in the main region in a second horizontal direction, wherein the first page buffer unit comprises a first sensing node, and the second page buffer unit comprises a second sensing node, wherein the first sensing node comprises: a first lower metal pattern provided in a lower metal layer; and a first upper metal pattern provided in an upper metal layer provided above the lower metal layer in a vertical direction, and the first upper metal pattern being electrically connected to the first lower metal pattern, and wherein the second sensing node comprises: a second lower metal pattern provided in the lower metal layer; and a second upper metal pattern provided in the upper metal layer, the second upper metal pattern being electrically connected to the second lower metal pattern, and wherein the second upper metal pattern is not adjacent to the first upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction. the memory device of claim 1, wherein the page buffer circuit further comprises a first cache latch and a second cache latch provided in the cache region, and wherein the first cache latch and the second cache latch are adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction and are respectively connected to the first page buffer unit and the second page buffer unit. the memory device of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the first and second lower metal patterns extend in a same direction as the first and second upper metal patterns. the memory device of claim 3, wherein the first and second page buffer units are connected to the plurality of memory cells through first and second bit lines, respectively, and the first and second bit lines extend in a same direction as the first and second lower metal patterns and the first and second upper metal patterns. the memory device of any preceding claim, wherein the upper metal layer comprises: a first power supply pattern provided above the first page buffer unit; the first upper metal pattern provided above the first page buffer unit, and adjacent to the first power supply pattern in the second horizontal direction; the second upper metal pattern provided above the second page buffer unit; and a second power supply pattern provided above the second page buffer unit, and adjacent to the second upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction. the memory device of any of claims 1-4, wherein the upper metal layer comprises: an internal signal pattern provided above the first page buffer unit; a first power supply pattern provided above the first page buffer unit, and adjacent to the internal signal pattern in the second horizontal direction; and the first and second upper metal patterns provided above the second page buffer unit. the memory device of any of claims 1-4, wherein the upper metal layer comprises: a first power supply pattern provided above the first page buffer unit; a second power supply pattern provided above the second page buffer unit; and the first and second upper metal patterns arranged in the first horizontal direction between the first and second power supply patterns. the memory device of any of claims 1-4, wherein the upper metal layer comprises: an internal signal pattern provided above the first page buffer unit; the first and second upper metal patterns provided above the second page buffer unit, and arranged in the first horizontal direction; and a power supply pattern provided between the internal signal pattern and the first and second upper metal patterns. the memory device of any of claims 1-4, wherein the upper metal layer comprises: a first power supply pattern; the first upper metal pattern provided adjacent to the first power supply pattern in the second horizontal direction; a second power supply pattern provided adjacent to the first upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction; the second upper metal pattern provided adjacent to the second power supply pattern in the second horizontal direction; and a third power supply pattern provided adjacent to the second upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction, and wherein the first to third power supply patterns and the first and second upper metal patterns extend in the first horizontal direction. the memory device of any of claims 1-4, wherein the upper metal layer comprises: a first internal signal pattern on a first track; the first upper metal pattern on a second track; a second internal signal pattern on a third track; a third internal signal pattern on a fourth track; and the second upper metal pattern on a fifth track, and wherein the first, second and third internal signal patterns and the first and second upper metal patterns extend in the first horizontal direction. the memory device of claim 10, wherein the upper metal layer further comprises: a first power supply pattern on the first track; and a second power supply pattern on the third track, and wherein the first power supply pattern, the first upper metal pattern, and the second power supply pattern are adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction. the memory device of any preceding claim, wherein the first and second lower metal patterns are not adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction. the memory device of any preceding claim, wherein the lower metal layer comprises: a first power supply pattern; the first lower metal pattern provided adjacent to the first power supply pattern in the second horizontal direction; a second power supply pattern provided adjacent to the first lower metal pattern in the second horizontal direction; and the second lower metal pattern provided adjacent to the second power supply pattern in the second horizontal direction, and wherein the first and second power supply patterns and the first and second lower metal patterns extend in the first horizontal direction. the memory device of any preceding claim, wherein the first page buffer unit comprises a first dynamic latch connected to the first sensing node, the first dynamic latch including a first dynamic node, wherein the second page buffer unit comprises a second dynamic latch connected to the second sensing node, the second dynamic latch including a second dynamic node, wherein the first dynamic node of the comprises: a third lower metal pattern provided in the lower metal layer; and a third upper metal pattern provided in the upper metal layer and electrically connected to the third lower metal pattern, and wherein the second dynamic node comprises: a fourth lower metal pattern provided in the lower metal layer; and a fourth upper metal pattern provided in the upper metal layer and electrically connected to the fourth lower metal pattern. the memory device of claim 14, wherein the first upper metal pattern and the third upper metal pattern are arranged in the first horizontal direction, the second upper metal pattern and the fourth upper metal pattern are arranged in the first horizontal direction, and the third upper metal pattern and the fourth upper metal pattern are not adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction.
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background the inventive concept relates to a memory device, and more particularly, to a page buffer circuit and a memory device including the page buffer circuit. recently, communication devices that have multi-functionality and process large amount of information have been developed, and as such, memory devices are increasingly required to have a large capacity and be highly integrated. a memory device may include a page buffer to store data in memory cells or output data from memory cells, and the page buffer may have semiconductor devices such as a transistor. the demand for a decrease in a page buffer size according to an increase in a degree of integration of a memory device and the development of a process technique may cause a decrease in a semiconductor device size, and accordingly, a layout of wirings connected to semiconductor devices may be complicated. summary according to an example embodiment, there is provided a memory device comprising: a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells; and a page buffer circuit connected to the memory cell array, the page buffer circuit being provided in a page buffer region, the page buffer region including a main region and a cache region arranged in a first horizontal direction, and the page buffer circuit comprising a first page buffer unit and a second page buffer unit arranged in the main region in a second horizontal direction, wherein the first page buffer unit comprises a first sensing node and the second page buffer unit comprises a second sensing node, wherein the first sensing node comprises: a first lower metal pattern provided in a lower metal layer; and a first upper metal pattern provided in an upper metal layer provided above the lower metal layer in a vertical direction, and the first upper metal pattern electrically connected to the first lower metal pattern, and wherein the second sensing node comprises: a second lower metal pattern provided in the lower metal layer; and a second upper metal pattern provided in the upper metal layer, the second upper metal pattern electrically connected to the second lower metal pattern, and the second upper metal pattern not adjacent to the first upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction. according to another example embodiment, there is provided a memory device comprising: a first semiconductor layer including a plurality of memory cells respectively connected to a plurality of bit lines extending in a first horizontal direction; and a second semiconductor layer provided in a vertical direction that is perpendicular to the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer including a plurality of page buffers, wherein the plurality of page buffers comprises a first page buffer unit including a first sensing node and a second page buffer unit including a second sensing node, wherein the first sensing node comprises: a first lower metal pattern provided in a lower metal layer; and a first upper metal pattern provided in an upper metal layer provided above the lower metal layer in the vertical direction, and electrically connected to the lower metal pattern, wherein the second sensing node comprises: a second lower metal pattern provided in the lower metal layer; and a second upper metal pattern provided in the upper metal layer, wherein the second page buffer unit is provided adjacent to the first page buffer unit in a second horizontal direction, and wherein the first upper metal pattern is not adjacent to the second upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction. according to another example embodiment, there is provided a memory device comprising: a memory cell region including a plurality of memory cells and a first metal pad; and a peripheral circuit region including a second metal pad and connected to the memory cell region in a vertical direction through the first metal pad and the second metal pad, wherein the peripheral circuit region further includes a plurality of page buffers, wherein the plurality of page buffers comprises a first page buffer unit including a first sensing node and a second page buffer unit including a second sensing node, wherein the first sensing node comprises: a first lower metal pattern provided in a lower metal layer; and a first upper metal pattern provided in an upper metal layer provided above the lower metal layer in the vertical direction, and electrically connected to the lower metal pattern, wherein the second sensing node comprises: a second lower metal pattern provided in the lower metal layer; and a second upper metal pattern provided in the upper metal layer, wherein the second page buffer unit is provided adjacent to the first page buffer unit in a second horizontal direction, and wherein the first upper metal pattern is not adjacent to the second upper metal pattern in the second horizontal direction. according to another example embodiment, there is provided a page buffer circuit provided in a page buffer region including a main region and a cache region provided adjacent to each other in a first horizontal direction, the page buffer circuit comprising: a first sensing latch and a second sensing latch provided in the main region, the first sensing latch and the second sensing latch being adjacent to each other in a second horizontal direction; a first cache latch and a second cache latch provided in the cache region, the first cache latch and the second cache latch being adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction, and respectively connected to the first sensing latch and the second sensing latch; a lower metal layer including a first lower metal pattern provided above the first and second sensing latches in a vertical direction and corresponding to a first sensing node connected to the first sensing latch, and a second lower metal pattern provided above the first and second sensing latches in the vertical direction corresponding to a second sensing node connected to the second sensing latch; and an upper metal layer including a first upper metal pattern provided above the lower metal layer in the vertical direction and connected to the first lower metal pattern, and a second upper metal pattern provided above the lower metal layer in the vertical direction connected to the second lower metal pattern, wherein the first and second upper metal patterns are not adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction. various embodiments are described herein which include two metal patterns (e.g. first and second upper metal patterns, first and second lower metal patterns, or third and fourth upper metal patterns) that are "not adjacent" to each other in the second horizontal direction. two metal patterns being "non adjacent" to each other may include one or more of: one or more metal patterns being (at least partially) positioned between the two metal patterns; and the two metal patterns being spaced apart in the first horizontal direction (e.g. either at the same or a different position along the second horizontal direction). at least some of the above and other features of the invention are set out in the claims. brief description of the drawings embodiments of the inventive concept will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: fig. 1 is a block diagram of a memory device according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 2 is a perspective view of the memory device of fig. 1 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 3 is a perspective view of a memory cell array of fig. 1 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 4 is a perspective view of a memory block of fig. 3 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 5 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 6 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer circuit according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 7 is a circuit diagram of a cache unit according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 8 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 9 is a block diagram of a page buffer circuit and a page buffer decoder according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 10 is a block diagram of the page buffer circuit of fig. 9 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 11 is a top view of a page buffer circuit according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 12 is a perspective view of first to third metal layers of fig. 11 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a page buffer circuit according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; figs. 14 to 17 are layouts of the third metal layer according to some example embodiments of the inventive concept; fig. 18 is a top view of a page buffer circuit according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; figs. 19 to 22 are layouts of the first to third metal layers according to some example embodiments of the inventive concept; figs. 23 and 24 are circuit diagrams of page buffers according to some example embodiments of the inventive concept; figs. 25 to 28 are layouts of the third metal layer according to some example embodiments of the inventive concept; fig. 29 is a cross-sectional view of a memory device according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept; and fig. 30 is a block diagram of an example of a solid state drive (ssd) system to which a memory device according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept is applied. detailed description of the embodiments hereinafter, embodiments of the inventive concept will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. fig. 1 is a block diagram of a memory device 10 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 1 , the memory device 10 may include a memory cell array 100 and a peripheral circuit 200. according to an example embodiment, the peripheral circuit 200 may include a page buffer circuit 210, a control circuit 220, a voltage generator 230, and a row decoder 240. according to an example embodiment, the peripheral circuit 200 may further include a data input-output circuit, an input-output interface, or the like. the memory cell array 100 may be connected to the page buffer circuit 210 through bit lines bl, and may be connected to the row decoder 240 through word lines wl, string select lines ssl, and ground select lines gsl. the memory cell array 100 may include a plurality of memory cells, and the memory cells may be, for example, flash memory cells. hereinafter, embodiments of the inventive concept will be described in detail for a case, as an example, where the plurality of memory cells are nand flash memory cells. however, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and in some example embodiments, the plurality of memory cells may be resistive memory cells such as resistive random access memory (reram), phase change ram (pram) or magnetic ram (mram). in an example embodiment, the memory cell array 100 may include a three-dimensional memory cell array, the three-dimensional memory cell array may include a plurality of nand strings, each nand string may include memory cells respectively connected to word lines vertically stacked on a substrate, and this will be described in detail with reference to figs. 3 and 4 . us patent nos. 7,679,133 , 8,553,466 , 8,654,587 , and 8,559,235 and us patent application publication no. 2011/0233648 all of which are incorporated herein by reference describe, in detail, appropriate features of a three-dimensional memory cell array configured on a plurality of levels, wherein word lines and/or bit lines are shared among the levels. however, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and in some example embodiments, the memory cell array 100 may include a two-dimensional memory cell array, and the two-dimensional memory cell array may include a plurality of nand strings provided in row and column directions. the control circuit 220 may output various kinds of control signals, e.g., a voltage control signal ctrl_vol, a row address x-addr, and a column address y-addr, for programming data on the memory cell array 100, reading data from the memory cell array 100, or erasing data stored in the memory cell array 100, based on a command cmd, an address addr, and a control signal ctrl. by doing this, the control circuit 220 may generally control various kinds of operations in the memory device 10. the voltage generator 230 may generate various types of voltages for performing program, read, and erase operations on the memory cell array 100, based on the voltage control signal ctrl_vol. particularly, the voltage generator 230 may generate a word line voltage vwl, e.g., a program voltage, a read voltage, a pass voltage, an erase voltage, or a program verify voltage. in addition, the voltage generator 230 may further generate a string select line voltage and a ground select line voltage based on the voltage control signal ctrl_vol. in response to the row address x-addr, the row decoder 240 may select one of a plurality of memory blocks, select one of word lines wl of the selected memory block, and select one of a plurality of string select lines ssl. the page buffer circuit 210 may select some of bit lines bl in response to the column address y-addr. for example, the page buffer circuit 210 operates as a write driver or a sensing amplifier according to an operation mode. the page buffer circuit 210 may include a plurality of page buffers pb respectively connected to a plurality of bit lines bl. in the example embodiment, page buffer units (e.g., pbuo to pbu7 of fig. 6 ) included in each of the plurality of page buffers pb and cache units (e.g., cu0 to cu7 of fig. 6 ) included in each of the plurality of page buffers pb may be separated and isolated from each other. accordingly, a degree of freedom of wirings on the page buffer units may be improved, and a complexity of a layout may decrease. in addition, the cache units may be provided to be adjacent to data input-output lines, so that a distance between the cache units and the data input-output lines decreases, thereby improving a data input-output rate. in an example embodiment, a sensing node of each page buffer unit may be implemented using a plurality of metal layers provided in a vertical direction, and accordingly, a capacitance of the sensing node may increase. according to an example embodiment, a "metal layer" may indicate a "conductive layer" and may not be limited to a metal material. in addition, shielding metal patterns to which a power supply voltage or a ground voltage is applied may be provided at both sides of a metal pattern on which a sensing node is implemented, and accordingly, coupling by an adjacent sensing node may be prevented. therefore, in a read operation on the memory device 10, a voltage variation of a sensing node may be reduced, and thus, the read reliability of the memory device 10 may be improved. fig. 2 is a perspective view of the memory device 10 of fig. 1 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 2 , the memory device 10 may include a first semiconductor layer l1 and a second semiconductor layer l2, and the first semiconductor layer l1 may be stacked on the second semiconductor layer l2 in a vertical direction vd. particularly, the second semiconductor layer l2 may be provided below the first semiconductor layer l1 in the vertical direction vd, and accordingly, the second semiconductor layer l2 may be closer to a substrate. in an example embodiment, the memory cell array 100 of fig. 1 may be formed in the first semiconductor layer l1, and the peripheral circuit 200 of fig. 1 may be formed in the second semiconductor layer l2. accordingly, the memory device 10 may have a structure in which the memory cell array 100 is on the peripheral circuit 200, i.e., a cell over periphery (cop) structure. the cop structure may effectively decrease an area in a horizontal direction and improve a degree of integration of the memory device 10. in an example embodiment, the second semiconductor layer l2 may include a substrate, and the peripheral circuit 200 may be formed in the second semiconductor layer l2 by forming transistors and metal patterns (e.g., first to third metal layers lm0, lm2, and lm3 of fig. 11 ) on the substrate, where the metal patterns interconnect the transistors on the substrate. after forming the peripheral circuit 200 in the second semiconductor layer l2, the first semiconductor layer l1 including the memory cell array 100 may be formed, and metal patterns for electrically connecting word lines wl and bit lines bl of the memory cell array 100 to the peripheral circuit 200 formed in the second semiconductor layer l2 may be formed. for example, the bit lines bl may extend in a first horizontal direction hd1, and the word lines wl may extend in a second horizontal direction hd2. along with the development of a semiconductor process, an increased number of tiers of memory cells may be provided in the memory cell array 100. in other words, the greater the number of stacks of word lines wl, the less an area of the memory cell array 100, and accordingly, the less an area of the peripheral circuit 200. according to the example embodiment, to decrease an area of a region occupied by the page buffer circuit 210, the page buffer circuit 210 may have a structure in which a page buffer unit is separated from a cache latch, and sensing nodes respectively included in page buffer units may be commonly connected to a combined sensing node. this will be described in detail with reference to fig. 6 . fig. 3 is a perspective view of the memory cell array 100 of fig. 1 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 3 , the memory cell array 100 may include a plurality of memory blocks blko, blk1, ..., blki, where i denotes a positive integer. each of the plurality of memory blocks blko to blki may have a three-dimensional structure. for example, each of the plurality of memory blocks blko to blki may have a vertical structure. for example, each of the plurality of memory blocks blko to blki may include a plurality of nand strings extending in the vertical direction vd. in this case, the plurality of nand strings may be separated by a particular distance in the first and second horizontal directions hd1 and hd2. the plurality of memory blocks blko to blki may be selected by a row decoder (i.e., row decoder 240 of fig. 1 ). for example, the row decoder 240 may select a memory block corresponding to a block address from among the plurality of memory blocks blko to blki. fig. 4 is a perspective view of a memory block blko of fig. 3 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 4 , the memory block blko is formed on a substrate sub in the vertical direction vd. the substrate sub has a first conductive type (e.g., a p-type) and includes common source lines csl extending on the substrate sub in the second horizontal direction hd2 and doped with second conductive-type (e.g., n-type) impurities. however, the disclosure is not limited to a substrate sub that has a p-type conductive type, and as such, according to another example embodiment, the substrate sub may a n-type conductivity and may include common source lines csl extending on the substrate sub in the second horizontal direction hd2 and doped with p-type conductivity impurities. a plurality of insulating films il extending in the second horizontal direction hd2 are sequentially provided on a region of the substrate sub between two adjacent common source lines csl in the vertical direction vd, and the plurality of insulating films il are separated by a particular distance in the vertical direction vd. for example, the plurality of insulating films il may include an insulating material such as silicon oxide. on the region of the substrate sub between the two adjacent common source lines csl, a plurality of pillars p sequentially provided in the first horizontal direction hd1 and passing through the plurality of insulating films il in the vertical direction vd are provided. for example, the plurality of pillars p may come in contact with the substrate sub by passing through the plurality of insulating films il. particularly, a surface layer s of each pillar p may include a silicon material having a first type and function as a channel region. an inner layer i of each pillar p may include an insulating material, such as silicon oxide, or an air gap. on the region between the two adjacent common source lines csl, a charge storage layer cs is provided along exposed surfaces of the plurality of insulating films il, the plurality of pillars p, and the substrate sub. the charge storage layer cs may include a gate insulating layer (or a tunneling insulating layer), a charge trap layer, and a blocking insulating layer. for example, the charge storage layer cs may have an oxide-nitride-oxide (ono) structure. in addition, on the region between the two adjacent common source lines csl, a gate electrode ge including select lines gsl and ssl and word lines wl0 to wl7 is provided on an exposed surface of the charge storage layer cs. according to an example embodiment, a string select transistor sst is provided corresponding the string select lines ssl, and a ground select transistor gst is provided corresponding the ground select lines gsl. each of drains or drain contacts dr is provided on the plurality of pillars p. for example, the drains or drain contacts dr may include a silicon material doped with impurities having a second conductive type. bit lines bl0 to bl2 extending in the first horizontal direction hd1 and separated by a particular distance in the second horizontal direction hd2 are provided on the drains dr. fig. 5 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer pb according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 5 , the page buffer pb may correspond to an example of the page buffer pb of fig. 1 . the page buffer pb may include a page buffer unit pbu and a cache unit cu. the cache unit cu may include a cache latch (c-latch) cl. according to an example embodiment, the c-latch cl is connected to a data input-output line, and as such, the cache unit cu may be adjacent to the data input-output line. accordingly, the page buffer unit pbu may be separated from the cache unit cu, and the page buffer pb may have a separated structure corresponding to the page buffer unit pbu and the cache unit cu. the page buffer unit pbu may include a main unit mu. the main unit mu may include major transistors in the page buffer pb. the page buffer unit pbu may further include a bit line select transistor tr_hv connected to a bit line bl and driven by a bit line select signal blslt. the bit line select transistor tr hv may be implemented by a high voltage transistor, and accordingly, the bit line select transistor tr hv may be provided in a well region, i.e., a high voltage unit hvu, different from the main unit mu the main unit mu may include a sensing latch (s-latch) sl, a force latch (f-latch) fl, an upper bit latch or a most significant bit latch (m-latch) ml, and a lower bit latch or a least significant bit latch (l-latch) ll. according to an example embodiment, the s-latch sl, the f-latch fl, the m-latch ml, or the l-latch ll may be referred to as a "main latch". the main unit mu may further include a precharge circuit pc capable of controlling a precharge operation of the bit line bl or a sensing node so based on a bit line clamping control signal blclamp, and a transistor pm' driven by a bit line setup signal blsetup. the s-latch sl may store data stored in a memory cell or a sensing result of a threshold voltage of the memory cell in a read or program verify operation. in addition, the s-latch sl may be used to apply a program bit line voltage or a program inhibit voltage to the bit line bl in a program operation. the f-latch fl may be used to improve a threshold voltage distribution in a program operation. the m-latch ml and the l-latch ll of the page buffer unit pbu, and the c-latch cl of the cache unit cu may be used to store data input from the outside in a program operation and may be referred to as a "data latch". when 3-bit data is programmed on one memory cell, the 3-bit data may be stored in the m-latch ml, the l-latch ll, and the c-latch cl, respectively. for example, 1-bit from the 3-bit data may be stored in each of the m-latch ml, the l-latch ll, and the c-latch cl, respectively. in addition, in a read operation, the c-latch cl may receive, from the s-latch sl, data read from a memory cell and output the data to the outside through a data input-output line. in addition, the main unit mu may further include first to fourth transistors nm1 to nm4. the first transistor nm1 may be connected between the sensing node so and the s-latch sl and may be driven by a ground control signal sognd. the second transistor nm2 may be connected between the sensing node so and the f-latch fl and may be driven by a forcing monitoring signal mon_f. the third transistor nm3 may be connected between the sensing node so and the m-latch ml and may be driven by a most significant bit monitoring signal mon_m. the fourth transistor nm4 may be connected between the sensing node so and the l-latch ll and may be driven by a least significant bit monitoring signal mon_l. in addition, the main unit mu may further include fifth and sixth transistors nm5 and nm6 connected in series between the bit line select transistor tr_hv and the sensing node so. the fifth transistor nm5 may be driven by a bit line shut-off signal blshf, and the sixth transistor nm6 may be driven by a bit line connection control signal clblk. in addition, the main unit mu may further include a precharge transistor pm. the precharge transistor pm may be connected to the sensing node so, may be driven by a load signal load, and may precharge the sensing node so to a precharge level in a precharge duration. in the example embodiment, the main unit mu may further include a pair of pass transistors, i.e., first and second pass transistors tr and tr', connected to the sensing node so. according to an example embodiment, the first and second pass transistors tr and tr' may be referred to as "first and second sensing node connection transistors". the first and second pass transistors tr and tr' may be driven by a pass control signal so_pass. according to an example embodiment, the pass control signal so_pass may be referred to as a "sensing node connection control signal". the first pass transistor tr may be connected between a first terminal soc_u and the sensing node so, and the second pass transistor tr' may be connected between the sensing node so and a second terminal soc_d. the page buffer pb may verify whether a memory cell selected from among memory cells included in a nand string connected to the bit line bl is completely programmed in a program operation. particularly, in a program verify operation, the page buffer pb may store, in the s-latch sl, data sensed through the bit line bl. according to the sensed data stored in the s-latch sl, the m-latch ml and the l-latch ll in which target data is stored are set. for example, when the sensed data indicates program completion, the m-latch ml and the l-latch ll switch to a program inhibit setting for the selected memory cell in a subsequent program loop. the c-latch cl may temporarily store input data provided from the outside. in a program operation, target data stored in the c-latch cl may be stored in the m-latch ml and the l-latch ll. according to an example embodiment, the first cache unit cu may include a monitor transistor nm7. a source s of the monitor transistor nm7 may be connected to the combined sensing node soc, and a cache monitoring signal mon_c may be applied to a gate of the monitor transistor nm7. also, the cache unit cu may include a monitor transistor nm7 and the c-latch cl. fig. 6 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer circuit 210a according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring fig. 6 , the page buffer circuit 210a may include first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7 provided in the first horizontal direction hd1 and first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7 provided in the first horizontal direction hd1. for example, each of the first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7 may be implemented to be substantially similar to the page buffer unit pbu of fig. 5 , each of the first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7 may be implemented to be substantially similar to the cache unit cu of fig. 5 , and the description made above with reference to fig. 5 may be applied to the example embodiment. the first page buffer unit pbuo may include first and second pass transistors tr0 and tr0' connected in series, and the second page buffer unit pbu1 may include first and second pass transistors tr1 and tr1' connected in series. apass control signal so_pass[7:0] may be applied to gates of the first and second pass transistors tr0, tro', tr1, and tr1'. according to the example embodiment, when the pass control signal so_pass[7:0] is activated, first and second pass transistors tr0 to tr7 and tr0' to tr7' may be turned on, and accordingly, the first and second pass transistors tr0 to tr7 and tr0' to tr7' respectively included in the first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7 may be connected in series to each other, and all of first to eighth sensing nodes so0 to so7 may be connected to a combined sensing node soc. the first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7 may further include precharge transistors pm0 to pm7, respectively. in the first page buffer unit pbuo, the precharge transistor pm0 may be connected between the first sensing node so0 and a voltage terminal to which a precharge level is applied, and may have a gate to which the load signal load is applied. the precharge transistor pm0 may precharge the first sensing node so0 to the precharge level in response to the load signal load. the first cache unit cu0 may include a monitor transistor nm7a, and for example, the monitor transistor nm7a may correspond to the transistor nm7 of fig. 5 . a source s of the monitor transistor nm7a may be connected to the combined sensing node soc, and a cache monitoring signal mon_c[7:0] may be respectively applied to a gate of the monitor transistors nm7a to nm7h. monitor transistors nm7a to nm7h respectively included in the first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7 may be commonly connected in parallel to the combined sensing node soc. particularly, respective sources of the monitor transistors nm7a to nm7h may be commonly connected to the combined sensing node soc. the page buffer circuit 210a may further include a precharge circuit soc_pre between the eighth page buffer unit pbu7 and the first cache unit cu0. the precharge circuit soc_pre may include a precharge transistor pma for precharging the combined sensing node soc, and a shielding transistor nma. the precharge transistor pma may be driven by a combined sensing node load signal soc_load, and when the precharge transistor pma is turned on, the combined sensing node soc may be precharged to the precharge level. the shielding transistor nma may be driven by a combined sensing node shielding signal soc_shld, and when the shielding transistor nma is turned on, the combined sensing node soc may be discharged to a ground level. in a structure in which the first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7 are separated from the first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7, if eight signal lines are provided to respectively connect the first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7 to the first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7, a size of the page buffer circuit 210a in the second horizontal direction hd2 may increase. however, according to the example embodiment, the first to eighth sensing nodes so0 to so7 may be connected to each other by using the first and second pass transistors tr0 to tr7 and tr0' to tr7' respectively included in the first to eighth page buffer units pbuo to pbu7, and the first to eighth sensing nodes so0 to so7 may be connected to the first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7 through the combined sensing node soc. by doing this, an increase in the size of the page buffer circuit 210a in the second horizontal direction hd2 may be prevented. fig. 7 is a circuit diagram of a cache unit cu according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 7 , the cache unit cu may include a monitor transistor nm7 and the c-latch cl, and the c-latch cl may include first and second inverters inv1 and inv2, a dump transistor 132, and transistors 131, 133, 134, and 135. the monitor transistor nm7 may be driven by a cache monitoring signal mon_c and may control a connection between the combined sensing node soc and the c-latch cl. the first inverter inv1 may be connected between a first node nd1 and a second node nd2, the second inverter inv2 may be connected between the second node nd2 and the first node nd1, and the first and second inverters inv1 and inv2 may form a latch. the transistor 131 has a gate connected to the combined sensing node soc. the dump transistor 132 may be driven by a dump signal dump_c and may transfer data stored in the c-latch cl to a main latch (i.e., one of the s-latch sl, the f-latch fl, the m-latch ml, or the l-latch ll) in a page buffer unit pbu. the transistor 133 may be driven by a data signal di, the transistor 134 may be driven by an inverted data signal ndi, and the transistor 135 may be driven by a write control signal dio_w. when the write control signal dio_w is activated, voltage levels of the first and second nodes nd1 and nd2 may be determined according to the data signal di and the inverted data signal ndi. the cache unit cu may be connected to an input-output terminal rdi through transistors 136 and 137. the transistor 136 has a gate connected to the second node nd2 and may be turned on or off according to a voltage level of the second node nd2. the transistor 137 may be driven by a read control signal dio_r. when the read control signal dio_r is activated so that the transistor 137 is turned on, a voltage level of the input-output terminal rdi may be determined to be '1' or '0' according to a state of the c-latch cl. fig. 8 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer pb' according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 8 , the page buffer pb' may include a page buffer unit pbu' and the cache unit cu, and the page buffer unit pbu' may include a main unit mu' and the high voltage unit hvu. the page buffer pb' may correspond to a modified example of the page buffer pb of fig. 5 , and the description made above with reference to figs. 5 to 7 may be applied to the example embodiment. the page buffer unit pbu of fig. 5 includes the first and second transistors tr and tr', whereas the page buffer unit pbu' according to the example embodiment may include one pass transistor tr". the pass transistor tr" may be driven by the pass control signal so_pass and may be connected between the first terminal soc_u and the second terminal soc_d. fig. 9 is a block diagram of the page buffer circuit 210 and a page buffer decoder 250 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 9 , the page buffer circuit 210 may include first to fourth page buffer circuits pgbufa to pgbufd provided in the second horizontal direction hd2, and for example, each of the first to fourth page buffer circuits pgbufa to pgbufd may be implemented to be the same as the page buffer circuit 210 of fig. 6 . as such, the page buffer circuit 210 may be implemented in the form of a page buffer array. however, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and each of the first to fourth page buffer circuits pgbufa to pgbufd may include a plurality of page buffers, and each of the plurality of page buffers may be implemented to be the same as the page buffer pb' of fig. 8 . the page buffer decoder 250 may be adjacent to the page buffer circuit 210 in the first horizontal direction hd1 and may include first to fourth page buffer decoders pbdeca to pbdecd provided in the second horizontal direction hd2. the first to fourth page buffer decoders pbdeca to pbdecd may be connected to the first to fourth page buffer circuits pgbufa to pgbufd, respectively. for example, the first page buffer decoder pbdeca may generate a decoder output signal corresponding to the number of fail bits from a page buffer signal received from the first page buffer circuit pgbufa. for example, when the page buffer signal is logic low, a program for the corresponding memory cell may be determined as being failed and data programmed to the corresponding memory cell may be determined as a fail bit. fig. 10 is a block diagram of the page buffer circuit 210 of fig. 9 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 10 , the first page buffer circuit pgbufa may include page buffer units pbu0a to pbu7a and cache units cu0a to cu7a, respective sensing nodes of the page buffer units pbu0a to pbu7a may be commonly connected to a first combined sensing node soc1, and the cache units cu0a to cu7a may be commonly connected to the first combined sensing node soc1. the second page buffer circuit pgbufb may include page buffer units pbu0b to pbu7b and cache units cu0b to cu7b, respective sensing nodes of the page buffer units pbu0b to pbu7b may be commonly connected to a second combined sensing node soc2, and the cache units cu0b to cu7b may be commonly connected to the second combined sensing node soc2. the third page buffer circuit pgbufc may include page buffer units pbu0c to pbu7c and cache units cu0c to cu7c, respective sensing nodes of the page buffer units pbu0c to pbu7c may be commonly connected to a third combined sensing node soc3, and the cache units cu0c to cu7c may be commonly connected to the third combined sensing node soc3. the fourth page buffer circuit pgbufd may include page buffer units pbu0d to pbu7d and cache units cu0d to cu7d, respective sensing nodes of the page buffer units pbu0d to pbu7d may be commonly connected to a fourth combined sensing node soc4, and the cache units cu0d to cu7d may be commonly connected to the fourth combined sensing node soc4. fig. 11 is a top view of a page buffer circuit 20 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. fig. 12 is a perspective view of first to third metal layers lm0 to lm2 of fig. 11 , according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to figs. 11 and 12 , the page buffer circuit 20 may include first and second page buffer units pbu0a and pbu0b adjacent in the second horizontal direction hd2. the first page buffer unit pbu0a may include a transistor tra, and the transistor tra may include a source s0a, a gate g0a, and a drain d0a. the second page buffer unit pbu0b may include a transistor trb, and the transistor trb may include a source s0b, a gate g0b, and a drain d0b. for example, the transistors tra and trb may correspond to the pass transistor tr shown in fig. 5 or the pass transistor tr" shown in fig. 8 , but the inventive concept is not limited thereto. the first metal layer lm0, the second metal layer lm1, and the third metal layer lm2 may be provided above the page buffer circuit 20 in the vertical direction vd. for example, the first and third metal layers lm0 and lm2 may extend in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the second metal layer lm1 may extend in the second horizontal direction hd2. the first metal layer lm0 may include first metal patterns lm0a and lm0b, the second metal layer lm1 may include second metal patterns lm1a and lm1b, and the third metal layer lm2 may include third metal patterns lm2a and lm2b. for example, a pitch of the first metal patterns lm0a and lm0b may be less than a pitch of the third metal patterns lm2a and lm2b. for example, a thickness of the first metal patterns lm0a and lm0b in the vertical direction vd may be less than a thickness of the third metal patterns lm2a and lm2b in the vertical direction vd. according to an example embodiment, a "first metal layer" may be referred to as a "lower metal layer", a "third metal layer" may be referred to as an "upper metal layer", "first metal patterns" may be referred to as "lower metal patterns", and "third metal patterns" may be referred to as "upper metal patterns". the first to third metal patterns lm0a, lm1a, and lm2a above the first page buffer unit pbu0a may be connected to each other, and accordingly, the first sensing node so0 may be implemented. for example, the first metal pattern lm0a may be connected to the drain d0a of the transistor tra through a contact ct0a, the second metal pattern lm1a may be connected to the first metal pattern lm0a through a contact ct1a, and the third metal pattern lm2a may be connected to the second metal pattern lm1a through a contact ct2a. in this case, the third metal pattern lm2a may be referred to as the first sensing node so0 or a first sensing plus node so0+. as described above, by using a plurality of metal layers to implement the first sensing node so0, a total capacitance of the first sensing node so0 may increase to have a sufficiently large value in a relationship with a sensing current so as to be robust to a change in a sensing condition. therefore, in a read operation, a voltage variation of the first sensing node so0 may decrease, and read reliability of the first sensing node so0 may be improved. the first to third metal patterns lm0b, lm1b, and lm2b above the second page buffer unit pbu0b may be connected to each other, and accordingly, the second sensing node s01 may be implemented. for example, the first metal pattern lm0b may be connected to the drain d0b of the transistor trb through a contact ct0b, the second metal pattern lm1b may be connected to the first metal pattern lm0b through a contact ct1b, and the third metal pattern lm2b may be connected to the second metal pattern lm1b through a contact ct2b. in this case, the third metal pattern lm2b may be referred to as the second sensing node so1 or a second sensing plus node s01+. as described above, by using a plurality of metal layers to implement the second sensing node so1, a total capacitance of the second sensing node s01 may increase to have a sufficiently large value in a relationship with a sensing current so as to be robust to a change in a sensing condition. therefore, in a read operation, a voltage variation of the second sensing node s01 may decrease, and read reliability of the second sensing node s01 may be improved. in an example embodiment, the third metal patterns lm2a and lm2b may not be adjacent in the second horizontal direction hd2. for example, the third metal patterns lm2a and lm2b may be separated by a first distance, that is, a first spacing sp in the first horizontal direction hd1. accordingly, because coupling between the third metal patterns lm2a and lm2b may decrease, the voltage variation of the second sensing node so1 may not affect a voltage of the first sensing node so0, and accordingly, the read reliability of a memory device may be improved. in an example embodiment, the first metal layer lm0 may further include first metal patterns lm0c, lm0d, and lm0e between the first metal patterns lm0a and lm0b. each of the first metal patterns lm0c, lm0d, and lm0e may include a plurality of patterns separated from each other, and for example, the plurality of patterns may be connected to a plurality of transistors. for example, an internal power supply voltage or a ground voltage may be applied to the first metal pattern lm0c, and accordingly, the first metal pattern lm0a corresponding to the first sensing node so0 may be shielded. in the example embodiment, a metal pattern to which the internal power supply voltage or the ground voltage is applied may be referred to as a "power supply pattern". in addition, for example, the internal power supply voltage or the ground voltage may be applied to the first metal pattern lm0e, and accordingly, the first metal pattern lm0b corresponding to the second sensing node so1 may be shielded. as described above, according to the example embodiment, a voltage variation of each of the first and second sensing nodes so0 and so1 may be minimized by respectively disposing the first metal patterns lm0c and lm0e having a fixed bias voltage at one sides of the first metal patterns lm0a and lm0b respectively corresponding to the first and second sensing nodes so0 and so1. according to a micro-process, an area of a region occupied by the page buffer circuit 20 is based on a transistor width wd. for example, the smaller a transistor width wd, the smaller an area of a region occupied by the page buffer circuit 20. for example, the transistor width wd may correspond to a size of the gate g0a of the transistor tra in the second horizontal direction hd2. particularly, the smaller the transistor width wd, the smaller a size of the first page buffer unit pbu0a in the second horizontal direction hd2. however, regardless of a decrease in the transistor width wd, a pitch of the first metal layer lm0 may not decrease. accordingly, the number of wirings of the first metal layer lm0, i.e., the number of metal patterns, above the first page buffer unit pbu0a having a reduced size in the second horizontal direction hd2 may also decrease. for example, metal patterns of the first metal layer lm0 corresponding to the first page buffer unit pbu0a may be reduced from 6 to 4. when the number of metal patterns of the first metal layer lm0 corresponding to the first page buffer unit pbu0a is reduced, the sensing reliability of the first page buffer unit pbu0a may decrease. for example, in a sensing operation, to prevent coupling between the first sensing node so0 and an adjacent node, a metal pattern adjacent to the first sensing node so0 may be used as a shielding line to which a fixed bias voltage is applied. however, when the metal pattern corresponding to the shielding line is removed due to the decrease in the metal patterns, a voltage variation of the first sensing node so0 may increase due to coupling between the first sensing node so0 and an adjacent node, and accordingly, the sensing reliability of the first page buffer unit pbu0a may decrease. however, according to the example embodiment, by using a page buffer unit-cache unit separation structure, a degree of freedom of metal patterns included in the third metal layer lm2 above the first page buffer unit pbu0a may increase so that one of the metal patterns included in the third metal layer lm2 is used as the first sensing plus node so0+. an increase in the voltage variation of the first sensing node so0 may be prevented by connecting the first sensing node so0 to the first sensing plus node so0+, and accordingly, a decrease in the sensing reliability of the first page buffer unit pbu0a may be prevented. fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a page buffer circuit 20a according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 13 , the page buffer circuit 20a corresponds to a modified example of the page buffer circuit 20 shown in fig. 11 , and the description made above with reference to figs. 11 and 12 may also be applied to the example embodiment. the page buffer circuit 20a may include a transistor tr on the substrate sub. for example, the transistor tr may correspond to the pass transistor tr shown in fig. 5 or the pass transistor tr" shown in fig. 8 , but the inventive concept is not limited thereto. the first metal layer lm0 may extend in the first horizontal direction hd1 and may be connected to a source/drain region s/d of the transistor tr through a contact ct0. the second metal layer lm1 may extend in the second horizontal direction hd2 and may be connected to the first metal layer lm0 through a contact ct1. the third metal layer lm2 may extend in the first horizontal direction hd1 and may be connected to the second metal layer lm1 through a contact ct2. as described above, according to the example embodiment, the third metal layer lm2 and the first metal layer lm0 may partially overlap in the vertical direction vd. fig. 14 is a layout 30 of the third metal layer lm2 above the page buffer circuit 210 and the page buffer decoder 250, according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 14 , the page buffer circuit 210 and the page buffer decoder 250 may be provided in the first horizontal direction hd1. the page buffer circuit 210 may be provided in a page buffer region including a main region mr and a cache region cr. a page buffer unit array including the page buffer units pbu0a to pbu0d may be provided on the main region mr, and a cache unit array including the cache units cu0a to cu0d may be provided on the cache region cr. the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 311 to 318 and 321 to 328 extending in the first horizontal direction hd1 and may be provided above the page buffer circuit 210 and the page buffer decoder 250 in the vertical direction vd. for example, the third metal layer lm2 may correspond to the third metal layer lm2 of figs. 11 to 13 . the metal patterns 311, 314, and 316 may be provided above the main region mr, the cache region cr, and the page buffer decoder 250 by crossing the same, and the metal pattern 315 may be provided above the main region mr and the cache region cr by crossing the same. for example, an internal power supply voltage ivc may be applied to the metal patterns 311 and 316, a ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal pattern 314, and a first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 315. the metal patterns 312, 313, 317, and 318 may be provided above the cache region cr and the page buffer decoder 250 by crossing the same. the metal patterns 312, 313, 317, and 318 may be electrically connected to the cache units cu0a to cu0d and the page buffer decoder 250 through contacts ct. the metal patterns 321 to 328 may be provided above the main region mr by crossing the same. as described above with reference to fig. 10 , the page buffer circuit 210 may have a page buffer unit-cache unit separation structure. for example, in the page buffer circuit 210, the metal patterns 312, 313, 317, and 318 to which signals associated with the cache units cu0a to cu0d are applied may be provided above the cache region cr and the page buffer decoder 250 by crossing the same and may not extend to the main region mr. for example, the metal patterns 312 and 318 may respectively correspond to the input-output terminal rdi and an inverted input-output terminal nrdi, and the inverted data signal ndi and the data signal di may be respectively applied to the metal patterns 313 and 317. according to the page buffer unit-cache unit separation structure, a degree of wiring freedom of the third metal layer lm2 above the main region mr in which the page buffer units pbu0a to pbu0d are provided may increase. accordingly, some metal patterns 321 to 324 of the third metal layer lm2 above the main region mr may be used as the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3 of the page buffer units pbu0a to pbu0d, respectively. particularly, the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3 may be implemented by metal patterns included in the first metal layer lm0, the metal patterns included in the first metal layer lm0 may be electrically connected to the metal patterns 321 to 324 included in the third metal layer lm2, respectively, and accordingly, a capacitance of each of the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3 may increase. fig. 15 is a layout 30a of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 15 , the layout 30a corresponds to a modified example of the layout 30 of fig. 14 , and a duplicated description is omitted. in the cache region cr, for example, the first to eighth cache units cu0 to cu7 of fig. 6 may be provided. the main region mr may include a low voltage region lv and a high voltage region hv. for example, in the low voltage region lv, the main unit mu of fig. 5 or the main unit mu' of fig. 8 may be provided, and in the high voltage region hv, the high voltage unit hvu of fig. 5 or 8 may be provided. although fig. 15 shows one low voltage region lv and one high voltage region hv for convenience, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, and for example, a plurality of low voltage regions and a plurality of high voltage regions respectively corresponding to the first to eighth cache units pbuo to pbu7 may be provided in the first horizontal direction hd1. page buffer units in the main region mr may be connected to a column driver, and the column driver may provide gate driving voltages to be applied to gates of transistors included in the page buffer units, respectively. the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 311 to 318, 321 to 328, and 331 to 334 extending in the first horizontal direction hd1. the metal patterns 311, 314, and 316 may be provided above the main region mr, the cache region cr, and the page buffer decoder 250 by crossing the same, and the metal pattern 315 may be provided above the main region mr and the cache region cr by crossing the same. for example, a first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 315, and the metal pattern 315 may be connected to the column driver. the metal patterns 331 to 334 may be provided above the high voltage region hv of the page buffer circuit 210 in the vertical direction vd. for example, the metal patterns 331 to 334 may correspond to first to fourth nodes soc_u0 to soc_u3, respectively. for example, one of the first to fourth nodes soc_u0 to soc_u3 may correspond to the first terminal soc_u of fig. 5 or 8 . fig. 16 is a layout 30b of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 16 , the layout 30b corresponds to a modified example of the layout 30a of fig. 15 , and a duplicated description is omitted. the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 311, 312a to 316a, 321a to 324a, 326a, 331a, 333a, and 335 extending in the first horizontal direction hd1. the metal patterns 311 and 315a may be provided above the main region mr, the cache region cr, and the page buffer decoder 250 by crossing the same. for example, the internal power supply voltage ivc and the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal patterns 311 and 315a, respectively. the metal patterns 321a to 324a may be provided above the low voltage region lv in the vertical direction vd and may correspond to, for example, the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively. the metal patterns 321a and 322a may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the metal patterns 323a and 324a may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1. the metal pattern 326a may be provided above the main region mr in the vertical direction vd, and for example, the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal pattern 326a. the metal pattern 335 may be provided above the main region mr in the vertical direction vd, for example, the first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 335, and the metal pattern 335 may be connected to a first column driver. the metal pattern 316a may be provided above the cache region cr and the page buffer decoder 250 in the vertical direction vd, for example, a second page buffer driver signal pbdrva may be applied to the metal pattern 316a, and the metal pattern 316a may be connected to a second column driver. the metal patterns 331a and 333a may be provided above the high voltage region hv in the vertical direction vd. for example, the metal pattern 331a may correspond to the first and second nodes soc_u0 and soc_u1, and the metal pattern 333a may correspond to the third and fourth nodes soc_u2 and soc_u3. fig. 17 is a layout 30c of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 17 , the layout 30c corresponds to a modified example of the layout 30b of fig. 16 , and a duplicated description is omitted. the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 311, 312a to 314a, 315b, 316a, 321a to 324a, 326b, 327a, and 331b to 334b extending in the first horizontal direction hd1. the metal pattern 315b may be provided above the cache region cr and the page buffer decoder 250 in the vertical direction vd, and for example, the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal pattern 315b. the metal patterns 326b and 327a may be provided above the low voltage region lv in the vertical direction vd, and for example, the ground voltage gnd and the internal power supply voltage ivc may be applied to the metal patterns 326b and 327a, respectively. the metal patterns 331b to 334b may be provided above the high voltage region hv in the vertical direction vd and may correspond to, for example, the first to fourth nodes soc_u0 to soc_u3, respectively. fig. 18 is a top view of a page buffer circuit 40 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 18 , the page buffer circuit 40 may include a lower metal layer 410 including lower metal patterns 411a, 411b, 412, 413a, 413b, 414, 415a, 415b, 416, 417a, 417b and 418, an upper metal layer 420 including upper metal patterns 421 to 429, and a plurality of active regions 430. for example, the plurality of active regions 430 may include source/drain regions of transistors included in a page buffer unit. as illustrated in fig. 18 , a pitch of the lower metal patterns is smaller than a pitch of the upper metal patterns. for example, according to an example embodiment, a distance between adjacent patterns of the lower metal patterns is smaller than a distance between adjacent patterns of the upper metal patterns. the lower metal patterns 411a to 418 may be provided above the plurality of active regions 430 in the vertical direction vd and may extend in the first horizontal direction hd1. for example, the lower metal patterns 412, 414, 416, and 418 may correspond to the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively. the upper metal patterns 421 to 429 may be provided above the lower metal layer 410 in the vertical direction vd and may extend in the first horizontal direction hd1. for example, the upper metal patterns 422, 424, 426, and 428 may be connected to the lower metal patterns 412, 414, 416, and 418 through contacts ct, respectively, and accordingly, the upper metal patterns 422, 424, 426, and 428 may correspond to the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively. for example, the internal power supply voltage or the ground voltage may be applied to the lower metal patterns 411a and 411b at both sides of the lower metal pattern 412 corresponding to the first sensing node so0, and accordingly, the lower metal patterns 411a and 411b may be used as shielding lines for the lower metal pattern 412. likewise, the lower metal patterns 413a and 413b may be used as shielding lines for the lower metal pattern 414, the lower metal patterns 415a and 415b may be used as shielding lines for the lower metal pattern 416, and the lower metal patterns 417a and 417b may be used as shielding lines for the lower metal pattern 418. in addition, for example, the internal power supply voltage or the ground voltage may be applied to the upper metal patterns 421, 423, 425, and 427, and accordingly, the upper metal patterns 421, 423, 425, and 427 may be used as shielding lines for the upper metal patterns 422, 424, 426, and 428, respectively. fig. 19 is a layout 50a of the first and third metal layers lm0 and lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 19 , the first and third metal layers lm0 and lm2 may extend in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the third metal layer lm2 may be provided above the first metal layer lm0 in the vertical direction vd and may be connected to the first metal layer lm0 through the contact ct. the third metal layer lm2 may include first to fourth sensing node patterns soa to sod and first to fourth internal signal patterns isa to isd. for example, signals applied to a sensing latch may be applied to the first to fourth internal signal patterns isa to isd, respectively. the first to fourth sensing node patterns soa to sod may not be adjacent to each other in the second horizontal direction hd2. for example, the first to fourth sensing node patterns soa to sod and the first to fourth internal signal patterns isa to isd may be alternately provided in the second horizontal direction hd2. hereinafter, patterns on a plurality of tracks, e.g., first to sixth tracks, of the third metal layer lm2 will be described. for example, the first internal signal pattern isa may be provided on the first track, the first and second sensing node patterns soa and sob may be provided on the second track, the second internal signal pattern isb may be provided on the third track, the third internal signal pattern isc may be provided on the fourth track, the third and fourth sensing node patterns soc and sod may be provided on the fifth track, and the fourth internal signal pattern isd may be provided on the sixth track. fig. 20 is a layout 50b of the first and third metal layers lm0 and lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 20 , the layout 50b corresponds to a modified example of the layout 50a of fig. 19 , and a duplicated description is omitted. the third metal layer lm2 may further include metal patterns 511 and 512 to which the ground voltage gnd or the internal power supply voltage ivc is respectively applied. the metal patterns 511 and 512 may be used as shielding lines for the first to fourth sensing node patterns soa to sod. for example, the metal pattern 511 may include vertical-direction patterns on the first, third, fourth, and sixth tracks and a horizontal-direction pattern connecting the vertical-direction patterns and may be used as shielding lines for the first and third sensing node patterns soa and soc. for example, the metal pattern 512 may include vertical-direction patterns on the first, third, fourth, and sixth tracks and a horizontal-direction pattern connecting the vertical-direction patterns and may be used as shielding lines for the second and fourth sensing node patterns sob and sod. fig. 21 is a layout 50c of the first and third metal layers lm0 and lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 21 , the layout 50c corresponds to a modified example of the layout 50b of fig. 20 , and a duplicated description is omitted. the third metal layer lm2 may further include metal patterns 513 and 514 to which the ground voltage gnd or the internal power supply voltage ivc is respectively applied. the metal patterns 513 and 514 may be used as shielding lines for the first to fourth sensing node patterns soa to sod. in addition, the metal pattern 513 may also be used as shielding lines for the first to fourth internal signal patterns isa to isd. fig. 22 is a layout 50d of the first and third metal layers lm0 and lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 22 , the layout 50d corresponds to a modified example of the layout 50a of fig. 19 , and a duplicated description is omitted. the third metal layer lm2 may include the first and second sensing node patterns soa and sob and the first to fourth internal signal patterns isa to isd. the first and second sensing node patterns soa and sob and the first to fourth internal signal patterns isa to isd may be alternately provided. hereinafter, patterns on the plurality of tracks of the third metal layer lm2 will be described. for example, the first internal signal pattern isa may be provided on the first track, the first sensing node pattern soa may be provided on the second track, the second internal signal pattern isb may be provided on the second and third tracks, the third internal signal pattern isc may be provided on the fourth track, the second sensing node patterns sob may be provided on the fifth track, and the fourth internal signal pattern isd may be provided on the sixth track. fig. 23 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer pb" according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 23 , the page buffer pb" corresponds to a modified example of the page buffer pb shown in fig. 5 , and the description made above with respect to the page buffer pb may also be applied to the example embodiment. the page buffer pb" may further include a dynamic latch dl when compared to the page buffer pb. in addition, in some embodiments, the page buffer pb" may include one pass transistor tr" instead of the first and second pass transistors tr and tr', as shown in fig. 8 . the dynamic latch dl may include transistors nm11, nm12, and nm13. the transistor nm11 may be provided between the sensing node so and a dynamic node d, the transistor nm12 may be provided between the dynamic node d and a ground terminal, and the transistor nm13 may be provided between the s-latch sl and a gate of the transistor nm12. the transistor nm11 may be driven by a monitor signal mon_d, and the transistor nm13 may be driven by a set signal set_d. fig. 24 is a circuit diagram of a page buffer pb"_1 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 24 , the page buffer pb"_1 corresponds to a modified example of the page buffer pb" shown in fig. 23 , and the description made above with respect to the page buffer pb" may also be applied to the example embodiment. the page buffer pb"_1 may include a dynamic latch dl', and the dynamic latch dl' may include transistors nm11, nm12, and nm13'. in this case, the transistor nm13' may be provided between the sensing node so and the gate of the transistor nm12. fig. 25 is a layout 60 of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 25 , first to fourth page buffer units 610 to 640 may be provided in the second horizontal direction hd2, and for example, each of the first to fourth page buffer units 610 to 640 may correspond to a page buffer unit pbu" of fig. 23 or a page buffer unit pbu"_1 of fig. 24 . the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 611, 612, 613, 614, 621, 622, 623, 624, 631, 632, 633, 634 and 635, and may be provided above the first to fourth page buffer units 610 to 640 in the vertical direction vd the metal patterns 611 to 614 may correspond to the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively, and the metal patterns 621 to 624 may correspond to first to fourth dynamic nodes d_0 to d_3, respectively. in this case, the first sensing node so0 and the first dynamic node d_0 may be connected to transistors included in the first page buffer unit 610, for example, connected to the transistor nm11 of fig. 23 or 24 . likewise, the second sensing node so1 and the second dynamic node d_1 may be connected to transistors included in the second page buffer unit 620, the third sensing node so2 and the third dynamic node d_2 may be connected to transistors included in the third page buffer unit 630, and the fourth sensing node so3 and the fourth dynamic node d_3 may be connected to transistors included in the fourth page buffer unit 640. for example, the metal patterns 611 and 621 may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, the metal patterns 612 and 622 may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, the metal patterns 613 and 623 may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the metal patterns 614 and 624 may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1. the internal power supply voltage ivc may be applied to the metal patterns 631 and 634, and the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal patterns 632 and 635. the first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 633, and the metal pattern 633 may be connected to, for example, a column driver. fig. 26 is a layout 60a of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 26 , first to fourth page buffer units 610a to 640a may be provided in the second horizontal direction hd2, and for example, each of the first to fourth page buffer units 610a to 640a may correspond to the page buffer unit pbu" of fig. 23 or the page buffer unit pbu"_1 of fig. 24 . the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 611a, 612a, 613a, 614a, 621a, 622a, 623a, 624a, 631a, 632a, 633a and 634a, and may be provided above the first to fourth page buffer units 610a to 640a in the vertical direction vd the metal patterns 611a to 614a may correspond to the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively, and the metal patterns 621a to 624a may correspond to the first to fourth dynamic nodes d_0 to d_3, respectively. for example, the metal patterns 611a, 612a, 621a, and 622a may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the metal patterns 613a, 614a, 623a, and 624a may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1. the internal power supply voltage ivc may be applied to the metal patterns 631a and 634a, and the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal pattern 632a. the first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 633a, and the metal pattern 633a may be connected to, for example, a column driver. fig. 27 is a layout 60b of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 27 , first to fourth page buffer units 610b to 640b may be provided in the second horizontal direction hd2, and for example, each of the first to fourth page buffer units 610b to 640b may correspond to the page buffer unit pbu" of fig. 23 or the page buffer unit pbu"_1 of fig. 24 . the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 611b, 612b, 613b, 614b, 621b, 622b, 623b, 624b, 631b, 632b, 633b, 634b and 635b and may be provided above the first to fourth page buffer units 610b to 640b in the vertical direction vd the metal patterns 611b to 614b may correspond to the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively, and the metal patterns 621b to 624b may correspond to the first to fourth dynamic nodes d_0 to d_3, respectively. for example, the metal patterns 611b and 621b may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, the metal patterns 612b and 622b may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, the metal patterns 613b and 623b may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the metal patterns 614b and 624b may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1. the internal power supply voltage ivc may be applied to the metal patterns 631b and 634b, and the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal patterns 632b and 635b. the first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 633b, and the metal pattern 633b may be connected to, for example, a column driver. fig. 28 is a layout 60c of the third metal layer lm2 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 28 , first to fourth page buffer units 610c to 640c may be provided in the second horizontal direction hd2, and for example, each of the first to fourth page buffer units 610c to 640c may correspond to the page buffer unit pbu" of fig. 23 or the page buffer unit pbu"_1 of fig. 24 . the third metal layer lm2 may include metal patterns 611a to 614a, 621c to 624c, and 631a to 634a and may be provided above the first to fourth page buffer units 610c to 640c in the vertical direction vd the metal patterns 611a to 614a may correspond to the first to fourth sensing nodes so0 to so3, respectively, and the metal patterns 621c to 624c may correspond to the first to fourth dynamic nodes d_0 to d_3, respectively. for example, the metal patterns 611a, 612a, 621c, and 622c may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1, and the metal patterns 613a, 614a, 623c, and 624c may be provided in a line in the first horizontal direction hd1. the internal power supply voltage ivc may be applied to the metal patterns 631a and 634a, and the ground voltage gnd may be applied to the metal pattern 632a. the first page buffer driver signal pbdrv may be applied to the metal pattern 633a, and the metal pattern 633a may be connected to, for example, a column driver. fig. 29 is a cross-sectional view of a memory device 900 according to an example embodiment of the inventive concept. referring to fig. 29 , the memory device 900 may have a chip-to-chip (c2c) structure. the c2c structure may refer to a structure formed by manufacturing an upper chip including a cell region cell on a first wafer, manufacturing a lower chip including a peripheral circuit region peri on a second wafer, different from the first wafer, and then connecting the upper chip and the lower chip in a bonding manner. for example, the bonding manner may include a method of electrically connecting a bonding metal formed on an uppermost metal layer of the upper chip and a bonding metal formed on an uppermost metal layer of the lower chip. for example, when the bonding metals are formed of copper (cu), the bonding manner may be a cu-cu bonding manner, and the bonding metals may also be formed of aluminum or tungsten. the embodiments illustrated with reference to figs. 1 to 27 may be implemented in the memory device 900, and for example, a page buffer circuit described above with reference to figs. 1 to 27 may be provided in the peripheral circuit region peri. each of the peripheral circuit region peri and the cell region cell of the memory device 900 may include an external pad bonding area pa, a word line bonding area wlba, and a bit line bonding area blba. the peripheral circuit region peri may include a first substrate 710, an interlayer insulating layer 715, a plurality of circuit elements 720a, 720b, and 720c formed on the first substrate 710, first metal layers 730a, 730b, and 730c respectively connected to the plurality of circuit elements 720a, 720b, and 720c, and second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c respectively formed on the first metal layers 730a, 730b, and 730c. in an example embodiment, the first metal layers 730a, 730b, and 730c may be formed of tungsten having a relatively high resistance, and the second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c may be formed of copper having a relatively low resistance. according to an example embodiment, although only the first metal layers 730a, 730b, and 730c and the second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c are shown and described, the example embodiment is not limited thereto, and one or more metal layers may be further formed on the second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c. at least a portion of the one or more metal layers formed on the second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c may be formed of aluminum or the like having a lower resistance than that of cu forming the second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c. the interlayer insulating layer 715 may be provided on the first substrate 710 and cover the plurality of circuit elements 720a, 720b, and 720c, the first metal layers 730a, 730b, and 730c, and the second metal layers 740a, 740b, and 740c and may include an insulating material such as silicon oxide or silicon nitride. lower bonding metals 771b and 772b may be formed on the second metal layer 740b in the word line bonding area wlba. in the word line bonding area wlba, the lower bonding metals 771b and 772b in the peripheral circuit region peri may be electrically connected to upper bonding metals 871b and 872b in a bonding manner, and the lower bonding metals 771b and 772b and the upper bonding metals 871b and 872b may be formed of aluminum, copper, tungsten, or the like. the upper bonding metals 871b and 872b in the cell region cell may be referred as first metal pads, and the lower bonding metals 771b and 772b in the peripheral circuit region peri may be referred as second metal pads. the cell region cell may include at least one memory block. the cell region cell may include a second substrate 810 and a common source line 820. on the second substrate 810, a plurality of word lines 831 to 838 (i.e., 830) may be stacked in a direction (the vertical direction vd), perpendicular to an upper surface of the second substrate 810. at least one string select line and at least one ground select line may be arranged on and below the plurality of word lines 830, respectively, and the plurality of word lines 830 may be provided between the at least one string select line and the at least one ground select line. in the bit line bonding area blba, a channel structure ch may extend in a direction, perpendicular to the upper surface of the second substrate 810, and pass through the plurality of word lines 830, the at least one string select line, and the at least one ground select line. the channel structure ch may include a data storage layer, a channel layer, a buried insulating layer, and the like, and the channel layer may be electrically connected to a first metal layer 850c and a second metal layer 860c. for example, the first metal layer 850c may be a bit line contact, and the second metal layer 860c may be a bit line. in an example embodiment, the bit line 860c may extend in a first direction (a y-axis direction), parallel to the upper surface of the second substrate 810. in an example embodiment illustrated in fig. 29 , an area in which the channel structure ch, the bit line 860c, and the like are provided may be defined as the bit line bonding area blba. in the bit line bonding area blba, the bit line 860c may be electrically connected to the circuit elements 720c providing a page buffer 893 in the peripheral circuit region peri. for example, the bit line 860c may be connected to upper bonding metals 871c and 872c in the cell region cell, and the upper bonding metals 871c and 872c may be connected to lower bonding metals 771c and 772c connected to the circuit elements 720c of the page buffer 893. in the word line bonding area wlba, the plurality of word lines 830 may extend in the second horizontal direction hd2, parallel to the upper surface of the second substrate 810, and may be connected to a plurality of cell contact plugs 841 to 847 (i.e., 840). the plurality of word lines 830 and the plurality of cell contact plugs 840 may be connected to each other in pads provided by at least a portion of the plurality of word lines 830 extending in different lengths in the second horizontal direction hd2. a first metal layer 850b and a second metal layer 860b may be connected to an upper portion of the plurality of cell contact plugs 840 connected to the plurality of word lines 830, sequentially. the plurality of cell contact plugs 840 may be connected to the peripheral circuit region peri through the upper bonding metals 871b and 872b of the cell region cell and the lower bonding metals 771b and 772b of the peripheral circuit region peri in the word line bonding area wlba. the plurality of cell contact plugs 840 may be electrically connected to the circuit elements 720b providing a row decoder 894 in the peripheral circuit region peri. in an example embodiment, operating voltages of the circuit elements 720b providing the row decoder 894 may be different from operating voltages of the circuit elements 720c providing the page buffer 893. for example, the operating voltages of the circuit elements 720c providing the page buffer 893 may be greater than the operating voltages of the circuit elements 720b providing the row decoder 894. a common source line contact plug 880 may be provided in the external pad bonding area pa. the common source line contact plug 880 may be formed of a conductive material such as a metal, a metal compound, or polysilicon, and may be electrically connected to the common source line 820. a first metal layer 850a and a second metal layer 860a may be stacked on an upper portion of the common source line contact plug 880, sequentially. for example, an area in which the common source line contact plug 880, the first metal layer 850a, and the second metal layer 860a are provided may be defined as the external pad bonding area pa. input-output pads 705 and 805 may be provided in the external pad bonding area pa. referring to fig. 29 , a lower insulating film 701 covering a lower surface of the first substrate 710 may be formed below the first substrate 710, and a first input-output pad 705 may be formed on the lower insulating film 701. the first input-output pad 705 may be connected to at least one of the plurality of circuit elements 720a, 720b, and 720c provided in the peripheral circuit region peri through a first input-output contact plug 703, and may be separated from the first substrate 710 by the lower insulating film 701. in addition, a side insulating film may be provided between the first input-output contact plug 703 and the first substrate 710 to electrically separate the first input-output contact plug 703 and the first substrate 710. referring to fig. 29 , an upper insulating film 801 covering the upper surface of the second substrate 810 may be formed on the second substrate 810, and a second input-output pad 805 may be provided on the upper insulating film 801. the second input-output pad 805 may be connected to at least one of the plurality of circuit elements 720a, 720b, and 720c provided in the peripheral circuit region peri through a second input-output contact plug 803. according to embodiments, the second substrate 810 and the common source line 820 may not be provided in an area in which the second input-output contact plug 803 is provided. also, the second input-output pad 805 may not overlap the word lines 830 in the vertical direction vd. referring to fig. 29 , the second input-output contact plug 803 may be separated from the second substrate 810 in a direction, parallel to the upper surface of the second substrate 810, and may pass through the interlayer insulating layer 815 of the cell region cell to be connected to the second input-output pad 805. according to embodiments, the first input-output pad 705 and the second input-output pad 805 may be selectively formed. for example, the memory device 900 may include only the first input-output pad 705 provided on the first substrate 710 or the second input-output pad 805 provided on the second substrate 810. alternatively, the memory device 900 may include both the first input-output pad 705 and the second input-output pad 805. a metal pattern in an uppermost metal layer may be provided as a dummy pattern or the uppermost metal layer may be absent, in each of the external pad bonding area pa and the bit line bonding area blba, respectively included in the cell region cell and the peripheral circuit region peri. in the external pad bonding area pa, the memory device 900 may include a lower metal pattern 773a, corresponding to an upper metal pattern 872a formed in an uppermost metal layer of the cell region cell, and having the same shape as the upper metal pattern 872a of the cell region cell, in an uppermost metal layer of the peripheral circuit region peri. in the peripheral circuit region peri, the lower metal pattern 773a formed in the uppermost metal layer of the peripheral circuit region peri may not be connected to a contact. similarly, in the external pad bonding area pa, an upper metal pattern, corresponding to the lower metal pattern formed in an uppermost metal layer of the peripheral circuit region peri, and having the same shape as a lower metal pattern of the peripheral circuit region peri, may be formed in an uppermost metal layer of the cell region cell. the lower bonding metals 771b and 772b may be formed on the second metal layer 740b in the word line bonding area wlba. in the word line bonding area wlba, the lower bonding metals 771b and 772b of the peripheral circuit region peri may be electrically connected to the upper bonding metals 871b and 872b of the cell region cell by a cu-cu bonding manner. further, in the bit line bonding area blba, an upper metal pattern 892, corresponding to a lower metal pattern 752 formed in the uppermost metal layer of the peripheral circuit region peri, and having the same shape as the lower metal pattern 752of the peripheral circuit region peri, may be formed in an uppermost metal layer of the cell region cell. a contact may not be formed on the upper metal pattern 892 formed in the uppermost metal layer of the cell region cell. fig. 30 is a block diagram of an example of a solid state drive (ssd) system 1000 to which a memory device according to some example embodiments of the inventive concept is applied. referring to fig. 30 , the ssd system 1000 may include a host 1100 and an ssd 1200. the ssd 1200 transmits and receives signals to and from the host 1100 through a signal connector and receives power through a power connector. the ssd 1200 may include an ssd controller 1210, an auxiliary power supply 1220, and memory devices 1230, 1240, and 1250. the memory devices 1230, 1240, and 1250 may be vertically stacked nand flash memory devices and communicate with the ssd controller through channels ch1, ch2 ... chn. herein, the ssd 1200 may be implemented using the example embodiments described above with reference to figs. 1 to 29 . while the inventive concept has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the following claims.
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158-596-685-848-91X
|
DE
|
[
"US",
"EP",
"DE"
] |
E05B3/00,E05B65/10,E05B77/54,E05B65/12,E05B65/20
| 2008-06-13T00:00:00 |
2008
|
[
"E05"
] |
outside door grip, in particular for vehicles
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the invention relates to an outside door grip, in particular for vehicles. the outside door grip exhibits a manually actuated handle, which engages a lock disposed in the door upon actuation. in addition, a pivotable blocking member serving as a mass blockage is furnished, which blocking member is disposed generally in its ineffective disengagement position, wherein the handle remains actuatable, which blocking member moves into an effective blocking position based on the inertia of its mass in case of a crash and thereby blocks the handle. furthermore a damping device is furnished which takes care that the blocking member remains at least so long in its blocking position in case of a crash, until oscillations caused by the crash and acting on the outside door grip and/or the handle, have decayed so far that an effective actuation of the handle by the oscillations is not any longer possible.
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1. an outside door grip for vehicles, having a manually actuated handle, which handle upon actuation operates a lock disposed in the door, and having a pivotable blocking member serving as a mass blockage, wherein the blocking member is in fact disposed generally in its ineffective disengagement position and wherein the blocking member renders the handle actuatable, wherein the blocking member passes in case of a crash into an effective blocking position and therewith blocks the handle, characterized in that a snap-in locking device is furnished, which takes care that the blocking member remains at least for such time in its blocking position in case of a crash until the oscillations caused by the crash and acting on the outside door grip and/or the handle have decayed so far that an actuation of the handle cannot any longer be performed by the oscillations, wherein the snap-in locking device locks the blocking member in its blocking position, and is released from the blocking position by a actuation of a release member operatively connected to the snap-in locking device. 2. the outside door grip according to claim 1 wherein a detent element is furnished at the blocking member, wherein the detent element exhibits locking means, wherein this locking means can be brought in locking connection with counter locking means for generating the snap-in locking device. 3. the outside door grip according to claim 2 , wherein the detent element is formed as a detent spring. 4. the outside door grip according to claim 2 , wherein the counter locking means is formed at a support. 5. the outside door grip according to claim 2 , wherein the detent element can be released through a release member from the locking position and wherein the detent element can be transferred into its release position. 6. the outside door grip according to claim 5 wherein the release member releases the locking position through the oscillations caused by the crash of the door or, respectively, of the outside door grip. 7. the outside door grip according to claim 5 , wherein a device component, preferably the release member is brought into a working connection with an opposing member at the blocking member during release of the locking position and wherein the blocking member is held for some time in a release position even though the detent element is already disposed in its release position. 8. the outside door grip according to claim 5 , wherein the release member releases the locking position by way of a manual actuation of the handle. 9. the outside door grip according to claim 5 , wherein the release member is disposed immediately at the handle. 10. the outside door grip according to claim 5 , wherein the release member is disposed at an element, in particular at the rocker, coupled to the handle, which element moves together with an actuation of the handle. 11. the outside door grip according to claim 1 , wherein the blocking member is transferred through a blocking spring from its blocking position into its disengagement position. 12. an outside door grip for a door of a vehicle comprising a handle for a door for opening and closing of the door; a swivel bearing axis attached to the door; a blocking member swiveling on the swivel bearing axis, said blocking member having sufficient mass to be actuated to swivel around the swivel bearing axis by a crash of the vehicle and wherein forces of inertia are generated in the blocking member during a crash of the vehicle thereby causing the blocking member to swivel around the swivel beating axis from a disengaged position to a blocking position, and wherein an actuation of the handle is blocked when the blocking member is disposed in the blocking position; a detent spring having a release position and a locking position and attached to the blocking member, wherein upon a crash of the vehicle the detent spring is moved from the release position of the detent spring to the locking position of the detent spring; counter locking means engaging with the detent spring in the locking position; and a release member for engaging the detent spring to release the detent spring from the locking position into the release position. 13. the outside door grip according to claim 12 further comprising: an opposing member formed at the blocking member and engaged by the release member, wherein the blocking member is movable from the blocking position into a release position with the opposing member engaged by the release member, and wherein the blocking member is swivelable from the release position of the blocking member into the disengaged position of the blocking member; the detent spring comprising a snap-in locking device which locks the blocking member in the blocking position of the blocking member. 14. the outside door grip according to claim 12 , wherein the detent element can be released through the release member from the locking position and wherein the detent element can be transferred into its release position. 15. a method for safeguarding an outside door grip on a vehicle comprising disposing a handle on a door allowing for opening of the door; providing a swivel bearing axis on the door; disposing a blocking member on the swivel bearing axis, said blocking member having sufficient mass to be actuated by a crash; attaching a detent spring having a release position and a locking position to the blocking member; subjecting the door to a crash of the vehicle; generating forces of inertia in the blocking member; moving the blocking member around the swivel axis from a disengaged position to a blocking position; moving the detent spring from the release position to the locking position; engaging counter locking means with the detent spring in the locking position; blocking an actuation of the handle with the blocking position of the blocking member; engaging the detent spring with a release member; moving the detent spring from the locking position into the release position, releasing the blocking member from the blocking position.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the invention relates to an outside door grip with a manually actuatable handle, in particular for vehicles, wherein the handle operates upon actuation on a lock disposed in the door with a pivotable blocking member serving as a mass blockage, wherein the blocking member in fact normally is disposed in its ineffective disengagement position and therewith renders the handle actuatable, which however based on the inertia of its mass passes into an effective blocking position in case of a crash and therewith the blocking member blocks the handle. 2. brief description of the background of the invention including prior art such devices are used in particular in connection with motor vehicles. in case of a crash, in particular in case of an accident with a strong side impact, it has to be prevented that through the forces being released during the crash the handles of the vehicle doors are swiveled toward the outside and the doors thus open unintentionally. for example persons or objects present in the inner space can thereby be thrown out of the vehicle. in order to avoid this unintentional opening, according to the state-of-the-art, pivoted blocking members are proposed, which are deflected by the inertia of their mass and thereby avoid an effective actuation of the handle and thereby an opening of the vehicle doors. the european patent document ep 1 050 640 a 2 describes also a door grip for vehicles with a pendulum like blocking member. this is constructed such that it becomes deflected in case of a crash before the handle can activate the door in question. if then the handle is also deflected by the crash, thereupon the blocking member forms a connection between the support and the handle such that the door cannot be inadvertently opened. the german printed patent document de 199 29 022 a 1 also describes an outside door grip for vehicles with a blocking member, which based on the inertia of its mass is deflected into a support position in case of a crash and thereby blocks the grip and prevents an inadvertent opening of the door. the two above recited and all further known up to now solutions have the common feature that the blocking member as well as the device components cooperating with the blocking member prevent an opening of the door only in the first moment of the crash. all these solutions do not consider that all construction components, that is also the handle and the blocking member are placed in an oscillation through the crash. thus it is then possible that in fact at the first moment of the crash, the motion of the handle is blocked by the blocking member, then however based on the different frequency of the oscillations caused by the crash in the individual device components at some time the blocking member is brought out of its blocking position, while the handle is deflected such that the lock is actuated and then nevertheless the door opens unintentionally. furthermore it has to be possible however to pass from the outside into the inner space by opening of the vehicle doors after the occurrence of a crash in order to release for example persons disposed in the interior space from the vehicle subjected to an accident. summary of the invention 1. purposes of the invention it is therefore an object of the present invention to furnish an outside door grip, in particular for vehicles, with a manually actuating handle, which handle upon actuation operates a lock disposed in the door and with a swivelable blocking member serving as a mass blockage, which blocking member normally is disposed in its ineffective disengagement position and which thereby renders the handle actuable, which blocking member however based on the inertia of its mass passes in case of a crash into an effective blocking position and thereby blocks the handle. the outside door handle avoids an unintentional opening of the door despite the oscillations of the blocking member and of the handle caused by the crash, which however at the same time allows an opening of the vehicle door from the outside after the occurrence of an accident. 2. brief description of the invention this object is obtained by furnishing means which takes care that in case of a crash the blocking member remains at least so long in its blocking position until the oscillations caused by the crash and acting on the outside door grip and/or the handle have decayed so far that an actuation of the handle cannot any longer be performed based on the decayed oscillations. the outside door handle exhibits means which take care that in the case of a crash the blocking member is held in its blocking position at least so long until the vibrations caused by the crash, which act on the outside door grip, the handle and/or further device components, have decayed so far that and activation of the handle and therewith an unintentional opening of the door cannot any longer be performed based on the decayed vibrations. according to a preferred embodiment this is realized by way of a snap-in locking device, which locks the blocking member in its blocking position. it is particularly advantageous if this is a releasable locking, which in principle also could occur several times such that the outside door grip does not have to be exchanged after an accident or, respectively, a case of a crash. another possibility to maintain the blocking member in its blocking position results by employing a magnet or, respectively, other device components made out of a magnetic or magnetizable material. the blocking member can also be held in its blocking position based on the there prevailing magnetic forces. here it is also not necessary that the blocking member itself consists completely out of magnetic or, respectively, magnetizable material. it would also be conceivable that the blocking member would for example only be coated with the magnetic or, respectively, magnetized material or that a magnetic element would be disposed at the blocking member or in its vicinity. if for example one employs now an electromagnet in order to hold the blocking member in its blocking position, then one can turn off the electromagnet after the ending of a predetermined time, thereby magnetic forces release the blocking member and the blocking member can swivel back into its disengagement position. in this case the door can again be opened over the handle. of course, the blocking member itself does not have to consist out of magnetic or magnetizable material, but it is also possible to furnish other device components, which hold the blocking member with magnetic forces in the blocking position. a permanent magnet can also be furnished instead of the electromagnet, wherein the electromagnet again releases the blocking member for example by way of a larger distance from the blocking member. a third preferred embodiment results by employing a damping device. the damping device here serves as a means which prevents that the blocking member too early again moves into its disengagement position based on the oscillations caused by the crash, that the oscillations of the handle enable an unintentional opening of the door. the damping device is preferably disposed at the bearing axis of the blocking member. the deflection of the blocking member from the disengagement position into the blocking position is not damped by the damping device, but is admitted without restriction. if the blocking member now tries however to pass back from its blocking position into the disengagement position, for example by way of the oscillations acting onto the blocking member, then the damping device damps this motion and thus delays the point in time, at which the blocking member is in fact brought out of its blocking position. based on the time delay caused by way of the damping device, the oscillations caused by the crash have decayed so far, that an effective actuation of the handle through these decayed oscillations is not any longer possible, even if the blocking member is disposed in the disengagement position and therefore the door cannot open any longer unintentionally. further examples, embodiments and details are shown in the following description. brief description of the drawing there is shown in: fig. 1 a perspective view of a blocking member according to the invention with the locking element in a first embodiment, fig. 2 the blocking member of fig. 1 according to the present invention in its blocking position, fig. 3 a sectional view of the blocking member according to fig. 2 and according to the present invention, fig. 4 a perspective view of the assembled blocking member in blocking position, fig. 5 a sectional view of the incorporated blocking member in blocking position, fig. 6 a sectional view of the blocking member and a part of the support in disengagement position, fig. 7 the elements according to fig. 6 in blocking position, fig. 8 the elements according to fig. 6 and fig. 7 and the release member still in blocking position, fig. 9 the elements according to fig. 8 in release position, fig. 10 an interaction between the handle and the blocking member, fig. 11 the non-blocking position of the blocking member after an accident. description of invention and preferred embodiment fig. 1 shows the blocking member 10 , wherein the detent element 21 , which is formed as a detent spring, furnishes means 20 . the locking means 22 is arranged at the detent spring 21 . the blocking member 10 can be supported at the outside door grip along the longitudinal axis 12 of the blocking member 10 . here the blocking member 10 can be applied to the outside door grip itself, at the grip support 40 , at the rocker 51 , or also at the handle. the blocking position 10 . 2 of the blocking member 10 can be recognized from fig. 2 and fig. 3 in more detail. the detent spring 21 exhibits again the locking means 22 , wherein the locking means 22 together with the counter locking means 30 the snap-in locking device 23 . the counter locking means 30 is furnished as a part of the support 40 . it is of course also possible to place the counter locking means 30 at a different device component. the locking position 21 . 1 of the detent spring 21 can also be recognized. in addition, one can already recognize the opposing member 11 , which is considered in more detail below. a section of the outside door grip with support 40 and blocking member 10 are shown in fig. 4 . the blocking member 10 is formed as in fig. 1 to fig. 3 and means 20 is furnished as a detent spring 21 . this detent spring 21 is also here in the locking position 21 . 1 , whereby the blocking member 10 is disposed in its blocking position 10 . 2 . the blocking member 10 is supported at the support 40 of the outside door grip with its bearing axis 12 . the support 40 also exhibits the counter locking means 30 for the locking means 22 of the detent spring 21 . in order to avoid an undesirable moving of the blocking member 10 from its disengagement position 10 . 1 into its blocking position 10 . 2 during the standard operation of the vehicle and in order to furthermore bring the blocking member 10 from its blocking position 10 . 2 into its disengagement position 10 . 1 after the detent spring 21 was transferred from its locking position 21 . 1 to its release position 21 . 2 , there is furnished the blocking spring 13 which is disposed also along the bearing axis 12 of the blocking member 10 . the blocking spring 13 is formed here as a leg spring and, as mentioned, takes care that the blocking member 10 in fact only in case of a crash is brought into its blocking position 10 . 2 and wherein the blocking member 10 is on the other hand after the release of the snap-in locking device 23 also again is transferred into its disengagement position 10 . 1 , such that the door can be opened also by an actuation of the handle. of course the blocking spring 13 can also be formed of a different configuration. fig. 5 shows the device components of fig. 4 in a sectional view. the blocking member 10 is disposed in its blocking position 10 . 2 , since the detent element 21 is positioned in its locking position 21 . 1 . in addition, a still further element is presented, which is here the so-called rocker 51 . this rocker 51 is an element which moves together with the actuation of the handle and which serves for the stability of the outside door grip. a release member 50 is disposed at the rocker 51 , which release member 50 brings out the detent spring 21 from its locking position 21 . 1 upon actuation of the handle and thus also upon actuation of the rocker 51 . this will be presented in more detail in the following. the vehicle door can be opened from the outside over the handle of the outside door grip after a crash occurred based on the furnishing of the release member 50 , even if at this point in time the detent spring 21 is still disposed in its locking position 21 . 1 and the blocking member 10 is still disposed in its blocking position 10 . 2 . since an actuation of the handle also actuates the rocker 51 , the release member 50 comes into engagement position with the detent spring 21 and the release member 50 brings the detent spring 21 thus into the release position 21 . 2 . if the handle is now, depending on the concrete embodiment, either further actuated or a second time actuated, then the door can be completely regularly opened from the outside such that the inner spaces accessible, in order to be able to liberate for example injured persons or children out of the vehicle. of course, it is also possible to furnish the release member 50 immediately at the handle. the figs. 6 to 9 now show the various courses of motion and positions through which the invention device and in particular the blocking member 10 and the detent spring 21 can pass through. the so-called standard operation is illustrated in fig. 6 . the blocking member 10 is in the disengagement position 10 . 1 . the detent spring 21 is located in the release position 21 . 2 . a snap-in locking device 23 does not exist at this point in time. if now a crash occurs out of the direction 60 , then the blocking member 10 moves in its direction of motion 14 around the bearing axis 12 . this motion is caused by the inertia of the mass of the blocking member 10 . the situation shown in fig. 7 is present immediately after the crash. the blocking member 10 is supported in its blocking position 10 . 2 and in fact by way of the snap-in locking device 23 . this snap-in locking device 23 comes about, since the detent spring 21 is disposed in its locking position 21 . 1 . the locking means 22 locks with the counter locking means 30 in this position. the counter locking means 30 is formed here by the support 40 . an effective actuation of the handle is not possible with the presented positions. an unintentional opening of the door is thus prevented and the persons or objects present in the vehicle cannot be thrown out of the vehicle. the release member 50 is drawn in addition in fig. 8 and fig. 9 . this release member 50 moves in the direction of the release motion 52 . according to fig. 8 the blocking member 10 is still disposed in its blocking position 10 . 2 and the detent spring 21 is still disposed in its locking position 21 . 1 . here the release member 50 is disposed at the rocker 51 . as shown in fig. 9 , the release member 50 has moved further along the release direction 52 and therewith moved the detent element 21 from its locking position 21 . 1 into its release position 21 . 2 . however the release member 50 is in operating connection with the opposing member 11 . thus an immediate back pivoting of the blocking member 10 into the disengagement position 10 . 1 is avoided. it is now also possible with the recited device that the release member 50 already releases the detent element 21 from its locking position 21 . 1 . the blocking member 10 however still not again can be brought back into its disengagement position 10 . 1 by cooperating of a device component, in particular the release member 50 , with an opposing member 11 . until this device component is brought again into disengagement with the opposing member 11 and the blocking member 10 can be pivoted from its release position 10 . 3 into its disengagement position 10 . 1 , the oscillations caused by the crash have decayed too far that an effective actuation of the handle through the decayed oscillations could be performed and therefore also an unintentional opening of the door does not occur. in this case the door can however be opened from the outside after the crash through a completely regular activation of the handle from the outside in order to reach the interior space. summary of features of the invention according to a preferred embodiment the snap-in locking device 23 can be furnished as means 20 , wherein the snap-in locking device 23 locks 21 . 1 the blocking member 10 in its blocking position 10 . 2 , and in particular locks disengageably. a detent element 21 can be furnished at the blocking member 10 , wherein the detent element 21 exhibits a locking means 22 , wherein this locking means 22 can be brought in work connection with the counter locking means 30 in order to generate the snap-in locking device 23 . the detent element can be formed as the detent spring 21 . the counter locking means 30 can be formed at the support 40 . the detent element 21 can be released out of the locking position 21 . 1 by a release member 50 and can be this way transferred into its release position 21 . 2 . the release member 50 can release 52 the detent element 21 out of the locking position 21 . 1 and the detent element 21 can be transferred into its release position 21 . 2 . a device component, preferably the release member 50 , can be brought into a working connection with an opposing member 11 at the blocking member 10 during release 52 of the locking position 21 . 1 , and that thereby the blocking member 10 is held for some time in a release position 10 . 3 even though detent element 21 is already disposed in its release position 21 . 2 . the release member 50 releases the locking position based on manual actuation of the handle 52 . the release member 50 can be disposed immediately at the handle. the release member 50 can be disposed at an element coupled to the handle and in particular at the rocker 51 , wherein the rocker 51 moves 52 with the handle upon actuation of the handle. a magnet or, respectively, a device component out of magnetic or magnetizable material can be furnished through which material the blocking member 10 is held in its blocking position 10 . 2 . the magnet, which holds the blocking member 10 in its blocking position 10 . 2 can be an electromagnet. the magnetic forces which hold the blocking member 10 in its blocking position 10 . 2 can be lifted after ending of a predetermined time, in order to transfer the blocking member 10 again into its disengagement position 10 . 1 . a damping device can be furnished as means 20 , wherein the damping device preferably disposed at the bearing axis 12 of the blocking member 10 . the damping device permits in fact undamped deflection 14 of the blocking member 10 from its disengagement position 10 . 1 to its blocking position 10 . 2 , while the damping device damps the transfer of the blocking member 10 from its blocking position 10 . 2 into its disengagement position 10 . 1 . the blocking member 10 can be transferred through a blocking spring 13 from its blocking position 10 . 2 into its disengagement position 10 . 1 . an outside door grip for a door of a vehicle can comprise a handle for a door for opening and closing of the door, a swivel bearing axis 12 attached to the door, a blocking member 10 swiveling on the swivel bearing axis 12 , said blocking member 10 having sufficient mass to be actuated to swivel around the swivel bearing axis by a crash 60 of the vehicle and wherein forces of inertia are generated in the blocking member during a crash 60 of the vehicle thereby causing the blocking member to swivel around the swivel bearing axis 12 from a disengaged position 10 . 1 to a blocking position 10 . 2 and wherein an actuation of the handle is blocked when the blocking member 10 is disposed in the blocking position 10 . 2 , a detent spring 21 having a release position 21 . 2 and a locking position 21 . 1 and attached to the blocking member 10 , wherein upon a crash of the vehicle the detent spring 21 is moved from the release position 21 . 2 of the locking spring 21 to the locking position 21 . 1 of the detent spring 21 , and counter locking means 30 engaging with the detent spring 21 in the locking position 21 . 1 . there can be further furnished a release member 50 for engaging the detent spring 21 , wherein the detent spring 21 is movable from the locking position 21 . 1 into the release position 21 . 2 , an opposing member 11 formed at the blocking member 10 and engaged by the release member 50 , wherein the blocking member 10 is movable from the blocking position 10 . 2 into a release position 10 . 3 of the blocking member 10 with the opposing member 11 engaged by the release member 50 , and wherein the blocking member 10 is swivelable from the release position 10 . 3 of the blocking member 10 into the disengaged position 10 . 1 of the blocking member 10 , and a snap-in locking device 23 which locks 21 the blocking member 10 in the blocking position 10 . 2 of the blocking member 10 . the locking means 22 can be in the form of a rod having a rectangular cross-section. the bar can extend from the blocking member 20 to the opposing member 11 . the locking means 22 can have side compartments. one of the side compartments can engage and guide the counter locking means 30 . there is also provided a method for safeguarding an outside door grip on a vehicle including disposing a handle on a door for gripping and opening of the door, mounting a swivel bearing axis 12 on the door, disposing a blocking member 10 on the swivel bearing axis 12 , said blocking member 10 having sufficient mass to be actuated by a crash 60 , attaching a detent spring 21 having a release position 21 . 2 and a locking position 21 . 1 to the blocking member 10 . the door can be subjected to a crash 60 of the vehicle and generate forces of inertia in the blocking member 10 , thereby moving 14 the blocking member 10 from a disengaged position to a blocking position around the swivel bearing axis 12 , thereby moving the detent spring 21 from the release position 21 . 2 of the detent spring 21 to the locking position 21 . 1 of the detent spring 21 , thereby engaging counter locking means 30 with the detent spring 21 in the locking position 21 . 1 , and thereby blocking an actuation of the handle with the blocking position 10 . 2 of the blocking member 10 . the detent spring 21 can engage with a release member 50 . the detent spring 21 can move from the locking position 21 . 1 into the release position 21 . 2 and the blocking member 10 can move from the blocking position 10 . 2 into a release position 10 . 3 of the blocking member 10 with an opposing member 11 of the blocking member 10 engaged by the release member 50 . the blocking member 10 can swivel from its release position 10 . 3 into its disengaged position 10 . 1 . it can be concluded overall that the devices presented here are only representations of the invention by way of examples. the invention is not limited to the samples. above all, further modifications are possible. list of reference characters 10 blocking member10 . 1 disengagement position of blocking member 1010 . 2 blocking position of blocking member 1010 . 3 release position of blocking member 1011 opposing member12 bearing axis of blocking member 1013 retaining blocking spring14 direction of motion of blocking member 1020 means21 detent element, detent spring21 . 1 locking position of detent spring 2121 . 2 release position of detent spring 2122 locking means23 snap-in locking device30 counter locking means40 support50 release member51 rocker52 direction of the release motion60 direction of the crash
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159-909-531-845-776
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
A43B23/00,A61B5/103
| 1992-11-13T00:00:00 |
1992
|
[
"A43",
"A61"
] |
apparatus for measurement of forces and pressures applied to a garment
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to provide a pair of shoes responsive to the relative forces applied to a wearer's feet, at least one force sensor is provided in each of a left and right shoe. the sensor detects pressures which are then converted from a form provided by the sensor into a digital form which may be processed on by a microprocessor. the processor then executes any one of a number of force analysis programs and outputs, in a preferred form, a force model comprising attack, decay, sustain and release information. each shoe then transmits coded information representing the sensed force profile to a central receiving device which may be located in a watch-like receiver worn on the wearer's wrist. the receiving device has the ability to pick up and discern signals transmitted by each left and right shoe and also from a number of auxiliary transmitters. control of the display is made through the use of selector switches which also appear on the user interface. the display also contains its own cpu which controls the display and maintains a record of parameters entered by the user, such as weight. by incorporating the advantages taught in the instant invention, measurements of speed, distance, jump time, and the wear experienced by a pair of shoes, may all be accurately recorded and displayed for the user.
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1. a garment comprising, in combination: at least one individual force sensor physically connected to said garment for sensing each application of force applied to said sensor and for generating a force signal representative of said each application of force to said sensor; processing means disposed on said garment for processing each said force signal so as to produce a time and intensity profile of said force signal, said profile being characterized in having at least three discrete time segments, and for representing each of said segments of said profile by a value selected from a coded series of reference values, said segments including an attack segment representative of the parameters of the initial application of said force to said garment; a sustain segment representative of the parameters of the continued application of said force to said garment, and a release segment representative of the parameters of the diminution and termination of the force applied to said garment; means for transmitting said selected values of said coded series of reference values; and means for receiving and decoding the transmitted selected values of said coded series of reference values to recover time and intensity information therefrom for analysis of the physical performance of a wearer of said garment. 2. a garment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said garment is a shoe liner. 3. a garment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said garment is a glove. 4. a garment as set forth in claim 3 wherein said glove is a boxing glove. 5. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said segments also include a decay segment representative of the parameters of decay of said initial application of force. 6. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said garment is footwear comprising at least a sole portion, and said force sensor is disposed proximate said sole portion for sensing each application of force applied to said sensor; said processing means being disposed on said footwear for processing each said force signal so as to produce said profile of the time and intensity parameters of said force signal said profile being characterized in having at least an attack segment representative of the parameters of the initial portion of said application of said force to said sole portion; a decay segment representative of the parameters of decay of said initial portion of said application of force to said sole portion; a sustain segment representative of the parameters of the continued application of said force to said sole portion, and a release segment representative of the parameters of the diminution and termination of said application of force to said sole portion. 7. a garment as set forth in claim 6 wherein said garment is footwear comprising at least a pair of shoes each having a sole, and said force sensing means comprises a pair of force sensors respectively disposed proximate said sole of each said shoe for sensing forces applied to said soles. 8. footwear as set forth in claim 6, wherein said force signals applied to said sole portions are accumulated in said processing means over the life of said footwear, and wherein said processing means further comprises means for determining when the total of the accumulated force signals exceeds a predetermined value representative of the useful life of said footwear and for generating a signal indicative that the end of the useful life of said footwear has been reached. 9. a garment as set forth in claim 6 wherein said footwear comprises a shoe liner. 10. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said reference values include the upper and lower operational limits of said force sensing means, upper and lower thresholds between said operational limits of said force sensing means, on and off times of the operation of said force sensing means, and the duration of said force profile. 11. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for receiving and decoding includes: memory means having pre-stored therein data representing a plurality of said force profile segments; and means responsive to said transmitted coded series of reference values for selecting from said data in said memory means said information for said analysis. 12. a garment as set forth in claim 1 including display means for displaying said analysis of the physical performance of a wearer of said garment. 13. a garment as set forth in claim 12 wherein said display means comprises a liquid crystal type display. 14. a garment as set forth in claim 12 wherein said display means comprises a light-emitting diode type display. 15. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said processing means comprises means for adapting the dynamic range of said force sensing means so as adjust the range of said force signals to match the range of said force. 16. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for transmitting comprises wireless transmission apparatus. 17. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said force signals are analog signals and said processing means includes analog-to-digital conversion means for converting said analog signals to digital form. 18. a garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said force sensing means comprises a plurality of sources of said force signals, and including means for coupling unique identification signals to said transmitted coded series of reference values so as to identify said sources and permit said means for decoding to distinguish among several of said sources and to accept or reject selected ones of said reference values based on respective ones of said coupled unique identification signals. 19. a garment as set forth in claim 1, wherein said garment is a shoe.
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background of the invention this invention relates, generally, to the field of apparel which may be used to provide information of a specific nature to a wearer, and more particularly to a running shoe which employs a force sensor in order to enable a microprocessor located within the shoe to receive data from the force sensor and to perform real time force analysis calculations, so as to permit the display of the results of such calculations on a convenient display device. by way of background, in recent years, the field of athletics has benefitted greatly from the increased use of electronics in combination with traditional sporting gear and sportswear. in the field of baseball, for example, the radar gun and high speed video camera have been used to measure a pitcher's speed and record a pitcher's motion in an effort to provide coaches with the information needed to perform analysis necessary to train a pitcher to pitch more efficiently and with fewer injuries. other examples include the use of high technology systems to record the movement of an athlete in, for example, the sports of tennis and golf and to use these records, once again, perform the analysis necessary to improve an athlete's performance while reducing injury. coupled with these technological advances has been a desire by each athlete to know as much about his or her personal performance, in as close to real time, as possible so as to enable these athletes to make adjustments to their individual movements and motions while engaging in their particular sport or activity. it has been determined that one area where feedback to the athlete would be most desirable is the area of specialized sports footwear, such as running shoes or sneakers. in the sport of running, one early attempt to develop a sport shoe which would enable the wearer to get feedback on his or her performance, was the puma rs computer shoe, a running shoe which contained the circuitry for a simple pedometer coupled with a real time clock. this shoe is described in u.s. pat. no. 4,771,394 to cavanagh. as discussed, after an initial shoe training period, runner then uses the shoe by activating the shoe at the beginning of his or her run and then stopping the shoe at the end of the run. after completing the workout, the runner then connects the running shoe to a microcomputer, through a cable, by way of a data port physically molded into the rear of the shoe. then, by using software running on the microcomputer, the information stored in the shoe during the run (such as time and distance) down loaded across the data port and displayed or available for use in other calculations. in this way, the runner can record, on a daily basis, the distance travelled, speed and time elapsed for each training session. one obvious disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the runner has to wait until he or she has completed his or her training session before data can be down loaded from the shoe and properly analyzed. another obvious disadvantage is that the runner must also have access and be near a microcomputer before any data may be analyzed. in addition, since the cavanagh shoe measures only distance travelled in relation to time, the running shoe of the prior art does not provide the runner with any information which is not also available through more traditional (and less expensive) means. finally, the cavanagh shoe is limited to measuring one foot strike (a binary value) at a time. since this sensed footstrike parameter is binary (either on or off) the only dynamic information available for further processing is time. this is because the cavanagh shoe does not measure force. it is noted that the specific use of force sensors moved into specific medical shoes has been noted in an effort to allow technicians to perform the analysis. this work has been performed by the tech-scan company of boston, mass. however, in this case each sensor was hard wired directly to an outboard computer, rendering its application inappropriate to the needs of the present invention. accordingly, it has been determined that the need exists for an improved running shoe which may be used to measure the force applied to the sole of a running shoe, and then transmit force profile information from each of the left and right shoes, without the use of interconnecting wires, to a small display device which may be worn, like a watch, on the athlete's wrist. by carefully measuring, transmitting and displaying such force profile information from each foot, an improved running shoe is provided which, in addition to measuring foot strike and providing associated pedometer functions, may also be used to measure and display the force profile sustained by a wearer's foot for the purposes of training as well as for the purposes of monitoring shoe wear. summary of the invention generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, an improved force analysis shoe is provided which is adapted to be responsive to the force applied to the sole of a wearer's running shoe, and then convert this force related information into a form which may ultimately be transmitted to a display device worn by the user. in practice, at least one force sensor is provided in each left and right shoe. each force sensor is then, in turn, connected to appropriate conversion and processing circuitry to convert the sensed force information into a data stream which may be transmitted to a data receiver. the data stream from each running shoe is uniquely identified so that left and right shoes can be identified and so that interference from nearby shoes, such as might occur during a race, can be minimized. although many configurations are possible under the invention, it is preferable that in operation, force information be transmitted from each shoe to the wearer's display device as a value representing at least a portion of a pre-defined force envelope. analysis of the force envelope first takes place within the shoe, and then data representing the elements of the identified force envelope are transmitted to the users display, where it is compared to information pre-stored in a look-up table, and finally displayed. it is anticipated that some uses for the improved force analysis shoe will be to measure, in a training mode, distance and speed more reliably and accurately than possible in the prior art. in addition, more complex measurements and analysis of the forces applied to a foot during sport will also be possible. the improved force analysis shoe will also be useful in measuring the time that a wearer remains airborne, with both feet in the air, known in the sport of basketball as "hang-time". it is also anticipated that, by permanently storing within the shoe a measure of forces applied to the wearer's shoe over the life of the shoe, the actual compression of the shoe materials, as well as other wear factions, may be calculated thereby providing an indication of when the shock absorbing properties of the shoe may be worn out. accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe. it is another object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe wherein the force absorbed by each shoe is measured and processed separately in each shoe, and wherein data, representing the force envelope measured in each shoe is transmitted separately to a display device worn by the shoe wearer. it is a further object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe which, in combination with a display device, may display the wearer's speed, or distance travelled, or "hang-time" spent with both feet in the air. it is still another object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe wherein said force measurement is recorded for the life of each shoe to provide an indication to the wearer of the physical condition of the shoe and its remaining shock absorbing properties. it is still a further object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe which is light-weight, balanced from left to right foot, and which suffers no performance degradation over a traditional athletic shoe. it is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe in which information is conveyed between the shoe and a data display device, wherein no physical connection is required between the shoe and the data display device. it is yet a further object of the invention to provide an improved force analysis shoe in which additional inputs from other sensors, such as those which may be connected to measure heart rate or body temperature, may also be combined with the information received from each shoe and then used in calculations and/or displayed on the data display device. still other objects and advantages of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, be apparent from the specification. the invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims. brief description of the drawings for a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following descriptions, taken connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: fig. 1 is a cut-away bottom view of a running shoe constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; fig. 2 is a cut-away side view of a running shoe constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; fig. 3 is a top view of a running shoe constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of a preferred embodiment of the invention; and fig. 5 is chart modeling the force envelope which is sensed, transmitted and displayed to the user in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiments referring first to fig. 1, a cut-away bottom view of a running shoe constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. the shoe, generally referred to as 10, is manufactured according to a well-known design using well-known construction techniques. however, unique to the construction of the running shoe fabricated in accordance with the instant invention is the inclusion of a force sensor 14 located proximately to the ball of the wearer's foot. as can be seen more clearly in fig. 2, force sensor 14 is sandwiched between the layers of material which comprise the outer sole 12 of the running shoe 10 or that portion which makes direct contact with the ground, and the inner sole (not shown) which the wearer directly contacts with his or her sock. force sensor 14 is an integral unit, and is designed to generate an output signal relative to the pressure applied to its active surface. one example of a sensor which may be used as force sensor 14 is the model number e050 manufactured by interlink electronics co., carpenteria, calif. as noted above, force sensor 14 is responsible for detecting the pressure exerted against the sole of a wearer's shoe during a physical activity. although only one sensor is shown for each shoe, it is noted that it may also be desirable to detect force location, as well as magnitude, by employing multiple sensors. it has been determined that qualities of force sensor 14 which must be considered during design are its size, sensitivity, shape and placement. it is not expected, or desired, that force sensor 14 carry the entire pressure applied to the base of the shoe. instead, force sensor 14 should be situated such that it may be responsive to a representative amount of force conveyed to force sensor 14 across the sole of the shoe. thus, by controlling size, shape and placement of sensor 14, force information to be sensed and measured may easily be obtained. as may be easily noted, the sensitivity of force sensor 14 will be determined by the above parameters and by the nature of the construction of the force sensor. therefore, since force sensor 14 will provide a continuous output of force, information, it has been determined that the data generated by sensor 14 can best be processed when it is used to generate a force envelope having discrete components which, together, may model various physical events affecting the shoe. therefore, such a model will be described in more detail when the force envelope model of fig. 5 is discussed infra. returning once again to the construction of shoe 10, force sensor 14 is further characterized by defining a pressure sensitive area 14a and an flexible lead tail 14b. as illustrated in fig. 1 and fig. 2, flexible lead tail 14b extends from the base of pressure sensitive area 14a and is located between the layers of material which comprise the construction of the sole of the running shoe. a processor and transmitter module 26 (shown in figs. 2 & 3), which contains the circuiting necessary to process the data received from force sensor 14 and then transmit force envelope data to a data display device, is preferably located near the rear heel area of shoe 10 within housing 24. in practice, processor and transmitter module 26 may be designed around an intel 80 c550 processor, which incorporates a uart, rom, ram and an a/d converter. in operation, flexible lead tail 14b connects the pressure sensitive area 14a of force sensor 14 to processor and transmitter module 26. the sole of shoe 10 also incorporates a transmitting antenna (not shown), which is coupled to processor and for transmitter module and surrounds force sensor 26. as may be well understood, force sensor 14 is a key component of the instant invention, and is responsible for sensing the force, or pressure, which is applied to the sole of the wearer's shoe. this pressure is created by the weight of the wearer and changes in relation to the physical actions or motion of the wearer. as noted above, force sensor 14 is embedded into the sole 12 of shoe 10 in such a manner that it may respond to a range of pressures and forces associated with for example, a wearer standing still, a wearer having his or her foot in mid-air, and a wearer coming down from a high jump. because of this wide range of possible inputs, it is recognized that it is important to locate force sensor 14 within the sole 12 of shoe 10 in such a manner and position that it may be responsive to all those pressures which are desired to be sensed. since force sensor 14 is, itself, quite durable, it may be molded or glued into place using a variety of well-known techniques. finally, as can be seen in fig. 2, processor and transmittal module housing 24 which house processor and transmitter 26 is also disposed proximate to the heel area of shoe 10. if desired, housing 24 may also be provided with an access panel (not shown), which may be used to service and adjust processor/transmitter module 26. referring next to fig. 3, a top view of a running shoe 10 constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and generally indicated as 16. the top 16 of the running shoe 10, like the sole 12, is manufactured according to a well known design. however, in one embodiment, the lacing area of shoe 10 may be modified to support a display module 18 which functions as a user interface to the invention. preferably, display module 18 comprises a display panel 20, and a plurality of switches 22a, 22b and 22c each of which, either alone or in combination, may be used to adjust the display into a preferred operating mode. display module 18 may be secured to the lace area of either the left or right running shoe. in addition, as can be seen in fig. 2, by using a releasable securing mechanism, such as the hook-and-eye fastening material velcro.rtm., display module 18 may be adapted to be removed from the lacing area of shoe 10, and secured, for examples, around the wearer's wrist in the manner of a traditional watch band. as discussed above, it is intended that the force analysis shoe be designed to monitor the pressure profile of the forces applied to a wearer's foot and then to display various desired information to the wearer based upon this force profile. therefore, by using force sensor 14 located in the sole of each left and right shoe, the forces applied to the sole of the left and right shoes may be easily sensed and processed with the resulting data being relayed to display module 18 for further processing and display. referring then to fig. 4, a block diagram illustrating the construction of a preferred embodiment of the instant invention is shown. as noted supra, the system is designed to receive information alternately from a left and right shoe. thus, construction of the left shoe and the right shoe of the invention are matched and applicable components duplicated. however, for the purposes of this description, only the right shoe will be described. starting from the left hand side of fig. 4, and with reference to the construction described above and shown in figs. 1, 2 & 3 above, the sensed input to the invention comes from force sensor 14r which responds to pressure applied to the sole of the user's right foot. this pressure is converted into an electrical signal which is then conducted through flexible lead tail 14b to processor/transmitter module 26 located near the rear heel area of shoe 10. processor/transmitter module 26 comprises an analog to digital converter (a/d) 30r which is used for translating the analog pressure information developed by force sensor 14r into a digital signal which may be more easily manipulated. the output of a/d 30r is then coupled to a processor 32r which, as noted above, is preferably of the type similar to the intel 80c550, which incorporates ram, rom, a uart, and which may also include the a/d function of a/d 30r. processor 32r receives data from sensor 14r and then uses such data to calculate a force profile based on a force envelope model, to be discussed infra. processor 32r then outputs a series of values representative of the current force envelope model, and these values are transmitted by transmitter 34r so that the current force envelope can be recreated and displayed on display 20. this is desirable since the data output by processor 34r is transmitted to receiver 36 via a wireless method, and at the present time, it is easier (though not impossible) to transmit data via a wireless method in serial rather than parallel form. as noted, the output of processor 32r is coupled to a transmitter 34r which transmits force profile data to receiver 36. it is desirable that the format of the data transmitted by right foot transmitter 34r and corresponding left foot transmitter 34l include a unique identifying signal so that receiver 36 is able to distinguish a signal arriving from the right foot from a signal arriving from the left foot. it is also desirable that each shoe and each pair of shoes be uniquely identified so that signals from other shoes in close proximity to receiver 36 will be ignored. such filtering is important when many runners wearing similar shoes are in close proximity to each other, such as may occur during a race. continuing with the description, the output of receiver 36 functions as an input to display processor 38. display processor is also a general purpose microprocessor 39 such as an intel 80c550, and also comprises ram 40, used for storing operating parameters which may be changed by the user, and rom 42, which functions as a look-up table for receiving the parameters of the force envelope model transmitted from microprocessor 39, and then using the parameter to recreate the force envelope. display processor 38 is then connected to a display device 18 which comprises a display unit 20 and a series of input switches designated 22a, 22b and 22c. in general, display unit 20 is of the liquid crystal display (lcd) type. such displays have low power consumption and are easy to see in bright light. in addition, it is easy to create cost effective custom lcd displays for indicating information other than numbers. input switches 22a, 22b and 22c are responsible for setting the operating parameter of display processor 38. although three switches are designated at the present time, modifications to the input panel may be made without deviating from the sum and substance of the instant invention. as can also be seen in fig. 4, although the instant invention is described as taking an input only from a left and right shoe, it is anticipated that the invention may receive input from other sensors. auxiliary transmitter 44 may be connected to a number of different sources, including monitors measuring the wearer's heart rate, body temperature, air temperature, respiratory rate, etc. since receiver 36 will operate generally as a wireless receiver, no physical connection need be made between auxiliary transmitter 44 and receiver 36. it is anticipated that signals from the shoes and other devices may be separated into classes such as class i-left foot, class ii-right foot, class iii-heart monitor. this may be done to ease transmission and so that receiver 36 may more easily and readily process incoming data. in this way, a large number of input devices may be connected to receiver 36 without being subject to the physical limitations normally found in incorporating a large number of input ports on a small device. turning next to fig. 5, a description of the force envelope model upon which the invention is based will now be described. as illustrated in fig. 5, the force envelope model is comprised of several distinct parameters and is effectively defined by the data collected by force sensor 14. the first force parameter is the attack parameter designated as comprising the region "a". attack parameter "a" represents the initial application of force to force sensor 14. attack parameter "a" is generated when the sole of the shoe initially hits the ground. by analyzing the characteristic slope and shape of the attack parameter, information regarding the shock absorption capability of the shoe, and the physical condition of the wearer may be obtained. the second force parameter is the decay parameter designated as comprising the region "d". decay parameter "d" represents the decay of the force applied to force sensor 14 after the initial attack "a." decay parameter "d" is generated as the force applied to the sole of the shoe decreases in fact, or remains constant and the structure of the shoe and the wearer's foot begin to absorb a portion of the initial attack. combined with the attack parameter "a", decay parameter "d" indicates the nature of how hard a wearer has hit his or her foot against a surface and the extent, if any, of rebound. the third force parameter is the sustain parameter designated as comprising the region "s". sustain parameter's is generated as the force applied to the sole of the shoe, and the resulting forces acting within the shoe and foot, stabilize. sustain parameter "s" provides an indication of the steady state force applied to force sensor 14 after the wearer's foot has made contact with the ground, and may be used to gauge the weight and relative force generated by the wearer during movement. finally, the fourth force parameter is the release parameter, designated as comprising the region "r". release parameter "r" is generated as the force applied to the sole of the shoe begins to decrease. release parameter "r" provides an indication of the wearer's foot leaving the ground in preparation for the next step or movement, and may be used to determine speed by comparing multiple releases to stride length and time. while each of these parameters may be evaluated individually, they may also be considered together, yielding force profile characteristics which may be used to identify specific actions or activities. in operation, the data provided by the force sensors to processor/transmitter module 26 is analyzed and a force profile is created. then a series of reference points describing the instant profiles is transmitted by processor/transmitter module 26 to the display module 18. the display processor 38 of the display module is then comparing the received reference points and compares them to force profile reference points pre-stored within its internal rom. such comparison permits the display processor 38 to recreate relevant force profile information and then display the desired results on display 18. in order to further understand such force profile characteristics, we must define reference points to the environment in which the force envelope exists. these reference points are shown in fig. 5 and are described as follows: ubl and lbl define the operational limits of force sensor 14, and serve as an upper baseline and lower baseline; fdr describes the full dynamic range of force sensor 14 which may need to be scaled mechanically and electrically in order to limit the output of the sensor so that it more accurately matches the range of forces expected to be generated by the wearer; upper threshold ut and lower threshold lt provide an indication of excessive force and, in addition, lower threshold lt may also be used to determine when the wearer's foot is located on the ground and not in the air; on and off parameters indicate the time when force is applied to the sensor and when force is removed from the sensor; and the t parameter indicates the duration of the force envelope which is used in determined statistics such as speed, stride type, lapsed time, or jumping time. operation of the invention will now be described with reference to a sample embodiment. in operation, a user will put on a pair of running shoes each containing at least one sensor and the associated electronics defined in the instant invention. no on/off switch is necessary, since through the use of software, an indication of no pressure on either shoe for an extended period of time will indicate that the wearer has taken the shoes off or is in a position where the wearer's feet are both off the ground for an extended period of time, such as reclining. once any sensor detects the application of force, that force will be converted into a digital representation by a to d 30r or 30l. after processing by processor 32r or 32l, a digital data stream representing a coded version of the sensed force profile will be generated. the digital data stream will then be combined with a unique digital shoe signature and transmitted by transmitter 34a or 34l to receiver 36. receiver 36 will then relay the coded force profile information to cpu 38 which will, after performing the desired data manipulations, indicate on display 20 of display device 18 that the system is functioning and operational, and then display the results of the calculations. at this point, the wearer may use the input selector switches 22a, 22b and 22c to set the desired mode of operation and operating parameters. one such possible operating parameter would be the measure of "hang time". hang time is a common vernacular for the time spent in the air with both feet off the ground. such measurement is particularly important in the sport of basketball where successful athletes are capable of running and jumping quite high, remaining suspended off the ground for extend periods of time. by measuring the force sensed in both shoes and noting when both shoes have left the ground, the invention may calculate the difference in time between the last shoe leaving the ground and the first shoe hitting the ground again, thereby displaying this difference in time as "hang time". this hang time information may then be stored and later compared with other information previously stored. in another application of the instant invention, by measuring the cadence that a wearer provides to each shoe, an electronic pedometer may be developed which measures the distanced travelled and speed taken to complete the distance. another important function available with the instant invention, and not available in the prior art, is the development of a "wear monitor". as is well known, the shock absorbing characteristics of materials used in running shoes have a finite effective life. this life span often ends before material of the shoe looks worn out to the wearer. thereafter, potential physical damage or injury may result from running in shoes that no longer provide the proper amount of shock absorption protection. the effective life of the material used in the manufacture of a shoe can be calculated as a function of the amount of force or pressure exerted on it over time. this net accumulated force eventually wears out the effectiveness of the shock absorbing material. since manufacturers often do extensive testing on materials used in the manufacture of their shoes, it is possible to get a rating from the manufacturer which can then be programmed into processor/transmitter module 26. thereafter, as the wearer wears the shoe, information relating to force may be subtracted from the overall life expectancy of the shoe thereby providing an indication to the wearer when the shock absorbing properties of the shoes have expired. although in the instant invention it is described that force sensor 14, a to d converter 30r and 30l, processor 32r and 32l and transmitter 34r and 34l all are located within the shoe and that receiver 36, display processor cpu 38 and display 18 all are located within an external display device, it can be easily understood that, if desired, analysis functions may be performed either within the shoe or the display. while, in the preferred embodiment, values used to define the force envelope are transmitted by transmitter 34r and 34l to receiver 36, reducing the size and complexity of the receiver and associated cpu and display, other configurations are also possible. such a change is simply a design choice which will depend upon the cost, size and weight of components available at the time of manufacture of the shoe. however, the advantage obtained from the instant invention over the prior art is realized particularly by measuring the force applied to each of the wearer's shoes, and transmitting such data transmission from each shoe to a central data display point. it is also anticipated that while wireless transmission of data from each shoe to the central receiver is optimal, in some instances, wired connection from each of the shoes to a central receiver may also be desirable. it is noted that since the invention, and resulting force profile information, is designed to be useful to people, men and women, of many different weights, the weight of the user must be known before the display of force profile information can take place. therefore, the invention anticipates that the weight of the user will be set and then stored in the display processor by use of the data input switches. it is also noted, as briefly described above, that the architecture of the invention permits the receiver and display processor to accept signals not only from the user's shoes, but also from many other different signal sources, such as other "smart" exercise equipment and health monitors. therefore, an important aspect of the invention is that the receiver and display processor are able to distinguish among signals generated by the user's shoes and other external devices, such as force profile signals, may be processed first. on the other hand, by assigning different signal "classes" to each signal generating device, it is possible to identify the source of an incoming signal so that, for example, should the above noted heart monitor be transmitting an indication that the user's heart rate is higher than an acceptable limit, then that signal class may take priority over the data being received from the shoe, and may be processed immediately, in order to alert to the user to a dangerous condition. with respect to the use of the invention in connection with a shoe, the current embodiment shows the invention comprising an integral part of the construction of the shoe itself. however, it is anticipate that the construction of the invention may also be applied to a replacement-type "sock liner", such as the type currently sold by spectrum sports of twinsburg, ohio. in such a case, the processor would compensate for the change in relative force profile information which would result from the force sensor being located closer to the user's foot and further away from the actual sole of the shoe. in addition, it might also be necessary, depending on cost considerations, to move more of the processing of the force profile data from the sock liner to the display processor. however, such modifications are within the scope of the invention and may be accomplished without deviation from the teachings of the invention. finally, while the instant invention is described with relation to a shoe, it is also anticipated that the invention may be utilized without extensive modification, in other sports measuring force applied to other parts of the body. for example, it is anticipated that the installation of force sensors in boxing gloves may be advantageous in allowing a boxer in training to register the force provided by each alternate left and right punch as well as providing a graphic indication the timing, or cadence of each punch thereby providing the boxer with a better feeling for the status of his or her training. it is also anticipated that the instant invention may find value in the sport of golf where a combination of sensors provided in the wearer's shoes as well as the wearer's glove may indicate to the wearer when he or she has shifted his or her weight and how this shift effects their grip on the golf club. thus, an apparatus for the measurement of forces and pressures applied to a garment may be provided which effectively meets all of the above desired goals, overcoming the limitations of the prior art. it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above constructions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense. it will also be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention, herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language might be said to fall there between.
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160-567-072-982-090
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US
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[
"US"
] |
H01R13/719,G06F21/31,G06F21/85,H01R24/64,H01R29/00,H02J7/00,G06F21/60,H01R107/00,H02J7/34,H03H7/01,H03H11/04
| 2017-11-22T00:00:00 |
2017
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[
"H01",
"G06",
"H02",
"H03"
] |
safe charging interface
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an interconnection unit includes a first connector configured to be coupled to an electronic device. there is a second connector configured to be coupled to a power station and to provide a path to the electronic device via the first connector. there is a low pass filter coupled between the first connector and the second connector and configured to allow the electronic device to receive power from the power station while maintaining data security of the electronic device.
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1 . an interconnection unit, comprising: a first connector configured to be coupled to an electronic device; a second connector configured to be coupled to a power station and to provide a path to the electronic device via the first connector; and a low pass filter coupled between the first connector and the second connector and configured to allow the electronic device to receive power from the power station while maintaining data security of the electronic device. 2 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , wherein the first and second connectors each include at least one power pin and at least one data pin. 3 . the interconnection unit of claim 2 , wherein the low pass filter is coupled between a data pin of the first connector and a data pin of the second connector. 4 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , wherein the low pass filter is unidirectional and configured to filter data communication that is above a cutoff frequency of the low pass filter, from the electronic device to the power station. 5 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , wherein the low pass filter is unidirectional and configured to filter data communication that is above a cutoff frequency of the low pass filter, from the power station to the electronic device. 6 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , further comprising a policy unit configured to: transmit a request for a password from the power supply to the electronic device; receive a password from the electronic device in response to the request; and provide the password to the power supply. 7 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , further comprising a policy block, wherein the policy block is configured to, upon determining that a data communication between the electronic device and the power station relates to password access to the power station, deactivating the low pass filter for a duration of the data communication related to the password access to the power station. 8 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , wherein the interconnection unit is configured to support one or more quick charge protocols while data communication between the power station and the electronic device is low pass filtered via the low pass filter. 9 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , further comprising a policy block, wherein the policy block is configured to: upon determining that a data communication between the electronic device and the power station relates to a quick charge protocol, deactivating the low pass filter for a duration of the quick charge protocol communication. 10 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , further comprising a policy block, wherein the policy block is configured to: upon determining that a data communication between the electronic device and the power station relates to a status of the battery, deactivating the low pass filter for a duration of the battery status communication. 11 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , further comprising a circulator circuit configured to change an order of pins between the first connector and the second connector. 12 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , further comprising an enable circuit configured to turn on/off the low pass filter. 13 . the interconnection unit of claim 1 , wherein: the first connector is at least one of: a universal serial bus (usb) type a plug; a usb type b plug; a usb type c plug; and a lightning plug; and the second connector is at least one of: a universal serial bus (usb) type a plug; a usb type b plug; a usb type c plug; and a lightning plug. 14 . an electronic device, comprising: a connector configured to be coupled to a power station; a low pass filter coupled to the connector and configured to allow the electronic device to receive power from the power station while maintaining data security of the electronic device. 15 . the electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the low pass filter is unidirectional and configured to filter data communication that is above a cutoff frequency of the low pass filter, from the electronic device to the power station. 16 . the electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the low pass filter is unidirectional and configured to filter data communication that is above a cutoff frequency of the low pass filter, from the power station to the electronic device. 17 . the electronic device of claim 14 , further comprising a policy unit configured to: receive a request for a password from the power supply; receive a password from a user interface of the electronic device in response to the request; and provide the password to the power supply. 18 . the electronic device of claim 14 , further comprising a policy block, wherein the policy block is configured to, upon determining that a data communication between the electronic device and the power station relates to password access to the power station, deactivating the low pass filter for a duration of the data communication related to the password access to the power station. 19 . the electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the interconnection unit is configured to support one or more quick charge protocols while data communication between the power station and the electronic device is low pass filtered via the low pass filter. 20 . the electronic device of claim 14 , further comprising a policy block, wherein the policy block is configured to: upon determining that a data communication between the electronic device and the power station relates to a quick charge protocol, deactivating the low pass filter for a duration of the quick charge protocol communication.
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background technical field the present disclosure generally relates to charging interfaces, and more particularly, to charging interfaces for smart electronic devices. description of the related art in recent years, portable electronic devices have become ubiquitous. today, electronic devices typically take the form of portable handsets, smart-phones, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (pdas), and smart watches, although they may be implemented in other form factors, including consumer, and business electronic devices, and internet of thing (iot) devices, as well as plug-in vehicles, collectively referred to herein as electronic devices (eds). to assure functionality of these electronic devices, a source of power is provided to either recharge the batteries and/or to continue the use of the electronic devices. a charging interface is typically coupled with a digital data communication interface to provide a multifunctional interface. when a trusted power source is used (e.g., in a home environment) there is typically little risk to compromising any data stored in the electronic device. however, electronic devices are increasingly often plugged in to power outlets and charging devices, collectively referred to herein as power stations. for example, a user may plug in their cell phone into a power station at an airport, train, café, etc., without realizing the potential risk that they are exposing the data on their electronic device to. summary according to one embodiment, an interconnection unit is provided that includes a first connector configured to be coupled to an electronic device. there is a second connector configured to be coupled to a power station and to provide a path to the electronic device via the first connector. there is a low pass filter coupled between the first connector and the second connector and configured to allow the electronic device to receive power from the power station while maintaining data security of the electronic device. according to one embodiment, an electronic device is provided that includes a connector configured to be coupled to a power station. the electronic device includes a low pass filter that is coupled to the connector and is configured to allow the electronic device to receive power from the power station while maintaining data security of the electronic device. the techniques described herein may be implemented in a number of ways. example implementations are provided below with reference to the following figures. brief description of the drawings the drawings are of illustrative embodiments. they do not illustrate all embodiments. other embodiments may be used in addition or instead. details that may be apparent or unnecessary may be omitted to save space or for more effective illustration. some embodiments may be practiced with additional components or steps and/or without all the components or steps that are illustrated. when the same numeral appears in different drawings, it refers to the same or like components or steps. figs. 1a to 1c illustrate different aspects of an interface that provides both power and data communication between an electronic device and a power station. fig. 2 illustrates an example architecture for providing a secure connection between an electronic device and a power station. fig. 3 is a block diagram of an interconnection unit coupled between an electronic device and a power station. fig. 4 illustrates a circulator configured to change an order between a first connector and a second connector. fig. 5 is a block diagram of an interconnection unit having a circulator used between an electronic device and a power station, consistent with an illustrative embodiment. fig. 6 is a block diagram showing various components of an illustrative electronic device at a high level, which includes at least part of the functionality of the interconnection unit of fig. 2 . fig. 7 presents an illustrative process for safely providing power to an electronic device without compromising the data stored therein. detailed description overview in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth by way of examples to provide a thorough understanding of the relevant teachings. however, it should be apparent that the present teachings may be practiced without such details. in other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and/or circuitry have been described at a relatively high-level, without detail, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring aspects of the present teachings. the present disclosure relates to systems and methods of safely charging electronic devices without compromising the data stored therein. today, electronic devices may be frequently connected to a power source. users rarely think about the potential dangers of plugging their devices into an unknown power station. for instance, malware may be installed on an electronic device, such as a cell phone, while the device is plugged into a power station. malware is software designed to disrupt the operation of an electronic device. malware includes viruses, worms, spyware, trojans, adware, botnets, spambots, keyloggers, etc. for example, a trojan is a malicious program hidden within a legitimate application. when activated, a trojan allows criminals to gain unauthorized access to a user's electronic device. a botnet is a collection of malware affected devices, ranging in size from a dozen to tens of thousands that can be coordinated by a central server. a botnet can be used in spam, identity theft, or distributed denial of service (dos) attacks. a spambot is an automated program that harvests personal contact information to send unsolicited email, short message service (sms) or social media messages. a spambot may even decipher passwords and send its messages directly from a user's account. a keylogger captures passwords, usernames, bank account information, and credit card numbers typed into a computing device to later transmit the information back to the malicious party. in some scenarios, electronic devices include passwords, to restrict access to the electronic device as well as safety precautions written into the software or firmware. the passwords and precautions are not guaranteed to prevent malware, since a hacker can often exploit vulnerabilities in poorly designed software or firmware running on the device to bypass its security. once loaded, malware, among other things, might access the electronic device's data which may include personal information such as credit card numbers and bank account numbers, personal contacts, or personal pictures and videos. one solution includes to simply remove the data line of a charging interface. to that end, figs. 1a to 1c illustrate different aspects of an interface 104 that provides both power and data communication between an electronic device and a power station. by way of example only, and not by way of limitation, fig. 1a illustrates a universal serial bus type a (usb). fig. 1b illustrates pins 104 ( 1 ) to 104 ( 4 ) of the interface 104 . for example, pin 104 ( 1 ) may be a positive terminal and pin 104 ( 4 ) may be a negative (or ground) terminal of the voltage supply (e.g., 5v). pins 104 ( 2 ) and 104 ( 3 ) may be data pins. accordingly, by deactivating pins 104 ( 2 ) and 104 ( 3 ) (crossed over) as illustrated in fig. 1c , data communication between an electronic device and a power station can be prevented. however, desirable functionality in a non-predatory situation, such as providing a quick charging interface and legitimate data communication related to charging, such as providing charge status information, communication authorization, etc., is prevented. in this regard, applicants have identified that by filtering the information in data lines (e.g., 104 ( 2 ) and 104 ( 3 )) via low pass filters, data security concerns are substantially reduced. example architecture fig. 2 illustrates an example architecture 200 for providing a secure connection between an electronic device 202 and a power station 208 . for purposes of later discussion, several electronic devices appear in the drawing, to represent some examples of the devices that may be coupled to a power station via an interconnection unit 206 . these electronic devices 204 ( 1 ) to 204 ( 4 ) are provided by way of example only, and not by way of limitation. the interconnection unit 206 has a first connector 230 configured to be coupled to the electronic device 202 . there is a second connector 232 configured to be coupled to a power station 208 and to provide a path to the electronic device 202 via the first connector 230 . the first connector 230 is configured to allow power lines, such as 212 and 214 from the power station 208 , to be coupled to the electronic device 202 for powering and/or charging the same. the first connector 230 is also configured to provide communication to one or more data lines (e.g., 216 and 218 ) of the electronic device 202 . in various embodiments, one or more data lines (e.g., 216 ) may be configured to receive information from the electronic device 202 , other data lines (e.g., 218 ) may be configured to send information to the electronic device 202 , some data lines may be configured to transmit and receive information, or any combination thereof. similarly, the interconnection unit 206 has a second connector 232 that is configured to provide communication to one or more data lines (e.g., 220 and 222 ) of the power station 208 . in various embodiments, one or more data lines (e.g., 222 ) may be configured to receive information from the power station, other data lines (e.g., 220 ) may be configured to send information to the power station 208 , some data lines may be configured to transmit and receive information, or any combination thereof. in some embodiments, the data pins of the first connector and the second connector provide differential signaling communication. in one embodiment, the configuration of the first connector 230 is substantially similar to that of the second connector 232 , in that there are the same number of data and power pins. further, the same i/o functionality between the data pins may be provided. for each data line, the interconnection unit has at least one low pass filter coupled thereto. as used herein, a low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a predetermined cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. it will be understood that the actual frequency response of the filter depends on the filter design. in various embodiments, a first-order filter, a second-order filter, or higher, may be used to provide an appropriate frequency response. the higher the order of the filter used, the sharper the decline at the cutoff frequency. in various embodiments, the low pass filter may be implemented via an rc filter, lc filter, or rlc filter. both active and passive low-pass filters are within the scope of the present principles. accordingly, data that is communicated above a predetermined frequency cannot be exchanged between the electronic device 202 and the power station. in this regard, applicants have identified that malicious activity typically operates at data rates that is above a predetermined threshold. stated differently, communication that is below a predetermined threshold data rate is ineffective to allow serious data loss and/or provide exposure to malware. that is because the introduction of the malware via the power station 208 and/or extraction of sensitive information, may take longer than an expected time that the electronic device is coupled to the power station 208 (e.g., charge cycle), thereby rendering a malicious attack ineffective. in this way, the interconnection unit 206 creates an effective fire wall 210 that protects the electronic device 202 from potential malicious activity from the power station 208 . thus, the interconnection unit 206 allows the electronic device 202 to be coupled to the power station, while maintaining data security of the electronic device 202 . reference now is made to fig. 3 , which is a block diagram of an interconnection unit 306 coupled between an electronic device 302 and a power station 308 . the interconnection unit 306 effectively acts as an interface firewall 306 with respect to the power station 308 , thereby protecting the digital data of the electronic device 302 . the interconnection unit may include various blocks, such as a low pass filter 344 , a data interface 342 , a protocol policy 346 , and low pass filter disabler 348 . the low pass filter block 344 includes one or more filters for each data line. as discussed previously, the block 344 passes signals with a frequency lower than a predetermined cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. thus, high speed communication between the electronic device 302 and the power station 308 are prevented, when one or more filters of the low pass filter block 344 are active. for example, the data interface 342 may have a first connector coupled to the electronic device 302 and a second connector coupled to the power station 308 . the data that is communicated between the electronic device 302 and the power station 308 via the data interface 342 , is controlled by the low pass filter 344 , such that communication that is at a frequency that is above the cut-off frequency of the low pass filter 344 , is prevented. in one embodiment, the interconnection unit 306 supports one or more protocol policies. to that end, the interconnection unit 306 may include a controller (not shown) that is configured to control one or more blocks discussed herein. for example, the protocol policy block 346 of the interconnection unit 306 can receive a request for a password from the power station 308 , and provide the password on a user interface (e.g., display, speaker, etc.,) of the electronic device 302 . upon receiving the password via the electronic device 302 , the interconnection unit 306 can provide the password to the power station 308 (e.g., to initiate the power station 308 to transfer power to the electronic device 302 ). in one embodiment, the protocol policy block 346 of the interconnection unit 306 is operative to support various charging protocols, including quick charge (qc) protocols. today, there are various quick charge protocols that are offered for different electronic devices. a goal of qc technology is to charge a battery of the electronic device as fast as it is chemical components can safely support it. to that end, there are various quick charge protocols, such as qc1.0, qc2.0, qc3.0, oppo voltage open loop multi-step constant-current charging (vooc), etc. for example, in contrast to the qc protocols from qualcomm, where the voltage is increased during fast charging, vooc uses a higher current than normal usb 2.0 charging. by adhering to the appropriate protocol, the electronic device can be charged more quickly, at a lower temperature, and more safely (e.g., preventing damage to the electronic device). for example, by virtue of using a low pass filter (i.e., instead of blocking communication from all data lines), the quick charge protocol can be communicated between the electronic device 302 and the power station 308 . in one embodiment, upon determining that a quick charge protocol is being communicated, the low pass filter for the relevant communication line (or for the entire low pass filter block 344 ) is turned off, thereby allowing high speed communication between the electronic device 302 and the power station 308 for the purpose of negotiating the appropriate quick charge protocol. upon determining that the data communication related to the quick charge protocol is complete, the low pass filter is turned back on to protect the data of the electronic device 302 . similarly, applicants have identified that communication between the electronic device 302 and the power station 308 , which is related to the status of the battery (e.g., level of charge, charge state, temperature, etc.,) can generally be communicated while the low pass filter is on due to the low bandwidth requirements. in one embodiment, upon determining that the status of the battery is being provided by the electronic device 302 or requested by the power station 308 , the protocol policy block 346 of the interconnection unit 306 turns off the low pass filter. in this way, a more detailed communication between the electronic device 302 and the power station 308 , that is limited to the battery status, is made possible. as discussed above, in some scenarios, the interconnection unit 306 can enable and disable one or more low pass filters of the low pass filter block 344 . to that end, in one embodiment, there is a low pass filter disabler block 348 that is configured to turn on/off the filter in a first direction (e.g., towards the electronic device) in a second direction (e.g., towards the power station 308 ), or in both directions. in various embodiments, the directional control of the low pass filter disabler block may be based on a level of security indicated by the electronic device (e.g., during an initial setup or interactively), or preprogrammed into the interconnection unit. accordingly, in various scenarios, the low pass filtration may be turned off, bidirectional, or unidirectional. circulator implementation in one embodiment, the ports of the interconnection unit 306 , sometimes referred to herein as the pins of the first connector and the second connector, go through a circulator. to that end, fig. 4 illustrates a circulator 400 , configured to change the order between the first connector 230 and the second connector 232 of fig. 2 . the circulator 400 is a passive non-reciprocal multi-port device, in which a signal entering any port is transmitted to the next port in rotation (e.g., port 1 ( 501 ) of the first connector 230 , to port 2 ( 502 ) of the second connector 232 ). as used herein, a port is a point where an external signal connects to the electronic device 202 . thus, for the example three-port circulator 400 of fig. 4 , a signal applied to port 1 ( 501 ) comes out of port 2 ( 502 ); a signal applied to port 2 ( 502 ) comes out of port 3 ( 503 ); a signal applied to port 3 ( 503 ) comes out of port 1 ( 501 ). for example, in some communication lines, the same cable is shared to send and receive data. if it is desired to control send and receive independently, the two signals are decomposed to different lines. by virtue of the circulator 400 , bidirectional signals can be merged and decomposed. accordingly, sending and receiving can be independently controlled. fig. 5 is a block diagram 500 of an interconnection unit 506 having a circulator 510 used between an electronic device 502 and a power station 508 , consistent with an illustrative embodiment. the circulator 510 is coupled between a first connector 530 coupled to the power station 508 and a second connector 532 coupled to the electronic device 502 . for example, if the electronic device 502 would like to send a signal to the power station 508 , the path includes the second low pass filter 514 , port 3 , of the circulator 510 , and ultimately the power station 508 . accordingly, the electronic device 502 cannot transmit high speed signals via port 3 if the second low pass filter 514 is enabled. similarly, if the power station 508 would like to send a signal to the electronic device 502 , the path includes ports 1 and 2 of the circulator 510 , the first low pass filter 512 , and ultimately the electronic device 502 . if the first low pass filter 512 is enabled, then the electronic device 502 cannot receive high speed signals via port 2 of the circulator 510 . example electronic device as discussed in the context of fig. 1 , the interconnection unit may be coupled to, or be part of, different types of electronic devices. to that end, fig. 6 illustrates a block diagram showing various components of an illustrative electronic device 600 at a high level, which includes at least part of the functionality of the interconnection unit discussed in the context of fig. 2 . for discussion purposes, the illustration shows the electronic device 600 in the form of a wireless computing device. the electronic device 600 may include one or more antennae 602 ; a transceiver 604 for cellular, wi-fi communication, and/or wired communication; a user interface 606 ; one or more processors 608 ; a wired communication port 609 ; hardware 610 ; and memory 616 . in some embodiments, the antennae 602 may include an uplink antenna that sends radio signals to a base station, and a downlink antenna that receives radio signals from the base station. in some other embodiments, a single antenna may both send and receive radio signals. the same or other antennas may be used for wi-fi communication. these signals may be processed by the transceiver 604 , sometimes collectively referred to as a network interface, which is configured to receive and transmit digital data. in one embodiment, the electronic device 600 does not include an antenna 602 and communication with external components is via wired communication, e.g., via a port, such as usb-a, usb-b, usb-c, micro-usb, lightning, etc., represented by communication port 609 . in one embodiment, the electronic device 600 includes a user interface 606 that enables a user to provide input and receive output from the electronic device 600 . for example, the user interface 606 may include a data output device (e.g., visual display, audio speakers, haptic device, etc.,) that may be used to provide notifications from a power station it is coupled to. the user interface 606 may also include one or more data input devices. the data input devices may include, but are not limited to, combinations of one or more of keypads, keyboards, mouse devices, touch screens, microphones, speech recognition packages, and any other suitable devices or other electronic/software selection interfaces. for example, the data input devices may be used to respond to inquiries from a power station 208 or an app in the memory 610 of the electronic device. the electronic device 600 may include one or more processors 608 , which may be a single-core processor, a multi-core processor, a complex instruction set computing (cisc) processor, or another type of processor. the hardware 610 may include a power source and digital signal processors (dsps), which may include single-core or multiple-core processors. the hardware 610 may also include network processors that manage high-speed communication interfaces, including communication interfaces that interact with peripheral components. the network processors and the peripheral components may be linked by switching fabric. the hardware 610 may further include hardware decoders and encoders, a network interface controller, and/or a communication port controller. the hardware 610 includes one or more low pass filters that are operative to filter communication that is performed at a high data rate, as discussed herein. the hardware 610 may also include one or more low pass filter enable/disable circuits configured to control the on/off state of the low pass filters. the memory 616 may be implemented using computer-readable media, such as computer storage media. storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, ram, rom, eeprom, flash memory or other memory technology, cd-rom, digital versatile disks (dvd), high definition video storage disks, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transmission medium that can be used to store information for access by a computing device. the memory 616 may store various software components or modules that are executable or accessible by the processor(s) 608 and controller(s) of the electronic device 600 . the various components of the memory 616 may include software 618 and an operating system 650 . the software 618 may include various applications 620 , such as a power security application 640 operative to provide at least some of the functions of the interconnection unit 206 discussed in the context of fig. 2 . the power security 640 application may have several modules that may include routines, program instructions, objects, and/or data structures that perform tasks or implement abstract data types. for example, the power security application 640 of the electronic device 600 may include a password module 642 that is operative to receive a password via a user interface 606 and provide it to the power station 208 . there may be a quick charge module 644 operative to negotiate various charging protocols between the electronic device 600 and the power station, as discussed herein. there may be a battery status module 646 operative to identify various conditions of the battery, such as level of charge, charge state, temperature, power demand, etc., and communicate the same to the power station 208 . there may be a report module 650 operative to provide power and/or charge status information on a user interface 606 of the electronic device 600 . status information may include whether power station coupled to the electronic device is trusted. the power security application 640 may further include a verification module 652 operative to determine whether the power station is trusted. in various embodiments, whether a power station is trusted can be determined via reference to stored information in the memory 616 , which identifies the power station as a trusted device, or via a prompt on the user interface 606 to solicit whether the power station coupled thereto can be trusted. in some embodiments, the user of the electronic device 600 can select a level of trust and/or the direction of the filtration that should be implemented. there may be a low pass filter enable/disable module operative to send signals to the lpf enable/disable circuit(s) of the hardware. the password 642 , quick charge 644 , and battery status 646 modules may cooperate with the lpf enable/disable module 648 to turn off the relevant low pass filter(s) when additional bandwidth would benefit the password, quick charge, and battery task, respectively. the operating system 660 may include components that enable the electronic device 600 to receive and transmit data via various interfaces (e.g., user controls, communication interface, and/or memory input/output devices), as well as process data using the processor(s) 608 to generate output. the operating system 660 may include a presentation component that presents the output (e.g., display the data on an electronic display of the electronic device 600 , store the data in memory 616 , transmit the data to another electronic device, etc.). additionally, the operating system 660 may include other components that perform various additional functions generally associated with an operating system 660 . example process with the foregoing overview of the example architecture 200 and example electronic device 600 , it may be helpful now to consider a high-level discussion of an example process. to that end, fig. 7 presents an illustrative process 700 for safely providing power to an electronic device without compromising the data stored therein. process 700 is illustrated as a collection of blocks in a logical flowchart, which represents a sequence of operations that can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. in the context of software, the blocks represent computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the recited operations. generally, computer-executable instructions may include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like that perform functions or implement abstract data types. the order in which the operations are described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described blocks can be combined in any order and/or performed in parallel to implement the process. for discussion purposes, the process 700 is described with reference to the architecture 200 of fig. 2 . at block 702 , an electronic device 202 is coupled to a power station 208 . in various embodiments, the connection may be via an interconnection unit 206 that is outside of the electronic device 202 or via similar functionality provided within the electronic device 202 (i.e., without an external interconnection unit 206 ). for simplicity, the discussion herein will refer to an external interconnection unit 206 , while it will be understood that similar functionality can be provided with an appropriately configured electronic device that includes at least some of the functions of the interconnection unit 206 , as discussed in the context of fig. 6 . at block 704 , the interconnection unit 206 determines whether the power station 208 is a trusted device. in various embodiments, whether a power station can be trusted can be determined by soliciting a user operating the electronic device via a user interface, or by referring to a reference table stored in a memory of the electronic device that identifies the electronic device to be a trusted device. to that end, upon coupling with the power station 208 , the power station 208 can provide an identification code. if the power station 208 can be trusted (i.e., “yes” at decision block 704 ), the process continues with block 706 , where the low pass filter is not turned on. however, upon determining that the power station 208 cannot be trusted (i.e., “no” at decision block 704 ), the process continues with block 708 , where the low pass filter is turned on. in various embodiments, the low pass filter can be turned on in a first direction (e.g., towards the electronic device 202 ) in a second direction (e.g., towards the power station 208 ), or in both directions, based on interactive or predetermined settings of the interconnection unit 206 with respect to the power station 208 . at block 710 , the interconnection unit 206 determines whether data communication between the electronic device 202 and the power station 208 relates to authentication. in a non-limiting example, the credentials may include a username, password, and/or other biometric identifier associated with a user subscribed to the power station 208 service and/or electronic device 202 . if so (i.e., “yes” at decision block 710 ), it is determined whether such authentication involves more bandwidth than is provided with the low pass filter. if so, (i.e., “yes” at decision block 712 ), the process continues with block 714 , where the low pass filter is turned off for the duration of the communication that relates to the authentication. if not, (i.e., “no” at decision block 712 ), the communication is allowed to continue via low pass filtration. at block 716 , the interconnection unit 206 determines whether data communication between the electronic device 202 and the power station 208 relates to a quick charge protocol. if so (i.e., “yes” at decision block 716 ), at block 718 , it is determined whether such protocol involves more bandwidth than is provided with the low pass filter. if so, (i.e., “yes” at decision block 718 ), the process continues with block 720 , where the low pass filter is turned off for the duration of the communication that relates to the quick charge protocol. if not, (i.e., “no” at decision block 718 ), the communication of the quick charge protocol is allowed to continue via low pass filtration. at block 722 , the interconnection unit 206 determines whether data communication between the electronic device 202 and the power station 208 relates to its battery status. if so (i.e., “yes” at decision block 722 ), at block 724 , it is determined whether reporting the battery status involves more bandwidth than is provided with the low pass filter. if so, (i.e., “yes” at decision block 724 ), the process continues with block 726 , where the low pass filter is turned off for the duration of the communication that relates to the quick charge protocol. if not, (i.e., “no” at decision block 724 ), the communication of the battery status is allowed to continue via low pass filtration. conclusion the descriptions of the various embodiments of the present teachings have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. the terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein. while the foregoing has described what are considered to be the best state and/or other examples, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples, and that the teachings may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. it is intended by the following claims to claim any and all applications, modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the present teachings. the components, steps, features, objects, benefits and advantages that have been discussed herein are merely illustrative. none of them, nor the discussions relating to them, are intended to limit the scope of protection. while various advantages have been discussed herein, it will be understood that not all embodiments necessarily include all advantages. unless otherwise stated, all measurements, values, ratings, positions, magnitudes, sizes, and other specifications that are set forth in this specification, including in the claims that follow, are approximate, not exact. they are intended to have a reasonable range that is consistent with the functions to which they relate and with what is customary in the art to which they pertain. numerous other embodiments are also contemplated. these include embodiments that have fewer, additional, and/or different components, steps, features, objects, benefits and advantages. these also include embodiments in which the components and/or steps are arranged and/or ordered differently. aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to a flowchart illustration and/or block diagram of a method, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions. these computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. these computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. the computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures herein illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. in this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. for example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. while the foregoing has been described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the term “exemplary” is merely meant as an example, rather than the best or optimal. except as stated immediately above, nothing that has been stated or illustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedication of any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, or equivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is or is not recited in the claims. it will be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein. relational terms such as first and second and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. an element proceeded by “a” or “an” does not, without further constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element. the abstract of the disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. it is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. in addition, in the foregoing detailed description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. this method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments have more features than are expressly recited in each claim. rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
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161-172-370-464-793
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US
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[
"US",
"CN"
] |
G06F9/455,G06F9/50,G06F9/38,G06F9/46,G06F15/16,G06F15/173
| 2011-08-30T00:00:00 |
2011
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[
"G06"
] |
selection of virtual machines from pools of pre-provisioned virtual machines in a networked computing environment
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embodiments of the present invention provide a set of algorithmic methods that can be used to select which partially and/or pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) should be used as a base platform to satisfy a new workload (e.g., provisioning) request received in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). specifically, when a workload request is received, a set (e.g., at last one) of software programs needed to process the workload request is identified. then, a set of vms is selected from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs. in general, multiple methods and/or factors can be followed to select the set of vms. examples include a length of time to install the set of vms, a probability of the set of vms being in demand, and/or or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs. once the set of vms has been selected, the set of vms may be installed, and the workload request can be processed using the set of software programs.
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1 . a computer-implemented method for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, comprising: receiving a workload request in a computer storage medium; identifying a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; selecting a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs, the selecting of the set of software programs further comprising: looping through all of the pre-provisioned vms having some combination of the set of software programs; calculating times associated with traversal paths for each combination; and selecting the set of vms based on the shortest time associated with a traversal path indicating a shortest length of time to install the set of vms; installing the set of vms; and processing the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. 2 . the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the set of software programs being selected based on a shortest length of time to install the set of vms. 3 . the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the set of software programs being selected based on a lowest probability that the set of vms will be in demand. 4 . the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the set of software programs being selected based on a highest probability that the set of vms will be in demand. 5 . the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the selecting of the set of software programs further comprising: examining all possible combinations of the set of software programs that do not require starting from vms that have not been pre-provisioned; and selecting the set of vms based on the set of vms that have the set of software programs having the highest number of pre-provisioned instances. 6 . the computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the networked computing environment comprising a cloud computing environment. 7 . a system for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, comprising: a memory medium comprising instructions; a bus coupled to the memory medium; and a processor coupled to the bus that when executing the instructions causes the system to: receive a workload request in a computer storage media; identify a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; select a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs, the selecting of the set of software programs further comprising: looping through all of the pre-provisioned vms having some combination of the set of software programs; calculating times associated with traversal paths for each combination; and selecting the set of vms based on the shortest time associated with a traversal path indicating a shortest length of time to install the set of vms; install the set of vms; and process the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. 8 . the system of claim 7 , the memory medium further comprising instructions for causing the system to select the set of software programs based on a shortest length of time to install the set of vms. 9 . the system of claim 7 , the memory medium further comprising instructions for causing the system to select the set of software programs being selected based on a lowest probability that the set of vms will be in demand. 10 . the system of claim 7 , the memory medium further comprising instructions for causing the system to select the set of software programs being selected based on a highest probability that the set of vms will be in demand. 11 . the system of claim 7 , the memory medium further comprising instructions for causing the system to select the set of software programs being selected based a highest quantity of set of vms that have the set of software programs. 12 . the system of claim 7 , the networked computing environment comprising a cloud computing environment. 13 . a computer program product for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage device, to: receive a workload request in a computer storage media; identify a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; select a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs, the selecting of the set of software programs further comprising: looping through all of the pre-provisioned vms having some combination of the set of software programs; calculating times associated with traversal paths for each combination; and selecting the set of vms based on the shortest time associated with a traversal path indicating a shortest length of time to install the set of vms; install the set of vms; and process the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. 14 . the computer program product of claim 13 , the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to select the set of software programs based on a shortest length of time to install the set of vms. 15 . the computer program product of claim 13 , the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to select the set of software programs being selected based on a lowest probability that the set of vms will be in demand. 16 . the computer program product of claim 13 , the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to select the set of software programs being selected based on a highest probability that the set of vms will be in demand. 17 . the computer program product of claim 13 , the computer readable storage device further comprising instructions to select the set of software programs being selected based a highest quantity of set of vms that have the set of software programs. 18 . the computer program product of claim 13 , the networked computing environment comprising a cloud computing environment.
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the present patent document is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 13/220,879, filed aug. 30, 2011, entitled “selection of virtual machines from pools of pre-provisioned virtual machines in a networked computing environment”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. technical field in general, the present invention relates to the selection of virtual machines (vms) in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). specifically, the present invention relates to the selection of vms from pre-provisioned pools of vms to process workload requests. background the networked computing environment (e.g., cloud computing environment) is an enhancement to the predecessor grid environment, whereby multiple grids and other computation resources may be further enhanced by one or more additional abstraction layers (e.g., a cloud layer), thus making disparate devices appear to an end-consumer as a single pool of seamless resources. these resources may include such things as physical or logical computing engines, servers and devices, device memory, storage devices, among others. cloud computing services are typically rendered within a relatively static hardware pool whereby operating systems and applications are deployed and reconfigured to meet the computational demands of consumers. within the cloud environment's boundaries, application images can be installed and overwritten, internet protocol (ip) addresses may be modified, and real and virtual processors may be allocated to meet changing business needs. presently, different cloud service providers may take varying amounts of time to provision virtual machines requested by consumers. for example, some cloud providers may provision a particular resource in a matter of seconds, while others may take hours. the differences in provisioning speeds are generally caused by at least three factors: the type of storage architecture, the architecture of the cloud management platform, and/or the methods used to provision resources. as such, challenges can exist in achieving efficient computing resource provisioning times. summary embodiments of the present invention provide a set of algorithmic methods that can be used to select which partially and/or pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) should be used as a base platform to satisfy a new workload (e.g., provisioning) request received in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). specifically, when a workload request is received, a set (e.g., at last one) of software programs needed to process the workload request is identified. then, a set of vms is selected from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs. in general, multiple methods and/or factors can be followed to select the set of vms. examples include a length of time to install the set of vms, a probability of the set of vms being in demand, and/or or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs. once the set of vms has been selected, the set of vms may be installed, and the workload request can be processed using the set of software programs. a first aspect of the present invention provides a computer-implemented method for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, comprising: receiving a workload request in a computer storage media; identifying a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; selecting a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs; installing the set of vms; and processing the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. a second aspect of the present invention provides a system for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, comprising: a memory medium comprising instructions; a bus coupled to the memory medium; and a processor coupled to the bus that when executing the instructions causes the system to: receive a workload request in a computer storage media; identify a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; select a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs; install the set of vms; and process the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. a third aspect of the present invention provides a computer program product for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage device, to: receive a workload request in a computer storage media; identify a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; select a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs; install the set of vms; and process the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. a fourth aspect of the present invention provides a method for deploying a system for selecting pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) to process workload requests in a networked computing environment, comprising: deploying computer infrastructure being operable to: receive a workload request in a computer storage media; identify a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; select a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs; install the set of vms; and process the workload request using the set of software programs in the set of vms. brief description of the drawings these and other features of this invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: fig. 1 depicts a cloud computing node according to an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 2 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 3 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 4 depicts a system diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 5 depicts an install graph according to an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 6 depicts a method flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. the drawings are not necessarily to scale. the drawings are merely schematic representations, not intended to portray specific parameters of the invention. the drawings are intended to depict only typical embodiments of the invention, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention. in the drawings, like numbering represents like elements. detailed description illustrative embodiments will now be described more fully herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments are shown. this disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of this disclosure to those skilled in the art. in the description, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments. the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of this disclosure. as used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. furthermore, the use of the terms “a”, “an”, etc., do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items. the term “set” is intended to mean a quantity of at least one. it will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising”, or “includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, regions, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. embodiments of the present invention provide a set of algorithmic methods that can be used to select which partially and/or pre-provisioned virtual machines (vms) should be used as a base platform to satisfy a new workload (e.g., provisioning) request received in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). specifically, when a workload request is received, a set (e.g., at last one) of software programs needed to process the workload request is identified. then, a set of vms is selected from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs. in general, multiple methods and/or factors can be followed to select the set of vms. examples include a length of time to install the set of vms, a probability of the set of vms being in demand, and/or or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs. once the set of vms has been selected, the set of vms may be installed, and the workload request can be processed using the set of software programs. it is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes a detailed description of cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. rather, embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented in conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known or later developed. cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction with a provider of the service. this cloud model may include at least five characteristics, at least three service models, and at least four deployment models. characteristics are as follows: on-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed, automatically without requiring human interaction with the service's provider. broad network access: capabilities are available over a network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and pdas). resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand. there is a sense of location independence in that the consumer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. to the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time. measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active consumer accounts). resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service. service models are as follows: software as a service (saas): the capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. the applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). the consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited consumer-specific application configuration settings. platform as a service (paas): the capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. the consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application-hosting environment configurations. infrastructure as a service (iaas): the capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. the consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls). deployment models are as follows: private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization. it may be managed by the organization or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises. community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). it may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises. public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services. hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds). a cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability. at the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising a network of interconnected nodes. referring now to fig. 1 , a schematic of an example of a cloud computing node is shown. cloud computing node 10 is only one example of a suitable cloud computing node and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the invention described herein. regardless, cloud computing node 10 is capable of being implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forth hereinabove. in cloud computing node 10 , there is a computer system/server 12 , which is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with computer system/server 12 include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network pcs, minicomputer systems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like. computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context of computer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer system. generally, program modules may include routines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributed cloud computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. in a distributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer system storage media including memory storage devices. as shown in fig. 1 , computer system/server 12 in cloud computing node 10 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. the components of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 16 , a system memory 28 , and a bus 18 that couples various system components including system memory 28 to processor 16 . bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. by way of example, and not limitation, such architectures include industry standard architecture (isa) bus, micro channel architecture (mca) bus, enhanced isa (eisa) bus, video electronics standards association (vesa) local bus, and peripheral component interconnects (pci) bus. computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computer system readable media. such media may be any available media that is accessible by computer system/server 12 , and it includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. system memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (ram) 30 and/or cache memory 32 . computer system/server 12 may further include other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storage media. by way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media (not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). although not shown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a cd-rom, dvd-rom, or other optical media can be provided. in such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more data media interfaces. as will be further depicted and described below, memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out the functions of embodiments of the invention. the embodiments of the invention may be implemented as a computer readable signal medium, which may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein (e.g., in baseband or as part of a carrier wave). such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. a computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium including, but not limited to, wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, radio-frequency (rf), etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. program/utility 40 , having a set (at least one) of program modules 42 , may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, as well as an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data. each of the operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data or some combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networking environment. program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein. computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more external devices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24 , etc.; one or more devices that enable a consumer to interact with computer system/server 12 ; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. such communication can occur via i/o interfaces 22 . still yet, computer system/server 12 can communicate with one or more networks such as a local area network (lan), a general wide area network (wan), and/or a public network (e.g., the internet) via network adapter 20 . as depicted, network adapter 20 communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 via bus 18 . it should be understood that although not shown, other hardware and/or software components could be used in conjunction with computer system/server 12 . examples include, but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, raid systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc. referring now to fig. 2 , illustrative cloud computing environment 50 is depicted. as shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or more cloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used by cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (pda) or cellular telephone 54 a, desktop computer 54 b, laptop computer 54 c, and/or automobile computer system 54 n may communicate. nodes 10 may communicate with one another. they may be grouped (not shown) physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as private, community, public, or hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combination thereof. this allows cloud computing environment 50 to offer infrastructure, platforms, and/or software as services for which a cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computing device. it is understood that the types of computing devices 54 a-n shown in fig. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes 10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type of computerized device over any type of network and/or network addressable connection (e.g., using a web browser). referring now to fig. 3 , a set of functional abstraction layers provided by cloud computing environment 50 ( fig. 2 ) is shown. it should be understood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shown in fig. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. as depicted, the following layers and corresponding functions are provided: hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and software components. examples of hardware components include mainframes. in one example, ibm® zseries® systems and risc (reduced instruction set computer) architecture based servers. in one example, ibm pseries® systems, ibm xseries® systems, ibm bladecenter® systems, storage devices, networks, and networking components. examples of software components include network application server software. in one example, ibm websphere® application server software and database software. in one example, ibm db2® database software. (ibm, zseries, pseries, xseries, bladecenter, websphere, and db2 are trademarks of international business machines corporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.) virtualization layer 62 provides an abstraction layer from which the following examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers; virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks; virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients. in one example, management layer 64 may provide the functions described below. resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment. metering and pricing provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. in one example, these resources may comprise application software licenses. security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources. consumer portal provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators. service level management provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. service level agreement (sla) planning and fulfillment provides pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an sla. further shown in management layer is virtual machine selection function, which represents the functionality that is provided under the embodiments of the present invention. workloads layer 66 provides examples of functionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized. examples of workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping and navigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtual classroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transaction processing; and consumer data storage and backup. as mentioned above, all of the foregoing examples described with respect to fig. 3 are illustrative only, and the invention is not limited to these examples. it is understood that all functions of the present invention as described herein typically may be performed by the virtual machine selection functionality (of management layer 64 , which can be tangibly embodied as modules of program code 42 of program/utility 40 ( fig. 1 ). however, this need not be the case. rather, the functionality recited herein could be carried out/implemented and/or enabled by any of the layers 60 - 66 shown in fig. 3 . it is reiterated that although this disclosure includes a detailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. rather, the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be implemented with any type of networked computing environment now known or later developed. referring now to fig. 4 , a system diagram according to an aspect of the present invention is shown. as depicted, a virtual machine pooling engine (engine 70 ) is shown within networked computing environment 84 (e.g., comprising cloud computing environment 50 ). in general, engine 70 can be implemented as program 40 on computer system 12 of fig. 1 and can implement the functions recited herein as depicted in management layer 64 of fig. 3 . in general, engine 70 (in one embodiment) comprises a rules and/or computational engine that processes a set (at least one) of rules 78 and/or performs a set of computations to select a set of vms 72 a-n from a pool of pre-provisioned vms (pool 74 ) to process/handle one or more workload requests 76 a-n. along these lines, engine 70 may perform functions similar to a general-purpose computer along these lines, engine 70 may perform multiple functions using rules 78 . specifically, among other functions, engine 70 may: receive a workload request in a computer storage media; identify a set of software programs needed to process the workload request; select a set of vms from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment, the set of vms being selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs; install the set of vms; and process the workload request using set of software programs in the set of vms. the functions of engine 70 will now be explained in further detail. assume cloud environment 50 comprises contains a pool 74 of (e.g., at least partially) pre-provisioned vms 72 a-n. further assume that some provisioning history and ratings data 80 exists for the partially pre-provisioned images 72 a-n (e.g., in a set of databases 82 a-n or the like). under the embodiments of the present invention, there are multiple methods/approaches that can be implemented to identify which vms 72 a-n in pool 74 comprises the software program(s) needed to process workload requests 76 a-n. in the example set forth below, it will be assumed that up to three possible software programs are provided and/or are needed, namely, software programs “a”, “b”, c” (or any combination thereof). however, this need not be the case and it is understood that software programs “a”, b”, and “c” are cited for illustrative purposes only. method/approach 1—selection based on shortest install time: this method comprises an algorithm that determines the partially pre-provisioned vm that will require the shortest time to fulfill the particular workload request. this method could be implemented by looping through all the partially provisioned vms and selecting the vm that requires the least time. this concept is shown in greater detail in fig. 5 . as depicted, the graph of fig. 5 shows vms 100 a-n having come combination of software programs “a”, “b”, and/or “c”. also shown, are various traversal paths 102 a-n with associate times “t x ” to obtain all three software programs “a”, “b”, and “c”. for example, beginning at vm 100 a (null set), one possible route for obtaining all three software programs as shown in node 100 n is to traverse path t b to vm 100 b, then path t a to vm 100 e, and then path t c to vm 100 n. as further shown, multiple paths from vm 100 a to vm 100 n could be followed. under the time-based method/approach described above, the engine would compute the traverse times for all possible paths, then select the available path with the least cumulative traversal time. method/approach 2—choose the pre-provisioned vm that has the least probability of being in demand: in this method/approach, engine 70 identifies the vm with the lowest probability of being in demand (p (software combination)) and chooses that software combination vm. this method does not utilize the vms with a higher probability of being in demand since those vms will likely be needed for in the near future. this approach would benefit a cloud environment where a workload request is received faster than an associated cloud management system can replenish the partially pre-provisioned pool 74 . method/approach 3—choose the partially pre-provisioned vm that has the highest probability of being in demand: this method is substantially the opposite of method/approach 2 in that engine 70 determines the vm with the highest probability of being in demand (p (software combination)). this method is based on a particular vm having a high p (software combination), which would imply that there is more of them in the pool 74 . consequently there is likely to be more time to replenish the pool 74 with a similar/like vm. method 4—select the software combination (or vm having the software combination) with the highest quantity of partially pre-provisioned vms. this method examines all the possible starting combinations that do not require starting from a null set (e.g., scratch), and then utilizes the software combination that has the greatest number of partially provisioned vms. in one illustrative example, vm 1 ={a} and vm 2 ={b}. there are also 10 pre-provisioned vm 1 's but only 2 pre-provisioned vm 2 's. in this situation, method/approach 4 would utilize vm 1 since there is a large supply of vm 1 's, and therefore will not compromise the diversity of the pool 74 . referring now to fig. 6 , a method flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. as depicted, in step s 1 , a workload request is received in a computer storage medium. in step s 2 , a set of software programs needed to process the workload request is identified. in step s 3 , a set of vms is selected from a pool of pre-provisioned vms having the set of software programs in the networked computing environment. in general, the set of vms can be selected based on at least one of the following: a length of time to install the set of vms; a probability of the set of vms being in demand, or a quantity of the set of vms having the set of software programs. in step s 4 , the set of vms is installed, and in step s 5 the workload request is processed using the set of software programs in the set of vms. while shown and described herein as a vm selection solution, it is understood that the invention further provides various alternative embodiments. for example, in one embodiment, the invention provides a computer-readable/usable medium that includes computer program code to enable a computer infrastructure to provide vm selection functionality as discussed herein. to this extent, the computer-readable/usable medium includes program code that implements each of the various processes of the invention. it is understood that the terms computer-readable medium or computer-usable medium comprise one or more of any type of physical embodiment of the program code. in particular, the computer-readable/usable medium can comprise program code embodied on one or more portable storage articles of manufacture (e.g., a compact disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), on one or more data storage portions of a computing device, such as memory 28 ( fig. 1 ) and/or storage system 34 ( fig. 1 ) (e.g., a fixed disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a cache memory, etc.). in another embodiment, the invention provides a method that performs the process of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. that is, a service provider, such as a solution integrator, could offer to provide vm selection functionality. in this case, the service provider can create, maintain, support, etc., a computer infrastructure, such as computer system 12 ( fig. 1 ) that performs the processes of the invention for one or more consumers. in return, the service provider can receive payment from the consumer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties. in still another embodiment, the invention provides a computer-implemented method for vm selection. in this case, a computer infrastructure, such as computer system 12 ( fig. 1 ), can be provided, and one or more systems for performing the processes of the invention can be obtained (e.g., created, purchased, used, modified, etc.) and deployed to the computer infrastructure. to this extent, the deployment of a system can comprise one or more of: (1) installing program code on a computing device, such as computer system 12 ( fig. 1 ), from a computer-readable medium; (2) adding one or more computing devices to the computer infrastructure; and (3) incorporating and/or modifying one or more existing systems of the computer infrastructure to enable the computer infrastructure to perform the processes of the invention. as used herein, it is understood that the terms “program code” and “computer program code” are synonymous and mean any expression, in any language, code, or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a computing device having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: (a) conversion to another language, code, or notation; and/or (b) reproduction in a different material form. to this extent, program code can be embodied as one or more of: an application/software program, component software/a library of functions, an operating system, a basic device system/driver for a particular computing device, and the like. a data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code can be provided hereunder and can include at least one processor communicatively coupled, directly or indirectly, to memory elements through a system bus. the memory elements can include, but are not limited to, local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. input/output and/or other external devices (including, but not limited to, keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening device controllers. network adapters also may be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems, remote printers, storage devices, and/or the like, through any combination of intervening private or public networks. illustrative network adapters include, but are not limited to, modems, cable modems, and ethernet cards. the foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed and, obviously, many modifications and variations are possible. such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.
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161-218-846-708-898
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US
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C12Q1/68,C07H21/04,C12N15/82,A01H5/10,A01H1/00,A01H5/00,A01N57/18,A01H3/00,C12N15/29,C12N15/00
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2006
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maize event dp-098140-6 and compositions and mehtods for the identification and/or detection thereof
|
compositions and methods related to transgenic glyphosate/als inhibitor-tolerant maize plants are provided. specifically, the present invention provides maize plants having a dp-098140-6 event which imparts tolerance to glyphosate and at least one als-inhibiting herbicide. the maize plant harboring the dp-098140-6 event at the recited chromosomal location comprises genomic/transgene junctions having at least the polynucleotide sequence of seq id no:5 and/or 6. the characterization of the genomic insertion site of the dp-098140-6 event provides for an enhanced breeding efficiency and enables the use of molecular markers to track the transgene insert in the breeding populations and progeny thereof. various methods and compositions for the identification, detection, and use of the maize dp-098140-6 events are provided.
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1 . an isolated polynucleotide comprising seq id no: 5 or 6. 2 . the isolated polynucleotide of claim 1 , wherein said polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence set forth in seq id no:48, 7, 8, 9, 10, 49, or 50; and, (b) a nucleotide sequence comprising a fragment of seq id no:48, 7, 8, 9, 10, 49, or 50. 3 . a kit for identifying event dp-098140-6 in a biological sample, said kit comprising a first and a second primer, wherein said first and said second primer amplify a polynucleotide comprising a dp-098140-6 specific region. 4 . the kit of claim 3 , wherein said kit further comprises a polynucleotide for the detection of the dp-098140-6 specific region. 5 . the kit of claim 3 , wherein said first primer comprises a first fragment of seq id no: 48 and the second primer comprises a second fragment of seq id no:48, wherein said first and said second primer flank said dp-098140-6 specific region and share sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to said polynucleotide to amplify said dp-098140-6 specific region. 6 . the kit of claim 5 , wherein a) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:47 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:1; b) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:47 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:46; c) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no: 46 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:1. 7 . the kit of claim 5 , wherein said first or said second primer comprises at least 8 consecutive polynucleotides of seq id no: 48. 8 . the kit of claim 6 , wherein said first or said second primer comprises at least 8 consecutive polynucleotides of seq id no:1, 46, or 47. 9 . the kit of claim 5 , wherein said first or said second primer comprises at least 8 consecutive nucleotides of seq id no:24. 10 . the kit of claim 3 , wherein said first or said second primer comprise seq id no:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56. 11 . a dna detection kit comprising at least one polynucleotide that can specifically detect a dp-098140-6 specific region, wherein said polynucleotide comprises at least one dna molecule of a sufficient length of contiguous nucleotides identical or complementary to seq id no:48. 12 . the dna detection kit of claim 11 , wherein said polynucleotide that can specifically detect a dp-098140-6 specific region comprises a polynucleotide having seq id no:5 or 6. 13 . the dna detection kit of claim 11 , wherein said polynucleotide comprises a sequence which hybridizes under stringent conditions with sequences selected from the group consisting of: (a) the sequences of seq id no:1 and seq id no:47; and, (b) the sequences of seq id no:46 and seq id no: 47. 14 . a method for identifying event dp-098140-6 in a biological sample, comprising (a) contacting said sample with a first and a second primer; and, (b) amplifying a polynucleotide comprising a dp-098140-6 specific region. 15 . the method of claim 14 , wherein the polynucleotide comprising the dp-098140-6 specific region comprises seq id no:5. 16 . the method of claim 14 , wherein the polynucleotide comprising the dp-098140-6 specific region comprises seq id no:6. 17 . the method of claim 14 , further comprising detecting the dp-098140-6 specific region. 18 . the method of claim 14 , said first primer comprises a first fragment of seq id no: 48 and the second primer comprises a second fragment of seq id no:48, wherein said first and said second primer flank said dp-098140-6 specific region and share sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to said polynucleotide to amplify said dp-098140-6 specific region. 19 . the method of claim 18 , wherein a) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:47 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:1; b) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:47 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:46; c) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no: 1 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:46. 20 . the method of claim 18 , wherein said first and or said second primer comprises at least 8 consecutive polynucleotides of seq id no: 48. 21 . the method of claim 19 , wherein said first and said second primer comprises at least 8 consecutive polynucleotides of seq id no:1, 46 or 47. 22 . the method of claim 14 , wherein said first and said second primer comprise seq id no:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56. 23 . a method for identifying event dp-098140-6 in a biological sample, comprising (a) contacting said sample with a first and a second primer; (b) performing a dna amplification reaction, thereby producing a dna amplicon molecule; and (c) detecting said dna amplicon molecule, wherein the detection of said dna amplicon molecule in said dna amplification reaction indicates the presence of maize event dp-098140-6. 24 . the method of claim 23 , wherein said first primer comprises a first fragment of seq id no: 48 and the second primer comprises a second fragment of seq id no:48, wherein said first and said second primer flank said dp-098140-6 specific region and share sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to said polynucleotide to amplify said dp-098140-6 specific region. 25 . the method of claim 23 , wherein said first and second primer are selected from the group consisting of: (a) the sequences comprising seq id no:13 and seq id no:14; (b) the sequences comprising seq id no:15 and seq id no:16; (c) the sequences comprising seq id no:17 and seq id no:18; (d) the sequences comprising seq id no:20 and seq id no:21; (e) the sequences comprising seq id no:51 and seq id no:52; and, (f) the sequence comprising seq id no: 54 and 55. 26 . a method of detecting the presence of dna corresponding to a dp-098140-6 event in a sample, the method comprising: (a) contacting the sample with a polynucleotide probe that hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions with dna from maize event dp-098140-6 and specifically detects the dp-098140-6 event; (b) subjecting the sample and probe to stringent hybridization conditions; and (c) detecting hybridization of the probe to the dna, wherein detection of hybridization indicates the presence of the dp-098140-6 event. 27 . the method of claim 26 , wherein said sample comprises maize tissue. 28 . a polynucleotide comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of seq id no:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 or its complement. 29 . a pair of dna molecules comprising a first dna molecule and a second dna molecule, said first dna molecule comprising a first fragment of seq id no: 48 and the second dna molecule comprising a second fragment of seq id no:48, wherein said first and said second dna molecule flank said dp-098140-6 specific region of seq id no:51 and share sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to said polynucleotide to amplify said dp-098140-6 specific region. 30 . a method for confirming seed purity or a method for screening seeds in a seed lot for a dp-098140-6 event comprising (a) contacting said sample with a first and a second primer; (b) performing a dna amplification reaction, thereby producing a dna amplicon molecule; and (c) detecting said dna amplicon molecule, wherein the detection of said dna amplicon molecule in said dna amplification reaction indicates the presence of maize event dp-098140-6. 31 . the method of claim 30 , wherein said first primer comprises a first fragment of seq id no: 48 and the second primer comprises a second fragment of seq id no:48, wherein said first and said second primer flank said dp-098140-6 specific region and share sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to said polynucleotide to amplify said dp-098140-6 specific region. 32 . the method of claim 31 , wherein a) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:47 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:1; b) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:47 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:46; c) said first primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:1 and said second primer comprises a fragment of seq id no:46. 33 . the method of claim 31 , wherein said first or said second primer comprises at least 8 consecutive polynucleotides of seq id no:48. 34 . the method of claim 32 , wherein said second primer and said first primer comprise at least 8 consecutive polynucleotides of seq id no:1, 46 or 47. 35 . the method of claim 34 , wherein said first or said second primer comprise seq id no:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56. 36 . a method for confirming seed purity or for screening for the presence of a dp-098140-6 event in a seed lot comprising (a) contacting a sample comprising maize dna with a polynucleotide probe that hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions with dna from maize event dp-098140-6 and specifically detects the dp-098140-6 event; (b) subjecting the sample and probe to stringent hybridization conditions; and (c) detecting hybridization of the probe to the dna, wherein detection of hybridization indicates the presence of the dp-098140-6 event.
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cross-reference to related applications this application is a divisional of u.s. ser. no. 11/869,973, filed oct. 10, 2007, which claims the benefit of u.s. provisional application no. 60/940,567, filed may 29, 2007 and u.s. provisional application no. 60/855,308, filed oct. 30, 2006, each of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. reference to a sequence listing submitted as a text file via efs-web the official copy of the sequence listing is submitted concurrently with the specification as a text file via efs-web, in compliance with the american standard code for information interchange (ascii), with a file name of 387016seqlist.txt, a creation date of apr. 1, 2010, and a size of 100 kb. the sequence listing filed via efs-web is part of the specification and is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference herein. field of the invention this invention is in the field of molecular biology. more specifically, this invention pertains to multiple herbicide tolerances conferred by expression of a sequence that confers tolerance to glyphosate in conjunction with the expression of sequence that confers tolerance to one or more als inhibitor chemistries. background of the invention the expression of foreign genes in plants is known to be influenced by their location in the plant genome, perhaps due to chromatin structure (e.g., heterochromatin) or the proximity of transcriptional regulatory elements (e.g., enhancers) close to the integration site (weising et al. (1988) ann. rev. genet 22: 421-477, 1988). at the same time the presence of the transgene at different locations in the genome influences the overall phenotype of the plant in different ways. for this reason, it is often necessary to screen a large number of events in order to identify an event characterized by optimal expression of an introduced gene of interest. for example, it has been observed in plants and in other organisms that there may be a wide variation in levels of expression of an introduced gene among events. there may also be differences in spatial or temporal patterns of expression, for example, differences in the relative expression of a transgene in various plant tissues, that may not correspond to the patterns expected from transcriptional regulatory elements present in the introduced gene construct. it is also observed that the transgene insertion can affect the endogenous gene expression. for these reasons, it is common to produce hundreds to thousands of different events and screen those events for a single event that has desired transgene expression levels and patterns for commercial purposes. an event that has desired levels or patterns of transgene expression is useful for introgressing the transgene into other genetic backgrounds by sexual outcrossing using conventional breeding methods. progeny of such crosses maintain the transgene expression characteristics of the original transformant. this strategy is used to ensure reliable gene expression in a number of varieties that are well adapted to local growing conditions. it would be advantageous to be able to detect the presence of a particular event in order to determine whether progeny of a sexual cross contain a transgene of interest. in addition, a method for detecting a particular event would be helpful for complying with regulations requiring the pre-market approval and labeling of foods derived from recombinant crop plants, or for use in environmental monitoring, monitoring traits in crops in the field, or monitoring products derived from a crop harvest, as well as, for use in ensuring compliance of parties subject to regulatory or contractual terms. in the commercial production of crops, it is desirable to easily and quickly eliminate unwanted plants (i.e., “weeds”) from a field of crop plants. an ideal treatment would be one which could be applied to an entire field but which would eliminate only the unwanted plants while leaving the crop plants unharmed. one such treatment system would involve the use of crop plants which are tolerant to an herbicide so that when the herbicide was sprayed on a field of herbicide-tolerant crop plants, the crop plants would continue to thrive while non-herbicide-tolerant weeds were killed or severely damaged. ideally, such treatment systems would take advantage of varying herbicide properties so that weed control could provide the best possible combination of flexibility and economy. for example, individual herbicides have different longevities in the field, and some herbicides persist and are effective for a relatively long time after they are applied to a field while other herbicides are quickly broken down into other and/or non-active compounds. an ideal treatment system would allow the use of different herbicides so that growers could tailor the choice of herbicides for a particular situation. due to local and regional variation in dominant weed species as well as preferred crop species, a continuing need exists for customized systems of crop protection and weed management which can be adapted to the needs of a particular region, geography, and/or locality. method and compositions that allow for the rapid identification of events in plants that produce such qualities are needed. for example, a continuing need exists for methods of crop protection and weed management which can reduce: the number of herbicide applications necessary to control weeds in a field; the amount of herbicide necessary to control weeds in a field; the amount of tilling necessary to produce a crop; and/or programs which delay or prevent the development and/or appearance of herbicide-resistant weeds. a continuing need exists for methods and compositions of crop protection and weed management which allow the targeted use of particular herbicide combinations and for the efficient detection of such an event. brief summary of the invention compositions and methods related to transgenic glyphosate/als inhibitor-tolerant maize plants are provided. specifically, the present invention provides maize plants containing the dp-098140-6 event which imparts tolerance to glyphosate and at least one als-inhibiting herbicide. the maize plant harboring the dp-098140-6 event at the recited chromosomal location comprises genomic/transgene junctions having at least the polynucleotide sequence of seq id no: 5 and/or 6. further provided are the seeds deposited as patent deposit no. pta-8296 and plants, plant cells, plant parts, grain and plant products derived therefrom. the characterization of the genomic insertion site of event dp-098140-6 provides for an enhanced breeding efficiency and enables the use of molecular markers to track the transgene insert in the breeding populations and progeny thereof. various methods and compositions for the identification, detection, and use of the maize event dp-098140-6 are provided. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 shows the plasmid map of php24279. plasmid php24279 was used to produce the dp-098140-6 maize line. fig. 2 provides a schematic map of the t-dna from plasmid php24279 showing various genetic elements with additional flanking border sequence. rb denotes the right flanking border sequence and lb denotes the left flanking border sequence. the location of pimers 100235, 99878, 99885, and 100240 are shown. fig. 3 shows the map of t-dna from php24279 and displays the positions of primers 0601738 and 0601734 are shown. fig. 4 provides a breeding diagram for event dp-098140-6. fig. 5 provides a schematic map of the dna insertion in dp-098140-6 with ecor v and spe i sited indicated. the dotted line represents the genomic regions flanking the inserted php24279 t-dna. fig. 6 provides schematic map of the t-dna from plasmid php24279 indicating the location of genetic elements within the glyat4621 and zm-hra expression cassettes and base pair positions for restriction enzyme sites for ecor v and spe i. the total t-dna size is 7386 base pairs. probes are indicated schematically as numbered boxes below the map and are identified below. additional details on these probes are provided in table 24. figs. 7a-7c provide the nucleotide sequence of the complete flanking and complete transgene insert for event dp-098140-6 (seq id no: 48). detailed description of the invention the present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. like numbers refer to like elements throughout. many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. compositions and methods related to transgenic glyphosate/als inhibitor-tolerant maize plants are provided. specifically, the present invention provides maize plants having event dp-098140-6. the dp-098140-6 is also known as event e6631.98.40 or event 98140. a maize plant having “event dp-098140-6” has been modified by the insertion of the glyphosate acetyltransferase (glyat4621) gene derived from bacillus licheniformis and a modified version of the maize acetolactate synthase gene (zm-hra). the glyat4621 gene was functionally improved by a gene shuffling process to optimize the kinetics of glyphosate acetyltransferase (glyat) activity for acetylating the herbicide glyphosate. the insertion of the glyat4621 gene in the plant confers tolerance to the herbicidal active ingredient glyphosate through the conversion of glyphosate to the non-toxic acetylated form. the insertion of the zm-hra gene produces a modified form of the acetolactate synthase (als) enzyme. als is essential for branched chain amino acid biosynthesis and is inhibited by certain herbicides. the modification in the zm-hra gene overcomes this inhibition and thus provides tolerance to a wide range of als-inhibiting herbicides. thus, a maize plant having the event dp-098140-6 is tolerant to glyphosate and at least one als-inhibiting herbicide. the polynucleotides conferring the glyphosate and als inhibitor tolerance are linked on the same dna construct and are inserted at a characterized position in the maize genome and thereby produce the dp-098140-6 maize event. the maize plant harboring the dp-098140-6 event at the recited chromosomal location comprises genomic/transgene junctions having at least the polynucleotide sequence of seq id no: 5 and/or 6. the characterization of the genomic insertion site of the dp-098140-6 event provides for an enhanced breeding efficiency and enables the use of molecular markers to track the transgene insert in the breeding populations and progeny thereof. various methods and compositions for the identification, detection, and use of the maize dp-098140-6 event are provided herein. as used herein, the term “event dp-098140-6 specific” refers to a polynucleotide sequence which is suitable for discriminatively identifying event dp-098140-6 in plants, plant material, or in products such as, but not limited to, food or feed products (fresh or processed) comprising, or derived from plant material. compositions further include seed deposited as patent deposit nos. pta-8296 and plants, plant cells, and seed derived therefrom. applicant(s) have made a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of maize event dp-098140-6 with the american type culture collection (atcc), manassas, va. 20110-2209 usa, on mar. 28, 2007, and the deposits were assigned atcc deposit no. pta-8296. these deposits will be maintained under the terms of the budapest treaty on the international recognition of the deposit of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedure. these deposits were made merely as a convenience for those of skill in the art and are not an admission that a deposit is required under 35 u.s.c. §112. the seeds deposited with the atcc on mar. 28, 2007 were taken from the deposit maintained by pioneer hi-bred international, inc., 7250 nw 62 nd avenue, johnston, iowa 50131-1000. access to this deposit will be available during the pendency of the application to the commissioner of patents and trademarks and persons determined by the commissioner to be entitled thereto upon request. upon allowance of any claims in the application, the applicant(s) will make available to the public, pursuant to 37 c.f.r. §1.808, sample(s) of the deposit of at least 2500 seeds of hybrid maize 38n86 with the american type culture collection (atcc), 10801 university boulevard, manassas, va. 20110-2209. this deposit of seed of maize event dp-098140-6 will be maintained in the atcc depository, which is a public depository, for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, or for the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if it becomes nonviable during that period. additionally, applicant(s) have satisfied all the requirements of 37 c.f.r. §§1.801-1.809, including providing an indication of the viability of the sample upon deposit. applicant(s) have no authority to waive any restrictions imposed by law on the transfer of biological material or its transportation in commerce. applicant(s) do not waive any infringement of their rights granted under this patent or rights applicable to event dp-098140-6 under the plant variety protection act (7 usc 2321 et seq.). unauthorized seed multiplication prohibited. the seed may be regulated. as used herein, the term “maize” means any maize plant and includes all plant varieties that can be bred with maize. as used herein, the term plant includes plant cells, plant organs, plant protoplasts, plant cell tissue cultures from which plants can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants such as embryos, pollen, ovules, seeds, leaves, flowers, branches, fruit, stalks, roots, root tips, anthers, and the like. grain is intended to mean the mature seed produced by commercial growers for purposes other than growing or reproducing the species. progeny, variants, and mutants of the regenerated plants are also included within the scope of the invention, provided that these parts comprise a dp-098140-6 event. a transgenic “event” is produced by transformation of plant cells with a heterologous dna construct(s), including a nucleic acid expression cassette that comprises a transgene of interest, the regeneration of a population of plants resulting from the insertion of the transgene into the genome of the plant, and selection of a particular plant characterized by insertion into a particular genome location. an event is characterized phenotypically by the expression of the transgene(s). at the genetic level, an event is part of the genetic makeup of a plant. the term “event” also refers to progeny produced by a sexual outcross between the transformant and another variety that include the heterologous dna. even after repeated back-crossing to a recurrent parent, the inserted dna and flanking dna from the transformed parent is present in the progeny of the cross at the same chromosomal location. the term “event” also refers to dna from the original transformant comprising the inserted dna and flanking sequence immediately adjacent to the inserted dna that would be expected to be transferred to a progeny that receives inserted dna including the transgene of interest as the result of a sexual cross of one parental line that includes the inserted dna (e.g., the original transformant and progeny resulting from selfing) and a parental line that does not contain the inserted dna. as used herein, “insert dna” refers to the heterologous dna within the expression cassettes used to transform the plant material while “flanking dna” can comprise either genomic dna naturally present in an organism such as a plant, or foreign (heterologous) dna introduced via the transformation process which is extraneous to the original insert dna molecule, e.g. fragments associated with the transformation event. a “flanking region” or “flanking sequence” as used herein refers to a sequence of at least 20, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, or 5000 base pair or greater which is located either immediately upstream of and contiguous with or immediately downstream of and contiguous with the original foreign insert dna molecule. non-limiting examples of the flanking regions of the dp-098140-6 event comprise polynucleotide sequences that are set forth in seq id no: 1, 2, and 46 and variants and fragments thereof. transformation procedures leading to random integration of the foreign dna will result in transformants containing different flanking regions characteristic of and unique for each transformant. when recombinant dna is introduced into a plant through traditional crossing, its flanking regions will generally not be changed. transformants will also contain unique junctions between a piece of heterologous insert dna and genomic dna, or two pieces of genomic dna, or two pieces of heterologous dna. a “junction” is a point where two specific dna fragments join. for example, a junction exists where insert dna joins flanking dna. a junction point also exists in a transformed organism where two dna fragments join together in a manner that is modified from that found in the native organism. as used herein, “junction dna” refers to dna that comprises a junction point. non-limiting examples of junction dna from the dp-098140-6 event set are forth in seq id no: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 48, 49, or 50 or variants and fragments thereof. a dp-098140-6 plant can be bred by first sexually crossing a first parental maize plant grown from the transgenic dp-098140-6 maize plant (or progeny thereof derived from transformation with the expression cassettes of the embodiments of the present invention that confer herbicide tolerance) and a second parental maize plant that lacks the herbicide tolerance phenotype, thereby producing a plurality of first progeny plants; and then selecting a first progeny plant that displays the desired herbicide tolerance; and selfing the first progeny plant, thereby producing a plurality of second progeny plants; and then selecting from the second progeny plants which display the desired herbicide tolerance. these steps can further include the back-crossing of the first herbicide tolerant progeny plant or the second herbicide tolerant progeny plant to the second parental maize plant or a third parental maize plant, thereby producing a maize plant that displays the desired herbicide tolerance. it is further recognized that assaying progeny for phenotype is not required. various methods and compositions, as disclosed elsewhere herein, can be used to detect and/or identify the dp-098140-6 event. two different transgenic plants can also be sexually crossed to produce offspring that contain two independently segregating added, exogenous genes. selfing of appropriate progeny can produce plants that are homozygous for both added, exogenous genes. back-crossing to a parental plant and out-crossing with a non-transgenic plant are also contemplated, as is vegetative propagation. descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used for different traits and crops can be found in one of several references, e.g., fehr, in breeding methods for cultivar development, wilcos j. ed., american society of agronomy, madison wis. (1987). the term “germplasm” refers to an individual, a group of individuals, or a clone representing a genotype, variety, species or culture, or the genetic material thereof. a “line” or “strain” is a group of individuals of identical parentage that are generally inbred to some degree and that are generally isogenic or near isogenic. inbred maize lines are typically developed for use in the production of maize hybrids and for use as germplasm in breeding populations for the creation of new and distinct inbred maize lines. inbred maize lines are often used as targets for the introgression of novel traits through traditional breeding and/or molecular introgression techniques. inbred maize lines need to be highly homogeneous, homozygous and reproducible to be useful as parents of commercial hybrids. many analytical methods are available to determine the homozygosity and phenotypic stability of inbred lines. the phrase “hybrid plants” refers to plants which result from a cross between genetically different individuals. the term “crossed” or “cross” in the context of this invention means the fusion of gametes, e.g., via pollination to produce progeny (i.e., cells, seeds, or plants) in the case of plants. the term encompasses both sexual crosses (the pollination of one plant by another) and, in the case of plants, selfing (self-pollination, i.e., when the pollen and, ovule are from the same plant). the term “introgression” refers to the transmission of a desired allele of a genetic locus from one genetic background to another. in one method, the desired alleles can be introgressed through a sexual cross between two parents, wherein at least one of the parents has the desired allele in its genome. in some embodiments, the polynucleotide conferring the maize dp-098140-6 event of the invention are engineered into a molecular stack. in other embodiments, the molecular stack further comprises at least one additional polynucleotide that confers tolerance to a 3 rd herbicide. in one embodiment, the sequence confers tolerance to glufosinate, and in a specific embodiment, the sequence comprises pat gene. in other embodiments, the maize dp-098140-6 event of the invention comprise one or more traits of interest, and in more specific embodiments, the plant is stacked with any combination of polynucleotide sequences of interest in order to create plants with a desired combination of traits. a trait, as used herein, refers to the phenotype derived from a particular sequence or groups of sequences. for example, herbicide-tolerance polynucleotides may be stacked with any other polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having pesticidal and/or insecticidal activity, such as bacillus thuringiensis toxic proteins (described in u.s. pat. nos. 5,366,892; 5,747,450; 5,737,514; 5,723,756; 5,593,881; geiser et al. (1986) gene 48: 109; lee et al. (2003) appl. environ. microbiol. 69: 4648-4657 (vip3a); galitzky et al. (2001) acta crystallogr. d. biol. crystallogr. 57: 1101-1109 (cry3bb1); and herman et al. (2004) j. agric. food chem. 52: 2726-2734 (cry1f)), lectins (van damme et al. (1994) plant mol. biol. 24: 825, pentin (described in u.s. pat. no. 5,981,722), and the like. the combinations generated can also include multiple copies of any one of the polynucleotides of interest. in some embodiments, maize dp-098140-6 event may be stacked with other herbicide-tolerance traits to create a transgenic plant of the invention with further improved properties. other herbicide-tolerance polynucleotides that could be used in such embodiments include those conferring tolerance to glyphosate or to als inhibitors by other modes of action, such as, for example, a gene that encodes a glyphosate oxido-reductase enzyme as described more fully in u.s. pat. nos. 5,776,760 and 5,463,175. other traits that could be combined with the maize dp-098140-6 events include those derived from polynucleotides that confer on the plant the capacity to produce a higher level of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (epsps), for example, as more fully described in u.s. pat. nos. 6,248,876 b1; 5,627,061; 5,804,425; 5,633,435; 5,145,783; 4,971,908; 5,312,910; 5,188,642; 4,940,835; 5,866,775; 6,225,114 b1; 6,130,366; 5,310,667; 4,535,060; 4,769,061; 5,633,448; 5,510,471; re. 36,449; re 37,287 e; and 5,491,288; and international publications wo 97/04103; wo 00/66746; wo 01/66704; and wo 00/66747. other traits that could be combined with the maize dp-098140-6 event include those conferring tolerance to sulfonylurea and/or imidazolinone, for example, as described more fully in u.s. pat. nos. 5,605,011; 5,013,659; 5,141,870; 5,767,361; 5,731,180; 5,304,732; 4,761,373; 5,331,107; 5,928,937; and 5,378,824; and international publication wo 96/33270. in some embodiments, the maize dp-098140-6 event may be stacked with, for example, hydroxyphenylpyruvatedioxygenases which are enzymes that catalyze the reaction in which para-hydroxyphenylpyruvate (hpp) is transformed into homogentisate. molecules which inhibit this enzyme and which bind to the enzyme in order to inhibit transformation of the hpp into homogentisate are useful as herbicides. traits conferring tolerance to such herbicides in plants are described in u.s. pat. nos. 6,245,968 b1; 6,268,549; and 6,069,115; and international publication wo 99/23886. other examples of suitable herbicide-tolerance traits that could be stacked with the maize dp-098140-6 event include aryloxyalkanoate dioxygenase polynucleotides (which reportedly confer tolerance to 2,4-d and other phenoxy auxin herbicides as well as to aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides as described, for example, in wo2005/107437) and dicamba-tolerance polynucleotides as described, for example, in herman et al. (2005) j. biol. chem. 280: 24759-24767. other examples of herbicide-tolerance traits that could be combined with the maize dp-098140-6 event include those conferred by polynucleotides encoding an exogenous phosphinothricin acetyltransferase, as described in u.s. pat. nos. 5,969,213; 5,489,520; 5,550,318; 5,874,265; 5,919,675; 5,561,236; 5,648,477; 5,646,024; 6,177,616; and 5,879,903. plants containing an exogenous phosphinothricin acetyltransferase can exhibit improved tolerance to glufosinate herbicides, which inhibit the enzyme glutamine synthase. other examples of herbicide-tolerance traits that could be combined with the maize dp-098140-6 event include those conferred by polynucleotides conferring altered protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) activity, as described in u.s. pat. nos. 6,288,306 b1; 6,282,837 b1; and 5,767,373; and international publication wo 01/12825. plants containing such polynucleotides can exhibit improved tolerance to any of a variety of herbicides which target the protox enzyme (also referred to as “protox inhibitors”). other examples of herbicide-tolerance traits that could be combined with the maize dp-098140-6 event include those conferring tolerance to at least one herbicide in a plant such as, for example, a maize plant or horseweed. herbicide-tolerant weeds are known in the art, as are plants that vary in their tolerance to particular herbicides. see, e.g., green and williams (2004) “correlation of corn ( zea mays ) inbred response to nicosulfuron and mesotrione,” poster presented at the wssa annual meeting in kansas city, missouri, feb. 9-12, 2004; green (1998) weed technology 12: 474-477; green and ulrich (1993) weed science 41: 508-516. the trait(s) responsible for these tolerances can be combined by breeding or via other methods with the maize dp-098140-6 event to provide a plant of the invention as well as methods of use thereof. the maize dp-098140-6 event can also be combined with at least one other trait to produce plants of the present invention that further comprise a variety of desired trait combinations including, but not limited to, traits desirable for animal feed such as high oil content (e.g., u.s. pat. no. 6,232,529); balanced amino acid content (e.g., hordothionins (u.s. pat. nos. 5,990,389; 5,885,801; 5,885,802; and 5,703,409; u.s. pat. no. 5,850,016); barley high lysine (williamson et al. (1987) eur. j. biochem. 165: 99-106; and wo 98/20122) and high methionine proteins (pedersen et al. (1986) j. biol. chem. 261: 6279; kirihara et al. (1988) gene 71: 359; and musumura et al. (1989) plant mol. biol. 12:123)); increased digestibility (e.g., modified storage proteins (u.s. application ser. no. 10/053,410, filed nov. 7, 2001); and thioredoxins (u.s. application ser. no. 10/005,429, filed dec. 3, 2001)); the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. desired trait combinations also include llnc (low linolenic acid content; see, e.g., dyer et al. (2002) appl. microbiol. biotechnol. 59: 224-230) and olch (high oleic acid content; see, e.g., fernandez-moya et al. (2005) j. agric. food chem. 53: 5326-5330). the maize dp-098140-6 event can also be combined with other desirable traits such as, for example, fumonisim detoxification genes (u.s. pat. no. 5,792,931), avirulence and disease resistance genes (jones et al. (1994) science 266: 789; martin et al. (1993) science 262: 1432; mindrinos et al. (1994) cell 78: 1089), and traits desirable for processing or process products such as modified oils (e.g., fatty acid desaturase genes (u.s. pat. no. 5,952,544; wo 94/11516)); modified starches (e.g., adpg pyrophosphorylases (agpase), starch synthases (ss), starch branching enzymes (sbe), and starch debranching enzymes (sdbe)); and polymers or bioplastics (e.g., u.s. pat. no. 5,602,321; beta-ketothiolase, polyhydroxybutyrate synthase, and acetoacetyl-coa reductase (schubert et al. (1988) j. bacteriol. 170:5837-5847) facilitate expression of polyhydroxyalkanoates (phas)); the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. one could also combine herbicide-tolerant polynucleotides with polynucleotides providing agronomic traits such as male sterility (e.g., see u.s. pat. no. 5.583,210), stalk strength, flowering time, or transformation technology traits such as cell cycle regulation or gene targeting (e.g., wo 99/61619, wo 00/17364, and wo 99/25821); the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. in another embodiment, the maize dp-098140-6 event can also be combined with the rcg1 sequence or biologically active variant or fragment thereof. the rcg1 sequence is an anthracnose stalk rot resistance gene in corn. see, for example, u.s. patent application ser. no. 11/397,153, 11/397,275, and 11/397,247, each of which is herein incorporated by reference. these stacked combinations can be created by any method including, but not limited to, breeding plants by any conventional methodology, or genetic transformation. if the sequences are stacked by genetically transforming the plants, the polynucleotide sequences of interest can be combined at any time and in any order. the traits can be introduced simultaneously in a co-transformation protocol with the polynucleotides of interest provided by any combination of transformation cassettes. for example, if two sequences will be introduced, the two sequences can be contained in separate transformation cassettes (trans) or contained on the same transformation cassette (cis). expression of the sequences can be driven by the same promoter or by different promoters. in certain cases, it may be desirable to introduce a transformation cassette that will suppress the expression of the polynucleotide of interest. this may be combined with any combination of other suppression cassettes or overexpression cassettes to generate the desired combination of traits in the plant. it is further recognized that polynucleotide sequences can be stacked at a desired genomic location using a site-specific recombination system. see, for example, wo99/25821, wo99/25854, wo99/25840, wo99/25855, and wo99/25853, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. as used herein, the use of the term “polynucleotide” is not intended to limit the present invention to polynucleotides comprising dna. those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that polynucleotides, can comprise ribonucleotides and combinations of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. such deoxyribonucleotides and ribonucleotides include both naturally occurring molecules and synthetic analogues. the polynucleotides of the invention also encompass all forms of sequences including, but not limited to, single-stranded forms, double-stranded forms, hairpins, stem-and-loop structures, and the like. a dp-098140-6 plant comprises an expression cassette having a glyphosate acetyltransferase polynucleotide and a genetically modified acetolactate synthase gene (zm-hra). the cassette can include 5′ and 3′ regulatory sequences operably linked to the glyat and the zm-hra polynucleotides. “operably linked” is intended to mean a functional linkage between two or more elements. for example, an operable linkage between a polynucleotide of interest and a regulatory sequence (i.e., a promoter) is functional link that allows for the expression of the polynucleotide of interest. operably linked elements may be contiguous or non-contiguous. when used to refer to the joining of two protein coding regions, by operably linked it is intended that the coding regions are in the same reading frame. the cassette may additionally contain at least one additional gene to be cotransformed into the organism. alternatively, the additional gene(s) can be provided on multiple expression cassettes. such an expression cassette is provided with a plurality of restriction sites and/or recombination sites for insertion of the polynucleotide to be under the transcriptional regulation of the regulatory regions. the expression cassette may additionally contain selectable marker genes. the expression cassette can include in the 5′-3′ direction of transcription, a transcriptional and translational initiation region (i.e., a promoter), a coding region, and a transcriptional and translational termination region functional in plants. “promoter” refers to a nucleotide sequence capable of controlling the expression of a coding sequence or functional rna. in general, a coding sequence is located 3′ to a promoter sequence. the promoter sequence can comprise proximal and more distal upstream elements, the latter elements are often referred to as enhancers. accordingly, an “enhancer” is a nucleotide sequence that can stimulate promoter activity and may be an innate element of the promoter or a heterologous element inserted to enhance the level or tissue-specificity of a promoter. promoters may be derived in their entirety from a native gene, or be composed of different elements derived from different promoters found in nature, or even comprise synthetic nucleotide segments. it is understood by those skilled in the art that different promoters may direct the expression of a gene in different tissues or cell types, or at different stages of development, or in response to different environmental conditions. promoters that cause a nucleic acid fragment to be expressed in most cell types at most times are commonly referred to as “constitutive promoters”. new promoters of various types useful in plant cells are constantly being discovered; numerous examples may be found in the compilation by okamuro and goldberg (1989) biochemistry of plants 15: 1-82. it is further recognized that since in most cases the exact boundaries of regulatory sequences have not been completely defined, nucleic acid fragments of different lengths may have identical promoter activity. the expression cassettes may also contain 5′ leader sequences. such leader sequences can act to enhance translation. the regulatory regions (i.e., promoters, transcriptional regulatory regions, rna processing or stability regions, introns, polyadenylation signals, transcriptional termination regions, and translational termination regions) and/or the coding region may be native/analogous or heterologous to the host cell or to each other. the “translation leader sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequence located between the promoter sequence of a gene and the coding sequence. the translation leader sequence is present in the fully processed mrna upstream of the translation start sequence. the translation leader sequence may affect numerous parameters including, processing of the primary transcript to mrna, mrna stability and/or translation efficiency. examples of translation leader sequences have been described (turner and foster (1995) mol. biotechnol. 3: 225-236). the “3′ non-coding sequences” refer to nucleotide sequences located downstream of a coding sequence and include polyadenylation recognition sequences and other sequences encoding regulatory signals capable of affecting mrna processing or gene expression. the polyadenylation signal is usually characterized by affecting the addition of polyadenylic acid tracts to the 3′ end of the mrna precursor. the use of different 3′ non-coding sequences is exemplified by ingelbrecht et al. (1989) plant cell 1: 671-680. as used herein, “heterologous” in reference to a sequence is a sequence that originates from a foreign species, or, if from the same species, is substantially modified from its native form in composition and/or genomic locus by deliberate human intervention. for example, a promoter operably linked to a heterologous polynucleotide is from a species different from the species from which the polynucleotide was derived, or, if from the same/analogous species, one or both are substantially modified from their original form and/or genomic locus, or the promoter is not the native promoter for the operably linked polynucleotide. in preparing the expression cassette, the various dna fragments may be manipulated, so as to provide for the dna sequences in the proper orientation and, as appropriate, in the proper reading frame. toward this end, adapters or linkers may be employed to join the dna fragments or other manipulations may be involved to provide for convenient restriction sites, removal of superfluous dna, removal of restriction sites, or the like. for this purpose, in vitro mutagenesis, primer repair, restriction, annealing, resubstitutions, e.g., transitions and transversions, may be involved. the expression cassette can also comprise a selectable marker gene for the selection of transformed cells. selectable marker genes are utilized for the selection of transformed cells or tissues. isolated polynucleotides are provided that can be used in various methods for the detection and/or identification of the maize dp-098140-6 event. an “isolated” or “purified” polynucleotide, or biologically active portion thereof, is substantially or essentially free from components that normally accompany or interact with the polynucleotide as found in its naturally occurring environment. thus, an isolated or purified polynucleotide is substantially free of other cellular material or culture medium when produced by recombinant techniques, or substantially free of chemical precursors or other chemicals when chemically synthesized. optimally, an “isolated” polynucleotide is free of sequences (optimally protein encoding sequences) that naturally flank the polynucleotide (i.e., sequences located at the 5′ and 3′ ends of the polynucleotide) in the genomic dna of the organism from which the polynucleotide is derived. for example, in various embodiments, the isolated polynucleotide can contain less than about 5 kb, 4 kb, 3 kb, 2 kb, 1 kb, 0.5 kb, or 0.1 kb of nucleotide sequence that naturally flank the polynucleotide in genomic dna of the cell from which the polynucleotide is derived. in specific embodiments, the polynucleotides of the invention comprise the junction dna sequence set forth in seq id no: 5 or 6. in other embodiments, the polynucleotides of the invention comprise the junction dna sequences set forth in seq id no: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 48, 49, or 50 or variants and fragments thereof. in specific embodiments, methods of detection described herein amplify a polynucleotide comprising the junction of the dp-098140-6 specific event. fragments and variants of junction dna sequences are suitable for discriminatively identifying event dp-098140-6. as discussed elsewhere herein, such sequences find use as primers and/or probes. in other embodiments, the polynucleotides of the invention comprise polynucleotides that can detect a dp-098140-6 event or a dp-098140-6 specific region. such sequences include any polynucleotide set forth in seq id nos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 or variants and fragments thereof. fragments and variants of polynucleotides that detect a dp-098140-6 event or a dp-098140-6 specific region are suitable for discriminatively identifying event dp-098140-6. as discussed elsewhere herein, such sequences find use as primers and/or probes. further provided are isolated dna nucleotide primer sequences comprising or consisting of a sequence set forth in seq id no: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, or a complement thereof. “variants” is intended to mean substantially similar sequences. for polynucleotides, a variant comprises a polynucleotide having deletions (i.e., truncations) at the 5′ and/or 3′ end; deletion and/or addition of one or more nucleotides at one or more internal sites in the native polynucleotide; and/or substitution of one or more nucleotides at one or more sites in the native polynucleotide. as used herein, a “probe” is an isolated polynucleotide to which is attached a conventional detectable label or reporter molecule, e.g., a radioactive isotope, ligand, chemiluminescent agent, enzyme, etc. such a probe is complementary to a strand of a target polynucleotide, in the case of the present invention, to a strand of isolated dna from maize event dp-098140-6 whether from a maize plant or from a sample that includes dna from the event. probes according to the present invention include not only deoxyribonucleic or ribonucleic acids but also polyamides and other probe materials that can specifically detect the presence of the target dna sequence. as used herein, “primers” are isolated polynucleotides that are annealed to a complementary target dna strand by nucleic acid hybridization to form a hybrid between the primer and the target dna strand, then extended along the target dna strand by a polymerase, e.g., a dna polymerase. primer pairs of the invention refer to their use for amplification of a target polynucleotide, e.g., by the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) or other conventional nucleic-acid amplification methods. “pcr” or “polymerase chain reaction” is a technique used for the amplification of specific dna segments (see, u.s. pat. nos. 4,683,195 and 4,800,159; herein incorporated by reference). any combination of primers (i.e., seq id no: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56) disclosed herein can be used such that the pair allows for the detection of a dp-098140-6 event or specific region. non-limiting examples of primer pairs include seq id nos: 13 and 14; seq id nos: 15 and 16; seq id nos: 17 and 18; seq id no: 20 and 21; seq id no:51 and 52; and, seq id no:54 and 55. probes and primers are of sufficient nucleotide length to bind to the target dna sequence and specifically detect and/or identify a polynucleotide having a dp-098140-6 event. it is recognized that the hybridization conditions or reaction conditions can be determined by the operator to achieve this result. this length may be of any length that is of sufficient length to be useful in a detection method of choice. generally, 8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 nucleotides or more, or between about 11-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-100, 100-200, 200-300, 300-400, 400-500, 500-600, 600-700, 700-800, or more nucleotides in length are used. such probes and primers can hybridize specifically to a target sequence under high stringency hybridization conditions. probes and primers according to embodiments of the present invention may have complete dna sequence identity of contiguous nucleotides with the target sequence, although probes differing from the target dna sequence and that retain the ability to specifically detect and/or identify a target dna sequence may be designed by conventional methods. accordingly, probes and primers can share about 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or greater sequence identity or complementarity to the target polynucleotide (i.e., seq id no: 1-57), or can differ from the target sequence (i.e.,. seq id no: 1-57) by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more nucleotides. probes can be used as primers, but are generally designed to bind to the target dna or rna and are not used in an amplification process. in one non-limiting embodiment, a probe can comprises a polynucleotide encoding the glyat4621 or the zm-hra sequence or any variant or fragment of these sequences. specific primers can be used to amplify an integration fragment to produce an amplicon that can be used as a “specific probe” or can itself be detected for identifying event dp-098140-6 in biological samples. alternatively, a probe of the invention can be used during the pcr reaction to allow for the detection of the amplification event (i.e., a taqman™ probe or an mgb probe, so called real-time pcr). when the probe is hybridized with the polynucleotides of a biological sample under conditions which allow for the binding of the probe to the sample, this binding can be detected and thus allow for an indication of the presence of event dp-098140-6 in the biological sample. such identification of a bound probe has been described in the art. in an embodiment of the invention, the specific probe is a sequence which, under optimized condition, hybridizes specifically to a region within the 5′ or 3′ flanking region of the event and also comprises a part of the foreign dna contiguous therewith. the specific probe may comprise a sequence of at least 80%, between 80 and 85%, between 85 and 90%, between 90 and 95%, and between 95 and 100% identical (or complementary) to a specific region of the dp-098140-6 event. as used herein, “amplified dna” or “amplicon” refers to the product of polynucleotide amplification of a target polynucleotide that is part of a nucleic acid template. for example, to determine whether a maize plant resulting from a sexual cross contains the dp-098140-6 event, dna extracted from the maize plant tissue sample may be subjected to a polynucleotide amplification method using a dna primer pair that includes a first primer derived from flanking sequence adjacent to the insertion site of inserted heterologous dna, and a second primer derived from the inserted heterologous dna to produce an amplicon that is diagnostic for the presence of the dp-098140-6 event dna. in specific embodiments, the amplicon comprises a dp-098140-6 junction polynucleotide (i.e., seq id no: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 48, 49, or 50). by “diagnostic” for a dp-098140-6 event the use of any method or assay which discriminates between the presence or the absence of a dp-098140-6 event in a biological sample is intended. alternatively, the second primer may be derived from the flanking sequence. in still other embodiments, primer pairs can be derived from flanking sequence on both sides of the inserted dna so as to produce an amplicon that includes the entire insert polynucleotide of the expression construct as well as the sequence flanking the transgenic insert. see, fig. 2 . the amplicon is of a length and has a sequence that is also diagnostic for the event (i.e., has a junction dna from a dp-098140-6 event). the amplicon may range in length from the combined length of the primer pairs plus one nucleotide base pair to any length of amplicon producible by a dna amplification protocol. a member of a primer pair derived from the flanking sequence may be located a distance from the inserted dna sequence, this distance can range from one nucleotide base pair up to the limits of the amplification reaction, or about twenty thousand nucleotide base pairs. the use of the term “amplicon” specifically excludes primer dimers that may be formed in the dna thermal amplification reaction. methods for preparing and using probes and primers are described, for example, in molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, 2.sup.nd ed, vol. 1-3, ed. sambrook et al., cold spring harbor laboratory press, cold spring harbor, n.y. 1989 (hereinafter, “sambrook et al., 1989”); current protocols in molecular biology, ed. ausubel et al., greene publishing and wiley-interscience, new york, 1992 (with periodic updates) (hereinafter, “ausubel et al., 1992”); and innis et al., pcr protocols: a guide to methods and applications, academic press: san diego, 1990. pcr primer pairs can be derived from a known sequence, for example, by using computer programs intended for that purpose such as the pcr primer analysis tool in vector nti version 6 (informax inc., bethesda md.); primerselect (dnastar inc., madison, wis.); and primer (version 0.5.copyrgt., 1991, whitehead institute for biomedical research, cambridge, mass.). additionally, the sequence can be visually scanned and primers manually identified using guidelines known to one of skill in the art. it is to be understood that as used herein the term “transgenic” includes any cell, cell line, callus, tissue, plant part, or plant, the genotype of which has been altered by the presence of a heterologous nucleic acid including those transgenics initially so altered as well as those created by sexual crosses or asexual propagation from the initial transgenic. the term “transgenic” as used herein does not encompass the alteration of the genome (chromosomal or extra-chromosomal) by conventional plant breeding methods or by naturally occurring events such as random cross-fertilization, non-recombinant viral infection, non-recombinant bacterial transformation, non-recombinant transposition, or spontaneous mutation. “transformation” refers to the transfer of a nucleic acid fragment into the genome of a host organism, resulting in genetically stable inheritance. host organisms containing the transformed nucleic acid fragments are referred to as “transgenic” organisms. examples of methods of plant transformation include agrobacterium-mediated transformation (de blaere et al. (1987) meth. enzymol. 143: 277) and particle-accelerated or “gene gun” transformation technology (klein et al. (1987) nature (london) 327: 70-73; u.s. pat. no. 4,945,050, incorporated herein by reference). additional transformation methods are disclosed below. thus, isolated polynucleotides of the invention can be incorporated into recombinant constructs, typically dna constructs, which are capable of introduction into and replication in a host cell. such a construct can be a vector that includes a replication system and sequences that are capable of transcription and translation of a polypeptide-encoding sequence in a given host cell. a number of vectors suitable for stable transfection of plant cells or for the establishment of transgenic plants have been described in, e.g., pouwels et al. (1985; supp. 1987) cloning vectors: a laboratory manual, weissbach and weissbach (1989) methods for plant molecular biology (academic press, new york); and flevin et al. (1990) plant molecular biology manual (kluwer academic publishers). typically, plant expression vectors include, for example, one or more cloned plant genes under the transcriptional control of 5′ and 3′ regulatory sequences and a dominant selectable marker. such plant expression vectors also can contain a promoter regulatory region (e.g., a regulatory region controlling inducible or constitutive, environmentally- or developmentally-regulated, or cell- or tissue-specific expression), a transcription initiation start site, a ribosome binding site, an rna processing signal, a transcription termination site, and/or a polyadenylation signal. various methods and compositions for identifying event dp-098140-6 are provided. such methods find use in identifying and/or detecting a dp-098140-6 event in any biological material. such methods include, for example, methods to confirm seed purity and methods for screening seeds in a seed lot for a dp-098140-6 event. in one embodiment, a method for identifying event dp-098140-6 in a biological sample is provided and comprises contacting the sample with a first and a second primer; and, amplifying a polynucleotide comprising a dp-098140-6 specific region. a biological sample can comprise any sample in which one desires to determine if dna having event dp-098140-6 is present. for example, a biological sample can comprise any plant material or material comprising or derived from a plant material such as, but not limited to, food or feed products. as used herein, “plant material” refers to material which is obtained or derived from a plant or plant part. in specific embodiments, the biological sample comprises a maize tissue. primers and probes based on the flanking dna and insert sequences disclosed herein can be used to confirm (and, if necessary, to correct) the disclosed sequences by conventional methods, e.g., by re-cloning and sequencing such sequences. the polynucleotide probes and primers of the present invention specifically detect a target dna sequence. any conventional nucleic acid hybridization or amplification method can be used to identify the presence of dna from a transgenic event in a sample. by “specifically detect” it is intended that the polynucleotide can be used either as a primer to amplify a dp-098140-6 specific region or the polynucleotide can be used as a probe that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a polynucleotide from a dp-098140-6 event. the level or degree of hybridization which allows for the specific detection of a dp-098140-6 event or a specific region of a dp-098140-6 event is sufficient to distinguish the polynucleotide with the dp-098140-6 specific region from a polynucleotide lacking this region and thereby allow for discriminately identifying a dp-098140-6 event. by “shares sufficient sequence identity or complentarity to allow for the amplification of a dp-098140-6 specific event” is intended the sequence shares at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or 100% identity or complementarity to a fragment or across the full length of the polynucleotide from the dp-098140-6 specific region. regarding the amplification of a target polynucleotide (e.g., by pcr) using a particular amplification primer pair, “stringent conditions” are conditions that permit the primer pair to hybridize to the target polynucleotide to which one primer having the corresponding wild-type sequence (or its complement) and another primer having the corresponding dp-098140-6 inserted dna sequence would bind and preferably to produce an identifiable amplification product (the amplicon) having a dp-098140-6 specific region in a dna thermal amplification reaction. in a pcr approach, oligonucleotide primers can be designed for use in pcr reactions to amplify a dp-098140-6 specific region. methods for designing pcr primers and pcr cloning are generally known in the art and are disclosed in sambrook et al. (1989) molecular cloning: a laboratory manual (2d ed., cold spring harbor laboratory press, plainview, n.y.). see also innis et al., eds. (1990) pcr protocols: a guide to methods and applications (academic press, new york); innis and gelfand, eds. (1995) pcr strategies (academic press, new york); and innis and gelfand, eds. (1999) pcr methods manual (academic press, new york). methods of amplification are further described in u.s. pat. nos. 4,683,195, 4,683,202 and chen et al. (1994) pnas 91:5695-5699. these methods as well as other methods known in the art of dna amplification may be used in the practice of the embodiments of the present invention. it is understood that a number of parameters in a specific pcr protocol may need to be adjusted to specific laboratory conditions and may be slightly modified and yet allow for the collection of similar results. these adjustments will be apparent to a person skilled in the art. the amplified polynucleotide (amplicon) can be of any length that allows for the detection of the dp-098140-6 event or a dp-098140-6 specific region. for example, the amplicon can be about 10, 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, 700, 100, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 nucleotides in length or longer. in specific embodiments, the specific region of the dp-098140-6 event is detected. any primer can be employed in the methods of the invention that allows a dp-098140-6 specific region to be amplified and/or detected. for example, in specific embodiments, the first primer comprises a fragment of a polynucleotide of seq id no: 1, 2, or 46, wherein the first or the second primer shares sufficient sequence identity or complementarity to the polynucleotide to amplify the dp-098140-6 specific region. the primer pair can comprise a fragment of seq id no: 1 and a fragment of seq id no: 2, 3, 46, or 47; or alternatively, the primer pair can comprise a fragment of seq id no: 2 or 46 and a fragment of seq id no: 3, 47, or 1. in still further embodiments, the first and the second primer can comprise any one or any combination of the sequences set forth in seq id no: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56. the primers can be of any length sufficient to amplify a dp-098140-6 specific region including, for example, at least 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 15, or 30 or about 7-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-25, 25-30, 30-35, 35-40, 40-45 nucleotides or longer. as discussed elsewhere herein, any method to pcr amplify the dp-098140-6 event or specific region can be employed, including for example, real time pcr. see, for example, livak et al. (1995a) oligonucleotides with fluorescent dyes at opposite ends provide a quenched probe system for detecting pcr product and nucleic acid hybridization. pcr methods and applications. 4:357-362; u.s. pat. no. 5,538,848; u.s. pat. no. 5,723,591; applied biosystems user bulletin no. 2, “relative quantitation of gene expression,” p/n 4303859; and, applied biosystems user bulletin no: 5, “multiplex pcr with taqman vic probes,” p/n 4306236; each of which is herein incorporated by reference. thus, in specific embodiments, a method of detecting the presence of maize event dp-098140-6 or progeny thereof in a biological sample is provided. the method comprises (a) extracting a dna sample from the biological sample; (b) providing a pair of dna primer molecules, including, but not limited to, any combination of sequences in seq id no: 13-21, 25-30, 34-45, 51-56, including for example, i) the sequences of seq id no:13 and seq id no:14, ii) the sequences of seq id no:15 and seq id no:16; iii) the sequences of seq id no:17 and seq id no:18; iv) the sequences of seq id no: 20 and 21; (v) the sequences of seq id no:51 and 52; and, (vi) seq id no:54 and 55; (c) providing dna amplification reaction conditions; (d) performing the dna amplification reaction, thereby producing a dna amplicon molecule; and (e) detecting the dna amplicon molecule, wherein the detection of said dna amplicon molecule in the dna amplification reaction indicates the presence of maize event dp-098140-6. in order for a nucleic acid molecule to serve as a primer or probe it needs only be sufficiently complementary in sequence to be able to form a stable double-stranded structure under the particular solvent and salt concentrations employed. in hybridization techniques, all or part of a polynucleotide that selectively hybridizes to a target polynucleotide having a dp-098140-6 specific event is employed. by “stringent conditions” or “stringent hybridization conditions” when referring to a polynucleotide probe conditions under which a probe will hybridize to its target sequence to a detectably greater degree than to other sequences (e.g., at least 2-fold over background) are intended. regarding the amplification of a target polynucleotide (e.g., by pcr) using a particular amplification primer pair, “stringent conditions” are conditions that permit the primer pair to hybridize to the target polynucleotide to which one primer having the corresponding wild-type sequence and another primer having the corresponding dp-098140-6 inserted dna sequence. stringent conditions are sequence-dependent and will be variable in different circumstances. by controlling the stringency of the hybridization and/or washing conditions, target sequences that are 100% complementary to the probe can be identified (homologous probing). alternatively, stringency conditions can be adjusted to allow some mismatching in sequences so that lower degrees of identity are detected (heterologous probing). generally, a probe is less than about 1000 nucleotides in length or less than 500 nucleotides in length. as used herein, a substantially identical or complementary sequence is a polynucleotide that will specifically hybridize to the complement of the nucleic acid molecule to which it is being compared under high stringency conditions. appropriate stringency conditions which promote dna hybridization, for example, 6× sodium chloride/sodium citrate (ssc) at about 45° c., followed by a wash of 2×ssc at 50° c., are known to those skilled in the art or can be found in current protocols in molecular biology, john wiley & sons, n.y. (1989), 6.3.1-6.3.6. typically, stringent conditions for hybridization and detection will be those in which the salt concentration is less than about 1.5 m na ion, typically about 0.01 to 1.0 m na ion concentration (or other salts) at ph 7.0 to 8.3 and the temperature is at least about 30° c. for short probes (e.g., 10 to 50 nucleotides) and at least about 60° c. for long probes (e.g., greater than 50 nucleotides). stringent conditions may also be achieved with the addition of destabilizing agents such as formamide. exemplary low stringency conditions include hybridization with a buffer solution of 30 to 35% formamide, 1 m nacl, 1% sds (sodium dodecyl sulphate) at 37° c., and a wash in 1× to 2×ssc (20×ssc=3.0 m nacl/0.3 m trisodium citrate) at 50 to 55° c. exemplary moderate stringency conditions include hybridization in 40 to 45% formamide, 1.0 m nacl, 1% sds at 37° c., and a wash in 0.5× to 1×ssc at 55 to 60° c. exemplary high stringency conditions include hybridization in 50% formamide, 1 m nacl, 1% sds at 37° c., and a wash in 0.1×ssc at 60 to 65° c. optionally, wash buffers may comprise about 0.1% to about 1% sds. duration of hybridization is generally less than about 24 hours, usually about 4 to about 12 hours. the duration of the wash time will be at least a length of time sufficient to reach equilibrium. in hybridization reactions, specificity is typically the function of post-hybridization washes, the critical factors being the ionic strength and temperature of the final wash solution. for dna-dna hybrids, the t m , can be approximated from the equation of meinkoth and wahl (1984) anal. biochem. 138:267-284: t m =81.5° c.+16.6(log m)+0.41(% gc)−0.61(% form)−500/l; where m is the molarity of monovalent cations, % gc is the percentage of guanosine and cytosine nucleotides in the dna, % form is the percentage of formamide in the hybridization solution, and l is the length of the hybrid in base pairs. the t m is the temperature (under defined ionic strength and ph) at which 50% of a complementary target sequence hybridizes to a perfectly matched probe. t m is reduced by about 1° c. for each i% of mismatching; thus, t m , hybridization, and/or wash conditions can be adjusted to hybridize to sequences of the desired identity. for example, if sequences with ≧90% identity are sought, the t m can be decreased 10° c. generally, stringent conditions are selected to be about 5° c. lower than the thermal melting point (t m ) for the specific sequence and its complement at a defined ionic strength and ph. however, severely stringent conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 1, 2, 3, or 4° c. lower than the thermal melting point (t m ); moderately stringent conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10° c. lower than the thermal melting point (t m ); low stringency conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, or 20° c. lower than the thermal melting point (t m ). using the equation, hybridization and wash compositions, and desired t m , those of ordinary skill will understand that variations in the stringency of hybridization and/or wash solutions are inherently described. if the desired degree of mismatching results in a t m of less than 45° c. (aqueous solution) or 32° c. (formamide solution), it is optimal to increase the ssc concentration so that a higher temperature can be used. an extensive guide to the hybridization of nucleic acids is found in tijssen (1993) laboratory techniques in biochemistry and molecular biology—hybridization with nucleic acid probes, part i, chapter 2 (elsevier, new york); and ausubel et al., eds. (1995) current protocols in molecular biology, chapter 2 (greene publishing and wiley-interscience, new york). see sambrook et al. (1989) molecular cloning: a laboratory manual (2d ed., cold spring harbor laboratory press, plainview, n.y.) and haymes et al. (1985) in: nucleic acid hybridization, a practical approach, irl press, washington, d.c. a polynucleotide is said to be the “complement” of another polynucleotide if they exhibit complementarity. as used herein, molecules are said to exhibit “complete complementarity” when every nucleotide of one of the polynucleotide molecules is complementary to a nucleotide of the other. two molecules are said to be “minimally complementary” if they can hybridize to one another with sufficient stability to permit them to remain annealed to one another under at least conventional “low-stringency” conditions. similarly, the molecules are said to be “complementary” if they can hybridize to one another with sufficient stability to permit them to remain annealed to one another under conventional “high-stringency” conditions. further provided are methods of detecting the presence of dna corresponding to the dp-098140-6 event in a sample. in one embodiment, the method comprises (a) contacting the biological sample with a polynucleotide probe that hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions with dna from maize event dp-098140-6 and specifically detects the dp-098140-6 event; (b) subjecting the sample and probe to stringent hybridization conditions; and (c) detecting hybridization of the probe to the dna, wherein detection of hybridization indicates the presence of the dp-098140-6 event. various methods can be used to detect the dp-098140-6 specific region or amplicon thereof, including, but not limited to, genetic bit analysis (nikiforov et al. (1994) nucleic acid res. 22: 4167-4175) where a dna oligonucleotide is designed which overlaps both the adjacent flanking dna sequence and the inserted dna sequence. the oligonucleotide is immobilized in wells of a microwell plate. following pcr of the region of interest (using one primer in the inserted sequence and one in the adjacent flanking sequence) a single-stranded pcr product can be annealed to the immobilized oligonucleotide and serve as a template for a single base extension reaction using a dna polymerase and labeled ddntps specific for the expected next base. readout may be fluorescent or elisa-based. a signal indicates presence of the insert/flanking sequence due to successful amplification, hybridization, and single base extension. another detection method is the pyrosequencing technique as described by winge ((2000) innov. pharma. tech. 00: 18-24). in this method, an oligonucleotide is designed that overlaps the adjacent dna and insert dna junction. the oligonucleotide is annealed to a single-stranded pcr product from the region of interest (one primer in the inserted sequence and one in the flanking sequence) and incubated in the presence of a dna polymerase, atp, sulfurylase, luciferase, apyrase, adenosine 5′ phosphosulfate and luciferin. dntps are added individually and the incorporation results in a light signal which is measured. a light signal indicates the presence of the transgene insert/flanking sequence due to successful amplification, hybridization, and single or multi-base extension. fluorescence polarization as described by chen et al. ((1999) genome res. 9: 492-498) is also a method that can be used to detect an amplicon of the invention. using this method, an oligonucleotide is designed which overlaps the flanking and inserted dna junction. the oligonucleotide is hybridized to a single-stranded pcr product from the region of interest (one primer in the inserted dna and one in the flanking dna sequence) and incubated in the presence of a dna polymerase and a fluorescent-labeled ddntp. single base extension results in incorporation of the ddntp. incorporation can be measured as a change in polarization using a fluorometer. a change in polarization indicates the presence of the transgene insert/flanking sequence due to successful amplification, hybridization, and single base extension. taqman® (pe applied biosystems, foster city, calif.) is described as a method of detecting and quantifying the presence of a dna sequence and is fully understood in the instructions provided by the manufacturer. briefly, a fret oligonucleotide probe is designed which overlaps the flanking and insert dna junction. the fret probe and pcr primers (one primer in the insert dna sequence and one in the flanking genomic sequence) are cycled in the presence of a thermostable polymerase and dntps. hybridization of the fret probe results in cleavage and release of the fluorescent moiety away from the quenching moiety on the fret probe. a fluorescent signal indicates the presence of the flanking/transgene insert sequence due to successful amplification and hybridization. molecular beacons have been described for use in sequence detection as described in tyangi et al. ((1996) nature biotech. 14: 303-308). briefly, a fret oligonucleotide probe is designed that overlaps the flanking and insert dna junction. the unique structure of the fret probe results in it containing secondary structure that keeps the fluorescent and quenching moieties in close proximity. the fret probe and pcr primers (one primer in the insert dna sequence and one in the flanking sequence) are cycled in the presence of a thermostable polymerase and dntps. following successful pcr amplification, hybridization of the fret probe to the target sequence results in the removal of the probe secondary structure and spatial separation of the fluorescent and quenching moieties. a fluorescent signal results. a fluorescent signal indicates the presence of the flanking/transgene insert sequence due to successful amplification and hybridization. a hybridization reaction using a probe specific to a sequence found within the amplicon is yet another method used to detect the amplicon produced by a pcr reaction. as used herein, “kit” refers to a set of reagents for the purpose of performing the method embodiments of the invention, more particularly, the identification and/or the detection of the dp-098140-6 event in biological samples. the kit of the invention can be used, and its components can be specifically adjusted, for purposes of quality control (e.g. purity of seed lots), detection of event dp-098140-6 in plant material, or material comprising or derived from plant material, such as but not limited to food or feed products. in specific embodiments, a kit for identifying event dp-098140-6 in a biological sample is provided. the kit comprises a first and a second primer, wherein the first and second primer amplify a polynucleotide comprising a dp-098140-6 specific region. in further embodiments, the kit also comprises a polynucleotide for the detection of the dp-098140-6 specific region. the kit can comprise, for example, a first primer comprising a fragment of a polynucleotide of seq id no: 1, 2, 3, 46, 47, or 48, wherein the first or the second primer shares sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to the polynucleotide to amplify said dp-098140-6 specific region. for example, in specific embodiments, the first primer comprises a fragment of a polynucleotide of seq id no:1, 2, 3, 46, 47 or 48, wherein the first or the second primer shares sufficient sequence homology or complementarity to the polynucleotide to amplify the dp-098140-6 specific region. the primer pair can comprise a fragment of seq id no: 1 and a fragment of seq id no: 2, 3, 46, or 47 or alternatively, the primer pair can comprises a fragment of seq id no: 2 or 46 and a fragment of seq id no:3, 47, or 1. in still further embodiments, the first and the second primer can comprise any one or any combination of the sequences set forth in seq id no:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56. the primers can be of any length sufficient to amplify the dp-098140-6 region including, for example, at least 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 15, or 30 or about 7-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-25, 25-30, 30-35, 35-40, 40-45 nucleotides or longer. in one embodiment, the primer comprises a fragment of seq id no: 24. the fragment can comprise 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or greater consecutive nucleotides of seq id no: 24. in other embodiments, seq id no: 24 or a fragment thereof can be used as a probe. such fragments can be used as a probe having at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, or 170 or greater consecutive nucleotides of seq id no:24. in other embodiments, a probe comprising seq id no: 24 is used. further provided are dna detection kits comprising at least one polynucleotide that can specifically detect a dp-098140-6 specific region or insert dna, wherein said polynucleotide comprises at least one dna molecule of a sufficient length of contiguous nucleotides homologous or complementary to seq id no: 1, 2, 3, 24, 47, 31-33, or 57. in specific embodiments, the dna detection kit comprises a polynucleotide having seq id no: 5 or 6 or comprises a sequence which hybridizes with sequences selected from the group consisting of: a) the sequences of seq id no: 1 and seq id no: 3 or 47; and, b) the sequences of seq id no:2 or 46 and seq id no: 3 or 47. any of the polynucleotides and fragments and variants thereof employed in the methods and compositions of the invention can share sequence identity to a region of the transgene insert of the dp-098140-6 event, a junction sequence of the dp-098140-6 event or a flanking sequence of the dp-098140-6 event. methods to determine the relationship of various sequences are known. as used herein, “reference sequence” is a defined sequence used as a basis for sequence comparison. a reference sequence may be a subset or the entirety of a specified sequence; for example, as a segment of a full-length cdna or gene sequence, or the complete cdna or gene sequence. as used herein, “comparison window” makes reference to a contiguous and specified segment of a polynucleotide sequence, wherein the polynucleotide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) compared to the reference sequence (which does not comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignment of the two polynucleotides. generally, the comparison window is at least 20 contiguous nucleotides in length, and optionally can be 30, 40, 50, 100, or longer. those of skill in the art understand that to avoid a high similarity to a reference sequence due to inclusion of gaps in the polynucleotide sequence a gap penalty is typically introduced and is subtracted from the number of matches. methods of alignment of sequences for comparison are well known in the art. thus, the determination of percent sequence identity between any two sequences can be accomplished using a mathematical algorithm. non-limiting examples of such mathematical algorithms are the algorithm of myers and miller (1988) cabios 4:11-17; the local alignment algorithm of smith et al. (1981) adv. appl. math. 2:482; the global alignment algorithm of needleman and wunsch (1970) j. mol. biol. 48:443-453; the search-for-local alignment method of pearson and lipman (1988) proc. natl. acad. sci. 85:2444-2448; the algorithm of karlin and altschul (1990) proc. natl. acad. sci. usa 872264, modified as in karlin and altschul (1993) proc. natl. acad. sci. usa 90:5873-5877. computer implementations of these mathematical algorithms can be utilized for comparison of sequences to determine sequence identity. such implementations include, but are not limited to: clustal in the pc/gene program (available from intelligenetics, mountain view, california); the align program (version 2.0) and gap, bestfit, blast, fasta, and tfasta in the gcg wisconsin genetics software package, version 10 (available from accelrys inc., 9685 scranton road, san diego, calif., usa). alignments using these programs can be performed using the default parameters. the clustal program is well described by higgins et al. (1988) gene 73:237-244 (1988); higgins et al. (1989) cabios 5:151-153; corpet et al. (1988) nucleic acids res. 16:10881-90; huang et al. (1992) cabios 8:155-65; and pearson et al. (1994) meth. mol. biol. 24:307-331. the align program is based on the algorithm of myers and miller (1988) supra. a pam 120 weight residue table, a gap length penalty of 12, and a gap penalty of 4 can be used with the align program when comparing amino acid sequences. the blast programs of altschul et al (1990) j. mol. biol. 215:403 are based on the algorithm of karlin and altschul (1990) supra. blast nucleotide searches can be performed with the blastn program, score=100, wordlength=12, to obtain nucleotide sequences homologous to a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein of the invention. blast protein searches can be performed with the blastx program, score=50, wordlength=3, to obtain amino acid sequences homologous to a protein or polypeptide of the invention. to obtain gapped alignments for comparison purposes, gapped blast (in blast 2.0) can be utilized as described in altschul et al. (1997) nucleic acids res. 25:3389. alternatively, psi-blast (in blast 2.0) can be used to perform an iterated search that detects distant relationships between molecules. see altschul et al. (1997) supra. when utilizing blast, gapped blast, psi-blast, the default parameters of the respective programs (e.g., blastn for nucleotide sequences, blastx for proteins) can be used. see www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. alignment may also be performed manually by inspection. unless otherwise stated, sequence identity/similarity values provided herein refer to the value obtained using gap version 10 using the following parameters: % identity and % similarity for a nucleotide sequence using gap weight of 50 and length weight of 3, and the nwsgapdna.cmp scoring matrix; % identity and % similarity for an amino acid sequence using gap weight of 8 and length weight of 2, and the blosum62 scoring matrix; or any equivalent program thereof by “equivalent program” any sequence comparison program that, for any two sequences in question, generates an alignment having identical nucleotide or amino acid residue matches and an identical percent sequence identity when compared to the corresponding alignment generated by gap version 10 is intended. gap uses the algorithm of needleman and wunsch (1970) j. mol. biol. 48:443-453, to find the alignment of two complete sequences that maximizes the number of matches and minimizes the number of gaps. gap considers all possible alignments and gap positions and creates the alignment with the largest number of matched bases and the fewest gaps. it allows for the provision of a gap creation penalty and a gap extension penalty in units of matched bases. gap must make a profit of gap creation penalty number of matches for each gap it inserts. if a gap extension penalty greater than zero is chosen, gap must, in addition, make a profit for each gap inserted of the length of the gap times the gap extension penalty. default gap creation penalty values and gap extension penalty values in version 10 of the gcg wisconsin genetics software package for protein sequences are 8 and 2, respectively. for nucleotide sequences the default gap creation penalty is 50 while the default gap extension penalty is 3. the gap creation and gap extension penalties can be expressed as an integer selected from the group of integers consisting of from 0 to 200. thus, for example, the gap creation and gap extension penalties can be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 or greater. gap presents one member of the family of best alignments. there may be many members of this family, but no other member has a better quality. gap displays four figures of merit for alignments: quality, ratio, identity, and similarity. the quality is the metric maximized in order to align the sequences. ratio is the quality divided by the number of bases in the shorter segment. percent identity is the percent of the symbols that actually match. percent similarity is the percent of the symbols that are similar. symbols that are across from gaps are ignored. a similarity is scored when the scoring matrix value for a pair of symbols is greater than or equal to 0.50, the similarity threshold. the scoring matrix used in version 10 of the gcg wisconsin genetics software package is blosum62 (see henikoff and henikoff (1989) proc. natl. acad. sci. usa 89:10915). as used herein, “sequence identity” or “identity” in the context of two polynucleotides or polypeptide sequences makes reference to the residues in the two sequences that are the same when aligned for maximum correspondence over a specified comparison window. when percentage of sequence identity is used in reference to proteins it is recognized that residue positions which are not identical often differ by conservative amino acid substitutions, where amino acid residues are substituted for other amino acid residues with similar chemical properties (e.g., charge or hydrophobicity) and therefore do not change the functional properties of the molecule. when sequences differ in conservative substitutions, the percent sequence identity may be adjusted upwards to correct for the conservative nature of the substitution. sequences that differ by such conservative substitutions are said to have “sequence similarity” or “similarity”. means for making this adjustment are well known to those of skill in the art. typically this involves scoring a conservative substitution as a partial rather than a full mismatch, thereby increasing the percentage sequence identity. thus, for example, where an identical amino acid is given a score of 1 and a non-conservative substitution is given a score of zero, a conservative substitution is given a score between zero and 1. the scoring of conservative substitutions is calculated, e.g., as implemented in the program pc/gene (intelligenetics, mountain view, calif.). as used herein, “percentage of sequence identity” means the value determined by comparing two optimally aligned sequences over a comparison window, wherein the portion of the polynucleotide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) as compared to the reference sequence (which does not comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignment of the two sequences. the percentage is calculated by determining the number of positions at which the identical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs in both sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the window of comparison, and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity. the present invention provides methods for controlling weeds in an area of cultivation, preventing the development or the appearance of herbicide resistant weeds in an area of cultivation, producing a crop, and increasing crop safety. the term “controlling,” and derivations thereof, for example, as in “controlling weeds” refers to one or more of inhibiting the growth, germination, reproduction, and/or proliferation of; and/or killing, removing, destroying, or otherwise diminishing the occurrence and/or activity of a weed. as used herein, an “area of cultivation” comprises any region in which one desires to grow a plant. such areas of cultivations include, but are not limited to, a field in which a plant is cultivated (such as a crop field, a sod field, a tree field, a managed forest, a field for culturing fruits and vegetables, etc), a greenhouse, a growth chamber, etc. the methods of the invention comprise planting the area of cultivation with the maize dp-098140-6 seeds or plants, and in specific embodiments, applying to the crop, seed, weed or area of cultivation thereof an effective amount of a herbicide of interest. it is recognized that the herbicide can be applied before or after the crop is planted in the area of cultivation. such herbicide applications can include an application of glyphosate, an als inhibitor chemistry, or any combination thereof. in specific embodiments, a mixture of an als inhibitor chemistry in combination with glyphosate is applied to the maize dp-098140-6, wherein the effective concentration of at least the als inhibitor chemistry would significantly damage an appropriate control plant. in one non-limiting embodiment, the herbicide comprises at least one of a sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone; a triazolopyrimidine; a pyrimidinyl(thio)benzoate; an imidazolinone; a triazine; and/or a phosphinic acid. in another non-limiting embodiment, the combination of herbicides comprises glyphosate, imazapyr, chlorimuron-ethyl, quizalo fop, and fomesafen, wherein an effective amount is tolerated by the crop and controls weeds. as disclosed elsewhere herein, any effective amount of these herbicides can be applied. in specific embodiments, this combination of herbicides comprises an effective amount of glyphosate comprising about 1110 to about 1130 g ai/hectare; an effective amount of imazapyr comprising about 7.5 to about 27.5 g ai/hectare; an effective amount of chlorimuron-ethyl comprising about 7.5 to about 27.5 g ai/hectare; an effective amount of quizalofop comprising about 50 to about 70 g ai/hectare; and, an effective amount of fomesafen comprising about 240 to about 260 g ai/hectare. in other embodiments, a combination of at least two herbicides are applied, wherein the combination does not include glyphosate. in other embodiments, at least one als inhibitor and glyphosate is applied to the plant. more details regarding the various herbicide combinations that can be employed in the methods of the invention are discussed elsewhere herein. in one embodiment, the method of controlling weeds comprises planting the area with the dp-098140-6 maize seeds or plants and applying to the crop, crop part, seed of said crop or the area under cultivation, an effective amount of a herbicide, wherein said effective amount comprises i) an amount that is not tolerated by a first control crop when applied to the first control crop, crop part, seed or the area of cultivation, wherein said first control crop expresses a first glyat polynucleotide that confers tolerance to glyphosate and does not express a second polynucleotide that encodes the zm-hra polypeptide; ii) an amount that is not tolerated by a second control crop when applied to the second crop, crop part, seed or the area of cultivation, wherein said second control crop expresses the zm-hra polynucleotide and does not express the glyat polynucleotide; and, iii) an amount that is tolerated when applied to the dp-098140-6 maize crop, crop part, seed, or the area of cultivation thereof. the herbicide can comprise a combination of herbicides that either includes or does not include glyphosate. in specific embodiments, the combination of herbicides comprises als inhibitor chemistries as discussed in further detail below. in another embodiment, the method of controlling weeds comprises planting the area with a dp-098140-6 maize crop seed or plant and applying to the crop, crop part, seed of said crop or the area under cultivation, an effective amount of a herbicide, wherein said effective amount comprises a level that is above the recommended label use rate for the crop, wherein said effective amount is tolerated when applied to the dp-098140-6 maize crop, crop part, seed, or the area of cultivation thereof. the herbicide applied can comprise a combination of herbicides that either includes or does not include glyphosate. in specific embodiments, the combination of herbicides comprises at least one als inhibitor chemistries as discussed in further detail below. further herbicides and combinations thereof that can be employed in the various methods of the invention are discussed in further detail below. a “control” or “control plant” or “control plant cell” provides a reference point for measuring changes in phenotype of the subject plant or plant cell, and may be any suitable plant or plant cell. a control plant or plant cell may comprise, for example: (a) a wild-type plant or cell, i.e., of the same genotype as the starting material for the genetic alteration which resulted in the subject plant or cell; (b) a plant or plant cell of the same genotype as the starting material but which has been transformed with a null construct (i.e., with a construct which has no known effect on the trait of interest, such as a construct comprising a marker gene); (c) a plant or plant cell which is a non-transformed segregant among progeny of a subject plant or plant cell; (d) a plant or plant cell which is genetically identical to the subject plant or plant cell but which is not exposed to the same treatment (e.g., herbicide treatment) as the subject plant or plant cell; (e) the subject plant or plant cell itself, under conditions in which the gene of interest is not expressed; or (f) the subject plant or plant cell itself, under conditions in which it has not been exposed to a particular treatment such as, for example, a herbicide or combination of herbicides and/or other chemicals. in some instances, an appropriate control plant or control plant cell may have a different genotype from the subject plant or plant cell but may share the herbicide-sensitive characteristics of the starting material for the genetic alteration(s) which resulted in the subject plant or cell (see, e.g., green (1998) weed technology 12: 474-477; green and ulrich (1993) weed science 41: 508-516. in some instances, an appropriate control maize plant is a “jack” maize plant (illinois foundation seed, champaign, illinois). in other embodiments, the null segregant can be used as a control, as they are genetically identical to dp-098140-6 with the exception of the transgenic insert dna. any herbicide can be applied to the dp-098140-6 maize crop, crop part, or the area of cultivation containing the crop plant. classifications of herbicides (i.e., the grouping of herbicides into classes and subclasses) is well-known in the art and includes classifications by hrac (herbicide resistance action committee) and wssa (the weed science society of america) (see also, retzinger and mallory-smith (1997) weed technology 11: 384-393). an abbreviated version of the hrac classification (with notes regarding the corresponding wssa group) is set forth below in table 1. herbicides can be classified by their mode of action and/or site of action and can also be classified by the time at which they are applied (e.g., preemergent or postemergent), by the method of application (e.g., foliar application or soil application), or by how they are taken up by or affect the plant. for example, thifensulfuron-methyl and tribenuron-methyl are applied to the foliage of a crop and are generally metabolized there, while rimsulfuron and chlorimuron-ethyl are generally taken up through both the roots and foliage of a plant. “mode of action” generally refers to the metabolic or physiological process within the plant that the herbicide inhibits or otherwise impairs, whereas “site of action” generally refers to the physical location or biochemical site within the plant where the herbicide acts or directly interacts. herbicides can be classified in various ways, including by mode of action and/or site of action (see, e.g., table 1). often, a herbicide-tolerance gene that confers tolerance to a particular herbicide or other chemical on a plant expressing it will also confer tolerance to other herbicides or chemicals in the same class or subclass, for example, a class or subclass set forth in table 1. thus, in some embodiments of the invention, a transgenic plant of the invention is tolerant to more than one herbicide or chemical in the same class or subclass, such as, for example, an inhibitor of ppo, a sulfonylurea, or a synthetic auxin. typically, the plants of the present invention can tolerate treatment with different types of herbicides (i.e., herbicides having different modes of action and/or different sites of action) as well as with higher amounts of herbicides than previously known plants, thereby permitting improved weed management strategies that are recommended in order to reduce the incidence and prevalence of herbicide-tolerant weeds. specific herbicide combinations can be employed to effectively control weeds. the invention thereby provides a transgenic maize plant which can be selected for use in crop production based on the prevalence of herbicide-tolerant weed species in the area where the transgenic crop is to be grown. methods are known in the art for assessing the herbicide tolerance of various weed species. weed management techniques are also known in the art, such as for example, crop rotation using a crop that is tolerant to a herbicide to which the local weed species are not tolerant. a number of entities monitor and publicly report the incidence and characteristics of herbicide-tolerant weeds, including the herbicide resistance action committee (hrac), the weed science society of america, and various state agencies (see, e.g., see, for example, herbicide tolerance scores for various broadleaf weeds from the 2004 illinois agricultural pest management handbook), and one of skill in the art would be able to use this information to determine which crop and herbicide combinations should be used in a particular location. these entities also publish advice and guidelines for preventing the development and/or appearance of and controlling the spread of herbicide tolerant weeds (see, e.g., owen and hartzler (2004), 2005 herbicide manual for agricultural professionals, pub. wc 92 revised (iowa state university extension, iowa state university of science and technology, ames, iowa); weed control for corn, maizes, and sorghum, chapter 2 of “2004 illinois agricultural pest management handbook” (university of illinois extension, university of illinois at urbana-champaign, ill.); weed control guide for field crops, msu extension bulletin e434 (michigan state university, east lansing, mich.)). table 1abbreviated version of hrac herbicide classificationi.als inhibitors (wssa group 2)a.sulfonylureas1.azimsulfuron2.chlorimuron-ethyl3.metsulfuron-methyl4.nicosulfuron5.rimsulfuron6.sulfometuron-methyl7.thifensulfuron-methyl8.tribenuron-methyl9.amidosulfuron10.bensulfuron-methyl11.chlorsulfuron12.cinosulfuron13.cyclosulfamuron14.ethametsulfuron-methyl15.ethoxysulfuron16.flazasulfuron17.flupyrsulfuron-methyl18.foramsulfuron19.imazosulfuron20.iodosulfuron-methyl21.mesosulfuron-methyl22.oxasulfuron23.primisulfuron-methyl24.prosulfuron25.pyrazosulfuron-ethyl26.sulfosulfuron27.triasulfuron28.trifloxysulfuron29.triflusulfuron-methyl30.tritosulfuron31.halosulfuron-methyl32.flucetosulfuronb.sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinones1.flucarbazone2.procarbazonec.triazolopyrimidines1.cloransulam-methyl2.flumetsulam3.diclosulam4.florasulam5.metosulam6.penoxsulam7.pyroxsulamd.pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoates1.bispyribac2.pyriftalid3.pyribenzoxim4.pyrithiobac5.pyriminobac-methyle.imidazolinones1.imazapyr2.imazethapyr3.imazaquin4.imazapic5.imazamethabenz-methyl6.imazamoxii.other herbicides--active ingredients/additional modes of actiona.inhibitors of acetyl coa carboxylase(accase) (wssa group 1)1.aryloxyphenoxypropionates (‘fops’)a.quizalofop-p-ethylb.diclofop-methylc.clodinafop-propargyld.fenoxaprop-p-ethyle.fluazifop-p-butylf.propaquizafopg.haloxyfop-p-methylh.cyhalofop-butyli.quizalofop-p-ethyl2.cyclohexanediones (‘dims’)a.alloxydimb.butroxydimc.clethodimd.cycloxydime.sethoxydimf.tepraloxydimg.tralkoxydimb.inhibitors of photosystem ii-hracgroup c1/wssa group 51.triazinesa.ametryneb.atrazinec.cyanazined.desmetrynee.dimethametrynef.prometong.prometryneh.propazinei.simazinej.simetrynek.terbumetonl.terbuthylazinem.terbutrynen.trietazine2.triazinonesa.hexazinoneb.metribuzinc.metamitron3.triazolinonea.amicarbazone4.uracilsa.bromacilb.lenacilc.terbacil5.pyridazinonesa.pyrazon6.phenyl carbamatesa.desmediphamb.phenmediphamc.inhibitors of photosystem ii--hracgroup c2/wssa group 71.ureasa.fluometuronb.linuronc.chlorobromurond.chlorotolurone.chloroxuronf.dimefurong.diuronh.ethidimuroni.fenuronj.isoproturonk.isouronl.methabenzthiazuronm.metobromuronn.metoxurono.monolinuronp.neburonq.siduronr.tebuthiuron2.amidesa.propanilb.pentanochlord.inhibitors of photosystem ii--hracgroup c3/wssa group 61.nitrilesa.bromofenoximb.bromoxynilc.ioxynil2.benzothiadiazinone (bentazon)a.bentazon3.phenylpyridazinesa.pyridateb.pyridafole.photosystem-i-electron diversion(bipyridyliums) (wssa group 22)1.diquat2.paraquatf.inhibitors of ppo (protoporphyrinogenoxidase) (wssa group 14)1.diphenylethersa.acifluorfen-nab.bifenoxc.chlomethoxyfend.fluoroglycofen-ethyle.fomesafenf.halosafeng.lactofenh.oxyfluorfen2.phenylpyrazolesa.fluazolateb.pyraflufen-ethyl3.n-phenylphthalimidesa.cinidon-ethylb.flumioxazinc.flumiclorac-pentyl4.thiadiazolesa.fluthiacet-methylb.thidiazimin5.oxadiazolesa.oxadiazonb.oxadiargyl6.triazolinonesa.carfentrazone-ethylb.sulfentrazone7.oxazolidinedionesa.pentoxazone8.pyrimidindionesa.benzfendizoneb.butafenicil9.othersa.pyrazogylb.profluazolg.bleaching: inhibition of carotenoidbiosynthesis at the phytoene desaturase step(pds) (wssa group 12)1.pyridazinonesa.norflurazon2.pyridinecarboxamidesa.diflufenicanb.picolinafen3.othersa.beflubutamidb.fluridonec.flurochloridoned.flurtamoneh.bleaching: inhibition of 4-hydroxyphenyl-pyruvate-dioxygenase (4-hppd)(wssa group 28)1.triketonesa.mesotrioneb.sulcotrionec.topremezoned.temtorione2.isoxazolesa.isoxachlortoleb.isoxaflutole3.pyrazolesa.benzofenapb.pyrazoxyfenc.pyrazolynate4.othersa.benzobicycloni.bleaching: inhibition of carotenoidbiosynthesis (unknown target) (wssa group 11and 13)1.triazoles (wssa group 11)a.amitrole2.isoxazolidinones (wssa group 13)a.clomazone3.ureasa.fluometuron3.diphenylethera.aclonifenj.inhibition of epsp synthase1.glycines (wssa group 9)a.glyphosateb.sulfosatek.inhibition of glutamine synthetase1.phosphinic acidsa.glufosinate-ammoniumb.bialaphosl.inhibition of dhp (dihydropteroate)synthase (wssa group 18)1carbamatesa.asulamm.microtubule assembly inhibition(wssa group 3)1.dinitroanilinesa.benfluralinb.butralinc.dinitramined.ethalfluraline.oryzalinf.pendimethaling.trifluralin2.phosphoroamidatesa.amiprophos-methylb.butamiphos3.pyridinesa.dithiopyrb.thiazopyr4.benzamidesa.pronamideb.tebutam5.benzenedicarboxylic acidsa.chlorthal-dimethyln.inhibition of mitosis/microtubuleorganization wssa group 23)1.carbamatesa.chlorprophamb.prophamc.carbetamideo.inhibition of cell division (inhibition ofvery long chain fatty acids as proposedmechanism; wssa group 15)1.chloroacetamidesa.acetochlorb.alachlorc.butachlord.dimethachlore.dimethanamidf.metazachlorg.metolachlorh.pethoxamidi.pretilachlorj.propachlork.propisochlorl.thenylchlor2.acetamidesa.diphenamidb.napropamidec.naproanilide3.oxyacetamidesa.flufenacetb.mefenacet4.tetrazolinonesa.fentrazamide5.othersa.anilofosb.cafenstrolec.indanofand.piperophosp.inhibition of cell wall (cellulose)synthesis1.nitriles (wssa group 20)a.dichlobenilb.chlorthiamid2.benzamides (isoxaben (wssagroup 21))a.isoxaben3.triazolocarboxamides (flupoxam)a.flupoxamq.uncoupling (membrane disruption):(wssa group 24)1.dinitrophenolsa.dnocb.dinosebc.dinoterbr.inhibition of lipid synthesis by otherthan acc inhibition1.thiocarbamates (wssa group 8)a.butylateb.cycloatec.dimepiperated.eptce.esprocarbf.molinateg.orbencarbh.pebulatei.prosulfocarbj.benthiocarbk.tiocarbazill.triallatem.vernolate2.phosphorodithioatesa.bensulide3.benzofuransa.benfuresateb.ethofumesate4.halogenated alkanoic acids(wssa group 26)a.tcab.dalaponc.flupropanates.synthetic auxins (iaa-like) (wssagroup 4)1.phenoxycarboxylic acidsa.clomepropb.2,4-dc.mecoprop2.benzoic acidsa.dicambab.chlorambenc.tba3.pyridine carboxylic acidsa.clopyralidb.fluroxypyrc.picloramd.tricyclopyr4.quinoline carboxylic acidsa.quincloracb.quinmerac5.others (benazolin-ethyl)a.benazolin-ethylt.inhibition of auxin transport1.phthalamates; semicarbazones(wssa group 19)a.naptalamb.diflufenzopyr-nau.other mechanism of action1.arylaminopropionic acidsa.flamprop-m-methyl/-isopropyl2.pyrazoliuma.difenzoquat3.organoarsenicalsa.dsmab.msma4.othersa.bromobutideb.cinmethylinc.cumylurond.dazomete.daimuron-methylf.dimurong.etobenzanidh.fosaminei.metamj.oxaziclomefonek.oleic acidl.pelargonic acidm.pyributicarb in one embodiment, one als inhibitor or at least two als inhibitors are applied to the dp-098140-6 maize crop or area of cultivation. in non-limiting embodiments, the combination of als inhibitor herbicides can include or does not include glyphosate. the als inhibitor can be applied at any effective rate that selectively controls weeds and does not significantly damage the crop. in specific embodiments, at least one als inhibitor is applied at a level that would significantly damage an appropriate control plant. in other embodiments, at least one als inhibitor is applied above the recommended label use rate for the crop. in still other embodiments, a mixture of als inhibitors is applied at a lower rate than the recommended use rate and weeds continue to be selectively controlled. herbicides that inhibit acetolactate synthase (also known as acetohydroxy acid synthase) and are therefore useful in the methods of the invention include sulfonylureas as listed in table 1, including agriculturally suitable salts (e.g., sodium salts) thereof; sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinones as listed in table 1, including agriculturally suitable salts (e.g., sodium salts) thereof; triazolopyrimidines as listed in table 1, including agriculturally suitable salts (e.g., sodium salts) thereof; pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoates as listed in table 1, including agriculturally suitable salts (e.g., sodium salts) thereof; and imidazolinones as listed in table 1, including agriculturally suitable salts (e.g., sodium salts) thereof. in some embodiments, methods of the invention comprise the use of a sulfonylurea which is not chlorimuron-ethyl, chlorsulfuron, rimsulfuron, thifensulfuron-methyl, or tribenuron-methyl. in still further methods, glyphosate, alone or in combination with another herbicide of interest, can be applied to the dp-098140-6 maize plants or their area of cultivation. non-limiting examples of glyphosate formations are set forth in table 2. in specific embodiments, the glyphosate is in the form of a salt, such as, ammonium, isopropylammonium, potassium, sodium (including sesquisodium) or trimesium (alternatively named sulfosate). in still further embodiments, a mixture of a synergistically effective amount of a combination of glyphosate and an als inhibitor (such as a sulfonylurea) is applied to the dp-098140-6 maize plants or their area of cultivation. table 2glyphosate formulations comparisons.activeacidacidingredientequivalentapply:equivalentherbicide by registeredperperft oz/pertrademarkmanufacturersaltgallongallonacreacreroundup originalmonsantoisopropylamine43320.750roundup original iimonsantoisopropylamine43320.750roundup original maxmonsantopotassium5.54.5220.773roundup ultramaxmonsantoisopropylamine53.68260.748roundup ultramax iimonsantopotassium5.54.5220.773roundup weathermaxmonsantopotassium5.54.5220.773touchdownsyngentadiammonium3.73320.750touchdown hitechsyngentapotassium6.165200.781touchdown totalsyngentapotassium5.144.17240.782durangodow agrosciencesisopropylamine5.44240.750glyphomaxdow agrosciencesisopropylamine43320.750glyphomax plusdow agrosciencesisopropylamine43320.750glyphomax xrtdow agrosciencesisopropylamine43320.750gly star plusalbaugh/agri starisopropylamine43320.750gly star 5albaugh/agri starisopropylamine5.44240.750gly star originalalbaugh/agri starisopropylamine43320.750gly-flomicro floisopropylamine43320.750creditnufarmisopropylamine43320.750credit extranufarmisopropylamine43320.750credit duonufarmisopro. +43320.750monoamm.credit duo extranufarmisopro. +43320.750monoamm.extra credit 5nufarmisopropylamine53.68260.748comerstoneagrilianceisopropylamine43320.750comerstone plusagrilianceisopropylamine43320.750glyfoscheminovaisopropylamine43320.750glyfos x-tracheminovaisopropylamine43320.750rattlerhelenaisopropylamine43320.750rattler plushelenaisopropylamine43320.750mirageuapisopropylamine43320.750mirage plusuapisopropylamine43320.750glyphosate 41%helm agro usaisopropylamine43320.750buccaneertenkozisopropylamine43320.750buccaneer plustenkozisopropylamine43320.750honchomonsantoisopropylamine43320.750honcho plusmonsantoisopropylamine43320.750gly-4univ. crop prot. alli.isopropylamine43320.750gly-4 plusuniv. crop prot. alli.isopropylamine43320.750clearout 41chemical productsisopropylamine43320.750tech.clearout 41 pluschemical productsisopropylamine43320.750tech.spitfirecontrol soultionsisopropylamine43320.750spitfire pluscontrol soultionsisopropylamine43320.750glyphosate 4farmersaver.comisopropylamine43320.750fs glyphosate plusgrowmarkisopropylamine43320.750glyphosate originalgriffin, llc.isopropylamine43320.750 thus, in some embodiments, a transgenic plant of the invention is used in a method of growing a dp-098140-6 maize crop by the application of herbicides to which the plant is tolerant. in this manner, treatment with a combination of one of more herbicides which include, but are not limited to: acetochlor, acifluorfen and its sodium salt, aclonifen, acrolein (2-propenal), alachlor, alloxydim, ametryn, amicarbazone, amidosulfuron, aminopyralid, amitrole, ammonium sulfamate, anilofos, asulam, atrazine, azimsulfuron, beflubutamid, benazolin, benazolin-ethyl, bencarbazone, benfluralin, benfuresate, bensulfuron-methyl, bensulide, bentazone, benzobicyclon, benzofenap, bifenox, bilanafos, bispyribac and its sodium salt, bromacil, bromobutide, bromofenoxim, bromoxynil, bromoxynil octanoate, butachlor, butafenacil, butamifos, butralin, butroxydim, butylate, cafenstrole, carbetamide, carfentrazone-ethyl, catechin, chlomethoxyfen, chloramben, chlorbromuron, chlorflurenol-methyl, chloridazon, chlorimuron-ethyl, chlorotoluron, chlorpropham, chlorsulfuron, chlorthal-dimethyl, chlorthiamid, cinidon-ethyl, cinmethylin, cinosulfuron, clethodim, clodinafop-propargyl, clomazone, clomeprop, clopyralid, clopyralid-olamine, cloransulam-methyl, cuh-35 (2-methoxyethyl 2-[[[4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-[(1-methyl-2-propynyl)oxy]phenyl](3-fluoro-benzoyl)amino]carbonyl]-1-cyclohexene-1-carboxylate), cumyluron, cyanazine, cycloate, cyclosulfamuron, cycloxydim, cyhalofop-butyl, 2,4-d and its butotyl, butyl, isoctyl and isopropyl esters and its dimethylammonium, diolamine and trolamine salts, daimuron, dalapon, dalapon-sodium, dazomet, 2,4-db and its dimethylammonium, potassium and sodium salts, desmedipham, desmetryn, dicamba and its diglycolammonium, dimethylammonium, potassium and sodium salts, dichlobenil, dichlorprop, diclofop-methyl, diclosulam, difenzoquat metilsulfate, diflufenican, diflufenzopyr, dimefuron, dimepiperate, dimethachlor, dimethametryn, dimethenamid, dimethenamid-p, dimethipin, dimethylarsinic acid and its sodium salt, dinitramine, dinoterb, diphenamid, diquat dibromide, dithiopyr, diuron, dnoc, endothal, eptc, esprocarb, ethalfluralin, ethametsulfuron-methyl, ethofumesate, ethoxyfen, ethoxysulfuron, etobenzanid, fenoxaprop-ethyl, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl, fentrazamide, fenuron, fenuron-tca, flamprop-methyl, flamprop-m-isopropyl, flamprop-m-methyl, flazasulfuron, florasulam, fluazifop-butyl, fluazifop-p-butyl, flucarbazone, flucetosulfuron, fluchloralin, flufenacet, flufenpyr, flufenpyr-ethyl, flumetsulam, flumiclorac-pentyl, flumioxazin, fluometuron, fluoroglycofen-ethyl, flupyrsulfuron-methyl and its sodium salt, flurenol, flurenol-butyl, fluridone, flurochloridone, fluroxypyr, flurtamone, fluthiacet-methyl, fomesafen, foramsulfuron, fosamine-ammonium, glufosinate, glufosinate-ammonium, glyphosate and its salts such as ammonium, isopropylammonium, potassium, sodium (including sesquisodium) and trimesium (alternatively named sulfosate), halosulfuron-methyl, haloxyfop-etotyl, haloxyfop-methyl, hexazinone, hok-201 (n-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-1,5-dihydro-n-(1-methylethyl)-5-oxo-1-[(tetrahydro-2h-pyran-2-yl)methyl]-4h-1,2,4-triazole-4-carboxamide), imazamethabenz-methyl, imazamox, imazapic, imazapyr, imazaquin, imazaquin-ammonium, imazethapyr, imazethapyr-ammonium, imazosulfuron, indanofan, iodosulfuron-methyl, ioxynil, ioxynil octanoate, ioxynil-sodium, isoproturon, isouron, isoxaben, isoxaflutole, isoxachlortole, lactofen, lenacil, linuron, maleic hydrazide, mcpa and its salts (e.g., mcpa-dimethylammonium, mcpa-potassium and mcpa-sodium, esters (e.g., mcpa-2-ethylhexyl, mcpa-butotyl) and thioesters (e.g., mcpa-thioethyl), mcpb and its salts (e.g., mcpb-sodium) and esters (e.g., mcpb-ethyl), mecoprop, mecoprop-p, mefenacet, mefluidide, mesosulfuron-methyl, mesotrione, metam-sodium, metamifop, metamitron, metazachlor, methabenzthiazuron, methylarsonic acid and its calcium, monoammonium, monosodium and disodium salts, methyldymron, metobenzuron, metobromuron, metolachlor, s-metholachlor, metosulam, metoxuron, metribuzin, metsulfuron-methyl, molinate, monolinuron, naproanilide, napropamide, naptalam, neburon, nicosulfuron, norflurazon, orbencarb, oryzalin, oxadiargyl, oxadiazon, oxasulfuron, oxaziclomefone, oxyfluorfen, paraquat dichloride, pebulate, pelargonic acid, pendimethalin, penoxsulam, pentanochlor, pentoxazone, perfluidone, pethoxyamid, phenmedipham, picloram, picloram-potassium, picolinafen, pinoxaden, piperofos, pretilachlor, primisulfuron-methyl, prodiamine, profoxydim, prometon, prometryn, propachlor, propanil, propaquizafop, propazine, propham, propisochlor, propoxycarbazone, propyzamide, prosulfocarb, prosulfuron, pyraclonil, pyraflufen-ethyl, pyrasulfotole, pyrazogyl, pyrazolynate, pyrazoxyfen, pyrazosulfuron-ethyl, pyribenzoxim, pyributicarb, pyridate, pyriftalid, pyriminobac-methyl, pyrimisulfan, pyrithiobac, pyrithiobac-sodium, pyroxsulam, quinclorac, quinmerac, quinoclamine, quizalo fop-ethyl, quizalofop-p-ethyl, quizalofop-p-tefuryl, rimsulfuron, sethoxydim, siduron, simazine, simetryn, sulcotrione, sulfentrazone, sulfometuron-methyl, sulfosulfuron, 2,3,6-tba, tca, tca-sodium, tebutam, tebuthiuron, tefuryltrione, tembotrione, tepraloxydim, terbacil, terbumeton, terbuthylazine, terbutryn, thenylchlor, thiazopyr, thiencarbazone, thifensulfuron-methyl, thiobencarb, tiocarbazil, topramezone, tralkoxydim, tri-allate, triasulfuron, triaziflam, tribenuron-methyl, triclopyr, triclopyr-butotyl, triclopyr-triethylammonium, tridiphane, trietazine, trifloxysulfuron, trifluralin, triflusulfuron-methyl, tritosulfuron and vernolate is disclosed. other suitable herbicides and agricultural chemicals are known in the art, such as, for example, those described in wo 2005/041654. other herbicides also include bioherbicides such as alternaria destruens simmons, colletotrichum gloeosporiodes (penz.) penz. & sacc., drechsiera monoceras (mtb-951), myrothecium verrucaria (albertini & schweinitz) ditmar: fries, phytophthora palmivora (butl.) butl. and puccinia thlaspeos schub. combinations of various herbicides can result in a greater-than-additive (i.e., synergistic) effect on weeds and/or a less-than-additive effect (i.e. safening) on crops or other desirable plants. in certain instances, combinations of glyphosate with other herbicides having a similar spectrum of control but a different mode of action will be particularly advantageous for preventing the development of resistant weeds. herbicidally effective amounts of any particular herbicide can be easily determined by one skilled in the art through simple experimentation. herbicides may be classified into groups and/or subgroups as described herein above with reference to their mode of action, or they may be classified into groups and/or subgroups in accordance with their chemical structure. sulfonamide herbicides have as an essential molecular structure feature a sulfonamide moiety (—s(o) 2 nh—). as referred to herein, sulfonamide herbicides particularly comprise sulfonylurea herbicides, sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides and triazolopyrimidine herbicides. in sulfonylurea herbicides the sulfonamide moiety is a component in a sulfonylurea bridge (—s(o) 2 nhc(o)nh(r)—). in sulfonylurea herbicides the sulfonyl end of the sulfonylurea bridge is connected either directly or by way of an oxygen atom or an optionally substituted amino or methylene group to a typically substituted cyclic or acyclic group. at the opposite end of the sulfonylurea bridge, the amino group, which may have a substituent such as methyl (r being ch 3 ) instead of hydrogen, is connected to a heterocyclic group, typically a symmetric pyrimidine or triazine ring, having one or two substituents such as methyl, ethyl, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, ethoxy, methylamino, dimethylamino, ethylamino and the halogens. in sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides, the sulfonamide moiety is a component of a sulfonylaminocarbonyl bridge (—s(o) 2 nhc(o)—). in sulfonylamino-carbonyltriazolinone herbicides the sulfonyl end of the sulfonylaminocarbonyl bridge is typically connected to substituted phenyl ring. at the opposite end of the sulfonylaminocarbonyl bridge, the carbonyl is connected to the 1-position of a triazolinone ring, which is typically substituted with groups such as alkyl and alkoxy. in triazolopyrimidine herbicides the sulfonyl end of the sulfonamide moiety is connected to the 2-position of a substituted [1,2,4]triazolopyrimidine ring system and the amino end of the sulfonamide moiety is connected to a substituted aryl, typically phenyl, group or alternatively the amino end of the sulfonamide moiety is connected to the 2-position of a substituted [1,2,4]triazolopyrimidine ring system and the sulfonyl end of the sulfonamide moiety is connected to a substituted aryl, typically pyridinyl, group. representative of the sulfonylurea herbicides useful in the present invention are those of the formula: wherein: j is selected from the group consisting of j is r 13 so 2 n(ch 3 )—;r is h or ch 3 ;r 1 is f, cl, br, no 2 , c 1 -c 4 alkyl, c 1 -c 4 haloalkyl, c 3 -c 4 cycloalkyl, c 2 -c 4 haloalkenyl, c 1 -c 4 alkoxy, c 1 -c 4 haloalkoxy, c 2 -c 4 alkoxyalkoxy, co 2 r 14 , c(o)nr 15 r 16 , so 2 nr 17 r 18 , s(o) n r 19 , c(o)r 20 , ch 2 cn or l;r 2 is h, f, cl, br, i, cn, ch 3 , och 3 , sch 3 , cf 3 or ocf 2 h;r 3 is cl, no 2 , co 2 ch 3 , co 2 ch 2 ch 3 , c(o)ch 3 , c(o)ch 2 ch 3 , c(o)-cyclopropyl, so 2 n(ch 3 ) 2 , so 2 ch 3 , so 2 ch 2 ch 3 , och 3 or och 2 ch 3 ;r 4 is c 1 -c 3 alkyl, c 1 -c 2 haloalkyl, c 1 -c 2 alkoxy, c 2 -c 4 haloalkenyl, f, cl, br, no 2 , co 2 r 14 , c(o)nr 15 r 16 , so 2 nr 17 r 18 , s(o) n r 19 , c(o)r 20 or l;r 5 is h, f, cl, br or ch 3 ;r 6 is c 1 -c 3 alkyl optionally substituted with 0-3 f, 0-1 cl and 0-1 c 3 -c 4 alkoxyacetyloxy, or r 6 is c 1 -c 2 alkoxy, c 2 -c 4 haloalkenyl, f, cl, br, co 2 r 14 , c(o)nr 15 r 16 , so 2 nr 17 r 18 , s(o) n r 19 , c(o)r 20 or l;r 7 is h, f, cl, ch 3 or cf 3 ;r 8 is h, c 1 -c 3 alkyl or pyridinyl;r 9 is c 1 -c 3 alkyl, c 1 -c 2 alkoxy, f, cl, br, no 2 , co 2 r 14 , so 2 nr 17 r 18 , s(o) n r 19 , ocf 2 h, c(o)r 20 , c 2 -c 4 haloalkenyl or l;r 10 is h, cl, f, br, c 1 -c 3 alkyl or c 1 -c 2 alkoxy;r 11 is h, c 1 -c 3 alkyl, c 1 -c 2 alkoxy, c 2 -c 4 haloalkenyl, f, cl, br, co 2 r 14 , c(o)nr 15 r 16 , so 2 nr 17 r 18 , s(o) n r 19 , c(o)r 20 or l;r 12 is halogen, c 1 -c 4 alkyl or c 1 -c 3 alkylsulfonyl;r 13 is c 1 -c 4 alkyl;r 14 is allyl, propargyl or oxetan-3-yl; or r 14 is c 1 -c 3 alkyl optionally substituted by at least one member independently selected from halogen, c 1 -c 2 alkoxy and cn;r 15 is h, c 1 -c 3 alkyl or c 1 -c 2 alkoxy;r 16 is c 1 -c 2 alkyl;r 17 is h, c 1 -c 3 alkyl, c 1 -c 2 alkoxy, allyl or cyclopropyl;r 18 is h or c 1 -c 3 alkyl;r 19 is c 1 -c 3 alkyl, c 1 -c 3 haloalkyl, allyl or propargyl;r 20 is c 1 -c 4 alkyl, c 1 -c 4 haloalkyl or c 3 -c 5 cycloalkyl optionally substituted by halogen;n is 0, 1 or 2; l is l 1 is ch 2 , nh or o;r 21 is h or c 1 -c 3 alkyl;x is h, c 1 -c 4 alkyl, c 1 -c 4 alkoxy, c 1 -c 4 haloalkoxy, c 1 -c 4 haloalkyl, c 1 -c 4 haloalkylthio, c 1 -c 4 alkylthio, halogen, c 2 -c 5 alkoxyalkyl, c 2 -c 5 alkoxyalkoxy, amino, c 1 -c 3 alkylamino or di(c 1 -c 3 alkyl)amino;y is h, c 1 -c 4 alkyl, c 1 -c 4 alkoxy, c 1 -c 4 haloalkoxy, c 1 -c 4 alkylthio, c 1 -c 4 haloalkylthio, c 2 -c 5 alkoxyalkyl, c 2 -c 5 alkoxyalkoxy, amino, c 1 -c 3 alkylamino, di(c 1 -c 3 alkyl)amino, c 3 -c 4 alkenyloxy, c 3 -c 4 alkynyloxy, c 2 -c 5 alkylthioalkyl, c 2 -c 5 alkylsulfinylalkyl, c 2 -c 5 alkylsulfonylalkyl, c 1 -c 4 haloalkyl, c 2 -c 4 alkynyl, c 3 -c 5 cycloalkyl, azido or cyano; andz is ch or n;provided that (i) when one or both of x and y is c 1 haloalkoxy, then z is ch; and (ii) when x is halogen, then z is ch and y is och 3 , och 2 ch 3 , n(och 3 )ch 3 , nhch 3 , n(ch 3 ) 2 or ocf 2 h. of note is the present single liquid herbicide composition comprising one or more sulfonylureas of formula i wherein when r 6 is alkyl, said alkyl is unsubstituted. representative of the triazolopyrimidine herbicides contemplated for use in this invention are those of the formula: wherein: r 22 and r 23 each independently halogen, nitro, c 1 -c 4 alkyl, c 1 -c 4 haloalkyl, c 1 -c 4 alkoxy, c 1 -c 4 haloalkoxy or c 2 -c 3 alkoxycarbonyl;r 24 is h, halogen, c 1 -c 2 alkyl or c 1 -c 2 alkoxy;w is —nhs(o) 2 — or —s(o) 2 nh—;y 1 is h, c 1 -c 2 alkyl or c 1 -c 2 alkoxy;y 2 is h, f, cl, br, c 1 -c 2 alkyl or c 1 -c 2 alkoxy;y 3 is h, f or methoxy;z 1 is ch or n; andz 2 is ch or n; provided that at least one of y 1 and y 2 is other than h. in the above markush description of representative triazolopyrimidine herbicides, when w is —nhs(o) 2 — the sulfonyl end of the sulfonamide moiety is connected to the [1,2,4]triazolopyrimidine ring system, and when w is —s(o) 2 nh— the amino end of the sulfonamide moiety is connected to the [1,2,4]triazolopyrimidine ring system. in the above recitations, the term “alkyl”, used either alone or in compound words such as “alkylthio” or “haloalkyl” includes straight-chain or branched alkyl, such as, methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, i-propyl, or the different butyl isomers. “cycloalkyl” includes, for example, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl and cyclopentyl. “alkenyl” includes straight-chain or branched alkenes such as ethenyl, 1-propenyl, 2-propenyl, and the different butenyl isomers. “alkenyl” also includes polyenes such as 1,2-propadienyl and 2,4-butadienyl. “alkynyl” includes straight-chain or branched alkynes such as ethynyl, 1-propynyl, 2-propynyl and the different butynyl isomers. “alkynyl” can also include moieties comprised of multiple triple bonds such as 2,5-hexadiynyl. “alkoxy” includes, for example, methoxy, ethoxy, n-propyloxy, isopropyloxy and the different butoxy isomers. “alkoxyalkyl” denotes alkoxy substitution on alkyl. examples of “alkoxyalkyl” include ch 3 och 2 , ch 3 och 2 ch 2 , ch 3 ch 2 och 2 , ch 3 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 och 2 and ch 3 ch 2 och 2 ch 2 . “alkoxyalkoxy” denotes alkoxy substitution on alkoxy. “alkenyloxy” includes straight-chain or branched alkenyloxy moieties. examples of “alkenyloxy” include h 2 c═chch 2 o, (ch 3 )ch═chch 2 o and ch 2 ═chch 2 ch 2 o. “alkynyloxy” includes straight-chain or branched alkynyloxy moieties. examples of “alkynyloxy” include hc≡cch 2 o and ch 3 c≡cch 2 o. “alkylthio” includes branched or straight-chain alkylthio moieties such as methylthio, ethylthio, and the different propylthio isomers. “alkylthioalkyl” denotes alkylthio substitution on alkyl. examples of “alkylthioalkyl” include ch 3 sch 2 , ch 3 sch 2 ch 2 , ch 3 ch 2 sch 2 , ch 3 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 sch 2 and ch 3 ch 2 sch 2 ch 2 ; “alkylsulfinylalkyl” and “alkylsulfonylalkyl” include the corresponding sulfoxides and sulfones, respectively. other substituents such as “alkylamino”, “dialkylamino” are defined analogously. the total number of carbon atoms in a substituent group is indicated by the “c i -c j ” prefix where i and j are numbers from 1 to 5. for example, c 1 -c 4 alkyl designates methyl through butyl, including the various isomers. as further examples, c 2 alkoxyalkyl designates ch 3 och 2 ; c 3 alkoxyalkyl designates, for example, ch 3 ch(och 3 ), ch 3 och 2 ch 2 or ch 3 ch 2 och 2 ; and c 4 alkoxyalkyl designates the various isomers of an alkyl group substituted with an alkoxy group containing a total of four carbon atoms, examples including ch 3 ch 2 ch 2 och 2 and ch 3 ch 2 och 2 ch 2 . the term “halogen”, either alone or in compound words such as “haloalkyl”, includes fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine. further, when used in compound words such as “haloalkyl”, said alkyl may be partially or fully substituted with halogen atoms which may be the same or different. examples of “haloalkyl” include f 3 c, clch 2 , cf 3 ch 2 and cf 3 ccl 2 . the terms “haloalkoxy”, “haloalkylthio”, and the like, are defined analogously to the term “haloalkyl”. examples of “haloalkoxy” include cf 3 o, ccl 3 ch 2 o, hcf 2 ch 2 ch 2 o and cf 3 ch 2 o. examples of “haloalkylthio” include ccl 3 s, cf 3 s, ccl 3 ch 2 s and clch 2 ch 2 ch 2 s. the following sulfonylurea herbicides illustrate the sulfonylureas useful for this invention: amidosulfuron (n-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimdinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]-sulfonyl]-n-methylmethanesulfonamide), azimsulfuron (n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]-1-methyl-4-(2-methyl-2h-tetrazol-5-yl)-1h-pyrazole-5-sulfonamide), bensulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]methyl]benzoate), chlorimuron-ethyl(ethyl 2-[[[[(4-chloro-6-methoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-benzoate), chlorsulfuron (2-chloro-n-[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]-carbonyl]benzenesulfonamide), cinosulfuron (n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]-2-(2-methoxyethoxy)benzenesulfonamide), cyclosulfamuron (n-[[[2-(cyclopropylcarbonyl)phenyl]amino]sulfonyl]-n 1 -(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)urea), ethametsulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[[4-ethoxy-6-(methylamino)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl]amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]benzoate), ethoxysulfuron (2-ethoxyphenyl [[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]sulfamate), flazasulfuron (n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]-3-(trifluoromethyl)-2-pyridinesulfonamide), flucetosulfuron (1-[3-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-2-pyridinyl]-2-fluoropropyl methoxyacetate), flupyrsulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinecarboxylate), foramsulfuron (2-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-4-(formylamino)-n,n-dimethylbenzamide), halosulfuron-methyl(methyl 3-chloro-5-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]-carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-1-methyl-1h-pyrazole-4-carboxylate), imazosulfuron (2-chloro-n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3-sulfonamide), iodosulfuron-methyl(methyl 4-iodo-2-[[[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]benzoate), mesosulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-4-[[(methylsulfonyl)-amino]methyl]benzoate), metsulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]benzoate), nicosulfuron (2-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-n,n-dimethyl-3-pyridinecarboxamide), oxasulfuron (3-oxetanyl 2-[[[[(4,6-dimethyl-2-pyrimidinyl)-amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]benzoate), primisulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[[4,6-bis(trifluoromethoxy)-2-pyrimidinyl]amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]benzoate), prosulfuron (n-[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]-2-(3,3,3-trifluoropropyl)benzenesulfonamide), pyrazosulfuron-ethyl(ethyl 5-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-1-methyl-1h-pyrazole-4-carboxylate), rimsulfuron (n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]-3-(ethylsulfonyl)-2-pyridinesulfonamide), sulfometuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[(4,6-dimethyl-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-benzoate), sulfosulfuron (n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]-2-(ethylsulfonyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-3-sulfonamide), thifensulfuron-methyl(methyl 3-[[[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-2-thiophenecarboxylate), triasulfuron (2-(2-chloroethoxy)-n-[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]benzenesulfonamide), tribenuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[n-(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-n-methylamino]carbonyl]-amino]sulfonyl]benzoate), trifloxysulfuron (n-[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]-carbonyl]-3-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)-2-pyridinesulfonamide), triflusulfuron-methyl(methyl 2-[[[[[4-dimethylamino)-6-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl]amino]-carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-3-methylbenzoate) and tritosulfuron (n-[[[4-methoxy-6-(trifluoromethyl)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl]amino]carbonyl]-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-sulfonamide). the following triazolopyrimidine herbicides illustrate the triazolopyrimidines useful for this invention: cloransulam-methyl(methyl 3-chloro-2-[[(5-ethoxy-7-fluoro-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidin-2-yl)sulfonyl]amino]benzoate, diclosulam (n-(2,6-dichlorophenyl)-5-ethoxy-7-fluoro[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidine-2-sulfonamide, florasulam (n-(2,6-difluorophenyl)-8-fluoro-5-methoxy[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidine-2-sulfonamide), flumetsulam (n-(2,6-difluorophenyl)-5-methyl[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-2-sulfonamide), metosulam (n-(2,6-dichloro-3-methylphenyl)-5,7-dimethoxy[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidine-2-sulfonamide), penoxsulam (2-(2,2-difluoroethoxy)-n-(5,8-dimethoxy[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidin-2-yl)-6-(trifluoromethyl)benzenesulfonamide) and pyroxsulam (n-(5,7-dimethoxy[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-2-yl)-2-methoxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinesulfonamide). the following sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides illustrate the sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinones useful for this invention: flucarbazone (4,5-dihydro-3-methoxy-4-methyl-5-oxo-n-[[2-(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl]sulfonyl]-1h-1,2,4-triazole-1-carboxamide) and procarbazone(methyl 2-[[[(4,5-dihydro-4-methyl-5-oxo-3-propoxy-1h-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]benzoate). additional herbicides include phenmedipham, triazolinones, and the herbicides disclosed in wo2006/012981, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. the methods further comprise applying to the crop and the weeds in a field a sufficient amount of at least one herbicide to which the crop seeds or plants is tolerant, such as, for example, glyphosate, a hydroxyphenylpyruvatedioxygenase inhibitor (e.g., mesotrione or sulcotrione), a phytoene desaturase inhibitor (e.g., diflufenican), a pigment synthesis inhibitor, sulfonamide, imidazolinone, bialaphos, phosphinothricin, azafenidin, butafenacil, sulfosate, glufosinate, triazolopyrimidine, pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoate, or sulonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone, an acetyl co-a carboxylase inhibitor such as quizalofop-p-ethyl, a synthetic auxin such as quinclorac, kih-485, or a protox inhibitor to control the weeds without significantly damaging the crop plants. generally, the effective amount of herbicide applied to the field is sufficient to selectively control the weeds without significantly affecting the crop. “weed” as used herein refers to a plant which is not desirable in a particular area. conversely, a “crop plant” as used herein refers to a plant which is desired in a particular area, such as, for example, a maize plant. thus, in some embodiments, a weed is a non-crop plant or a non-crop species, while in some embodiments, a weed is a crop species which is sought to be eliminated from a particular area, such as, for example, an inferior and/or non-transgenic maize plant in a field planted with maize event dp-098140-6, or a maize plant in a field planted with dp-098140-6. weeds can be either classified into two major groups: monocots and dicots. many plant species can be controlled (i.e., killed or damaged) by the herbicides described herein. accordingly, the methods of the invention are useful in controlling these plant species where they are undesirable (i.e., where they are weeds). these plant species include crop plants as well as species commonly considered weeds, including but not limited to species such as: blackgrass ( alopecurus myosuroides ), giant foxtail ( setaria faberi ), large crabgrass ( digitaria sanguinalis ), surinam grass ( brachiaria decumbens ), wild oat ( avena fatua ), common cocklebur ( xanthium pensylvanicum ), common lambsquarters ( chenopodium album ), morning glory ( ipomoea coccinea ), pigweed ( amaranthus spp.), velvet leaf ( abutilion theophrasti ), common barnyardgrass ( echinochloa crus - galli ), bermudagrass ( cynodon dactylon ), downy brome ( bromus tectorum ), goosegrass ( eleusine indica ), green foxtail ( setaria viridis ), italian ryegrass ( lolium multiflorum ), johnsongrass ( sorghum halepense ), lesser canarygrass ( phalaris minor ), windgrass ( apera spica - venti ), wooly cupgrass ( erichloa villosa ), yellow nutsedge ( cyperus esculentus ), common chickweed ( stellaria media ), common ragweed ( ambrosia artemisiifolia ), kochia scoparia, horseweed ( conyza canadensis ), rigid ryegrass ( lolium rigidum ), goosegrass ( eleucine indica ), hairy fleabane ( conyza bonariensis ), buckhorn plantain ( plantago lanceolata ), tropical spiderwort ( commelina benghalensis ), field bindweed ( convolvulus arvensis ), purple nutsedge ( cyperus rotundus ), redvine ( brunnichia ovata ), hemp sesbania ( sesbania exaltata ), sicklepod ( senna obtusifolia ), texas blueweed ( helianthus ciliaris ), and devil's claws ( proboscidea louisianica ). in other embodiments, the weed comprises a herbicide-resistant ryegrass, for example, a glyphosate resistant ryegrass, a paraquat resistant ryegrass, a accase-inhibitor resistant ryegrass, and a non-selective herbicide resistant ryegrass. in some embodiments, the undesired plants are proximate the crop plants. as used herein, by “selectively controlled” it is intended that the majority of weeds in an area of cultivation are significantly damaged or killed, while if crop plants are also present in the field, the majority of the crop plants are not significantly damaged. thus, a method is considered to selectively control weeds when at least 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or more of the weeds are significantly damaged or killed, while if crop plants are also present in the field, less than 45%, 40%, 35%, 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%, 5%, or 1% of the crop plants are significantly damaged or killed. in some embodiments, a maize dp-098140-6 plant of the invention is not significantly damaged by treatment with a particular herbicide applied to that plant at a dose equivalent to a rate of at least 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110, 120, 150, 170, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 800, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 or more grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) of active ingredient or commercial product or herbicide formulation per acre or per hectare, whereas an appropriate control plant is significantly damaged by the same treatment. in specific embodiments, an effective amount of an als inhibitor herbicide comprises at least about 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 600, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, or more grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) of active ingredient per hectare. in other embodiments, an effective amount of an als inhibitor comprises at least about 0.1-50, about 25-75, about 50-100, about 100-110, about 110-120, about 120-130, about 130-140, about 140-150, about 150-200, about 200-500, about 500-600, about 600-800, about 800-1000, or greater grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) of active ingredient per hectare. any als inhibitor, for example, those listed in table 1 can be applied at these levels. in other embodiments, an effective amount of a sulfonylurea comprises at least 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 5000 or more grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) of active ingredient per hectare. in other embodiments, an effective amount of a sulfonylurea comprises at least about 0.1-50, about 25-75, about 50-100, about 100-110, about 110-120, about 120-130, about 130-140, about 140-150, about 150-160, about 160-170, about 170-180, about 190-200, about 200-250, about 250-300, about 300-350, about 350-400, about 400-450, about 450-500, about 500-550, about 550-600, about 600-650, about 650-700, about 700-800, about 800-900, about 900-1000, about 1000-2000, or more grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) of active ingredient per hectare. representative sulfonylureas that can be applied at this level are set forth in table 1. in other embodiments, an effective amount of a sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinones, triazolopyrimidines, pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoates, and imidazolinones can comprise at least about 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 1050, 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250, 1300, 1350, 1400, 1500, 1550, 1600, 1650, 1700, 1800, 1850, 1900, 1950, 2000, 2500, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000 or greater grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) active ingredient per hectare. in other embodiments, an effective amount of a sulfonyluminocarbonyltriazolines, triazolopyrimidines, pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoates, &or imidazolinones comprises at least about 0.1-50, about 25-75, about 50-100, about 100-110, about 110-120, about 120-130, about 130-140, about 140-150, about 150-160, about 160-170, about 170-180, about 190-200, about 200-250, about 250-300, about 300-350, about 350-400, about 400-450, about 450-500, about 500-550, about 550-600, about 600-650, about 650-700, about 700-800, about 800-900, about 900-1000, about 1000-2000, or more grams or ounces (1 ounce=29.57 ml) active ingredient per hectare. additional ranges of the effective amounts of herbicides can be found, for example, in various publications from university extension services. see, for example, bernards et al. (2006) guide for weed management in nebraska (www.ianrpubs.url.edu/sendlt/ec130); regher et al. (2005) chemical weed control for fields crops, pastures, rangeland, and noncropland, kansas state university agricultural extension station and corporate extension service; zollinger et al. (2006) north dakota weed control guide, north dakota extension service, and the iowa state university extension at www.weeds.iastate.edu, each of which is herein incorporated by reference. in some embodiments of the invention, glyphosate is applied to an area of cultivation and/or to at least one plant in an area of cultivation at rates between 8 and 32 ounces of acid equivalent per acre, or at rates between 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30 ounces of acid equivalent per acre at the lower end of the range of application and between 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 32 ounces of acid equivalent per acre at the higher end of the range of application (1 ounce=29.57 ml). in other embodiments, glyphosate is applied at least at 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or greater ounce of active ingredient per hectare (1 ounce=29.57 ml). in some embodiments of the invention, a sulfonylurea herbicide is applied to a field and/or to at least one plant in a field at rates between 0.04 and 1.0 ounces of active ingredient per acre, or at rates between 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 ounces of active ingredient per acre at the lower end of the range of application and between 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 ounces of active ingredient per acre at the higher end of the range of application. (1 ounce=29.57 ml) as is known in the art, glyphosate herbicides as a class contain the same active ingredient, but the active ingredient is present as one of a number of different salts and/or formulations. however, herbicides known to inhibit als vary in their active ingredient as well as their chemical formulations. one of skill in the art is familiar with the determination of the amount of active ingredient and/or acid equivalent present in a particular volume and/or weight of herbicide preparation. in some embodiments, an als inhibitor herbicide is employed. rates at which the als inhibitor herbicide is applied to the crop, crop part, seed or area of cultivation can be any of the rates disclosed herein. in specific embodiments, the rate for the als inhibitor herbicide is about 0.1 to about 5000 g ai/hectare, about 0.5 to about 300 g ai/hectare, or about 1 to about 150 g ai/hectare. generally, a particular herbicide is applied to a particular field (and any plants growing in it) no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 times a year, or no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 times per growing season. by “treated with a combination of” or “applying a combination of herbicides to a crop, area of cultivation or field” it is intended that a particular field, crop or weed is treated with each of the herbicides and/or chemicals indicated to be part of the combination so that a desired effect is achieved, i.e., so that weeds are selectively controlled while the crop is not significantly damaged. in some embodiments, weeds which are susceptible to each of the herbicides exhibit damage from treatment with each of the herbicides which is additive or synergistic. the application of each herbicide and/or chemical may be simultaneous or the applications may be at different times, so long as the desired effect is achieved. furthermore, the application can occur prior to the planting of the crop. the proportions of herbicides used in the methods of the invention with other herbicidal active ingredients in herbicidal compositions are generally in the ratio of 5000:1 to 1:5000, 1000:1 to 1:1000, 100:1 to 1:100, 10:1 to 1:10 or 5:1 to 1:5 by weight. the optimum ratios can be easily determined by those skilled in the art based on the weed control spectrum desired. moreover, any combinations of ranges of the various herbicides disclosed in table 1 can also be applied in the methods of the invention. thus, in some embodiments, the invention provides improved methods for selectively controlling weeds in a field wherein the total herbicide application may be less than 90%, 85%, 80%, 75%, 70%, 65%, 60%, 55%, 50%, 45%, 40%, 35%, 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%, 5%, or 1% of that used in other methods. similarly, in some embodiments, the amount of a particular herbicide used for selectively controlling weeds in a field may be less than 90%, 85%, 80%, 75%, 70%, 65%, 60%, 55%, 50%, 45%, 40%, 35%, 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%, 5%, or 1% of the amount of that particular herbicide that would be used in other methods, i.e., methods not utilizing a plant of the invention. in some embodiments, a dp-098140-6 maize plant of the invention benefits from a synergistic effect wherein the herbicide tolerance conferred by the glyat polypeptide and the zm-hra polypeptide is greater than expected from simply combining the herbicide tolerance conferred by each gene separately to a transgenic plant containing them individually. see, e.g., mccutchen et al. (1997) j. econ. entomol. 90: 1170-1180; priesler et al. (1999) j. econ. entomol. 92: 598-603. as used herein, the terms “synergy,” “synergistic,” “synergistically” and derivations thereof, such as in a “synergistic effect” or a “synergistic herbicide combination” or a “synergistic herbicide composition” refer to circumstances under which the biological activity of a combination of herbicides, such as at least a first herbicide and a second herbicide, is greater than the sum of the biological activities of the individual herbicides. synergy, expressed in terms of a “synergy index (si),” generally can be determined by the method described by kull et al. applied microbiology 9, 538 (1961). see also colby “calculating synergistic and antagonistic responses of herbicide combinations,” weeds 15, 20-22 (1967). in other instances, the herbicide tolerance conferred on a dp-098140-6 plant of the invention is additive; that is, the herbicide tolerance profile conferred by the herbicide tolerance genes is what would be expected from simply combining the herbicide tolerance conferred by each gene separately to a transgenic plant containing them individually. additive and/or synergistic activity for two or more herbicides against key weed species will increase the overall effectiveness and/or reduce the actual amount of active ingredient(s) needed to control said weeds. where such synergy is observed, the plant of the invention may display tolerance to a higher dose or rate of herbicide and/or the plant may display tolerance to additional herbicides or other chemicals beyond those to which it would be expected to display tolerance. for example, a dp-098140-6 maize plant may show tolerance to organophosphate compounds such as insecticides and/or inhibitors of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase. thus, for example, the dp-098140-6 maize plants of the invention can exhibit greater than expected tolerance to various herbicides, including but not limited to glyphosate, als inhibitor chemistries, and sulfonylurea herbicides. the dp-098140-6 maize plant plants of the invention may show tolerance to a particular herbicide or herbicide combination that is at least 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17%, 20%, 22%, 25%, 27%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, 200%, 300%, 400%, or 500% or more higher than the tolerance of an appropriate control plant that contains only a single herbicide tolerance gene which confers tolerance to the same herbicide or herbicide combination. thus, dp-098140-6 maize plants may show decreased damage from the same dose of herbicide in comparison to an appropriate control plant, or they may show the same degree of damage in response to a much higher dose of herbicide than the control plant. accordingly, in specific embodiments, a particular herbicide used for selectively containing weeds in a field is more than 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% or greater than the amount of that particular herbicide that would be used in other methods, i.e., methods not utilizing a plant of the invention. in the same manner, in some embodiments, a dp-098140-6 maize plant of the invention shows improved tolerance to a particular formulation of a herbicide active ingredient in comparison to an appropriate control plant. herbicides are sold commercially as formulations which typically include other ingredients in addition to the herbicide active ingredient; these ingredients are often intended to enhance the efficacy of the active ingredient. such other ingredients can include, for example, safeners and adjuvants (see, e.g., green and foy (2003) “adjuvants: tools for enhancing herbicide performance,” in weed biology and management, ed. inderjit (kluwer academic publishers, the netherlands)). thus, a dp-098140-6 maize plant of the invention can show tolerance to a particular formulation of a herbicide (e.g., a particular commercially available herbicide product) that is at least 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17%, 20%, 22%, 25%, 27%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, 125%, 150%, 175%, 200%, 300%, 400%, 500%, 600%, 700%, 800%, 900%, 1000%, 1100%, 1200%, 1300%, 1400%, 1500%, 1600%, 1700%, 1800%, 1900%, or 2000% or more higher than the tolerance of an appropriate control plant that contains only a single herbicide tolerance gene which confers tolerance to the same herbicide formulation. in some embodiments, a dp-098140-6 maize plant of the invention shows improved tolerance to a herbicide or herbicide class to which at least one other herbicide tolerance gene confers tolerance as well as improved tolerance to at least one other herbicide or chemical which has a different mechanism or basis of action than either glyphosate or the herbicide corresponding to said at least one other herbicide tolerance gene. this surprising benefit of the invention finds use in methods of growing crops that comprise treatment with various combinations of chemicals, including, for example, other chemicals used for growing crops. thus, for example, a dp-098140-6 maize plant may also show improved tolerance to chlorpyrifos, a systemic organophosphate insecticide. thus, the invention also provides a dp-098140-6 maize plant that confers tolerance to glyphosate (i.e., a glyat gene) and a sulfonylurea herbicide tolerance gene which shows improved tolerance to chemicals which affect the cytochrome p450 gene, and methods of use thereof. in some embodiments, the dp-098140-6 maize plants also show improved tolerance to dicamba. in these embodiments, the improved tolerance to dicamba may be evident in the presence of glyphosate and a sulfonylurea herbicide. in other methods, a herbicide combination is applied over a dp-098140-6 maize plant, where the herbicide combination produces either an additive or a synergistic effect for controlling weeds. such combinations of herbicides can allow the application rate to be reduced, a broader spectrum of undesired vegetation to be controlled, improved control of the undesired vegetation with fewer applications, more rapid onset of the herbicidal activity, or more prolonged herbicidal activity. an “additive herbicidal composition” has a herbicidal activity that is about equal to the observed activities of the individual components. a “synergistic herbicidal combination” has a herbicidal activity higher than what can be expected based on the observed activities of the individual components when used alone. accordingly, the presently disclosed subject matter provides a synergistic herbicide combination, wherein the degree of weed control of the mixture exceeds the sum of control of the individual herbicides. in some embodiments, the degree of weed control of the mixture exceeds the sum of control of the individual herbicides by any statistically significant amount including, for example, about 1% to 5%, about 5% to about 10%, about 10% to about 20%, about 20% to about 30%, about 30% to 40%, about 40% to about 50%, about 50% to about 60%, about 60% to about 70%, about 70% to about 80%, about 80% to about 90%, about 90% to about 100%, about 100% to 120% or greater. further, a “synergistically effective amount” of a herbicide refers to the amount of one herbicide necessary to elicit a synergistic effect in another herbicide present in the herbicide composition. thus, the term “synergist,” and derivations thereof, refer to a substance that enhances the activity of an active ingredient (ai), i.e., a substance in a formulation from which a biological effect is obtained, for example, a herbicide. accordingly, in some embodiments, the presently disclosed subject matter provides a method for controlling weeds in an area of cultivation. in some embodiments, the method comprises: (a) planting the area with a dp-098140-6 crop seeds or crop plants; and (b) applying to the weed, the crop plants, a crop part, the area of cultivation, or a combination thereof, an effective amount of a herbicide composition comprising at least one of a synergistically effective amount of glyphosate and a synergistically effective amount of an als inhibitor (for example, but not limited to, a sulfonylurea herbicide), or agriculturally suitable salts thereof, wherein at least one of: (i) the synergistically effective amount of the glyphosate is lower than an amount of glyphosate required to control the weeds in the absence of the sulfonylurea herbicide; (ii) the synergistically effective amount of the als inhibitor herbicide is lower than an amount of the als inhibitor required to control the weeds in the absence of glyphosate; and (iii) combinations thereof; and wherein the effective amount of the herbicide composition is tolerated by the crop seeds or crop plants and controls the weeds in the area of cultivation. in some embodiments, the herbicide composition used in the presently disclosed method for controlling weeds comprises a synergistically effective amount of glyphosate and a sulfonylurea herbicide. in further embodiments, the presently disclosed synergistic herbicide composition comprises glyphosate and a sulfonylurea herbicide selected from the group consisting of metsulfuron-methyl, chlorsulfuron, and triasulfuron. in particular embodiments, the synergistic herbicide combination further comprises an adjuvant such as, for example, an ammonium sulfate-based adjuvant, e.g., add-up® (wenkem s. a., halfway house, midrand, south africa). in additional embodiments, the presently disclosed synergistic herbicide compositions comprise an additional herbicide, for example, an effective amount of a pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoate herbicide. in some embodiments, the pyrimidinyloxy(thio)benzoate herbicide comprises bispyribac, e.g., (velocity®, valent u.s.a. corp., walnut creek, calif., united states of america), or an agriculturally suitable salt thereof. in some embodiments of the presently disclosed method for controlling undesired plants, the glyphosate is applied pre-emergence, post-emergence or pre- and post-emergence to the undesired plants or plant crops; and/or the als inhibitor herbicide (i.e., the sulfonylurea herbicide) is applied pre-emergence, post-emergence or pre- and post-emergence to the undesired plants or plant crops. in other embodiments, the glyphosate and/or the als inhibitor herbicide (i.e., the sulfonylurea herbicide) are applied together or are applied separately. in yet other embodiments, the synergistic herbicide composition is applied, e.g. step (b) above, at least once prior to planting the crop(s) of interest, e.g., step (a) above. weeds that can be difficult to control with glyphosate alone in fields where a crop is grown (such as, for example, a maize crop) include but are not limited to the following: horseweed (e.g., conyza canadensis ); rigid ryegrass (e.g., lolium rigidum ); goosegrass (e.g., eleusine indica ); italian ryegrass (e.g., lolium multiflorum ); hairy fleabane (e.g., conyza bonariensis ); buckhorn plantain (e.g., plantago lanceolata ); common ragweed (e.g., ambrosia artemisifolia ); morning glory (e.g., ipomoea spp.); waterhemp (e.g., amaranthus spp.); field bindweed (e.g., convolvulus arvensis ); yellow nutsedge (e.g., cyperus esculentus ); common lambsquarters (e.g., chenopodium album ); wild buckwheat (e.g., polygonium convolvulus ); velvetleaf (e.g., abutilon theophrasti ); kochia (e.g., kochia scoparia ); and asiatic dayflower (e.g., commelina spp.). in areas where such weeds are found, the dp-098140-6 maizes are particularly useful in allowing the treatment of a field (and therefore any crop growing in the field) with combinations of herbicides that would cause unacceptable damage to crop plants that did not contain both of these polynucleotides. plants of the invention that are tolerant to glyphosate and other herbicides such as, for example, sulfonylurea, imidazolinone, triazolopyrimidine, pyrimidinyl(thio)benzoate, and/or sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides in addition to being tolerant to at least one other herbicide with a different mode of action or site of action are particularly useful in situations where weeds are tolerant to at least two of the same herbicides to which the plants are tolerant. in this manner, plants of the invention make possible improved control of weeds that are tolerant to more than one herbicide. for example, some commonly used treatments for weed control in fields where current commercial crops (including, for example, maizes) are grown include glyphosate and, optionally, 2,4-d; this combination, however, has some disadvantages. particularly, there are weed species that it does not control well and it also does not work well for weed control in cold weather. another commonly used treatment for weed control in maize fields is the sulfonylurea herbicide chlorimuron-ethyl, which has significant residual activity in the soil and thus maintains selective pressure on all later-emerging weed species, creating a favorable environment for the growth and spread of sulfonylurea-resistant weeds. however, the dp-098140-6 maize can be treated with herbicides (e.g., chlorimuron-ethyl) and combinations of herbicides that would cause unacceptable damage to standard plant varieties. thus, for example, fields containing the dp-098140-6 maize can be treated with sulfonylurea, imidazolinone, triazolopyrimidines, pyrimidiny(thio)benzoates, and/or sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazonlinone such as the sulfonylurea chlorimuron-ethyl, either alone or in combination with other herbicides. for example, fields containing maize plants of the invention can be treated with a combination of glyphosate and tribenuron-methyl (available commercially as express®). this combination has several advantages for weed control under some circumstances, including the use of herbicides with different modes of action and the use of herbicides having a relatively short period of residual activity in the soil. a herbicide having a relatively short period of residual activity is desirable, for example, in situations where it is important to reduce selective pressure that would favor the growth of herbicide-tolerant weeds. of course, in any particular situation where weed control is required, other considerations may be more important, such as, for example, the need to prevent the development of and/or appearance of weeds in a field prior to planting a crop by using a herbicide with a relatively long period of residual activity. the dp-098140-6 maize plants can also be treated with herbicide combinations that include at least one of nicosulfuron, metsulfuron-methyl, tribenuron-methyl, thifensulfuron-methyl, and/or rimsulfuron. treatments that include both tribenuron-methyl and thifensulfuron-methyl may be particularly useful. other commonly used treatments for weed control in fields where current commercial varieties of crops (including, for example, maizes) are grown include the sulfonylurea herbicide thifensulfuron-methyl (available commercially as harmony gt®). however, one disadvantage of thifensulfuron-methyl is that the higher application rates required for consistent weed control often cause injury to a crop growing in the same field. the dp-098140-6 maize plants can be treated with a combination of glyphosate and thifensulfuron-methyl, which has the advantage of using herbicides with different modes of action. thus, weeds that are resistant to either herbicide alone are controlled by the combination of the two herbicides, and the dp-098140-6 maize plants of the invention are not significantly damaged by the treatment. other herbicides which are used for weed control in fields where current commercial varieties of crops (including, for example, maizes) are grown are the triazolopyrimidine herbicide cloransulam-methyl (available commercially as firstrate®) and the imidazolinone herbicide imazaquin (available commercially as sceptor®). when these herbicides are used individually they may provide only marginal control of weeds. however, fields containing the dp-098140-6 maize can be treated, for example, with a combination of glyphosate (e.g., roundup® (glyphosate isopropylamine salt)), imazapyr (currently available commercially as arsenal®), chlorimuron-ethyl (currently available commercially as classic®), quizalofop-p-ethyl (currently available commercially as assure ii®), and fomesafen (currently available commercially as flexstar®). this combination has the advantage of using herbicides with different modes of action. thus, weeds that are tolerant to just one or several of these herbicides are controlled by the combination of the five herbicides, and the dp-098140-6 maizes are not significantly damaged by treatment with this herbicide combination. this combination provides an extremely broad spectrum of protection against the type of herbicide-tolerant weeds that might be expected to arise and spread under current weed control practices. fields containing the dp-098140-6 maize plants may also be treated, for example, with a combination of herbicides including glyphosate, rimsulfuron, and dicamba or mesotrione. this combination may be particularly useful in controlling weeds which have developed some tolerance to herbicides which inhibit als. another combination of herbicides which may be particularly useful for weed control includes glyphosate and at least one of the following: metsulfuron-methyl (commercially available as ally®), imazapyr (commercially available as arsenal®), imazethapyr, imazaquin, and sulfentrazone. it is understood that any of the combinations discussed above or elsewhere herein may also be used to treat areas in combination with any other herbicide or agricultural chemical. some commonly-used treatments for weed control in fields where current commercial crops (including, for example, maize) are grown include glyphosate (currently available commercially as roundup®), rimsulfuron (currently available commercially as resolve® or matrix®), dicamba (commercially available as clarity®), atrazine, and mesotrione (commercially available as callisto®). these herbicides are sometimes used individually due to poor crop tolerance to multiple herbicides. unfortunately, when used individually, each of these herbicides has significant disadvantages. particularly, the incidence of weeds that are tolerant to individual herbicides continues to increase, rendering glyphosate less effective than desired in some situations. rimsulfuron provides better weed control at high doses which can cause injury to a crop, and alternatives such as dicamba are often more expensive than other commonly-used herbicides. however, dp-098140-6 maize can be treated with herbicides and combinations of herbicides that would cause unacceptable damage to standard plant varieties, including combinations of herbicides that comprise rimsulfuron and/or dicamba. other suitable combinations of herbicides for use with dp-098140-6 maize plants of the invention include glyphosate, sulfonylurea, imidazolinone, triazolopyrimidine, pryimidinyloxy(thio)benzoates, and/or sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazonlinone herbicides, including, for example, and at least one of the following: metsulfuron-methyl, tribenuron-methyl, chlorimuron-ethyl, imazethapyr, imazapyr, and imazaquin. for example, dp-098140-6 maize plants can be treated with a combination of glyphosate and rimsulfuron, or a combination or rimsulfuron and at least one other herbicide. dp-098140-6 maize plants can also be treated with a combination of glyphosate, rimsulfuron, and dicamba, or a combination of glyphosate, rimsulfuron, and at least one other herbicide. in some embodiments, at least one other herbicide has a different mode of action than both glyphosate and rimsulfuron. the combination of glyphosate, rimsulfuron, and dicamba has the advantage that these herbicides have different modes of action and short residual activity, which decreases the risk of incidence and spread of herbicide-tolerant weeds. some commonly-used treatments for weed control in fields where current commercial crops are grown include glyphosate (currently available commercially as roundup®), chlorimuron-ethyl, tribenuron-methyl, rimsulfuron (currently available commercially as resolve® or matrix®), imazethapyr, imazapyr, and imazaquin. unfortunately, when used individually, each of these herbicides has significant disadvantages. particularly, the incidence of weeds that are tolerant to individual herbicides continues to increase, rendering each individual herbicide less effective than desired in some situations. however, dp-098140-6 maize can be treated with a combination of herbicides that would cause unacceptable damage to standard plant varieties, including combinations of herbicides that include at least one of those mentioned above. in the methods of the invention, a herbicide may be formulated and applied to an area of interest such as, for example, a field or area of cultivation, in any suitable manner. a herbicide may be applied to a field in any form, such as, for example, in a liquid spray or as solid powder or granules. in specific embodiments, the herbicide or combination of herbicides that are employed in the methods comprise a tankmix or a premix. a herbicide may also be formulated, for example, as a “homogenous granule blend” produced using blends technology (see, e.g., u.s. pat. no. 6,022,552, entitled “uniform mixtures of pesticide granules”). the blends technology of u.s. pat. no. 6,022,552 produces a nonsegregating blend (i.e., a “homogenous granule blend”) of formulated crop protection chemicals in a dry granule form that enables delivery of customized mixtures designed to solve specific problems. a homogenous granule blend can be shipped, handled, subsampled, and applied in the same manner as traditional premix products where multiple active ingredients are formulated into the same granule. briefly, a “homogenous granule blend” is prepared by mixing together at least two extruded formulated granule products. in some embodiments, each granule product comprises a registered formulation containing a single active ingredient which is, for example, a herbicide, a fungicide, and/or an insecticide. the uniformity (homogeneity) of a “homogenous granule blend” can be optimized by controlling the relative sizes and size distributions of the granules used in the blend. the diameter of extruded granules is controlled by the size of the holes in the extruder die, and a centrifugal sifting process may be used to obtain a population of extruded granules with a desired length distribution (see, e.g., u.s. pat. no. 6,270,025). a homogenous granule blend is considered to be “homogenous” when it can be subsampled into appropriately sized aliquots and the composition of each aliquot will meet the required assay specifications. to demonstrate homogeneity, a large sample of the homogenous granule blend is prepared and is then subsampled into aliquots of greater than the minimum statistical sample size. in non-limiting embodiments, the 3560.4.5.3 maize plant can be treated with herbicides (e.g., chlorimuron-ethyl and combinations of other herbicides that without the dp-098140-6 event would have caused unacceptable crop response to plant varieties without the glyphosate/als inhibitor genetics). thus, for example, fields planted with and containing dp-098140-6 maizes can be treated with sulfonylurea, imidazolinone, triazolopyrimidine, pyrimidinyl(thio)benzoate, and/or sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazonlinone herbicides, either alone or in combination with other herbicides. since als inhibitor chemistries have different herbicidal attributes, blends of als plus other chemistries will provide superior weed management strategies including varying and increased weed spectrum, the ability to provide specified residual activity (su/als inhibitor chemistry with residual activity leads to improved foliar activity which leads to a wider window between glyphosate applications, as well as, an added period of control if weather conditions prohibit timely application). blends also afford the ability to add other agrochemicals at normal, labeled use rates such as additional herbicides (a 3 rd /4 th mechanism of action), fungicides, insecticides, plant growth regulators and the like thereby saving costs associated with additional applications. any herbicide formulation applied over the dp-098140-6 maize plant can be prepared as a “tank-mix” composition. in such embodiments, each ingredient or a combination of ingredients can be stored separately from one another. the ingredients can then be mixed with one another prior to application. typically, such mixing occurs shortly before application. in a tank-mix process, each ingredient, before mixing, typically is present in water or a suitable organic solvent. for additional guidance regarding the art of formulation, see t. s. woods, “the formulator's toolbox—product forms for modern agriculture” pesticide chemistry and bioscience, the food - environment challenge, t. brooks and t. r. roberts, eds., proceedings of the 9th international congress on pesticide chemistry, the royal society of chemistry, cambridge, 1999, pp. 120-133. see also u.s. pat. no. 3,235,361, col. 6, line 16 through col. 7, line 19 and examples 10-41; u.s. pat. no. 3,309,192, col. 5, line 43 through col. 7, line 62 and examples 8, 12, 15, 39, 41, 52, 53, 58, 132, 138-140, 162-164, 166, 167 and 169-182; u.s. pat. no. 2,891,855, col. 3, line 66 through col. 5, line 17 and examples 1-4; klingman, weed control as a science, john wiley and sons, inc., new york, 1961, pp 81-96; and hance et al., weed control handbook, 8th ed., blackwell scientific publications, oxford, 1989, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. the methods of the invention further allow for the development of herbicide combinations to be used with the dp-098140-6 maize plants. in such methods, the environmental conditions in an area of cultivation are evaluated. environmental conditions that can be evaluated include, but are not limited to, ground and surface water pollution concerns, intended use of the crop, crop tolerance, soil residuals, weeds present in area of cultivation, soil texture, ph of soil, amount of organic matter in soil, application equipment, and tillage practices. upon the evaluation of the environmental conditions, an effective amount of a combination of herbicides can be applied to the crop, crop part, seed of the crop or area of cultivation. in some embodiments, the herbicide applied to the dp-098140-6 maize plants of the invention serves to prevent the initiation of growth of susceptible weeds and/or serve to cause damage to weeds that are growing in the area of interest. in some embodiments, the herbicide or herbicide mixture exert these effects on weeds affecting crops that are subsequently planted in the area of interest (i.e., field or area of cultivation). in the methods of the invention, the application of the herbicide combination need not occur at the same time. so long as the field in which the crop is planted contains detectable amounts of the first herbicide and the second herbicide is applied at some time during the period in which the crop is in the area of cultivation, the crop is considered to have been treated with a mixture of herbicides according to the invention. thus, methods of the invention encompass applications of herbicide which are “preemergent,” “postemergent,” “preplant incorporation” and/or which involve seed treatment prior to planting. in one embodiment, methods are provided for coating seeds. the methods comprise coating a seed with an effective amount of a herbicide or a combination of herbicides (as disclosed elsewhere herein). the seeds can then be planted in an area of cultivation. further provided are seeds having a coating comprising an effective amount of a herbicide or a combination of herbicides (as disclosed elsewhere herein). “preemergent” refers to a herbicide which is applied to an area of interest (e.g., a field or area of cultivation) before a plant emerges visibly from the soil. “postemergent” refers to a herbicide which is applied to an area after a plant emerges visibly from the soil. in some instances, the terms “preemergent” and “postemergent” are used with reference to a weed in an area of interest, and in some instances these terms are used with reference to a crop plant in an area of interest. when used with reference to a weed, these terms may apply to only a particular type of weed or species of weed that is present or believed to be present in the area of interest. while any herbicide may be applied in a preemergent and/or postemergent treatment, some herbicides are known to be more effective in controlling a weed or weeds when applied either preemergence or postemergence. for example, rimsulfuron has both preemergence and postemergence activity, while other herbicides have predominately preemergence (metolachlor) or postemergence (glyphosate) activity. these properties of particular herbicides are known in the art and are readily determined by one of skill in the art. further, one of skill in the art would readily be able to select appropriate herbicides and application times for use with the transgenic plants of the invention and/or on areas in which transgenic plants of the invention are to be planted. “preplant incorporation” involves the incorporation of compounds into the soil prior to planting. thus, the invention provides improved methods of growing a crop and/or controlling weeds such as, for example, “pre-planting burn down,” wherein an area is treated with herbicides prior to planting the crop of interest in order to better control weeds. the invention also provides methods of growing a crop and/or controlling weeds which are “no-till” or “low-till” (also referred to as “reduced tillage”). in such methods, the soil is not cultivated or is cultivated less frequently during the growing cycle in comparison to traditional methods; these methods can save costs that would otherwise be incurred due to additional cultivation, including labor and fuel costs. the methods of the invention encompass the use of simultaneous and/or sequential applications of multiple classes of herbicides. in some embodiments, the methods of the invention involve treating a plant of the invention and/or an area of interest (e.g., a field or area of cultivation) and/or weed with just one herbicide or other chemical such as, for example, a sulfonylurea herbicide. the time at which a herbicide is applied to an area of interest (and any plants therein) may be important in optimizing weed control. the time at which a herbicide is applied may be determined with reference to the size of plants and/or the stage of growth and/or development of plants in the area of interest, e.g., crop plants or weeds growing in the area. the stages of growth and/or development of plants are known in the art. for example, corn plants normally progress through the following vegetative stages ve (emergence); v1 (first leaf); v2 (second leaf); v3 (third leaf); v(n) (nth/leaf); and vt (tasseling). progression of maize through the reproductive phase is as follows: r1 (silking); r2 (blistering); r3 (milk); r4 (dough); r5 (dent); and r6 (physiological maturity). cotton plants normally progress through v e (emergence), v c (cotyledon), v 1 (first true leaf), and v 2 to v n . then, reproductive stages beginning around v 14 include r 1 (beginning bloom), r 2 (full bloom), r 3 (beginning boll), r 4 (cutout, boll development), r 5 (beginning maturity, first opened boll), r 6 (maturity, 50% opened boll), and r 7 (full maturity, 80-90% open bolls). thus, for example, the time at which a herbicide or other chemical is applied to an area of interest in which plants are growing may be the time at which some or all of the plants in a particular area have reached at least a particular size and/or stage of growth and/or development, or the time at which some or all of the plants in a particular area have not yet reached a particular size and/or stage of growth and/or development. in some embodiments, the dp-098140-6 maize plants of the invention show improved tolerance to postemergence herbicide treatments. for example, plants of the invention may be tolerant to higher doses of herbicide, tolerant to a broader range of herbicides (i.e., tolerance to more als inhibitor chemistries), and/or may be tolerant to doses of herbicide applied at earlier or later times of development in comparison to an appropriate control plant. for example, in some embodiments, the dp-098140-6 maize plants of the invention show an increased resistance to morphological defects that are known to result from treatment at particular stages of development. thus, for example, a phenomenon known as “ear pinch” often results when maize plants are treated with herbicide at a stage later than v5, v6, v7, v8, v9, v10, v11, v12, v13, or a later stage, whereas the glyphosate/als inhibitor-tolerant plants of the invention show a decreased incidence of “ear pinch” when treated at the same stage. thus, the glyphosate/als inhibitor-tolerant plants of the invention find use in methods involving herbicide treatments at later stages of development than were previously feasible. thus, plants of the invention may be treated with a particular herbicide that causes morphological defects in a control plant treated at the same stage of development, but the glyphosate/als inhibitor-tolerant plants of the invention will not be significantly damaged by the same treatment. different chemicals such as herbicides have different “residual” effects, i.e., different amounts of time for which treatment with the chemical or herbicide continues to have an effect on plants growing in the treated area. such effects may be desirable or undesirable, depending on the desired future purpose of the treated area (e.g., field or area of cultivation). thus, a crop rotation scheme may be chosen based on residual effects from treatments that will be used for each crop and their effect on the crop that will subsequently be grown in the same area. one of skill in the art is familiar with techniques that can be used to evaluate the residual effect of a herbicide; for example, generally, glyphosate has very little or no soil residual activity, while herbicides that act to inhibit als vary in their residual activity levels. residual activities for various herbicides are known in the art, and are also known to vary with various environmental factors such as, for example, soil moisture levels, temperature, ph, and soil composition (texture and organic matter). the dp-098140-6 maize plants find particular use in methods of growing a crop where improved tolerance to residual activity of a herbicide is beneficial. for example, in one embodiment, the dp-098140-6 maize plants have an improved tolerance to glyphosate as well as to als inhibitor chemistries (such as sulfonylurea herbicides) when applied individually, and further provide improved tolerance to combinations of herbicides such as glyphosate and/or als inhibitor chemistries. moreover, the transgenic plants of the invention provide improved tolerance to treatment with additional chemicals commonly used on crops in conjunction with herbicide treatments, such as safeners, adjuvants such as ammonium sulfonate and crop oil concentrate, and the like. the term “safener” refers to a substance that when added to a herbicide formulation eliminates or reduces the phytotoxic effects of the herbicide to certain crops. one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the choice of safener depends, in part, on the crop plant of interest and the particular herbicide or combination of herbicides included in the synergistic herbicide composition. exemplary safeners suitable for use with the presently disclosed herbicide compositions include, but are not limited to, those disclosed in u.s. pat. nos. 4,808,208; 5,502,025; 6,124,240 and u.s. patent application publication nos. 2006/0148647; 2006/0030485; 2005/0233904; 2005/0049145; 2004/0224849; 2004/0224848; 2004/0224844; 2004/0157737; 2004/0018940; 2003/0171220; 2003/0130120; 2003/0078167, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. the methods of the invention can involve the use of herbicides in combination with herbicide safeners such as benoxacor, bcs (1-bromo-4-[(chloromethyl)sulfonyl]benzene), cloquintocet-mexyl, cyometrinil, dichlormid, 2-(dichloromethyl)-2-methyl-1,3-dioxolane (mg 191), fenchlorazole-ethyl, fenclorim, flurazole, fluxofenim, furilazole, isoxadifen-ethyl, mefenpyr-diethyl, methoxyphenone ((4-methoxy-3-methylphenyl)(3-methylphenyl)-methanone), naphthalic anhydride (1,8-naphthalic anhydride) and oxabetrinil to increase crop safety. antidotally effective amounts of the herbicide safeners can be applied at the same time as the compounds of this invention, or applied as seed treatments. therefore an aspect of the present invention relates to the use of a mixture comprising glyphosate, at least one other herbicide, and an antidotally effective amount of a herbicide safener. seed treatment is particularly useful for selective weed control, because it physically restricts antidoting to the crop plants. therefore a particularly useful embodiment of the present invention is a method for selectively controlling the growth of weeds in a field comprising treating the seed from which the crop is grown with an antidotally effective amount of safener and treating the field with an effective amount of herbicide to control weeds. antidotally effective amounts of safeners can be easily determined by one skilled in the art through simple experimentation. an antidotally effective amount of a safener is present where a desired plant is treated with the safener so that the effect of a herbicide on the plant is decreased in comparison to the effect of the herbicide on a plant that was not treated with the safener; generally, an antidotally effective amount of safener prevents damage or severe damage to the plant treated with the safener. one of skill in the art is capable of determining whether the use of a safener is appropriate and determining the dose at which a safener should be administered to a crop. in specific embodiments, the herbicide or herbicide combination applied to the plant of the invention acts as a safener. in this embodiment, a first herbicide or a herbicide mixture is applied at an antidotally effect amount to the plant. accordingly, a method for controlling weeds in an area of cultivation is provided. the method comprises planting the area with crop seeds or plants which comprise a first polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide that can confer tolerance to glyphosate operably linked to a promoter active in a plant; and, a second polynucleotide encoding an als inhibitor-tolerant polypeptide operably linked to a promoter active in a plant. a combination of herbicides comprising at least an effective amount of a first and a second herbicide is applied to the crop, crop part, weed or area of cultivation thereof. the effective amount of the herbicide combination controls weeds; and, the effective amount of the first herbicide is not tolerated by the crop when applied alone when compared to a control crop that has not been exposed to the first herbicide; and, the effective amount of the second herbicide is sufficient to produce a safening effect, wherein the safening effect provides an increase in crop tolerance upon the application of the first and the second herbicide when compared to the crop tolerance when the first herbicide is applied alone. in specific embodiments, the combination of safening herbicides comprises a first als inhibitor and a second als inhibitor. in other embodiments, the safening effect is achieved by applying an effective amount of a combination of glyphosate and at least one als inhibitor chemistry. in still other embodiments, a safening affect is achieved when the dp-098140-6 maize crops, crop part, crop seed, weed, or area of cultivation is treated with at least one herbicide from the sulfonylurea family of chemistries in combination with at least one herbicide from the als family of chemistries (such as, for example, an imidazolinone). such mixtures provides increased crop tolerance (i.e., a decrease in herbicidal injury). this method allows for increased application rates of the chemistries post or pre-treatment. such methods find use for increased control of unwanted or undesired vegetation. in still other embodiments, a safening affect is achieved when the dp-098140-6 maize crops, crop part, crop seed, weed, or area of cultivation is treated with at least one herbicide from the sulfonylurea family of chemistry in combination with at least one herbicide from the imidazolinone family. this method provides increased crop tolerance (i.e., a decrease in herbicidal injury). in specific embodiments, the sulfonylurea comprises rimsulfuron and the imidazolinone comprises imazethapyr. in other embodiments, glyphosate is also applied to the crop, crop part, or area of cultivation. as used herein, an “adjuvant” is any material added to a spray solution or formulation to modify the action of an agricultural chemical or the physical properties of the spray solution. see, for example, green and foy (2003) “adjuvants: tools for enhancing herbicide performance,” in weed biology and management, ed. inderjit (kluwer academic publishers, the netherlands). adjuvants can be categorized or subclassified as activators, acidifiers, buffers, additives, adherents, antiflocculants, antifoamers, defoamers, antifreezes, attractants, basic blends, chelating agents, cleaners, colorants or dyes, compatibility agents, cosolvents, couplers, crop oil concentrates, deposition agents, detergents, dispersants, drift control agents, emulsifiers, evaporation reducers, extenders, fertilizers, foam markers, formulants, inerts, humectants, methylated seed oils, high load cocs, polymers, modified vegetable oils, penetrators, repellants, petroleum oil concentrates, preservatives, rainfast agents, retention aids, solubilizers, surfactants, spreaders, stickers, spreader stickers, synergists, thickeners, translocation aids, uv protectants, vegetable oils, water conditioners, and wetting agents. in addition, methods of the invention can comprise the use of a herbicide or a mixture of herbicides, as well as, one or more other insecticides, fungicides, nematocides, bactericides, acaricides, growth regulators, chemosterilants, semiochemicals, repellents, attractants, pheromones, feeding stimulants or other biologically active compounds or entomopathogenic bacteria, virus, or fungi to form a multi-component mixture giving an even broader spectrum of agricultural protection. examples of such agricultural protectants which can be used in methods of the invention include: insecticides such as abamectin, acephate, acetamiprid, amidoflumet (s-1955), avermectin, azadirachtin, azinphos-methyl, bifenthrin, bifenazate, buprofezin, carbofuran, cartap, chlorfenapyr, chlorfluazuron, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, chromafenozide, clothianidin, cyflumetofen, cyfluthrin, beta-cyfluthrin, cyhalothrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, cyromazine, deltamethrin, diafenthiuron, diazinon, dieldrin, diflubenzuron, dimefluthrin, dimethoate, dinotefuran, diofenolan, emamectin, endosulfan, esfenvalerate, ethiprole, fenothiocarb, fenoxycarb, fenpropathrin, fenvalerate, fipronil, flonicamid, flubendiamide, flucythrinate, tau-fluvalinate, flufenerim (ur-50701), flufenoxuron, fonophos, halofenozide, hexaflumuron, hydramethylnon, imidacloprid, indoxacarb, isofenphos, lufenuron, malathion, metaflumizone, metaldehyde, methamidophos, methidathion, methomyl, methoprene, methoxychlor, metofluthrin, monocrotophos, methoxyfenozide, nitenpyram, nithiazine, novaluron, noviflumuron (xde-007), oxamyl, parathion, parathion-methyl, permethrin, phorate, phosalone, phosmet, phosphamidon, pirimicarb, profenofos, profluthrin, pymetrozine, pyrafluprole, pyrethrin, pyridalyl, pyriprole, pyriproxyfen, rotenone, ryanodine, spinosad, spirodiclofen, spiromesifen (bsn 2060), spirotetramat, sulprofos, tebufenozide, teflubenzuron, tefluthrin, terbufos, tetrachlorvinphos, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam, thiodicarb, thiosultap-sodium, tralomethrin, triazamate, trichlorfon and triflumuron; fungicides such as acibenzolar, aldimorph, amisulbrom, azaconazole, azoxystrobin, benalaxyl, benomyl, benthiavalicarb, benthiavalicarb-isopropyl, binomial, biphenyl, bitertanol, blasticidin-s, bordeaux mixture (tribasic copper sulfate), boscalid/nicobifen, bromuconazole, bupirimate, buthiobate, carboxin, carpropamid, captafol, captan, carbendazim, chloroneb, chlorothalonil, chlozolinate, clotrimazole, copper oxychloride, copper salts such as copper sulfate and copper hydroxide, cyazofamid, cyflunamid, cymoxanil, cyproconazole, cyprodinil, dichlofluanid, diclocymet, diclomezine, dicloran, diethofencarb, difenoconazole, dimethomorph, dimoxystrobin, diniconazole, diniconazole-m, dinocap, discostrobin, dithianon, dodemorph, dodine, econazole, etaconazole, edifenphos, epoxiconazole, ethaboxam, ethirimol, ethridiazole, famoxadone, fenamidone, fenarimol, fenbuconazole, fencaramid, fenfuram, fenhexamide, fenoxanil, fenpiclonil, fenpropidin, fenpropimorph, fentin acetate, fentin hydroxide, ferbam, ferfurazoate, ferimzone, fluazinam, fludioxonil, flumetover, fluopicolide, fluoxastrobin, fluquinconazole, fluquinconazole, flusilazole, flusulfamide, flutolanil, flutriafol, folpet, fosetyl-aluminum, fuberidazole, furalaxyl, furametapyr, hexaconazole, hymexazole, guazatine, imazalil, imibenconazole, iminoctadine, iodicarb, ipconazole, iprobenfos, iprodione, iprovalicarb, isoconazole, isoprothiolane, kasugamycin, kresoxim-methyl, mancozeb, mandipropamid, maneb, mapanipyrin, mefenoxam, mepronil, metalaxyl, metconazole, methasulfocarb, metiram, metominostrobin/fenominostrobin, mepanipyrim, metrafenone, miconazole, myclobutanil, neo-asozin (ferric methanearsonate), nuarimol, octhilinone, ofurace, orysastrobin, oxadixyl, oxolinic acid, oxpoconazole, oxycarboxin, paclobutrazol, penconazole, pencycuron, penthiopyrad, perfurazoate, phosphonic acid, phthalide, picobenzamid, picoxystrobin, polyoxin, probenazole, prochloraz, procymidone, propamocarb, propamocarb-hydrochloride, propiconazole, propineb, proquinazid, prothioconazole, pyraclostrobin, pryazophos, pyrifenox, pyrimethanil, pyrifenox, pyrolnitrine, pyroquilon, quinconazole, quinoxyfen, quintozene, silthiofam, simeconazole, spiroxamine, streptomycin, sulfur, tebuconazole, techrazene, tecloftalam, tecnazene, tetraconazole, thiabendazole, thifluzamide, thiophanate, thiophanate-methyl, thiram, tiadinil, tolclofos-methyl, tolyfluanid, triadimefon, triadimenol, triarimol, triazoxide, tridemorph, trimoprhamide tricyclazole, trifloxystrobin, triforine, triticonazole, uniconazole, validamycin, vinclozolin, zineb, ziram, and zoxamide; nematocides such as aldicarb, oxamyl and fenamiphos; bactericides such as streptomycin; acaricides such as amitraz, chinomethionat, chlorobenzilate, cyhexatin, dicofol, dienochlor, etoxazole, fenazaquin, fenbutatin oxide, fenpropathrin, fenpyroximate, hexythiazox, propargite, pyridaben and tebufenpyrad; and biological agents including entomopathogenic bacteria, such as bacillus thuringiensis subsp. aizawai, bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki, and the encapsulated delta-endotoxins of bacillus thuringiensis (e.g., cellcap, mpv, mpvii); entomopathogenic fungi, such as green muscardine fungus; and entomopathogenic virus including baculovirus, nucleopolyhedro virus (npv) such as hznpv, afnpv; and granulosis virus (gv) such as cpgv. the weight ratios of these various mixing partners to other compositions (e.g., herbicides) used in the methods of the invention typically are between 100:1 and 1:100, or between 30:1 and 1:30, between 10:1 and 1:10, or between 4:1 and 1:4. the present invention also pertains to a composition comprising a biologically effective amount of a herbicide of interest or a mixture of herbicides, and an effective amount of at least one additional biologically active compound or agent and can further comprise at least one of a surfactant, a solid diluent or a liquid diluent. examples of such biologically active compounds or agents are: insecticides such as abamectin, acephate, acetamiprid, amidoflumet (s-1955), avermectin, azadirachtin, azinphos-methyl, bifenthrin, binfenazate, buprofezin, carbofuran, chlorfenapyr, chlorfluazuron, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, chromafenozide, clothianidin, cyfluthrin, beta-cyfluthrin, cyhalothrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, cyromazine, deltamethrin, diafenthiuron, diazinon, diflubenzuron, dimethoate, diofenolan, emamectin, endosulfan, esfenvalerate, ethiprole, fenothicarb, fenoxycarb, fenpropathrin, fenvalerate, fipronil, flonicamid, flucythrinate, tau-fluvalinate, flufenerim (ur-50701), flufenoxuron, fonophos, halofenozide, hexaflumuron, imidacloprid, indoxacarb, isofenphos, lufenuron, malathion, metaldehyde, methamidophos, methidathion, methomyl, methoprene, methoxychlor, monocrotophos, methoxyfenozide, nithiazin, novaluron, noviflumuron (xde-007), oxamyl, parathion, parathion-methyl, permethrin, phorate, phosalone, phosmet, phosphamidon, pirimicarb, profenofos, pymetrozine, pyridalyl, pyriproxyfen, rotenone, spinosad, spiromesifin (bsn 2060), sulprofos, tebufenozide, teflubenzuron, tefluthrin, terbufos, tetrachlorvinphos, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam, thiodicarb, thiosultap-sodium, tralomethrin, trichlorfon and triflumuron; fungicides such as acibenzolar, azoxystrobin, benomyl, blasticidin-s, bordeaux mixture (tribasic copper sulfate), bromuconazole, carpropamid, captafol, captan, carbendazim, chloroneb, chlorothalonil, copper oxychloride, copper salts, cyflufenamid, cymoxanil, cyproconazole, cyprodinil, (s)-3,5-dichloro-n-(3-chloro-1-ethyl-1-methyl-2-oxopropyl)-4-methylbenzamide (rh 7281), diclocymet (s-2900), diclomezine, dicloran, difenoconazole, (s)-3,5-dihydro-5-methyl-2-(methylthio)-5-phenyl-3-(phenyl-amino)-4h-imidazol-4-one (rp 407213), dimethomorph, dimoxystrobin, diniconazole, diniconazole-m, dodine, edifenphos, epoxiconazole, famoxadone, fenamidone, fenarimol, fenbuconazole, fencaramid (szx0722), fenpiclonil, fenpropidin, fenpropimorph, fentin acetate, fentin hydroxide, fluazinam, fludioxonil, flumetover (rpa 403397), flumorf/flumorlin (syp-l190), fluoxastrobin (hec 5725), fluquinconazole, flusilazole, flutolanil, flutriafol, folpet, fosetyl-aluminum, furalaxyl, furametapyr (s-82658), hexaconazole, ipconazole, iprobenfos, iprodione, isoprothiolane, kasugamycin, kresoxim-methyl, mancozeb, maneb, mefenoxam, mepronil, metalaxyl, metconazole, metomino-strobin/fenominostrobin (ssf-126), metrafenone (ac375839), myclobutanil, neo-asozin (ferric methane-arsonate), nicobifen (bas 510), orysastrobin, oxadixyl, penconazole, pencycuron, probenazole, prochloraz, propamocarb, propiconazole, proquinazid (dpx-kq926), prothioconazole (jau 6476), pyrifenox, pyraclostrobin, pyrimethanil, pyroquilon, quinoxyfen, spiroxamine, sulfur, tebuconazole, tetraconazole, thiabendazole, thifluzamide, thiophanate-methyl, thiram, tiadinil, triadimefon, triadimenol, tricyclazole, trifloxystrobin, triticonazole, validamycin and vinclozolin; nematocides such as aldicarb, oxamyl and fenamiphos; bactericides such as streptomycin; acaricides such as amitraz, chinomethionat, chlorobenzilate, cyhexatin, dicofol, dienochlor, etoxazole, fenazaquin, fenbutatin oxide, fenpropathrin, fenpyroximate, hexythiazox, propargite, pyridaben and tebufenpyrad; and biological agents including entomopathogenic bacteria, such as bacillus thuringiensis subsp. aizawai, bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki, and the encapsulated delta-endotoxins of bacillus thuringiensis (e.g., cellcap, mpv, mpvii); entomopathogenic fungi, such as green muscardine fungus; and entomopathogenic virus including baculovirus, nucleopolyhedro virus (npv) such as hznpv, afnpv; and granulosis virus (gv) such as cpgv. methods of the invention may also comprise the use of plants genetically transformed to express proteins toxic to invertebrate pests (such as bacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxins). in such embodiments, the effect of exogenously applied invertebrate pest control compounds may be synergistic with the expressed toxin proteins. general references for these agricultural protectants include the pesticide manual, 13th edition, c. d. s. tomlin, ed., british crop protection council, farnham, surrey, u.k., 2003 and the biopesticide manual, 2 nd edition, l. g. copping, ed., british crop protection council, farnham, surrey, u.k., 2001. in certain instances, combinations with other invertebrate pest control compounds or agents having a similar spectrum of control but a different mode of action will be particularly advantageous for resistance management. thus, compositions of the present invention can further comprise a biologically effective amount of at least one additional invertebrate pest control compound or agent having a similar spectrum of control but a different mode of action. contacting a plant genetically modified to express a plant protection compound (e.g., protein) or the locus of the plant with a biologically effective amount of a compound of this invention can also provide a broader spectrum of plant protection and be advantageous for resistance management. thus, methods of the invention employ a herbicide or herbicide combination and may further comprise the use of insecticides and/or fungicides, and/or other agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers. the use of such combined treatments of the invention can broaden the spectrum of activity against additional weed species and suppress the proliferation of any resistant biotypes. methods of the invention can further comprise the use of plant growth regulators such as aviglycine, n-(phenylmethyl)-1h-purin-6-amine, ethephon, epocholeone, gibberellic acid, gibberellin a 4 and a 7 , harpin protein, mepiquat chloride, prohexadione calcium, prohydrojasmon, sodium nitrophenolate and trinexapac-methyl, and plant growth modifying organisms such as bacillus cereus strain bp01. embodiments of the present invention are further defined in the following examples. it should be understood that these examples are given by way of illustration only. from the above discussion and these examples, one skilled in the art can ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the embodiments of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. thus, various modifications of the embodiments of the invention, in addition to those shown and described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. experimental the following abbreviations are used in describing the present invention. als acetolactate synthase proteinbp base pairglyat4621 glyphosate acetyltransferase geneglyat4621 glyphosate acetyltransferase proteinzm-als wild type acetolactate synthase gene from maizezm-hra modified version of acetolactate synthase gene from maizekb kilobasepcr polymerase chain reactionutr untranslated region example 1 insert and flanking border sequence characterization of maize event dp-098140-6 maize ( zea mays ) has been modified by the insertion of the glyphosate acetyltransferase gene (glyat4621) derived from bacillus licheniformis and a modified version of the maize acetolactate synthase gene (zm-hra). the vector used for the genetic modification was a plasmid of the agrobacterium tumefaciens, strain lba4404, whose pathogenicity has been disarmed by removing its native t-dna. maize event dp-098140-6 was obtained by agrobacterium -mediated transformation with plasmid php24279 ( fig. 1 ). the t-dna of plasmid php24279 contains two expression cassettes as further described hereafter. immature embryos of maize were aseptically removed from the developing caryopsis and treated with agrobacterium tumefaciens strain lba4404 containing glyat4621 and zm-hra expression cassettes. after a period of embryo and agrobacterium co-cultivation on solid culture medium without glyphosate present, the embryos were transferred to fresh selection medium that contained antibiotics and glyphosate. the antibiotics kill any remaining agrobacterium. the selection medium is stimulatory to maize somatic embryogenesis and selective for those cells that contain an integrated glyat4621 gene cassette. therefore, calli that survive glyphosate proliferate and produce embryogenic tissue which is presumably genetically transformed. callus samples were taken for molecular analysis to verify the presence of the transgenes by pcr. the embryonic tissue is then manipulated to regenerate whole transgenic plants with glyphosate present, which are transferred to the greenhouse. t0 plants were then subjected to glyphosate and sulfonylurea spray at different concentrations. surviving plants were crossed with inbred lines to obtain seeds for further evaluation. the glyat4621 gene was derived from the soil bacterium bacillus licheniformis and was synthesized by a gene shuffling process to optimize the acetyltransferase activity of the glyat4621 enzyme (castle et al. (2004) science 304:1151-1154). the zm-hra expression cassette contains a modified maize acetolactate synthase gene, zm-hra ( zea mays -highly resistant allele), encoding the zm-hra protein, which confers tolerance to a range of als-inhibiting herbicides, such as sulfonylureas. the inserted t-dna ( figs. 2 and 3 ) from this plasmid contains the glyat4621 gene cassette and the zm-hra gene cassette, in reverse orientation. the expression of the glyat4621 gene is controlled by the ubiquitin regulatory region from maize (ubizm1 promoter, 5′utr, and intron (christensen et al. (1992)) and the pinii terminator (an et al. (1989) plant cell 1:115-122). the expression of the zm-hra gene is controlled by the native maize acetolactate synthase promoter (zm-als promoter) (fang et al. (2000)). the terminator for the zm-hra gene is the 3′ terminator sequence from the proteinase inhibitor ii gene of solanum tuberosum (pinii terminator). upstream of both cassettes are three copies of the enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virus (camv 35s enhancer, u.s. application ser. no. 11/508,045, herein incorporated by reference) providing expression enhancement to both cassettes on the t-dna. a summary of the t-dna region of plasmid php24279 is shown in table 3. the genetic elements of plasmid php24279 used in the creation of dp-098140-6 are shown in table 4. table 3description of genetic elements in the t-dna of php24279location ont-dna (basegeneticsize (basepair position)elementpairs)description1 to 25right border25t-dna right border region, from ti plasmid ofagrobacterium tumefaciens26 to 177ti plasmid152non-functional sequence from ti plasmid of a. tumefaciensregion178 to 210polylinker33region required for cloning genetic elementsregion211 to 521pinii311terminator region from solanum tuberosum proteinaseterminatorinhibitor ii gene (keil et al., 1986; an et al., 1989).(reverse orientation)522 to 537polylinker33region required for cloning genetic elementsregion538 to 2454zm-hra gene1917modified endogenous zea mays acetolactate synthasegene (fang et al., 1992). (reverse orientation)2455 to 3115zm-als661promoter region from zea mays acetolactate synthasepromotergene (fang et al., 1992). (reverse orientation)3116 to 3189polylinker74region required for cloning genetic elementsregion3190 to 3625camv 35s436enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virusenhancergenome (franck et al., 1980; odell et al., 1985).3626 to 3648polylinker23region required for cloning genetic elementsregion3649 to 4086camv 35s438enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virusenhancergenome (franck et al., 1980; odell et al., 1985).4087 to 4093polylinker7region required for cloning genetic elementsregion4094 to 4531camv 35s438enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virusenhancergenome (franck et al., 1980; odell et al., 1985).4532 to 4566polylinker35region required for cloning genetic elementsregion4567 to 5466ubizm1900promoter region from zea mays ubiquitin genepromoter(christensen et al., 1992).5467 to 5549ubizm1 5′835′ untranslated region from zea mays ubiquitin geneutr(christensen et al., 1992).5550 to 6558ubizm11009intron region from zea mays ubiquitin gene (christensenintronet al., 1992).6559 to 6586polylinker28region required for cloning genetic elementsregion6587 to 7030glyat4621444synthetic glyphosate n-acetyltransferase gene (castle etgeneal., 2004. siehl et al., 2007).7031 to 7046polylinker16region required for cloning genetic elementsregion7047 to 7362pinii316terminator region from solanum tuberosum proteinaseterminatorinhibitor ii gene (keil et al., 1986; an et al., 1989).7363 to 7415ti plasmid53non-functional sequence from ti plasmid of a. tumefaciensregion7416 to 7440left border25t-dna left border region, from ti plasmid ofagrobacterium tumefaciens table 4description of genetic elements of plasmid php24279 used for the creation ofdp-098140-6 maizelocation onknownsizeplasmid (basegenetic(baseregionpair position)elementpairs)descriptionplasmid1 to 4040dna for plasmid construction andconstructplasmid replicationti plasmid41 to 14855includes14815virulence (vir) gene region andbackboneelementsintergenic regions from ti plasmid ofbelowagrobacterium tumefaciens.(genbank accession no. ab027255)1065 to 1759virc1695virulence gene important for t-dnainsertion into genome.1762 to 2370virc2609virulence gene important for t-dnainsertion into genome.2481 to 3284virg804virulence gene important for t-dnainsertion into genome.3416 to 12851virb9436virulence gene important for t-dnainsertion into genome.plasmid14856 to 18087includes3232dna from various sources for plasmidconstructelementsconstruction and plasmid replicationbelow15152 to 15521cole1 ori370bacterial origin of replication region( e. coli ) (tomizawa et al., 1977)16614 to 16626cos13cos site; cohesive ends from lambdabacteriophage dna (genbankaccession no. ab027255)t-dna18088 to 255277440see table 3 for information on theelements in this regionplasmid25528 to 50371includes24844dna from various sources for plasmidconstructelementsconstruction and plasmid replicationbelow26703 to 27491spc789spectinomycin resistance gene frombacteria. (genbank accession no.cp000038)28614 to 28983cole1 ori370bacterial origin of replication region( e. coli ) (tomizawa et al., 1977)30080 to 30092cos13cos site; cohesive ends from lambdabacteriophage dna (genbankaccession no. ab027255)31794 to 32444tetr651tetracycline resistance regulationgene from bacteria (genbankaccession no. ab027255)32550 to 33749teta1200tetracycline resistance gene frombacteria (genbank accession no.ab027255)34380 to 36569rep2190rep operon (includes trfa below)(genbank accession no. ab027255)35022 to 36170trfa1149trans-acting replication gene frombacteria (genbank accession no.ab027255)39984 to 40095orit112orit origin of transfer region frombacteria (genbank accession no.ab027255)41935 to 48205ctl6271central control operon region frombacteria (genbank accession no.ab027255)49213 to 49923oriv711oriv origin of replication region frombacteria (genbank accession no.ab027255) the nucleotide sequence of the inserted t-dna in the dp-098140-6 event has been determined. pcr amplification of the unique junctions spanning the introduced genetic elements can distinguish dp-098140-6 plants from their non-genetically modified counterparts and can be used to screen for the presence of the inserted t-dna, even at very low concentrations. provided below is a construct-specific polymerase chain reaction (pcr) assay on genomic dna from leaf and mature seed of dp-098140-6 maize. specifically, genomic dna from leaf tissue and mature seed of the test substance (seed from event dp-098140-6) and the control substance (seed from a non-genetically modified maize with a genetic background) representative of the event background was isolated and subjected to qualitative pcr amplification using a construct-specific primer pair. the pcr products were separated on 1.5% or 2% agarose gels to confirm the presence of the inserted construct in the genomic dna generated from the test substance, and absence in the genomic dna generated from the control substance. a reference standard (100 base pair dna ladder; invitrogen corporation catalog #10380-012) was used to determine the pcr product size. test and control leaf samples (v5-v7 leaf stage) were harvested from plants. genomic dna extraction from the test and control leaf tissues was performed using a standard urea extraction protocol. genomic dna from the test and control seed samples was isolated using wizard® magnetic 96 dna plant system (promega corporation catalog #ff3760). genomic dna was quantified on a spectrofluorometer using picogreen® reagent (molecular probes, inc., eugene, oreg.), and/or visualized on an agarose gel to confirm quantitation values and to determine the dna quality. genomic dna isolated from leaf and mature seed of event dp-098140-6 and control samples was subjected to pcr amplification (pcr master mix catalog #7505 from promega corporation) utilizing the construct-specific primer pair (06-o-1734/06-o-1738) which spans the maize ubiquitin intron and the glyat4621 coding region, and allows for the unique identification of maize event dp-098140-6. a second primer set (02-o-197/02-o-198) was used to amplify the endogenous maize invertase gene (genbank accession number af171874) as a positive control for pcr amplification. the pcr target site and size of the expected pcr product for each primer set are shown in table 5. pcr reagents and reaction conditions are shown in table 6a and 6b. the primer sequences used in this study are listed in table 7. table 5pcr genomic dna target site and expected size of pcr productsprimerconstruct dnaexpected size ofsettarget sitepcr product (bp)06-o-1734/06-o-1738ubiquitin intron/glyat4621203coding regions of php2427902-o-197/02-o-198maize invertase gene225pcr: polymerase chain reactionbp: base pairs table 6apcr reagents and reaction conditions for leaf and seedpcr reagents for leafpcr reaction conditions for leafvolumecycletemptimereagent(μl)element(° c.)(min)# cyclestemplate dna (10 ng/μl)4initial denaturation9451primer 1 (10 μm)2denaturation95135primer 2 (10 μm)2annealing55235pcr master mix*25elongation72335ddh 2 o17final elongation7271pcr: polymerase chain reactionddh 2 o: double-distilled water*promega #m7505 table 6bpcr reagents for seedpcr reaction conditions for seedvolumecycletemptimereagent(μl)element(° c.)(min)# cyclestemplate dna (2.4 ng/μl)5initial denaturation9451primer 1 (10 μm)2denaturation95135primer 2 (10 μm)2annealing55235pcr master mix*25elongation72335ddh 2 o16final elongation7271pcr: polymerase chain reactionddh 2 o: double-distilled water*promega #m7505 table 7list of primer sequences used in pcr reactionsprimertargetseq idnamesequence 5′-3′sequenceno06-o-1734tatgcctaaggtcataggtatcctctgcgttgdp-20098140-6specific06-o-1738tgatggcatatgcagcagctatatgtggatdp-21098140-6specific02-o-197ccgctgtatcacaagggctggtaccmaize22invertasegene02-o-198ggagcccgtgtagagcatgacgatcmaize23invertasegene construct-specific pcr products of approximately 200 bp in size amplified by the construct-specific primer set 06-o-1734/06-o-1738 were observed in all the dp-098140-6 dna samples from leaf and mature seed, but absent in all control samples and the no-template control. this experiment was repeated several times, and similar results were obtained (data not shown). these results correspond closely with the expected pcr product size (203 bp) for genomic dna samples containing event dp-098140-6. a pcr product approximately 220 by in size was observed for both event dp-098140-6 and control samples following pcr reaction with the primer set 02-o-197/02-o-198 for detection of the endogenous maize invertase gene in leaf and seed samples (data not shown). this result corresponds closely with the expected pcr product size (225 bp) for genomic dna samples containing the maize endogenous invertase gene in all samples. the endogenous target band was not observed in the no-template control. since leaf genomic dna and mature seed genomic dna were isolated using different protocols, the amount of template to use for a pcr reaction was tested. in this study, 40 ng of leaf genomic dna and 12 ng of seed genomic dna were used in a pcr reaction for all the analyses. in order to assess the sensitivity of the pcr amplification, different dilutions of a single dna sample of dp-098140-6 were made into non-genetically modified control dna, resulting in dp-098140-6 dna amounts ranging from 40 ng down to 800 fg in leaf (total dna amount in all samples was 40 ng), and 12 ng down to 240 fg in mature seed (total dna amount in all samples was 12 ng). each dilution was subjected to pcr amplification as previously described. based on this analysis, the limit of detection (lod) was determined to be approximately 40 pg of dp-098140-6 dna in 40 ng of total dna, or 0.1% of event dp-098140-6 dna in leaf (data not shown); and approximately 120 pg of event dp-098140-6 dna in 12 ng of total dna, or 1% in seed (data not shown). this provides sufficient sensitivity for many screening applications. qualitative pcr analysis utilizing a construct-specific primer set for event dp-098140-6 confirmed that the test plants contained event dp-098140-6, as evidenced by the presence of the construct-specific target band in all test plant samples analyzed including leaf and mature seed, and absence in the non-genetically modified control plants. this result was reproducible. test and control plants both contained the endogenous maize invertase gene. the predicted sensitivity of the analysis under the conditions prescribed is 0.1% event dp-098140-6 dna for leaf, and 1% for mature seed. example 2 characterization of maize event dp-098140-6 by southern blot the characterization of the dna inserted into dp-098140-6 (hereinafter “98140”) maize was performed by southern blot analysis. table 8 summarizes the results from various southern blot analyses. the method used is described as follows. genomic dna was extracted from lyophilized leaf tissue sampled on 98140 maize and non-genetically modified control plants. genomic dna was digested with restriction endonuclease enzymes and size separated on an agarose gel. a molecular weight marker was run alongside samples for size estimation purposes. dna fragments separated bn agarose gel were depurinated, denatured and neutralized in situ, and transferred to a nylon membrane. following transfer to the membrane, the dna was bound to the membrane by uv crosslinking. fragments homologous to the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes were generated by pcr from plasmid php24279 separated on an agarose gel by size, exsized, and purified using a gel extraction kit. all dna probes were generated from the fragment by random prime labeling using [ 32 p]dctp. labeled probe was hybridized to the target dna on the nylon membranes for detection of the specific fragments. washes after hybridization were carried out at high stringency. blots were exposed to x-ray film for one or more time points to detect hybridizing fragments and visualize molecular weight markers. the molecular analysis of the insert in dp-098140-6 maize is presented in detail below. the results of the southern analysis of dp-098140-6 maize indicate that there is a single, intact copy of the t-dna inserted into dp-098140-6 maize. moreover, since this genetically modified maize has been obtained through agrobacterium -mediated transformation method, the absence of incorporation of backbone dna from outside the t-dna borders has also been determined by real-time qualitative pcr. the details of the method used are provided below. these results indicate that only dna contained within the t-dna borders of plasmid php24279 was integrated into dp-098140-6 maize. the restriction enzyme spe i was selected to evaluate the integrity of the inserted t-dna, since these sites flank both gene cassettes releasing a fragment of 6775 by ( fig. 6 ). the glyat4621 probe hybridized to the expected 6775 by fragment in spe i digested dna (table 8) as did the zm-hra probe (table 8), indicating an intact t-dna had inserted into the genome. the zm-hra probe also hybridized to two other bands in 98140 maize which are endogenous based because of their presence in unmodified maize. this result was expected as the zm-hra gene in this construct was modified from the endogenous maize gene. based on these results, the insertion in 98140 maize contains an intact copy of the t-dna of php24279. in order to evaluate the number of glyat4621 and zm-hra genes inserted, the restriction enzyme ecor v was selected. there is a single ecor v site between the glyat4621 and zm-hra cassettes in php24279 t-dna ( fig. 6 ). the number of hybridizing bands with the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes would provide an indication of the number of inserted copies of each gene. a single fragment of approximately 6000 bp was observed with the glyat4621 probe in 98140 maize, indicating a single copy of the glyat4621 gene in 98140 maize (table 8). in addition, the zm-hra probe hybridized to a single fragment of greater than 10 kb in dp-098140-6 maize, indicating a single copy of the zm-hra gene (table 8). on this blot, the zm-hra probe hybridized to additional bands which were present in the unmodified maize sample and were due to endogenous maize genes. together, these results indicate that there is a single, intact copy of the t-dna inserted into dp-098140-6 maize. real-time qualitative pcr was also conducted on genomic dna isolated from leaf tissue punches of the primary transformant (t0) generation in order to screen for backbone dna presence. genomic dna was isolated from maize leaf punches using extract-n-amp™ kit (sigma aldrich). taqman® probe and primer pairs were designed to detect the following backbone targets: the tetracycline resistance (teta) gene (51 by amplicon), the spectinomycin resistance (spc) gene (57 by amplicon), the virg gene (66 by amplicon), and two regions just outside of the left border (lb, 58 by amplicon) and right border (rb, 62 by amplicon) of the t-dna. in addition, to confirm the presence of amplifiable dna in each reaction, a taqman® probe and primer pair for a maize endogenous gene was used (62 by amplicon). extract-n-amp™ pcr reaction mix with passive reference dye to normalize fluorescent fluctuations (sigma aldrich) was used for the assay. after initial incubations at 50° c. for 2 minutes and then at 95° c. for 3 minutes, 40 cycles were conducted as follows: 95° c. for 15 seconds, 60° c. for 1 minute. positive or negative determination was based on comparison of the ct (threshold cycle) of the backbone target to that of the endogenous target. dp-098140-6 maize was negative for the presence of backbone dna based on this screen using different probes to detect the tetracycline resistance (tet), spectinomycin resistance (spc) and virg genes plus two regions immediately outside of the left (lb) and right (rb) borders (regions not typically incorporated during agrobacterium -mediated transformations) (table 9). each reaction contained amplifiable dna based on the endogenous gene control. the results indicate that only dna contained within the t-dna borders of plasmid php24279 was integrated into dp-098140-6 maize table 8summary of expected and observed hybridization fragmentson southern blots for dp-098140-6 maizeexpectedfragment sizeobservedenzyme(bp) fromfragmentmaizeprobedigestphp24279 t-dnasize (bp)dp-098140-6glyat4621spe i67756775 1unmodifiedglyat4621spe ino hybridizationnomaize (control)hybridizationdp-098140-6zm-hraspe i67756775 1~5500*~5000*unmodifiedzm-hraspe ino hybridization~5500*maize (control)~5000*dp-098140-6glyat4621ecor v>3790 (border)~6000unmodifiedglyat4621ecor vno hybridizationnomaize (control)hybridizationdp-098140-6zm-hraecor v>3652 (border)>10000~9000*~7000*unmodifiedzm-hraecor vno hybridization~9000*maize (control)~7000*footnotes:fragments with an asterisk (*) were due to hybridization of the probe to endogenous maize sequences and were identified based on their presence in unmodified maize.1 equivalent migration with plasmid positive control. same size as expected. table 9results of real-time qualitative pcr analysis to detectbackbone dna in dp-098140-6 maizebackbone dna testedassay resulttetnegativespcnegativevirgnegativelbnegativerbnegative example 3 expression of the insert expression of the glyat4621 and zm-hra proteins has been evaluated on the leaf tissue collected at the v5 stage of growth from plants cultivated in greenhouses. for each sample, four fresh leaf punches were collected and ground in sample extraction buffer using a genogrinder (spex certiprep). total extractable protein (tep) was determined using the bio-rad protein assay, which is based on the bradford dye-binding procedure. sample extracts were diluted in sample extraction buffer for elisa analysis. the glyat4621 and zm-hra elisa's utilize a “sandwich” format for the quantification of the specific target protein in plant tissue extracts. in these assays, standards (triplicate wells) and samples (duplicate wells) are incubated in stabilized plates that have been pre-coated with an antibody specific for the protein of interest. after one hour of incubation, unbound substances are washed from the plate and the bound protein is incubated with a different protein-specific antibody that has been conjugated to the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (hrp). the detection of the bound complex is accomplished through the addition of the hrp substrate solution. the reaction is stopped with sulfuric acid and the optical density of each well is determined using a molecular devices plate reader with a wavelength setting of 450 nm-650 nm. softmax® pro software is used to perform the calculations that generate the quadratic fit for the standard curve and convert the sample od values to target protein concentration values. the mean concentration from the duplicate wells is expressed as pg target protein/μg of total extractable protein (tep). the sample lower limit of quantification (lloq) was 10 pg glyat4621 protein/μg tep and the upper detection limit was 2000 pg glyat4621 protein/μg tep. the sample lower limit of quantification was 20 pg zm-hra protein/μg tep and the upper detection limit was 5000 pg zm-hra protein/μg tep. the results are presented in table 10 and show that the glyat4621 and zm-hra proteins are expressed in leaf tissues of dp-098140-6 maize. as expected, glyat4621 and zm-hra proteins were not detected in any samples from the non genetically modified control plants. table 10summary of expression level of glyat4621 and zm-hraproteins measured in leaf tissues from dp-098140-6 maizeplants collected at the v5 developmental growth stage from plants.number ofmeanstandardrange bplantsprotein(pg/μg tep a )deviation(pg/μg tep)analyzedglyat4621571.7140370-82020zm-hra73.410.754.9-91.619a tep: total extractable proteinsb range: lowest observed individual result - highest observed individual result another way to verify the expression of the insert in dp-098140-6 maize plants was to estimate their tolerance to glyphosate and sulfonylureas. a herbicide tolerance experiment was conducted at ten locations. the purpose of the experiment was to determine tolerance of dp-098140-6 maize to glyphosate and sulfonylureas. dp-098140-6 maize was sprayed with glyphosate at 1.26 kg ae/ha 1 ), chlorimuron at 5.8 g ai/ha 2 , tribenuron at 17.3 g ai/ha and rimsulfuron at 17.5 g ai/ha. all herbicide applications occurred at the v4 developmental growth stage. three plants at each of the ten locations were scored for herbicide injury, 10 days following the v4 herbicide application. herbicide injury scores were collected on a 0-100 scale with 0 showing no injury symptoms (a rating of 5 is well tolerant—only minor leaf flashing on the plant) and 100 showing complete death of the plant (table 12). 1 kg acid equivalent per hectare 2 g active ingredient per hectare results are averaged over the ten locations and three plants, and standard deviations are shown in table 11. the results showed that dp-098140-6 maize was well tolerant to glyphosate and sulfonylureas. in some instances, the standard deviation is higher than the mean injury score due to the nature of the attached crop response rating system. since plants are measured on a 0 to 100 scale of injury, a score of 5 on one plant causes the standard deviation to rise higher than the mean, although, as mentioned earlier and shown in table 12, a rating of 5 is well tolerant to the herbicide with little to no injury present. table 11results of herbicide injury scoring of dp-098140-6 maizesprayed with glyphosate and sulfonylureas (chlorimuron,tribenuron and rimsulfuron)meanglyphosate/sulfonylureas injurystandard deviation(rated 10 days followingglyphosate/sulfonylureasmaizethe v4 stage application)injury981400.170.91 table 12the 0 to 100 crop response rating system for herbicide injuryratingmain categoriesdetailed description0no effectno crop reduction or injury10slight effectslight crop discoloration or stunting20some crop discoloration, stunting, or stuntloss30crop injury more pronounced, but not lasting40moderate effectmoderate injury, crop usually recovers50crop injury more lasting, recovery doubtful60lasting crop injury, no recovery70severe effectheavy crop injury and stand loss80crop nearly destroyed - a few survivingplants90only occasional live crop plants left100complete effectcomplete crop destruction example 4 mendelian segregation of the dp-098140-6 trait the mendelian segregation of the glyat4621 gene was analyzed during the plant breeding process by spraying glyphosate. the original transformed 98140 maize was crossed to an elite inbred to give a single cross hybrid. the single cross hybrid was backcrossed to the elite inbred one more time to give bc1 seed. the bc1 generation was crossed again to the elite line to give bc2. spraying at each generation eliminated glyphosate-susceptible plants and resulted in hemizygous seed. the seed from the backcross generation breeding lines were planted and the plants were sprayed with glyphosate. for each of these generations, the expected ratio of tolerant plants to susceptible plants was 1:1. the observed ratio is presented in table 13. the results show that for the different generations analyzed for dp-098140-6 maize, there were no significant differences between the observed segregation ratio and the expected segregation ratios at the significant level of 5%. the glyat4621 and zm-hra expression cassettes are contained within the same insertion and thus, the glyphosate segregation data is representative of the segregation patterns for glyphosate and als-inhibiting herbicides such as sulfonylureas. thus, data on the mendelian segregation of the transgene provides evidence of the stable inheritance of newly introduced genetic material. table 13mendelian segregation of dp-098140-6 maizebased on glyphosate toleranceobservedsignificantgenerationratio aexpected ratio bchi squaredifference?bc182:8081:810.88nobc259:5657.5:57.50.78noa data expressed as number of observed plants tolerant to glyphosate:number of observed plants susceptible to glyphosate.b data expressed as number of expected plants tolerant to glyphosate:number of expected plants susceptible to glyphosate. example 5 further insert and flanking border sequence characterization of maize event dp-098140-6 to characterize the integrity of the inserted dna and the genomic insertion site, the flanking genomic dna border regions of dp-098140-6 maize were determined. the flanking genomic sequence of maize dp-098140-6 is set forth in seq id no:1 and 46. pcr amplification from the dp-098140-6 maize insert and border sequences confirmed that the border regions were of maize origin and that the junction regions could be used for identification of dp-098140-6 maize. overall, characterization of the insert and genomic border sequence of dp-098140-6 maize along with southern blot data indicated that a single insertion of the dna fragment was present in the maize genome. various molecular techniques are then used to specifically characterize the integration site in the dp-098140-6 maize line. in the initial characterization of the dp-098140-6 maize line, the flanking genomic border regions were cloned and sequenced using the genomewalker and inverse pcr methods. using information from the flanking border sequence, pcr was performed on dp-098140-6 maize genomic dna and unmodified control genomic dna. for the left border sequence, pcr was performed with a primer in the left genomic border (primer 99885; seq id no:15) and a primer in the transgene insert (primer 100240; seq id no: 16), resulting in the expected products in dp-098140-6 maize plants (1.2 kb). for the right genomic border sequence, pcr was performed with a primer in the right genomic border (primer 100235; seq id no:13) and a primer in the transgene insert (primer 99878; seq id no: 14), resulting in the expected products in dp-098140-6 maize plants (750 bp). additional primer sequences were developed and the following protocol was used. oligonucleotide pcr reagents: forward primer:5′ gtccgcaatgtgttattaagttgtct 3′(seq id no: 17)reverse primer:5′ ttttttctaggaaagctggttacatg 3′(seq id no: 18)taqman mgb probe:5′ fam-agcgtcaatttgc-mgb 3′(seq id no: 19) each primer was used at a concentration of 600 nm in the pcr. the mgb probe was used at a concentration of 80 nm in the pcr. the pcr mixture used was “extract-n-amp pcr ready mix” (cat. no. e3004) from sigma-aldrich. rox reference dye was also included in the pcr mixture by adding 0.01 volumes of sigma-aldrich “reference dye for quantitative pcr” (cat. no. r4526). pcr was performed for 40 cycles with one cycle consisting of the following two steps: step 1: 15 seconds at 95° c.; step 2: 60 seconds at 60° c. the amplicon product has a size of 85 bp. those skilled in the art would also include a control pcr using an endogenous gene to verify that the isolated genomic dna was suitable for pcr amplification. maize endogenous genes that hive been used successfully with maize samples are the following: invertase gene (hernandez et al. (2004) j. agric food chem. 52:4632-4637; hernandez et al. (2004) j cereal science 39:99-107; alcohol dehydrogenase gene (hernandez et al. (2004) j. agric food chem. 52:4632-4637; ingham et al. (2001) biotechniques 31:132-140; zein gene (hernandez et al. (2004) j. agric food chem. 52:4632-4637; vaitilingom et al. (1999) j agric. food chem. 47:5261-5266 and high mobility group gene (hernandez et al. (2004) j. agric food chem. 52:4632-4637; pardigol et al. (2003) eur food res technol 216:412-420. table 14description and sizes of pcr productssize (bp) of pcrprimerprimerdescription of amplified regionproduct10023599878right flanking genomic751 bpsequence/transgene border99885100240left flanking genomic1257 bpsequence/transgene border102588102589left flanking genomic85 bpsequence/transgene border table 25description of additional oligonucleotides and regions ofamplification.seq idnamedescriptionsequenceno06-o-zm-hra oligo faagggtgctgacatcctcgtcgagt25153606-o-zm-hra middlegtcccatgcatacctagcatgcgca261537oligo r06-o-zm-hra middleggataaggccgatctgttgcttgca271538oligo f06-o-zm-hra oligo rtcagtacacagtcctgccatcaccat27153906-o-glyat (4621)fatggctattgaggttaagcc29154106-o-glyat (4621)rcctcttatacatcaggatgtgagg30154206-o-forward; 5′ borderatgaaaaagtccaagtcgagcaagggtacgtac34177906-o-reverse; 3′ bordergctagccctaactggcaccatatatcattttg35178206-o-reverse; 3′ borderaactgcaccagtcacttggcaaacgac36178307-o-forward; 5′ bordercgtttttttgtgtgtgtatgtctctttgcttggtc37187707-o-forward; 5′ bordertgtatgtctctttgcttggtctttctctatcgatc38187807-o-reverse; 3′ borderatgacgtgatacaactttacttcagtataagactg39187907-o-reverse; 3′ bordercaactatctcagtcttattctatgttcatgacgtg40188007-o-inserttcggagtacagacggtactgacacaag41194607-o-forward, insertcctctctagagataatgagcattgcatgtc42194707-o-reverse, insertgcgacccgtttggattcccttgtctg43194807-o-reverse, inserttgcaagctcctaatcccgggctgcag44194907-o-reverse, insertctggttcgctggttggtgtccgttag451950dp098-forwardtgcgaattcagtacattaaaaacgt513′-f12dp098-reversetgttttttttctaggaaagctggtt523′-r12dp098-fam-533′-p6ccgcaatgtgttattaagttgtctaagcgtca-tamradp098-forwardgtgtgtatgtctctttgcttggtctt54f6dp098-reversegattgtcgtttcccgccttc55r2dp098-probefam-5665ctctatcgatccccctctttgatagtttaaact-tamra example 6 herbicide tolerance and elisa analysis of two generations of maize event dp-098140-6 dp-098140-6 maize ( zea mays ) has been modified by the insertion of the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes. the glyat4621 gene, isolated from bacillus licheniformis, was functionally improved by a gene shuffling process to optimize the kinetics of glyphosate acetyltransferase (glyat) activity. the glyat4621 protein, encoded by the glyat4621 gene, confers tolerance to the herbicidal active ingredient glyphosate. the insertion of the zm-hra gene produces a modified form of the acetolactate synthase enzyme (als). als is essential for branched chain amino acid biosynthesis and is inhibited by certain herbicides. the modification in the zm-hra gene overcomes this inhibition and thus provides tolerance to a wide range of als-inhibiting herbicides. the objective of this study was to evaluate the herbicide tolerance and protein expression in maize containing the event dp-098140-6. two generations of the dp-098140-6 maize and two generations of near isoline control maize were evaluated to determine whether dp-098140-6 maize displayed consistent protein expression and tolerance to glyphosate and als-inhibiting herbicides across generations. plants were grown in a greenhouse using a randomized complete block design containing four blocks. each block consisted of twenty-four flats. flats representing entries 1-12 (segregating 1:1) contained approximately fifteen plants per entry, while flats representing entries 13-24 (non-segregating) contained approximately ten plants per entry. trait confirmation for glyat4621 was conducted for test and control entries at the v2 growth stage using lateral flow strip tests specific for the glyat protein. plants with positive trait confirmation results (expressing glyat4621) were used for test entries and plants with negative trait confirmation results (not expressing glyat4621) were used as the control entries. any remaining negative segregants not used for controls were then removed and remaining positive plants were thinned to 5 plants per entry within each block (treatment). at the v4 growth stage, a herbicide treatment containing glyphosate (1.46 l/ha or 20 oz/acre)+nonionic surfactant (0.25% vol./vol.)+ammonium sulfate (3.4 kg/ha) was applied to entries 1, 9, 13, and 21; herbicides containing thifensulfuron (3.5 g/ha or 0.5 oz/acre) and tribenuron (3.5 g/ha or 0.5 oz/acre) each containing nonionic surfactant (0.25% vol./vol.)+ammonium sulfate (3.4 kg/ha) were applied to entries 2, 10, 14 and 22; and a tank mixture of herbicides containing glyphosate, thifensulfuron and tribenuron was applied to entries 3, 11, 15, and 23 (table 15). herbicide injury was evaluated visually at 14 and 21 days after herbicide application by estimating herbicide injury percentage, where “0” represented no visible injury and “100” represented complete plant death. the injury rating took into account all symptoms of herbicide injury when compared to the untreated entry for the same maize line. injury symptoms included discoloration, leaf speckling, and wilting. the untreated entries for each maize line were rated as 0% injury and the herbicide treated entries of the same maize line were rated by comparing them to this untreated entry. photographs were taken at 21 days following herbicide application to record herbicide injury. in order to further characterize tolerance to als-inhibiting herbicides, a characteristic of the zm-hra gene in dp-098140-6 maize, plant heights were measured for all entries at 14 and 21 days post herbicide treatment. plant height was measured in cm from the soil surface to the tip of the highest leaf when extended by hand. quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) analyses were conducted to characterize the expression of glyat4621 and zm-hra proteins in dp-098140-6 maize seed. methods for conducting the quantitative elisa were as follows: all leaf and seed samples were lyophilized and finely ground for approximately 60 seconds using a spex certiprep genogrinder. between lyophilization and grinding, samples were stored frozen in temperature-monitored freezers at <-10° c. homogenized tissues were weighed into 1.2 ml tubes at the following target weights: 10 mg for leaf and 20 mg for seed. each sample was extracted with 0.6 ml of assay buffer and two 5/32″ steel balls using a single 30 second cycle with a setting of 1500 strokes per minute. insoluble material was separated by centrifugation (4,000 rpm for 10 minutes). diluted extracts were analyzed using specific glyat4621 and zm-hra elisa methods. the glyat4621 elisa method utilized a sequential “sandwich” elisa for the determination of the presence of glyat4621 in maize plant tissue extracts. standards (analyzed in triplicate wells) and diluted sample extracts (analyzed in duplicate wells) were incubated for one hour in stabilized 96-well plates that were pre-coated with a glyat4621-specific antibody. unbound substances were washed from the plate, and a different glyat4621-specific antibody that had been conjugated to the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (hrp) was added to the wells. bound glyat4621 protein was sandwiched between the antibody coated on the plate and the antibody-hrp conjugate. at the end of the 1 hour incubation, unbound substances were washed from the plate. detection of the bound glyat4621 protein-antibody complex was accomplished by the addition of a substrate, which generated a colored product in the presence of hrp. the reaction was stopped with stop solution (in hydrochloric acid) after 30 minutes and the optical density of each well was determined using a molecular devices plate reader (molecular devices corporation, 1311 orleans drive, sunnyvale, calif. 94089-1136, usa) with a wavelength setting of 450 nm minus 650 nm. softmax pro software (molecular devices corporation, 1311 orleans drive, sunnyvale, calif. 94089-1136, usa) was used to perform the calculations that generated the quadratic fit of the standard curve and to convert the sample optical density (od) values to glyat4621 protein concentrations. the mean duplicate well values in ng/ml were used in the calculation of the reported glyat4621 concentration of each sample (ng/mg dry weight). the quantitative range for the glyat4621 assay was 0.36 to 8.8 ng/ml. the lower limit of quantitation (lloq) in ng/mg dry weight for each tissue was based on extraction volume (μl) to weight ratios, the limit of quantitation for the elisa in ng/ml, and the dilutions used for analysis. the sample lloq on a ng/mg dry weight basis for glyat4621 was 0.22 ng/mg dry weight for leaf and 0.22 ng/mg dry weight for seed. the zm-hra elisa method utilized a sequential “sandwich” format for the determination of the presence of zm-hra protein in maize plant tissue extracts. standards (analyzed in triplicate wells) and diluted sample extracts (analyzed in duplicate wells) were incubated for one hour in stabilized 96-well plates that were precoated with a zm-hra-specific antibody. unbound substances were washed from the plate, and a different zm-hra antibody conjugated to the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (hrp) was added to the wells. bound zm-hra protein was sandwiched between the antibody coated on the plate and the antibody-hrp conjugate. at the end of the one hour incubation, unbound substances were washed from the plate. detection of the bound zm-hra protein-antibody complex was accomplished by the addition of a substrate, which generated a colored product in the presence of hrp. the reaction was stopped with stop solution (hydrochloric acid) and the optical density of each well was determined using a molecular devices plate reader (molecular devices corporation, 1311 orleans drive, sunnyvale, calif. 94089-1136, usa) with a wavelength setting of 450 nm minus 650 nm. softmax pro software (molecular devices corporation, 1311 orleans drive, sunnyvale, calif. 94089-1136, usa) was used to perform the calculations that generated the quadratic fit for the standard curve and converted the sample od values to zm-hra protein concentrations. the mean concentration from the duplicate wells in ng/ml was used in the calculation of the reported zm-hra concentration of each sample (ng/mg dry weight). the quantitative range for the zm-hra assay was 0.9 to 22 ng/ml. the lower limit of quantitation (lloq) in ng/mg dry weight for each tissue was based on extraction volume (μl) to weight ratios, the limit of quantitation for the elisa in ng/ml, and the dilutions used for analysis. the sample lloq on a ng/mg dry weight basis for zm-hra was 0.54 ng/mg dry weight for leaf and 0.14 ng/mg dry weight for seed. means, standard error and p-values were calculated for plant height data. means were calculated for herbicide injury scores. means, ranges and standard deviations of protein expression data were calculated for each protein expressed in leaf and seed tissues. the sprayed dp-098140-6 maize plants from both generation 1 and generation 2 showed no herbicide injury and were comparable to both generations of the non-sprayed control and non-sprayed dp-098140-6 maize plants (data not shown). both generations of the glyphosate and the glyphosate/thifensulfuron/tribenuron tank mixture sprayed control maize resulted in 100% injury (table 16). the thifensulfuron/tribenuron treatment resulted in 10 to 50% injury to the control at the 21 day post-treatment evaluation. as expected, the zm-hra gene within dp-098140-6 maize, allowed for enhanced tolerance to als-inhibiting herbicides, as demonstrated with the plant height measurements and photographs (tables 17-18 and data not shown). elisa analysis indicated glyat4621 protein expression in all dp-098140-6 maize leaf samples except one and was not expressed (below lloq) in the control leaf samples except one. these exceptions were ascribed to miscalls during the greenhouse lateral flow strip test analysis. the glyat4621 protein was expressed in 10 out of 25 seed samples due to segregation (table 19). elisa analysis indicated zm-hra protein expression in all 98140 maize leaf samples except one and was not expressed (below lloq) in the control leaf samples except one. these exceptions were also ascribed to miscalls during the greenhouse strip test analysis. the zm-hra protein was expressed in only one of the segregating generation 1 seed samples (ascribed to a miscall during lateral flow strip test analysis) and in none of the generation 2 seed samples. the zm-hra protein was not expressed (below lloq) in any of the control seed samples (table 20). table 15experimental designentry 1eventgenerationno. of plantsherbicide treatment19814015glyphosate29814015thifensulfuron/tribenuron39814015glyphosate +thifensulfuron/tribenuron49814015non-sprayed9control15glyphosate10control15thifensulfuron/tribenuron11control15glyphosate +thifensulfuron/tribenuron12control15non-sprayed139814025glyphosate149814025thifensulfuron/tribenuron159814025glyphosate +thifensulfuron/tribenuron169814025non-sprayed21control25glyphosate22control25thifensulfuron/tribenuron23control25glyphosate +thifensulfuron/tribenuron24control25non-sprayed1 entries 5-8 and 17-20 contained an event not specific to this summary report. table 16average herbicide injury ratings for dp-098140-6 and control maizepost-herbicide treatmentaverage herbicide injury ratinggeneration 1generation 214 days21 days14 days21 daysherbicidepost-post-post-post-treatmenttreatmenttreatmenttreatmenttreatmentdp-098140-6 maizeglyphosate0000thifensulfuron/0000tribenuronglyphosate +0000thifensulfuron/tribenuronnon-spray0000control maizeglyphosate100100100100thifensulfuron/012.5025tribenuronglyphosate +100100100100thifensulfuron/tribenuronnon-spray0000 table 17statistical comparison of plant height for dp-098140-6 andcontrol maize - generation 1leastdayssquareherbicidefollowingmaizemeans 2standardtreatmenttreatmentline(cm)errorp-value 1glyphosate14981401031.300.0001control0.001.3021981401201.520.0001control0.001.52thifensulfuron/14981401023.060.0033tribenuroncontrol67.03.0621981401183.180.0013control66.43.18glyphosate +14981401010.9610.0001thifensulfuron/control0.000.961tribenuron21981401161.500.0001control0.001.50non-spray14981401002.570.6562control98.72.5721981401133.450.7034control1113.451 p-value < 0.05 indicates a statistically significant difference.2 values of 0 cm indicate a visible plant that has died due to herbicide treatment. table 18statistical comparison of plant height for 98140 and controlmaize - generation 2leastdayssquareherbicidefollowingmaizemeans 2standardtreatmenttreatmentline(cm)errorp-value 1glyphosate14981401011.550.0001control0.001.5521981401152.560.0001control0.002.56thifensulfuron/14981401032.010.0001tribenuroncontrol67.32.0121981401191.790.0001control67.81.79glyphosate +149814097.01.700.0001thifensulfuron/control0.001.70tribenuron21981401112.860.0001control0.002.86non-spray149814098.24.590.3777control1034.5921981401204.880.3563control1144.881 p-value < 0.05 indicates a statistically significant difference.2 values of 0 cm indicate a visible plant that has died due to herbicide treatment. table 19summary of the protein concentration results forglyat4621 in 98140 and control maize samplesnumberng/mg tissue drytissueof samplesweight 5standardtype(n)meanrange 1deviation98140 generation 1leaf19 2345.8-499.2seed10 39.65.9-173.098140 generation 2leaf203424-486.6seed25107.6-182.9control generation 1leaf19 2000seed15 4000control generation 2leaf20000seed250001 range denotes the lowest and highest individual values across all samples.2 one leaf sample excluded from summary statistics due to an apparent miscalled plant identificatio in the greenhouse.3 only the non-segregating seed samples were used in summary statistics.4 the control seed samples were taken from the segregating null population of this event.5 for results below the sample lloq, a value of zero was assigned for calculation purposes. table 20summary of the protein concentration results for zm-hrain dp-098140-6 and control maize samplesnumberofng/mg tissue drytissuesamplesweight 3standardtype(n)meanrange 1deviation98140 generation 1leaf19 27.24.3-111.6seed10 40.0140-0.14098140 generation 2leaf206.94.1-9.51.4seed25 40 40-00control generation 1leaf19 2000seed15000control generation 2leaf20000seed250001 range denotes the lowest and highest individual values across all samples.2 one leaf sample excluded from summary statistics due to an apparent miscalled plant identification in the greenhouse.3 for results below the sample lloq, a value of zero was assigned for calculation purposes.4 all samples were below the lloq. table 26description of genetic elements in the t-dna of php24279location ont-dna (basegeneticsize (basepair position)elementpairs)description1 to 25right border25t-dna right border region, from ti plasmid ofagrobacterium tumefaciens26 to 177ti plasmid152non-functional sequence from ti plasmid of a. tumefaciensregion178 to 210polylinker33region required for cloning genetic elementsregion211 to 521pinii311terminator region from solanum tuberosum proteinaseterminatorinhibitor ii gene (keil et al., 1986; an et al., 1989).(reverse orientation)522 to 537polylinker33region required for cloning genetic elementsregion538 to 2454zm-hra gene1917modified endogenous zea mays acetolactate synthasegene (fang et al., 1992). (reverse orientation)2455 to 3115zm-als661promoter region from zea mays acetolactate synthasepromotergene (fang et al., 1992). (reverse orientation)3116 to 3189polylinker74region required for cloning genetic elementsregion3190 to 3625camv 35s436enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virusenhancergenome (franck et al., 1980; odell et al., 1985).3626 to 3648polylinker23region required for cloning genetic elementsregion3649 to 4086camv 35s438enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virusenhancergenome (franck et al., 1980; odell et al., 1985).4087 to 4093polylinker7region required for cloning genetic elementsregion4094 to 4531camv 35s438enhancer region from the cauliflower mosaic virusenhancergenome (franck et al., 1980; odell et al., 1985).4532 to 4566polylinker35region required for cloning genetic elementsregion4567 to 5466ubizm1900promoter region from zea mays ubiquitin genepromoter(christensen et al., 1992).5467 to 5549ubizm1 5′835′ untranslated region from zea mays ubiquitin geneutr(christensen et al., 1992).5550 to 6558ubizm11009intron region from zea mays ubiquitin gene (christensenintronet al., 1992).6559 to 6586polylinker28region required for cloning genetic elementsregion6587 to 7030glyat4621444synthetic glyphosate n-acetyltransferase gene (castle etgeneal., 2004. siehl et al., 2007).7031 to 7046polylinker16region required for cloning genetic elementsregion7047 to 7362pinii316terminator region from solanum tuberosum proteinaseterminatorinhibitor ii gene (keil et al., 1986; an et al., 1989).7363 to 7415ti plasmid53non-functional sequence from ti plasmid of a. tumefaciensregion7416 to 7440left border25t-dna left border region, from ti plasmid ofagrobacterium tumefaciens example 7 molecular and genetic characterization of dp-098140-6 corn to characterize the dna insertion in dp-098140-6 corn, southern blot analysis was conducted. individual plants of the t0s3 generation were analyzed by southern blot to determine the number of each of the genetic elements of the expression cassettes inserted and to verify the integrity of the php24279 t-dna was maintained upon integration. the integration pattern of the insertion in dp-098140-6 corn was investigated with ecor v and spe i restriction enzymes. southern blot analysis was conducted on individual plants of two generations, bc0s2 and bc1 to confirm insert stability across generations and to verify the absence of backbone sequences from plasmid php24279. the bc1s1 generation was also analyzed by southern blot to confirm insert stability within a fourth generation. seeds from the t0s3, bc0s2, bc1, and bc1s1 generations of dp-098140-6 corn were planted and leaf tissue harvested from individual plants was used for genomic dna extraction. seeds from the unmodified corn varieties phwvz and ph09b were planted and leaf tissue harvested from individual plants was used for genomic dna extraction. phwvz and ph09b control dna was used as a negative control to help interpret hybridization results since several probes (zm-hra, als promoter, ubizm1 promoter, and ubizm1 intron) cross-hybridize with endogenous corn sequences. plasmid dna from php24279 was prepared from e. coli (invitrogen, carlsbad, calif.) and was used as a positive control for southern analysis to verify probe hybridization and to verify sizes of internal fragments. the plasmid stock was a copy of the plasmid used for agrobacterium -mediated transformation experiments to produce dp-098140-6 corn and was digested with restriction enzymes to confirm the plasmid map. the probes used in this study were derived from plasmid php24279 or from a plasmid containing equivalent genetic elements. dna molecular weight markers for gel electrophoresis and southern blot analysis were used to determine approximate molecular weights. for southern analysis, dna molecular weight marker vii, digoxigenin (dig) labeled (roche, indianapolis, ind.), was used as a size standard for hybridizing fragments. φx174 rf dna/hae iii fragments (invitrogen, carlsbad, calif.) was used as a molecular weight standard to determine sufficient migration and separation of the fragments on the gel. genomic dna was extracted from leaf tissue harvested from individual plants as described above. the tissue was pulverized in tubes containing grinding beads using a geno/grinder™ (spex certiprep, inc., metuchen, n.j.) instrument and the genomic dna isolated using a urea-based procedure (modification from chen and dellaporta, 1994). approximately 1 gram of ground tissue was extracted with 5 ml urea extraction buffer (7 m urea, 0.34 m nacl, 0.05 m tris-hcl, ph 8.0, 0.02 m edta, 1% n-lauroylsarcosine) for 12-30 minutes at 37° c., followed by two extractions with phenol/chloroform/isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) and one extraction with water saturated chloroform. the dna was precipitated from the aqueous phase by the addition of 1/10 volume of 3 m naoac (ph 5.2) and 1 volume of isopropyl alcohol, followed by centrifugation to pellet the dna. after washing the pellet twice with 70% ethanol, the dna was dissolved in 0.5 ml te buffer (10 mm tris, 1 mm edta, ph 7.5) and treated with 10 μg ribonuclease a for 15 minutes at 37° c. the sample was extracted once with phenol:chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) and once with water saturated chloroform, followed by precipitation with isopropyl alcohol and washing with 70% ethanol. after drying, the dna was re-dissolved with 0.5 ml te buffer and stored at 4° c. following extraction, the dna was quantified on a spectrofluorometer using picogreen® reagent (molecular probes, inc., eugene, oreg.) following a standard procedure. the dna was also visualized on an agarose gel to confirm quantitation values from the picogreen® analysis and to determine dna quality. phenotypic analysis of dp-098140-6 corn plants and control plants was carried out by the use of lateral flow devices able to detect the glyat4621 protein to confirm the absence or presence of the glyat4621 protein in material used for southern blot analysis. leaf extract was prepared by grinding leaf punches to homogeneity in 500 μl of extraction buffer (20 mm tris (ph 7.5), 67mm nacl, 0.5% tween 20). lateral flow devices (envirologix, inc., portland, me.) were placed in the homogenate and allowed to develop. after incubation, the results were read from the lateral flow devices. a single stripe indicated a negative result and a double stripe indicated the sample was positive for the glyat4621 protein. a preliminary southern blot analysis of dna isolated from all dp-098140-6 corn plants from generations t0s3, bc0s2, and bc1 was used to verify the presence of both the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes. methods for this preliminary characterization are described below. final southern blot analysis was carried out on a subset of dp-098140-6 corn plants from these three generations and the bc1s1 generation. genomic dna samples extracted from selected dp-098140-6 corn and control corn plants were digested with restriction enzymes following a standard procedure. approximately 4 μg of genomic dna was digested in a volume of 100 μl using 50 units of enzyme according to manufacturer's recommendations. the digestions were carried out at 37° c. for three hours, followed by ethanol precipitation with 1/10 volume of 3 m naoac (ph 5.2) and 2 volumes of 100% ethanol. after incubation at 4° c. and centrifugation, the dna was allowed to dry and re-dissolved in te buffer. the reference plasmid, php24279, was spiked into a control plant dna sample in an amount equivalent to approximately one or three gene copies per corn genome and digested with the same enzyme to serve as a positive control for probe hybridization and to verify sizes of internal fragments on the southern blot. following restriction enzyme digestion, the dna fragments produced were electrophoretically separated by size through an agarose gel and a molecular weight standard [φx174 rf dnajhae iii fragments (invitrogen)] was used to determine sufficient migration and separation of the fragments on the gel. dig labeled dna molecular weight marker vii (roche), visible after dig detection as described below, was used to determine hybridizing fragment size on the southern blots. agarose gels containing the separated dna fragments were depurinated, denatured, and neutralized in situ, and transferred to a nylon membrane in 20×ssc buffer (3m nacl, 0.3 m sodium citrate) using the method as described for the turboblotter™ rapid downward transfer system (schleicher & schuell, keene, n.h.). following transfer to the membrane, the dna was bound to the membrane by uv crosslinking (stratalinker, stratagene, la jolla, calif.). probes for the ubizm1 promoter, ubizm1 intron, glyat4621 (seq id no: 33), pinii terminator, als promoter, zm-hra (seq id no: 31 and 32), and 35s enhancer were used to detect genes and elements within the insertion. backbone regions (virg, tet, spc, lb, and rb probes) of the php24279 plasmid were used to verify absence of plasmid backbone dna in dp-098140-6 corn. dna fragments of the probe elements were generated by pcr from plasmid php24279 or a plasmid with equivalent elements using specific primers. pcr fragments were electrophoretically separated on an agarose gel, excised and purified using a gel purification kit (qiagen, valencia, ca). dna probes were generated from these fragments by pcr that incorporated a dig labeled nucleotide, [dig-11]-dutp, into the fragment. pcr labeling of isolated fragments was carried out according to the procedures supplied in the pcr dig probe synthesis kit (roche). the dna fragments bound to the nylon membrane were detected as discrete bands when hybridized to a labeled probe. labeled probes were hybridized to the target dna on the nylon membranes for detection of the specific fragments using the procedures essentially as described for dig easy hyb solution (roche). after stringent washes, the hybridized dig-labeled probes and dig-labeled dna standards were visualized using cdp-star chemiluminescent nucleic acid detection system with dig wash and block buffer set (roche). blots were exposed to x-ray film for one or more time points to detect hybridizing fragments and to visualize molecular weight standards. images were digitally captured by detection with the luminescent image analyzer las-3000 (fujifilm medical systems, stamford, conn.). digital images were compared to original x-ray film exposures as verification for use in this report. the sizes of detected bands were documented for each digest and each probe. following hybridization and detection, membranes were stripped of dig-labeled probe to prepare the blot for subsequent re-hybridization to additional probes. membranes were rinsed briefly in distilled, de-ionized water and then stripped in a solution of 0.2 m naoh and 0.1% sds at 37-40° c. with constant shaking. the membranes were then rinsed in 2×ssc and either used directly for subsequent hybridizations or stored at 4° c. or −20° c. for later use. the alkali-based stripping procedure effectively removes probes labeled with the alkali-labile dig. transgene copy number and insertion integrity the integration pattern of the insertion in dp-098140-6 corn was investigated with ecor v digestion to determine copy number and with spe i digestion to determine insertion integrity. southern blots were hybridized with several probes to confirm copy number and integrity of each genetic element. the ubizm1 promoter, ubizm1 intron, and glyat4621 probes were used to characterize the glyat4621 cassette (table 21 and data not shown). the als promoter and zm-hra probes were used to characterize the zm-hra cassette (table 21 and data not shown). the 35s enhancer and pinii terminator probes were used to characterize genetic elements that are associated with both cassettes (table 21 and data not shown). table 21description of dna probes used for southern blot hybridizationposition onposition onphp24279php24279probet-dnaplasmidlengthprobe namegenetic element(bp to bp)(bp to bp)(bp)ubizm1 promoterubizm1 promoter4602 to 546022689 to 23457859ubizm1 intronubizm1 5′ utr and5472 to 655123559 to 246381080intronglyat4621glyat4621 gene6587 to 702124674 to 25108435als promoterals promoter2503 to 310120590 to 21188599zm-hra 1zm-hra gene538 to 146818625 to 195559311490 to 225919577 to 20346770pinii terminatorpinii terminator235 to 468 218322 to 18555 22347100 to 7333 225187 to 25420 235s enhancercamv 35s enhancer3192 to 3611 321279 to 21698 34203653 to 4072 321740 to 22159 34097 to 4513 322184 to 22603 3virgvirg genen/a2512 to 3255744tet 1tetracycline resistancen/a32556 to 33094539gene33200 to 33657458spcspectinomycinn/a26707 to 27481775resistance genelbregion on the plasmidn/a25552 to 25897346backbone adjacent tothe left t-dna borderrbregion on the plasmidn/a17654 to 18043390backbone adjacent tothe right t-dna border*abbreviations:n/a—not applicable, these are not present on the php24279 t-dna.1 two non-overlapping segments were generated for this probe and were combined for hybridization. the bp positions provided are the positions of each different segment.2 there are two copies of the pinii terminator on php24279 and the php24279 t-dna. the bp positions provided are the positions of each separate copy.3 there are three copies of the 35s enhancer on php24279 and the php24279 t-dna. the bp positions provided are the positions of each separate copy. predicted and observed hybridization bands are described in tables 22, 24, and 27 for probes unique to the glyat4621 cassette, unique to the zm-hra cassette, and for probes associated with both cassettes, respectively. the ubizm1 promoter, ubizm1 intron, als promoter, and zm-hra probes all hybridize to sequences in both control and dp-098140-6 corn genomic dna. hybridizing bands present in control corn dna were determined to be from the endogenous corn genome and are thus not part of the t-dna insertion. these bands are indicated in tables 22 and 24 by asterisks (*) and gray shading. some variation in sample loading, gel electrophoresis and transfer, and hybridization intensity affected the visibility of faint endogenous bands between different generations and samples within generations. table 22predicted and observed hybridizing bands on southernblots with probes unique to the glyat4621 cassettepredictedpredictedobservedfragment sizefragment size fromfragment size inrestrictionfrom php24279 1php24279 t-dna 2dp-098140-6 corn 3probeenzyme(bp)(bp)(bp)ubizm1 promoterecor v11178>3800 4ubizm i intronecor v11178>3800 4glyat4621ecor v11178>3800 4~6100ubizm1 promoterspe i67736773ubizm1 intronspe i67736773glyat4621spe i677367736773 5an asterisk (*) and gray shading indicates the designated band is due to probe hybridization to endogenous corn genome sequences, as determined by the presence of the same band in all lanes, both dp-098140-6 corn and control. certain endogenous bands may be difficult to discern on a printed copy but are visible on the original film.1 predicted fragment sizes for hybridization to samples containing the plasmid positive control are based on the php24279 plasmid map.2 predicted fragment sizes for dp-098140-6 corn are based on the map of the php24279 t-dna.3 observed fragment sizes are considered approximate from these analyses and are based on the indicated sizes of the dig-labeled dna molecular weight marker vii fragments on the southern blots. due to incorporation of dig molecules for visualization, the marker fragments typically run approximately 5-10% larger than their actual indicated molecular weight. the sizes of fragments not corresponding directly to plasmid fragments are rounded to the nearest 100 bp.4 minimum fragment size predicted based on an intact insertion of the t-dna from php24279. fragment size is rounded to the nearest 100 bp.5 observed fragment size is the same as the predicted fragment size based on equivalent migration on the southern blots. table 24predicted and observed hybridizing bands on southernblots with probes unique to the zm-hra cassettepredictedpredictedobservedfragment sizefragment size fromfragment size inrestrictionfrom php24279 1php24279 t-dna 2dp-098140-6 corn 3probeenzyme(bp)(bp)(bp)als promoterecor v9691>3700 4zm-hraecor v9691>3700 4als promoterspe i67736773zm-hraspe i67736773an asterisk (*) and gray shading indicates the designated band is due to probe hybridization to endogenous corn genome sequences, as determined by the presence of the same band in all lanes, both dp-098140-6 corn and control. certain endogenous bands may be difficult to discern on a printed copy but are visible on the original film. not all endogenous bands are the same in all samples due to genomic differences in varieties used in the breeding process to produce the different generations analyzed.1 predicted fragment sizes for hybridization to samples containing the plasmid positive control are based on the php24279 plasmid map.2 predicted fragment sizes for dp-098140-6 corn are based on the map of the php24279 t-dna.3 observed fragment sizes are considered approximate from these analyses and are based on the indicated sizes of the dig-labeled dna molecular weight marker vii fragments on the southern blots. due to incorporation of dig molecules for visualization, the marker fragments typically run approximately 5-10% larger than their actual indicated molecular weight. the sizes of fragments not corresponding directly to plasmid fragments are rounded to the nearest 100 bp.4 minimum fragment size predicted based on an intact insertion of the t-dna from php24279. fragment size is rounded to the nearest 100 bp.5 not all endogenous bands are observed in all generations due to allelic differences in backgrounds. also, variations in sample loading, gel electrophoresis and transfer, and hybridization intensity affect the visibility of faint endogenous bands between different generations and samples within generations.6 observed fragment size is the same as the predicted fragment size based on equivalent migration on the southern blots. based on the southern blot analyses as discussed below, it was determined that a single, intact php24279 t-dna has been inserted into the genome of dp-098140-6 corn as diagramed in the insertion map ( fig. 5 ). copy number the ecor v digest provides information about the number of copies of the genetic elements integrated into the genome of dp-098140-6 corn as there is a single restriction enzyme site in the php24279 t-dna at base pair (bp) position 3651 and any additional sites would fall outside the t-dna sequence in the corn genome. hybridization with the probes from each cassette, except for the 35s enhancer probe, would indicate the number of copies of each element found in dp-098140-6 corn based on the number of hybridizing bands (e.g. one hybridizing band indicates one copy of the element). there are two copies of the pinii terminator; one located in each gene cassette on either side of the ecor v site, so two hybridizing bands would be expected with this probe for a single t-dna insertion. there are three copies of the 35s enhancer element in the t-dna; however, since the ecor v site is located between two of the copies, only two hybridizing bands would be expected. predicted and observed fragment sizes for dp-098140-6 corn with ecor v are given in table 22 for the glyat4621 cassette, in table 24 for the zm-hra cassette, and in table 27 for elements associated with both cassettes. table 27predicted and observed hybridizing bands on southern blots with probescommon to glyat4621 and zm-hra cassettespredictedobservedfragment sizepredictedfragment size inrestrictionfragment sizefrom php24279dp-098140-6probeenzymefrom php24279 1 (bp)t-dna 2 (bp)corn 3 (bp)pinii terminatorecor v11178>3800 4>86009691>3700 4~610035s enhancerecor v11178>3800 4>86009691>3700 4~6100pinii terminatorspe i4278567736773 56773>400 4~4900813>300 4~45035s enhancerspe i677367736773 51 predicted fragment sizes for hybridization to samples containing the plasmid positive control are based on the php24279 plasmid map.2 predicted fragment sizes for dp-098140-6 corn are based on the map of the php24279 t-dna.3 observed fragment sizes are considered approximate from these analyses and are based on the indicated sizes of the dig-labeled dna molecular weight marker vii fragments on the southern blots. due to incorporation of dig molecules for visualization, the marker fragments typically run approximately 5-10% larger than their actual indicated molecular weight. the sizes of fragments not corresponding directly to plasmid fragments are rounded to the nearest 100 bp if >500 bp, or to the nearest 50 bp if >500 bp.4 minimum fragment size predicted based on an intact insertion of the t-dna from php24279. fragment size is rounded to the nearest 100 bp.5 observed fragment size is the same as the predicted fragment size based on equivalent migration on the southern blots. a single copy of the unique elements of the glyat4621 cassette was inserted into dp-098140-6 corn. the ubizm1 promoter, ubizm1 intron, and glyat4621 probes were hybridized to ecor v-digested genomic dna from individual dp-098140-6 corn plants of the t0s3 generation (table 22). each of the probes hybridized to the same single fragment of approximately 6100 bp (table 22), indicating a single copy insertion with the expected arrangement of genetic elements on the inserted fragment in dp-098140-6 corn. the ubizm1 promoter and ubizm1 intron probes are homologous to elements endogenous to the corn genome and therefore each probe also hybridized to bands in control corn samples (table 22). likewise, a single copy of each element exclusive to the zm-hra cassette was inserted into dp-098140-6 corn. the two unique elements comprising this cassette—the als promoter and zm-hra gene—were used as probes to determine number of copies inserted. each of the two probes hybridized to the same single fragment of greater than 8600 base pairs (bp) (table 24), indicating a single copy insertion with the expected arrangement of genetic elements on the inserted fragment in dp-098140-6 corn. the probes of this cassette are also homologous to elements endogenous to the corn genome and therefore each probe also hybridized to bands in control corn samples. the pinii terminator is present in both the glyat4621 and zm-hra cassettes. the three copies of the 35s enhancer element are located between the two expression cassettes. due to the location of the ecor v restriction enzyme site between two of the three copies of the 35s enhancer at by position 3651 ( fig. 6 ), it would be expected that the pinii terminator and 35s enhancer probes would hybridize to the same fragments that contain the glyat4621 or zm-hra gene cassettes. in both cases, hybridization of the ecor v southern blots with these probes resulted in the detection of both the 6100 bp band associated with the glyat4621 cassette and the greater than 8600 bp band associated with the zm-hra cassette (table 27 and data not shown). in the case of the 35s enhancer probe, the band of greater than 8600 bp is substantially fainter than the approximately 6100 bp band as it is the band containing a single copy of the enhancer element, compared to the 6100 bp band which contains two copies of the 35s enhancer (data not shown). the presence of only two hybridizing bands for the pinii terminator and 35s enhancer probes, corresponding to the hybridizing bands noted above for the other components of the two gene cassettes, is further indication that there is a single copy of the php24279 t-dna, in its expected arrangement, inserted in the dp-098140-6 corn genome. insertion integrity spe i digestion was used to verify that the inserted t-dna containing both of the glyat4621 and zm-hra cassettes was complete and intact in dp-098140-6 corn. there are two spe i sites in the php24279 t-dna (base pair positions 396 and 7169) which are located within the pinii terminator elements found on the ends of each gene expression cassette ( fig. 6 ). hybridization with the probes of the glyat4621 and zm-hra cassettes confirmed that all the elements were found on the expected internal 6773 bp fragment. in addition, the pinii terminator probe hybridized to two other expected border fragments, due to the locations of the spe i sites within the terminator. expected and observed fragment sizes with spe i are given in table 22 for the glyat4621 cassette, table 24 for the zm-hra cassette, and in table 27 for elements associated with both cassettes. the ubizm1 promoter, ubizm1 intron, and glyat4621 probes for the glyat4621 cassette hybridized to a single insertion-derived band of 6773 bp that matched the plasmid control band (table 22, data not shown). similarly, the probes for the zm-hra cassette (als promoter and zm-hra) hybridized to the same internal 6773 bp band (table 24, data not shown). the 35s enhancer and pinii terminator probes also hybridized to the expected internal band of 6773 bp (table 27, data not shown). the size of the band for each probe was confirmed by hybridization to the php24279 plasmid fragment corresponding to the t-dna (data not shown). because these probes hybridized to the same internal fragment of the predicted size, the php24279 t-dna in dp-098140-6 corn was determined to be intact and all elements of the cassette were confirmed on this fragment. in addition to the internal 6773 bp band, the pinii terminator probe hybridized to two additional bands, one of about 4900 bp and one of about 450 bp (table 27, data not shown). these additional bands are due to the location of the spe i restriction site within the pinii terminator probe region, leading to hybridization of the probe to two border fragments for an intact insertion of the php24279 t-dna. the presence of the two additional hybridizing bands indicates that the pinii terminators in the t-dna are intact, and serve as additional confirmation that the complete php24279 t-dna was inserted into dp-098140-6 corn. as stated previously, the ubizm 1 promoter, ubizm 1 intron, als promoter, and zm-hra probes are homologous to elements endogenous to the corn genome and therefore each probe hybridized to bands in control corn samples (tables 22 and 24, data not shown). stability of the insertion across generations southern blot analysis was conducted using ecor v on three generations of 98140 corn; bc0s2, bc1, and bc1s1, to verify the stability of the insertion in 98140 corn as demonstrated by identical hybridization patterns in all generations. as discussed earlier, the ecor v restriction enzyme has a single site (bp position 3651) located within the php24279 t-dna ( fig. 6 ) and will generate a unique event-specific hybridization pattern for 98140 corn when hybridized to the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes. this analysis would confirm event stability across generations as changes to the insertion structure in 98140 corn would be detected. a band of approximately 6100 bp would be expected with the glyat4621 probe to confirm stability across generations (table 22). likewise for the zm-hra probe, a band of greater than 8600 bp would be expected to confirm stability across generations (table 24). as described in detail below, all three generations analyzed, bc0s2, bc1, and bc1s1, showed identical hybridization patterns consistent with the t0s3 analysis confirming the stability of inheritance of the insertion in 98140 corn. genomic dna from the bc0s2 and bc1 generations of 98140 corn was digested with ecor v and hybridized to the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes to confirm stability across generations (data not shown). a band of approximately 6100 bp specific to 98140 corn hybridized to the glyat4621 probe in both generations (table 22). with the zm-hra probe, a single band of greater than 8600 bp specific to 98140 corn was present in both generations (table 24). in addition to the greater than 8600 bp band, the zm-hra probe also hybridized to additional bands that were determined to be endogenous to the corn genome since these bands were present in both 98140 corn and control corn plants (data not shown). the consistency of hybridization results from both the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes confirmed that the insertion of php24279 t-dna in 98140 corn remained stable across the bc0s2 and bc1 generations. in addition, the bands observed resulting from the 98140 insertion in these two generations were the same size as the bands seen with the same probes on the ecor v southern blots of the t0s3 generation described above (data not shown), indicating the 98140 insertion is stable across all three generations. there is expected variation in the endogenous bands seen with the zm-hra probe between the 98140 corn plants from the differing generations, due to allelic differences between the original transformed corn line and the back-cross parent lines that are not associated with the 98140 insertion. plants from a segregating bc1s1 generation of 98140 corn were also analyzed by southern blot. genomic dna of the bc1s1 generation was digested with ecor v and hybridized to the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes. in plants containing the 98140 corn insertion, a band of approximately 6100 bp was observed with the glyat4621 probe (table 22 and data not shown) and a band of greater than 8600 bp specific to 98140 corn was observed with the zm-hra probe (table 24 and data not shown). as in previous analyses, the zm-hra probe hybridized to additional bands in 98140 corn and control samples which were due to endogenous sequences within the corn genome (data not shown). variations in the endogenous bands in the bc1s1 generation are due to segregation of alleles from the parent lines, and are not due to a change in the 98140 insertion. null segregant plants did not hybridize to the glyat4621 probe and showed only the endogenous hybridization observed in control plants with the zm-hra probe (data not shown). hybridization results from both the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes were consistent with the results from the t0s3, bc0s2, and bc1 generations described above and confirmed the stability of inheritance of the insertion during traditional corn breeding. thus, southern blot analysis of the t0s3, bc0s2, bc1, and bc1s1 generations of 98140 corn using the glyat4621 and zm-hra probes resulted in identical hybridization patterns on ecor v digests of all four generations. the consistent hybridization patterns indicate that the t-dna insertion is stably inherited across generations. inheritance of the traits in dp-098140-6 corn chi-square analysis of trait inheritance data from four different generations (bc0s1, bc1s1, bc2 and bc3) was performed to determine the heritability and stability of the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes in dp-098140-6 corn. the plants from the bc0s1 and bc1s1 generations were expected to segregate 3:1, and the plants from the bc2 and bc3 generations were expected to segregate 1:1 for the presence of the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes. in order to confirm the expected segregation ratios, polymerase chain reaction (pcr) analysis was performed on leaf punches from seedlings. qualitative pcr analysis for the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes was conducted on all plants. results from the segregation analysis are summarized in table 23. in every case, plants that were positive for the glyat4621 gene were also positive for the zm-hra gene and vice versa, confirming co-segregation of the two genes as expected. to confirm that glyat4621 and zm-hra genes segregate according to mendel's laws of genetics, chi-square analysis was performed. all p-values were greater than 0.05, indicating no statistically significant differences between the observed and expected frequencies of the glyat4621 and/or zm-hra genes in four generations of dp-098140-6 corn. the results of this analysis are consistent with the finding of a single locus of insertion of the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes that segregates in dp-098140-6 corn progeny according to mendel's laws of genetics. the stability of the insert has been demonstrated in four generations of self- and cross-pollinations. see table 23. table 23comparison of observed and expected segregation ratios for98140 cornobservedexpectedpositive fornegative forpositive fornegative forglyat4621glyat4621glyat4621glyat4621chi-squareand zm-hraand zm-hraexpectedand zm-hraand zm-hratestgenerationgenesgenesratiogenesgenesp-valuebc0s155223:157.7519.250.5537bc1s145203:148.7516.250.3519bc251481:149.549.50.8407bc352451:148.548.50.5424 summary and conclusions southern blot analysis was conducted to characterize the dna insertion in dp-098140-6 corn. the analysis confirmed that a single, intact php24279 t-dna has been inserted into the corn genome to produce dp-098140-6 corn. a single copy of each of the elements of the glyat4621 and zm-hra expression cassettes was present, along with the three 35s enhancer elements between the two cassettes, and the integrity of the php24279 t-dna was maintained. the analysis confirmed the stability of the insertion in dp-098140-6 corn across the t0s3, bc1s1, bc0s2, and bc1 generations, thus confirming stability of inheritance during traditional breeding procedures. inheritance studies confirmed that the insert segregated in normal mendelian fashion. none of the p-values obtained in the studies indicated a statistically significant difference between observed and expected segregation ratios for the glyat4621 and zm-hra genes over four different plant generations. the results are consistent with the molecular characterization data, which indicates stable integration of the glyat4621 and zm-hra transgenes at a single site in the corn genome. a sufficient number of fixed plants can be readily obtained by planting the seed and spraying the resulting plants with glyphosate. the corn seed is treated with maxim xl fungicide. safety glasses and chemical resistant gloves should be worn when handling the seed. do not ingest seed. table 28summary table of seq id nosseq id nodescription1right border genomic sequence2left border genomic sequence3complete internal transgene4complete flanking and complete transgene insert5right flanking genomic/right border transgene (10 nt/10 nt)6left flanking genomic/left border transgene (10 nt/10 nt)7right flanking genomic/right border transgene (20 nt/20 nt)8left flanking genomic/left border transgene (20 nt/20 nt)9right flanking genomic/right border transgene (30 nt/30 nt)10left flanking genomic/left border transgene (30 nt/30 nt)11left flanking genomic/complete transgene12right flanking genomic/complete transgene13primer 10023514primer 9987815primer 9988516primer 10024017primer 102588 (primer pair for 18)18primer 10258919taqman mob probe 10259020primer 06-o-173421primer 06-o-173822primer 02-o-197 (invertase)23primer 02-o-198 (invertase)24last 185 nucleotides of seq id no: 325oligo 06-o-153626oligo 06-o-153727oligo 06-o-153828oligo 06-o-153929oligo 06-o-154130oligo 06-o-154231zm-hra 3′probe32zm-hra 5′ probe33glyat4621 probe34oligo 06-o-177935oligo 06-o-178236oligo 06-o-178337oligo 07-o-187738oligo 07-o-187839oligo 07-o-187940oligo 07-o-188041oligo 07-o-194642oligo 07-o-194743oligo 07-o-194844oligo 07-o-194945oligo 07-o-195046left border genomic sequence (ud)47complete internal transgene (ud)48complete flanking and complete transgene insert (ud)49left flanking genomic/complete transgene (ud)50right flanking genomic/complete transgene (ud)51oligo dp098-3′-f1252oligo dp098-3′-r1253oligo dp098-3′-p654oligo dp098-f6 (forward)55oligo dp098-r2 (forward)56oligo dp098-p5 (probe)57zm-hra 3′ probe (up#2) the article “a” and “an” are used herein to refer to one or more than one (i.e., to at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. by way of example, “an element” means one or more element. all publications and patent applications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the level of those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains. all publications and patent applications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be obvious that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.
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161-734-676-910-09X
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US
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[
"US"
] |
H04M15/00,H04M15/06
| 2001-12-27T00:00:00 |
2001
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[
"H04"
] |
system and method for advertising supported communications
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a system and method for advertising supported communications in a telecommunications network are described. one exemplary method includes receiving a call request to connect a call from an originating subscriber terminal to a destination subscriber terminal. the call request includes a destination identifier such as a min or a pstn telephone number associated with the destination terminal. the method further includes providing at least one advertisement to a subscriber associated with the originating terminal, determining a free calling balance for the subscriber based on the advertisements being provided to the subscriber and the destination identifier, connecting the call from the originating terminal to the destination terminal, and monitoring as well as decrementing the free calling balance as the call progresses.
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1. a method for advertising-supported communications in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: receiving a call request to connect a call from an originating subscriber terminal to a destination subscriber terminal, the call request including a destination identifier associated with the destination subscriber terminal; in response to the call request, providing at least one advertisement to a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal; determining a free calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and based on providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber; connecting the call from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal; and monitoring the free calling balance as the call progresses, wherein the step of determining the free calling balance comprises (i) determining an advertisement time associated with the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber, (ii) determining a number of credits of free calling time based on the advertisement time, (iii) determining a zone measure between the originating subscriber terminal and the destination subscriber terminal, (iv) determining a free calling time based on the number of credits of free calling time and the zone measure. 2. a computer readable medium having stored therein instructions to execute the method of claim 1 . 3. the method of claim 1 , wherein determining the zone measure comprises: determining a distance between the originating subscriber terminal and the destination subscriber terminal; and determining the zone measure based on the distance between the originating subscriber terminal and the destination subscriber terminal. 4. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining a discounted calling time for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber; and connecting the call from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal; and monitoring the discounted calling time as the call progresses. 5. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: decrementing the free calling balance as the call progresses; determining if the free calling balance reaches a predetermined threshold level; and, if so, notifying the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal. 6. the method of claim 5 , wherein notifying the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal when the free calling balance reaches the predetermined threshold level comprises: making a determination whether to provide additional advertisement to the subscriber; if so, providing the additional advertisement to the subscriber; and updating the free calling balance for the subscriber based on the additional advertisement being provided to the subscriber. 7. the method of claim 6 , wherein determining whether to provide additional advertisement to the subscriber comprises querying the subscriber to obtain subscriber's instructions to provide the additional advertisement. 8. the method of claim 6 , further comprising terminating the call when the free calling balance reaches a call termination threshold level. 9. the method of claim 1 , wherein the destination identifier associated with the destination subscriber terminal is selected from a group consisting of (i) a public switch telephone network (pstn) telephone number, (ii) a mobile identification number (min), (iii) an ip address, (iv) an enum, (v) a network access identifier (nai), and (vi) a domain name. 10. the method of claim 1 , further comprising determining if the originating subscriber terminal is designated to receive advertisement services before providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal. 11. the method of claim 10 , further comprising not providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal if the subscriber terminal is not designated to receive the advertisement services. 12. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: querying a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal to specify an expected length of the call to be connected from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal; and providing the at least one advertisement based on the expected length of the call, wherein the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber is sufficient to connect the call for the specified length. 13. a method for advertising supported communications in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: receiving a call request to connect a call from an originating subscriber terminal to a destination subscriber terminal, the call request including a destination identifier associated with the destination subscriber terminal and further including a service code; in response to the call request, determining whether a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal is designated to receive advertising supported services; if so, providing at least one advertisement to the subscriber; determining a free calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and based on providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber; connecting the call from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal; decrementing the free calling balance as the call progresses; disconnecting the call from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal; and determining whether any unused free calling balance is left; and, if so, discarding the any unused free calling balance, wherein determining the free calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and based on providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber comprises (i) determining an advertisement time associated with the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber, (ii) determining a number of credits of free calling time based on the advertisement time, (iii) determining a zone measure between the originating subscriber terminal and the destination subscriber terminal, (iv) determining a free calling time based on the number of credits of free calling time and the zone measure. 14. a computer readable medium having stored therein instructions to execute the method of claim 13 . 15. the method of claim 13 , wherein determining whether a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal is designated to receive advertising supported services comprises determining whether the service code is an advertisement service code. 16. the method of claim 13 , wherein determining whether a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal is designated to receive advertising supported services comprises: retrieving a subscriber record associated with the subscriber of the originating subscriber terminal; and determining whether the subscriber record designates the subscriber to receive the advertising supported services. 17. the method of claim 13 , wherein the destination identifier associated with the destination subscriber terminal is selected from a group consisting of (i) a public switched telephone network (pstn) telephone number, (ii) a mobile identification number (min), (iii) an ip address, (iv) an enum, (v) a network access identifier (nai), and (vi) a domain name. 18. the method of claim 13 , wherein providing at least one advertisement to the subscriber comprises playing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber. 19. the method of claim 13 , wherein providing at least one advertisement to the subscriber comprises displaying the at least one advertisement to the subscriber via the originating subscriber terminal. 20. the method of claim 13 , further comprising: determining a discounted calling time for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber; connecting the call from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal; and decrementing the discounted calling time as the call progresses. 21. the method of claim 13 , further comprising: querying the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal to specify an expected length of the call; and providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber, wherein the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber is sufficient to connect the call for the specified length of the call. 22. a system for advertising-supported communications, the system comprising: a first network entity for receiving a call request to connect a call from an originating subscriber terminal to a destination subscriber terminal, the call request including a destination identifier associated with the destination subscriber terminal; a second network entity for providing at least one advertisement to a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal, in response to the call request; and a third network entity for determining a calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and based on providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber and monitoring the calling balance when the call from the originating subscriber terminal is connected to the destination subscriber terminal, wherein the third network entity determines the calling balance by a process comprising (i) determining an advertisement time associated with the at least one advertisement being provided to the subscriber, (ii) determining a number of credits of free calling time based on the advertisement time, (iii) determining a zone measure between the originating subscriber terminal and the destination subscriber terminal, (iv) determining a free calling time based on the number of credits of free calling time and the zone measure. 23. the system of claim 22 , wherein the calling balance comprises a free calling balance or a discounted calling time. 24. the system of claim 23 , wherein the first network entity comprises a switch, the second network entity comprises a voice command platform, and a third network entity comprises a calculation engine. 25. the system of claim 23 , further comprising, a fourth network entity determining if the originating subscriber terminal is designated to receive advertisement services before the second network entity providing the at least one advertisement to the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber entity. 26. the system of claim 25 , wherein the fourth network entity comprises a service controller.
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background 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to telecommunications systems and, more particularly, to a method and system for advertising supported communications. 2. description of related art over the last few years, wireless phones have shrunk in size and weight, making them a viable communication tool. as the amount of time subscribers spend talking on their cell phones is steadily increasing, the cost of service is becoming an important factor in how much time a person spends on a phone. many cell phone companies offer to their subscribers a predetermined number of free minutes per month that may be managed through the use of subscriber free account balances. in such a system, a subscriber may be authorized to use a predetermined number of minutes or a predetermined monetary value of services. as the subscriber uses the services, the carrier may then continuously monitor and decrement the free account balance. when the free account balance is exhausted, the carrier may then bill the subscriber for the excess use. additionally, some providers offer prepaid services to “credit challenged” subscribers, that is, subscribers with poor credit standings, or subscribers wishing to limit their monthly spending to a predetermined monthly balance. in such a system, a subscriber may deposit a prepayment amount with a service provider, and the service provider allows the subscriber to use services only up to a predetermined amount prepaid. when the subscriber approaches the prepaid limit during a call, the service provider might then prompt the subscriber to recharge the account, and the subscriber may add value to the account balance by making an additional prepayment, as for instance, with a credit card. while the existing services enable users to obtain free minutes and control over the cost of service, a need still exists for an improved system for providing free or discounted communication services to subscribers. summary the present invention provides a method and system for advertising supported communications. one exemplary method includes receiving a call request to connect a call from an originating subscriber terminal to a destination subscriber terminal. the call request may include a destination identifier, such as a min or a pstn number, associated with the destination subscriber terminal. the method further includes providing at least one advertisement to a subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal. according to one exemplary embodiment, advertisements provided to the subscriber may include audio, video, text advertisements, or a combination thereof. the method further includes determining a free calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier specified by the subscriber and the advertisements being provided to the subscriber. in one embodiment, before providing any advertisements to the subscriber, the subscriber may be queried to specify an expected length of the call. then, based on the specified length of the call, the subscriber may be provided a specific number or a predetermined length of the advertisements sufficient to satisfy the expected length of the call. once the subscriber finishes viewing and/or listening to advertisements, the call is connected from the originating subscriber terminal to the destination subscriber terminal. when the call is connected, the exemplary method further includes monitoring of the free calling balance during the progress of the call. if the free calling balance reaches a predetermined threshold level, one embodiment of the method includes notifying the subscriber associated with the originating subscriber terminal that the free calling balance reached the predetermined threshold level, and providing additional advertisement if the subscriber wishes to obtain the additional advertisement. these as well as other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following detailed description, with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings. brief description of the drawings an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described herein with reference to the drawings, in which: fig. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a telecommunications network including a serving system and a central control node; fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a telecommunications network including a plurality of serving nodes and central control points; fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a telecommunications network for providing advertisement-supported services in accordance with exemplary embodiments; fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a service control point (scp) that may be employed in an exemplary embodiment; fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a calculation engine (ce) that may be employed in an exemplary embodiment; fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for connecting a call for a subscriber designated to receive advertisement services according to an exemplary embodiment; and figs. 7a and 7b are a flow chart illustrating a method for connecting and managing a call for a subscriber designated to receive advertisement services according to an exemplary embodiment. detailed description of an exemplary embodiment referring to the drawings, fig. 1 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a telecommunications network 10 . as shown in fig. 1 , network 10 includes a serving system 12 interconnected to (or part of) a transport network 14 and to a signaling system 16 . the signaling system 16 is further interconnected to at least one central control point (“ccp”) 18 . network 10 further includes a plurality of subscriber terminals, of which exemplary terminal 20 is shown. terminal 20 may take any suitable form, such as, for instance, a telephone, a computer, or a personal digital assistant (“pda”). terminal 20 may then be coupled to serving system 12 by an appropriate link 22 , which may comprise wireline or wireless portions. this and other arrangements described herein are shown for purposes of illustration only, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that other arrangements and other elements (e.g., machines, interfaces, functions, etc.) can be used instead, and some elements may be omitted altogether. further, as in most telecommunications applications, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many of the elements described herein are functional entities that may be implemented as discrete components or in conjunction with other components, in any suitable combination and location. still further, various functions described herein as being performed by one or more entities may be carried out by a processor executing an appropriate set of machine language instructions stored in memory. provided with the present disclosure, those skilled in the art can readily prepare appropriate computer instructions to perform such functions. serving system 12 includes a set of stored logic that defines how to process calls involving one or more terminals, such as terminal 20 . the stored logic may include a number of trigger points that cause the serving system to seek guidance from ccp 18 in response to various conditions. when serving system 12 encounters a trigger, the serving system may pause call processing and send a signaling message via signaling system 16 to ccp 18 , carrying various parameters. for calls originating from terminal 20 , the signaling message may, for instance, convey an identification of the terminal and the digit sequence dialed by the subscriber. for calls terminating to terminal 20 , the signaling message may, for instance, convey an identification of the terminal and an indication of the calling party. of course, these are only examples; the messages may convey these and/or other parameters. ccp 18 also includes a set of stored logic. when ccp 18 receives the signaling message from serving system 12 , ccp 18 will execute its stored logic so as to parse the message, identify its parameters, and responsively carry out one or more functions. for example, in response to a call-origination signaling message, ccp 18 may determine that the subscriber dialed a toll-free number (e.g., an 800, 888 or 877 number). conventionally, the ccp's logic may then cause the ccp to reference a database in order to translate the toll-free number into an actual routing number associated with the called party. the ccp may then generate and send to serving system 12 a response message instructing serving system 12 to route the call to the actual routing number. in turn, serving system 12 would then set up and connect the call over transport network 14 to that routing number. network 10 is generically representative of an advanced intelligent network (“ain”) arrangement in which an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be implemented. the particular arrangement, however, may take any of a variety of forms. to further illustrate arrangements in which the invention can be implemented, fig. 2 depicts a network 30 , which comprises at least five example serving systems, designated respectively by reference numerals 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 and 39 . example serving system 32 is principally a landline serving system, which typically comprises a landline switch (ssp) 33 , such as a nortel dms-100 or dms-250. serving system 32 serves a plurality of landline subscriber stations, of which an exemplary station 40 is shown coupled by link 42 (typically a twisted copper pair of wires), and the ssp includes a set of logic indicating how to process calls involving those stations. serving system 32 is coupled to a transport network such as the public switched telephone network (“pstn”) 44 , and further to a signaling network represented by stp 46 . in turn, signaling network is coupled to a central control point such as service control point (scp) 48 . scp 48 includes a set of service logic to perform ain functions for calls being served by system 32 . when serving system 32 encounters a predefined trigger point in its service logic, it pauses call processing and sends a signaling message via stp 46 to scp 48 . scp 48 interprets the message and applies its own service logic, and scp 48 then typically returns a response signaling message via stp 46 to serving system 32 , instructing serving system 32 how to handle the call. example serving system 34 comprises a pbx server 50 coupled to a computer subscriber stations (e.g., corporate telephones or the like), an exemplary one of which is shown as station 54 for instance. the serving system (typically cti 52 ) may maintain one or more subscriber profiles that define service parameters for the various stations being served. when the serving system receives a call to or from station 54 , the cti may then apply a set of logic based on the associated subscriber profile and, in doing so, may encounter a trigger point that causes the cti to query scp 48 for guidance. the cti might then pause processing and send a signaling message via stp 46 to scp 48 , and the scp might then apply its own service logic and send a response message to the cti instructing system 34 how to handle the call. in one embodiment, cti 52 and scp 48 may communicate via the internet or a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (“tcp/ip”) interface such as a telcordia two-way generic data interface (“gdi”) between cti 52 and telcordia iscp. example serving system 36 is principally a wireless serving system, which typically comprises a mobile switching center (msc) 35 , such as a lucent or nortel msc. serving system 36 serves a plurality of wireless subscriber stations, of which an exemplary station 56 is coupled via an air interface 58 and base station 60 . serving system 36 further typically includes a visitor location register (vlr) 37 , which maintains service logic (e.g., profiles) for wireless stations currently being served by system 36 . serving system 36 is also coupled via stp 46 to a home location register (hlr) 62 , which, in this example, serves as the home register for wireless station 56 . hlr 62 may perform wireless intelligent network (“win”) functions for calls being served by system 36 . for instance, when serving system 36 receives a call for station 56 and station 56 is busy, serving system 36 may encounter a trigger and responsively pause processing and send a signaling message via stp 46 to hlr 62 . hlr 62 would then interpret the message and apply its own service logic, and hlr 62 would then return a response signaling message via stp 46 to serving system 36 , instructing serving system 36 how to handle the call. in addition, scp 48 may perform ain functions for serving system 36 in a similar fashion. alternatively, the hlr and scp might communicate with each other, to have one execute service logic based on parameters provided by the other. traditional landline and wireless communications networks have been based principally on a circuit-switched arrangement, in which a switch (e.g., ssp or msc) sets up and reserves an actual circuit with a remote switch, maintaining the circuit for the duration of the call. recognizing the inherent inefficiency of this arrangement, the telecommunications industry has begun to embrace various “next generation networks” instead. such networks typically employ packet-switched communication links (in addition to or instead of circuit-switched links). a gateway or “network access server” typically receives a media stream (e.g., voice, video, etc.) and/or a pure data stream and encodes and packetizes the stream into a sequence of packets. each packet bears a header identifying its source and destination address as well as other information. the packets may be routed independently from node to node through a network and then re-ordered and reassembled by a gateway at the destination end for output to a receiving entity (e.g., person or machine). alternatively, the packets may follow an established “virtual circuit,” each traversing the same path from node to node and ultimately to the destination gateway. for purposes of illustration, example serving system 36 is shown coupled to two transport networks, pstn 44 and a packet-switched network 64 (such as the internet, for instance). serving system 36 may be coupled to the packet network 64 by a link 66 that includes an “interworking function” (iwf) or gateway 68 , which is arranged to convert between circuit-switched voice and/or data transmissions handled by system 36 and a packet sequence appropriate for transport over network 64 (e.g., as an atm or voice over ip transmission). (in practice, the iwf might hang off of a trunk of msc 35 .) in this way, serving system 36 can provide connectivity for wireless subscriber station 56 over both the pstn and the packet-switched network. other next generation network arrangements are possible as well. as presently contemplated, next generation networks may employ ain principles as well. for example, a network access server may communicate with a “call agent” node on the packet-switched network. the call agent node may serve as a gatekeeper, typically including connection manager, connection performer, and service management layers for routing calls through the packet network. (the call agent node may also be referred to as a “service manager,” or “soft switch.”) to take advantage of existing architecture, the service logic for providing ain telecommunications services then typically resides on a separate “application server” also coupled with the packet-switched network or coupled directly with the call agent node. (the application server may itself be an scp, for instance). the call agent and gateway may cooperatively be considered a type of “serving system” for a media stream and/or data stream being transmitted in a packet switched network, and the application server may be considered a type of central control point. as in traditional ain arrangements, the serving system may then query the central control point, providing parameters such as the source and destination addresses, and the central control point can execute appropriate service logic and return call handling instructions. for instance, the application server may direct the serving system to redirect the packet stream to a “forwarding” address or other location. as shown in fig. 2 , for instance, serving system 38 comprises a call agent node 70 (e.g., a telcordia service manager or a lucent softswitch), which is coupled to (or a node on) packet network 64 . call agent node 70 is in turn coupled to an application server (“as”) node 72 , which may itself be an application residing on an scp, hlr, cti or similar entity. (for instance, as presently contemplated, as 72 and scp 48 may be provided as a common entity). alternatively, both the call agent node and the application server node might be independent nodes on packet network 64 . serving system 38 may further comprise a gateway (“gw”) or other such node (e.g., switch, hub, router, etc.), which may seek to route packets representing real-time media (e.g., voice, video, etc.) and/or data streams over the packet network. an example of such a gateway node is shown in fig. 2 as gateway 74 . gateway 74 may provide subscriber stations with connectivity to the packet network. a representative station is shown as station 76 . call agent node 70 may maintain a set of subscriber profile logic, including parameters such as trigger points, for subscribers such as station 76 . when gateway 74 or another node seeks to route a packet sequence to or from station 76 , the node may then communicate with call agent 70 (e.g., via a protocol such as mgcp, sgcp, sip or h.323) to obtain call handling instructions. call agent 70 may in turn encounter a trigger point in the subscriber profile and responsively communicate with as 72 to obtain ain service. in practice, call agent 70 may communicate with as 72 according to an ain 0.2-like protocol, over tcp/ip, or according to any other suitable protocol (e.g., sip, h.323 or straight ss7). thus, for instance, call agent 70 may generate and send to as 72 a tcap query message defining various parameters, and as 72 may responsively employ an appropriate set of service logic and then generate and send to call agent 70 a tcap response message. call agent 70 may then instruct gateway 74 accordingly. in this arrangement, the ccp thus comprises as 72 . from another perspective, however, the ccp may be considered to include call agent 70 , for instance, to the extent the call agent also provides ain service logic to assist the gateway in handling call traffic. example serving system 39 illustrates another type of next generation, packet-switched network arrangement. this arrangement, known as “mobile ip,” has emerged to serve nomadic users (terminals) who connect to a wireline (or possibly wireless) network. mobile ip (“mip”) attempts to solve a problem that arises when a mobile terminal with a permanent network address (e.g., internet protocol (ip) address) in one sub-network changes physical locations, such as moving to another sub-network. the arrangement works somewhat like a postal forwarding system. each terminal is assigned a permanent address that is maintained by a “home agent,” which might be a gateway or other entity in the terminal's home sub-network. when the terminal travels to another sub-network, the home agent will receive packets destined for the terminal. the home agent will then add a new header to the packets (or modify their existing headers) and forward them to a “foreign agent,” which is a node serving the foreign sub-network. the foreign agent then de-capsulates the packets and forwards them to the mobile terminal. as presently contemplated, ain principles can be applied in a mobile ip arrangement as well. in particular, the sub-network in which the mobile terminal is currently located could be considered a serving system, and the terminal's home sub-network could be considered the terminal's home system. thus, as contemplated, a subscriber's home agent can be programmed to serve as a central control point, somewhat like an hlr or scp in a wireless network, and the foreign agent can be programmed to employ subscriber profiles for visiting terminals, somewhat like the combined msc/vlr entity in a wireless network. in fig. 2 , example serving system 39 is thus shown to comprise a mip foreign agent (“fa”) 78 . typically, fa 78 might be a gateway node on packet network 64 , arranged to convert between circuit-switched data and/or voice on one side and packet traffic appropriate for packet network 64 on the other side. however, fa 78 can take other forms. then somewhat like serving system 36 , system 39 would act as a serving system for nomadic stations (whether landline or wireless) that are visiting a given sub-network with which fa 78 is associated. one such station is depicted by way of example as station 80 . in turn, packet network 64 is also coupled to (or includes) a home agent (“ha”) 82 , which, in this example, serves as the home agent for station 80 . as such, ha 82 may play the part of an ain central control point, maintaining a set of service logic and providing call handling instructions to serving system 39 . the functionality of ha 82 may reside on an scp or hlr, for instance. as thus illustrated, each serving system in network 30 is typically served by one or more particular ccps, which is usually (but not necessarily) owned and operated by the same carrier that operates the serving system. a ccp in one carrier's system, however, can be arranged to provide ain functionality to serve subscribers operating in another carrier's system. alternatively, a ccp in one carrier's system can be arranged to provide ain functionality for another ccp in the same carrier's system. one way to accomplish this, for instance, is to have one set of ccp service logic communicate with another set of ccp service logic, in order to request and provide instructions on how to handle a given call. the two sets of service logic may reside on separate physical ccp entities or may reside on separate partitions of the same ccp entity (e.g., as landline and wireless segments of a given scp), or may be in another arrangement. thus, for instance, when one ccp receives a service request from a serving system, the ccp might responsively forward the request to another ccp, send instructions to another ccp, or seek guidance from another ccp. as shown in fig. 2 , for instance, scp 48 might be coupled by a communications link 84 (which could be a packet switched link, for instance) with as 72 . that way, when a serving system on packet network 64 seeks guidance from as 72 , as 72 can in turn seek guidance from scp 48 . in response to instructions from scp 48 , as 72 can then pass a signaling message back to the querying serving system, instructing the system how to handle the call. advantageously, then, a user engaging in communications over a next generation packet switched network can benefit from service logic maintained in another network, such as the user's home telephone network. for instance, the services and features that are applied to the user's home telephone can be applied as well to communications over the next generation network. the same thing can be said for other combinations of networks as well, such as mobile and landline, for instance. an exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described with respect to the portion of network 30 comprising serving system 32 (comprising an ssp), representative subscriber station 40 , and scp 48 coupled to the serving system through stp 46 . it should be understood, however, that this example applies by analogy to any other network arrangement or combination of network arrangements, such as other portions of fig. 2 , for instance, or other arrangements not shown in fig. 2 . thus, for example, where this description refers to scp 48 as the central control point, other types of central control points, possibly with disparate physical and functional arrangements, could be substituted. similarly, where the description refers to serving system 32 or subscriber station 40 , other serving systems or subscribers could be substituted. fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a telecommunications network 100 in which an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be employed. specifically, the illustrated network 100 may provide advertising supported communications services, according to which, a subscriber is granted a free or discounted calling time in return for the subscriber listening to or viewing advertisements. hereinafter, it should be understood that the term “subscriber” may refer to an originating subscriber, a terminating subscriber, an originating subscriber terminal, or a terminating subscriber terminal, for instance. as shown in fig. 3 , network 100 includes a subscriber terminal 102 and a recipient terminal 114 . terminals 102 and 114 may take any suitable form, such as, for instance, a telephone, a cellular telephone, a computer, a fax machine or a pda. as an example, terminal 102 and terminal 114 may be code division multiple access (“cdma”) telephones, supporting the is-95, is-41 and/or gsm intersystem operation standards (“ios”). as shown in fig. 3 , terminal 102 is coupled by a communication link 116 to an ssp 104 , and ssp 104 is in turn coupled by a voice/data communication link 118 to a voice command platform (“vcp”) 110 . vcp 110 is then shown coupled to a network 112 , which provides connectivity in turn to terminal 114 . network 112 may comprise a packet-data network such as the internet and/or may comprise other networks such a local area network (lan) and/or a wireless network, for instance. as further shown in fig. 3 , ssp 104 is coupled by a signaling path 120 to an stp 130 . also coupled to stp 130 by a link 132 is an scp 106 . further, vcp 110 is coupled to scp 106 by a signaling path 122 and to stp 130 by a signaling path 128 . with this arrangement, ssp 104 can engage in signaling communications directly with vcp 110 via signaling path 120 , stp 130 and signaling path 128 . alternatively, ssp 104 can engage in signaling communications with scp 106 via signaling path 120 , stp 130 and signaling path 132 , and scp 106 can engage in signaling communications with vcp 110 via signaling path 122 . as additionally shown in fig. 3 , network 100 includes a database 108 . database 108 may be included in or accessible to scp 106 and/or vcp 110 . as shown in fig. 3 , for instance, database 108 may be coupled to scp 106 by a link 124 and to vcp 110 by a link 126 . vcp 110 may facilitate various interactions with users, such as playing announcements, collecting dual-tone-multi-frequency (“dtmf”) digits, recognizing speech, and, according to an exemplary embodiment, playing advertisements. the vcp 110 may be embedded in one of several conventional platforms. for instance, an intelligent peripheral (“ip”) may include vcp 110 . as known in the art, an ip may be arranged to provide assorted services, including tone generation, voice recognition, playback, compression, call control, recording, and dtmf detection/collection. alternatively, a service node (“sn”) may include vcp 110 . a service node may provide voice interactions with users and can facilitate and perform various enhanced services for ssp 104 . in one exemplary embodiment, the advertising supported services may be available to all subscriber terminals in communications network 100 . in an alternative embodiment, only certain subscribers may be designated to receive the services. in such an embodiment, a subscriber who wishes to receive the advertising supported services may sign up to receive the services. alternatively, a subscriber may be automatically designated to receive the advertising supported services. for example, subscribers associated with disposable mobile telephones may be automatically designated to receive advertising supported services. in one exemplary embodiment, database 108 stores advertisement records. the advertisement records stored in database 108 may be arranged into different categories. for example, advertisements provided to a subscriber may be based on certain characteristics associated with the subscriber that may be specified in a subscriber's record. for example, a subscriber's record may specify one or more advertisement identifiers that may link to a predetermined set of advertisement records stored in database 108 or a different network entity. in such an embodiment, the advertisement identifiers may be selected based on the subscriber's interests, for instance. different criteria for selecting advertisements to be provided to a subscriber are possible as well. as further shown in fig. 3 , network 100 includes a calculation engine (“ce”) 134 . ce 134 is a programmed computer running an application to dynamically manage a subscriber balance of free calling time as a subscriber listens or views advertisements on subscriber terminal 102 , for example. in the shown arrangement, ce 134 is coupled to scp 106 by a link 136 . link 136 may be a wide area network such as the internet, and ce 134 and scp 106 may communicate over the link using a tcp/ip interface such as bellcore's iscp generic data interface. fig. 3 illustrates ce 134 as a separate entity coupled to scp 106 . however, the functions of ce 134 may instead be programmed into scp 106 or facilitated by one or more other entities in the network. according to an exemplary embodiment, in the case of advertising supported services being delivered to devices that support media rich advertising, such as hypertext or video, subscriber terminal 102 may further communicate with a call agent, such as call agent 70 illustrated in fig. 2 and fig. 3 , connected to scp 106 and further connected to a media server (not shown). in such an embodiment, upon receiving a call request from subscriber terminal 102 , scp 106 may determine whether subscriber terminal 102 supports hypertext or video based on a type of the device, for instance. in an alternative embodiment, the call request received from subscriber terminal 102 may include data indicating the types of media being supported on subscriber terminal 102 . to provide hypertext advertisement to subscriber terminal 102 , scp 106 may send a sip message to subscriber terminal 102 via the call agent, and the sip message may include payload that contains web page links associated with web pages including advertisements to be displayed to the subscriber. in one embodiment, upon receiving the sip message, subscriber terminal 102 may communicate with the media server to retrieve the web pages for the display to the subscriber. alternatively, when the call agent receives the sip message including web page links on the media server, the call agent may send instructions to the media server to provide the web pages to subscriber terminal 102 . in an embodiment involving providing hypertext advertisement to a subscriber, an acknowledgement mechanism may be employed to indicate that the subscriber has seen the advertisement. for example, subscriber terminal 102 may include a graphical/physical selection input, such as a button, link or checkbox, which, when selected by the subscriber, triggers subscriber terminal 102 to send to scp 106 a sip reply message indicating that the subscriber has viewed the advertisement. in an alternative embodiment, web pages being provided to subscriber terminal 102 may include a pre-programmed “acknowledgement mechanism” that triggers a start of a timer when the subscriber starts viewing a web page. further, the acknowledgement mechanism may monitor how long the subscriber is viewing the web page and may automatically send a sip reply message after a predetermined timeout period. to provide video advertisements to subscriber terminal 102 , scp 106 may employ a third party call control mechanism, in which scp 106 may initiate communication sessions between a number of network entities that, in this embodiment, may include subscriber terminal 102 and a media server. in such an embodiment, scp 106 may send to subscriber terminal 102 and to the media server sip invite messages including session description parameters (“sdps”) associated with video advertisements. next, a communication session, such as a real time transport protocol (rtp) session, may be established between subscriber terminal 102 and the media server. once subscriber terminal 102 and the media server acknowledge the receipt of the sip invite messages, and the communication session is established, the media server may initiate providing video advertisements to subscriber terminal 102 . once the media server finishes providing the video advertisements to subscriber terminal 102 , the media server may send to scp 106 a message indicating the end of providing the advertisements. when scp 106 receives the message, a subscriber may receive a free calling credit or a discounted calling credit. it should be understood that different embodiments are possible as well. fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary scp 106 in greater detail. fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which database 108 is internally stored on scp 106 . however, it should be understood that scp 106 may communicate with database 108 via communication link 124 , as illustrated in fig. 3 . in fig. 4 , double-headed arrows indicate connections between the components. scp 106 may be a telcordia scp, which typically includes a number of functional components and is therefore also referred to as an integrated scp or “iscp.” scp 106 includes a base service logic module 140 , which defines functionality for decoding and encoding tcap messages received from and sent to ssp 104 . base service logic module 140 also includes service logic for determining what databases and service logic modules to invoke in order to process the information from the decoded tcap messages. for example, base service logic module 140 has access to a profile database 144 containing service profiles of the subscribers. database 144 further includes database 108 that stores subscriber records. a subscriber record may identify a subscriber terminal by a min or other identifiers, specify what services the subscriber terminal subscribes to, i.e., advertising supported services, call forwarding, etc., and what service logic module to run for each service. the service profile may also include certain service parameters that scp 106 can use to apply one or more of the customer's services and can thus be considered part of the service logic that scp 106 will apply to the subscriber. scp 106 further includes a number of service logic modules 146 – 150 associated with ain services. although three service logic modules are illustrated in fig. 4 for purposes of illustration only, it should be understood that scp 106 may include more or fewer service logic modules. to provide a given ain service, base service logic module 140 may invoke one or more of modules 146 – 150 as a kind of subroutine call. in particular, base service logic module 140 passes a set of input parameters to the service logic module, and the module returns a set of output parameters out of which base service logic module 140 can encode the tcap message or messages needed to provide the desired service or with which the base service logic module can perform other functions. scp 106 may also take other forms. as an example, for a given subscriber or a group of subscribers, scp 106 may maintain a distinct set of call processing logic, which scp 106 may employ for calls involving that subscriber or group, rather than, or in addition to, employing a base logic module 140 or special service modules 146 – 150 . in an exemplary embodiment, scp 106 includes an advertisement service logic module 142 . when advertisement service logic module 142 detects a call from a subscriber who wishes to obtain free calling time, or a call from a subscriber who is designated to receive advertisement based services, advertisement module 142 communicates via link 136 with ce 134 to establish and track a free calling balance in return for a subscriber listening to or viewing advertisements before the call from the subscriber is connected to a destination terminal. additionally, advertisement service logic 142 communicates via link 122 with vcp 110 in order to carry out various functions associated with advertisement services. for example, upon detecting a call request from a subscriber who wishes to receive advertisement services, scp 106 may instruct ssp 104 to route the call to vcp 110 by providing to ssp 104 an ip address or a trunk number associated with vcp 110 . further, advertisement module 142 may send to vcp 110 instructions to retrieve advertisement records from database 108 and to start playing advertisements to the subscriber when the call is routed to vcp 110 . in an alternative embodiment, before providing any advertisements to a subscriber, advertisement module 142 may instruct vcp 110 to query the subscriber to specify a number of minutes that the subscriber wishes to talk. then, based on the number of minutes specified by the subscriber and the destination identifier associated with a destination terminal, advertisement module 142 may determine a number of advertisement records to be provided to the subscriber. further, in an alternative embodiment, the length of advertisement records may vary, and, instead of determining a number of advertisement records to be provided to the subscriber, advertisement module 142 may determine a total advertisement time. in either embodiment, advertisement module 142 may instruct vcp 110 to provide to the subscriber the information related to the length or a number of advertisements to be presented to the subscriber for the number of minutes that the subscriber wishes to talk. responsively, the subscriber may either accept the advertisement time or lower/increase the number of minutes that the subscriber wishes to talk. if the number of minutes that the subscriber wishes to talk is altered, the process of determining the advertisement time to be provided to the subscriber may be repeated. as the subscriber listens to the advertisements before the call is connected, ce 134 tracks and updates the free calling balance for the subscriber. in one embodiment, subscriber may stop listening to the advertisements by dialing a predetermined sequence of digits that trigger scp 106 to stop playing the advertisement and, further, to connect the call to a dialed number and start decrementing the free calling balance as the call progresses. further, during the progress of the call, as the free calling balance is decremented based on the charge permitted to connect the source to the destination, when ce 134 or advertisement service module 142 determines that the free calling balance reaches a predetermined low threshold level, logic module 142 may request ssp 106 to connect a subscriber terminal to vcp 110 so that vcp 110 can play a low balance message and query a subscriber for instructions. in one exemplary embodiment, vcp 110 may ask a subscriber whether the subscriber would like to listen to more advertisements in return for free calling time. alternatively, when the free calling balance reaches a call termination threshold level, the call may be terminated. further, alternatively, if the subscriber receives a discounted calling time rather than a free calling time for listening to or viewing advertisements, the call may continue at the regular rate. in operation, when ssp 104 receives a request to connect a call from subscriber terminal 102 , i.e., when ssp 104 receives dialed digits including a destination identifier associated with recipient terminal 114 , ssp 104 will apply its own minimal set of service logic for the subscriber. further, to obtain additional instructions, ssp 104 may generate and send to scp 106 a tcap message, defining parameters about the call request, i.e., the dialed digits and other parameters. when scp 106 receives a tcap message from ssp 104 , base logic 140 parses the message to identify the parameters and stores various parameters of the message in a memory unit. in accordance with an exemplary embodiment, scp 106 may detect a calling subscriber as a subscriber who is designated to receive advertisement services using an origination identifier, such as a min, associated with a subscriber terminal. in such an embodiment, scp 106 may map the originating identifier to a predetermined subscriber record. based on the subscriber record, scp 106 may determine whether the subscriber is designated to receive advertisement services. in an alternative embodiment, a subscriber may dial a predetermined service code that represents an advertisement service request. service codes often include an asterisk followed by a sequence of digits, such as *123, for example. however, it should be understood that service codes could take different forms. the service code may be pre-pended to the dialed number. once base service logic 140 finishes executing the appropriate service logic for the subscriber, it may generate and return a response tcap message to ssp 104 including instructions to route the call to vcp 110 . additionally, base service logic 140 may provide instructions to vcp 110 . further, alternatively, in addition to determining if the subscriber associated with subscriber terminal 102 is designated to receive advertisement services, scp 106 may determine whether the subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 is authorized to receive a call. for example, the subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 may be a prepaid service subscriber having a predetermined calling time limit. in such an embodiment, scp 106 may determine if the subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 has a sufficient calling balance to have the call connected from subscriber terminal 102 . in one embodiment, ce 134 may be configured with a database arranged to store subscriber records associated with subscribers receiving prepaid services, and scp 106 may query ce 134 to determine if the subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 has sufficient balance. if scp 106 determines that a subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 does not have a sufficient balance, scp 106 may further determine if the subscriber is an advertisement service subscriber. if so scp 106 may trigger vcp 110 to query the subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 whether the subscriber wishes to listen to or view advertisements in order to receive the call from subscriber terminal 102 . if so, advertisements may be provided to the subscriber. in such an embodiment, if the subscriber associated with recipient terminal 114 does not have a sufficient balance or the subscriber does not wish to receive a free calling time, scp 106 may instruct vcp 110 to inform the subscriber associated with subscriber terminal 102 that recipient terminal 114 is not available to receive the call. however, it should be understood that different embodiments are possible as well. referring next to fig. 5 , an exemplary calculation engine 132 is illustrated in greater detail. as shown in fig. 5 , calculation engine 132 includes a calculation engine logic module 152 and a free-calling database 154 . in an alternative embodiment, free-calling database 154 may instead be located in another entity in network 100 , and calculation engine 132 may access an external free-calling database via a wide area network such as the internet, for instance. calculation engine 132 creates a temporary subscriber account for a subscriber who decides to receive free calling time in return for listening to or viewing advertisements. according to an exemplary embodiment, the subscriber is granted the free calling time based on a number of advertisements provided to the subscriber or a number of minutes that a subscriber listens to advertisements. for example, when the free calling time is granted based on the number of advertisement being provided to the subscriber, the free calling time may be determined based on a number of complete advertisements provided to the subscriber. in such an embodiment, a partial credit or no credit may be given if the subscriber does not listen to complete advertisements. it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments are not limited to creating temporary accounts, and any free calling time earned by the subscriber could also.be used for future calls. calculation engine logic 152 may correlate each minute of advertisements to which a subscriber listens, or a number of advertisements provided to the user, with a certain number of credits of calling time. according to an exemplary embodiment, free-calling database 154 may maintain a first table that indicates the weight of each credit based on a destination identifier such as a min or a pstn telephone number dialed by a subscriber associated with subscriber terminal 102 . it should be understood that the destination identifier is not limited to the min or the pstn telephone number, and different destination identifier could also be used. for example, the destination identifier may be a network access identifier (“nai”), a domain name or an enum, all of which are commonly known to those skilled in the art. alternatively, free-calling database 154 may include a second table indicating a second measure for determining the weight of each credit. calculation engine logic 152 may reference both of these tables to determine an appropriate number of minutes of free calling time that should be provided to the subscriber for the given call. for example, according to the second table, the weight of each credit may be determined based on a zone measure that may be determined based on a distance between subscriber terminal 102 and recipient terminal 114 . if subscriber terminals 102 and/or 114 are landline terminals, the distance between the terminals may be determined based on the area codes and telephone numbers' prefixes associated with the communicating terminals. in an alternative embodiment for mobile subscriber terminals, scp 106 may communicate with a predetermined service node arranged to determine the current zone location associated with the two terminals. any currently existing or later developed systems for determining current location associated with mobile terminals may be used, and the present invention is not limited to any predetermined system. further, in an alternative embodiment, global positioning system (“gps”) may be employed to determine the current location associated with the two terminals, and the current locations may be translated to a zone measure. further, for example, if the originating subscriber terminal is located outside of its service provider's network, the advertisement-supported services may be denied to the subscriber, or additional charges may be applied to the subscriber balance. further, in an alternative embodiment, calculation engine logic 152 may grant a set of monetary credit values, or other set credit value, for each minute of advertisements listened by a subscriber or a number of advertisements viewed by the subscriber. in such an embodiment, free-calling database 154 may include a rating table for determining a number of free minutes based on the credit values assigned to a subscriber and a destination identifier specified by the subscriber placing a call. for example, given a predetermined amount of credit, calculation engine logic 152 may assign more free/discounted minutes to local or short-distance calls, and less free/discounted minutes to long-distance calls. according to an exemplary embodiment, calculation engine logic 152 may be further arranged to time a duration of a call and decrement a free calling balance associated with a subscriber as the call progresses. further, calculation engine logic 152 may be arranged to notify scp 106 when the free calling balance reaches a low threshold level. additionally, according to an exemplary embodiment, when the call terminates, scp 106 may notify ce 132 about the termination of the call. in one embodiment, calculation engine logic 152 may be arranged to discard any unused minutes or keep the free calling balance for any future phone calls. according to an exemplary embodiment, scp 106 may be placed in so-called isup “looparound” signaling path with ssp 104 to cut into or terminate an ongoing call when the free calling time reaches a predetermined threshold level, for instance. more information on creating “looparound” trunks may be found in u.s. patent application ser. no. 09/392,984, entitled “method and system for monitoring telecommunications traffic,” filed sep. 9, 1999, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference. in such an embodiment, ssp 104 may be programmed with logic authorizing ssp 104 to route calls to scp 106 as though scp 106 were a switch. rather than seeking to route the call along a normal trunk connecting ssp 104 and scp 106 , ssp 104 may be programmed to route calls along a special “looparound trunk” (“the looparound trunk”) at ssp 104 which may be tied together with another trunk (the “inbound looparound trunk”) at ssp 104 . according to ss7, call setup and tear down may be accomplished by a series of messages in the integrated services digital network user part (“isup”) layer. in such an embodiment, when a subscriber decides to listen or receive advertisements, ssp 104 may seek to set up the call to scp 106 along the outbound looparound trunk by sending an initial address message (“iam”) message to scp 106 . responsively, scp 106 may return an iam message to ssp 104 purporting to set up the same call along the inbound looparound trunk. in such an embodiment, ssp 104 ends up routing the call to itself, from the outbound looparound trunk to the inbound looparound trunk, and then to a destination, while leaving a signaling path for the call through scp 106 . consequently, since scp 106 sits in the signaling path of the call, it can time the call, track the subscriber's free calling balance and provide that information to ce 132 . further, scp 106 may release the call or connect the call to vcp 110 when the balance is low. however, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments are not limited to such a set up, and different methods for cutting into the call or terminating the call could also be used. calculation engine logic 152 may be further arranged to keep track of a number of free calling minutes that are provided to a subscriber. for example, a subscriber may be limited to a predetermined number of free calling minutes per week, month or year. in such an embodiment, when scp 106 detects a subscriber designated to receive advertisement services, scp 106 may first query ce 132 to determine if the subscriber has not exceeded a predetermined free calling time limit. then, if the limit has not been exceeded, the subscriber may receive advertisement services. referring next to fig. 6 , there is shown a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 160 for connecting a call from a subscriber designated to receive advertising-supported services in a telecommunications network. beginning at step 162 , a first network entity receives a call request to connect a call from a subscriber terminal to a recipient terminal. the call request includes dialed digits such as a destination identifier associated with the recipient terminal. according to an exemplary embodiment of network 100 illustrated in fig. 3 , the first network entity may include ssp 104 that receives the call request to connect a call from subscriber terminal 102 to recipient terminal 114 . further, in one embodiment, the destination identifier may be or may include a pstn telephone number, a min identifier, an ip address, a domain name, a nai, or an enum associated with recipient terminal 114 . further, in an alternative embodiment, the call request may additionally include a service code appended to the destination identifier. at step 164 , in response to receiving the call request, a second network entity determines whether the subscriber is designated to receive advertisement services. in one embodiment, the first network entity may generate and send to the second network entity such as scp 106 a tcap request message including a request for call-handling instructions. the tcap message may define call request information such as an originating identifier (a pstn telephone number, a min, an ip address, a domain name, a nai, or an enum) associated with subscriber terminal 102 , a destination identifier and other indicia such as a service code. when scp 106 receives the tcap request message, it analyzes its parameters and determines whether the subscriber is designated to receive advertisement services. in one embodiment, if a service code is used, scp 106 may make that determination using subscriber records. in an alternative embodiment, scp 106 may determine whether the service code specified in the tcap message is an advertisement service code. if the subscriber is not designated to receive advertisement services, the method continues at step 170 . if the subscriber is designated to receive advertisement services, at step 166 , the subscriber receives one or more advertisements. in one embodiment, the advertisements may be played to the subscriber. in an alternative embodiment, the advertisements may be displayed to the subscriber via subscriber terminal 102 . at step 168 , a second network entity determines a free calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier and the advertisements such as a number of minutes that the advertisements are played, or a number of advertisements being provided to the subscriber. further, if a subscriber accesses the advertisements using a browser, in addition to viewing advertisements on a displayed page, the subscriber may be given supplementary credit for accessing and viewing different advertisements on the displayed page. in such an embodiment, the pages accessed by the subscriber may be temporarily stored on subscriber terminal 102 so that the subscriber may view the advertisements later on. at step 170 , the call is connected from the subscriber terminal to the destination terminal, and method 160 terminates. the exemplary methods for determining the free calling balance were described in reference to fig. 6 . however, it should be understood that different methods could also be used. figs. 7a and 7b are a flow chart illustrating a method 180 for connecting and managing a call for a subscriber designated to receive advertisement services according to an exemplary embodiment in which a subscriber selects a predetermined service code to receive advertisement services. according to an exemplary embodiment, the selection of the predetermined service code may include a voice input or a selection of a predetermined set of digits, for instance. method 180 will be described in reference to network entities illustrated in system architecture 100 of fig. 3 . beginning at step 182 in fig. 7a , ssp 104 receives a call request from subscriber terminal 102 . the call request defines a request to connect a call from an originating terminal (subscriber terminal 102 ) to a recipient terminal (recipient terminal 114 or any other customer or network terminal). in network 100 , subscriber terminal 102 may be identified by an originating identifier such as a pstn telephone number, a min, an ip address, an e-mail address, or a different identifier type. similarly, recipient terminal 114 may be identified by a terminating identifier. further, according to an exemplary embodiment, the call request received at ssp 104 from subscriber terminal 102 may further include a service code that may be appended to the terminating identifier. at step 184 , in response to the call request, ssp 104 generates and sends to a service controller, such as scp 106 via stp 130 , a message including a request for call handling instructions. in one embodiment, the request message may be a tcap query message and may define certain call request information, such as the originating identifier associated with subscriber terminal 102 , the destination identifier (dialed digits) associated with recipient terminal 114 , and the service code dialed by the subscriber. in response to receiving the tcap query message from ssp 104 , scp 106 determines whether the call is a predefined type of call. specifically, scp 106 determines whether the call is from a subscriber designated to receive advertisement services. at step 186 , scp 186 analyzes the service code received in the tcap query message to determine if the service code is an advertisement service code. if the service code is not an advertisement service code, method 180 continues at step 188 , where scp 106 examines a subscriber record stored in profile database 144 to determine if the subscriber has an advertisement service account. at step 190 , scp 106 determines if the subscriber is designated to receive advertisement services. if, according to the subscriber record, the subscriber is not designated to receive advertisement services, method 180 terminates, and the call is connected to recipient terminal 114 . if the subscriber record designates the subscriber to receive advertisement services, at step 192 , scp 106 provides call routing instructions to ssp 104 to route the call to vcp 110 . the routing instructions may include a network address or a routing trunk number associated with vcp 110 . additionally, scp 106 may provide to vcp 110 call information such as the originating identifier and the destination identifier, and instruction to provide advertisement services to the subscriber. further, advertisement service logic 142 may trigger ce logic 152 to create a free calling balance record for the subscriber. upon receiving the call routing instructions, ssp 104 may route the call to vcp 110 . when the call is routed to vcp 110 , at step 194 , vcp 110 provides advertisements to the subscriber associated with subscriber terminal 102 . according to an exemplary embodiment, vcp 110 may retrieve advertisements from database 108 and play them to the subscriber. at step 196 , during the playing of the advertisements, ce logic 152 determines a free calling balance for the subscriber based on the destination identifier associated with recipient terminal 114 , as described in reference to fig. 5 . in one embodiment, vcp 110 may send a signaling message to scp 106 when the subscriber starts listening to the advertisements and, further, when the subscriber stops listening to the advertisements. in an alternative embodiment, instead of providing a free calling balance, the subscriber may receive a discounted calling time based on the destination identifier and the advertisement being provided to the subscriber. referring to fig. 7b , at step 198 , scp 106 determines if the subscriber has stopped listening to the advertisements. in one embodiment, the subscriber may terminate listening to the advertisements at any time by simply dialing a predetermined sequence of digits, for instance. if such an input is detected, advertisement service logic 142 may query ce logic 152 for the free calling balance. then, scp 106 may instruct vcp 110 to play the free subscriber balance to the subscriber and query the subscriber whether the subscriber wishes to receive more advertisements. in an alternative embodiment, the advertisements provided to the subscriber may be limited to a predetermined time period, and ce logic 152 may determine the free calling balance upon the end of playing the advertisements. if no subscriber input indicating an advertisement termination request is received, method 180 continues at step 194 in fig. 7a . when the subscriber finishes listening to the advertisements or viewing the advertisements, at step 200 , the call is connected from subscriber terminal 102 to recipient terminal 114 . at step 202 , ce logic 152 decrements the free calling balance associated with the subscriber as the call progresses. according to an exemplary embodiment, when ssp 104 connects the call, ssp 104 may send to scp 106 a signaling message defining a start time of the call. then, advertisement service logic 142 may trigger ce logic 152 to start decrementing the free calling balance (or a discounted calling time) as the call progresses. as the call progresses, at step 204 , ce logic 152 determines whether the free calling balance reaches a threshold level. in one embodiment, a detection of the threshold level may trigger playing additional advertisements to the subscriber. in such an embodiment, if the free calling balance reaches the threshold level, at step 206 , scp 106 determines whether to provide additional advertisements to the subscriber. in one embodiment, ce logic 152 may inform advertisement service logic 142 when the free calling balance reaches the threshold level. then, scp 106 may signal vcp 110 to play a balance announcement. for example, vcp 110 may play the balance announcement when the free calling balance reaches the last free calling minute. however, different embodiments are possible as well. the subscriber may accept or decline receiving additional advertisement by selecting a predetermined sequence of digits or by providing a voice response. if the subscriber decides to receive additional advertisements in return for free calling time, method 180 continues at step 194 . otherwise, ce logic 152 may decrement the free calling balance until the balance reaches a call termination threshold level. at step 208 , when the free calling balance reaches the call termination threshold level, the call is terminated. in an alternative embodiment in which the subscriber receives a discounted calling time, the call may be continues at a regular rate. according to an exemplary embodiment, if the call is terminated by the subscriber before the free calling balance reaches the call termination threshold level, any free calling time left in the free calling balance created for the subscriber may be discarded. alternatively, the free calling time left in the free calling balance may be kept and may be employed for the next call initiated by the subscriber. it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methods involved in the system and methods for advertising supported communications may be embodied in a computer program product that includes one or more computer readable media. for example, a computer readable medium can include a readable memory device, such as a hard drive device, cd-rom, a dvd-rom, or a computer diskette, having computer readable program code segments stored thereon. the computer readable medium can also include a communications or transmission medium, such as, a bus or a communication link, either optical, wired or wireless having program code segments carried thereon as digital or analog data signals. exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described above. those skilled in the art will understand, however, that changes and modifications may be made to this embodiment without departing from the true scope and spirit of the present invention, which is defined by the claims.
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163-570-166-751-185
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KR
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[
"KR",
"JP",
"US"
] |
G11C8/02,G11C16/04,H01L21/8247,H01L27/115,H01L29/788,H01L29/792,H01L21/336,H01L21/3205,H01L21/4763
| 2004-06-16T00:00:00 |
2004
|
[
"G11",
"H01"
] |
split gate type flash mwmory device and method of manufacturing the same
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<p>problem to be solved: to provide a split-gate type flash memory element, which can prevent distrubance problem, and to provide a method of manufacturing the same. <p>solution: the split-gate type flash memory element is provided with a silicon epitaxial layer which is formed in an active region of a bulk silicon substrate, and an insulating film for preventing distrubances which is formed on the bulk silicon substrate between the source and the drain of the element, wherein the insulating film for distrubance prevention is formed, using an sti formation process. <p>copyright: (c)2006,jpo&ncipi
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1 . a split gate type flash memory device comprising: a bulk silicon substrate having an active region defined by a device-isolating insulating film; a silicon epitaxial layer formed on the bulk silicon substrate; a source region and a drain region formed in the bulk silicon substrate and the silicon epitaxial layer; a channel region formed in the silicon epitaxial layer between the source region and the drain region; a disturbance-preventing insulating film formed in the bulk silicon substrate between the source region and the drain region; and, a gate structure formed on the bulk silicon substrate. 2 . the device of claim 1 , wherein the gate structure comprises: a coupling insulating film formed on the silicon epitaxial layer; a floating gate formed on the coupling insulating film overlapping an outer portion of the source region; a control gate overlapping a portion of the floating gate opposite the source region, and extended toward the drain region; an inter-gate insulating film formed between the floating gate and the control gate; and, a tunneling insulating film interposed between the floating gate and the control gate. 3 . the device of claim 1 , wherein the source region and the drain region are isolated from each other by the disturbance-preventing insulating film. 4 . the device of claim 3 , wherein the disturbance-preventing insulating film and the device-isolating insulating film are formed concurrently. 5 . the device of claim 4 , wherein the device-isolating insulating film is a shallow trench isolation (sti) film. 6 . the device of claim 3 , wherein the disturbance-preventing insulating film and the device-isolating insulating film are connected to each other. 7 . the device of claim 1 , wherein the silicon epitaxial layer is formed only in the active region of the bulk silicon substrate. 8 . the device of claim 1 , wherein the inter-gate insulating film comprises an oval-shaped oxide film. 9 . the device of claim 1 , further comprising: a spacer formed on sidewalls of the control gate and on the tunneling insulating film of the floating gate closest to the source region. 10 . the device of claim 1 , wherein the disturbance-preventing insulating film comprises an insulating material such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxide nitride, or a combination thereof. 11 . the device of claim 1 , wherein the disturbance-preventing insulating film is formed of the same material as the device-isolating insulating film. 12 . a method of manufacturing a split gate type flash memory device, the method comprising: forming a device-isolating insulating film defining an active region in a bulk silicon substrate; forming a disturbance-preventing insulating film in the active region; forming a silicon epitaxial layer on the active region of the bulk silicon substrate; and, forming a coupling insulating film on at least the silicon epitaxial layer; forming a floating gate and an inter-gate insulating film on the coupling insulating film; forming a tunneling insulating film on the floating gate; forming a source region with an outer portion overlapping the floating gate in the active region of the bulk silicon substrate and the silicon epitaxial layer using an ion implantation process; forming a control gate overlapping a portion of the floating gate opposite the source region such that the inter-gate insulating film and the tunneling insulating film are interposed between the control gate and the floating gate; and, forming a drain region in the silicon epitaxial layer and the active region of the bulk silicon substrate opposite the source region with respect to the disturbance-preventing insulating film. 13 . the method of claim 12 , wherein forming the disturbance-preventing insulating film isolates the source region and the drain region of the bulk silicon substrate from each other. 14 . the method of claim 13 , wherein the device-isolating insulating film and the disturbance-preventing insulating film are formed concurrently using a shallow trench isolation (sti) forming process. 15 . the method of claim 14 , wherein the sti forming process comprises: etching the bulk silicon substrate to concurrently form a device-isolating trench and a disturbance-preventing trench in the bulk silicon substrate; and, concurrently filling the device-isolating trench and the disturbance-preventing trench with an insulating material to form the device-isolating insulating film and the disturbance-preventing insulating film. 16 . the method of claim 15 , wherein the device-isolating trench and the disturbance-preventing trench are connected with each other. 17 . the method of claim 12 , wherein forming the coupling insulating film comprises: performing a thermal oxidation process on the bulk silicon substrate having the silicon epitaxial layer formed thereon. 18 . the method of claim 12 , wherein the inter-gate insulating film is formed of an oval-shaped silicon oxide film. 19 . the method of claim 18 , wherein forming the floating gate and the inter-gate insulating film comprises: forming a polysilicon film and a silicon nitride film on the coupling insulating film; patterning the silicon nitride film to expose a portion of the polysilicon film where the floating gate is to be formed; thermally oxidizing the exposed polysilicon film to form the inter-gate insulating film; removing a remaining portion of the silicon nitride film; and, dry-etching the polysilicon film by using the inter-gate insulating film as an etching mask to form the floating gate. 20 . the method of claim 12 , wherein forming the tunneling insulating film comprises: forming a first tunneling insulating film on an entire surface the bulk silicon substrate having the floating gate and an inter-gate insulating film formed thereon using a thermal oxidation process; and, forming a second tunneling insulating film on the first tunneling insulating film using chemical vapor deposition (cvd). 21 . the method of claim 12 , further comprising: after the forming of the drain region, forming a spacer on sidewalls of the control gate and on a sidewall of the floating gate of closest to the source region.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and a method for manufacturing the same. more particularly, the present invention relates to a split gate type flash memory device and a related method for manufacture. a claim of priority is made to korean patent application no. 10-2004-0044493 filed on jun. 16, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 2. description of the related art electrically erasable and programmable nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices are a popular choice for many modern electronic devices, including mobile communication systems, memory cards and the like. for example, electrically-erasable programmable read only memory (eeprom) is commonly used to store data in cellular phones and in digital camera memory cards. flash memory, which is a type of eeprom, may be programmed one cell at a time, but erased in block or sector units comprising multiple memory cells. flash memory devices typically include one transistor having a floating gate and another transistor having an electron trap layer. examples of transistors having a floating gate include stacked gate transistors, split gate transistors, and the like. fig. 1a is a schematic showing a planar view of a conventional flash memory device having a split gate transistor (referred to hereafter as “split gate type flash memory device”). fig. 1b is a schematic showing a cross-sectional view taken along a line between x and x′ in fig. 1a . fig. 1b shows a pair of memory cells. referring to figs. 1a and 1b , a semiconductor substrate 10 has an active region 11 defined by a device isolation region 13 . device isolation region 13 typically comprises a shallow trench isolation (sti) film. in addition, the split gate type flash memory device has a source region 15 formed in semiconductor substrate 10 . source region 15 is formed in a predetermined portion of active region 11 . source region 15 is a common source for the pair of memory cells shown in fig. 1b . source region 15 is extended in length together with a horizontally adjacent source region 15 to form a common source line. a pair of floating gates 20 is formed on semiconductor substrate 10 adjacent to both sides of source region 15 . each floating gate 20 has an upper surface covered by an inter-gate insulating film 25 . at least one sidewall of floating gate 20 is covered by a control gate 30 . control gate 30 extends from the sidewall of floating gate 20 to cover the upper surface of inter-gate insulating film 25 , and to cover a portion of semiconductor substrate 10 disposed adjacent to floating gate 20 and on the distal sides of floating gate 20 relative to source region 15 . control gate 30 extends horizontally to be parallel with the common source line. the horizontally extended control gate 30 functions as a word line. a drain region 35 is formed in semiconductor substrate 10 adjacent to each control gate 30 . a portion of each drain region 35 is typically overlapped by control gates 30 . each drain region 35 is connected with a bit line (not shown) through a contact. a coupling insulating film 40 is formed between each floating gate 20 and semiconductor substrate 10 . coupling insulating film 40 extends down each floating gate 20 and is overlapped, at least in part, by a tunneling insulating film 45 extending over the sidewall of floating gate 20 covered by control gates 30 . tunneling insulating film 45 is patterned according to the shape of control gate 30 . coupling insulating film 40 and tunneling insulating film 45 , both of which are formed below control gates 30 , function collectively as a gate insulating film for the resulting mos transistor. the split gate type flash memory device typically further includes spacers 50 formed on sidewalls of control gate 30 , on a sidewall of each floating gate 20 and on a proximal portion of inter-gate insulating film 25 relative to source region 15 . spacers 50 are not essential structural elements, but are typically formed in cases where flash memory devices are merged with the logic devices. the split gate type flash memory device has a structure wherein each floating gate 20 is isolated from a respective control gate 30 . as such, floating gate 20 is electrically insulated. the split gate type flash memory device stores data using various techniques that manipulate cell current, such as electron injection (programming) and electron emission (erasing). in a case where a programming operation is performed with respect to only a single selected cell, a high voltage, e.g., more than 9v, is typically applied to source region 15 , and an appropriate voltage (vd 1 ) such as 0v is applied to drain region 35 . additionally, a voltage at least as high as a threshold voltage (vg 1 ) is applied to control gate 30 of the selected cell, and a voltage of 0v is applied to control gate 30 of the non-selected cell. in this case, hot electrons are injected into floating gate 20 through coupling insulating film 40 in semiconductor substrate 10 down floating gate 20 adjacent to control gate 30 in the selected cell. however, this result does not occur in the non-selected cell. unfortunately, the split gate type flash memory device suffers from a problem related to the programming operation. the problem, known as the “disturbance problem”, is experienced in the non-selected cell during programming of the selected cell. the disturbance problem is caused, at least in part, by the high voltage applied to source region 15 during programming and more particularly to the portion of source region 15 overlapped by floating gate 20 . to be more specific, even though the threshold voltage is not applied to the control gate 30 of the non-selected cell, a depletion area extends toward both sides of source region 15 as a result of the high voltage applied to source region 15 . furthermore, there is an effect in which a certain voltage appears to be applied to floating gate 20 in the non-selected cell. as a result, the depletion area extends through semiconductor substrate 10 down a channel region in the non-selected cell and generates a punch-through, thereby causing the non-selected cell to be programmed together with the selected cell. summary of the invention the present invention provides a split gate type flash memory device and a related method of manufacture in which the disturbance problem between selected and non-selected memory cells sharing a common source region is prevented. according to one embodiment of the present invention, a split gate type flash memory device comprises a bulk silicon substrate having an active region defined by a device-isolating insulating film. a silicon epitaxial layer is formed on the bulk silicon substrate. the silicon epitaxial layer is typically formed only in the active region of the bulk silicon substrate. additionally, a source region and a drain region are formed in the bulk silicon substrate and the silicon epitaxial layer, and a channel region is defined in the silicon epitaxial layer between the source region and the drain region. the flash device further comprises a disturbance-preventing insulating film formed in the bulk silicon substrate between the source region and the drain region. the source region and the drain region of the bulk silicon substrate are typically isolated from each other by the disturbance-preventing insulating film. the disturbance-preventing insulating film is typically connected with the device-isolating insulating film. in selected embodiments of the invention, other structural elements in the flash device are typically the same as those used in a conventional split gate type flash memory device. for example, the flash device may include a coupling insulating film formed on the silicon epitaxial layer, a floating gate formed on the coupling insulating film overlapping an outer portion of the source region, a control gate overlapping a portion of the floating gate opposite to the source region, and extended toward the drain region, an inter-gate insulating film formed between the floating gate and the control gate, and a tunneling insulating film interposed between the floating gate and the control gate. according to another embodiment of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a split gate type flash memory device is provided. the method comprises forming a device-isolating insulating film defining an active region in a bulk silicon substrate and a disturbance-preventing insulating film in the active region. the device-isolating insulating film and the disturbance-preventing insulating film are typically formed concurrently. the method further comprises forming a silicon epitaxial layer on the active region of the bulk silicon substrate. the silicon epitaxial layer is a material layer functioning as a channel region in a split gate transistor. in selected embodiments of the invention, subsequent processes generally comprise conventional techniques applied to manufacture of flash devices. for example, a thermal oxidation process may be used to form a coupling insulating film on the exposed bulk silicon substrate having the silicon epitaxial layer formed thereon. a floating gate may then be formed on the coupling insulating film. in a related aspect, a portion of the floating gate may overlap the disturbance-preventing insulating film. the thermal oxidation process and chemical vapor deposition may be further used to form a silicon oxide film to act as a tunneling insulating film on at least a sidewall of the floating gate. an ion implantation process may then be used to form a source region overlapping with a portion of the floating gate in the active region of the bulk silicon substrate and the silicon epitaxial layer. a control gate overlapping a portion of the floating gate may then be formed such that the inter-gate insulating film and the tunneling insulating film are interposed between the control gate and the portion of the floating gate. a drain region may be formed in the silicon epitaxial layer and the active region of the bulk silicon substrate opposite to the source region with respect to the disturbance-preventing insulating film. alternatively, the source region and the drain region may be formed using a conventional processing sequence. a spacer may be formed on sidewalls of the control gate and on the tunneling insulating film of the floating gate toward the source region. brief description of the drawings the invention is described below in relation to several selected embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. throughout the drawings the thickness of various layers has been exaggerated for clarity and like reference numerals are used to indicate like exemplary elements, components, or steps. in the drawings: fig. 1a is a planar view illustrating a memory cell array for a conventional split gate type flash memory device; fig. 1b is a schematic showing a cross-sectional view taken along a line between x and x′ in fig. 1a ; fig. 2a is a planar view illustrating a memory cell array for a split gate type flash memory device according to one embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2b is a schematic showing a cross-sectional view taken along a line between y and y′ in fig. 2a ; fig. 3a is a planar view illustrating a layout of a sti film and a disturbance-preventing insulating film for one pair of memory cells; fig. 3b is a schematic showing a cross-sectional view taken along a line between y and y′ in fig. 3a ; and, figs. 4 through 7 are schematics showing cross-sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing a split gate type flash memory device. description of the exemplary embodiments exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the corresponding drawings. these embodiments are presented as teaching examples. the actual scope of the invention is defined by the claims that follow. fig. 2a is a planar view illustrating a memory cell array for a split gate type flash memory device according to one embodiment of the present invention. fig. 2b is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along a line between y and y′ in fig. 2a . referring to figs. 2a and 2b , an active region 111 is defined in a bulk silicon substrate 110 by a device isolation region 113 having, for example, the same layout as the conventional device isolation region 13 described with reference to fig. 1 . bulk silicon substrate 110 is one example of a semiconductor substrate that could be used to form the memory cell array for the split gate type flash memory device. device isolation region 113 is typically formed of a rectangular device-isolating film arrayed vertically and horizontally. active region 111 is formed in bulk silicon substrate 110 between the device-isolating insulating films, which are horizontally parallel to one another. a split gate transistor is formed in active region 111 . the device-isolating insulating film may be formed by a shallow trench isolation (sti) film. a disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 is formed in active region 111 of bulk silicon substrate 110 . in one embodiment, disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 is formed at least partially beneath a channel region 114 (described later) of the split gate transistor to prevent punch-through between a source region 115 and a drain region 135 of a non-selected cell during a programming operation. disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 may be formed of an insulating material such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxide nitride, or a combination thereof. disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 is preferably formed of the same material as device isolation region 113 . as described above, disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 prevents punch-through. in order to prevent punch-through, selected embodiments of the present invention use a disturbance-preventing insulating region 12 formed in bulk silicon substrate 110 beneath the channel region to completely isolate source region 115 and drain region 135 from each other. accordingly, disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 may in selected embodiments be connected to device isolation region 113 , which is horizontally adjacent thereto and generally has a depth sufficient to prevent punch-through. following formation of disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 , a silicon epitaxial layer 118 is formed on bulk silicon substrate 110 . preferably, silicon epitaxial layer 118 is formed on active region 111 , but not on device isolation region 113 . silicon epitaxial layer 118 functions as a channel region in the split gate transistor, and hence its thickness varies depending on the design rule and intended operating characteristics of the ultimate device. source region 115 and drain region 135 are selectively formed in predetermined regions of active region 111 in bulk silicon substrate 110 and silicon epitaxial layer 118 . in a case where a p-type bulk silicon substrate 110 is used, n-type impurity ions such as phosphorus (p) or arsenic (as) are selectively implanted to form source region 115 and drain region 135 . source region 115 acts as a common source for a pair of memory cells, and horizontally extends to form a common source line. within the context of selected embodiments of the invention, source region 115 and drain region 135 are electrically isolated from each other by disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 within bulk silicon substrate 110 . however, in silicon epitaxial layer 118 , source region 115 and drain region 135 are merely spaced apart from each other and not electrically isolated from each other. the portion of silicon epitaxial layer 118 between source region 115 and drain region 135 forms channel region 114 of the split gate transistor. a floating gate (f/g) 120 a is formed on a coupling insulating film 140 such that coupling insulating film 140 is interposed between silicon epitaxial layer 118 and floating gate 120 a . floating gate 120 a is typically formed of polysilicon, and coupling insulating film 140 is typically formed of silicon oxide. a portion of floating gate 120 a overlaps source region 115 . additionally, coupling insulating film 140 extends to cover a first portion of source region 115 and an portion of channel region 114 and yet expose an second portion of source region 115 and drain region 135 for an electrical connection with an external circuit. additionally, an inter-gate insulating film 125 is typically formed on floating gate 120 a. a control gate 130 overlaps a portion of floating gate 120 a with tunneling insulating film 145 a is interposed between the two. control gate 130 is typically formed of a conductive material such as polysilicon, metal, or the like. tunneling insulating film 145 a is typically formed of a silicon oxide. control gate 130 overlaps a portion of floating gate 120 a closest to drain region 135 , and is extended toward drain region 135 . control gate 130 is connected with a control gate of a horizontally adjacent memory cell so as to function as a word line (w/l) for the flash memory device. tunneling insulating film 145 a may be formed to have a shape resembling the shape of control gate 130 . tunneling insulating film 145 a and inter-gate insulating film 125 are interposed between a portion of control gate 130 and an upper surface of floating gate 120 a . only tunneling insulating film 145 a is interposed between control gate 130 and a sidewall of floating gate 120 a toward drain region 135 . additionally, coupling insulating film 140 and tunneling insulating film 145 a are interposed between a remaining portion of control gate 130 and silicon epitaxial layer 118 . coupling insulating film 140 and tunneling insulating film 145 a function as a gate insulating film for the split gate transistor. a spacer 150 typically formed on a sidewall of control gate 130 and on a sidewall of floating gate 120 a nearest source region 115 . spacer 150 is not an essential structural element of the split gate type flash device. however, in cases where the split gate type flash device is merged with the logic device in one semiconductor substrate, spacer 150 is generally formed. where used, spacer 150 may readily be formed by a process used to form the related logic device. spacer 150 is generally formed of silicon nitride. the split gate type flash device illustrated in fig. 2 does not generate a disturbance. for example, suppose that programming is performed in a selected cell of fig. 2b . in this case, a high voltage, for example, about 9v, is applied to source region 115 (vs) and a threshold voltage is applied to control gate 130 (vg 1 ) in the selected cell. a voltage is not applied to control gate 130 (vg 2 ) in the non-selected cell. additionally, a voltage of 0v is applied to drain region 135 (vd 1 and vd 2 ) from an external source. due to device characteristics, a voltage of about 0.4v can be applied to drain region 135 . as described previously in relation to fig. 1 , in the conventional flash device, a high voltage applied to the source region and a voltage associated with the floating gate coupled to the source region may cause punch-through down the channel region. however, the present invention forms disturbance-preventing insulating film 112 in bulk silicon substrate 110 down channel region 114 , thereby preventing the punch-through from occurring. referring to figs. 3 through 7 , a method of manufacturing a split gate type flash memory device is described according to one embodiment of the present invention. the exemplary method shown in figs. 3 through 7 will be described with reference to the split gate type flash memory device shown in fig. 2b . referring to figs. 3a and 3b , device-isolating insulating film and disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 are formed on bulk silicon substrate 110 . device isolation region 113 and disturbance-preventing insulating region 112 are generally formed concurrently using a conventional sti forming process. in order to do so, bulk silicon substrate 110 is etched to form a pattern of trenches. the pattern of trenches is formed in device isolation region 113 and in a portion of active region 111 . a first trench is formed in a portion of active region 111 corresponding to the channel region of the split gate transistor, i.e. a portion indicated by numeral 112 in fig. 3a . the first trench has a length (c) which is typically the same as or less than a distance between the source region “s” ( 115 in fig. 2b ) and the drain region “d” ( 135 in fig. 2b ). in addition, the first trench has a width (w) which is the same as a width of the channel region. hence, the trench is typically connected to a second trench used to form a sti film in device isolation region 1113 . after the first trench is formed, a silicon oxide film, a silicon nitride film, a silicon oxide nitride film, or a combination thereof is used to fill the trench in the same manner as in the conventional sti forming process. as a result, active region 111 is defined by device isolation region 113 and disturbance-preventing insulating film 112 is formed in active region 111 . referring to fig. 4 , silicon epitaxial layer 118 and coupling insulating film 140 are sequentially formed on bulk silicon substrate 110 . since silicon epitaxial layer 118 forms the channel region of the transistor, it is typically formed only on active region 111 and not on device isolation region 113 . in order to form silicon epitaxial layer 118 only on active region 111 , a film is grown-up on an entire surface of bulk silicon substrate 110 using a general silicon epitaxial growth (seg) method, and then any unnecessary portion(s) of the grown-up film are selectively etched away using a photolithography process. after silicon epitaxial layer 118 is formed, coupling insulating film 140 is typically formed using silicon oxide. in general, coupling insulating film 140 is formed by growing up a thermal oxidation film on at least an entire surface of silicon epitaxial layer 118 using a conventional thermal oxidation process. coupling insulating film 140 is preferably formed to have a smaller thickness than the gate oxidation film of the split gate transistor in fig. 2b . referring to fig. 5 , a first polysilicon film 120 is deposited on coupling insulating film 140 in order to form the floating gate ( 120 a in fig. 2 ). a hard mask is formed on first polysilicon film 120 and the hard mask is patterned to form a hard mask pattern 122 . hard mask pattern 122 is generally formed using a material having a large etch selectivity relative to the polysilicon film and the silicon oxide film. for example, hard mask pattern 122 is typically formed using the silicon nitride film. hard mask pattern 122 exposes first polysilicon film 120 in a region where floating gate 120 a is to be formed. referring to fig. 6 , floating gate 120 a is formed. in order to form floating gate 120 a , the thermal oxidation process is performed on the substrate having hard mask pattern 122 . as a result of performing the thermal oxidation process, portions of first polysilicon film 120 exposed through hard mask pattern 122 are oxidized to form an oval-shaped oxide film, i.e., inter-gate insulating film 125 on first polysilicon film 120 . hard mask pattern 122 is then removed using a conventional process. first polysilicon film 120 is then etched using inter-gate insulating film 125 as an etching mask. by ethching first polysilicon film 120 , floating gate 120 a is formed under inter-gate insulating film 125 . referring to fig. 7 , tunneling insulating film 145 , source region 115 and control gate 130 are formed. tunneling insulating film 145 is formed using silicon oxide. tunneling insulating film 145 typically comprises a dual film comprised of a silicon oxide film formed using the thermal oxidation process or a chemical vapor deposition (cvd) oxidation film formed using a cvd process. according to selected embodiments of the present invention, forming tunneling insulating film 145 comprises forming a first tunneling insulating film on an entire surface of the bulk silicon substrate having the floating gate and an inter-gate insulating film formed thereon using a thermal oxidation process and forming a second tunneling insulating film on the first tunneling insulating film using cvd. the silicon oxide film and the cvd oxidation film are formed using conventional techniques. bulk silicon substrate 110 is then masked with a photoresist pattern except in a portion where source region 115 is to be formed. once bulk silicon substrate 110 is masked, an ion implantation process is performed to form source region 115 . in cases where bulk silicon substrate 110 is p-type, phosphorus (p) or arsenic (as) ions are usually implanted by the ion implantation process. after ions are implanted into a predetermined region of bulk silicon substrate 110 and silicon epitaxial layer 118 , a heat treatment is performed to diffuse the implanted ions. the heat treatment allows a portion of source region 115 to overlap with floating gate 120 a as shown in fig. 7 . a second polysilicon film or a conductive film such as a metal film is formed on bulk silicon substrate 110 following the heat treatment. the second polysilicon film or conductive film is patterned to form control gate 130 shown in the drawings. according to selected embodiments of the invention, a process for forming a spacer ( 150 in fig. 2b ) is then performed. as previously mentioned, the process for forming spacer 150 is usually performed in cases where the flash memory device is merged with a logic device. the process for forming spacer 150 is also performed in many cases where the design rule gets smaller and the source/drain region of the flash memory device is manufactured with a lightly doped drain (ldd) structure. the ion implantation process is performed to form drain region 135 before or after the spacer forming process is performed. the ion implantation process used to form drain region 135 typically uses phosphorus (p) or arsenic (as) ions. in order to form drain region 135 , a photoresist pattern is formed on bulk silicon substrate 110 . the photoresist pattern exposes a portion of bulk silicon substrate where drain region 135 is to be formed and the ions are implanted into bulk silicon substrate 110 and silicon epitaxial layer 118 through the exposed portion. control gate 130 and spacers 150 are used as a mask to remove portions of insulating film 140 formed at least on source region 115 and drain region 135 . once portions of insulating film 140 are thus removed, the split gate type flash memory device as shown in fig. 2b is completed. as described above, a disturbance-preventing insulating film is formed between source and drain regions of a split gate type flash memory device. accordingly, even though a high voltage is applied to a source region during a programming operation, punch-through caused by extension of a depletion area is prevented. as a result, the disturbance problem is prevented. furthermore, since the disturbance-preventing insulating film is typically formed in association with the sti forming process, manufacture processes are simplified. while the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
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166-227-488-291-135
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DK
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[
"US"
] |
C12N15/64,C12N15/67,C12N15/90
| 1992-12-22T00:00:00 |
1992
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[
"C12"
] |
amplification of genomic dna by site specific integration of a selectable marker construct
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a method of amplifying in vivo a dna sequence b present in a genome of a parent cell, comprising (a) integrating in a genome of said cell a dna construct comprising the structure c-m-a-d, in which both a and c denote a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment either flanking or overlapping the dna sequence b, the sequence c being located in the opposite end the sequence b as compared to a, d denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment located distal for c as compared to b, and m denotes a dna sequence encoding a selection marker, (b) selecting for cells in which the dna sequence m has been integrated in the genome, which cells comprise, in any orientation, the structure a-b-c-m-a-d and (c) propagating the cells selected in step (b) under increasing selection pressure to obtain a cell which has obtained an increased number of genomically integrated copies of the dna sequences b and m.
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1. a method of amplifying in vivo a dna sequence b present in a genome of a parent prokaryotic cell, comprising a) integrating in a genome of said cell a dna construct comprising the structure c-m-a-d, in which a denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment either flanking or overlapping the dna sequence b to be amplified or being a subsequence of the dna sequence b constituting one of the ends of said sequence b, c denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment either flanking or overlapping the dna sequence b to be amplified or being a subsequence of the dna sequence b constituting one of the ends of said sequence b, the sequence c being located in the opposite end of the sequence b as compared to a, d denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment located distal for c as compared to b, and m denotes a dna sequence encoding a selection marker, b) selecting for cells in which the dna sequence m has been integrated in the genome either upstream or downstream of the dna sequence b together with the sequence a, which cells comprise, in any orientation, the structure a-b-c-m-a-d, and c) propagating the cells selected in step b) under increasing selection pressure for the selection marker encoded by the dna sequence m so as to obtain a cell which has obtained an increased number of genomically integrated copies of the dna sequences b and m as compared to the parent cell. 2. the method according to claim 1, in which the dna construct is carried on a suitable vector. 3. the method according to claim 2, in which the vector is a plasmid or a phage. 4. the method according to claim 2, in which the vector is temperature-sensitive for replication. 5. the method according to claim 4, in which the vector further carries a dna sequence encoding a selection marker. 6. the method according to claim 1, in which the parent cell is a microbial cell, a plant cell, an insect cell, a vertebrate cell, or a mammalian cell. 7. the method according to claim 6, in which the parent cell is a bacterial or a fungal cell. 8. the method according to claim 7, in which the bacterial cell is a cell of a gram-positive bacterium or a cell of a gram-negative bacterium and the fungal cell is a yeast cell or a cell of a filamentous fungus. 9. the method according to claim 1, in which the dna sequence b comprises an open reading frame. 10. the method according to claim 9, in which the dna sequence b further comprises one or more regulatory signals. 11. the method according to claim 9, in which the dna sequence b is a single gene, a cluster of genes or an operon. 12. the method according to claim 8, in which the dna sequence b is heterologous to the parent cell and derived from a microorganism, a plant, an insect, a vertebrate or a mammal. 13. the method according to claim 12, in which the dna sequence b is derived from a bacterium or a fungus. 14. the method according to claim 8, in which the dna sequence b encodes an enzyme, a hormone, an antigenic component, an immunoactive protein or peptide, a growth factor, an allergen, a tumor associated antigen, or a blood protein. 15. the method according to claim 8, in which the dna sequence b comprises one or more genes encoding a biosynthetic pathway, one or more genes encoding elements of the cell transcription, translation or protein secretion apparatus a regulatory factor acting in the cell or a metal resistance, or b complements an auxotrophic mutation of the host cell. 16. the method according to claim 1, in which the dna sequence b is a gene and the dna sequence a is homologous to a full or partial promoter sequence upstream of the coding part of the dna sequence b. 17. the method according to claim 1, in which the dna sequence m encodes a product which confers antibiotic resistance to the parent cell, which confers prototrophy to an auxotrophic cell, or which complements a defect of the parent cell. 18. the method according to claim 17, in which the antibiotic resistance is a resistance to kanamycin, tetracyclin, ampicillin, erythromycin, or chloramphenicol. 19. the method according to claim 17, in which the dna sequence m encodes a product which confers resistance to a heavy metal.
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field of the invention the present invention relates to a method of amplifying in vivo a dna sequence present in a genome of a cell, a cell harbouring multiple copies of said amplified dna sequence in a genome and a vector harbouring a dna construct to be used in the method. furthermore, the present invention relates to a method of producing a polypeptide by culturing a cell as described above. background of the invention a large number of naturally-occurring organisms have been found to produce useful products, the large scale production of which is desirable for research and commercial purposes. once such product has been identified efforts are being made to develop production methods leading to a high production of the product. one widely used method, which is based on recombinant dna techniques, is to clone a gene encoding the product, inserting the gene into a suitable expression system permitting the expression of the product and culturing a suitable host cell comprising the expression system, either integrated in the chromosome or as an extrachromosomal entity, under conditions conducive for the expression of the product. however, a prerequisite for using such method is that the gene in question may be identified and cloned, and further that a suitable expression system and host cell for the production are available. another approach which may be used for the production of such products is to culture the cell which in nature produces the product or a derivative of such cell under suitable conditions. however, a frequently recognized drawback of such method is that the cell is not a suitable production organism, one reason being that the amount of product produced by such cell is too low to be commercially attractive. irrespective of which production method is used, it is normally desirable to be able to increase the production level of a given protein. thus, efforts are being made to increase the production, e.g. by inserting the gene encoding the product under the control of a strong expression signal, or by increasing the number of copies of the gene in the production organism in question. this latter approach may be accomplished by inserting the gene into a multicopy plasmid which generally, however, tends to be unstable in the host cell in question, or by integrating multiple copies of the gene into the chromosome of the production organism, an approach which generally is considered more attractive because the stability of the construct tend to be higher allowing the gene to be stably maintained in the production organism. ep 0 284 126 and ep 166 628 disclose methods for stably integrating one or more copies of a gene into the chromosome of a prokaryotic cell already harbouring at least one copy of the gene in question in its chromosome. according to ep 0 284 126, a host cell comprising said gene is transformed with a dna construct comprising another copy of the gene, whereby, after a suitable selection procedure, a cell is obtained which in its chromosome comprises two copies of the gene separated by an endogenous chromosomal sequence which is vital to the host cell and thereby ensures stable maintenance of the integrated gene. this procedure may be repeated so as to produce cells harbouring multiple copies of the gene in its chromosome. ep 166 628 relates to a process for amplifying a specific gene in the chromosome of a bacillus strain thereby obtaining a cell harbouring a so-called "amplifiable unit" comprising the gene, the expression elements of the gene, and a gene encoding a selection marker inserted between two directly repeating sequences termed "duplicated sequences". the gene is introduced into the cell by a plasmid integration vector which is integrated in the bacillus chromosome and which harbours a marker gene, the gene to be amplified, and one of the duplicated sequences, the other being present on the chromosome of the bacillus cell. both of the above described methods require that the entire gene to be amplified is insertable into the vector to be used in the amplification method and thus, are applicable only when the gene to be amplified is isolated and available on a vector to be used in the method. brief disclosure of the invention the present invention relates to a generally novel method of amplifying a dna sequence present on a genome of the cell, which as compared to the above described methods, has the advantage that there is no requirement that the dna sequence to be amplified is available in its entirety. more specifically, in a first aspect the present invention relates to a method of amplifying in vivo a dna sequence b present in a genome of a parent cell, which method comprises a) integrating in a genome of said cell a dna construct comprising the structure c-m-a-d, in which a denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment either flanking or overlapping the dna sequence b to be amplified or being a subsequence of the dna sequence b constituting one of the ends of said sequence b, c denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment either flanking or overlapping the dna sequence b to be amplified or being a subsequence of the dna sequence b constituting one of the ends of said sequence b, the sequence c being located in the opposite end of the sequence b as compared to a, d denotes a dna sequence which is homologous with a genomic dna fragment located distal for c as compared to b, and m denotes a dna sequence encoding a selection marker, b) selecting for cells in which the dna sequence m has been integrated in the genome either upstream or downstream of the dna sequence b together with the sequence a, which cells comprise, in any orientation, the structure a-b-c-m-a-d, and c) propagating the cells selected in step b) under increasing selection pressure for the selection marker encoded by the dna sequence m so as to obtain a cell which has obtained an increased number of genomic integrated copies of the dna sequences b and m as compared to the parent cell. integration of the dna construct comprising the structure c-m-a-d into a genome of the parent cell results in a genomic structure in which the dna sequence b together with a suitable selectable marker is located between two directly repeated dna sequences a, one of which originates from the genome in question and one from the dna construct. when a strain comprising such structure is propagated under increasing selection pressure for the marker, the culture is enriched for cells containing duplications, triplications, and higher amplifications of the genes between the two directly repeated sequences. thus, it is contemplated that the number of copies of the dna sequence of interest may constitute, 20, 50, 100 or more the upper limit being the number of copies which become a too heavy burden for the cell. by use of the method of the invention it has been found that the amplified dna is quite stable in the absence of selection for the marker m. it will be understood that the amplification method of the invention has the important advantage over the prior art methods that the entire dna sequence to be amplified does not need to be available for the method to be carried out. only a part of the dna sequence or its flanking regions need to be known. this is an advantage in that, although dna isolation and sequencing methods have been substantially improved during the last decade, it is still laborious to isolate and sequence a dna sequence of interest and in fact, not always possible. in the present context, the term "genome" is normally intended to indicate a chromosome of the parent cell. however, the term is also intended to indicate any other genome present in the parent cell, an example of which is a plasmid, for instance a large stable plasmid present in the cell. the term "homologous" as used about the dna sequences a, c and d is intended to indicate a degree of identity between any of these sequences and the corresponding parts of the genome, which is sufficient for homologous recombination to take place. preferably, the dna sequences show identity or substantial identity for at least 8 consecutive base pairs with the corresponding parts of the genome. however, the dna sequences may be longer, e.g. comprising up to several thousands nucleotides. the term "flanking" is intended to indicate that the dna sequence a or c is homologous with the genomic sequence located up to, but not extending into the dna sequence b. the term "overlapping" is intended to indicate that the dna sequence a or c is homologous to a part of the genomic sequence which is constituted by one of the ends of the dna sequence b and the sequence immediately outside this sequence. the term "located distal for c" as used about the dna sequence d is intended to be understood in its conventional meaning, i.e. that the dna sequence d is homologous with a genomic sequence located on the side of the genomic sequence homologous to the dna sequence c which is opposite to the position of the dna sequence b to be amplified. the distance between the genomic sequences homologous with the dna sequences c and d may vary from the situation where c and d are identical or partly overlapping to a separation of several thousand basepairs. however, the dna sequences between c and d will eventually become deleted from the genome when the method of the invention is carried out. in another aspect the present invention relates to a cell comprising multiple copies of a dna sequence comprising the structure m-b in its genome, in which m denotes a dna sequence encoding a selection marker and b denotes a dna sequence encoding a desirable polypeptide, the multiple copies of the structure m-b being located between two directly repeated sequences. in further aspects the invention relates to a dna construct comprising the structure c-m-a-d and intended for use in the amplification of a genomic dna sequence b, in which a, c, m, d has the meaning indicated above, as well as a vector harbouring the dna construct. finally, the invention relates to a process for producing a polypeptide encoded by a dna sequence b comprising culturing a cell as defined above having integrated multiple copies of the dna sequence b under conditions conducive to the production of the polypeptide and recovering the resulting polypeptide from the culture. detailed description of the invention the integration step a) of the method of the invention may be accomplished by any suitable method, the nature of which depends on the organism and dna construct in question. first, the dna construct must be introduced into the cell. the dna construct may be introduced as such using techniques known in the art for direct introduction of dna, e.g. by use of electroporation, transformation of competent cells, protoplast transformation, or ballistic transformation, but is suitably carried on a vector capable of affording integration of the dna construct into a genome of the cell. the vector is advantageously a plasmid or a bacteriophage which may be introduced into the parent cell by any technique suited for the vector and parent cell in question, including transformation as above, protoplast fusion, transfection, transduction and conjugation. upon introduction into the parent cell the dna construct optionally in combination with vector-derived dna is integrated into a genome by homologous recombination which takes place between the homologous sequences. in the appended fig. 1 it is illustrated how a double recombination event between a genome and the dna construct can give rise to a cell according to the invention, containing the structure a-b-c-m-a-d in its genome. when a vector is used for the integration of the dna construct, a selection for cells having received the vector may be performed prior to the selection step b) of the method of the invention thereby improving the efficiency with which the integration of the dna construct takes place. for this purpose, a vector which is able to replicate under certain (permissive) conditions and unable to replicate under other (non-permissive) conditions may be used. the vector may, for instance, be one which is temperature-sensitive for replication. thus, the vector may be one which is unable to replicate at increased temperatures, which yet permit growth of the parent cell. the cells are initially cultured at a temperature permitting plasmid replication and subsequently after integration into the bacterial genome may have taken place, cultured at a temperature which does not permit plasmid replication so that the vector is lost from the cells unless integrated into the genome. the vector may further comprise a selectable marker. in this case, the cultivation at the non-permissive temperature may be conducted under selective conditions to ensure that only cells containing the integrated vector which includes the dna construct and the selectable marker, will survive. the selectable marker may be any marker known in the art, for instance a gene coding for a product which confers antibiotic resistance to the cell, which confers prototrophy to an auxotrophic strain, or which complements a defect of the host, (e.g. dal genes introduced in a dal strain; cf. b. diderichsen (1986). cells surviving under these conditions will be cells containing the vector or cells in which the vector comprising the dna construct of the invention has been integrated. the selectable marker may, e.g., be excised from a known source or present on a vector, e.g. a plasmid, used for the construction of the dna construct to be used in the method of the invention. in the selection step b) of the method of the invention, selection for cells comprising the structure a-b-c-m-a-d, in any orientation, are made. such cells could be the result of a single recombination event, in which case the vector is still present in the genome, or could advantageously be the result of a double recombination event in which case the vector is not present in the genome. the double recombination event can be the result of two sequential single recombination events, the first consisting of an integration into the genome of the vector containing the structure c-m-a-d, the second consisting of excision of the vector from the genome. the process is illustrated schematically in fig. 2, from which it is apparent that integration via fragment c followed by excision via fragment d, or vice versa, will give a genome containing the structure a-b-c-m-a-d of the invention. this selection may be accomplished by growing the cells under selection pressure for the selection marker encoded by the dna sequence m and analysing the thereby selected cells for the presence of the structure a-b-c-m-a-d, e.g. by use of conventional dna analysis techniques, including restriction enzyme digestion and gel analysis combined with southern blotting, or by use of pcr using suitable primers corresponding to characteristic parts of the structure a-b-c-m-a-d. in one particular embodiment of the invention, a temperature-sensitive vector is used, which in addition to the structure c-m-a-d carries another selectable marker, y. the vector is introduced into the parent cell at permissive temperature, selecting for either m or y or both. propagation is then continued at a non-permissive temperature, and selection for either m or y or both is maintained. cells growing under these conditions will have the vector integrated into a genome (by either of the three fragments c, a or d). subsequently, cells are grown at a permissive temperature in the absence of selection pressure. this will allow plasmid replication, excision of the integrated plasmid from the genome (again by any of the three fragments c, a or d), and eventually loss of plasmid from the cells. cells are now selected, which still contain the selection marker m, and such cells screened for the presence of the selection marker y, e.g. by replica plating. such cells can only arise by integration via fragment c followed by excision via fragment d, or vice versa, and contain the structure a-b-c-m-a-d in a genome. the dna sequence m present in the dna construct to be integrated by the present method may encode any selectable marker, e.g. of any type as described above in connection with the marker optionally carried by the vector to be used in the method of the invention. thus, the dna sequence m may encode an antibiotic resistance such as resistance to kanamycin, tetracyclin, ampicillin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, or a resistance to various heavy metals such as selenate, antimony or arsenate. it will be understood that the increased number of genomically integrated copies of the dna sequences b and m obtained in the propagation step c) of the method of the invention is the result of successive recombination events between initially the two copies of the dna sequence a (directly repeated) surrounding the dna sequences b and m. it may be possible to control the amplification of the dna sequence b and thus arrive at a predetermined number of copies in terms of the selectable marker used and the strength of the selection pressure used in the propagation step c). there is no theoretical upper limit for the number of copies of the dna sequences b and m to be obtained in this step, but in practice the number of copies will be limited by the burden put on the host cell. it should be noted that once the dna construct has been integrated in a genome of the parent cell, this may be cultured in the absence of selection pressure without substantial loss of the dna construct or parts thereof from the cell. this is believed to be ascribable to the fact that the integrated dna is incapable of autonomous replication, and is replicated together with the host genome in which it is integrated. it will be understood that the novel method of the invention is generally applicable for the amplification of a dna sequence present in a genome irrespective of the type of cell or genome. the only restriction as to the nature of the cell is that the cell is one which may be transformed or which may otherwise allow for introduction of foreign dna. the cell may comprise one or more genomes, e.g. in the form of plasmids or chromosomes. for instance, the parent cell may be a microbial cell, an insect cell, a plant cell, a vertebrate cell, or a mammalian cell. when the parent cell is a microbial cell it may be a prokaryotic or a eukaryotic cell such as a bacterial or fungal (including yeast) cell. when the cell is a bacterial cell it may be a cell of a gram-positive bacterium such as bacillus, streptomyces and pseudomonas, e.g. a cell of bacillus subtilis, bacillus licheniformis, bacillus lentus, bacillus brevis, bacillus stearothermophilus, bacillus alkalophilus, bacillus amyloliquefaciens, bacillus coagulans, bacillus circulans, bacillus lautus, bacillus thuringiensis, streptomyces lividans or streptomyces murinus, or a cell of a gram-negative bacterium such as escherichia and pseudomonas. other examples of bacterial cells include cells of archaebacteria such as pyrococcus. when the cell is a fungal cell it may be a yeast cell such as a cell of saccharomyces or schizosaccharomyces, or a cell of a filamentous fungus such as a cell of aspergillus, e.g. a. niger, a. nidulans or a. oryzae. the dna sequence b to be amplified may be native to the parent cell or may alternatively be one which is not native to the parent but which has been cloned from another organism (e.g. of the type described above) or which has been synthesized and subsequently introduced into the host chromosome or another host carried genome by any convenient process, e.g. crossing-over, prior to the integration of the dna construct of the invention. the dna sequence b may be introduced in its entirety or may be assembled in the host genome in question, e.g. by successive introduction of constituent sequences of sequence b. this latter approach is of particular use when the dna sequence b is unclonable in its entirety. the dna sequence b may be one having or encoding any function. for instance, the dna sequence b may comprise an open reading frame, e.g. encoding a structural or regulatory protein or polypeptide, and may be a single gene, a cluster of genes or an operon. the dna sequence b may further comprise one or more regulatory signals involved in the expression from the open reading frame, such as transcription or translation termination or initiation sequences. preferably, the dna sequence b comprises an expressible gene which may contain all necessary regulatory sequences such as a promoter, a terminator, a ribosome binding site, etc. normally, the dna sequence b to be amplified is one encoding a desirable product such as an enzyme, a hormone, an antigenic component, an immunoactive protein or peptide, a growth factor, an allergen, a tumor associated antigen, a blood protein, and the like, in other words any kind of industrially useful product, the production of which is desirable. examples of enzymes of interest include amylolytic, lipolytic and proteolytic enzymes, transferases, isomerases, peroxidases, oxidases etc. in particular it is preferred that the dna sequence b encodes a protease, a lipase, an amylase, a galactosidase, a pullulanase, a cellulase, a glucose isomerase, a protein disulphide isomerase, a cgt'ase (cyclodextrin gluconotransferase), a glucose oxidase, a glucosyl transferase, or a xylanase. examples of other useful products include insulin-like growth factors, insulin, human or bovine growth hormone, human blood coagulation factors, interleukin, tpa etc. alternatively, the dna sequence b may comprise one or more genes encoding a biosynthetic pathway, one or more genes encoding elements of the cells transcription, translation or protein secretion apparatus (for instance sigma factors or sec genes of procaryotic cells), a regulatory factor acting in the cell or a metal resistance, or the dna sequence b may complement an auxotrophic mutation of the parent cell. from the above disclosure it will be understood that the dna sequences a and c may be homologous with any genomic sequence overlapping or flanking the dna sequence b. when the dna sequence b is a gene, the dna sequence a or c may advantageously be homologous to a full or partial promoter sequence upstream of the coding part of the dna sequence b. an example of such construct is shown in example 1 hereinafter. the dna construct used in the method of the invention may be synthesized through a series of genetic manipulations employing methods and enzymes known in the art. typically, each of genomic sequences with which the dna sequences a, c and d are to be homologous are identified by conventional dna analysis methods. for instance, a cdna or genomic library may be prepared from the organism in question and the dna sequence b to be amplified identified therein. when at least a part of the dna sequence b is known, the dna sequence b may be identified by screening for positive clones by conventional hybridization procedures, e.g. using oligonucleotide probes synthesized on the part of the dna sequence b in accordance with standard techniques (cf. sambrook et al., 1989), or more preferably, by use of polymerase chain reaction (pcr) using degenerate oligonucleotide probes prepared on the basis of the known part of the dna sequence b. for instance, the pcr may be carried out using the techniques described in u.s. pat. no. 4,683,202 or by r. k. saiki et al. (1988). when the nucleotide sequence of the dna sequence b is unknown, and an expression product thereof is known, one may screen cdna or genomic clones for an activity of the product and thereby identify a clone from which the activity is expressed. subsequently, part of the dna of the clone is isolated and sequenced and the location of the dna sequence b or part thereof is identified. the dna sequence b to be amplified may be identified by way of mutation, e.g. by transposon insertions that destroy the cell's ability to produce the product of b, and parts of the dna sequence of b may be determined e.g. by inverse pcr using primers corresponding to the transposon sequences. in this way, the dna sequences comprising the ends of b and flanking regions may be determined, even if b may not be clonable either partly or in its entirety. in order to be able to prepare the dna sequences a, c and d at least the 5' and 3' ends of b (including at least sufficient sequence data to allow specific binding of a probe or pcr primer, e. g. 12 nucleotides) should be known. once the sequences of these ends have been identified, the dna flanking or overlapping both ends of the dna sequence b may be identified, e.g. by hybridization or pcr analysis and subsequently sequenced. on the basis of these sequences the dna sequences a, c and d are prepared. the dna a, c, d and m may be prepared synthetically or may be of cdna or genomic origin, e.g. isolated from a genomic or cdna library by use of the above described methods. alternatively, the dna sequence of the dna construct of the invention may be prepared synthetically by established standard methods, e.g. the phosphoamidite method described by beaucage and caruthers (1981), or the method described by matthes et al. (1984). according to the phosphoamidite method, oligonucleotides are synthesized, e.g. in an automatic dna synthesizer, purified, annealed, ligated and cloned in appropriate vectors. finally, the dna construct may be of mixed genomic and synthetic, mixed synthetic and cdna or mixed genomic and cdna origin prepared by ligating fragments of synthetic, genomic or cdna origin (as appropriate), the fragments corresponding to various parts of the entire recombinant dna molecule, in accordance with standard techniques. as indicated above, the dna sequence b is advantageously one which codes for a polypeptide of interest, and the present invention consequently further relates to a process for producing a polypeptide of interest, comprising culturing a cell according to the invention containing multiple copies of a dna sequence comprising the structure m-b in a genome, in which b encodes the polypeptide of interest, under conditions conducive to the production of the polypeptide and recovering the resulting polypeptide from the culture. the polypeptide produced by the present process may be any of the products listed above such as an enzyme, e.g. a protease, amylase or lipase. the present invention is further illustrated in the appended drawing in which fig. 1 illustrates a double recombination event between a genome and a dna construct of the invention which results in a cell containing the structure a-b-c-m-a-d in its genome, fig. 2 illustrates a double recombination event which is the result of two sequential single recombination events, the first consisting of an integration into the genome of the vector containing the structure c-m-a-d, the second consisting of excision of the vector from the genome, resulting in a genome containing the structure a-b-c-m-a-d of the invention. various possibilities of integration and excision, respectively, are illustrated, fig. 3 is a restriction map of plasmid pdn1981, fig. 4 is a restriction map of plasmid psj1985, fig. 5 is a restriction map of plasmid psj2024, fig. 6 is a restriction map of plasmid psj980, fig. 7 is a restriction map of plasmid psj1926, fig. 8 is a restriction map of plasmid psj2059, and fig. 9 illustrates genomic maps and integration events referred to in example 1, of which a illustrates the amyl gene in the b. licheniformis chromosome, b integration via promoter fragment (ooooooo), c integration via 'amyl fragment (the 5' part of the coding sequence **********), d integration via the downstream amyl fragment (downstream of the coding sequence xxxx), e excision of plasmid from integrant type c via the homology downstream of the coding sequence (xxx), f amplification of the p-amyl-kanb region (initially via the two promoter regions oooooo). materials and methods strains bacillus licheniformis sj1904 is the .alpha.-amylase producing strain derived from strain sj1707 by integration/excision of plasmid psj1755 as described in example 6 of wo 93/10249, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. bacillus subtilis dn1885: an amye, amyr2, spo.sup.+, pro.sup.+ derivative of b.subtilis 168, (diderichsen et al., 1990). ______________________________________ media: ______________________________________ ty: trypticase 20 g/l yeast extract 5 g/l fecl.sub.2.4h.sub.2 o 6 mg/l mncl.sub.2.4h.sub.2 o 1 mg/l mgso.sub.4.7h.sub.2 o 15 mg/l ph 7.3 bpx: potato starch 100 g/l barley flour 50 g/l ban 5000 skb 0.1 g/l sodium caseinate 10 g/l soy bean meal 20 g/l na.sub.2 hpo.sub.4, 12 h.sub.2 o 9 g/l pluronic 0.1 g/l lb agar: bacto-tryptone 10 g/l bacto yeast extract 5 g/l nacl 10 g/l bacto agar 15 g/l adjusted to ph 7.5 with naoh ______________________________________ general methods the experimental techniques used to construct the plasmids were standard techniques within the field of recombinant dna technology, cf. sambrook et al. (1989). restriction endonucleases were purchased from new england biolabs and boehringer mannheim and used as recommended by the manufacturers. t4 dna ligase was purchased from new england biolabs and used as recommended by the manufacturer. preparation of plasmid dna from all strains was conducted by the method described by kieser, 1984. transformation of b. subtilis competent cells were prepared and transformed as described by yasbin et al., 1975. transformation of b. licheniformis plasmids were introduced into b. licheniformis by polyethylene glycol-mediated protoplast transformation described by akamatzu, 1984. amylase activity was determined with the phadebas.rtm. amylase test kit from pharmacia diagnostics as described by the supplier. examples example 1 amplification of an amylase coding gene this example illustrates the amplification of an amylase coding gene present in the chromosome of the b. licheniformis strain sj1904. the strain constructed according to this example is one, which in its chromosome in the following order contain: 1) the amylase promoter, 2) the amylase structural gene, 3) a kanamycin resistance gene, and 4) another copy of the amylase promoter. the two copies of the amylase promoter in this case functions as the directly repeated dna sequences a. selection for growth at increasing levels of kanamycin is shown to lead to amplification of the amylase-coding gene (including promoter) and the kanamycin resistance gene. plasmid constructions all plasmids were constructed in b. subtilis dn1885, selecting for kanamycin resistance (10 .mu.g/ml). pdn1981 (fig. 3) contains the b. licheniformis .alpha.-amylase (amyl) gene and has been described by j.o slashed.rgensen et al., 1990. psj1985 (fig. 4) contains the amyl promoter (p.sub.amyl), followed by a 210 bp fragment which originally was situated immediately downstream of the amyl terminator sequence. the fragment was pcr amplified from pdn1981 with primers lwn3226+lwn3223 (table 1), digested with ndei and hindiii, and ligated to the 4 kb ndei-hindiii fragment from pdn1981 to give psj1985. psj2024 (fig. 5) contains this combination of promoter and downstream fragment on a temperature-sensitive plasmid based on pe194 (horinouchi and weisblum, 1982b). it was constructed by ligation of the 1.7 kb bglii-hindiii fragment from psj1985 to the 4.9 kb bglii-hindiii fragment of psj980 (fig. 6). psj980 is described in wo 93/10249. psj1926 (fig. 7) contains the amyl gene including its terminator sequence, but has been deleted of the sequences downstream of the terminator (the downstream 210 bp fragment contained on psj1985 is thus not present on psj1926). a 0.5 kb fragment from pdn1981 was pcr amplified with primers lwn3224+lwn3227 (table i), digested with sali and hindiii, and ligated to the 5.2 kb sali-hindiii fragment from pdn1981, giving psj1926. the sali-hindiii fragment of psj1926 derived by pcr amplification has been dna sequenced and contains no pcr induced mutations. psj2059 (fig. 8) contains a 1 kb fragment of the amyl gene just including the terminator sequence, a kanamycin resistance gene, the amyl promoter, and finally the fragment downstream from the amyl terminator, all on a temperature-sensitive origin. psj1926 was digested with ecori and kpni, and the 1 kb fragment inserted between ecori and kpni in psj2024, to give psj2059. table 1 __________________________________________________________________________ list of primers __________________________________________________________________________ <ecori> lwn3223: 5'-gaa ttc tca tgt ttg aca gc -3' (seq id #1) pos. 1-20 in pdn1981v2 sequence <-xbai-><-ndei-> lwn3226: 5'-gac ttc tag aca tat gta aat ttc gtt gat tac att -3' (seq id #2) pos. 2221-2240 in amylv2 sequence <hindiii lwn3227: 5'-gac tgt cca gaa gct taa aat aaa aaa acg gat ttc -3' (seq id #3) pos. 2210-2190 in amylv2 sequence lwn3224: 5'-atg ata cac agc cgg ggc aa -3' (seq id #4) pos. 1690-1710 in amylv2 sequence lwn3554: 5'-gtt gac cag aca tta cg -3' (seq id #5) pos. 1271-1201 in kanb sequence <-nhei-> lwn3208: 5'-tga gtc agc tag caa ctg tca tga aac aac aaa aac ggc ttt acg cc 3' (seq id #6) pos. 622-650 in amylv2 sequence. __________________________________________________________________________ transformation of b. licheniformis psj2059 was introduced into b. licheniformis sj1904 by protoplast transformation, selecting for erythromycin resistance (5 .mu.g/ml). one transformant thus obtained was strain sj2127. integration sj2127 was streaked on lb plates with 10 .mu.g/ml kanamycin and incubated at 50.degree. c. as psj2059 is temperature-sensitive for replication, only cells containing a chromosomally integrated copy of the plasmid will give rise to colonies. psj2059 contains three different regions of homology to the chromosomal amyl region in sj1904, and integration is possible by recombination at any of these three regions. this would give strains, in which the chromosome would look as indicated in fig. 9, b, c or d. a plasmid integrated as in fig. 9b would not be able to excise so as to give the wanted strain. a plasmid integrated as in fig. 9c could give the wanted strain if excision took place by recombination at the downstream fragment. a plasmid integrated as in fig. 9d could give the wanted strain if excision took place by recombination at the amyl structural gene fragment. 8 colonies from the 50.degree. c. plate was checked by pcr amplification, using primers lwn3208+lwn3554 (table i). the reactions were performed directly on material obtained by resuspending and boiling the cells in ty medium. the position of the primers is indicated on fig. 9, b, d and e. no pcr amplified fragment should be obtained from a b-type integrant, whereas a c-type should give a 2.7 kb fragment, and a d-type a 7.5 kb fragment. from 5 of the 8 colonies, a 2.7 kb fragment was observed, indicating that the integration in these cases had taken place via the amyl structural gene fragment, giving the c-type of integrants. these were then propagated in ty medium at 30.degree. c., to allow excision and loss of the plasmid. following three transfers in ty medium, kana.sup.r erm.sup.s colonies were found by replica plating. the erythromycin sensitivity indicates loss of the plasmid. the 2.7 kb fragment could still be produced by pcr amplification from these colonies, as expected if excision had taken place by recombination at the downstream fragment, giving the result shown in fig. 9e. one strain obtained from each of the 5 individual 50.degree. c. colonies were kept, as sj2147-2151. amplification the .alpha.-amylase (amyl)+kanamycin resistance genes in strains sj2148 and sj2150 were amplified by the following procedure: the strains were inoculated in 10 ml ty medium+10 .mu.g/ml kanamycin and shaken at 37.degree. c. overnight. new 10 ml cultures containing 20, 50, 100, and 200 .mu.g/ml kanamycin were inoculated with 100 .mu.l of the 10 .mu.g/ml culture, and shaken at 37.degree. c. overnight. 10 ml cultures containing 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 .mu.g/ml kanamycin were inoculated with 100 .mu.l of the 200 .mu.g/ml culture. the 2000 and the 2500 .mu.g/ml cultures were incubated for 4 days, the others harvested after overnight growth. aliquots of all cultures were frozen in 15% glycerol, and cells harvested for preparation of chromosomal dna. ______________________________________ strains isolated ______________________________________ mother strain: sj2148 5j2150 kanamycin concentration .mu.g/ml 10 sj2172 sj2182 20 sj2173 sj2183 50 sj2174 sj2184 100 sj2175 sj2185 200 sj2176 sj2186 500 sj2177 sj2187 1000 sj2178 sj2188 1500 sj2179 sj2189 2000 sj2180 sj2190 2500 sj2181 sj2191 ______________________________________ chromosomal dna from the above strains was digested with bglii, which should give a 4.1 kb fragment derived from the amplified dna (see fig. 9f). this fragment is visible in an etbr-stained gel even in the strains selected at 10 .mu.g/ml kanamycin, becomes increasingly conspicuous at 20 and 50 .mu.g/ml, and stays at the high level in the rest of the strains. yield effect of amplification shake flasks with bpx medium were inoculated directly from the glycerol-frozen cultures, and shaken at 300 rpm at 37.degree. c. the .alpha.-amylase yields obtained with the amplified strains were compared to the yield obtained with strain sj1904. ______________________________________ experiment a kanamycin in shake experiment b flask 7 days 4 days 6 days strain .mu.g/ml rel. yield rel. yield rel. yield ______________________________________ sj2172 10 2.76 0 2.6 sj2173 20 3.44 0 3.04 1.92 2.72 sj2174 50 2.68 0 2.72 sj2175 100 3.24 0 2.84 1.84 2.88 sj2176 200 3.2 0 3.24 1.84 2.84 sj2177 500 0.72 0 3.24 1.76 2.76 sj2182 10 0.48 0 2.0 sj2183 20 3.68 0 3.68 2.04 2.6 sj2184 50 2.96 0 2.8 sj2185 100 2.8 0 3.2 1.44 2.32 sj2186 200 2.96 0 2.92 sj2187 500 0.6 0 3.56 1.68 2.6 sj1904 0 1.00 0.6 1.00 ______________________________________ it is apparent that the amplified strains all produce more .alpha.-amylase than does the parent strain. example 2 amplification of a cgtase coding gene this example illustrates the amplification of a gene coding for a cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (cgta). the gene was originally cloned from a thermoanaerobacter sp. and inserted in one copy into the chromosome of a bacillus licheniformis strain, replacing the endogenous alpha-amylase gene (amyl) of that strain. the cgtase gene was combined with an efficient mutant version of the alpha-amylase promoter and the alpha-amylase signal peptide on the plasmid used in this process, and transformation of b. licheniformis with the recombinant construct was only succesful when a spontaneous recombination event transferred the amyl-cgta gene to the chromosome under control of the wild-type amyl promoter. a later recombination step was then used to introduce the mutant promoter in front of the chromosomal amyl-cgta gene. this work, resulting among others in strain sj1707 used in the present example, has been described in wo 93/10249 and wo 93/10248. as the inventor was unable to obtain transformants of b. licheniformis with plasmids containing the amyl-cgta gene expressed from the mutant promoter, amplification of this expression cassette in the chromosome was not possible by methods which required the introduction of the entire cassette in one step, but was possible by the method described in the present invention. the strain constructed according to this example is one, which in its chromosome in the following order contain: 1) the mutant amyl promoter, 2) the amyl-cgta gene, 3) a kanamycin resistance gene, and 4) another copy of the mutant amyl promoter. the two copies of the amyl promoter in this case functions as the directly repeated dna sequences a. selection for growth at increasing levels of kanamycin is shown to lead to amplification of the amyl-cgta gene, including the mutant promoter, and the kanamycin resistance gene. the chromosome of sj1707 contains a fragment of the amyl gene distal to the amyl-cgta construct (see wo 93/10249). plasmid psj2059 could therefore be used as a tool to construct an amplifiable derivative of strain sj1707 in the same manner as it was used in example 1 for amplification of the amylase gene of b. licheniformis. transformation psj2059 was introduced into b. licheniformis sj1707 by protoplast transformation, selecting for erythromycin resistance (5 .mu.g/ml) at 30.degree. c. one transformant obtained was kept as sj2285. integration sj2285 was streaked on lb plates with 10 .mu.g/ml kanamycin and incubated at 50.degree. c. overnight. 10 colonies formed at 50.degree. c. were propagated in ty medium at 30.degree. c. to allow excision and loss of the integrated plasmid. following one transfer in ty medium, kana.sup.r erm.sup.s colonies were found by replica plating of the cultures derived from 7 of the 10 integrant colonies. amplification (as in example 1) was attempted with 4 of these strains, and isolates eventually growing in 2000 .mu.g/ml kanamycin obtained from 3 of these 4. one amplified series was kept: ______________________________________ kanamycin concentration .mu.g/ml strain ______________________________________ 10 sj2322 20 sj2323 50 sj2324 100 sj2325 200 sj2326 500 sj2327 1000 sj2328 1500 sj2329 2000 sj2330 ______________________________________ sj2323-sj2326 were inoculated from sj2322 (100 .mu.l in 10 ml), and sj2327-sj2330 were inoculated from sj2326. aliquots of all cultures were frozen in 15% glycerol, and cells harvested for preparation of chromosomal dna. southern analysis of chromosomal dna from strains sj2324 and sj2328 digested by ecori revealed a 5.5 kb fragment as expected from the amplification of the amyl-cgta+kanamycin resistance genes. the 5.5 kb fragment from strain sj2328 was very conspicuous already in the etbr-stained agarose gel. yield effect of amplification shake flasks with bpx medium were inoculated directly from the glycerol-frozen cultures, and shaken at 300 rpm at 37.degree. c. the cgtase yields obtained with the amplified strains were compared to the yield obtained with strain sj1707. ______________________________________ kana- exp. a exp. b exp. c mycin 7 days 7 days 8 days strain .mu.g/ml rel. yield rel. yield rel. yield ______________________________________ sj1707 0 1.0 1.1 sj2322 0 2.1 1.4 10 2.2 1.7 sj2323 0 1.9 20 2.0 sj2324 0 2.2 1.5 1.5 50 2.4 1.7 1.8 sj2325 0 1.8 100 1.6 sj2326 0 1.6 200 1.8 sj2327 0 1.9 500 1.3 sj2328 0 1.9 1.6 1.4 1000 2.4 2.0 2.1 ______________________________________ it is apparent that the amplified strains produce more cgtase than does the parent strain. the stability of some of the strains from shake flasks without kanamycin was checked by platings on lb plates containing starch and scoring for halo formation. the ultimate effect of genetic instability would be loss of even the last copy of the cgtase gene, resulting in cgtase negative segregants which would be unable to produce halos on starch plates. sj2322: 100/100 positive (exp. a) 300/300 positive (exp. b) sj2324: 100/100 positive (exp. a) 300/300 positive (exp. b) 120/120 positive (exp. c) sj2328: 200/200 positive (exp. a) 500/500 positive (exp. b) 120/120 positive (exp. c) none of the strains investigated lost the last copy of the cgtase gene under the conditions tested. references j.o slashed.rgensen et al. (1990). in vivo genetic engineering: homologous recombination as a tool for plasmid construction. gene 96, 37-41. horinouchi, s. and weisblum, b. (1982b). nucleotide sequence and functional map of pe194, a plasmid that specifies inducible resistance to macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin type b antibiotics. j. bacteriol., 150, 804-814. b. diderichsen, (1986), bacillus: molecular genetics and biotechnology applications, a. t. ganesan and j. a. hoch, eds., academic press, pp. 35-46. sambrook et al. (1989) molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. 2nd edition beaucage et al., tetrahedron letters 22, 1981, pp. 1859-1869, matthes et al., embo journal 3, 1984, pp. 801-805 saiki et al. (1988), science 239, 1988, pp. 487-491. diderichsen et al. (1990). cloning of aldb, which encodes .alpha.-acetolactate decarboxylase, an exoenzyme from bacillus brevis. j. bacteriol., 172, 4315-4321. kieser, t. (1984), factors affecting the isolation of ccc dna from streptomyces lividans and escherichia coli. plasmid 12, 19-36. akamatzu et al. (1984), an improved method of protoplast regeneration for bacillus species and its application to protoplast fusion and transformation. agric. biol. chem. 48, 651-655. yasbin et al. (1975), j. bacteriol. 121, 296-304. __________________________________________________________________________ sequence listing (1) general information: (iii) number of sequences: 6 (2) information for seq id no:1: (i) sequence characteristics: (a) length: 20 base pairs (b) type: nucleic acid (c) strandedness: single (d) topology: linear (xi) sequence description: seq id no:1: gaattctcatgtttgacagc20 (2) information for seq id no:2: (i) sequence characteristics: (a) length: 36 base pairs (b) type: nucleic acid (c) strandedness: single (d) topology: linear (xi) sequence description: seq id no:2: gacttctagacatatgtaaatttcgttgattacatt36 (2) information for seq id no:3: (i) sequence characteristics: (a) length: 36 base pairs (b) type: nucleic acid (c) strandedness: single (d) topology: linear (xi) sequence description: seq id no:3: gactgtccagaagcttaaaataaaaaaacggatttc36 (2) information for seq id no:4: (i) sequence characteristics: (a) length: 20 base pairs (b) type: nucleic acid (c) strandedness: single (d) topology: linear (xi) sequence description: seq id no:4: atgatacacagccggggcaa20 (2) information for seq id no:5: (i) sequence characteristics: (a) length: 17 base pairs (b) type: nucleic acid (c) strandedness: single (d) topology: linear (xi) sequence description: seq id no:5: gttgaccagacattacg17 (2) information for seq id no:6: (i) sequence characteristics: (a) length: 47 base pairs (b) type: nucleic acid (c) strandedness: single (d) topology: linear (xi) sequence description: seq id no:6: tgagtcagctagcaactgtcatgaaacaacaaaaacggctttacgcc47 __________________________________________________________________________
|
166-480-611-128-00X
|
US
|
[
"US",
"CN"
] |
G06F1/20,H05K1/02,H05K7/20
| 2003-05-09T00:00:00 |
2003
|
[
"G06",
"H05"
] |
actuation membrane to reduce an ambient temperature of heat generating device
|
an apparatus including an actuation membrane unit to generate air movement in a direction of a heat generating device to reduce an ambient temperature of the device.
|
1. an apparatus, comprising: 2. the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the actuation membrane unit includes a piezoelectric actuation membrane. 3. the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the actuation membrane unit includes an electromagnetic actuation membrane. 4. an apparatus, comprising: 5. the apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the synthetic jet unit includes a piezoelectric actuation membrane. 6. a system comprising: 7. the system of claim 6 , wherein the actuation membrane unit includes a piezoelectric actuation membrane. 8. the system of claim 6 , wherein the actuation membrane unit includes an electromagnetic actuation membrane. 9. a system comprising: 10. the system of claim 9 , wherein the actuation membrane unit includes a piezoelectric actuation membrane. 11. the system of claim 9 , wherein the actuation membrane unit includes an electromagnetic actuation membrane.
|
technical field embodiments described herein relate to heat management and more particularly to heat management using an actuation membrane. background heat management can be critical in many applications. excessive heat can cause damage to or degrade the performance of mechanical, chemical, electric, and other types of devices. heat management becomes more critical as technology advances and newer devices continue to become smaller and more complex, and as a result run hotter. modern electronic circuits, because of their high density and small size, often generate a substantial amount of heat. complex integrated circuits (ics), especially microprocessors, generate so much heat that they are often unable to operate without some sort of cooling system. further, even if an ic is able to operate, excess heat can degrade an ic's performance and can adversely affect its reliability over time. inadequate cooling can cause problems in central processing units (cpus) used in personal computers (pcs), which can result in system crashes, lockups, surprise reboots, and other errors. the risk of such problems can become especially acute in the tight confines found inside laptop computers and other portable computing and electronic devices. prior methods for dealing with such cooling problems have included using heat sinks, fans, and combinations of heat sinks and fans attached to ics and other circuitry in order to cool them. however, in many applications, including portable and handheld computers, computers with powerful processors, and other devices that are small or have limited space, these methods may provide inadequate cooling. in particular, cooling devices mounted on the bottom of a motherboard present a more acute problem. typically, there is less room between the bottom face of the mother board and the bottom skin of a portable computer (i.e., notebook computer). as a result, it becomes difficult to fit a device on the underside of the motherboard to reduce the temperature of heat generating devices mounted to the underside of the motherboard. furthermore, mounting heat generating devices to the underside of the motherboard also creates the undesirable effect of sometimes generating a hot spot on the bottom skin of the notebook computer, further creating the need to reduce the temperature of the heat generating devices mounted on the bottom side of a motherboard. hot spots on the bottom skin of a notebook computer are becoming even more commonplace today as the skin of notebooks are becoming ever thinner. one possible solution to reduce the temperature of the heat generating devices mounted on the bottom side of a motherboard is illustrated in fig. 1 . as illustrated in fig. 1 , a fan 102 may be placed on a side of the motherboard 104 to generate a flow of air across a top side and bottom side of the motherboard to cool components 106 mounted on both sides of the motherboard. however, such a thermal solution takes away from the capability to cool heat generating devices mounted on the top side which create relatively larger amounts of heat (e.g., central processing units). futhermore, the use of fans also creates undesirable noise. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a perspective illustration of a prior art thermal solution. fig. 2 is a cut-away illustration of a system incorporating an actuation membrane unit according to one embodiment. fig. 3 is an illustration of an actuation membrane unit according to one embodiment. detailed description embodiments of an actuation membrane to generate air movement in a direction of a heat generating device to reduce a temperature of the device and/or to reduce an ambient temperature of the heat generating device, are disclosed. in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth. however, it is understood that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. in other instances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description. reference throughout this specification to one embodiment or an embodiment indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. thus, the appearances of the phrases in one embodiment or in an embodiment in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. in one embodiment, as illustrated in fig. 2 , a portable computer system 202 (such as a notebook computer, tablet personal computer, laptop computer, etc.) includes a motherboard 204 , to which units are mounted. the motherboard includes a top side 204 a and a bottom side 204 a . in one embodiment, the space between the top side 204 a of the mother board and the inside of the computer chassis (otherwise referred to as the skin) is larger than the space between the bottom side 204 b of the mother board and the inside of the computer chassis. for example, as illustrated in the embodiment of fig. 2 , the space between the top side 204 a of the mother board and the inside of the computer chassis is 8.2 mm, and the space between the bottom side 204 b of the mother board and the inside of the computer chassis is only 5.5 mm. the distance between the top side 204 a and the bottom side 204 b of the motherboard and the computer chassis may vary in alternative embodiments. electronic components may be mounted on top side 204 a and the bottom side 204 b , as illustrated. in particular, as illustrated in fig. 1 , a memory unit 206 is mounted to the bottom side 204 b of the motherboard. alternatively, other heat generating devices may be mounted on the bottom side of the motherboard, such as a cpu, a chipset, a graphics controller (grfx), or a wireless mini card. in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 2 , an actuation membrane 208 is provided to generate streams of air in the direction of the memory unit, or other heat generating device(s). by generating streams of air in the direction of the heat generating device(s), the ambient temperature of the heat generating device, the temperature of the heat generating device, and/or the temperature of the inside and outside of the local area of the computer chassis may all be reduced. in alternative embodiments, an actuation membrane may be mounted on the top side 204 a of the motherboard and positioned to generate a stream of air in the direction of heat generating devices mounted on the top side 204 a of the motherboard. in one embodiment illustrated in fig. 3 , the actuation membrane unit 302 includes a piezoelectric or electromagnetic membrane 304 that oscillates inward and outward, to pull air into the unit and force air out of the unit, respectively, to generate jet stream of air. more specifically, as shown in fig. 3 , when the membrane 304 oscillates outward away from the unit 302 , air is pulled into the unit through the relatively small opening 308 . when the membrane oscillates inward, the air is forced out of the opening 308 of the unit 302 to produce a jet stream of air. in one embodiment, the actuation membrane unit 302 oscillation in the range of 20-200 hz in alternative embodiments, higher and lower ranges of oscillation are provided. furthermore, in one embodiment, the dimensions of the actuation membrane unit include a height of 5.5 mm or less, a length of 40 mm or less, and a width of 40 mm or less. in alternative embodiments, the dimensions of the actuation membrane unit may vary. in one embodiment, as further illustrated in fig. 2 , the system includes an inlet 210 to accept external air into the system, and may further include a system exit 212 to release the warmer interior air that is forced out by the jet streams generated by the actuation membrane unit these embodiments have been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. it will, however, be evident to persons having the benefit of this disclosure that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the embodiments described herein. the specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
|
167-089-899-313-515
|
US
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[
"WO",
"KR",
"US",
"EP",
"JP",
"CN",
"CA",
"ES"
] |
H04L29/06,G06F3/06,G06F12/08,G06F15/17,G06F13/00,G06F13/28,G06F11/10,G06F12/00,G11C5/14,G06F12/121,G06F1/18,G06F9/52,G06F9/54,G06F12/02,G06F12/0804,G06F12/0868,G06F12/12,G06F12/123,G06F13/40,G06F13/42,H04L29/08,H05K7/14,G06F12/16,H03M13/05,G06F12/06,G11C16/06,G06F11/00,H03M13/09,G06F15/16,G06F17/30,G06F12/04,G06F9/00,H04L67/02,G06F3/00,G06F21/24,G06F13/10,H04L12/24,H04L67/1097,G06F15/173,H03M13/00,G11C29/00,G11B5/024,G11C16/16,G11C16/04,G06F11/08,G11C16/02,H05K7/20,G06F9/44,G06F9/46,G06F12/14,G06F9/38,G06F13/26,G06F15/177
| 2006-12-06T00:00:00 |
2006
|
[
"H04",
"G06",
"G11",
"H05",
"H03"
] |
apparatus, system, and method for an in-server storage area network
|
an apparatus and system are disclosed for an in-server storage area network ("san"). a first storage controller 152a is included within a first server 112a. the first storage controller 152a controls at least one storage device 154a. the first server 112a includes a network interface 156a shared by the first server 112a and the first storage controller 152a. a storage communication module 162 is included that facilitates communication between the first storage controller 152a and at least one device external to the first server 112a, where the communication between the first storage controller 152a and the external device is independent from the first server 112a. an in-server san module 164 is included that services a storage request using at least one of a network protocol and a bus protocol. the in-server san module 164 services the storage request independent from the first server 112a, the service request received from a client 114.
|
claims 1. an apparatus for an in-server storage area network ("san"), the apparatus comprising: a first storage controller within a first server, the first storage controller controlling at least one storage device, the first server comprising a network interface shared by the first server and the first storage controller; a storage communication module that facilitates communication between the first storage controller and at least one device external to the first server, the communication between the first storage controller and the external device independent from the first server; and an in-server san module that services a storage request using at least one of a network protocol and a bus protocol, the in-server san module servicing the storage request independent from the first server, the service request received from a client. 2. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a common interface module that configures the network interface, the first storage controller, and the first server such that the first server and the first storage controller are accessible using a shared network address. 3. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a device external to the first server comprises a second storage controller, the second storage controlling at least one storage device, and wherein the in-server san module services the storage request using communication through the network interface and between the first and second storage controllers independent of the first server. 4. the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the second storage controller is within a second server. 5. the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the second storage controller is located in a device other than a second server. 6. the apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a system bus using a protocol allowing extension beyond the first server wherein the network interface is part of the system bus and wherein the first storage controller communicates with the second storage controller over the system bus. 7. the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first storage controller and the second storage controller communicate over a computer network. 8. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein a device external to the first server comprises a client and the storage request originates with the external client, wherein the first storage controller is configured as at least part of a san and the in-server san module services the storage request through the network interface independent of the first server. 9. the apparatus of claim 8, the in-server san module services storage requests from the external client when the first server is unavailable. 10. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first storage controller communicates with a client external to the first server over a computer network. 11. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first storage controller communicates with a client over a system bus. 12. the apparatus of claim 11, wherein the client is external to the first server and the system bus comprises a protocol allowing extension beyond the first server and the network interface is part of the system bus. 13. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a nas module that configures the first storage controller as a network attached storage ("nas") device for at least one client and services file requests from the at least one client. 14. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a das module that configures at least a portion of the at least one storage device controlled by the first storage controller as a direct attached storage ("das") device attached to the first server for servicing storage requests from at least one client through the first server. 15. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first storage controller comprises a solid-state storage controller and the at least one storage device controlled by the first storage controller comprises solid-state storage. 16. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage request comprises an object request and the first storage controller manages one or more objects. 17. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a link setup module that establishes a communication link between the first storage controller and the external device, the communication link allowing communication independent from control of the first server, the communication being between the first storage controller and the external device, the communication link sufficient for servicing the storage request, the external device comprising one of a client and a second storage controller. 18. the apparatus of claim 17, wherein the link setup module establishes the communication link as an initialization process, wherein further communication over the communication link is independent of the link setup module. 19. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a proxy module that directs at least a portion of commands used in servicing a storage request through the first server, the commands comprising a portion of the storage request, wherein at least data associated with the storage request is communicated between the first storage controller and the external device independent of the first server. 20. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first storage controller services a storage request sent from a client through a second storage controller, the second storage controller and the client external to the first server. 21. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a virtual bus module that allows one or more servers within the first server to independently access one or more storage controllers through separate virtual buses. 22. the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the virtual buses are created using a peripheral component interconnect express input/output virtualization ("pcie-iov"). 23. the apparatus of claim 21, wherein one or more servers external to the first server independently access the one or more storage controllers through separate virtual buses. 24. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a front-end raid module that configures two or more storage controllers as a redundant array of independent drives ("raid"), the storage request from the client comprising a request to store data, the front-end raid module servicing the storage request by writing the data to the raid consistent with a raid level, wherein the two or more storage controllers comprise at least the first storage controller and a second storage controller, the second storage controller located either in the first server or external to the first server. 25. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a back-end raid module that configures two or more storage devices controlled by the first storage controller as a raid, the storage request from the client comprising a request to store data, the back-end raid module servicing the storage request by writing the data to the raid consistent with a raid level, wherein the storage devices configured as a raid are accessed by the client as a single storage device controlled by the first storage controller. 26. a system for an in-server storage area network ("san"), the apparatus comprising: a first server; a first storage controller within the first server, the first storage controller controlling at least one storage device, the first server comprising a network interface shared by the first server and the first storage controller; a storage communication module that facilitates communication between the first storage controller and at least one device external to the first server, the communication between the first storage controller and the external device independent from the first server; and an in-server san module that services a storage request using at least one of a network protocol and a bus protocol, the in-server san module servicing the storage request independent from the first server, the service request received from a client. 27. the system of claim 26, wherein the client comprises a client that resides in the first server and wherein the at least one storage device comprises at least one storage device within the first server. 28. the system of claim 26, wherein the first server comprises a blade server and further comprising a computer rack comprising the first server and a second server that includes at least one second storage controller and at least one storage device, the at least one second storage controller controlling the at least one storage device. 29. a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer usable program code executable to perform operations for an in-server storage area network ("san"), the operations of the computer program product comprising: facilitating communication between a first storage controller and at least one device external to a first server, the communication between the first storage controller and the external device independent from the first server, the first storage controller within the first server, the first storage controller controlling at least one storage device, the first server comprising a network interface shared by the first server and the first storage controller; and servicing a storage request using at least one of a network protocol and a bus protocol, the in-server san module servicing the storage request independent from the first server, the service request received from a client.
|
apparatus, system, and method for an in-server storage area network cross-references to related applications this application claims priority to u.s. provisional patent application number 60/873,111 entitled "elemental blade system" and filed on december 6, 2006 for david flynn, et al., and u.s. provisional patent application number 60/974,470 entitled "apparatus, system, and method for object-oriented solid-state storage" and filed on september 22, 2007 for david flynn, et al., which are incorporated herein by reference. background of the invention field of the invention this invention relates to storage area networks ("san") and more particularly relates to a san operating within a server. description of the related art typical storage area networks include a storage controller that manages a group of storage devices. the storage controller is usually in a server or other computer or may be a stand alone device. the storage devices are typically external from any server or computer that includes the storage controller. typically the storage devices are connected to the storage controller using cables, switches, routers, etc. typically, storage area networks are limited to network protocols such as fiber channel, internet small computer system interface ("iscsi"), etc. distance between the server or computer with the storage controller and the storage devices usually prevents connection using high-speed communication buses and the routers, switches, etc. usually provide some type of signal buffering to ensure signal strength of communication between the storage controller and the storage devices. the cabling, routers, switches, etc. required to build a san increase the price of the san. another solution for mass storage is to locate one or more storage devices within a server. typically the storage devices are connected using a system bus. however, the number of storage devices allowed is usually limited and the storage devices are typically limited to communication through the server and cannot be combined with storage devices in other servers to form a single san. summary of the invention from the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a need exists for an apparatus, system, and method that creates an in-server storage area network ("san"). beneficially, such an apparatus, system, and method would reduce the cost and complexity of traditional storage area networks by using storage devices within servers that can access an external device independently of the servers. the present invention has been developed in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved by currently available sans. accordingly, the present invention has been developed to provide an apparatus, system, and method for an in-server san that overcome many or all of the above- discussed shortcomings in the art. the apparatus for an in-server san includes a first storage controller within a first server. the first storage controller controls at least one storage device. the first server includes a network interface collocated with the first server and the first storage controller. the apparatus includes a storage communication module that facilitates communication between the first storage controller and at least one device external to the first server. the communication between the first storage controller and the external device is independent from the first server. the apparatus includes an in-server san module that services a storage request using at least a network protocol or a bus protocol. the in-server san module services the storage request independent from the first server. the service request is received from a client. the apparatus, in one embodiment, includes a common interface module that configures the network interface, the first storage controller, and the first server such that the first server and the first storage controller are accessible using a shared network address. in one embodiment, a device external to the first server includes a second storage controller, where the second storage controls at least one storage device, and the in-server san module services the storage request using communication through the network interface and between the first and second storage controllers independent of the first server. in a related embodiment, the second storage controller is within a second server. in another related embodiment, the second storage controller is located in a device other than a second server. in another related embodiment, the apparatus includes a system bus using a protocol allowing extension beyond the first server where the network interface is part of the system bus and where the first storage controller communicates with the second storage controller over the system bus. in yet another related embodiment, the first storage controller and the second storage controller communicate over a computer network. in one embodiment, a device external to the first server is a client and the storage request originates with the external client. in the embodiment the first storage controller is configured as at least part of a san and the in-server san module services the storage request through the network interface independent of the first server. in another embodiment, in-server san module services storage requests from the external client when the first server is unavailable. in another embodiment, the first storage controller communicates with a client external to the first server over a computer network. in one embodiment, the network interface is shared by the first storage controller and the first server. in another embodiment, the network interface is a first network interface and the apparatus includes a second network interface collocated with the server where the first server communicates through the second network interface to the computer network. in another embodiment, the first storage controller communicates with a client over a system bus. in a further embodiment, the client is external to the first server and the system bus use a protocol allowing extension beyond the first server and the network interface is part of the system bus. in one embodiment, the apparatus includes a nas module that configures the first storage controller as a network attached storage ("nas") device for at least one client and services file requests from the at least one client. in another embodiment, the apparatus includes a das module that configures at least a portion of the at least one storage device controlled by the first storage controller as a direct attached storage ("das") device attached to the first server for servicing storage requests from at least one client to the first server. in another embodiment, the first storage controller is a solid-state storage controller and the at least one storage device controlled by the first storage controller includes solid-state storage. in one embodiment, the storage request includes an object request and the first storage controller manages one or more objects. in another embodiment, servicing a storage request independent from the first server includes communicating data associated with the storage request independent of clients operating within the first server. in one embodiment, the apparatus includes a link setup module that establishes a communication link between the first storage controller and the external device. the communication link allows communication independent from control of the first server, where the communication is between the first storage controller and the external device. the communication link is sufficient for servicing the storage request and the external device includes a client and/or a second storage controller. in a further embodiment, the link setup module establishes the communication link as an initialization process, where further communication over the communication link is independent of the link setup module. in one embodiment, the apparatus includes a proxy module that directs at least a portion of commands used in servicing a storage request through the first server. the commands include a portion of the storage request where at least data associated with the storage request is communicated between the first storage controller and the external device independent of the first server. in another embodiment, the first storage controller services a storage request sent from a client through a second storage controller, where the second storage controller and the client are external to the first server. in one embodiment, the apparatus includes a virtual bus module that allows one or more servers within the first server to independently access one or more storage controllers through separate virtual buses. in a further embodiment, the virtual buses are created using a peripheral component interconnect express input/output virtualization ("pcie-iov"). in another further embodiment, one or more servers external to the first server independently access the one or more storage controllers through separate virtual buses. in one embodiment, the apparatus includes a front-end raid module that configures two or more storage controllers as a redundant array of independent drives ("raid"), where the storage request from the client includes a request to store data and the front-end raid module services the storage request by writing the data to the raid consistent with a raid level. in the embodiment, the two or more storage controllers include at least the first storage controller and a second storage controller, where the second storage controller is located either in the first server or external to the first server. in another embodiment, the apparatus includes a back-end raid module that configures two or more storage devices controlled by the first storage controller as a raid. in the embodiment, the storage request from the client includes a request to store data and the back-end raid module services the storage request by writing the data to the raid consistent with a raid level. also in the embodiment, the storage devices configured as a raid are accessed by the client as a single storage device controlled by the first storage controller. a system of the present invention is also presented for an in-server san. the system may be embodied by a first server and a first storage controller within the first server. the first storage controller controls at least one storage device. the system includes a network interface collocated with the first server and the first storage controller. the system includes a storage communication module that facilitates communication between the first storage controller and at least one device external to the first server, where the communication between the first storage controller and the external device is independent from the first server. the server includes an in- server san module that services a storage request using at least a network protocol and/or a bus protocol. the in-server san module services the storage request independent from the first server. the service request is received from a client. in one embodiment, the client includes a client that resides in the first server and the at least one storage device includes at least one storage device within the first server. in another embodiment, the first server includes a blade server and the system includes a computer rack with the first server and a second server that includes at least one second storage controller and at least one storage device. the at least one second storage controller controls the at least one storage device. a method of the present invention is also presented for an in-server san. the method in the disclosed embodiments substantially includes the steps necessary to carry out the functions presented above with respect to the operation of the described apparatus and system. in one embodiment, the method includes facilitating communication between a first storage controller and at least one device external to a first server. the communication between the first storage controller and the external device is independent from the first server. the first storage controller is within the first server. the first storage controller controls at least one storage device. the first server includes a network interface collocated with the first server and the first storage controller. the method includes servicing a storage request using at least a network protocol and/or a bus protocol. the in-server san module services the storage request independent from the first server and the service request is received from a client. reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. thus, discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment. furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. in other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention. these features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter. brief description of the drawings in order that the advantages of the invention will be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawings. understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings, in which: figure ia is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for data management in a solid-state storage device in accordance with the present invention; figure ib is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for object management in a storage device in accordance with the present invention; figure 1c is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for an in-server storage area network in accordance with the present invention; figure 2a is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an apparatus for object management in a storage device in accordance with the present invention; figure 2b is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a solid-state storage device controller in a solid-state storage device in accordance with the present invention; figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a solid-state storage controller with a write data pipeline and a read data pipeline in a solid-state storage device in accordance with the present invention; figure 4a is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a bank interleave controller in the solid-state storage controller in accordance with the present invention; figure 4b is a schematic block diagram illustrating an alternate embodiment of a bank interleave controller in the solid-state storage controller in accordance with the present invention; and figure 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for in-server san in accordance with the present invention. detailed description of the invention many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. for example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom vlsi circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. a module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices or the like. modules may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. an identified module of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. nevertheless, the executables of an identified module need not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module. indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. the operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network. where a module or portions of a module are implemented in software, the software portions are stored on one or more computer readable media. reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment," "in an embodiment," and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment. reference to a signal bearing medium may take any form capable of generating a signal, causing a signal to be generated, or causing execution of a program of machine -readable instructions on a digital processing apparatus. a signal bearing medium may be embodied by a transmission line, a compact disk, digital-video disk, a magnetic tape, a bernoulli drive, a magnetic disk, a punch card, flash memory, integrated circuits, or other digital processing apparatus memory device. furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. in the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of programming, software modules, user selections, network transactions, database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. one skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. in other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention. the schematic flow chart diagrams included herein are generally set forth as logical flow chart diagrams. as such, the depicted order and labeled steps are indicative of one embodiment of the presented method. other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalent in function, logic, or effect to one or more steps, or portions thereof, of the illustrated method. additionally, the format and symbols employed are provided to explain the logical steps of the method and are understood not to limit the scope of the method. although various arrow types and line types may be employed in the flow chart diagrams, they are understood not to limit the scope of the corresponding method. indeed, some arrows or other connectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the method. for instance, an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoring period of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depicted method. additionally, the order in which a particular method occurs may or may not strictly adhere to the order of the corresponding steps shown. solid-state storage system figure ia is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system 100 for data management in a solid-state storage device in accordance with the present invention. the system 100 includes a solid-state storage device 102, a solid-state storage controller 104, a write data pipeline 106, a read data pipeline 108, a solid-state storage 110, a computer 112, a client 114, and a computer network 116, which are described below. the system 100 includes at least one solid-state storage device 102. in another embodiment, the system 100 includes two or more solid-state storage devices 102. each solid- state storage device 102 may include non- volatile, solid-state storage 110, such as flash memory, nano random access memory ("nano ram or nram"), magneto-resistive ram ("mram"), dynamic ram ("dram"), phase change ram ("pram"), etc. the solid-state storage device 102 is described in more detail with respect to figures 2 and 3. the solid-state storage device 102 is depicted in a computer 112 connected to a client 114 through a computer network 116. in one embodiment, the solid-state storage device 102 is internal to the computer 112 and is connected using a system bus, such as a peripheral component interconnect express ("pci-e") bus, a serial advanced technology attachment ("serial ata") bus, or the like. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage device 102 is external to the computer 112 and is connected, a universal serial bus ("usb") connection, an institute of electrical and electronics engineers ("ieee") 1394 bus ("firewire"), or the like. in other embodiments, the solid-state storage device 102 is connected to the computer 112 using a peripheral component interconnect ("pci") express bus using external electrical or optical bus extension or bus networking solution such as infiniband or pci express advanced switching ("pcie-as"), or the like. in various embodiments, the solid-state storage device 102 may be in the form of a dual- inline memory module ("dimm"), a daughter card, or a micro-module. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage device 102 is an element within a rack-mounted blade. in another embodiment, the solid state storage device 102 is contained within a package that is integrated directly onto a higher level assembly (e.g. mother board, lap top, graphics processor). in another embodiment, individual components comprising the solid-state storage device 102 are integrated directly onto a higher level assembly without intermediate packaging. the solid-state storage device 102 includes one or more solid-state storage controllers 104, each may include a write data pipeline 106 and a read data pipeline 108 and each includes a solid-state storage 110, which are described in more detail below with respect to figures 2 and 3. the system 100 includes one or more computers 112 connected to the solid-state storage device 102. a computer 112 may be a host, a server, a storage controller of a storage area network ("san"), a workstation, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a supercomputer, a computer cluster, a network switch, router, or appliance, a database or storage appliance, a data acquisition or data capture system, a diagnostic system, a test system, a robot, a portable electronic device, a wireless device, or the like. in another embodiment, a computer 112 may be a client and the solid-state storage device 102 operates autonomously to service data requests sent from the computer 112. in this embodiment, the computer 112 and solid-state storage device 102 may be connected using a computer network, system bus, or other communication means suitable for connection between a computer 112 and an autonomous solid-state storage device 102. in one embodiment, the system 100 includes one or more clients 114 connected to one or more computer 112 through one or more computer networks 116. a client 114 may be a host, a server, a storage controller of a san, a workstation, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a supercomputer, a computer cluster, a network switch, router, or appliance, a database or storage appliance, a data acquisition or data capture system, a diagnostic system, a test system, a robot, a portable electronic device, a wireless device, or the like. the computer network 116 may include the internet, a wide area network ("wan"), a metropolitan area network ("man"), a local area network ("lan"), a token ring, a wireless network, a fiber channel network, a san, network attached storage ("nas"), escon, or the like, or any combination of networks. the computer network 116 may also include a network from the ieee 802 family of network technologies, such ethernet, token ring, wifi, wimax, and the like. the computer network 116 may include servers, switches, routers, cabling, radios, and other equipment used to facilitate networking computers 112 and clients 114. in one embodiment, the system 100 includes multiple computers 112 that communicate as peers over a computer network 116. in another embodiment, the system 100 includes multiple solid-state storage devices 102 that communicate as peers over a computer network 116. one of skill in the art will recognize other computer networks 116 comprising one or more computer networks 116 and related equipment with single or redundant connection between one or more clients 114 or other computer with one or more solid-state storage devices 102 or one or more solid-state storage devices 102 connected to one or more computers 112. in one embodiment, the system 100 includes two or more solid-state storage devices 102 connected through the computer network 118 to a client 116 without a computer 112. storage controller-managed objects figure ib is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system 101 for object management in a storage device in accordance with the present invention. the system 101 includes one or more storage device 150, each with a storage controller 152 and one or more data storage devices 154, and one or more requesting devices 155. the storage devices 152 are networked together and coupled to one or more requesting devices 155. the requesting device 155 sends object requests to a storage device 150a. an object request may be a request to create an object, a request to write data to an object, a request to read data from an object, a request to delete an object, a request to checkpoint an object, a request to copy an object, and the like. one of skill in the art will recognize other object requests. in one embodiment, the storage controller 152 and data storage device 154 are separate devices. in another embodiment, the storage controller 152 and data storage device 154 are integrated into one storage device 150. in another embodiment, a data storage device 154 is a solid-state storage 110 and the storage controller is a solid-state storage device controller 202. in other embodiments, a data storage device 154 may be a hard disk drive, an optical drive, tape storage, or the like. in another embodiment, a storage device 150 may include two or more data storage devices 154 of different types. in one embodiment, the data storage device 154 is a solid-state storage 110 and is arranged as an array of solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage 110 is arranged in two or more banks 214a-n. solid-state storage 110 is described in more detail below with respect to figure 2b. the storage devices 150a-n may be networked together and act as a distributed storage device. the storage device 150a coupled to the requesting device 155 controls object requests to the distributed storage device. in one embodiment, the storage devices 150 and associated storage controllers 152 manage objects and appear to the requesting device(s) 155 as a distributed object file system. in this context, a parallel object file system is an example of a type of distributed object file system. in another embodiment, the storage devices 150 and associated storage controllers 152 manage objects and appear to the requesting device 155(s) as distributed object file servers. in this context, a parallel object file server is an example of a type of distributed object file server. in these and other embodiments the requesting device 155 may exclusively manage objects or participate in managing objects in conjunction with storage devices 150; this typically does not limit the ability of storage devices 150 to fully manage objects for other clients 114. in the degenerate case, each distributed storage device, distributed object file system and distributed object file server can operate independently as a single device. the networked storage devices 150a-n may operate as distributed storage devices, distributed object file systems, distributed object file servers, and any combination thereof having images of one or more of these capabilities configured for one or more requesting devices 155. fore example, the storage devices 150 may be configured to operate as distributed storage devices for a first requesting device 155a, while operating as distributed storage devices and distributed object file systems for requesting devices 155b. where the system 101 includes one storage device 150a, the storage controller 152a of the storage device 150a manages objects may appear to the requesting device(s) 155 as an object file system or an object file server. in one embodiment where the storage devices 150 are networked together as a distributed storage device, the storage devices 150 serve as a redundant array of independent drives ("raid") managed by one or more distributed storage controllers 152. for example, a request to write a data segment of an object results in the data segment being stripped across the data storage devices 154a-n with a parity stripe, depending upon the raid level. one benefit of such an arrangement is that such an object management system may continue to be available when a single storage device 150 has a failure, whether of the storage controller 152, the data storage device 154, or other components of storage device 150. when redundant networks are used to interconnect the storage devices 150 and requesting devices 155, the object management system may continue to be available in the presence of network failures as long as one of the networks remains operational. a system 101 with a single storage device 150a may also include multiple data storage devices 154a and the storage controller 152a of the storage device 150a may act as a raid controller and stripe the data segment across the data storage devices 154a of the storage device 150a and may include a parity stripe, depending upon the raid level. in one embodiment, where the one or more storage devices 150a-n are solid-state storage devices 102 with a solid-state storage device controller 202 and solid-state storage 110, the solid- state storage device(s) 102 may be configured in a dimm configuration, daughter card, micromodule, etc. and reside in a computer 112. the computer 112 may be a server or similar device with the solid-state storage devices 102 networked together and acting as distributed raid controllers. beneficially, the storage devices 102 may be connected using pci-e, pcie-as, infiniband or other high-performance bus, switched bus, networked bus, or network and may provide a very compact, high performance raid storage system with single or distributed solid- state storage controllers 202 autonomously striping a data segment across solid-state storage 110a-n. in one embodiment, the same network used by the requesting device 155 to communicate with storage devices 150 may be used by the peer storage device 150a to communicate with peer storage devices 150b-n to accomplish raid functionality. in another embodiment, a separate network may be used between the storage devices 150 for the purpose of raiding. in another embodiment, the requesting devices 155 may participate in the raiding process by sending redundant requests to the storage devices 150. for example, requesting device 155 may send a first object write request to a first storage device 150a and a second object write request with the same data segment to a second storage device 150b to achieve simple mirroring. with the ability for object handling within the storage device(s) 102, the storage controller(s) 152 uniquely have the ability to store one data segment or object using one raid level while another data segment or object is stored using a different raid level or without raid striping. these multiple raid groupings may be associated with multiple partitions within the storage devices 150. raid 0, raid 1, raid5, raid6 and composite raid types 10, 50, 60, can be supported simultaneously across a variety of raid groups comprising data storage devices 154a-n. one skilled in the art will recognize other raid types and configurations that may also be simultaneously supported. also, because the storage controller(s) 152 operate autonomously as raid controllers, the raid controllers can perform progressive raiding and can transform objects or portions of objects striped across data storage devices 154 with one raid level to another raid level without the requesting device 155 being affected, participating or even detecting the change in raid levels. in the preferred embodiment, progressing the raid configuration from one level to another level may be accomplished autonomously on an object or even a packet bases and is initiated by a distributed raid control module operating in one of the storage devices 150 or the storage controllers 152. typically, raid progression will be from a higher performance and lower efficiency storage configuration such as raidl to a lower performance and higher storage efficiency configuration such as raid5 where the transformation is dynamically initiated based on the frequency of access. but, one can see that progressing the configuration from raid5 to raidl is also possible. other processes for initiating raid progression may be configured or requested from clients or external agents such a storage system management server request. one of skill in the art will recognize other features and benefits of a storage device 102 with a storage controller 152 that autonomously manages objects. solid-state storage device with in-server san figure 1c is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system 103 for an in-server storage area network ("san") in accordance with the present invention. the system 103 includes a computer 112 typically configured as a server ("server 112"). each server 112 includes one or more storage devices 150 where the server 112 and storage devices 150 are each connected to a shared network interface 155. each storage device 150 includes a storage controller 152 and corresponding data storage device 154. the system 103 includes clients 114, 114a, 114b that are either internal or external to the servers 112. the clients 114, 114a, 114b may communicate with each server 112 and each storage device 150 through over one or more computer networks 116, which are substantially similar to those described above. the storage device 150 includes a das module 158, a nas module 160, a storage communication module 162, an in-server san module 164, a common interface module 166, a proxy module 170, a virtual bus module 172, a front-end raid module 174, and back-end raid module 176, which are described below. while the modules 158-176 are shown in a storage device 150, all or a portion of each module 158-176 may be in the storage device 150, server 112, storage controller 152, or other location. a server 112, as used in conjunction with in-server san, is a computer functioning as a server. the server 112 includes at least one server function, such as a file server function, but may also include other server functions as well. the servers 112 may be part of a server farm and may service other clients 114. in other embodiments, the server 112 may also be a personal computer, a workstation, or other computer that houses storage devices 150. a server 112 may access one or more storage devices 150 in the server 112 as direct attached storage ("das"), san attached storage or network attached storage ("nas"). storage controllers 150 participating in an in-server san or nas may be internal or external to the server 112. in one embodiment, the in-server san apparatus includes a das module 158 that configures at least a portion of the at least one data storage device 154 controlled by a storage controller 152 in a server 112 as a das device attached to the server 112 for servicing storage requests from at least one client 114 to the server 112. in one embodiment, a first data storage device 154a is configured as a das to the first server 112a while also being configured as an in- server san storage device to the first server 112a. in another embodiment, the first data storage device 154a is partitioned so one partition is a das and the other is an in-server san. in another embodiment, at least a portion of storage space within the first data storage device 154a is configured as a das to the first server 112a and the same portion of storage space on the first data storage device 154a is configured as an in-server san to the first server 112a. in another embodiment, the in-server san apparatus includes a nas module 160 that configures a storage controller 152 as a nas device for at least one client 114 and services file requests from the client 114. the storage controller 152 may be also configured as an in-server san device for the first server 112a. the storage devices 150 may directly connect to the computer network 116 through the shared network interface 155 independent from the server 112 in which the storage device 150 resides. in one elemental form, an apparatus for in-server san includes a first storage controller 152a within a first server 112a where the first storage controller 152a controls at least one storage device 154a. the first server 112a includes a network interface 156 shared by the first server 112a and the first storage controller 152a. the in-server san apparatus includes a storage communication module 162 that facilitates communication between the first storage controller 152a and at least one device external to the first server 112asuch that the communication between the first storage controller 152a and the external device is independent from the first server 112a. the storage communication module 162 may allow the first storage controller 152a to independently access the network interface 156a for external communication. in one embodiment, the storage communication module 162 accesses a switch in the network interface 156a to direct network traffic between the first storage controller 152a and external devices. the in-server san apparatus also includes an in-server san module 164 that services a storage request using one or both of a network protocol and a bus protocol. the in-server san module 164 services the storage request independent from the first server 112a and the service request is received from an internal or external client 114, 114a. in one embodiment, the device external to the first server 112a is a second storage controller 152b. the second storage controller 152b controls at least one data storage device 154b. the in-server san module 164 services the storage request using communication through the network interface 156a and between the first and second storage controllers 152a, 152b independent of the first server 112a. the second storage controller 152b may be within a second server 112b or within some other device. in another embodiment, the device external to the first server 112a is a client 114 and the storage request originates with the external client 114 where the first storage controller is configured as at least part of a san and the in-server san module 164 services the storage request through the network interface 156a independent of the first server 112a. the external client 114 may be in the second server 112b or may be external to the second server 112b. in one embodiment, the in-server san module 164 can service storage requests from the external client 114 even when the first server 112a is unavailable. in another embodiment, the client 114a originating the storage request is internal to the first server 112a where the first storage controller 152a is configured as at least part of a san and the in-server san module 164 services the storage request through one or more of the network interface 156a and system bus. traditional san configurations allow a storage device remote from a server 112 to be accessed as if the storage device resides within the server 112 as direct attached storage ("das") so that the storage device appears as a block storage device. typically, a storage device connected as a san requires a san protocol, such as fiber channel, internet small computer system interface ("iscsi"), hyperscsi, fiber connectivity ("ficon"), advanced technology attachment ("ata") over ethernet, etc. in-server san includes a storage controller 152 inside a server 112 while still allowing network connection between the storage controller 152a and a remote storage controller 152b or an external client 114 using a network protocol and/or a bus protocol. typically, san protocols are a form of network protocol and more network protocols are emerging, such as infiniband that would allow a storage controller 150a, and associated data storage devices 154a, to be configured as a san and communicate with an external client 114 or second storage controller 152b. in another example, a first storage controller 152a may communicate with an external client 114 or second storage controller 152b using ethernet. a storage controller 152 may communicate over a bus with internal storage controllers 152 or clients 114a. for example, a storage controller 152 may communicate over a bus using pci-e that may support pci express input/output virtualization ("pcie-iov"). other emerging bus protocols allow a system bus to extend outside a computer or server 112 and would allow a storage controller 152a to be configured as a san. one such bus protocol is pcie-as. the present invention is not limited to simply san protocols, but may also take advantage of the emerging network and bus protocols to service storage requests. an external device, either in the form of a client 114 or external storage controller 152b, may communicate over an extended system bus or a computer network 116. a storage request, as used herein, includes requests to write data, read data, erase data, query data, etc. and may include object data, metadata, and management requests as well as block data requests. a traditional server 112 typically has a root complex that controls access to devices within the server 112. typically, this root complex of the server 112 owns the network interface 156 such so any communication through the network interface 156 is controlled by the server 112. however, in the preferred embodiment of the in-server san apparatus, the storage controller 152 is able to access the network interface 156 independently so that clients 114 may communicate directly with one or more of the storage controllers 152a in the first server 112a forming a san or so that one or more first storage controllers 152a may be networked together with a second storage controller 152b or other remote storage controllers 152 to form a san. in the preferred embodiment, devices remote from the first server 112a may access the first server 112a or the first storage controller 152a through a single, shared network address. in one embodiment, the in-server san apparatus includes a common interface module 166 that configures the network interface 156, the storage controller 152, and the server 112 such that the server 112 and the storage controller 152 are accessible using a shared network address. in other embodiments, the server 112 includes two or more network interfaces 156. for example, the server 112 may communicate over one network interface 156 while the storage device 150 may communicate over another interface. in another example, the server 112 includes multiple storage devices 150, each with a network interface 156. one of skill in the art will recognize other configurations of a server 112 with one or more storage devices 150 and one or more network interfaces 156 where one or more of the storage devices 150 access a network interface 156 independent of the server 112. one of skill in the art will also recognize how these various configurations may be extended to support network redundancy and improve availability. advantageously, the in-server san apparatus eliminates much of the complexity and expense of a traditional san. for example, a typical san requires servers 112 with external storage controllers 152 and associated data storage devices 154. this takes up additional space in a rack and requires cabling, switches, etc. the cabling, switching, another other overhead required to configure a traditional san take space, degrade bandwidth, and are expensive. the in-server san apparatus allows the storage controllers 152 and associated storage 154 to fit in a server 112 form factor, thus reducing required space and costing less. in-server san also allows connection using relatively fast communication over internal and external high-speed data buses. in one embodiment, the storage device 150 is a solid-state storage device 102, the storage controller 152 is a solid-state storage controller 104, and the data storage device 154 is a solid- state storage 110. this embodiment is advantageous because of the speed of solid-state storage device 102 as described herein. in addition, the solid-state storage device 102 may be configured in a dimm which may conveniently fit in a server 112 and require a small amount of space. the one or more internal clients 114a in the server 112 may also connect to the computer network 116 through the server's network interface 156 and the client's connection is typically controlled by the server 112. this has several advantages. clients 114a may locally and remotely access the storage devices 150 directly and may initiate a local or remote direct memory access ("dma," "rdma") data transfer between the memory of a client 114a and a storage device 150. in another embodiment, clients 114, 114a within or external to a server 112 may act as file servers to clients 114 through one or more networks 116 while utilizing locally attached storage devices 150 as das devices, network attached storage devices 150, network attached solid-state storages 102 devices participating as part of in-server sans, external sans, and hybrid sans. a storage device 150 may participate in a das, in-server-san, san, nas, etc, simultaneously and in any combination. additionally, each storage device 150 may be partitioned in such a way that a first partition makes the storage device 150 available as a das, a second partition makes the storage device 150 available as an element in an in-server-san, a third partition makes the storage device 150 available as a nas, a fourth partition makes the storage device 150 available as an element in a san, etc. similarly, the storage device 150 may be partitioned consistent with security and access control requirements. one of skill in the art will recognize that any number of combinations and permutations of storage devices, virtual storage devices, storage networks, virtual storage networks, private storage, shared storage, parallel file systems, parallel object file systems, block storage devices, object storage devices, storage appliances, network appliances, and the like may be constructed and supported. in addition, by directly connecting to the computer network 116, the storage devices 150 can communicate with each other and can act as an in-server san. clients 114a in the servers 112 and clients 114 connected through the computer network 116 may access the storage devices 150 as a san. by moving the storage devices 150 into the servers 112 and having the ability to configure the storage devices 150 as a san, the server 112/storage device 150 combination eliminates the need in conventional sans for dedicated storage controllers, fiber channel networks, and other equipment. the in-server san system 103 has the advantage of enabling the storage device 150 to share common resources such as power, cooling, management, and physical space with the client 114 and computer 112. for example, storage devices 150 may fill empty slots of servers 112 and provide all the performance capabilities, reliability and availability of a san or nas. one of skill in the art will recognize other features and benefits of an in-server san system 103. in another configuration, multiple in-server-san storage devices 150a are collocated within a single server 112a infrastructure. in one embodiment, the server 112a is comprised of one or more internal bladed server clients 114a interconnected using pci-express iov without an external network interface 156, external client 114, 114b or external storages device 150b. in addition, in-server san storage device 150 may communicate through one or more computer networks 116 with peer storage devices 150 that are located in a computer 112 (per figure ia), or are connected directly to the computer network 116 without a computer 112 to form a hybrid san which has all the capabilities of both san and in-server san. this flexibility has the benefit of simplifying extensibility and migration between a variety of possible solid-state storage network implementations. one skilled in the art will recognize other combinations, configurations, implementations, and architectures for locating and interconnecting solid-state controllers 104. where the network interface 156a can be controlled by only one agent operating within the server 112a, a link setup module 168 operating within that agent can set up communication paths between internal clients 114a and storage devices 150a/first storage controllers 152a through network interface 156a to external storage devices 150b and clients 114, 114b. in a preferred embodiment, once the communication path is established, the individual internal storage devices 150a and internal clients 114a are able to establish and manage their own command queues and transfer both commands and data through network interface 156a to external storage devices 150b and clients 114, 114b in either direction, directly and through rdma independent of the proxy or agent controlling the network interface 156a. in one embodiment, the link setup module 168 establishes the communication links during an initialization process, such as a startup or initialization of hardware. in another embodiment, a proxy module 170 directs at least a portion of commands used in servicing a storage request through the first server 112a while at least data, and possibly other commands, associated with the storage request are communicated between the first storage controller and the external storage device independent of the first server. in another embodiment, the proxy module 170 forwards commands or data in behalf of the internal storage devices 150a and clients 114a. in one embodiment, the first server 112a includes one or more servers within the first server 112a and includes a virtual bus module 172 that allows the one or more servers in the first server 112a to independently access one or more storage controllers 152a through separate virtual buses. the virtual buses may be established using an advanced bus protocol such as pcie-iov. network interfaces 156a supporting io v may allow the one or more servers and the one or more storage controllers to independently control the one or more network interfaces 156a. in various embodiments, the in-server san apparatus allows two or more storage devices 150 to be configured in a raid. in one embodiment, the in-server san apparatus includes a front-end raid module 174 that configures two or more storage controllers 152 as a raid. where a storage request from a client 114, 114a includes a request to store data, the front-end raid module 174 services the storage request by writing the data to the raid consistent with the particular implemented raid level. a second storage controller 152 may be located either in the first server 112a or external to the first server 112a. the front-end raid module 174 allows raiding of storage controllers 152 such that the storage controllers 152 are visible to the client 114, 114a sending the storage request. this allows striping and parity information to be managed by a storage controller 152 designated as master or by the client 114, 114a. in another embodiment, the in-server san apparatus includes a back-end raid module 176 that configures two or more data storage devices 154 controlled by a storage controller as a raid. where the storage request from the client comprises a request to store data, the back-end raid module 176 services the storage request by writing the data to the raid consistent with an implemented raid level such that the storage devices 154 configured as a raid are accessed by the client 114, 114a as a single data storage device 154 controlled by the first storage controller 152. this raid implementation allows raiding of the data storage devices 154 controlled by a storage controller 152 in a way that the raiding is transparent to any client 114, 114a accessing the data storage devices 154. in another embodiment, both front-end raid and back-end raid are implemented to have multi-level raid. one of skill in the art will recognize other ways to raid the storage devices 152 consistent with the solid-state storage controller 104 and associated solid-state storage 110 described herein. apparatus for storage controller-managed objects figure 2a is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an apparatus 200 for object management in a storage device in accordance with the present invention. the apparatus 200 includes a storage controller 152 with an object request receiver module 260, a parsing module 262, a command execution module 264, an object index module 266, an object request queuing module 268, a packetizer 302 with a messages module 270, and an object index reconstruction module 272, which are described below. the storage controller 152 is substantially similar to the storage controller 152 described in relation to the system 102 of figure ib and may be a solid-state storage device controller 202 described in relation to figure 2. the apparatus 200 includes an object request receiver module 260 that receives an object request from one or more requesting devices 155. for example, for a store object data request, the storage controller 152 stores the data segment as a data packet in a data storage device 154 coupled to the storage controller 152. the object request is typically directed at a data segment stored or to be stored in one or more object data packets for an object managed by the storage controller. the object request may request that the storage controller 152 create an object to be later filled with data through later object request which may utilize a local or remote direct memory access ("dma," "rdma") transfer. in one embodiment, the object request is a write request to write all or part of an object to a previously created object. in one example, the write request is for a data segment of an object. the other data segments of the object may be written to the storage device 150 or to other storage devices 152. in another example, the write request is for an entire object. in another example, the object request is to read data from a data segment managed by the storage controller 152. in yet another embodiment, the object request is a delete request to delete a data segment or object. advantageously, the storage controller 152 can accept write requests that do more than write a new object or append data to an existing object. for example, a write request received by the object request receiver module 260 may include a request to add data ahead of data stored by the storage controller 152, to insert data into the stored data, or to replace a segment of data. the object index maintained by the storage controller 152 provides the flexibility required for these complex write operations that is not available in other storage controllers, but is currently available only outside of storage controllers in file systems of servers and other computers. the apparatus 200 includes a parsing module 262 that parses the object request into one or more commands. typically, the parsing module 262 parses the object request into one or more buffers. for example, one or more commands in the object request may be parsed into a command buffer. typically the parsing module 262 prepares an object request so that the information in the object request can be understood and executed by the storage controller 152. one of skill in the art will recognize other functions of a parsing module 262 that parses an object request into one or more commands. the apparatus 200 includes a command execution module 264 that executes the command(s) parsed from the object request. in one embodiment, the command execution module 264 executes one command. in another embodiment, the command execution module 264 executes multiple commands. typically, the command execution module 264 interprets a command parsed from the object request, such as a write command, and then creates, queues, and executes subcommands. for example, a write command parsed from an object request may direct the storage controller 152 to store multiple data segments. the object request may also include required attributes such as encryption, compression, etc. the command execution module 264 may direct the storage controller 152 to compress the data segments, encrypt the data segments, create one or more data packets and associated headers for each data packet, encrypt the data packets with a media encryption key, add error correcting code, and store the data packets a specific location. storing the data packets at a specific location and other subcommands may also be broken down into other lower level subcommands. one of skill in the art will recognize other ways that the command execution module 264 can execute one or more commands parsed from an object request. the apparatus 200 includes an object index module 266 that creates an object entry in an object index in response to the storage controller 152 creating an object or storing the data segment of the object. typically, the storage controller 152 creates a data packet from the data segment and the location of where the data packet is stored is assigned at the time the data segment is stored. object metadata received with a data segment or as part of an object request may be stored in a similar way. the object index module 266 creates an object entry into an object index at the time the data packet is stored and the physical address of the data packet is assigned. the object entry includes a mapping between a logical identifier of the object and one or more physical addresses corresponding to where the storage controller 152 stored one or more data packets and any object metadata packets. in another embodiment, the entry in the object index is created before the data packets of the object are stored. for example, if the storage controller 152 determines a physical address of where the data packets are to be stored earlier, the object index module 266 may create the entry in the object index earlier. typically, when an object request or group of object requests results in an object or data segment being modified, possibly during a read-modify-write operation, the object index module 266 updates an entry in the object index corresponding the modified object. in one embodiment, the object index creates a new object and a new entry in the object index for the modified object. typically, where only a portion of an object is modified, the object includes modified data packets and some data packets that remain unchanged. in this case, the new entry includes a mapping to the unchanged data packets as where they were originally written and to the modified objects written to a new location. in another embodiment, where the object request receiver module 260 receives an object request that includes a command that erases a data block or other object elements, the storage controller 152 may store at least one packet such as an erase packet that includes information including a reference to the object, relationship to the object, and the size of the data block erased. additionally, it may further indicate that the erased object elements are filled with zeros. thus, the erase object request can be used to emulate actual memory or storage that is erased and actually has a portion of the appropriate memory/storage actually stored with zeros in the cells of the memory/storage. beneficially, creating an object index with entries indicating mapping between data segments and metadata of an object allows the storage controller 152 to autonomously handle and manage objects. this capability allows a great amount of flexibility for storing data in the storage device 150. once the index entry for the object is created, subsequent object requests regarding the object can be serviced efficiently by the storage controller 152. in one embodiment, the storage controller 152 includes an object request queuing module that queues one or more object requests received by the object request receiver module 260 prior to parsing by the parsing module 262. the object request queuing module 268 allows flexibility between when an object request is received and when it is executed. in another embodiment, the storage controller 152 includes a packetizer 302 that creates one or more data packets from the one or more data segments where the data packets are sized for storage in the data storage device 154. the packetizer 302 is described below in more detail with respect to figure 3. the packetizer 302 includes, in one embodiment, a messages module 270 that creates a header for each packet. the header includes a packet identifier and a packet length. the packet identifier relates the packet to the object for which the packet was formed. in one embodiment, each packet includes a packet identifier that is self-contained in that the packet identifier contains adequate information to identify the object and relationship within the object of the object elements contained within the packet. however, a more efficient preferred embodiment is to store packets in containers. a container is a data construct that facilitates more efficient storage of packets and helps establish relationships between an object and data packets, metadata packets, and other packets related to the object that are stored within the container. note that the storage controller 152 typically treats object metadata received as part of an object and data segments in a similar manner. typically "packet" may refer to a data packet comprising data, a metadata packet comprising metadata, or another packet of another packet type. an object may be stored in one or more containers and a container typically includes packets for no more than one unique object. an object may be distributed between multiple containers. typically a container is stored within a single logical erase block (storage division) and is typically never split between logical erase blocks. a container, in one example, may be split between two or more logical/virtual pages. a container is identified by a container label that associates that container with an object. a container may contain zero to many packets and the packets within a container are typically from one object. a packet may be of many object element types, including object attribute elements, object data elements, object index elements, and the like. hybrid packets may be created that include more than one object element type. each packet may contain zero to many elements of the same element type. each packet within a container typically contains a unique identifier that identifies the relationship to the object. each packet is associated with one container. in a preferred embodiment, containers are limited to an erase block so that at or near the beginning of each erase block a container packet can be found. this helps limit data loss to an erase block with a corrupted packet header. in this embodiment, if the object index is unavailable and a packet header within the erase block is corrupted, the contents from the corrupted packet header to the end of the erase block may be lost because there is possibly no reliable mechanism to determine the location of subsequent packets. in another embodiment, a more reliable approach is to have a container limited to a page boundary. this embodiment requires more header overhead. in another embodiment, containers can flow across page and erase block boundaries. this requires less header overhead but a larger portion of data may be lost if a packet header is corrupted. for these several embodiments it is expected that some type of raid is used to further ensure data integrity. in one embodiment, the apparatus 200 includes an object index reconstruction module 272 that that reconstructs the entries in the object index using information from packet headers stored in the data storage device 154. in one embodiment, the object index reconstruction module 272 reconstructs the entries of the object index by reading headers to determine the object to which each packet belongs and sequence information to determine where in the object the data or metadata belongs. the object index reconstruction module 272 uses physical address information for each packet and timestamp or sequence information to create a mapping between the physical locations of the packets and the object identifier and data segment sequence. timestamp or sequence information is used by the object index reconstruction module 272 to replay the sequence of changes made to the index and thereby typically reestablish the most recent state. in another embodiment, the object index reconstruction module 272 locates packets using packet header information along with container packet information to identify physical locations of the packets, object identifier, and sequence number of each packet to reconstruct entries in the object index. in one embodiment, erase blocks are time stamped or given a sequence number as packets are written and the timestamp or sequence information of an erase block is used along with information gathered from container headers and packet headers to reconstruct the object index. in another embodiment, timestamp or sequence information is written to an erase block when the erase block is recovered. where the object index is stored in volatile memory, an error, loss of power, or other problem causing the storage controller 152 to shut down without saving the object index could be a problem if the object index cannot be reconstructed. the object index reconstruction module 272 allows the object index to be stored in volatile memory allowing the advantages of volatile memory, such as fast access. the object index reconstruction module 272 allows quick reconstruction of the object index autonomously without dependence on a device external to the storage device 150. in one embodiment, the object index in volatile memory is stored periodically in a data storage device 154. in a particular example, the object index, or "index metadata," is stored periodically in a solid-state storage 110. in another embodiment, the index metadata is stored in a solid-state storage hon separate from solid-state storage l loa-l lon-1 storing packets. the index metadata is managed independently from data and object metadata transmitted from a requesting device 155 and managed by the storage controller 152/solid-state storage device controller 202. managing and storing index metadata separate from other data and metadata from an object allows efficient data flow without the storage controller 152/solid-state storage device controller 202 unnecessarily processing object metadata. in one embodiment, where an object request received by the object request receiver module 260 includes a write request, the storage controller 152 receives one or more data segments of an object from memory of a requesting device 155 as a local or remote direct memory access ("dma," "rdma") operation. in a preferred example, the storage controller 152 pulls data from the memory of the requesting device 155 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in another example, the requesting device 155 pushes the data segment(s) to the storage controller 152 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in another embodiment, where the object request includes a read request, the storage controller 152 transmits one or more data segments of an object to the memory of the requesting device 155 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in a preferred example, the storage controller 152 pushes data to the memory of the requesting device 155 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in another example, the requesting device 155 pulls data from the storage controller 152 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in another example, the storage controller 152 pulls object command request sets from the memory of the requesting device 155 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in another example, the requesting device 155 pushes object command request sets to the storage controller 152 in one or more dma or rdma operations. in one embodiment, the storage controller 152 emulates block storage and an object communicated between the requesting device 155 and the storage controller 152 comprises one or more data blocks. in one embodiment, the requesting device 155 includes a driver so that the storage device 150 appears as a block storage device. for example, the requesting device 152 may send a block of data of a certain size along with a physical address of where the requesting device 155 wants the data block stored. the storage controller 152 receives the data block and uses the physical block address transmitted with the data block or a transformation of the physical block address as an object identifier. the storage controller 156 then stores the data block as an object or data segment of an object by packetizing the data block and storing the data block at will. the object index module 266 then creates an entry in the object index using the physical block-based object identifier and the actual physical location where the storage controller 152 stored the data packets comprising the data from the data block. in another embodiment, the storage controller 152 emulates block storage by accepting block objects. a block object may include one or more data blocks in a block structure. in one embodiment, the storage controller 152 treats the block object as any other object. in another embodiment, an object may represent an entire block device, partition of a block device, or some other logical or physical sub-element of a block device including a track, sector, channel, and the like. of particular note is the ability to remap a block device raid group to an object supporting a different raid construction such as progressive raid. one skilled in the art will recognize other mappings of traditional or future block devices to objects. solid-state storage device figure 2b is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment 201 of a solid-state storage device controller 202 that includes a write data pipeline 106 and a read data pipeline 108 in a solid-state storage device 102 in accordance with the present invention. the solid-state storage device controller 202 may include a number of solid-state storage controllers 0-n 104a-n, each controlling solid-state storage 110. in the depicted embodiment, two solid-state controllers are shown: solid-state controller 0 104a and solid-state storage controller n 104n, and each controls solid-state storage 110a-n. in the depicted embodiment, solid-state storage controller 0 104a controls a data channel so that the attached solid-state storage 110a stores data. solid-state storage controller n 104n controls an index metadata channel associated with the stored data and the associated solid-state storage 11on stores index metadata. in an alternate embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202 includes a single solid-state controller 104a with a single solid-state storage hoa. in another embodiment, there are a plurality of solid-state storage controllers 104a-n and associated solid-state storage 110a-n. in one embodiment, one or more solid state controllers 104a-104n-l, coupled to their associated solid-state storage lloa-llon-1, control data while at least one solid-state storage controller 104n, coupled to its associated solid- state storage 11on, controls index metadata. in one embodiment, at least one solid-state controller 104 is field-programmable gate array ("fpga") and controller functions are programmed into the fpga. in a particular embodiment, the fpga is a xilinx® fpga. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage controller 104 comprises components specifically designed as a solid-state storage controller 104, such as an application-specific integrated circuit ("asic") or custom logic solution. each solid-state storage controller 104 typically includes a write data pipeline 106 and a read data pipeline 108, which are describe further in relation to figure 3. in another embodiment, at least one solid-state storage controller 104 is made up of a combination fpga, asic, and custom logic components. solid-state storage the solid state storage 110 is an array of non- volatile solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220, arranged in banks 214, and accessed in parallel through a bi-directional storage input/output ("i/o") bus 210. the storage i/o bus 210, in one embodiment, is capable of unidirectional communication at any one time. for example, when data is being written to the solid-state storage 110, data cannot be read from the solid-state storage 110. in another embodiment, data can flow both directions simultaneously. however bi-directional, as used herein with respect to a data bus, refers to a data pathway that can have data flowing in only one direction at a time, but when data flowing one direction on the bi-directional data bus is stopped, data can flow in the opposite direction on the bi-directional data bus. a solid-state storage element (e.g. sss 0.0 216a) is typically configured as a chip (a package of one or more dies) or a die on a circuit board. as depicted, a solid-state storage element (e.g. 216a) operates independently or semi-independently of other solid-state storage elements (e.g. 218a) even if these several elements are packaged together in a chip package, a stack of chip packages, or some other package element. as depicted, a column of solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 is designated as a bank 214. as depicted, there may be "n" banks 214a-n and "m" solid-state storage elements 216a-m, 218a-m, 220a-m per bank in an array of n x m solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 in a solid-state storage 110. in one embodiment, a solid-state storage 110a includes twenty solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 per bank 214 with eight banks 214 and a solid-state storage hon includes 2 solid-state storage elements 216, 218 per bank 214 with one bank 214. in one embodiment, each solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 is comprised of a single-level cell ("slc") devices. in another embodiment, each solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 is comprised of multi-level cell ("mlc") devices. in one embodiment, solid-state storage elements for multiple banks that share a common storage i/o bus 210a row (e.g. 216b, 218b, 220b) are packaged together. in one embodiment, a solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 may have one or more dies per chip with one or more chips stacked vertically and each die may be accessed independently. in another embodiment, a solid-state storage element (e.g. sss 0.0 216a) may have one or more virtual dies per die and one or more dies per chip and one or more chips stacked vertically and each virtual die may be accessed independently. in another embodiment, a solid-state storage element sss 0.0 216a may have one or more virtual dies per die and one or more dies per chip with some or all of the one or more dies stacked vertically and each virtual die may be accessed independently. in one embodiment, two dies are stacked vertically with four stacks per group to form eight storage elements (e.g. sss 0.0-sss 0.8) 216a-220a, each in a separate bank 214a-n. in another embodiment, 20 storage elements (e.g. sss 0.0-sss 20.0) 216 form a virtual bank 214a so that each of the eight virtual banks has 20 storage elements (e.g. ssso.o-sss 20.8) 216, 218, 220. data is sent to the solid-state storage 110 over the storage i/o bus 210 to all storage elements of a particular group of storage elements (sss 0.0-sss 0.8) 216a, 218a, 220a. the storage control bus 212a is used to select a particular bank (e.g. bank-0 214a) so that the data received over the storage i/o bus 210 connected to all banks 214 is written just to the selected bank 214a. in a preferred embodiment, the storage i/o bus 210 is comprised of one or more independent i/o buses ("iioba-m" comprising 210a.a-m, 210n.a-m) wherein the solid-state storage elements within each row share one of the independent i/o buses accesses each solid- state storage element 216, 218, 220 in parallel so that all banks 214 are accessed simultaneously. for example, one channel of the storage i/o bus 210 may access a first solid-state storage element 216a, 218a, 220a of each bank 214a-n simultaneously. a second channel of the storage i/o bus 210 may access a second solid-state storage element 216b, 218b, 220b of each bank 214a-n simultaneously. each row of solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 is accessed simultaneously. in one embodiment, where solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 are multi- level (physically stacked), all physical levels of the solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 are accessed simultaneously. as used herein, "simultaneously" also includes near simultaneous access where devices are accessed at slightly different intervals to avoid switching noise. simultaneously is used in this context to be distinguished from a sequential or serial access wherein commands and/or data are sent individually one after the other. typically, banks 214a-n are independently selected using the storage control bus 212. in one embodiment, a bank 214 is selected using a chip enable or chip select. where both chip select and chip enable are available, the storage control bus 212 may select one level of a multilevel solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220. in other embodiments, other commands are used by the storage control bus 212 to individually select one level of a multi-level solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220. solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 may also be selected through a combination of control and of address information transmitted on storage i/o bus 210 and the storage control bus 212. in one embodiment, each solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 is partitioned into erase blocks and each erase block is partitioned into pages. a typical page is 2000 bytes ("2kb"). in one example, a solid-state storage element (e.g. ssso.0) includes two registers and can program two pages so that a two-register solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 has a capacity of 4kb. a bank 214 of 20 solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 would then have an 8okb capacity of pages accessed with the same address going out the channels of the storage i/o bus 210. this group of pages in a bank 214 of solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 of 8okb may be called a virtual page. similarly, an erase block of each storage element 216a-m of a bank 214a may be grouped to form a virtual erase block. in a preferred embodiment, an erase block of pages within a solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 is erased when an erase command is received within a solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220. whereas the size and number of erase blocks, pages, planes, or other logical and physical divisions within a solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 are expected to change over time with advancements in technology, it is to be expected that many embodiments consistent with new configurations are possible and are consistent with the general description herein. typically, when a packet is written to a particular location within a solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220, wherein the packet is intended to be written to a location within a particular page which is specific to a of a particular erase block of a particular element of a particular bank, a physical address is sent on the storage i/o bus 210 and followed by the packet. the physical address contains enough information for the solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 to direct the packet to the designated location within the page. since all storage elements in a row of storage elements (e.g. sss 0.0-sss 0.n 216a, 218a, 220a) are accessed simultaneously by the appropriate bus within the storage i/o bus 210a.a, to reach the proper page and to avoid writing the data packet to similarly addressed pages in the row of storage elements (sss 0.0-sss 0.n 216a, 218a, 220a), the bank 214a that includes the solid-state storage element sss 0.0 216a with the correct page where the data packet is to be written is simultaneously selected by the storage control bus 212. similarly, a read command traveling on the storage i/o bus 212 requires a simultaneous command on the storage control bus 212 to select a single bank 214a and the appropriate page within that bank 214a. in a preferred embodiment, a read command reads an entire page, and because there are multiple solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 in parallel in a bank 214, an entire virtual page is read with a read command. however, the read command may be broken into subcommands, as will be explained below with respect to bank interleave. a virtual page may also be accessed in a write operation. an erase block erase command may be sent out to erase an erase block over the storage i/o bus 210 with a particular erase block address to erase a particular erase block. typically, an erase block erase command may be sent over the parallel paths of the storage i/o bus 210 to erase a virtual erase block, each with a particular erase block address to erase a particular erase block. simultaneously a particular bank (e.g. bank-0 214a) is selected over the storage control bus 212 to prevent erasure of similarly addressed erase blocks in all of the banks (banks 1-n 214b-n). other commands may also be sent to a particular location using a combination of the storage i/o bus 210 and the storage control bus 212. one of skill in the art will recognize other ways to select a particular storage location using the bi-directional storage i/o bus 210 and the storage control bus 212. in one embodiment, packets are written sequentially to the solid-state storage 110. for example, packets are streamed to the storage write buffers of a bank 214a of storage elements 216 and when the buffers are full, the packets are programmed to a designated virtual page. packets then refill the storage write buffers and, when full, the packets are written to the next virtual page. the next virtual page may be in the same bank 214a or another bank (e.g. 214b). this process continues, virtual page after virtual page, typically until a virtual erase block is filled. in another embodiment, the streaming may continue across virtual erase block boundaries with the process continuing, virtual erase block after virtual erase block. in a read, modify, write operation, data packets associated with the object are located and read in a read operation. data segments of the modified object that have been modified are not written to the location from which they are read. instead, the modified data segments are again converted to data packets and then written to the next available location in the virtual page currently being written. the object index entries for the respective data packets are modified to point to the packets that contain the modified data segments. the entry or entries in the object index for data packets associated with the same object that have not been modified will include pointers to original location of the unmodified data packets. thus, if the original object is maintained, for example to maintain a previous version of the object, the original object will have pointers in the object index to all data packets as originally written. the new object will have pointers in the object index to some of the original data packets and pointers to the modified data packets in the virtual page that is currently being written. in a copy operation, the object index includes an entry for the original object mapped to a number of packets stored in the solid-state storage 110. when a copy is made, a new object is created and a new entry is created in the object index mapping the new object to the original packets. the new object is also written to the solid-state storage 110 with its location mapped to the new entry in the object index. the new object packets may be used to identify the packets within the original object that are referenced in case changes have been made in the original object that have not been propagated to the copy and the object index is lost or corrupted. beneficially, sequentially writing packets facilitates a more even use of the solid-state storage 110 and allows the solid- storage device controller 202 to monitor storage hot spots and level usage of the various virtual pages in the solid-state storage 110. sequentially writing packets also facilitates a powerful, efficient garbage collection system, which is described in detail below. one of skill in the art will recognize other benefits of sequential storage of data packets. solid- state storage device controller in various embodiments, the solid-state storage device controller 202 also includes a data bus 204, a local bus 206, a buffer controller 208, buffers 0-n 222a-n, a master controller 224, a direct memory access ("dma") controller 226, a memory controller 228, a dynamic memory array 230, a static random memory array 232, a management controller 234, a management bus 236, a bridge 238 to a system bus 240, and miscellaneous logic 242, which are described below. in other embodiments, the system bus 240 is coupled to one or more network interface cards ("nics") 244, some of which may include remote dma ("rdma") controllers 246, one or more central processing unit ("cpu") 248, one or more external memory controllers 250 and associated external memory arrays 252, one or more storage controllers 254, peer controllers 256, and application specific processors 258, which are described below. the components 244- 258 connected to the system bus 240 may be located in the computer 112 or may be other devices. typically the solid-state storage controller(s) 104 communicate data to the solid-state storage 110 over a storage i/o bus 210. in a typical embodiment where the solid-state storage is arranged in banks 214 and each bank 214 includes multiple storage elements 216, 218, 220 accessed in parallel, the storage i/o bus 210 is an array of busses, one for each row of storage elements 216, 218, 220 spanning the banks 214. as used herein, the term "storage i/o bus" may refer to one storage i/o bus 210 or an array of data independent busses 204. in a preferred embodiment, each storage i/o bus 210 accessing a row of storage elements (e.g. 216a, 218a, 220a) may include a logical-to-physical mapping for storage divisions (e.g. erase blocks) accessed in a row of storage elements 216a, 218a, 220a. this mapping allows a logical address mapped to a physical address of a storage division to be remapped to a different storage division if the first storage division fails, partially fails, is inaccessible, or has some other problem. remapping is explained further in relation to the remapping module 314 of figure 3. data may also be communicated to the solid-state storage controller(s) 104 from a requesting device 155 through the system bus 240, bridge 238, local bus 206, buffer(s) 22, and finally over a data bus 204. the data bus 204 typically is connected to one or more buffers 222a- n controlled with a buffer controller 208. the buffer controller 208 typically controls transfer of data from the local bus 206 to the buffers 222 and through the data bus 204 to the pipeline input buffer 306 and output buffer 330 . the buffer controller 222 typically controls how data arriving from a requesting device can be temporarily stored in a buffer 222 and then transferred onto a data bus 204, or vice versa, to account for different clock domains, to prevent data collisions, etc. the buffer controller 208 typically works in conjunction with the master controller 224 to coordinate data flow. as data arrives, the data will arrive on the system bus 240, be transferred to the local bus 206 through a bridge 238. typically the data is transferred from the local bus 206 to one or more data buffers 222 as directed by the master controller 224 and the buffer controller 208. the data then flows out of the buffer(s) 222 to the data bus 204, through a solid-state controller 104, and on to the solid- state storage 110 such as nand flash or other storage media. in a preferred embodiment, data and associated out-of-band metadata ("object metadata") arriving with the data is communicated using one or more data channels comprising one or more solid-state storage controllers 104a- 104n-l and associated solid-state storage lloa-llon-1 while at least one channel (solid-state storage controller 104n, solid-state storage hon) is dedicated to in-band metadata, such as index information and other metadata generated internally to the solid-state storage device 102. the local bus 206 is typically a bidirectional bus or set of busses that allows for communication of data and commands between devices internal to the solid-state storage device controller 202 and between devices internal to the solid-state storage device 102 and devices 244-258 connected to the system bus 240. the bridge 238 facilitates communication between the local bus 206 and system bus 240. one of skill in the art will recognize other embodiments such as ring structures or switched star configurations and functions of buses 240, 206, 204, 210 and bridges 238. the system bus 240 is typically a bus of a computer 112 or other device in which the solid-state storage device 102 is installed or connected. in one embodiment, the system bus 240 may be a pci-e bus, a serial advanced technology attachment ("serial ata") bus, parallel ata, or the like. in another embodiment, the system bus 240 is an external bus such as small computer system interface ("scsi"), fire wire, fiber channel, usb, pcie-as, or the like. the solid-state storage device 102 may be packaged to fit internally to a device or as an externally connected device. the solid-state storage device controller 202 includes a master controller 224 that controls higher-level functions within the solid-state storage device 102. the master controller 224, in various embodiments, controls data flow by interpreting object requests and other requests, directs creation of indexes to map object identifiers associated with data to physical locations of associated data, coordinating dma requests, etc. many of the functions described herein are controlled wholly or in part by the master controller 224. in one embodiment, the master controller 224 uses embedded controller(s). in another embodiment, the master controller 224 uses local memory such as a dynamic memory array 230 (dynamic random access memory "dram"), a static memory array 323 (static random access memory "sram"), etc. in one embodiment, the local memory is controlled using the master controller 224. in another embodiment, the master controller accesses the local memory via a memory controller 228. in another embodiment, the master controller runs a linux server and may support various common server interfaces, such as the world wide web, hyper- text markup language ("html"), etc. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 uses a nano- processor. the master controller 224 may be constructed using programmable or standard logic, or any combination of controller types listed above. one skilled in the art will recognize many embodiments for the master controller. in one embodiment, where the storage device 152/solid-state storage device controller 202 manages multiple data storage devices/solid-state storage 110a-n, the master controller 224 divides the work load among internal controllers, such as the solid-state storage controllers 104a- n. for example, the master controller 224 may divide an object to be written to the data storage devices (e.g. solid-state storage 110a-n) so that a portion of the object is stored on each of the attached data storage devices. this feature is a performance enhancement allowing quicker storage and access to an object. in one embodiment, the master controller 224 is implemented using an fpga. in another embodiment, the firmware within the master controller 224 may be updated through the management bus 236, the system bus 240 over a network connected to a nic 244 or other device connected to the system bus 240. in one embodiment, the master controller 224, which manages objects, emulates block storage such that a computer 102 or other device connected to the storage device 152/solid-state storage device 102 views the storage device 152/solid-state storage device 102 as a block storage device and sends data to specific physical addresses in the storage device 152/solid-state storage device 102. the master controller 224 then divides up the blocks and stores the data blocks as it would objects. the master controller 224 then maps the blocks and physical address sent with the block to the actual locations determined by the master controller 224. the mapping is stored in the object index. typically, for block emulation, a block device application program interface ("api") is provided in a driver in the computer 112, client 114, or other device wishing to use the storage device 152/solid-state storage device 102 as a block storage device. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with nic controllers 244 and embedded rdma controllers 246 to deliver just-in-time rdma transfers of data and command sets. nic controller 244 may be hidden behind a non- transparent port to enable the use of custom drivers. also, a driver on a client 114 may have access to the computer network 118 through an i/o memory driver using a standard stack api and operating in conjunction with nics 244. in one embodiment, the master controller 224 is also a redundant array of independent drive ("raid") controller. where the data storage device/solid-state storage device 102 is networked with one or more other data storage devices/solid-state storage devices 102, the master controller 224 may be a raid controller for single tier raid, multi-tier raid, progressive raid, etc. the master controller 224 also allows some objects to be stored in a raid array and other objects to be stored without raid. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 may be a distributed raid controller element. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 may comprise many raid, distributed raid, and other functions as described elsewhere. in one embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with single or redundant network managers (e.g. switches) to establish routing, to balance bandwidth utilization, failover, etc. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with integrated application specific logic (via local bus 206) and associated driver software. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with attached application specific processors 258 or logic (via the external system bus 240) and associated driver software. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with remote application specific logic (via the computer network 118) and associated driver software. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with the local bus 206 or external bus attached hard disk drive ("hdd") storage controller. in one embodiment, the master controller 224 communicates with one or more storage controllers 254 where the storage device/solid-state storage device 102 may appear as a storage device connected through a scsi bus, internet scsi ("iscsi"), fiber channel, etc. meanwhile the storage device/solid-state storage device 102 may autonomously manage objects and may appear as an object file system or distributed object file system. the master controller 224 may also be accessed by peer controllers 256 and/or application specific processors 258. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with an autonomous integrated management controller to periodically validate fpga code and/or controller software, validate fpga code while running (reset) and/or validate controller software during power on (reset), support external reset requests, support reset requests due to watchdog timeouts, and support voltage, current, power, temperature, and other environmental measurements and setting of threshold interrupts. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 manages garbage collection to free erase blocks for reuse. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 manages wear leveling. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 allows the data storage device/solid-state storage device 102 to be partitioned into multiple virtual devices and allows partition-based media encryption. in yet another embodiment, the master controller 224 supports a solid-state storage controller 104 with advanced, multi-bit ecc correction. one of skill in the art will recognize other features and functions of a master controller 224 in a storage controller 152, or more specifically in a solid-state storage device 102. in one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202 includes a memory controller 228 which controls a dynamic random memory array 230 and/or a static random memory array 232. as stated above, the memory controller 228 may be independent or integrated with the master controller 224. the memory controller 228 typically controls volatile memory of some type, such as dram (dynamic random memory array 230) and sram (static random memory array 232). in other examples, the memory controller 228 also controls other memory types such as electrically erasable programmable read only memory ("eeprom"), etc. in other embodiments, the memory controller 228 controls two or more memory types and the memory controller 228 may include more than one controller. typically, the memory controller 228 controls as much sram 232 as is feasible and by dram 230 to supplement the sram 232. in one embodiment, the object index is stored in memory 230, 232 and then periodically off-loaded to a channel of the solid-state storage 11 on or other non-volatile memory. one of skill in the art will recognize other uses and configurations of the memory controller 228, dynamic memory array 230, and static memory array 232. in one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202 includes a dma controller 226 that controls dma operations between the storage device/solid-state storage device 102 and one or more external memory controllers 250 and associated external memory arrays 252 and cpus 248. note that the external memory controllers 250 and external memory arrays 252 are called external because they are external to the storage device/solid-state storage device 102. in addition the dma controller 226 may also control rdma operations with requesting devices through a nic 244 and associated rdma controller 246. dma and rdma are explained in more detail below. in one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202 includes a management controller 234 connected to a management bus 236. typically the management controller 234 manages environmental metrics and status of the storage device/solid-state storage device 102. the management controller 234 may monitor device temperature, fan speed, power supply settings, etc. over the management bus 236. the management controller may support the reading and programming of erasable programmable read only memory ("eeprom") for storage of fpga code and controller software. typically the management bus 236 is connected to the various components within the storage device/solid-state storage device 102. the management controller 234 may communicate alerts, interrupts, etc. over the local bus 206 or may include a separate connection to a system bus 240 or other bus. in one embodiment the management bus 236 is an inter-integrated circuit ("i 2 c") bus. one of skill in the art will recognize other related functions and uses of a management controller 234 connected to components of the storage device/solid-state storage device 102 by a management bus 236. in one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202 includes miscellaneous logic 242 that may be customized for a specific application. typically where the solid-state device controller 202 or master controller 224 is/are configured using a fpga or other configurable controller, custom logic may be included based on a particular application, customer requirement, storage requirement, etc. data pipeline figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment 300 of a solid-state storage controller 104 with a write data pipeline 106 and a read data pipeline 108 in a solid-state storage device 102 in accordance with the present invention. the embodiment 300 includes a data bus 204, a local bus 206, and buffer control 208, which are substantially similar to those described in relation to the solid-state storage device controller 202 of figure 2. the write data pipeline includes a packetizer 302 and an error-correcting code ("ecc") generator 304. in other embodiments, the write data pipeline includes an input buffer 306, a write synchronization buffer 308, a write program module 310, a compression module 312, an encryption module 314, a garbage collector bypass 316 (with a portion within the read data pipeline), a media encryption module 318, and a write buffer 320. the read data pipeline 108 includes a read synchronization buffer 328, an ecc correction module 322, a depacketizer 324, an alignment module 326, and an output buffer 330. in other embodiments, the read data pipeline 108 may include a media decryption module 332, a portion of the garbage collector bypass 316, a decryption module 334, a decompression module 336, and a read program module 338. the solid-state storage controller 104 may also include control and status registers 340 and control queues 342, a bank interleave controller 344, a synchronization buffer 346, a storage bus controller 348, and a multiplexer ("mux") 350. the components of the solid-state controller 104 and associated write data pipeline 106 and read data pipeline 108 are described below. in other embodiments, synchronous solid-state storage 110 may be used and synchronization buffers 308 328 may be eliminated. write data pipeline the write data pipeline 106 includes a packetizer 302 that receives a data or metadata segment to be written to the solid-state storage, either directly or indirectly through another write data pipeline 106 stage, and creates one or more packets sized for the solid-state storage 110. the data or metadata segment is typically part of an object, but may also include an entire object. in another embodiment, the data segment is part of a block of data, but may also include an entire block of data. typically, an object is received from a computer 112, client 114, or other computer or device and is transmitted to the solid-state storage device 102 in data segments streamed to the solid-state storage device 102 or computer 112. a data segment may also be known by another name, such as data parcel, but as referenced herein includes all or a portion of an object or data block. each object is stored as one or more packets. each object may have one or more container packets. each packet contains a header. the header may include a header type field. type fields may include data, object attribute, metadata, data segment delimiters (multi-packet), object structures, object linkages, and the like. the header may also include information regarding the size of the packet, such as the number of bytes of data included in the packet. the length of the packet may be established by the packet type. the header may include information that establishes the relationship of the packet to the object. an example might be the use of an offset in a data packet header to identify the location of the data segment within the object. one of skill in the art will recognize other information that may be included in a header added to data by a packetizer 302 and other information that may be added to a data packet. each packet includes a header and possibly data from the data or metadata segment. the header of each packet includes pertinent information to relate the packet to the object to which the packet belongs. for example, the header may include an object identifier and offset that indicates the data segment, object, or data block from which the data packet was formed. the header may also include a logical address used by the storage bus controller 348 to store the packet. the header may also include information regarding the size of the packet, such as the number of bytes included in the packet. the header may also include a sequence number that identifies where the data segment belongs with respect to other packets within the object when reconstructing the data segment or object. the header may include a header type field. type fields may include data, object attributes, metadata, data segment delimiters (multi-packet), object structures, object linkages, and the like. one of skill in the art will recognize other information that may be included in a header added to data or metadata by a packetizer 302 and other information that may be added to a packet. the write data pipeline 106 includes an ecc generator 304 that generates one or more error-correcting codes ("ecc") for the one or more packets received from the packetizer 302. the ecc generator 304 typically uses an error correcting algorithm to generate ecc which is stored with the packet. the ecc stored with the packet is typically used to detect and correct errors introduced into the data through transmission and storage. in one embodiment, packets are streamed into the ecc generator 304 as un-encoded blocks of length n. a syndrome of length s is calculated, appended and output as an encoded block of length n+s. the value of n and s are dependent upon the characteristics of the algorithm which is selected to achieve specific performance, efficiency, and robustness metrics. in the preferred embodiment, there is no fixed relationship between the ecc blocks and the packets; the packet may comprise more than one ecc block; the ecc block may comprise more than one packet; and a first packet may end anywhere within the ecc block and a second packet may begin after the end of the first packet within the same ecc block. in the preferred embodiment, ecc algorithms are not dynamically modified. in a preferred embodiment, the ecc stored with the data packets is robust enough to correct errors in more than two bits. beneficially, using a robust ecc algorithm allowing more than single bit correction or even double bit correction allows the life of the solid-state storage 110 to be extended. for example, if flash memory is used as the storage medium in the solid-state storage 110, the flash memory may be written approximately 100,000 times without error per erase cycle. this usage limit may be extended using a robust ecc algorithm. having the ecc generator 304 and corresponding ecc correction module 322 onboard the solid-state storage device 102, the solid- state storage device 102 can internally correct errors and has a longer useful life than if a less robust ecc algorithm is used, such as single bit correction. however, in other embodiments the ecc generator 304 may use a less robust algorithm and may correct single-bit or double-bit errors. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage device 110 may comprise less reliable storage such as multi-level cell ("mlc") flash in order to increase capacity, which storage may not be sufficiently reliable without more robust ecc algorithms. in one embodiment, the write pipeline 106 includes an input buffer 306 that receives a data segment to be written to the solid-state storage 110 and stores the incoming data segments until the next stage of the write data pipeline 106, such as the packetizer 302 (or other stage for a more complex write data pipeline 106) is ready to process the next data segment. the input buffer 306 typically allows for discrepancies between the rate data segments are received and processed by the write data pipeline 106 using an appropriately sized data buffer. the input buffer 306 also allows the data bus 204 to transfer data to the write data pipeline 106 at rates greater than can be sustained by the write data pipeline 106 in order to improve efficiency of operation of the data bus 204. typically when the write data pipeline 106 does not include an input buffer 306, a buffering function is performed elsewhere, such as in the solid-state storage device 102 but outside the write data pipeline 106, in the computer 112, such as within a network interface card ("nic"), or at another device, for example when using remote direct memory access ("rdma"). in another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 also includes a write synchronization buffer 308 that buffers packets received from the ecc generator 304 prior to writing the packets to the solid-state storage 110. the write synch buffer 308 is located at a boundary between a local clock domain and a solid-state storage clock domain and provides buffering to account for the clock domain differences. in other embodiments, synchronous solid-state storage 110 may be used and synchronization buffers 308 328 may be eliminated. in one embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 also includes a media encryption module 318 that receives the one or more packets from the packetizer 302, either directly or indirectly, and encrypts the one or more packets using an encryption key unique to the solid-state storage device 102 prior to sending the packets to the ecc generator 304. typically, the entire packet is encrypted, including the headers. in another embodiment, headers are not encrypted. in this document, encryption key is understood to mean a secret encryption key that is managed externally from an embodiment that integrates the solid-state storage 110 and where the embodiment requires encryption protection. the media encryption module 318 and corresponding media decryption module 332 provide a level of security for data stored in the solid-state storage 110. for example, where data is encrypted with the media encryption module 318, if the solid-state storage 110 is connected to a different solid-state storage controller 104, solid-state storage device 102, or computer 112, the contents of the solid-state storage 110 typically could not be read without use of the same encryption key used during the write of the data to the solid-state storage 110 without significant effort. in a typical embodiment, the solid-state storage device 102 does not store the encryption key in non-volatile storage and allows no external access to the encryption key. the encryption key is provided to the solid-state storage controller 104 during initialization. the solid-sate storage device 102 may use and store a non-secret cryptographic nonce that is used in conjunction with an encryption key. a different nonce may be stored with every packet. data segments may be split between multiple packets with unique nonces for the purpose of improving protection by the encryption algorithm. the encryption key may be received from a client 114, a computer 112, key manager, or other device that manages the encryption key to be used by the solid-state storage controller 104. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage 110 may have two or more partitions and the solid-state storage controller 104 behaves as though it were two or more solid-state storage controllers 104, each operating on a single partition within the solid-state storage 110. in this embodiment, a unique media encryption key may be used with each partition. in another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 also includes an encryption module 314 that encrypts a data or metadata segment received from the input buffer 306, either directly or indirectly, prior sending the data segment to the packetizer 302, the data segment encrypted using an encryption key received in conjunction with the data segment. the encryption module 314 differs from the media encryption module 318 in that the encryption keys used by the encryption module 318 to encrypt data may not be common to all data stored within the solid- state storage device 102 but may vary on an object basis and received in conjunction with receiving data segments as described below. for example, an encryption key for a data segment to be encrypted by the encryption module 318 may be received with the data segment or may be received as part of a command to write an object to which the data segment belongs. the solid- sate storage device 102 may use and store a non-secret cryptographic nonce in each object packet that is used in conjunction with the encryption key. a different nonce may be stored with every packet. data segments may be split between multiple packets with unique nonces for the purpose of improving protection by the encryption algorithm. in one embodiment, the nonce used by the media encryption module 318 is the same as that used by the encryption module 314. the encryption key may be received from a client 114, a computer 112, key manager, or other device that holds the encryption key to be used to encrypt the data segment. in one embodiment, encryption keys are transferred to the solid-state storage controller 104 from one of a solid-state storage device 102, computer 112, client 114, or other external agent which has the ability to execute industry standard methods to securely transfer and protect private and public keys. in one embodiment, the encryption module 318 encrypts a first packet with a first encryption key received in conjunction with the packet and encrypts a second packet with a second encryption key received in conjunction with the second packet. in another embodiment, the encryption module 318 encrypts a first packet with a first encryption key received in conjunction with the packet and passes a second data packet on to the next stage without encryption. beneficially, the encryption module 318 included in the write data pipeline 106 of the solid-state storage device 102 allows object-by-object or segment-by-segment data encryption without a single file system or other external system to keep track of the different encryption keys used to store corresponding objects or data segments. each requesting device 155 or related key manager independently manages encryption keys used to encrypt only the objects or data segments sent by the requesting device 155. in another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a compression module 312 that compresses the data for metadata segment prior to sending the data segment to the packetizer 302. the compression module 312 typically compresses a data or metadata segment using a compression routine known to those of skill in the art to reduce the storage size of the segment. for example, if a data segment includes a string of 512 zeros, the compression module 312 may replace the 512 zeros with code or token indicating the 512 zeros where the code is much more compact than the space taken by the 512 zeros. in one embodiment, the compression module 312 compresses a first segment with a first compression routine and passes along a second segment without compression. in another embodiment, the compression module 312 compresses a first segment with a first compression routine and compresses the second segment with a second compression routine. having this flexibility within the solid-state storage device 102 is beneficial so that clients 114 or other devices writing data to the solid-state storage device 102 may each specify a compression routine or so that one can specify a compression routine while another specifies no compression. selection of compression routines may also be selected according to default settings on a per object type or object class basis. for example, a first object of a specific object may be able to override default compression routine settings and a second object of the same object class and object type may use the default compression routine and a third object of the same object class and object type may use no compression. in one embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a garbage collector bypass 316 that receives data segments from the read data pipeline 108 as part of a data bypass in a garbage collection system. a garbage collection system typically marks packets that are no longer valid, typically because the packet is marked for deletion or has been modified and the modified data is stored in a different location. at some point, the garbage collection system determines that a particular section of storage may be recovered. this determination may be due to a lack of available storage capacity, the percentage of data marked as invalid reaching a threshold, a consolidation of valid data, an error detection rate for that section of storage reaching a threshold, or improving performance based on data distribution, etc. numerous factors may be considered by a garbage collection algorithm to determine when a section of storage is to be recovered. once a section of storage has been marked for recovery, valid packets in the section typically must be relocated. the garbage collector bypass 316 allows packets to be read into the read data pipeline 108 and then transferred directly to the write data pipeline 106 without being routed out of the solid-state storage controller 104. in a preferred embodiment, the garbage collector bypass 316 is part of an autonomous garbage collector system that operates within the solid-state storage device 102. this allows the solid-state storage device 102 to manage data so that data is systematically spread throughout the solid-state storage 110 to improve performance, data reliability and to avoid overuse and underuse of any one location or area of the solid-state storage 110 and to lengthen the useful life of the solid-state storage 110. the garbage collector bypass 316 coordinates insertion of segments into the write data pipelineloό with other segments being written by clients 116 or other devices. in the depicted embodiment, the garbage collector bypass 316 is before the packetizer 302 in the write data pipeline 106 and after the depacketizer 324 in the read data pipeline 108, but may also be located elsewhere in the read and write data pipelines 106, 108. the garbage collector bypass 316 may be used during a flush of the write pipeline 106 to fill the remainder of the virtual page in order to improve the efficiency of storage within the solid-state storage 110 and thereby reduce the frequency of garbage collection. in one embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a write buffer 320 that buffers data for efficient write operations. typically, the write buffer 320 includes enough capacity for packets to fill at least one virtual page in the solid-state storage 110. this allows a write operation to send an entire page of data to the solid-state storage 110 without interruption. by sizing the write buffer 320 of the write data pipeline 106 and buffers within the read data pipeline 108 to be the same capacity or larger than a storage write buffer within the solid-state storage 110, writing and reading data is more efficient since a single write command may be crafted to send a full virtual page of data to the solid-state storage 110 instead of multiple commands. while the write buffer 320 is being filled, the solid-state storage 110 may be used for other read operations. this is advantageous because other solid-state devices with a smaller write buffer or no write buffer may tie up the solid-state storage when data is written to a storage write buffer and data flowing into the storage write buffer stalls. read operations will be blocked until the entire storage write buffer is filled and programmed. another approach for systems without a write buffer or a small write buffer is to flush the storage write buffer that is not full in order to enable reads. again this is inefficient because multiple write/program cycles are required to fill a page. for depicted embodiment with a write buffer 320 sized larger than a virtual page, a single write command, which includes numerous subcommands, can then be followed by a single program command to transfer the page of data from the storage write buffer in each solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 to the designated page within each solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220. this technique has the benefits of eliminating partial page programming, which is known to reduce data reliability and durability and freeing up the destination bank for reads and other commands while the buffer fills. in one embodiment, the write buffer 320 is a ping-pong buffer where one side of the buffer is filled and then designated for transfer at an appropriate time while the other side of the ping-pong buffer is being filled. in another embodiment, the write buffer 320 includes a first-in first-out ("fifo") register with a capacity of more than a virtual page of data segments. one of skill in the art will recognize other write buffer 320 configurations that allow a virtual page of data to be stored prior to writing the data to the solid-state storage 110. in another embodiment, the write buffer 320 is sized smaller than a virtual page so that less than a page of information could be written to a storage write buffer in the solid-state storage 110. in the embodiment, to prevent a stall in the write data pipeline 106 from holding up read operations, data is queued using the garbage collection system that needs to be moved from one location to another as part of the garbage collection process. in case of a data stall in the write data pipeline 106, the data can be fed through the garbage collector bypass 316 to the write buffer 320 and then on to the storage write buffer in the solid-state storage 110 to fill the pages of a virtual page prior to programming the data. in this way a data stall in the write data pipeline 106 would not stall reading from the solid-state storage device 106. in another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a write program module 310 with one or more user-definable functions within the write data pipeline 106. the write program module 310 allows a user to customize the write data pipeline 106. a user may customize the write data pipeline 106 based on a particular data requirement or application. where the solid- state storage controller 104 is an fpga, the user may program the write data pipeline 106 with custom commands and functions relatively easily. a user may also use the write program module 310 to include custom functions with an asic, however, customizing an asic may be more difficult than with an fpga. the write program module 310 may include buffers and bypass mechanisms to allow a first data segment to execute in the write program module 310 while a second data segment may continue through the write data pipeline 106. in another embodiment, the write program module 310 may include a processor core that can be programmed through software. note that the write program module 310 is shown between the input buffer 306 and the compression module 312, however, the write program module 310 could be anywhere in the write data pipeline 106 and may be distributed among the various stages 302-320. in addition, there may be multiple write program modules 310 distributed among the various states 302-320 that are programmed and operate independently. in addition, the order of the stages 302-320 may be altered. one of skill in the art will recognize workable alterations to the order of the stages 302-320 based on particular user requirements. read data pipeline the read data pipeline 108 includes an ecc correction module 322 that determines if a data error exists in ecc blocks a requested packet received from the solid-state storage 110 by using ecc stored with each ecc block of the requested packet. the ecc correction module 322 then corrects any errors in the requested packet if any error exists and the errors are correctable using the ecc. for example, if the ecc can detect an error in six bits but can only correct three bit errors, the ecc correction module 322 corrects ecc blocks of the requested packet with up to three bits in error. the ecc correction module 322 corrects the bits in error by changing the bits in error to the correct one or zero state so that the requested data packet is identical to when it was written to the solid-state storage 110 and the ecc was generated for the packet. if the ecc correction module 322 determines that the requested packets contains more bits in error than the ecc can correct, the ecc correction module 322 cannot correct the errors in the corrupted ecc blocks of the requested packet and sends an interrupt. in one embodiment, the ecc correction module 322 sends an interrupt with a message indicating that the requested packet is in error. the message may include information that the ecc correction module 322 cannot correct the errors or the inability of the ecc correction module 322 to correct the errors may be implied. in another embodiment, the ecc correction module 322 sends the corrupted ecc blocks of the requested packet with the interrupt and/or the message. in the preferred embodiment, a corrupted ecc block or portion of a corrupted ecc block of the requested packet that cannot be corrected by the ecc correction module 322 is read by the master controller 224, corrected, and returned to the ecc correction module 322 for further processing by the read data pipeline 108. in one embodiment, a corrupted ecc block or portion of a corrupted ecc block of the requested packet is sent to the device requesting the data. the requesting device 155 may correct the ecc block or replace the data using another copy, such as a backup or mirror copy, and then may use the replacement data of the requested data packet or return it to the read data pipeline 108. the requesting device 155 may use header information in the requested packet in error to identify data required to replace the corrupted requested packet or to replace the object to which the packet belongs. in another preferred embodiment, the solid- state storage controller 104 stores data using some type of raid and is able to recover the corrupted data. in another embodiment, the ecc correction module 322 sends and interrupt and/or message and the receiving device fails the read operation associated with the requested data packet. one of skill in the art will recognize other options and actions to be taken as a result of the ecc correction module 322 determining that one or more ecc blocks of the requested packet are corrupted and that the ecc correction module 322 cannot correct the errors. the read data pipeline 108 includes a depacketizer 324 that receives ecc blocks of the requested packet from the ecc correction module 322, directly or indirectly, and checks and removes one or more packet headers. the depacketizer 324 may validate the packet headers by checking packet identifiers, data length, data location, etc. within the headers. in one embodiment, the header includes a hash code that can be used to validate that the packet delivered to the read data pipeline 108 is the requested packet. the depacketizer 324 also removes the headers from the requested packet added by the packetizer 302. the depacketizer 324 may directed to not operate on certain packets but pass these forward without modification. an example might be a container label that is requested during the course of a rebuild process where the header information is required by the object index reconstruction module 272. further examples include the transfer of packets of various types destined for use within the solid-state storage device 102. in another embodiment, the depacketizer 324 operation may be packet type dependent. the read data pipeline 108 includes an alignment module 326 that receives data from the depacketizer 324 and removes unwanted data. in one embodiment, a read command sent to the solid-state storage 110 retrieves a packet of data. a device requesting the data may not require all data within the retrieved packet and the alignment module 326 removes the unwanted data. if all data within a retrieved page is requested data, the alignment module 326 does not remove any data. the alignment module 326 re-formats the data as data segments of an object in a form compatible with a device requesting the data segment prior to forwarding the data segment to the next stage. typically, as data is processed by the read data pipeline 108, the size of data segments or packets changes at various stages. the alignment module 326 uses received data to format the data into data segments suitable to be sent to the requesting device 155 and joined to form a response. for example, data from a portion of a first data packet may be combined with data from a portion of a second data packet. if a data segment is larger than a data requested by the requesting device, the alignment module 326 may discard the unwanted data. in one embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a read synchronization buffer 328 that buffers one or more requested packets read from the solid-state storage 110 prior to processing by the read data pipeline 108. the read synchronization buffer 328 is at the boundary between the solid-state storage clock domain and the local bus clock domain and provides buffering to account for the clock domain differences. in another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes an output buffer 330 that receives requested packets from the alignment module 326 and stores the packets prior to transmission to the requesting device. the output buffer 330 accounts for differences between when data segments are received from stages of the read data pipeline 108 and when the data segments are transmitted to other parts of the solid-state storage controller 104 or to the requesting device. the output buffer 330 also allows the data bus 204 to receive data from the read data pipeline 108 at rates greater than can be sustained by the read data pipeline 108 in order to improve efficiency of operation of the data bus 204. in one embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a media decryption module 332 that receives one or more encrypted requested packets from the ecc correction module 322 and decrypts the one or more requested packets using the encryption key unique to the solid-state storage device 102 prior to sending the one or more requested packets to the depacketizer 324. typically the encryption key used to decrypt data by the media decryption module 332 is identical to the encryption key used by the media encryption module 318. in another embodiment, the solid-state storage 110 may have two or more partitions and the solid-state storage controller 104 behaves as though it were two or more solid-state storage controllers 104 each operating on a single partition within the solid-state storage 110. in this embodiment, a unique media encryption key may be used with each partition. in another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a decryption module 334 that decrypts a data segment formatted by the depacketizer 324 prior to sending the data segment to the output buffer 330. the data segment decrypted using an encryption key received in conjunction with the read request that initiates retrieval of the requested packet received by the read synchronization buffer 328. the decryption module 334 may decrypt a first packet with an encryption key received in conjunction with the read request for the first packet and then may decrypt a second packet with a different encryption key or may pass the second packet on to the next stage of the read data pipeline 108 without decryption. typically, the decryption module 334 uses a different encryption key to decrypt a data segment than the media decryption module 332 uses to decrypt requested packets. when the packet was stored with a non-secret cryptographic nonce, the nonce is used in conjunction with an encryption key to decrypt the data packet. the encryption key may be received from a client 114, a computer 112, key manager, or other device that manages the encryption key to be used by the solid-state storage controller 104. in another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a decompression module 336 that decompresses a data segment formatted by the depacketizer 324. in the preferred embodiment, the decompression module 336 uses compression information stored in one or both of the packet header and the container label to select a complementary routine to that used to compress the data by the compression module 312. in another embodiment, the decompression routine used by the decompression module 336 is dictated by the device requesting the data segment being decompressed. in another embodiment, the decompression module 336 selects a decompression routine according to default settings on a per object type or object class basis. a first packet of a first object may be able to override a default decompression routine and a second packet of a second object of the same object class and object type may use the default decompression routine and a third packet of a third object of the same object class and object type may use no decompression. in another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a read program module 338 that includes one or more user-definable functions within the read data pipeline 108. the read program module 338 has similar characteristics to the write program module 310 and allows a user to provide custom functions to the read data pipeline 108. the read program module 338 may be located as shown in figure 3, may be located in another position within the read data pipeline 108, or may include multiple parts in multiple locations within the read data pipeline 108. additionally, there may be multiple read program modules 338 within multiple locations within the read data pipeline 108 that operate independently. one of skill in the art will recognize other forms of a read program module 338 within a read data pipeline 108. as with the write data pipeline 106, the stages of the read data pipeline 108 may be rearranged and one of skill in the art will recognize other orders of stages within the read data pipeline 108. the solid-state storage controller 104 includes control and status registers 340 and corresponding control queues 342. the control and status registers 340 and control queues 342 facilitate control and sequencing commands and subcommands associated with data processed in the write and read data pipelines 106, 108. for example, a data segment in the packetizer 302 may have one or more corresponding control commands or instructions in a control queue 342 associated with the ecc generator. as the data segment is packetized, some of the instructions or commands may be executed within the packetizer 302. other commands or instructions may be passed to the next control queue 342 through the control and status registers 340 as the newly formed data packet created from the data segment is passed to the next stage. commands or instructions may be simultaneously loaded into the control queues 342 for a packet being forwarded to the write data pipeline 106 with each pipeline stage pulling the appropriate command or instruction as the respective packet is executed by that stage. similarly, commands or instructions may be simultaneously loaded into the control queues 342 for a packet being requested from the read data pipeline 108 with each pipeline stage pulling the appropriate command or instruction as the respective packet is executed by that stage. one of skill in the art will recognize other features and functions of control and status registers 340 and control queues 342. the solid-state storage controller 104 and or solid-state storage device 102 may also include a bank interleave controller 344, a synchronization buffer 346, a storage bus controller 348, and a multiplexer ("mux") 350, which are described in relation to figures 4a and 4b. bank interleave figure 4a is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment 400 of a bank interleave controller 344 in the solid-state storage controller 104 in accordance with the present invention. the bank interleave controller 344 is connected to the control and status registers 340 and to the storage i/o bus 210 and storage control bus 212 through the mux 350, storage bus controller 348, and synchronous buffer 346, which are described below. the bank interleave controller includes a read agent 402, a write agent 404, an erase agent 406, a management agent 408, read queues 410a-n, write queues 412a-n, erase queues 414a-n, and management queues 416a-n for the banks 214 in the solid-state storage 110, bank controllers 418a-n, a bus arbiter 420, and a status mux 422, which are described below. the storage bus controller 348 includes a mapping module 424 with a remapping module 430, a status capture module 426, and a nand bus controller 428, which are described below. the bank interleave controller 344 directs one or more commands to two or more queues in the bank interleave controller 344 and coordinates among the banks 214 of the solid-state storage 110 execution of the commands stored in the queues, such that a command of a first type executes on one bank 214a while a command of a second type executes on a second bank 214b. the one or more commands are separated by command type into the queues. each bank 214 of the solid-state storage 110 has a corresponding set of queues within the bank interleave controller 344 and each set of queues includes a queue for each command type. the bank interleave controller 344 coordinates among the banks 214 of the solid-state storage 110 execution of the commands stored in the queues. for example, a command of a first type executes on one bank 214a while a command of a second type executes on a second bank 214b. typically the command types and queue types include read and write commands and queues 410, 412, but may also include other commands and queues that are storage media specific. for example, in the embodiment depicted in figure 4a, erase and management queues 414, 416 are included and would be appropriate for flash memory, nram, mram, dram, pram, etc. for other types of solid-state storage 110, other types of commands and corresponding queues may be included without straying from the scope of the invention. the flexible nature of an fpga solid-state storage controller 104 allows flexibility in storage media. if flash memory were changed to another solid-state storage type, the bank interleave controller 344, storage bus controller 348, and mux 350 could be altered to accommodate the media type without significantly affecting the data pipelines 106, 108 and other solid-state storage controller 104 functions. in the embodiment depicted in figure 4a, the bank interleave controller 344 includes, for each bank 214, a read queue 410 for reading data from the solid-state storage 110, a write queue 412 for write commands to the solid-state storage 110, an erase queue 414 for erasing an erase block in the solid-state storage, an a management queue 416 for management commands. the bank interleave controller 344 also includes corresponding read, write, erase, and management agents 402, 404, 406, 408. in another embodiment, the control and status registers 340 and control queues 342 or similar components queue commands for data sent to the banks 214 of the solid-state storage 110 without a bank interleave controller 344. the agents 402, 404, 406, 408, in one embodiment, direct commands of the appropriate type destined for a particular bank 214a to the correct queue for the bank 214a. for example, the read agent 402 may receive a read command for bank-1 214b and directs the read command to the bank-1 read queue 410b. the write agent 404 may receive a write command to write data to a location in bank-0 214a of the solid-state storage 110 and will then send the write command to the bank-0 write queue 412a. similarly, the erase agent 406 may receive an erase command to erase an erase block in bank-1 214b and will then pass the erase command to the bank-1 erase queue 414b. the management agent 408 typically receives management commands, status requests, and the like, such as a reset command or a request to read a configuration register of a bank 214, such as bank-0 214a. the management agent 408 sends the management command to the bank-0 management queue 416a. the agents 402, 404, 406, 408 typically also monitor status of the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 and send status, interrupt, or other messages when the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 are full, nearly full, non-functional, etc. in one embodiment, the agents 402, 404, 406, 408 receive commands and generate corresponding sub-commands. in one embodiment, the agents 402, 404, 406, 408 receive commands through the control & status registers 340 and generate corresponding sub-commands which are forwarded to the queues 410, 412, 414, 416. one of skill in the art will recognize other functions of the agents 402, 404, 406, 408. the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 typically receive commands and store the commands until required to be sent to the solid-state storage banks 214. in a typical embodiment, the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 are first-in, first-out ("fifo") registers or a similar component that operates as a fifo. in another embodiment, the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 store commands in an order that matches data, order of importance, or other criteria. the bank controllers 418 typically receive commands from the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 and generate appropriate subcommands. for example, the bank-0 write queue 412a may receive a command to write a page of data packets to bank-0 214a. the bank-0 controller 418a may receive the write command at an appropriate time and may generate one or more write subcommands for each data packet stored in the write buffer 320 to be written to the page in bank-0 214a. for example, bank-0 controller 418a may generate commands to validate the status of bank 0 214a and the solid-state storage array 216, select the appropriate location for writing one or more data packets, clear the input buffers within the solid-state storage memory array 216, transfer the one or more data packets to the input buffers, program the input buffers into the selected location, verify that the data was correctly programmed, and if program failures occur do one or more of interrupting the master controller, retrying the write to the same physical location, and retrying the write to a different physical location. additionally, in conjunction with example write command, the storage bus controller 348 will cause the one or more commands to multiplied to each of the each of the storage i/o buses 210a-n with the logical address of the command mapped to a first physical addresses for storage i/o bus 210a, and mapped to a second physical address for storage i/o bus 210b, and so forth as further described below. typically, bus arbiter 420 selects from among the bank controllers 418 and pulls subcommands from output queues within the bank controllers 418 and forwards these to the storage bus controller 348 in a sequence that optimizes the performance of the banks 214. in another embodiment, the bus arbiter 420 may respond to a high level interrupt and modify the normal selection criteria. in another embodiment, the master controller 224 can control the bus arbiter 420 through the control and status registers 340. one of skill in the art will recognize other means by which the bus arbiter 420 may control and interleave the sequence of commands from the bank controllers 418 to the solid-state storage 110. the bus arbiter 420 typically coordinates selection of appropriate commands, and corresponding data when required for the command type, from the bank controllers 418 and sends the commands and data to the storage bus controller 348. the bus arbiter 420 typically also sends commands to the storage control bus 212 to select the appropriate bank 214. for the case of flash memory or other solid-state storage 110 with an asynchronous, bi-directional serial storage i/o bus 210, only one command (control information) or set of data can be transmitted at a time. for example, when write commands or data are being transmitted to the solid-state storage 110 on the storage i/o bus 210, read commands, data being read, erase commands, management commands, or other status commands cannot be transmitted on the storage i/o bus 210. for example, when data is being read from the storage i/o bus 210, data cannot be written to the solid-state storage 110. for example, during a write operation on bank-0 the bus arbiter 420 selects the bank-0 controller 418a which may have a write command or a series of write sub-commands on the top of its queue which cause the storage bus controller 348 to execute the following sequence. the bus arbiter 420 forwards the write command to the storage bus controller 348, which sets up a write command by selecting bank-0 214a through the storage control bus 212, sending a command to clear the input buffers of the solid-state storage elements 110 associated with the bank-0 214a, and sending a command to validate the status of the solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 associated with the bank-0 214a. the storage bus controller 348 then transmits a write subcommand on the storage i/o bus 210, which contains the physical addresses including the address of the logical erase block for each individual physical erase solid-stage storage element 216a-m as mapped from the logical erase block address. the storage bus controller 348 then muxes the write buffer 320 through the write sync buffer 308 to the storage i/o bus 210 through the mux 350 and streams write data to the appropriate page. when the page is full, then storage bus controller 348 causes the solid-state storage elements 216a-m associated with the bank-0 214a to program the input buffer to the memory cells within the solid-state storage elements 216a-m. finally, the storage bus controller 348 validates the status to ensure that page was correctly programmed. a read operation is similar to the write example above. during a read operation, typically the bus arbiter 420, or other component of the bank interleave controller 344, receives data and corresponding status information and sends the data to the read data pipeline 108 while sending the status information on to the control and status registers 340. typically, a read data command forwarded from bus arbiter 420 to the storage bus controller 348 will cause the mux 350 to gate the read data on storage i/o bus 210 to the read data pipeline 108 and send status information to the appropriate control and status registers 340 through the status mux 422. the bus arbiter 420 coordinates the various command types and data access modes so that only an appropriate command type or corresponding data is on the bus at any given time. if the bus arbiter 420 has selected a write command, and write subcommands and corresponding data are being written to the solid-state storage 110, the bus arbiter 420 will not allow other command types on the storage i/o bus 210. beneficially, the bus arbiter 420 uses timing information, such as predicted command execution times, along with status information received concerning bank 214 status to coordinate execution of the various commands on the bus with the goal of minimizing or eliminating idle time of the busses. the master controller 224 through the bus arbiter 420 typically uses expected completion times of the commands stored in the queues 410, 412, 414, 416, along with status information, so that when the subcommands associated with a command are executing on one bank 214a, other subcommands of other commands are executing on other banks 214b-n. when one command is fully executed on a bank 214a, the bus arbiter 420 directs another command to the bank 214a. the bus arbiter 420 may also coordinate commands stored in the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 with other commands that are not stored in the queues 410, 412, 414, 416. for example, an erase command may be sent out to erase a group of erase blocks within the solid-state storage 110. an erase command may take 10 to 1000 times more time to execute than a write or a read command or 10 to 100 times more time to execute than a program command. for n banks 214, the bank interleave controller 344 may split the erase command into n commands, each to erase a virtual erase block of a bank 214a. while bank-0 214a is executing an erase command, the bus arbiter 420 may select other commands for execution on the other banks 214b-n. the bus arbiter 420 may also work with other components, such as the storage bus controller 348, the master controller 224, etc., to coordinate command execution among the buses. coordinating execution of commands using the bus arbiter 420, bank controllers 418, queues 410, 412, 414, 416, and agents 402, 404, 406, 408 of the bank interleave controller 344 can dramatically increase performance over other solid-state storage systems without a bank interleave function. in one embodiment, the solid-state controller 104 includes one bank interleave controller 344 that serves all of the storage elements 216, 218, 220 of the solid-state storage 110. in another embodiment, the solid-state controller 104 includes a bank interleave controller 344 for each row of storage elements 216a-m, 218a-m, 220a-m. for example, one bank interleave controller 344 serves one row of storage elements sss 0.0-sss 0.n 216a, 218a, 220a, a second bank interleave controller 344 serves a second row of storage elements sss 1.0-sss l.n 216b, 218b, 220b, etc. figure 4b is a schematic block diagram illustrating an alternate embodiment 401 of a bank interleave controller in the solid-state storage controller in accordance with the present invention. the components 210, 212, 340, 346, 348, 350, 402-430 depicted in the embodiment shown in figure 4b are substantially similar to the bank interleave apparatus 400 described in relation to figure 4a except that each bank 214 includes a single queue 432a-n and the read commands, write commands, erase commands, management commands, etc. for a bank (e.g. bank-0 214a) are directed to a single queue 432a for the bank 214a. the queues 432, in one embodiment, are fifo. in another embodiment, the queues 432 can have commands pulled from the queues 432 in an order other than the order they were stored. in another alternate embodiment (not shown), the read agent 402, write agent 404, erase agent 406, and management agent 408 may be combined into a single agent assigning commands to the appropriate queues 432a-n. in another alternate embodiment (not shown), commands are stored in a single queue where the commands may be pulled from the queue in an order other than how they are stored so that the bank interleave controller 344 can execute a command on one bank 214a while other commands are executing on the remaining banks 214b-n. one of skill in the art will easily recognize other queue configurations and types to enable execution of a command on one bank 214a while other commands are executing on other banks 214b-n. storage-specific components the solid-state storage controller 104 includes a synchronization buffer 346 that buffers commands and status messages sent and received from the solid-state storage 110. the synchronization buffer 346 is located at the boundary between the solid-state storage clock domain and the local bus clock domain and provides buffering to account for the clock domain differences. the synchronization buffer 346, write synchronization buffer 308, and read synchronization buffer 328 may be independent or may act together to buffer data, commands, status messages, etc. in the preferred embodiment, the synchronization buffer 346 is located where there are the fewest number of signals crossing the clock domains. one skilled in the art will recognize that synchronization between clock domains may be arbitrarily moved to other locations within the solid-state storage device 102 in order to optimize some aspect of design implementation. the solid-state storage controller 104 includes a storage bus controller 348 that interprets and translates commands for data sent to and read from the solid-state storage 110 and status messages received from the solid-state storage 110 based on the type of solid-state storage 110. for example, the storage bus controller 348 may have different timing requirements for different types of storage, storage with different performance characteristics, storage from different manufacturers, etc. the storage bus controller 348 also sends control commands to the storage control bus 212. in the preferred embodiment, the solid-state storage controller 104 includes a mux 350 that comprises an array of multiplexers 350a-n where each multiplexer is dedicated to a row in the solid-state storage array 110. for example, multiplexer 350a is associated with solid-state storage elements 216a, 218a, 220a. mux 350 routes the data from the write data pipeline 106 and commands from the storage bus controller 348 to the solid-state storage 110 via the storage i/o bus 210 and routes data and status messages from the solid-state storage 110 via the storage i/o bus 210 to the read data pipeline 106 and the control and status registers 340 through the storage bus controller 348, synchronization buffer 346, and bank interleave controller 344. in the preferred embodiment, the solid-state storage controller 104 includes a mux 350 for each row of solid-state storage elements (e.g. sss 0.1 216a, sss 0.2 218a, sss 0.n 220a). a mux 350 combines data from the write data pipeline 106 and commands sent to the solid-state storage 110 via the storage i/o bus 210 and separates data to be processed by the read data pipeline 108 from commands. packets stored in the write buffer 320 are directed on busses out of the write buffer 320 through a write synchronization buffer 308 for each row of solid-state storage elements (sss x.o to sss x.n 216, 218, 220) to the mux 350 for each row of solid-state storage elements (sss x.o to sss x.n 216, 218, 220). the commands and read data are received by the muxes 350 from the storage i/o bus 210. the muxes 350 also direct status messages to the storage bus controller 348. the storage bus controller 348 includes a mapping module 424. the mapping module 424 maps a logical address of an erase block to one or more physical addresses of an erase block. for example, a solid-state storage 110 with an array of twenty storage elements (e.g. sss 0.0 to sss m.o 216) per block 214a may have a logical address for a particular erase block mapped to twenty physical addresses of the erase block, one physical address per storage element. because the storage elements are accessed in parallel, erase blocks at the same position in each storage element in a row of storage elements 216a, 218a, 220a will share a physical address. to select one erase block (e.g. in storage element sss 0.0 216a) instead of all erase blocks in the row (e.g. in storage elements sss 0.0, 0.1, ... 0.n 216a, 218a, 220a), one bank (in this case bank-0 214a) is selected. this logical-to-physical mapping for erase blocks is beneficial because if one erase block becomes damaged or inaccessible, the mapping can be changed to map to another erase block. this mitigates the loss of losing an entire virtual erase block when one element's erase block is faulty. the remapping module 430 changes a mapping of a logical address of an erase block to one or more physical addresses of a virtual erase block (spread over the array of storage elements). for example, virtual erase block 1 may be mapped to erase block 1 of storage element sss 0.0 216a, to erase block 1 of storage element sss 1.0 216b, ..., and to storage element m.o 216m, virtual erase block 2 may be mapped to erase block 2 of storage element sss 0.1 218a, to erase block 2 of storage element sss 1.1 218b, ..., and to storage element m.i 218m, etc. if erase block 1 of a storage element ssso.o 216a is damaged, experiencing errors due to wear, etc., or cannot be used for some reason, the remapping module could change the logical-to- physical mapping for the logical address that pointed to erase block 1 of virtual erase block 1. if a spare erase block (call it erase block 221) of storage element sss 0.0 216a is available and currently not mapped, the remapping module could change the mapping of virtual erase block 1 to point to erase block 221 of storage element sss 0.0 216a, while continuing to point to erase block 1 of storage element sss 1.0 216b, erase block 1 of storage element sss 2.0 (not shown) ..., and to storage element m.o 216m. the mapping module 424 or remapping module 430 could map erase blocks in a prescribed order (virtual erase block 1 to erase block 1 of the storage elements, virtual erase block 2 to erase block 2 of the storage elements, etc.) or may map erase blocks of the storage elements 216, 218, 220 in another order based on some other criteria. in one embodiment, the erase blocks could be grouped by access time. grouping by access time, meaning time to execute a command, such as programming (writing) data into pages of specific erase blocks, can level command completion so that a command executed across the erase blocks of a virtual erase block is not limited by the slowest erase block. in other embodiments, the erase blocks may be grouped by wear level, health, etc. one of skill in the art will recognize other factors to consider when mapping or remapping erase blocks. in one embodiment, the storage bus controller 348 includes a status capture module 426 that receives status messages from the solid-state storage 110 and sends the status messages to the status mux 422. in another embodiment, when the solid-state storage 110 is flash memory, the storage bus controller 348 includes a nand bus controller 428. the nand bus controller 428 directs commands from the read and write data pipelines 106, 108 to the correct location in the solid-state storage 110, coordinates timing of command execution based on characteristics of the flash memory, etc. if the solid-state storage 110 is another solid-state storage type, the nand bus controller 428 would be replaced by a bus controller specific to the storage type. one of skill in the art will recognize other functions of a nand bus controller 428. flow charts figure 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for in-server san in accordance with the present invention. the method 500 begins 552 and the storage communication module 162 facilitates 554 communication between a first storage controller 152a and at least one device external to the first server 112a. the communication between the first storage controller 152a and the external device is independent from the first server 112a. the first storage controller 112a is within the first server 112a and the first storage controller 152a controls at least one storage device 154a. the first server 112a includes a network interface 156a collocated with the first server 112a and the first storage controller 152a. the in-server san module 164 services 556 a storage request and the method 500 ends 558. the in-server san module services 556 the storage request using a network protocol and/or a bus protocol. the in-server san module 164 services 556 the storage request independent from the first server 112a and the service request is received from a client 114, 114a. the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. the scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
|
168-674-973-226-342
|
EP
|
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"EP",
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A61B5/296,A61B5/00,A61B5/0205,A61B5/282,A61B5/11,A61B5/0245,A61B5/0531,A61B5/08,A61B5/24
| 2010-11-17T00:00:00 |
2010
|
[
"A61"
] |
sensor for acquiring physiological signals
|
the present invention relates to a sensor 1 for acquiring physiological signals with improved silicone rubber in particular when the sensor 1 is included in a garment 7 and the person who wears the garment 7 is in high level activity, the invention furthermore relates to a device comprising the sensor, as well as garments 7 comprising the device.
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a sensor (1) to be placed in contact with the skin (12) of a user for acquiring physiological signals which comprises: a) a conductive layer (2) comprising at least conductive fibers to be placed in contact with the skin (12) for receiving physiological signals; b) an electrical connector (5) connected to the conductive layer; wherein the conductive layer comprises a plurality of orifices (6) filled with a silicone rubber throughout the conductive area; and the conductive layer (2) comprises at least an electrode area (3) which is configured to receive the physiological signals and a track area (4) which is configured to transmit the physiological signals from the electrode area to the electrical connector; the electrical connector (5) being connected to the track area (4). the sensor (1) according to claim 1, wherein the track (4) is covered with an insulating material (8). the sensor (1) according to any of the claims 1-2, wherein the electrode area (3) is a conductive fabric comprising conductive fibers and non conductive fibers. the sensor (1) according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein the track (4) is a conductive fabric comprising conductive fibers and non conductive fibers. the sensor (1) according to any of the claims 1-4, wherein the conductive fibers are made of silver coated nylon and the non conductive fibers are made of nylon. the sensor (1) according to any of the claims 1-5, wherein the silicone rubber is a silicone rubber with molecular weight comprised between 400 g/mol and 600 g/mol. the sensor (1) according to any of the claims 1-6, wherein the proportion of conductive layer (2) to be in contact with the skin (12) is comprised between 50% and 80% of the conductive layer and the proportion of silicone rubber to be in contact with the skin (12) is comprised between 20% and 50% in respect to the total conductive layer. a device comprising: (a) at least one sensor (1) as defined in any of the claims 1-7, (b) an electronic instrument (14) for receiving and collecting and/or storing and/or processing, and/or transmitting data from said sensor. a garment (7) comprising the device of claim 8. the garment (7) according to claim 9, wherein the portion of the garment which is coupled to the sensor is designed for applying a pressure equal or higher than 2 kpa. the garment (7) according to any of the claims 9-10, wherein the garment comprises two layers, an inner and an outer layer (13), and the outer layer (13) is able to compress the sensor to the body with at least 2kpa. the garment (7) according to claim 11 wherein the outer layer (13) comprises a system to regulate the pressure. a process for the preparation of a sensor (1) as defined in any of the claims 1-7, which comprises the steps of: a) die cutting a conductive layer of conductive fabric; b) adding a hot melt adhesive on one surface of the conductive layer; c) screen printing with an anti-slip silicone rubber on the orifices of the electrode area (3); and d) curing the silicone; wherein the step a), b) can be carried out in any order.
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the present invention relates to sensors for acquiring physiological signals, devices comprising these sensors, as well as garments comprising these devices. background art sensors comprising electrodes are used extensively in the assessment of clinical condition, for example in the monitoring of cardiac condition. the electrodes are placed in contact with the skin of the human body and the electrical physiological signals which result are examined. nevertheless, stability, noise and sensibility of the signals can be affected by different reasons; motion and long term acquisition of the signal are two of the most significant. one of the physiological signals most affected by the different types of noise, as electrode contact noise or movement noise is the electrocardiogram (ecg) signals. ecg is a long term analysis and to acquire a good signal it is crucial that the signal's parameters are stables. as the ecg is a long term analysis, a garment that include an ecg sensor is essential to monitor this type of physiological signals in the daily live. it is known in the state of the art, garments with sensors integrated in the textile. the sensor to be integrated in a garment must be a system minimal invasive, flexible, conformable to the human body including in movement, comfortable and resistant to repeated washing. the current state of the art in textile sensors presents different drawbacks: i) low adhesion to skin. each relative motion between skin and electrode causes alterations in the signal. this limitation is very significant in the context of use of electrodes during physical activity. ii) signal alterations. these are produced by the movement of the conductive fibers and the presence of wrinkles. iii) decrease of the signal quality with time. in some sensors to ensure the skin contact, liquids such as water or grease can be used between the contact layer and the skin. in dry environments it is not possible to remain the skin moisture level constant and the electric conductivity of the contact layer decreases. the patent application ep1361819 , which applicant was polar electro, oy., describes a sensor which comprises a contact layer including conductive fibers, and a moisture layer for retaining moisture on the top of the contact layer. the moisture layer retains secretory products from the skin, such as moisture and electrolytes. this enhances the contact between the skin and the contact layer and increases the electric conductivity of the contact layer, but the confortable of the garment is minor as the humidity in the skin and inside the garment is increased. the patent application ep2072009 describes a garment comprising at least one electrocardiogram sensor integrated into the garment comprising an electrode on the inside of the garment and arranged to contact a user's skin; and a resilient compressible filler provided between the garment and the electrode. the resilient compresible filler holds the electrode in place when the garment moves.the resilent compressible filler could be uncomfortable for the user. the patent application us20100234715 describes a garment for measuring physiological signals. the garment including an electrode sensor coupled to an inner surface of a garment to make contact with the skin for detecting physiological signals; a signal connection line connected to the electrode sensor, a snap and a measurement unit. the electrode sensor unit is coupled to a desired portion of a garment using a coupling adhesive member which is may have opened frame shape for attaching edges of the electrode sensor to the garment. an anti slipping adhesive tape (member) may be formed along the border of the electrode sensor and the coupling adhesive member. more sensors to be placed in contact with the skin of a user for acquiring physiological signals can be for example found in us.2006/0094948 a1 and us 2006/0095001 a1 . thus, from what is known in the art, it is derived that the development of a sensor and a garment comprising the sensor which allow recording physiological signals, especially in movement, with improved adhesion properties but avoiding adhesive elements which produce skin irritations and with flexibility properties, is still of great interest. summary of the invention inventors have found a sensor 1 with improved anti-slip property, in particular when the sensor 1 is included in a garment 7 and the person who wears the garment 7 is in high level of activity as occurred, for instance, during sport practice. the sensor 1 shows excellent flexibility properties. the sensor 1 comprises a conductive layer 2 comprising a plurality of orificies 6 or grooves 11 in a predefined pattern, filled with silicone rubber. the silicone rubber avoids the use of adhesive materials to fix the sensor 1 to the skin 12 which is advantageous since these adhesive materials, in long term acquisition of signals, could irritate the skin, and they loose their adhesive properties with repeating washing. the sensor 1 also comprises an electrical connector 5 . the conductive layer 2 contains metal, usually this kind of layer is not flexible, but the orifices 6 or grooves 11 on the conductive layer 2 improve the flexibility and improve the adaptation conductive layer/body shape. the fact that the sensor 1 shows excellent anti-slip and flexibility properties is advantageous for receiving physiological signals with the required quality and for a long time. besides, the good contact sensor-skin and the excellent fixation reduce the noise of the signal. in some physiological signals, as the ecg, noise can make measurement of the signal very difficult. the quality of ecg sensors can have a significant impact on the acquisition of the signal. the quality depends on the electrode electrical properties and the contact stability electrode/skin. the more quality and stability the signal has, the more easily the doctor can discern between pathologies and the more reliability can be given in a diagnosis of the patient. ecg signals recorded with smart clothes in case of high level activity show disturbances as intermittent loss of signals from electrodes. nothing in the art suggests that a sensor with a conductive layer comprising a plurality of orifices filled with silicone rubber could confer excellent fixation and flexibility properties. therefore, an aspect of the present invention relates to a sensor according to claim 1. the sensor 1 is capable to detecting electrical physiological signals of the user. another aspect of the invention relates to a device according to claim 8. another aspect of the invention relates to a garment 7 comprising at least the device of claim 8. also, it is provided a preparation process of the sensor 1 according to claim 13. brief description of the drawings fig. 1a illustrates an orifices 6 pattern in the electrode 3 . fig. 1b illustrates a grooves 11 pattern in the electrode 3 . fig. 1c illustrates an orifices 6 pattern in the electrode 3 with silicone rubber pattern on the surface of the electrode 3 . fig. 1d illustrates a front view of a conductive fabric with the orifices 6 filled with silicone rubber. fig. 2 illustrates an exploited perspective view of an embodiment of a sensor 1 . fig. 3a illustrates a cross-section of an embodiment of a sensor 1 . fig. 3b illustrates a cross-section of an embodiment of a sensor 1 . fig. 4 illustrates an elevation view of the garment 7 . fig. 5 illustrates a cross-section elevation view of a connection between an embodiment of a sensor 1 and an electronic instrument 14. fig.6 shows the amplitude rs (a(v)) in resting (a), stand (b), stand/sit (c), bend (d), arms (e), walk (f), and all the activities, resting, stand stand/sit, bend arms and walk (g) for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 7 shows rms/amplitude rs in resting (a), stand (b), stand/sit (c), bend (d), arms (e), walk (f), and all the activities, resting, stand stand/sit, bend arms and walk (g) for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 8 shows the percentage of good qrs complex in resting and daily activity for zephyr strap (i), polar strap (ii), numetrex shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 9 shows the autocorrelation value for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv),in walking (f), arms(e), stand (b), bend (d), stand/sit (c) and resting (a). fig.10 shows the amplitude rs (a(v)) in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k), jump (l), and all the activities, mid-speed, fast-speed, torso move, racket and jump (m) for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 11 shows rms/amplitude rs in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k), jump (l), and all the activities, mid-speed, fast-speed, torso move, racket and jump (m) for zephyr strap (i), polar strap (ii), numetrex shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 12 shows the percentage of good qrs complex in strong physical activity for zephyr strap (i), polar strap (ii), numetrex shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 13 shows the autocorrelation value zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv) in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k) and jump (l). fig. 14 shows rms/amplitude rs in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k), jump (l), and all the activities, mid-speed, fast-speed, torso move, racket and jump (m) for the shirt (iv), black column and the shirt without silicone rubber (v), white column. detailed description of the invention a target of the present invention is the monitoring of the user in physical activity on a continuous and non-invasive mode, without adding any restrictions. thus, the sensor 1 of the present invention allows measuring the electrical physiological signals during physical activity. as mentioned above, a first aspect of the invention relates to a sensor according to claim 1. the term "sensor" as used herein, refers to a component that receives physiological signals and transforms them into electrical signals. the term "electrode" as used herein, refers to the area of the conductive layer that is in contact with the skin and wherein the physiological signal is received. the term "track" as used herein, refers to the area of the conductive layer where the electrical connector is located. the track transmitters the physiological signal from the electrode area to the electrical connector. the term "electrical connector" as used herein, refers to an electromechanical device which provides a separable interface between two electronic subsystems, sensor and electronic instrument, without an unacceptable effect on signal integrity. the term "anti-slip material" as used herein, refers to a material with a material/skin friction coefficient of al least 0.5. in a preferred embodiment, the anti-slip material is silicone rubber. the term "hot melt adhesive" as used herein, refers to a thermoplastic, non-structural adhesive that flows when heated and hardens and strengthens as it cools. the term "screen printing", as commonly known in the art, refers to a process made using a stencil in which image or design is print on a very fine mesh screen and the printable material is squeegeed onto the printing surface through the area of the screen that is not covered by the stencil. traditionally the process was called screen printing or silkscreen printing because silk was used in the process. thus, "silk printing", "screen printing" and "silk screen printing" are synonymous among them. in an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, the conductive layer 2 is made of conductive material, selected from conductive fabric. in another embodiment, it is provided a sensor 1 adapted to be integrated in a garment 7 so as to be placed in contact with skin 12 of a user during the use of the garment 7 , wherein said sensor 1 comprises a conductive layer 2 to be placed in contact with the skin 12 for receiving physiological signals comprising at least:an electrode 3 ; a track 4 ; and an electrical connector 5 connected with the track 4 ; wherein the electrode 3 of the conductive layer 2 comprises a plurality of orificies 6 or grooves 11 in a predefined pattern filled with an anti-slip material. preferably the electrode 3 of the conductive layer 2 comprises a plurarity of orificies. according to an embodiment the electrode 3 and the track 4 are made of the same or different material. in a preferred embodiment the electrode 3 and track 4 independently from each other is a conductive fabric comprising conductive fibers and non conductive fibers. in a preferred embodiment, the electrode 3 and the track 4 refer to a conductive fabric made of conductive fibers. in other preferred embodiment, the electrode 3 and track 4 refer to a conductive fabric made of conductive fibers and non conductive fibers. preferably, the conductive fibers are made of silver coated nylon (such as xstatic® yarns from laird sauquoit industries) and the non conductive fibers are made of nylon. non limiting examples of conductive fibers are fiber made of silver, copper, nickel, stainless steel, gold, non conductive fibers coated with a conductive material or mixtures thereof. non limiting examples of coating conductive materials are silver, cooper, nickel, stainless stell, gold and silicone rubber loaded with carbon or silver powder. non limiting examples of non conductive fibers are wool, silk, cotton, flax, jute, acrylic fiber, polyamide polyester, nylon and /or with elastic yarns (such as lycra® branded spandex from invista™ s.a.r.l). the conductive layer with conductive and non conductive fibers are not only more flexible than the conductive layer formed from metal fibers only, but also tend to be lighter and more resistant to oxidation. because the fibers can be knit tightly, the electrical conductivity of the fabric can be maintained despite a partial loss of the conductive coating on particular threads, whereas in metal fiber conductive fabrics, the fabric may lose operability after a break in one of the fibers, particularly if the fibers are spaced far apart. the amount of metal in the fabric is a compromise between the demand to increase the conductivity and the necessity to improve the touch sensation of the cloth. as a result of the interlacing of fibers, the fabric shows a plurality of orifices 6 among fibers. according to an embodiment, the electrode is drilled or grooved in order to make additional orifices 6 or grooves 11 or to make larger the orifices 6 of the electrode in a predefined pattern. the plurality of orificies 6 or grooves 11 present different pattern as circular, sinusoidal pattern, straight lines pattern, hexagon pattern and other different geometric shapes pattern, or a combination thereof. the plurarity of orificies 6 form a matrix random or organized. the presence of such orifices 6 or grooves 11 in the conductive layer results in an improvement of the elasticity of the layer. by filling the conductive layer orifices 6 or grooves 11 with the silicone rubber it is reached an improvement in the adherence of the sensor to the skin and at the same time it is improved the signal measured, because the noise of the signal is reduced. the silicone rubber before the process of cured is in a liquid state. when the silicone is in the liquid state is printing in the fabric. this means that the union silicone-fabric is an union without an adhesive. the electrically conductive layer is integrated into the fabric. the silicone in the liquid state when is printing in the fabric is capable to penetrate in the orifices of the fabric, anchoring with the structure of the conductive layer. when the orificies 6 or grooves 11 are filled, the silicone rubber present a flat or relief profile. in a preferred embodiment the silicone rubber shows a relief profile. in a preferred embodiment the silicone rubber is a silicone rubber with molecular weight comprised between 400 g/mol and 600 g/mol. as decribed above the sensor 1 is to be placed in contact with the skin 12 . in a preferred embodiment the proportion of conductive layer 2 to be in contact with the skin is comprised between 50% and 80% of the conductive layer and the proportion of the silicone rubber to be in contact with the skin 12 is comprised between 20% and 50% in respect to the total conductive layer 2 . in a most preferred embodiment the proportion of conductive layer 2 to be in contact with the skin 12 is comprised between 60% and 70% of the conductive layer 2 and the proportion of the silicone rubber to be in contact with the skin 12 is comprised between 30% and 40% in respect to the total conductive layer 2 . in a preferred embodiment the track 4 and the electric connector 5 are covered with an insulating material 8 . in sensor on contact with the skin of the user the electrode/skin resitance is one of the elements to determine the noise of the signals. in a preferred embodiment the resistance of the electrode 3 is comprised between 1 ω and 10 ω. in a more preferred embodiment the resistance of the track 4 is comprised between 1 ω and 50 kω. a second aspect is a device comprising at least one sensor 1 and an electronic instrument 14 for receiving and collecting and/or storing and/or processing, and/or transmitting data from said sensor. using the sensor, the physiological signals detected can be at least one of the following data: cardiac pulse, respiratory frequency, electrodermal response (edr), measures electrical skin conductivity, electrocardiography (ecg), electromyography (emg). these signals refer to electrical signals produced in the body. preferably the data are ecg data. a third aspect is a garment 7 which integrates the device of the invention. in an embodiment of the third aspect, the garment 7 is designed for applying a pressure equal or higher than 2 kpa. in another embodiment the garment 7 comprises two layers, an inner and an outer layer 13 , and the outer layer 13 compresses the sensor to the body with at least 2 kpa. in a most preferred embodiment the outer layer 13 comprises a system to regulate the presure. preferably, the inner layer has low elasticity and the outer layer 13 has high elasticity. the inner layer is comprised of a blend of synthetic fiber and spandex, wherein the synthetic fiber comprises 85% to 90% by weight of the composite elastic material and most preferably 87% to 89%, and wherein the spandex comprises 10% to 15% by weight of the composite elastic material, and most preferably 11% to 13%. the outer layer 13 is comprised of a blend of synthetic fiber and spandex, wherein the synthetic fiber comprises 92% to 97% by weight of the composite elastic material and most preferably 94% to 96%, and wherein the spandex comprises 3% to 8% by weight of the composite elastic material, and most preferably 4% to 6%. the outer layer 13 compresses the sensor to the skin, and the stability and fixation of the sensor 1 are improved. in an embodiment of the third aspect, the track 4 of the conductive layer 2 of the sensor 1 is placed between the inner and the outer layer 13 of the garment, and the electrode 3 is over the inner layer of the garment, the electrode 3 being able to be in contact with the skin 12 of the user of the garment 7 . the sensor 1 can be prepared by a process comprising the steps of: a) die cutting a conductive layer of conductive fabric; b) adding a hot melt adhesive on one surface of the conductive layer; c) screen printing with an anti-slip silicone rubber on the the orificies 6 or grooves 11 of the electrode 3, at a temperature comprise between 10-30°c; and d) curing the silicone, preferably for up two minutes at a temperature comprised between 130-190°c. the process can further comprise the step of screen printing with an silicone rubber loaded with an conductive material to form the track 4 . the orifices 6 pattern of the electrode 3 is illustrated in fig. 1a. fig 1b shows a preferred grooves pattern 11 of the electrode 3 . fig. 1c illustrates an electrode 3 with the orifices 6 filled with silicone rubber, wherein the electrode 3 shows the silicone rubber in a predefined pattern on their surface in a relief profile. therefore, the silicone rubber anchorages with the fabric of the electrode, through the filling of the orifices. fig. 2 shows an exploited perspective view of a sensor 1 wherein the conductive layer 2 comprises the electrode 3 and track 4 . as mentioned above, the electrode 3 present circular orifices 6 filled with silicone rubber. the electrical connector 5 is in contact with the track 4 of the conductive layer 2 and the track 4 can be covered with an insulating material 8 . the electrical connector 5 comprises a first and second portion, wherein the first portion comprise a female-type clip portion 9 and the connector second portion may comprise a male-type stud portion 10 , which portions mate with each other. alternatively, the connector first portion may comprise a male-type stud portion and the connector second portion may comprise a female-type clip portion, which portions mate with each other. typically, when the sensor 1 is integrated in a garment 7 , male a female portions of the electrical connector are placed on the opposite face of the garment each other. thus, the male or female portion which is placed in the inner face, which will be in contact with the skin 12 of the user, is covered with an insulating material 8 , which also covers the track 4 of the conductive layer 2 . fig. 3a illustrates a cross-section of the sensor 1. the cross-section of the sensor 1 shows the electrode area 3 and the circular orifices 6 filled with silicone rubber. the track 4 is made of the same material than the electrode 3. the track and the electrode are made of conductive fabric. the sensor is in contact with the skin 12. fig. 3b illustrates a cross-section of an embodiment of a sensor 1 . in this embodiment the electrode is made of conductive fabric and the track 4 is made of silicone rubber loaded with a conductive material. fig. 4 illustrates an elevation view of the garment 7 with two sensor 1 placed near the chest area. the outer layer 13 of the garment 7 presses the sensor with at least 2 kpa. fig. 5 illustrates a cross-section elevation view of a connection between an embodiment of a sensor 1 according to the present invention and an electronic instrument 14 . the sensor 1 is connected to the electronical connector 5 using a female-type clip portion 9 and a male-type stud portion 10. throughout the description and claims the word "comprise" and variations of the word, are not intended to exclude other technical features, additives, components, or steps. additional objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the description or may be learned by practice of the invention. the following examples and drawings are provided by way of illustration, and they are not intended to be limiting of the present invention. reference signs related to drawings and placed in parentheses in a claim, are solely for attempting to increase the intelligibility of the claim, and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claim. comparative example between a garment with the sensor of the invention and other garments with fabric sensor technology zephyr™ hxm (made by zephyr technology corporation) (i), polar team 2 (made by polar electro, oy.) (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (made by textronics, inc.) (iii) and the shirt (iv), wherein the track and the electrode are made of conductive fabric and the electrode area has the orifices filled with silicone rubber, were tried. the numetrex® cardio-shirt is a shirt with textile electrodes knitted into the fabric. the zephyr™hxm strap and polar team 2 strap are straps with textile electrodes. the zephyr™hxm strap includes an electrode and a resilient compressible filler provided between the garment and the electrode such that, in use, the electrode is held substantially in place against the skin when the garment moves relative to the user's skin. the polar team 2 strap includes a contact layer including conductive fibres, and a moisture layer for retaining moisture on top of the contact layer. the test protocol in which performed activities were divided in different levels of physical exigency: resting, daily activity and strong physical activity. the subject was monitored with a device compatible with all the straps and shirts tested. the exercises of the protocol were defined as following: resting (a): the subject remained lay down in a table for 30 seconds. daily activity is defined by: stand (b): the subject stood on his feet still for 20 seconds without moving. sit down/stand up (c): the subject sat down and stood up of a chair 4 times, remaining 3 seconds in each state. bend down (d): the subject bent down 3 times, always in the same way (without flexing his knees). arm movement (e): the subject moved his arms in different directions (straigt, horizontal and vertical) 3 times each. walk (f): the subject walked at a aproximate speed of 3km/h for 20 seconds. strong physical activity (h) is defined by: moderate-speed running (i): the subject ran at a speed of 6km/h during 20 seconds. fast-speed running (j): the subject sped up his pace until he reached 10km/h, then he stayed running at this speed during15 seconds. strong arm movement (racket move) (k): the subject moved his arm strongly simulating hitting a ball with a racket (with both arms), doing this movement 5 times. torso turning (l): keeping the feet in the same position, the subject turned his torso in both directions, 5 times each. jumping (m): the subject jumped high, he will run two or three meters and then he will jumped again. he repeated this movement 5 times. strong physical activity, were more physical demanding than the dayly activity. it is also important to underline that the subject sweated during these exercises, so all of the results were in these conditions. all the exercises done in the resting and daily activities were with the strap or shit put directly onto the subject (no sweat) and all the strong physical activity was done with the strap or shirt worn by the subject when he was already sweat. when the different electrocardiographic signals were obtained with each shirt or strap were performed a sort of measures over these signals to evaluate the different technologies. the measures performed on the signals were (for each exercise of each activity): visual measures this measure is a direct recognition, just by watching the signal, of the quality of the signal acquired in terms of morphology and beats detected. this visual recognition is also used to identify what beats (qrs complexes) are recognizable as beats and which of them are too noisy to be recognized by a cardiologist. a total of 250 beats were analyzed for resting and daily activity and for strong physical activity. a total of 500 beats were analyzed. measures over the signal these measures were made on the signal registered in each exercise of each activity session. these measures involve manual and automatic analysis of the recorded signals. autocorrelation: the signal was segmented each 3 seconds with an overlap of 2 seconds between blocks and the autocorrelation was done of each block. this measure follows the next formula: where x is a signal of n samples. then it's normalized regarding to the value of r x (0). then we obtain the autocorrelation maximum that it's not the one in r x norm (0), because it's sure that we have a maximum in this point because the signal is compared with itself without shift. this index give us a measure of how much does the signal resemble to a shifted itself (starting from the premise that a heartbeat and the next one are very similar). in this way, values close to 1 show that the signal is very similar to a shifted copy of itself, so it's clean of noise, while low values closet o zero show that the signal is corrupted by noise. t-p segment rms: the rms (root mean square) of the t-p segment was calculated in between heartbeats (aprox. 20 segments). this measure was done for each exercise and, averaged, give an estimate of the noise in the signal, particularly in resting state, because the t-p segment is isoelectric. these measures were done manually (to select the beginning and end of each segment). in those signals where the t wave was not present (zephyr™ hxm and polar team 2 straps and numetrex® cardio-shirt in resting and daily activity), the segment is defined between two consecutive heartbeats. this value has to be as low as possible but has to be contextualized with the qrs amplitude (see the point rms/amplituders). maximum t-p segment: it measures the maximum peak of noise of the different t-p segments. this value was useful to see if high peaks of noise contaminate our signal. maximum amplitudes: the amplitudes of the qrs peaks was measured (r peaks and s peaks, to get rs amplitude) for the beats of each exercise. there was not a preferred value but higher values tend to be better to low ones (low ones are more prone to noise). rms/amplituders: this factor was calculated with the measures explained in the previous points. this index gives us and accurate idea of the noise of the system in the different exercises. it's normalized regarding to the rs amplitude because each shirt/strap captures a different amount of signals, different amplitudes, so rms in the t-p segment has to be contextualized to each sensor strap or shirt. for this value, the lower the better. of all the index and values obtained, the most important ones are rms/amplituders and autocorrelation because both of them are very good indicators of the noise that contaminate the signals and how recognizable are the heartbeats in the registered signals. the results were presented divided in three sections: results for resting and daily activity, results for strong physical activity. resting and daily activity fig.6 shows the amplitude rs (a(v)) in resting (a), stand (b), stand/sit (c), bend (d), arms (e), walk (f), and all the activities, resting, stand stand/sit, bend arms and walk (g) for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). the amplitude rs gives an idea of how much signal does our system capture, so a high amplitude rs is better. fig. 6 shows that the shirt captures better signal than the other systems, it works better in dry conditions (this activity session doesn't involves sweating). fig. 7 shows rms/amplitude rs in resting (a), stand (b), stand/sit (c), bend (d), arms (e), walk (f), and resting and daily activity (resting, stand stand/sit, bend arms and walk) (g) for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv).this data is important because the noise is contextualized regarding to the amplituders, and it's a good measure of the snr (signal-to-noise ratio) of the system. the value calculated here is noise-to-signal, so the lower this value is the better.the shirt (iv) show the lowest value. fig. 8 shows the percentage good qrs complex in resting and daily activity for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). fig. 8 determines how many beats are recognizable as qrs at first sight. a total of 250 beats were analyzed for each system, and the results here are the total of the resting and daily activity session (not divided into exercises). the higher the percentage is the better. the highest value it is the value of the shirt (iv). fig. 9 shows the autocorrelation value for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv) in walking (f), arms (e), stand (b), bend (d), stand/sit (c) and resting (a).this information is also important because it is a good indicator of the quality, reproducibility and the similitude between the heartbeats. the closer this value is to 1, the better. the shirt show the closest value to 1. strong physical activity fig.10 shows the amplitude rs (a(v)) in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k), jump (l), and all the activities, (mid-speed, fast-speed, torso move, racket and jump) (m) zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). in strong physical activity, due to the sweat, the amplitude of the signal is more similar between technologies, because the sweat helps the conduction of the electric potentials to the electrode and decreases the impedance of the skin-electrode interface. fig. 11 shows rms/amplitude rs in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k), jump (l), and all the activities, mid-speed, fast-speed, torso move, racket and jump (m) for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). again, we can see here that the shirt has the best results. fig. 12 shows the percentage good qrs complex in strong physical activity for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv). the shirt shows the best results. fig. 13 shows the autocorrelation value for zephyr™ hxm strap (i), polar team 2 strap (ii), numetrex® cardio-shirt (iii) and the shirt (iv) in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k) and jump (l). the shirt shows the best result. in conclusion the shirt seems superior when we are in a situation of dry interface skin-electrode (no sweating), giving a much better signal and more stable than the other systems. in a strong physical situations, all the systems work better in terms of signal capture thanks to the sweat, but the shirt is the one that give a more signal recognizable morphology and stable signal and gives the best result in all of the situations and activities. comparative example between a garment with the sensor of the invention and the garments with the sensor of the invention where the orifices of the electrode area were not filled with silicone rubber. the shirt (iv), wherein the track and the electrode are made of conductive fabric and the electrode area has the orifices filled with silicone rubber, and the shirt without silicone rubber (v) were tried. the protocol followed was the same described above. significant differences were obtained in strong physical activity. fig. 14 shows rms/amplitude rs in mid-speed (h), fast-speed (i), torso-move (j), racket (k), jump (l), and all the activities, mid-speed, fast-speed, torso move, racket and jump (m) for the shirt (iv) and the shirt without silicone rubber. the shirt has the best results, this means less noise and better signal with silicone than without it. the results showed the better adherence to the skin.
|
168-726-922-721-660
|
DE
|
[
"CA",
"WO",
"US",
"AU",
"ES",
"EP",
"DE",
"AT"
] |
A24D3/17,A24F40/20,A24F40/42,A24F40/46,A24F40/50,A61M11/04,A61M15/06
| 1993-08-19T00:00:00 |
1993
|
[
"A24",
"A61"
] |
smoking or inhalation device
|
a device is disclosed for smoking tobacco or another smoking product (13) or for inhaling aerosols released by corresponding substances when they are heated. the substance that constitutes the smoking product is shredded, granulated or otherwise crushed. the smoking product contained in a reservoir (12) that forms a substantially closed chamber (16) is heated by convection by previously heated air up to a temperature below its glow temperature. an electric heating device (8) that forms a heating air generator (7) arranged in a channel is provided with an outlet nozzle (9) for introducing the heated air into the chamber after the air runs through the heating device and absorbs heat energy. the smoking product (13) is spread in a substantially even manner on a saucerlike surface (12) in the chamber (16). the outlet nozzle is arranged in such a way that the heated air that flows out of the nozzle flows directly on to the smoking product and heats it through up to a temperature close to but lower than its glow temperature.
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1. a device for inhaling an inhalable substance comprising: a reservoir defining a substantially closed chamber for containing a particulate including a smoking product; a hot carrier gas generator including a heating appliance for heating a carrier gas thereby generating hot carrier gas, the heating appliance defining an outlet communicating with the chamber of the reservoir for releasing a stream of hot carrier gas into the chamber; means for heating the particulate by convection to a temperature below a glow temperature thereof utilizing the stream of hot carrier gas such that the inhalable substance is released from the particulate; means for at least one of arranging and guiding particles of the particulate such that surfaces of the particles are directly affected by the stream of hot carrier gas; and means for warming volumes of particles of the particulates up to a temperature close to and lower than the glow temperature. 2. the device according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir includes a saucer-shaped surface disposed in the chamber for supporting the particulate such that the particulate is adapted to be distributed thereon in a substantially even and flat manner. 3. the device according to claim 1, further comprising a holding means including one of a mesh, a sieve and a grille and having a supporting surface made of a sintered metal, the holding means being adapted to hold the particulate in position in the reservoir and further being adapted to serve as a filter. 4. the device according to claim 3, wherein the holding means is disposed such that, when the hot carrier gas emerges from the outlet of the heating appliance, it passes through the supporting surface of the holding means before it strikes the particulate. 5. the device according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir is movable at least one of by rotation and by translation and further comprises at least one of: a shallow, cylinder open on one side thereof; and a flat cuboid defining a plurality of compartments. 6. the device according claim 1, wherein: the generator is disposed such that, when the hot carrier gas is emerging from the outlet of the heating appliance, the hot carrier gas substantially strikes an entire surface area of the reservoir covered with the particulate; and the heating appliance is a heating foil element. 7. the device according to claim 1, wherein the heating appliance is configured such that, when the hot carrier gas emerges from the outlet thereof, the hot carrier gas achieves a temperature above the glow temperature of the particulate for a period of time, measured utilizing thermal time constants, which period of time does not lead to a rise in temperature of the particulate to its glow temperature. 8. the device according to claim 1, further comprising control means programmable for maintaining a predetermined outflow temperature of the hot carrier gas from the outlet of the heating appliance, the control means comprising at least one of: means for adjusting a supply of auxiliary energy as a function of a quantity of gas flow through the heating appliance; and a pressure sensor for measuring a quantity of gas flow through the heating appliance. 9. the device according to claim 1, wherein the device defines a passage therein for allowing gravitationally descending sub-quantities of the particulate to pass therethrough and to cross the stream of hot carrier gas in a non-parallel flow direction. 10. the device according to claim 1, further comprising a housing which is transparent adjacent the heating appliance such that, visible through the housing is at least one of a heat glow of the heat appliance and an electrical light activated in response to an activation of the heating appliance. 11. the device according to claim 1, further comprising a suck-off channel having a contractible cross-section at a portion thereof, the portion being made of an elastomer deformable by finger pressure. 12. a device for inhaling an inhalable substance comprising: a reservoir defining a substantially closed chamber for containing a particulate including a smoking product, the reservoir further defining: a suck-in opening for guiding a carrier gas about the particulate; and a suck-off opening for allowing the inhalable substance to be inhaled out of the reservoir; a radiation heating appliance disposed for directly affecting the particulate in the reservoir; and means for at least one of arranging and guiding particles of the particulate such that particles of the particulate are warmed up to a temperature close to and lower than the glow temperature and are streamed along by the carrier gas.
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field of the invention the invention discloses a device for inhaling an inhalable substance. background of the invention the consumption of tobacco products by choice is a common form of recreational/social drug use. the smoking of tobacco does, however, entail the ingestion (through the respiratory system) of typical toxic by-products. smokeable products develop these by-products at combustion temperatures of 800-1000 degrees centigrade; they consist of tar, condensate or heavily volatile carcinogenes as well as carbon monoxide and other toxic inorganic substances- heavy metals, for example; all in constrast to the usually mostly minimal toxic content of the drug itself. experiments have shown that the release of alkaloids and active products (for example nicotine) which contribute to the enjoyment of smoking occur at temperatures as low as 100 degrees centigrade. such devices can also be used in the interests of health (the treatment of addiction to cigarettes, for example) by introducing pharmaceutically effective aerosols (released from substances reached by the air stream) to the air flow during the heating process. hereinafter, "smoking product" refers to any smokeable product, including pharmaceutically effective aerosols. a device already exists, namely the application number ep-a2 358002 or the de-u-92 18 005.1, which heats the smoking product by means of a gas flow, preferably air, which has been electrically preheated. a battery-powered resistance heater has been provided for this purpose. the smoking product is convection heated to a temperature lower than that at which combustion occurs and harmful substances are able to form, or to a temperature at which the formation of these substances is reduced, thus facilitating smoking enjoyment by releasing the relevant stimulating aerosols. in the aformentioned device the smoking product is compressed to a cylindrical mass and heated air flows lenghtwise through the mass, always in the same direction. it should also be noted that it is not possible to move this mass--which varies from lightly to heavily compressed--in relation to the heated gas/fluid or the electrical heating source. the disadvantage is that the heated air affects only the directly exposed surface areas of the smoking product and is thus able to heat only this surface area to the desired temperature, i.e. that at which aerosols are released which contribute to the enjoyment of smoking. after longer periods of exposure to the heated air, the smoking product can become subject to localised overheating. this overheating can in turn lead to carbonisation and combustion and the attendant possibility of the formation of toxic substances. furthermore, the product will remain only partially consumed, since the greater part of it will not have been heated to a sufficient temperature. this not only leads to higher energy consumption (since the periods during which the product is heated are independent from the smoke's flow rate) but also to an inefficient and incomplete consumption of the product itself. given the drawbacks of the current technology it is now the task to create a device of the aforementioned kind which enables, quite simply, a more or the most efficient consumption of a given smoking product and, more particularly, the creation of a desired smoking profile. summary of the invention the invention is contingent upon the recognition that the effective and thorough exploitation of the substance from which aerosols are to be extracted is possible when the smoking product is evenly and, particularly, sequentially heated to a temperature below that at which it will combust and thus release harmful by-products. this condition in particular can be achieved if a relatively finely-distributed quantity of the smoking product--possibly in smaller discrete quantities--is convection heated by carrier gas flow, particularly air, directly onto the product in such a way as to ensure that the volume bodies of smoking product particles can be heated near the surface by the introduced carrier gas, directly affected, and warmed through as most as possible. inasmuch as the smoking product is made of particles, such as, for example, tobacco strands, it may be referred to as a "particulate". this prevents what occurs in cartridge-like assemblies--carrier gas, which has already cooled down, reaches the interior parts of the compressed smoking product and is incapable of heating it at these points to the desired temperature. this is quite clearly inefficient and rules out the use of such devices as a basis for further design. in the aforementioned cartridge-like assemblies, it would also be possible to heat the air to such a temperature that the inner areas of the smoking product would be sufficiently heated. this would, however, as mentioned previously, result in overheating and combustion of the surfaces first reached by the heated air. the resulting by-products are, as we have established, harmful and thus undesirable. the desired temperatures can be achieved if the heat affected surface of a smoking product which has been chosen is large in ratio to the volume of the smoking product surrounded by this surface. a desired smoking profile may be software-determined by means, for example, of user-defined smoking product temperatures, corresponding feed rate of the smoking product as well as an oscillation of the relative position between product and hot air jet. by means of the above mentioned temperature regulation, the formation of organic carcinogenes and the release of inorganic toxins (heavy metals and carbon monoxide) can be stopped or at the very least considerably reduced. an advantageous further development of this invention would be to "pulse" heating; in this way the temperature of the product itself does not rise to that of combustion, when it is taken care of the thermal time constants acting in combination, even if the air is shortly super-heated. in this way it is possible at any time to rapidly reach the temperature at which the most efficient exploitation of the smoking product occurs, thus minimizing the amount of air at the initial phase of the heating process (enriched with only low concentration of aerosol) and corresponding loss of enjoyment for the consumer. the temperature at which the smoking product "glows" provides a good criterion by which we can recognize the process, since the rapidly increasing red and infra-red radiation suggests the regulation or exclusion of hot air flow. this "glow" appears also with the use of inert gas as a heat carrier. by keeping track of the glow, one is able to control the process, even when using air as a carrier gas, since the air flow can be regulated before combustion occurs. in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the entire quantity of the smoking product is distributed in a reservoir with several chambers of roughly equal size. each chamber is convection heated by means of a jet of air which has been pre-heated to the required temperature in a hot air generator. the hot air generator is, in turn, powered by a (preferably) electrical heating appliance. the air to be warmed is sucked or inhaled by the smoker from the air surrounding the device into the hot air generator. in order to heat up the entire quantity of smoking product sequentially and evenly and to be able to extract the maximum quantity of aerosol, discrete quantities are partially heated in lots. for this purpose it is possible to move the hot air jet or stream in relation to the smoking product. the reservoirs containing the smoking product are able to be moved while the hot air stream is fixed; this facilitates simpler operation. a shallow, cylindrical reservoir is slowly revolved by the inbuilt drive unit and thereby exposed in circular sections to the hot air stream. the circular reservoir is divided correspondingly into chambers of equal size, each containing an equal quantity of smoking product. for the generation of individual smoking profiles it is advantageous to be able to control the movement of the smoking product in relation to the quantity and temperature of the supplied air. in order to stabilise the relative position of each discrete quantity of smoking product, it is advisable to use a restraint grille. it is also possible to use pre-fabricated or pre-formed tablets or other flat-shaped bodies which can then be inserted into the device; they hold quantities of smoking product and can be directly affected by gas flow. according to an advantageous further development of the invention, the reservoir forms a shallow cuboid and is provided with cubic compartments. a drive unit would be given to move the reservoir translatorily, thus warming the smoking product equally in each of the chambers. the movement under the hot air jet occurs steadily or gradually (stepped), controlled by a predetermined program. the invention displays--at least in some respects--further advantages and possible directions for subsequent development: in order to achieve constant heating independent of strength or quantity of inhalation of the smoker, flow-rate dependant regulation of electrical energy fed into the hot air generator would be employed. making use of the physical correlation between flow velocity, quantity of fluid flow and flow pressure, the quantity of air transported from the air surrounding the machine into the hot air generator by the sucking or inhalation of the smoker would be measured by a differential pressure sensor and the value fed into a controller which would, in turn, supply the appropriate amount of heating power. in the case of low heat capacity of the heating appliance element, the desired temperature profile can be delivered within short periods of time. the hot air generator allows the air to be heated in an electrical heating appliance, whereby air sucked from the environment will be raised to a temperature above that at which the pyrolytic formation of aerosol occurs in the smoking product. this super-heating is necessary in order to compensate for the inevitable heat loss /time constant between the heating inside the hot air generator and heating of the smoking product. a further possible development improvement: the heating appliance could be manufactured as a strip-shaped foil element. to lower flow resistance and increase surface contact of the foil element with the fluid flow to be heated, the foil would be bent into a u-shape and provided with several circular and/or slot-shaped openings on its surface. the u-shape is parallel to the flow direction of the air to be heated which flows into the u-shaped inlet. an additional improvement could be that the heating appliance be shaped tape-like, lightly bulbous, with side walls on whose surface would be enhancing protuberances such as circular nipples or conical fingers. another advantageous subsequent development of the invention is the employment of an inert gas in the convection heating of the smoking product; that would further reduce the development of harmful substances. optimized exploitation of the smoking product requires an almost isothermal heating of the discrete product quantities. up to a point, physical laws will always result in the areas near the surface of the smoking product being primarily affected when coming into contact with the carrier gas flow. compared to the current technology, this invention displays very even heating of sequentially activated particles with a high degree of penetration relative to particle size, simply by directing the hot air flow onto the smoking product's relative thinness and large surface area. in this text, this fact will also be clarified by the terms "sequentially homogeneous", "equal" or "uniform". when focusing radiation energy onto the volume area of the affected smoking product's zone, the release of aerosols can also be induced. the use of uv/visible light or short-wavelength infra-red radiation heats particles' surfaces to a temperature slightly higher than their interiors (as is the case with the use of hot air flow) since radiation is absorbed at the surface. however, the use of longer wavelength radiation (microwave or radio frequencies, for example) will result in the absorption of radiation energy by the entire volume of the affected smoking product by virtue of (amongst other things) dielectrical losses in the high frequency field. in this way, particle cores become hotter than their surfaces, since the flow of carrier gas still needed for transportation of the smoking products' aerosol tends to cool the surfaces by convection. an almost gradient-free heating of the particles at a given finite depth of penetration can thus be achieved: heated carrier gas is directed onto the particles which are simultaneously exposed to penetrating absorbable radiation energy. this would create such a temperature as to heat the particle cores to an even higher temperature than that of the hot-air affected particle surfaces, causing an increase of the aerosols' vapour pressure inside the particle cores and thus facilitating an increase in aerosol diffusion to the surface and an improvement of efficiency relative to toxicity. shock-pulse super-heating of particle cores by radiation can also be effective: the particle's structure becomes loosened, with the attendant increase of affected surface area. focusing of radiation is usually annular or from at least two canted surfaces. the saucer for the smoking product can be made reflective. it is advisable, when using software-controlled smoking profiles, to exploit the smoking product in several successive "recycling" phases. a feed rate can be established by moving the heat-affected zones of the smoking product in relation to sucked carrier gas volume and nominal temperature whereby the initial "draw" (the smoker's inhalation) requires little or no feed rate, since the smoking product needs to be heated up. when the entire surface area of the smoking product has been affected, the second phase begins--the temperature is increased and a higher feed rate introduced, the latter due to the approaching exhaustion of product. a third and final phase, where all parameters are progressively increased, will find the smoking product fully consumed and no longer smokeable. particularly at high temperatures, it is favourable to have an overlapping oscillation of the relative position between hot carrier gas jet and the affected zone. subsequent advantegeous developments and improvements of the invention will be ennumerated in the sub-claims or will be further detailed in the following text and in the diagrams of the preferred embodiments of the invention. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a longitudinal cross-section through a preferred embodiment of the invention (across the a--a line in fig. 2); fig. 2 shows another cross-section of this realization; fig. 3 to 3f demonstrate further advantageous developments of the invention shown in figs. 1-2; fig. 4 shows another favourable embodiment of the invention in simplified depiction; fig. 5 is a schematic representation of a variation of the version in fig. 4; fig. 6 is a further advantageous realization of the invention in cross-section; fig. 7 is another advantageous embodiment of the invention in cross-section . detailed description of the invention the appliance 1 depicted in fig. 1 as a longitudinal cross-section across the line a . . . a of fig. 2 for the smoking of tobacco or other smoking products is essentially equipped with a hot air generator 7. heated air leaving the hot air generator 7 is used to convection heat the smoking product 13. the smoker inhales from a standpipe 15 the required quantity of air through an inlet 11 provided in the wall of the housing. in this flow path, the hot air generator 7 is integrated in such a way that ambient air sucked through the inlet 11 will reach the hot air generator 7 directly, to then flow along a heating appliance 8. this results in heating of the smoking product in areas near the surface. the air outlet nozzle 9 of the hot air generator 7 is directed into the smoking chamber 16 of the smoking device 1, the outlet being positioned closely to the smoking product 13 in the reservoir 12. at this point, the heated air reaches a temperature at which the smoking product 13 becomes pyrolytically converted to release aerosols. due to the convection heating of the smoking product 13, combustion which usually occurs at a minimum temperature of 800 degrees centigrade (and the attendant formation of harmful products) can be prevented. it is advisable, for the formation of aerosols which contribute to the enjoyment of smoking, to heat the affected particle volumes sequentially, in an essentially even and uniform manner, to their respective pyrolysis temperatures. because of this, the quantity of smoking product 13 in the reservoir 12 of the smoking chamber 16 is divided into several discrete quantities and distributed amongst the individual chambers 14 of the reservoir 12. the drive unit 3 rotates the reservoir 12 so that the discrete quantities of smoking product are sequentially exposed to the hot air jet emerging from the outlet nozzle 9. regardless of whether rotation of the reservoir (pre-programmed by a user-adjustable control unit) occurs steadily or in gradual steps, the quantities of smoking product will be uniformly heated and aerosols extracted with a high degree of efficiency. this provides a uniformly high degree of smoking enjoyment coupled with a highly efficient exploitation of the smoking product and, conversely, negligible losses. in order to fully exploit the smoking product, a uniform temperature of the hot air stream independent of inhalation strength is essential. a regulator is provided for this purpose; the pressure sensor 6 measures the flow velocity within the hot air generator 7 for the regulation of the (preferably electrically powered) heating appliance 8. the pressure sensor 6 is connected to the flow path by means of a tube 5. to operate the smoking device 1, a battery 2 is provided for the drive unit 3 and the electronic module 4. the control panel 17, equipped with buttons, enables easy on/off switching of the device 1 and the adjustment of the required hot air's temperature range or of the drive unit's speed. in this manner it is possible, e.g. via software, to very simply choose a particular smoking profile. the envisaged filter 10 inside the standpipe 15 restrains undesired particles circulating within the smoking chamber 16. fig. 2 is a cross-section along the line a . . . a of fig. 1. the saucer-like, shallow cylindrical reservoir 12 is divided into several equal segments 14, each being filled with roughly equal quantities of the smoking product 13. figs. 3, 3a-f depict further favourable developments of the invention, showing optimized realisations of the heating appliance 8 from figs. 1-2 in schematic form. the heating appliance 8 is a foil element (fig. 3); the foil 24 is u-shaped and air flows between the inner sides of the u. air flow 23 is admitted through the apertures 25a-d, an implementation or a combination of circular and/or geometrical slots. the heating foil 24 is capable of an advantageously low heat capacity, thus optimising the conditions required for the generation of particular smoking profiles, for the maximum possible consumption of the smoking product, and to facilitate the extraction of the remaining aerosol from chamber 16 without releasing new aerosol from the smoking product 13. in the event that the electrical heating appliance 8 were to be designed as a compact cuboic heating element or, more particularly, as a thin-walled hollow body 18, 20 with linear or bulbous walls, the surface-area increasing nipples 19 or fingers 21 would facilitate increased heat transfer to the through-flowing air. at the same time a mechanically advantageous stabilisation of the heating element within the flow channel would be accomplished (figs. 3e and 3f). contacts 22 are provided for the connection of the heating appliance 8 to the control unit of the smoking device. when the smoking product's position remains static, the relative movement between the hot air stream and the smoking product (necessary for the optimized exploitation of the latter) is effected by movement of the hot air stream. this is depicted, in cross-section, in figs. 4 and 5. the smoking product 13 is placed on a saucer-like, porous and permeable surface 26.1 or on a fine-meshed sieve 26.2. the hot air generator 7 is swivel-mounted in such a way that its air outlet nozzle is able to be directed roughly onto the entire permeable surface 26.1 beneath the smoking product (fig. 4) or directly onto the smoking product's entire surface as in fig. 5. fig. 6 depicts a further subsequent conception of the invention in cross-section, whereby a quantity of smoking product 13 descends gravitationally (and becomes distributed into small amounts 13.1) via a pre-heatable reservoir 30 into a sieve-like storage compartment 27. hot air from the hot air generator 7 is directed into the sieve-like storage compartment 27 substantially at right angles to the direction of the descending quantities of smoking product; in this way the relative movement between smoking product and hot air jet can be simply achieved and the smoking product thus optimally activated for the release of aerosols. an anchor-like swizzlestick 31 for stirring and kneading in the storage compartment 27 helps to rearrange the smoking product's particles and exposes them once again to the hot air stream before they at last leave the storage compartment 27 as consumed smoking product 28. subsequently required smoking product is supplied by means of a plunger 29. fig. 7 depicts a variation of the smoking device fitted with radiation heating 32. the radiation transversely affects the smoking product 13 which descends into the smoking chamber 16 in smaller lots. the stick of smoking product "burns off" in a downward direction, starting from the top, to release the desired quantities of aerosols. inhaled ambient air passing through the standpipe 11 flows in a direction opposite to the descent of the smoking product's subsequently consumed quantities 28, and reaches the smoker via the standpipe 15 enriched with aerosols. regulation of radiation intensity is achieved in the same way as that of the heating current (as previously described), by measuring the quantity of consumed ambient air required for smoking. to reduce radiation power, it is advisable to preheat the air inhaled into the smoking chamber 16 by means of a previously described hot air generator (not depicted); consumed quantities 28 of the smoking product fall through a grille 34 into a reservoir 33 and are removed as ash-like waste 35. in another variation of the device (not shown), the housing adjacent to the heating appliance would be transparent so that its glow would be visible when the heating is activated. the heating would, at best, be fixed to the end of the device farthest from the user in order to create the psychological impression of conventional smoking. this effect could also be obtained or enhanced by the appropriate use of a light-emitting diode (led), most suitably red or orange, which would be activated with the heating appliance. an additional advantageous subsequent development of the invention would enable the user to choose or shift the individual smoking profile to that of a cigarette or water pipe/hookah. the principal subjective difference between these traditional smoking methods is that cigarette smokers inhale relatively small quantities of highly concentrated smoke through a mouthpiece or filter into the mouth and pharyngeal cavity. further inhalation of fresh air then forces the smoke deeper into the lungs and bronchioles. the water pipe or hookah, on the other hand, allows the user to inhale larger quantities of aerosols with conversely smaller quantities of fresh air thereafter. compared to a water pipe, cigarettes have a relatively high flow resistance. this causes the drawn-in cheeks and puckered lips typical to inhalation of cigarette smoke due to the (even at low flow rates) relatively high underpressure. the invention's advantage is that it provides very low flow resistance. the experience of smoking is thus not unlike that of a large water pipe. in order to achieve a more cigarette-like smoking profile, especially a soft silicon tube could be connected to the suction standpipe. this would allow the user, while smoking, to pinch the tube with the fingers and thus vary the amount and underpressure of smoke to be inhaled. in this way the decisive subjective-psychological advantages of traditional smoking methods would be simply and variably combined. the invention's possibilities are, of course, not limited to the examples given here. a multitude of variations making use of and being within the scope of the invention could be imagineable, even those with fundamentally different construction methods.
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169-861-524-714-412
|
RU
|
[
"EP",
"WO",
"US"
] |
B64C39/02,B64C27/20,B66F19/00,B66F11/00,B64C29/00,B64C30/00,B64C27/04
| 2009-04-24T00:00:00 |
2009
|
[
"B64",
"B66"
] |
airlift
|
the airlift comprises an engine-propeller unit and a means for holding the engine-propeller unit in relation to the earth's surface, which means is attached to the engine-propeller unit on the axis of rotation of the propeller above the center of gravity of the engine-propeller unit. the means for holding the engine-propeller unit in relation to the earth's surface comprises either a rope only or a rope and an arm, which are attached inside the engine-propeller unit, or a rope and a frame that encompasses the engine-propeller unit entirely or in part.
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an airlift comprising an engine-propeller unit including a propeller (2) and a power package (3), and means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, being fixed on the power package (3) in the axis of rotation of the propeller (2), wherein the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface includes a wire rope and a frame (27) fixed above the center of gravity of the engine-propeller unit, and the power package (3) is placed inside the frame (27). an airlift comprising an engine-propeller unit including a frame or a hollow cylinder (1) and a propeller (2), and means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, being fixed on the inside of the frame or the hollow cylinder (1) in the axis of rotation of the propeller (2), wherein the airlift also comprises at least one electric motor having a ring-like stator part (17) embracing the frame or the hollow cylinder (1), and the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is fixed above the center of gravity of the engine-propeller unit. the airlift as set forth in claim 2, wherein the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface are made in the form of a wire rope. the airlift as set forth in claim 2, wherein the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface are made in the form of a wire rope and an arm comprising two knees (23, 24) joined in series and a drive (25) to adjust the angle between the knees, one knee (23) of the arm being connected to the wire rope and the other knee (24) fixed inside the frame or the hollow cylinder (1) and capable of rotating around the propeller's axis of rotation. the airlift as set forth in claim 1, wherein the engine-propeller comprises two propellers (2) and the frame (27) of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is fixed below both propellers (2). the airlift as set forth in claim 1, wherein the engine-propeller unit is located inside the frame of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface. the airlift as set forth in claim 1, wherein the engine-propeller unit comprises an electric motor and a bearing support placed in the stator part of the electric motor for the frame of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, the frame is fixed by means of a spherical or gimbal joint at the end of the bearing support, and the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface comprise additionally an electric cable that connects a ground-based electric power source to the electric motor of the engine-propeller unit. the airlift as set forth in claim 7, wherein the bearing support is made hollow to place therein the electric cable that connects a ground-based electric power source to the electric motor of the engine-propeller unit. the airlift as set forth in claim 1, wherein the engine-propeller unit comprises two propellers and the frame of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is fixed in between the first and the second propellers.
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field of the invention the invention relates to the field of helicopter construction, more specifically, to helicopters with a cord for retention of the helicopter relative to the earth's surface. background of the invention the airlift is known ( us patent no. 3223358 published on december 14, 1965 ) comprising an engine-propeller unit and means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface. the means is fixed on the engine-propeller unit at a point in the propeller rotation axis. a shortcoming of that technical solution consists in that the control element to retain the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is fixed below the center of gravity of the engine-propeller unit. due to this, any tilting of the engine-propeller unit (under the effect of any perturbations) results in that the force of gravity acting on the engine-propeller unit produces an overturning moment relative to the point at which the retention means are fixed to the unit. as a result, the airlift is characterized by a low mobility, as well as moderate reliability and safety in the process of operation. an airlift is also known from fr 2216173a1 , which is regarded as the closest prior art, comprises an engine-propeller unit, including propeller and a power package, and means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, fixed on the power package in the axis of rotation of the propeller. a shortcoming of that technical solution consists in that the control element to retain the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is fixed in the center of gravity of the engine-propeller unit. due to this, any tilting of the engine-propeller unit (under the effect of any perturbations) results in that the force of gravity acting on the engine-propeller unit, does not form a restoring moment to restore the vertical position of the engine-propeller unit. as a result, the airlift is characterized by a low mobility, as well as moderate reliability and safety in the process of operation. summary of the invention the technical object at which the proposed invention is aimed is a stabilizing moment arising in cases of tilts of the airlift in the air, and thereby an increase in stability of the airlift to perturbations that lead to tilting in the course of operation. this technical object is achieved by the subject matters of the independent claims 1 and 2. further embodiments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims. the afore-said technical effect is achieved through that in the airlift comprising the engine-propeller unit and the means for retention of the unit relative to the earth's surface, fixed on the unit in the propeller's rotation axis, the retention means being located above the center of gravity of the engine-propeller unit. the retention means may be fixed using an articulated joint, for instance, a spherical or gimbal joint. in some situations, the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface may be fastened rigidly, e.g., by means of pinching. additionally, to achieve the afore-said technical effect, the engine-propeller unit of the airlift can comprise a frame or a hollow cylinder on which at least one electric motor is mounted. the motor has a ring-like stator part embracing the frame or the hollow cylinder while the retention means are fixed inside the frame or the hollow cylinder with a capability of departure from the axis of rotation of the motor rotor in the case of a tilt or shift of the airlift relative to the ground surface. the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface may have different designs. in the simplest embodiment, the means is made in the form of a wire rope. alternatively, the above means can be a combination of a wire rope and an arm consisting of two knees joined in series, one of which is connected to the wire rope and the other is fixed inside the frame or hollow cylinder and capable of turning around the propeller's axis of rotation, in particular, actuated by its drive, and a drive to control the angle between the knees. as a further alternative, the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface can be a combination of a wire rope and a frame fixed with the help of a spherical or gimbal joint on the engine-propeller unit. the frame can be made capable of embracing the above unit, that is, the unit can be placed inside the frame. such being the case, the engine-propeller unit can comprise an electric motor and a bearing support mounted in the stator part of the electric motor for the frame of the above retention means, the frame being fixed with the help of a spherical or gimbal joint on the butt end of the bearing support, while the retention means can comprise an electric cable connecting a ground-based electric power source with the electric motor of the engine-propeller unit. the bearing support can be made hollow to place therein the electric cable connecting the ground-based electric power source with the electric motor of the engine-propeller unit. the airlift's engine-propeller unit can comprise two propellers and the frame of the retention means can be fixed on the unit in between the first and the second propellers. also, the frame of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface can be attached beneath the propeller, or propellers if the unit comprises two propellers. in particular, the engine-propeller unit can comprise a drive made with a body on which the frame of the above means is fixed. the engine-propeller unit does not necessarily comprise an electric motor. as an alternative, an internal combustion engine can be used with fuel supplied via a pipeline that forms part of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface. moreover, the use of an electric motor does not imply supplying electricity from the earth's surface. an electric power source can be placed on the airlift or the engine-propeller unit or the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface. brief description of the drawings the invention is described with reference to the following drawings: fig. 1 is a schematic representation of the airlift in which the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface are fixed inside a frame or a hollow cylinder of the engine-propeller unit; fig.2 is a detailed picture of the arrangement to fix the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface inside the frame or hollow cylinder, and the fixation of propeller hubs on rotor parts of the electric motors; fig.3 depicts a diagram of forces acting on the airlift under external disturbances; fig.4 presents a diagram of the airlift with means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, such means comprising a tether and an arm; fig.5 displays a picture of the airlift with means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, such means comprising a tether and a frame fixed on the body of the drive of the engine-propeller unit; fig.6 presents a picture of the airlift with means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, such means comprising a tether and a frame embracing one of two propellers of the engine-propeller unit; fig.7 displays mutual arrangement of the frame of the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit and the engine-propeller unit under conditions of a tilted engine-propeller unit; fig.8 presents a picture of the airlift with the means for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface in the form of a tether and a frame embracing the engine-propeller unit with two propellers. description of the invention the airlift as depicted in fig. 1 consists of an engine-propeller unit comprising a frame or a hollow cylinder (1), propellers (2), a power package (3), and means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, fixed on the above unit. the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is made in the form of a wire rope or a carrying electric cable with the upper end fixed inside the frame or hollow cylinder (1) in such a way that the attaching point is located in the axis of rotation of the propeller (2) upward of the center of gravity of the above unit and the low end of the wire rope or the carrying electric cable fixed on the land surface or a transport vehicle. normally, one or two propellers with a fixed pitch is (are) employed in an engine-propeller unit. to meet some special objectives where a higher efficiency is required, variable-pitch propellers can be employed. the propellers (2) are caused to be rotated by electric motors of the power package (3). in the simplest version of embodiment, one electric motor rotates one propeller whereas more sophisticated versions can use two or more motors per propeller. such versions may result from special requirements, e.g. redundancy, yet in a general way the configuration with one motor features higher efficiency from the viewpoint of decreasing the weight of the engine-propeller unit. electric power to the motors of the power package is supplied by means of the electric cable (5), which can form part of the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller relative to the earth's surface. additionally, the means (4) can also comprise wires for data transmission for, e.g. airlift control, and wires from devices aboard the airlift, including fiber-optical and coaxial cables. the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface is fixed on the above unit so as to provide the capability of the means (4) to depart from the propeller's axis of rotation under conditions of a tilt or shift of the airlift relative to the earth's surface. to this end, the means (4) can be fixed with the help of an articulated joint, for instance, a spherical joint (6), whose advantage is simplicity, or a gimbal joint (pos.22 in fig.2 ). in some cases, where a flexible wire rope or a conducting rope is used, the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface can be fixed rigidly, e.g., by means of pinching. to prevent any touching between the frame or the hollow cylinder (1) and the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface, which may arise in the case of a tilt of the airlift's engine-propeller unit as a result of external disturbance, for instance, lateral air stream, the airlift is fitted with position detectors that produce a signal characterizing the position of the means (4) relative to the frame or the hollow cylinder (1). as such position detectors, induction pickups, optical sensors, capacitive pickups, hall sensors, potentiometer transducers, tension gauges, etc. can be used. if induction pickups or hall sensors are employed, the stationary part of the sensor (7) is placed on the frame or hollow cylinder (1) while a mobile part of the sensor (8) is attached to the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface. when using other sensors, they can be placed on solely either the frame or hollow cylinder (1), or the above means (4). based on signals from such sensors, the airlift control system precludes any hazardous touching owing to forced changing of relative positions of the frame or hollow cylinder (1) and the means (4). on the frame or hollow cylinder (1), adjustable aerodynamic surfaces (9) can be arranged in the induced flow beneath the propellers (2). they are controlled by means of electric, hydraulic or electrohydraulic steering gear (10). the adjustable aerodynamic surfaces (9) ensure pitch and roll control, as well as turns around the vertical axis. pitch and roll control is necessary for shifting the airlift in space relative to the tethering point, i.e. the low end of the means (4), on the ground or a transport vehicle, whereas to control rotation around the vertical axis is an additional stabilization method to suppress the rotation of the airlift. also, the adjustable aerodynamic surfaces (9) compensate the counter-torque arising in case one of the propellers (2) fails and the power delivered to the other propeller increases. moreover, the adjustable aerodynamic surfaces (9) can be used for correction of disturbing air streams. to prevent rotation of the airlift's engine-propeller unit around the vertical axis, a turn sensor (or turn sensors) (11), e.g. a gyro, acceleration gauge, relative bearing transmitter, side-slip sensor, etc. can be installed on the frame or hollow cylinder (1). based on signals produced by such a sensor, the stabilization system (12) provides differentiated control of the electric motors by reducing the rotation velocity of one propeller and/or raising that of the other propeller. in the case of variable-pitch propellers, the stabilization system (12) performs differentiated control of the propeller pitch by increasing the pitch for one propeller and reducing it for the other propeller. from below, an underframe (13) and space (14) for placement of disposable load (e.g. ir imager, photo and video cameras, antennas, etc.) are arranged on the frame or hollow cylinder (1). to preclude free fall of the airlift, an emergency life-saving parachute system (16) is installed on the upper platform (15) of the airlift. the system comes automatically into action in the case of failure or de-energization of the power package (3). if the engine-propeller unit is embodied with the frame or hollow cylinder (1) (see fig.2 ), an electric motor with a ring-like stator part (17) embracing the frame of hollow cylinder can be mounted on such a frame or hollow cylinder. in such a case, the propellers (2) are placed directly on rotors (18) of the electric motors. each motor comprises a multi-polar stator (17) with coil windings (19), and a rotor (18) with paired poles of permanent magnets (20). the stator is fixed on the frame or hollow cylinder (1) while the rotor (18), on the frame or hollow cylinder (1) by means of bearings (21). as the electric motors, high-torque ones are employed. if required, the engine-propeller unit can be equipped additionally with one or more reduction gearboxes, and in such a case the propeller is installed on the output shaft of the gearbox. the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface can be fixed on the above unit using a gimbal joint (22). under an external disturbance, such as shifting the point of fixation of the low end of the means (4) on the transport vehicle, e.g. while the vehicle is moving, or under the effect of air flows, the airlift gets thrown off a stable condition (as shown in fig.3 ). due to the motion of the airlift relative to the tethering point, a restoring force f b arises automatically, which is a vectorial sum of the traction force t, cable tension force f k , and the weight f o of the equipment placed on the upper platform. the force f b shifts the airlift to a stable position. concurrently, a restoring moment m g arises, being the weight g of the engine-propeller unit multiplied by the arm i g . the restoring moment will be tending to restore a vertical position of the engine-propeller unit while the restoring force will be tending to bring the airlift into a stabilized position. to widen the range of pitch angles of the means (4) fixed inside the frame or hollow cylinder (1), the above means (as shown in fig.4 ) are made in the form of a wire rope and an arm comprising two knees joined in series, one of which (23) is connected to the wire rope and the other (24) is fixed inside the frame or hollow cylinder (1) and capable of rotating around the propeller's axis of rotation. the means (4) are equipped with steering gear (25) to control the angle between the knees, and steering gear (26) to ensure rotating the airlift around the propeller's axis of rotation. operating together, the electric drives ensure the departure of the means (4) by position angle at any azimuth position. when the knee (24) of the arm of the means (4) is approaching the frame or hollow cylinder (1), the airlift control system produces a signal to the arm's electric drive to turn it adequately in the vertical plane. such being the case, the system adjusts itself, ensuring a requisite gap to prevent touching, and the stability under air disturbance, wind or in the course of the flight of the tethered airlift behind the moving transport vehicle, while the steering gear (26) allows providing the airlift's orientation required in view of the specific technical objectives being pursued. as an alternative, the means (4) for retention of the engine-propeller unit relative to the earth's surface can be embodied (as shown in fig.5 ) in the form of a wire rope or a carrying electric cable and a frame (27) attached by means of a spherical or gimbal joint to the above unit. depending on the objectives posed, different frame design modification options can be materialized. in particular, the frame can be designed in such a way that the power package (3) is placed inside the frame and the propellers (2) are located upward of the point at which the frame is attached to the engine-propeller unit. alternatively, the frame can be designed as shown in figs. 6 and 7 , when it is capable of accommodating the power package (3) and one propeller inside, the frame (27) of the means (4) being fixed in between the first and the second propellers. a feature of the above designs of the frame (27) with external fixation on the engine-propeller unit consists in that for any shape of the frame one needs to ensure the location of the frame's center of gravity (together with the equipment installed there, i.e. useful load), g p , in the propellers' axis of rotation at a vertical traction force vector. in certain situations, the frame can be designed as shown in fig.8 , namely, it fully embraces the engine-propeller unit (power package and propeller(s)). the frame (27) is fixed above the air propellers by means of a spherical or gimbal joint at the end of a bearing support, e.g. pipe (28), which goes inside the engine-propeller assembly and at which stators of electric motors of the engine-propeller unit are placed. a pipe (28) is preferable since its hollowness is used for laying an electric power supply cable from the frame (27) of the means (4) to the electric motor.
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170-625-177-308-807
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US
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[
"US"
] |
A01N25/00,A01N25/34
| 1990-05-14T00:00:00 |
1990
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[
"A01"
] |
insect bait station
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an insect bait station comprising a first compartment with a hydrated macel containing at least one species of entomopathogen and a second compartment containing a hydrated water retentive compound layer which acts as a water-reservoir for the entomopathogen.
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1. a device for environmentally sensitive management of noxious insects, comprising in cooperative combination, a first compartment and a second compartment, said first compartment having entomopathogens dispersed in a continuous insect-consumable matrix which does not inactivate said entomopathogens, said second compartment containing a reservoir of water in liquid form for the entomopathogens, said device having two configurations: an upright configuration and an inverted configuration, said first and second compartments separated by a barrier adapted to permit the transfer of water from said second compartment to said first compartment by gravity in said inverted configuration, wherein said first compartment and said second compartment are vertically disposed with respect to one another, said device having a plurality of portals for ingress and egress of the insects. 2. a device of claim 1 in which the insect-consumable matrix is selected from the group consisting of natural and synthetic polymers. 3. a device of claim 2 in which the insect-consumable matrix is selected from the group consisting of agarose, dextran, carrageenan, gellan gum, and guar gum. 4. a device of claim 2 in which the insect-consumable matrix is a polymerized carbopol. 5. a device of claim 2 in which the insect-consumable matrix is a kappa-carrageenan. 6. a device of claim 2 in which the insect-consumable matrix is a heteropolysaccharide. 7. a device of claim 6 in which the heteropolysaccharide is a cation-induced gel of an anionic gellan gum. 8. a device of claim 1 further comprising a water retentive compound dispersed in the insect-consumable matrix of said first compartment. 9. a device of claim 8 in which the water retentive compound is a hydrophilic acrylic, acrylamide, vinyl, polyurethane or starch-based polymer. 10. a device of claim 1, having a water retentive compound in said second compartment. 11. a device of claim 1 in which the entomopathogens are selected from the group consisting of nematodes, bacteria, baculoviruses, and fungal pathogens. 12. a device of claim 11 in which at least one entomopathogen is an insect nematode selected from the group consisting of neoaplectana carpocapsae and heterorhabditis heiothidis. 13. a device of claim 11 in which the entomopathogens are nuclear polyhedrosis viruses. 14. a device of claim 11 in which the entomopathogens are bacillus thuringiensis or the crystal spore complexes thereof. 15. a device of claim 11 in which the entomopathogens are selected from the group consisting of beauveria bassiana, metarrhizium anisopliae, and nomuraea rileyi. 16. a device of claim 1 further comprising at least one agent capable of attracting insects to the device, said agent included in, coated on, or in effective proximity to, said device. 17. a device of claim 1 further comprising at least one agent for stimulating ingestion of the macrogel by the target insect. 18. a device of claim 17 in which said agent is a saccharide selected from the group consisting of glucose, sucrose, mannose, and raffinose. 19. a device of claim 1 comprising as said compartment an insecticidal macrogel having at least one species of insecticidal nematode, a hydrated water retentive compound to provide sufficient water to maintain the viability and infectivity of said nematodes and to maintain the softness and ease of consumption of the macorgel, all dispersed in a layer of gelled polysaccharide; said second compartment consisting essentially of a hydrated water retentive compound; means for permitting liquid water transport from the second compartment to the first compartment; means for entry of insects; and an outer container. 20. a device of claim 19 further comprising a quantity of at least one compound for attracting insects to or stimulating ingestion of the macrogel by insects. 21. a device of claim 19 in which the means for entry are adapted to provide tactile stimulation to cockroaches. 22. a device of claim 19 in which the means for entry are adapted to receive ants and termites.
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background of the invention 1) field of the invention this invention relates to a device for biological control of insects, more particularly to a biological insect bait station wherein insect parasitic nematodes are consumed by insect pests such as cockroaches, ants and termites. 2) description of related art various devices are known in the prior art for control of insects. generally, the prior art bait devices comprise a housing having a top portion and a bottom portion. the bottom portion typically includes means for entry of the insect into the bait device and further typically includes a baiting ingredient or attractant for attracting the insect into the device. after being drawn into the bait device by the attractant, the insect is typically subjected to an insecticide material. the insecticide utilized in the prior art devices is either an ingestible insecticide or a contact insecticide. in the prior art devices, chemicals of questionable environmental compatibility are generally used. it is the object of this invention to provide an insect bait station which uses biological insecticides rather than toxic chemicals. a further object is to provide a method for attracting insects to the bait station, and once they are attracted, to stimulate consumption of the biological insecticide. these and other objects of the invention may be obtained without undue contamination of the environment with toxic chemicals. in particular the device of this invention does not expose the user to hazardous chemicals during transport or installation of the device, and further the device of this invention does not present a waste disposal problem in that the components are naturally occurring, biodegradable materials. summary of the invention these and other objects of the invention are achieved by the provision of a device for environmentally sensitive management of noxious insects in which extermination of the insects is provided by ingestion of natural entomopathogens. the device contains a reservoir of water for the entomopathogens in order to maintain their viability for a time sufficient to effect the desired extermination. the device further comprises attractants and feeding stimulants for the insects. brief description of the drawing the figure illustrates a typical insect bait station. detailed description of the invention the figure shows a representative biological insect bait station in position for use. the configuration can be round, square, rectangular or otherwise. the bait station comprises a container 10 having two compartments 12 and 14, separated by a physical barrier 16, such as a semipermeable membrane or a screen. compartment 14 contains fully swelled water-retentive polymer gel or gel pieces 18. compartment 12 contains biological insecticides such as insect nematodes dispersed in a suitable medium 13. a second screen 20 is placed over compartment 12 to hold the gel in place. a removable cover 22 is provided to prevent evaporation during storage. protective cover 24 surrounds the entire station and is provided with a plurality of portals 26, which may all be the same size and shape or may be of different sizes and shapes. optionally, cover 24 and container 10 are one piece. in one embodiment the insect nematodes initially are suspended in a polysaccharide solution (e.g. a gellan gum) which also contains approximately 25% of swelled and crushed water retentive polymer gel pieces as described above. this suspension is added to a container having a layer of fully swelled water retentive polymer gel, optionally covered with a fine mesh screen. the suspension can be induced to gel by adding cations, preferably divalent cations such as calcium or magnesium ions. once gelled, the insect nematodes are immobilized in a soft, moistening environment which greatly enhances their survival during subsequent usage. the top of the nematode gel is then covered with a soft, fine mesh screen; this screen is, in turn, covered with a removable or peelable water repellent paper or soft plastic to prevent evaporation during storage. before use, the device is put into a tight, dark protective cover made of either plastic or hard paper. the height of this protective cover is about 11/2 times that of the bait station containing insect nematodes. portions of this protective cover are cut out to provide multiple entrance points for insects when placed upside-down. immediately before use, the peelable material on top of the soft screen of the upper compartment is removed and the device is placed upside down in an area infested with insects. the bait stations may be custom designed to suit the particular insects whose control is desired. for example, a cockroach bait station may have a 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch layer of water retentive polymer gel and 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch layer of pathogen dispersion and a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch open area at the bottom. the portals for cockroaches then would be 3/16 inch to 1/4 inch high to provide tactile stimulation to the entering roaches. a suitable attractant for cockroaches would be included in or in effective proximity to the bait station. in the station custom designed for ants and termites the portals would have a height of about 1/16 to about 1/8 of an inch and the pathogen gel would be about 3/8 to about 1/2 inch thick. suitable ant and termite attractants would be similarly provided. by putting the insect bait station upside-down in a dark protective cover, the insect nematodes will stay moist for an extended period to up to 2 months. the presence of water retentive polymer in the bait station will constantly supply water to the nematodes. water is reported to be an excellent attractant for cockroaches. cockroaches can further be attracted to the bait station by specific pheromones. in one application, the pre-made pheromones can be stuck to the side of cover near the cockroach entrance. alternatively, one can simply strike the side of cover with a pheromone "stick". once cockroaches are attracted to the "bait station", the presence of water will then induce them to drink the solution containing insect nematodes. certain sugar derivatives such as raffinose can act as a feeding stimulant. the active ingredient in the insect bait station of this invention comprises the entomopathogens distributed within a gelled matrix. the problem of desiccation of the entomopathogens is substantially ameliorated by their macroencapsulation in the gel. since the entomopathogens are distributed in a continuous insect consumable matrix, along with a source of water for the entomopathogens, their viability is significantly enhanced. the final product is a continuous gel in which the nematodes or the like are embedded, together with a source of moisture, and, optionally, other additives, such as insect attractants, insect feeding stimulants, and such stabilizers as may be required by the contemplated use of the insect bait device. by one process used in this invention, the entomopathogens are suspended in an aqueous solution of a gel-forming matrix in the presence of an inert water retaining polymer. gelation is then induced by whatever means are appropriate for the selected matrix. the resultant insecticidal macrogel then contains a distribution of entomopathogens and water reservoirs. the macrogel may be stored for an indefinite period without adverse effects on the viability of the entomopathogens and may be cut into smaller pieces as desired. the gel-forming matrix is selected from natural, naturally derived, and synthetic polymers, with the provisos that the matrix per se and the gelation conditions are neither harmful to the entomopathogens nor interfere with the effectiveness of the pathogens. suitable gel-forming matrices include, but are not limited to, agarose, carbopols, carrageenan, dextran, guar gum, and other heteropolysaccharides, such as gellan gum. one advantage associated with the use of the natural polysaccharides is that these are often attractive as food for the insects whose demise is desired. a preferred matrix is the cationically gellable heteropolysaccharides, such as those disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 4,326,052 and u.s. pat. no. 4,326,053, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. a suitable variety of this material is available commercially as gel-gro (r) gellan gum from icn biochemicals, cleveland, ohio. an important aspect of the hydromacroencapsulation process is the selection of a gel-forming material which is a liquid at room temperature or at temperatures which are not detrimental to the entomopathogens and which can be induced to gel at a predetermined time by either mixing or spraying with a gelling agent. such controlled gelation is important during manufacturing of the gels to avoid premature gelation and clogging of equipment. during the production of macrogels in discrete containers, a gelling time of 2 to 15 minutes is preferred. the gelation time of the gel-gro (r) gellan gum used in the examples which follow is easily controlled by varying the polymer concentration, the concentration and type of gelling agent, and the temperature. preferably, the gel-gro liquid polymer concentration is between 0.2% and 5.0% by weight, the gelling agent is a cation, and the concentration of gelling agent is from 0.1 mm to 500 mm. most preferably, the polymer concentration is from about 0.6% to 1.2% by weight, the gelling agent is a divalent cation, and the cation concentration is from about 0.5 mm to 25.0 mm. the most preferable conditions result in gelation times of about 1 to 15 minutes. when spraying formulations are desired, a cation concentration in excess of 25 mm is preferred to obtain rapid gelation. suitable divalent cations include barium, calcium, copper(ii), iron(ii), magnesium, manganese, and zinc(ii). monovalent cations such as ammonium, cesium, lithium, potassium, and sodium, may also be used to induce gelation, albeit at higher concentrations. trivalent ions such as aluminum and iron(iii) are also useful. the hydrated, water retentive compound which is incorporated into the gel as the water reservoir for the entomopathogen is typically a water-absorbing polymer, such as a hydrophilic acrylic, acrylamide, polyurethane or starch-based polymer. such polymers, commonly known as hydrogels, will absorb and retain several hundred times their weight in water and will slowly release the absorbed water. representative examples of these materials are california crystals (r), a water-absorbing acrylic polymer available from j & g agrow-tek, rancho cordova, calif. and water grabber(r), a water-absorbing acrylamide from fp products, inc., atlanta, ga. other materials which exhibit similar affinities for water may be substituted. the amount of hydrated, water retentive polymer present in the matrix is generally about 25% to about 75%, although the choice and concentration of pathogen and the envisioned environment may lead to significant departures from these norms. optionally, a heteropolysaccharide, such as gel-gro (r) gellan gum, may be used without water retentive polymer, if the intended use permits of this approach. as previously noted, the entomopathogen is selected from among those pathogens which control noxious insect infestations. baculoviruses, such as nuclear polyhedrosis virus, bacteria, such as bacillus thuringiensis, fungal pathogens, such as beauveria bassiana, metarrhizium anisopliae, and nomuraea rileyi, and nematodes, such as neoaplectana carpocapsae, (also known as steinernema feltiae and steinernema carpocapsae) and heterorhabditis heliothidis are among the more useful pathogens. selection of the entomopathogens is not limited to those described herein, but is well within the purview of one skilled in the art of natural predation. nematodes are particularly well-suited for the practice of this invention. however, the only limitations on the pathogens are that they not be inactivated by the conditions of gelation or the composition of the macrogel. since the entomopathogens will reproduce in the insect host, only a few need be incorporated in a discrete sample of gel to provide control. of course, millions of pathogens may be easily incorporated. in the practice of this invention, we have found that nematode concentrations of up to about 500,000 per milliliter are most useful. for other pathogens, such as bacillus thuringiensis, the gel may contain as much as 20% by weight. a further aspect of the current invention is the optional use of agents capable of attracting insects to the bait station and stimulating the insects to feed on the gels. such agents, also termed baits, can include, for example, foods used in the commercial rearing of insects, pheromones, chemical attractants, and the like. art-recognized insect attractants include sucrose, wheat germ, and bran. in the course of this development, it has been discovered that raffinose is a highly effective feeding stimulant for certain insects. the following examples are presented to illustrate the basic features of the invention but are not intended to, and should not be construed as, placing any undue limitations on the invention as claimed. example 1 a solution of purified gellan gum (gel-gro (r) gellan gum) was prepared by dissolving 0.2 g of the gum in 10 ml of hot deionized, distilled water to make a 2% solution. this solution was cooled and held at 35.degree. to 37.degree. c. a stock of fully swelled and expanded water retentive polymer was prepared by soaking small crystals of a water-swellable acrylic polymer (california crystals) (r) in water for about one day. the swollen crystal gels were then pushed through a wire screen to produce pieces that were approximately 1 mm in length, width, and height. enough water swollen pieces were added to a 1 ml aqueous dispersion containing approximately 10,000 nematodes (neoaplectana carpocapsae) to increase the volume to 2 ml. to this nematode dispersion, 2 ml of the 2 wt % gellan gum solution was added with gentle mixing. 0.2 ml of 20 mm calcium chloride was then added and the resultant mixture quickly poured into plastic tubes. gelation was complete in about ten minutes and the tubes were then capped. when capped, the insecticidal nematode macrogels are stable for at least one year when stored at 16.degree. c. or lower. at room temperature, the macrogels retain biological activity for at least six months. when nematode-containing macrogels without water retentive polymers were uncapped and exposed at room temperature, the macrogels dehydrated rapidly, and after one week, the gels were totally dry and few live nematodes were present. in contrast, uncapped nematode-containing macrogels with water retentive polymer were still moist after one week at room temperature and at least 95% of the nematodes were still alive. example 2 a 2% gellan gum solution was prepared as in example 1. to this solution was added with vortexing an equal volume of the nematode-water retentive polymer dispersion of example 1, also containing 2 mm calcium chloride. the resulting macrogel was then capped and stored below 16.degree. c. example 3 a nematode-containing macrogel was prepared following the procedure of example 2 in plastic test tube caps (1 cm diameter, 1.8 cm height). raffinose (2% by weight) was also present in the nematode-water retentive polymer dispersion. two of these macrogel samples were placed in a large tray (40.times.20 cm, 15 cm high), layered with wood shavings and having both water and gourmet insect diet present. ten german cockroaches (blatella germanica) were introduced into the tray. after 3 days, all the cockroaches were dead. when dissected 4 days later, each contained 10 or more live nematodes within the body. nematode-free macrogel placed in a control tray had no effect on cockroaches. example 4 nematode-containing macrogels prepared as in example 3 were tested for efficacy against a representative cross-section of insect pests. the tests were conducted in 250 ml beakers containing both insect food and a source of water. the results are summarized below. ______________________________________ time nematodes in body insect to kill cavity 10 days later ______________________________________ southern armyworm <2 days 1000 (spodoptera eridania) mexican bean beetle <2 days 500 (epilachna varivestis) black cutworm 1-2 days 1000 (agrotis ipsilon) boll weevil <2 days not counted (anthonomus grandis) tobacco budworm <3 days not counted (heliothis virescens) corn rootworm 1-2 days 250 (diabrotica spp.) tobacco hornworm 1-2 days 10,000 (manduca sexta) ______________________________________ example 5 a 2.0% agarose solution was prepared by dissolving 0.2 g of agarose in 10 ml of distilled water in a boiling water bath for approximately 5 minutes. the solution was cooled to 60.degree. c. and maintained at this temperature in a constant temperature water bath to prevent premature gelation. a stock of fully swelled and expended water retentive polymer was prepared by soaking small crystals of water-swellable acrylic polymer in water for 1 day. the swollen crystal gels were then pushed through a wire screen to produce pieces that were approximately 1 mm in length, width, and height. enough water swollen pieces were added to 1 ml aqueous dispersion containing approximately 10,000 nematodes (neoaplectana caprocapsae) to increase the volume to 2 ml. two ml of agarose solution in a test tube previously maintained at 60.degree. c. were taken out of the water bath and cooled to about 45.degree. c. to this agarose solution, 2 ml of the above nematode-water retentive polymer dispersion were added with vortexing and the resulting mixture was poured immediately into a mold. gelation occurred in about 5 to 10 seconds. the nematode macrogels in agarose were then covered with parafilm. the insect nematode agarose macrogels were stable for at least one year when stored below 16.degree. c. similar insect nematode macrogels have been prepared using carrageenan, agar, kappa-carrageenan, carbopol and guar gum, all with retention of activity. example 6 a 2% gellan gum solution was prepared as described in example 1. enough water swollen pieces of water retentive polymers were added to a 1 ml aqueous suspension containing 4 mm calcium chloride and nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (npv) isolated from diseased wax moth larvae to make a 2 ml solution (final concentration of calcium chloride was 2 mm). this npv-water retentive polymer solution was then added with gentle vortexing to an equal volume of the 2% gellan gum solution and quickly poured into plastic tubes. gelation took approximately 10 minutes and the npv macrogel tubes were then capped and stored at below 16.degree. c. the npv macrogels were stable for at least six months. example 7 a 2% gellan gum solution was prepared as described in example 1. enough water swollen pieces of water retentive polymers were added to a 1 ml solution of crystal-spore complexes (2.5 mg/ml) from bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (bt) containing 4 mm calcium chloride to make a 2 ml solution. to this solution was added, with gentle vortexing, 2 ml of the 2% gellan gum solution and the resultant mixture was poured into plastic tubes. macrogel tubes were then capped and stored below 16.degree. c. the bt crystal-spore macrogels were stable for at least six months. macrogels containing both bt crystal-spore complexes and approximately 10,000 nematodes (neoaplectana carpocapsae) were also prepared as described above by mixing these two entomopathogens together with gellan gum. various macrogels were then cut into small cubes of 0.5 cm in length, width and height and placed on top of a diet for tobacco hornworms (manduca sexta) in plastic containers measuring 3 cm in diameter and 10 cm in height. the combined insect nematode-bt crystal macrogels were found to be more active against tobacco hornworms than either nematode macrogels or bt crystal macrogels alone. control macrogels without entomopathogens were inactive against tobacco hornworms. example 8 a 2% gellan gum solution was prepared as described in example 1. enough water swollen pieces of water retentive polymers were added to a 1 ml aqueous suspension of fungal pathogen (beauveria bassiana) spores containing small amounts of tween-20 and 4 mm calcium chloride to make a 2 ml solution. the fungal pathogen-water retentive polymer dispersion was then added, with gentle vortexing, to 2 ml of gellan gum solution. the resultant mixture was poured into plastic tubes, capped, and stored below 16.degree. c. these macrogels were stable for at least several months. similar macrogels were also prepared from fungal pathogens metarrhizium anisopliae and nomuraea rileyi, all with retention of activity. example 9 a 2% gellan gum solution was prepared as described in example 1. enough water swollen pieces of water retentive polymers were added to a 1 ml solution of crystal-spore complexes (2.5 mg/ml) from bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (bt) containing 4 mm calcium chloride and 10% uv protectant octyl-dimethyl paba to make a 2 ml solution. to this solution was added, with vortexing, 2 ml of the 2% gellan gum solution. the resultant mixture was poured into plastic tubes, capped and stored below 16.degree. c. the bt crystal macrogels containing uv protectant were stable for at least six months. the hydrophobic nature of the uv protectant allows them to concentrate on top of the macrogels which offer advantage for protection against inactivation by sunlight. when the uv protectant-containing bt macrogels were challenged with uv by irradiation with a ge germicidal lamp at a distance of 10 cm for 1 hour, full retention of biological activity against tobacco hornworms (manduca sexta) was observed. dimunition of activity was observed for unprotected macrogels. example 10 this example illustrates the utility of an insect bait station of this invention for controlling infestation of cockroaches. a nematode gel was prepared from a solution of 1.2% gel-gro polymer, containing 25% crushed water retentive polymer (california crystals). following the introduction of approximately 2000 nematodes, gelation was induced with 5 mm calcium chloride. swelled water retentive polymer gel pieces were introduced into the bottom of a petri dish. the water retentive polymer layer was covered with a hard nylon screen. a layer of the insecticidal macrogel was then placed on top of the screen. a second screen was applied on top of the nematode gel. the bottom and sides of the dish were then covered with a semi-rigid black construction paper which extended slightly above the upper surface. several cuts were made in the protruding section of the construction paper to act as entrances into the insect bait device. the device was then inverted and placed on the floor so that the gel layer was a few millimeters above the floor surface. the table below reports the effect of the bait station upon an infestation of cockroaches. the number of dead roaches versus total roaches over a period of six days is given. in addition to the gel described above, a gel containing 1% raffinose as an attractant was also prepared and evinced more rapid mortality versus the raffinose-free gel. ______________________________________ number of days 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ______________________________________ control 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 1/10 1/10 1/10 (plain gel) nematode gel 0/10 1/10 1/10 1/10 6/10 6/10 7/10 nematode gel 0/9 0/9 4/9 5/9 7/9 8/9 9/9 +1% raffinose ______________________________________ example 11 household pests such as german cockroaches can be controlled using other nematode bait station formulations. approximately 2,000 nematodes were dispersed in 2.5 ml of water containing 2% raffinose and mixed with 5.0 ml of crisco (r) shortening and 2.5 ml of crushed swelled water retentive polymer gel pieces. an additional 5 to 10 ml of large swelled water retentive polymer pieces were also dispersed in the mixture. the resultant nematode formulation was transferred to a 35.times.15 mm tissue culture dish and covered with a soft nylon screen. this resulting nematode dish is then put into a dark plastic or construction paper container with approximately 10 mm extra height and sections of it cut off. this device is then placed upside-down with the cut-out sections of container providing multiple entrance points for cockroaches. the above cockroach bait station was placed in a 30.times.12 inch tank containing 10 german cockroaches (blatella germenica), wood shavings, dog chow (purina) as a competitive food source, and a water dish. all cockroaches were dead in seven days. furthermore, adult females were killed with egg cases still attached and became totally dry. thus, unlike current chemical roachicides, the adult female cockroaches did not perceive to be poisoned when they ingested nematodes. very few, if any, nymph cockroaches that were present were due to those hatched from eggs before the females ingested the nematodes. control bait station without nematodes did not show any cockroach mortality.
|
171-229-649-458-718
|
JP
|
[
"JP",
"CN",
"US",
"AU",
"EP",
"SG"
] |
F24F11/02,F24F11/76,F24F1/00,F24F11/00,G05D23/00,B60H1/00,H05K7/20,F24F3/00,H01L23/467,H05K5/02,F28D15/00,F28F27/00
| 2010-10-25T00:00:00 |
2010
|
[
"F24",
"G05",
"B60",
"H05",
"H01",
"F28"
] |
air conditioning system
|
an air conditioner sucks air exhausted from an information processor, and cools down the sucked air. the air conditioner exhausts the cooled air. the air conditioner acquires a cooling state, determines whether a cooling capacity exceeds an upper limit value, and reduces the volume of exhaust air when it is determined that the cooling capacity exceeds the upper limit value. for example, the air conditioner calculates a thermal load as the cooling state by using the volume of exhaust air, a difference between the temperature of exhaust air and the temperature of suction air, and determines that the cooling capacity exceeds the upper limit value when the calculated thermal load exceeds a given threshold. the air conditioner measures the temperature of exhaust air, and determines that the cooling capacity exceeds the upper limit value when the measured temperature exceeds a set value.
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1. an air conditioning system, comprising: at least one first air conditioner provided in a first space and configured to suck air exhausted from a high-heat-generation type information technology (it) rack which generates higher heat than heat generated by other it racks, the high-heat generation type it rack and other it racks respectively arranged in the first space and housing at least one information processor, cool down the sucked air, and exhaust the cooled air to the high-heat-generation type it rack; and a second air conditioner provided in a second space, the second space being divided from and communicated with the first space via a first opening allowing continuous air ventilation and a second opening allowing continuous air ventilation, and configured to cool down the at least one information processor housed in the high-heat generation type it rack and the other it racks arranged in the first space by cooling down air exhausted from the first space via the first opening and exhausting the cooled air back to the first space via the second opening while operating at a reserved cooling capacity, wherein the first air conditioner includes: a suction unit that sucks air exhausted from an information processor housed in the high-heat-generation type it rack; a cooling unit that cools down the air sucked by the suction unit; an exhaust unit that exhausts the air cooled down by the cooling unit; and at least one controller that acquires a cooling state of the cooling unit, determines, based on the acquired cooling state, whether a thermal load of the cooling unit exceeds a cooling capacity of the cooling unit, and reduces a volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit by a volume corresponding to the reserved cooling capacity of the second air conditioner in response to the thermal load of the cooling unit exceeding the cooling capacity of the cooling unit, and wherein the second air conditioner cools down the sucked air by the first air conditioner using the reserved cooling capacity of the second air conditioner when the at least one controller of the first air conditioner reduces the volume of the air exhausted by the exhaust unit of the first air conditioner. 2. the air conditioning system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller calculates the thermal load as the cooling state according to the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit, and a difference between a temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit and a temperature of air sucked by the suction unit, and determines that the calculated thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit when the calculated thermal load is larger than a given threshold. 3. the air conditioning system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller measures a temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit as the cooling state, and determines that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit when the measured temperature exceeds a set value. 4. the air conditioning system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller of the first air conditioner increases the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit of the first air conditioner by a certain volume when the thermal load of the cooling unit does not exceed a cooling capacity of the cooling unit after reducing the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit of the first air conditioner to a volume corresponding to a reserved cooling capacity of the first air conditioner. 5. the air conditioning system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller of the first air conditioner notifies the second air conditioner of a reduced air volume when reducing the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit of the first air conditioner. 6. the air conditioning system according to claim 5 , wherein when the second air conditioner receives the notification of the reduced air volume from the first air conditioner, an exhaust air volume controller of the second air conditioner increases the volume of air exhausted by the second air conditioner based on the reduced air volume.
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cross-reference to related application this application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior japanese patent application no. 2010-238729, filed on oct. 25, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. field the embodiments discussed herein are directed to an air conditioner and an air conditioning system. background in data centers, information technology (it) racks have been installed in which information processors such as servers are mounted. the information processors mounted in the it racks consume electric power and generate heat corresponding to the consumed electric power. such heat causes abnormal operation of the information processors if it is left without any treatment. in the data centers, thus, the information processors are cooled down by air conditioners. in an example of the data centers, the information processors mounted in the it racks are cooled down by sucking, from a space under the floor, cold air supplied by a base air conditioner. the information processors exhaust the air warmed by heat taken from the information processors. the base air conditioner sucks the warmed air exhausted from the information processors, cools down the sucked air, and supplies again the cooled air to the information processors through the space under the floor. recently, in the data centers, an increasing number of it racks have been installed in which a plurality of blade servers having enhanced processing capability are mounted, for example. the amount of heat generated by the blade servers increases as the blade servers enhance the processing capability. therefore, it may be difficult for the base air conditioner alone to sufficiently cool down the blade servers. a data center is disclosed in which task air conditioners are provided near the upper part or the side part of an it rack including such blade servers and other equipment so that information processors generating large amounts of heat are cooled down. cooling of information processors by a task air conditioner is described with reference to fig. 9 . fig. 9 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an air conditioning system according to related art. the task air conditioner sucks air exhausted from the it rack and cools down the sucked air. the task air conditioner supplies again the cooled air to the it rack and forms a region in which a locally circulating air flow is generated. in this way, the task air conditioner supplies cooled air, and cools down the information processors generating large amounts of heat, in addition to cooled air supplied by the base air conditioner. examples of the related art are disclosed in japanese national publication of international patent application no. 2006-526205, japanese national publication of international patent application no. 2008-502082, and japanese laid-open patent publication no. 2006-114669. in the related art, however, the information processors cannot be efficiently cooled down. specifically, the task air conditioner is operated at a fixed air volume such that a temperature difference between suction air and exhaust air (δtlac) is from 10 to 15° c. when the thermal load of suction air is high, the thermal load may exceed the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner. for example, the temperature difference between suction air and exhaust air of the it rack (δtit) housing the information processors is designed to be from 7 to 15° c. however, δtit of the it rack housing information processors designed so as to achieve low noises and low power consumption may exceed 15° c. in such a case where δtit is larger than δtlac, the thermal load sucked by the task air conditioner exceeds the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner. as a result, the task air conditioner cannot sufficiently cool down the sucked air, and causes a hot spot at which exhaust heat is locally accumulated. the hot spot results in air having a temperature higher than that of typical air being sucked in the it rack. as a result, the information processors cannot be sufficiently cooled down. alternatively, the occurrence of the hot spots can be prevented by increasing the number of installed task air conditioners so as to cool down the it track generating large amounts of heat. this method, however, lowers a load factor of the base air conditioner when the base air conditioner has a reserved cooling capacity. as a result, total air conditioning efficiency is lowered. it is difficult to say that the information processors can be efficiently cooled down. summary according to an aspect of an embodiment of the invention, an air conditioner includes a suction unit that sucks air exhausted from an information processor, a cooling unit that cools down the air sucked by the suction unit, an exhaust unit that exhausts the air cooled down by the cooling unit, a determination unit that acquires a cooling state of the cooling unit, and determines whether a cooling capacity of the cooling unit exceeds an upper limit value based on the acquired cooling state, and a controller that reduces a volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit when the determination unit determines that the cooling capacity of the cooling unit exceeds the upper limit value. the object and advantages of the embodiment will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims. it is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the embodiment, as claimed. brief description of drawings fig. 1 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an air conditioning system according to a first embodiment; fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a task air conditioner according to the first embodiment; fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing performed by the task air conditioner according to the first embodiment; fig. 4 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an air conditioning system according to a second embodiment; fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a task air conditioner according to the second embodiment; fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of processing performed by the task air conditioner according to the second embodiment; fig. 7 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an air conditioning system according to a third embodiment; fig. 8 is a schematic illustrating a computer system executing an air conditioning control program; and fig. 9 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an air conditioning system according to the related art. description of embodiment(s) preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to accompanying drawings. it is noted that the embodiments do not limit the present invention. [a] first embodiment structure of air conditioning system a structure of an air conditioning system according to a first embodiment is described below with reference to fig. 1 . fig. 1 is a schematic illustrating the structure of the air conditioning system according to the first embodiment. as illustrated in fig. 1 , an air conditioning system 1 includes a space 2 under the floor, a space 3 above the floor, and a space 4 above the ceiling. on the floor between the space 2 under the floor and the space 3 above the floor, a floor opening 2 a is disposed that is a vent communicating with the space 2 under the floor and the space 3 above the floor. on the ceiling between the space 3 above the floor and the space 4 above the ceiling, ceiling openings 4 a and 4 b are disposed that are vents communicating with the space 3 above the floor and the space 4 above the ceiling. in the space 3 above the floor, an information technology (it) rack 5 , a high-heat-generating type it rack 6 , a base air conditioner 7 , and a task air conditioner 10 are disposed. the it rack 5 is a device in which a plurality of servers 5 a to 5 e are mounted. the server 5 a sucks cold air a supplied by the base air conditioner 7 so as to cool down electronic circuits provided inside the server 5 a . the server 5 a exhausts air b warmed by heat taken from the server 5 a . the servers 5 b to 5 e suck and exhaust air in the same manner as the server 5 a . thus, description thereof is omitted. the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 is a device in which a plurality of blade servers 6 a to 6 c are mounted. the blade server 6 a includes a plurality of low-profile servers arranged inside a chassis with high density. the blade server 6 a has higher processing performance than those of the servers 5 a to 5 e , and generates high heat. the blade server 6 a is cooled down by both the base air conditioner 7 and the task air conditioner 10 . specifically, the blade server 6 a sucks cool air c supplied by the base air conditioner 7 , and cool air d from a region in which locally circulating air flow is generated formed by the task air conditioner 10 so as to cool down electronic circuits provided in the blade server 6 a . the blade server 6 a exhausts air e warmed by heat taken from the blade server 6 a . the blade servers 6 b to 6 c suck and exhaust air in the same manner as the blade server 6 a . thus, description thereof is omitted. the base air conditioner 7 sucks air f and air g blowing in the space 4 above the ceiling, cools down the sucked air, and supplies cooled air h into the space 2 under the floor. for example, the base air conditioner 7 is normally operated with a thermal load that is equal to or smaller than an upper limit value of the cooling capacity of the base air conditioner 7 . the base air conditioner 7 cools down sucked air until the thermal load reaches the upper limit value of the cooling capacity in response to an increase in the thermal load. air h supplied by the base air conditioner 7 blows into the space 3 above the floor through the floor opening 2 a , and further into the it rack 5 and the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 . air exhausted from the it rack 5 and the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 is sucked into the base air conditioner 7 through the ceiling openings 4 a and 4 b so as to be cooled down. in this way, the base air conditioner 7 cools down the servers 5 a to 5 e mounted in the it rack 5 and the blade servers 6 a to 6 c mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 . the base air conditioner 7 is an example of a second air conditioner provided to a plurality of it racks as a common air conditioner in claim 7 . the task air conditioner 10 sucks the air e exhausted from the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 , and cools down the sucked air. the task air conditioner 10 supplies the cooled air d to the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 , and forms the region in which locally circulating air flow is generated. the locally circulating air flow in the region formed by the task air conditioner 10 cools down the blade servers 6 a to 6 c. in the air conditioning system 1 thus structured, the task air conditioner 10 sucks air exhausted from the blade servers 6 a to 6 c , cools down the sucked air, and exhausts the cooled air. the task air conditioner 10 acquires a cooling state, and determines whether the cooling capacity exceeds the upper limit value based on the acquired cooling state. the case where the cooling capacity exceeds the upper limit value means a case where an amount of heat taken from air sucked by the task air conditioner 10 exceeds the cooling capacity. in other words, the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity. when determining that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity, the task air conditioner 10 reduces the volume of the exhaust air d so as to suppress the occurrence of the hot spots, thereby efficiently cooling down the information processors such as servers and blade servers. specifically, when the volume of air exhausted by the task air conditioner 10 is reduced, the temperature of the air f sucked by the base air conditioner 7 increases. the base air conditioner 7 , which has a reserved cooling capacity, cools down the sucked air f by using the reserved cooling capacity. that is, the thermal load of the base air conditioner 7 increases. the base air conditioner 7 exhausts the cooled air h so as to supply it to the it rack 5 and the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 through the floor opening 2 a. the blade servers 6 a to 6 c mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 suck the air c supplied by the base air conditioner 7 , and the air d supplied by the task air conditioner 10 . the temperatures of the air c and the air d sucked by the blade servers 6 a to 6 c are lowered compared to when it is determined that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity because the volume of the air d has been reduced. accordingly, the temperature of the air e exhausted by the blade servers 6 a to 6 c is also lowered. as a result, the air e sucked by the task air conditioner 10 is also lowered. in this way, the task air conditioner 10 can reduce the thermal load. the reduction of the thermal load allows the task air conditioner 10 to lower the temperature of exhaust air, and to suppress the occurrence of the hot spots. as described above, when the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity in the task air conditioner 10 , i.e., the thermal load exceeds a certain threshold, the air conditioning system 1 allows the task air conditioner 10 to reduce the volume of the exhaust air d so as to lower the temperature of air exhausted by the task air conditioner 10 . as a result, the task air conditioner 10 can suppress the occurrence of the hot spots, and efficiently cool down the information processors such as the servers and blade servers. structure of task air conditioner according to the first embodiment a structure of the task air conditioner according to the first embodiment is described with reference to fig. 2 . fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the task air conditioner 10 according to the first embodiment. the task air conditioner 10 according to the first embodiment includes a suction unit 11 , a cooling unit 12 , an exhaust unit 13 , a thermal load setting reception unit 14 , a storage unit 20 , and a controller 30 . the suction unit 11 sucks air with a predetermined pressure, and supplies the sucked air to the cooling unit 12 . the cooling unit 12 cools down the air supplied from the suction unit 11 , and supplies the cooled air to the exhaust unit 13 . the exhaust unit 13 exhausts the air cooled down by the cooling unit 12 with a predetermined pressure. for example, the exhaust unit 13 exhausts air at 25.7 m 3 /min. the exhaust unit 13 includes a temperature sensor and an anemometer, which are not illustrated. the temperature sensor measures the temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 . the anemometer measures the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 per unit time. likewise, the suction unit 11 includes a temperature sensor, which measures the temperature of air sucked by the suction unit 11 . the thermal load setting reception unit 14 receives the start and end of the operation of the task air conditioner 10 . for example, when receiving the start of the operation from a user, the thermal load setting reception unit 14 notifies the controller 30 of the reception, so that the controller 30 allows the task air conditioner 10 to start the operation. likewise, for example, when receiving the end of the operation from a user, the thermal load setting reception unit 14 notifies the controller 30 of the reception, so that the controller 30 allows the task air conditioner 10 to end the operation. the thermal load setting reception unit 14 receives a setting of a value determining whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner 10 . for example, the thermal load setting reception unit 14 receives a setting of a given threshold determining a thermal load from a user as the value determining whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner 10 . in this case, the thermal load setting reception unit 14 notifies the controller 30 of the fact that the setting of the given threshold has been received, so that the controller 30 allows the storage unit 20 to store the received value therein. the thermal load setting reception unit 14 also notifies a load determination unit 31 of the fact that the setting of the given threshold determining a thermal load has been received. the thermal load setting reception unit 14 receives a maximum of the cooling capacity (kw) as the threshold determining the thermal load of the task air conditioner 10 . the storage unit 20 is a storage device such as a semiconductor memory element, and a hard disk drive. the storage unit 20 stores therein the maximum of the cooling capacity (kw) as the given threshold determining the thermal load of the task air conditioner 10 . for example, the storage unit 20 stores therein “7.5 kw” as the threshold. the threshold can be changed to any value by a user. for example, the storage unit 20 may set a value of 80% of the maximum cooling capacity as the threshold. the storage unit 20 stores therein information relating to the volume of air exhausted in the air conditioning system 1 . for example, the storage unit 20 stores therein the thermal load (kw) and the maximum cooling capacity (kw) of the base air conditioner 7 . specifically, the storage unit 20 stores therein that the thermal load is “12.5 kw”, and the maximum cooling capacity is “15 kw” as the information of the base air conditioner 7 . the controller 30 includes an internal memory that stores therein a control program, programs specifying various processing procedures, and necessary data. the controller 30 includes the load determination unit 31 and an exhaust air volume controller 32 . for example, the controller 30 is an integrated circuit such as an application specific integrated circuit (asic), and a field programmable gate array (fpga), or an electronic circuit such as a central processing unit (cpu), and a micro processing unit (mpu). the load determination unit 31 acquires a cooling state of the cooling unit 12 , and determines whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit 12 based on the acquired cooling state. for example, the load determination unit 31 calculates, as the cooling state, the thermal load by using the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 and a difference between the temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 and the temperature of air sucked by the suction unit 11 . the load determination unit 31 determines that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit 12 when the calculated thermal load exceeds a given threshold. the calculation of the thermal load performed by the load determination unit 31 (1), and the determination whether the thermal load calculated by the load determination unit 31 exceeds a given threshold (2), are described below in this order. (1) calculation of thermal load by the load determination unit 31 for example, the load determination unit 31 calculates a thermal load (plac (w)) by using the following formula (1) when the thermal load setting reception unit 14 notifies the load determination unit 31 of the fact that the setting of a given threshold determining the thermal load has been received. plac=ρ·cp·qlac ·( tlac _in −tlac _out) (1) where qlac (m 3 /s) is the volume of air exhausted by the task air conditioner 10 , tlac_out (° c.) is the temperature of air exhausted by the task air conditioner 10 , tlac_in (° c.) is the temperature of air sucked by the task air conditioner 10 , ρ (kg/m 3 ) is the density of air, and cp (j/kg·° c.) is the constant pressure specific heat of air. in formula (1), ρ and cp are constants. thus, the task air conditioner 10 can calculate a thermal load by measuring qlac, tlac_out, and tlac_in. that is, the task air conditioner 10 calculates a thermal load by measuring the volume of exhaust air, the temperature of exhaust air, and the temperature of suction air. more specifically, the load determination unit 31 measures tlac_in with the temperature sensor included in the suction unit 11 , and tlac_out with the temperature sensor included in the exhaust unit 13 . the load determination unit 31 measures the volume of exhaust air with the anemometer included in the exhaust unit 13 . the load determination unit 31 calculates a thermal load by using formula (1) based on the measured values. (2) the determination whether the thermal load calculated by the load determination unit 31 exceeds a given threshold. subsequently, the load determination unit 31 determines whether the calculated thermal load exceeds a given threshold. for example, the load determination unit 31 reads a given threshold stored in the storage unit 20 , and compares the given threshold with the calculated thermal load. the load determination unit 31 determines that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity when the calculated thermal load is larger than the given threshold, and notifies the exhaust air volume controller 32 of the result. on the other hand, the load determination unit 31 determines that the thermal load does not exceed the cooling capacity when the calculated thermal load is smaller than the given threshold, and continues calculation of the thermal load. furthermore, the load determination unit 31 determines whether a predetermined period of time elapses, when the exhaust air volume controller 32 has reduced the volume of exhaust air. when determining that the predetermined period of time elapses, the load determination unit 31 performs processing determining whether the thermal load exceeds the given threshold. on the other hand, when determining that the predetermined period of time does not elapse, the load determination unit 31 waits until the predetermined period of time elapses. the exhaust air volume controller 32 reduces the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 when the load determination unit 31 determines that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit 12 . for example, the exhaust air volume controller 32 reduces the air volume by a volume corresponding to the reserved cooling capacity (also referred to as an excess thermal load) of the base air conditioner 7 . specifically, when the base air conditioner 7 has an excess thermal load of 2.5 kw, the exhaust air volume controller 32 reduces the exhaust air volume by a volume corresponding to 2.5 kw. procedure of processing performed by the air conditioner according to the first embodiment the procedure of processing performed by the task air conditioner according to the first embodiment is described with reference to fig. 3 . fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of processing performed by the task air conditioner 10 according to the first embodiment. if receiving the operation start (yes at step s 101 ), the thermal load setting reception unit 14 determines whether a setting of a threshold determining a thermal load is received (step s 102 ). if the thermal load setting reception unit 14 determines that the setting of the threshold determining the thermal load is received (yes at step s 102 ), the load determination unit 31 calculates a thermal load (step s 103 ). specifically, the load determination unit 31 measures the temperatures of suction air and exhaust air, and the volume of exhaust air, and calculates a thermal load by using formula (1). on the other hand, if the thermal load setting reception unit 14 determines that the setting of the threshold determining the thermal load is not received (no at step s 102 ), the thermal load setting reception unit 14 waits until it receives the setting of the threshold determining the thermal load. subsequently, the load determination unit 31 determines whether the calculated thermal load exceeds the given threshold (step s 104 ). the load determination unit 31 constantly calculates the thermal load after the setting of the threshold determining the thermal load is received. if the load determination unit 31 determined that the thermal load exceeds the given threshold (yes at step s 104 ), the exhaust air volume controller 32 reduces the volume of exhaust air to a certain volume (step s 105 ). then, the load determination unit 31 determines whether a predetermined period of time elapses (step s 106 ). if determining that the predetermined period of time elapses (yes at step s 106 ), the load determination unit 31 returns to step s 103 to calculate the thermal load. on the other hand, if determining that the predetermined period of time does not elapse (no at step s 106 ), the load determination unit 31 waits until the predetermined period of time elapses. if determining that the thermal load does not exceed the given threshold (no at step s 104 ), the load determination unit 31 determines whether the operation end is received (step s 107 ). if determining that the operation end is received (yes at step s 107 ), the load determination unit 31 ends the processing. on the other hand, if determining that the operation end is not received (no at step s 107 ), the load determination unit 31 moves to step s 103 to continue processing after step s 103 . effects of the first embodiment as described above, in the air conditioning system 1 of the first embodiment, the task air conditioner 10 reduces the exhaust air volume based on the reserved cooling capacity of the base air conditioner 7 when the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner 10 . as a result, the task air conditioner 10 can reduce the thermal load of the task air conditioner 10 . the base air conditioner 7 makes up for the thermal load reduced by the task air conditioner 10 . that is, the cooling capacity of the air conditioning system 1 remains unchanged even though the task air conditioner 10 reduces the thermal load. as a result, the task air conditioner 10 can reduce the thermal load without lowering the air conditioning efficiency of the air conditioning system. [b] second embodiment in the first embodiment, the base air conditioner 7 can process the thermal load until the thermal load reaches the upper limit value of the cooling capacity, i.e., the thermal load of the base air conditioner 7 is not limited to a certain value. the cooling capacity of the base air conditioner, however, may be limited so as not exceed an upper limit value, for energy saving. in other words, the exhaust air volume of the base air conditioner may be limited so that the base air conditioner does not have an excess thermal load. in a second embodiment, a case is described in which the thermal load of the task air conditioner exceeds a given threshold when the exhaust air volume of the base air conditioner is limited so that the base air conditioner does not have an excess thermal load. structure of an air conditioning system according to the second embodiment the structure of an air conditioning system according to the second embodiment is described with reference to fig. 4 . fig. 4 is a schematic illustrating the structure of an air conditioning system 40 according to the second embodiment. as illustrated in fig. 4 , the air conditioning system 40 includes the space 2 under the floor, the space 3 above the floor, and the space 4 above the ceiling. the functional elements playing the same roles as the elements of fig. 1 are labeled with the same numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. in the space 3 above the floor, the it rack 5 , the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 , a base air conditioner 47 , and a task air conditioner 50 are disposed. the base air conditioner 47 and the task air conditioner 50 are coupled with each other through a network 49 such that they can communicate with each other. the network 49 is, for example, a local area network (lan). the base air conditioner 47 includes an exhaust air volume controller 47 a in addition to the functions of the base air conditioner 7 according to the first embodiment. when receiving a notification from the task air conditioner 50 , the exhaust air volume controller 47 a cancels the limitation of the thermal load, and increases the air volume to be exhausted. the base air conditioner 47 is an example of the second air conditioner provided to a plurality of it racks as a common air conditioner in claim 7 . the task air conditioner 50 has a function notifying the base air conditioner 47 of information relating to a reduced exhaust air volume, in addition to the functions of the task air conditioner 10 according to the first embodiment. the functions of the task air conditioner 50 are described in the structure of the task air conditioner, which is described later. in the air conditioning system 40 thus structured, the task air conditioner 50 sucks air exhausted from the blade servers 6 a to 6 c , cools down the sucked air, and exhausts the cooled air. the task air conditioner 50 acquires a cooling state, and determines whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity based on the acquired cooling state. when determining that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity, the task air conditioner 50 reduces the volume of the exhaust air d. the task air conditioner 50 notifies the exhaust air volume controller 47 a of the fact that the task air conditioner 50 has reduced the volume of exhaust air d, and allows the exhaust air volume controller 47 a to cancel the limitation of the thermal load. in this way, the task air conditioner 50 suppresses the occurrence of the hot spots, and can efficiently cool down the information processors such as the servers and blade servers. specifically, the reduction of the volume of the air d exhausted by the task air conditioner 50 causes a shortage of the air volume in the air conditioning system 40 , resulting in the occurrence of the hot spots at another place. upon receiving, from the task air conditioner 50 , the notification that the exhaust air volume has been reduced to a certain volume, the base air conditioner 47 increases the exhaust air volume until the thermal load reaches the upper limit value of the cooling capacity based on the reduced air volume. in other words, the base air conditioner 47 exhausts the air volume corresponding to the excess thermal load. the base air conditioner 47 exhausts cooled air h so as to supply it to the it rack 5 and the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 through the floor opening 2 a. the blade servers 6 a to 6 c mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 sucks the air c supplied by the base air conditioner 47 , and the air d supplied by the task air conditioner 50 . the temperatures of the air c and the air d sucked by the blade servers 6 a to 6 c are lowered compared to when it is determined that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity because the volume of the air d has been reduced. as a result, the temperature of the air e exhausted by the blade servers 6 a to 6 c is also lowered. as a result, the air e sucked by the task air conditioner 50 is also lowered. in this way, the task air conditioner 50 can reduce the thermal load. the reduction of the thermal load allows the task air conditioner 50 to lower also the temperature of exhaust air d, and to suppress the occurrence of the hot spots. as described above, when the thermal load of the task air conditioner 50 exceeds the given threshold, the air conditioning system 40 allows the task air conditioner 50 to reduce the volume of the exhaust air d so as to lower the temperature of air exhausted by the task air conditioner 50 . as a result, the task air conditioner 50 can suppress the occurrence of the hot spots, and efficiently cool down the information processors such as the servers and blade servers. structure of task air conditioner a structure of the task air conditioner according to the second embodiment is described with reference to fig. 5 . fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the task air conditioner 50 according to the second embodiment. the task air conditioner 50 according to the second embodiment includes the suction unit 11 , the cooling unit 12 , the exhaust unit 13 , a thermal load setting reception unit 54 , a communications control interface (i/f) unit 55 , a storage unit 60 , and a controller 70 . the functional elements playing the same roles as the elements of fig. 2 are labeled with the same numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. the thermal load setting reception unit 54 has the following functions in addition to the functions of the thermal load setting reception unit 14 described in the first embodiment. the thermal load setting reception unit 54 receives, from a user, a setting of a temperature threshold determining whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner 50 . upon receiving the setting of the temperature threshold from the user, the thermal load setting reception unit 54 notifies the controller 70 of the fact that the setting of the temperature threshold has been received, and allows the controller 70 to store the received value in the storage unit 60 . the thermal load setting reception unit 54 notifies a load determination unit 71 of the fact that the setting of the temperature threshold has been received. the communications control i/f unit 55 is an interface that includes at least one communications port, and controls information exchanged between the task air conditioner 50 and the base air conditioner 47 . for example, the communications control i/f unit 55 receives, from an exhaust air volume controller 72 , the notification that the exhaust air volume has been reduced, and transmits the notification to the base air conditioner 47 coupled with the task air conditioner 50 through the network 49 . the storage unit 60 is a storage device such as a semiconductor memory element and a hard disk drive. the storage unit 60 stores therein the temperature threshold that is a setting value set as the upper limit value of the temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 . for example, the storage unit 60 stores therein “33° c.” as the temperature threshold. the temperature threshold can be changed to any value by a user. the storage unit 60 stores therein information relating to the volume of air exhausted in the air conditioning system 40 . for example, the storage unit 60 stores therein the thermal load (kw), the maximum cooling capacity (kw), and the exhaust air volume (m 3 /min) of the base air conditioner 47 . specifically, the storage unit 60 stores therein that the thermal load is “12.5 kw”, the maximum cooling capacity is “15 kw”, and the exhaust air volume is “29.9 m 3 /min” as the information of the base air conditioner 47 . the controller 70 includes an internal memory that stores therein a control program, programs specifying various processing procedures, and necessary data. the controller 70 includes the load determination unit 71 and the exhaust air volume controller 72 . for example, the controller 70 is an integrated circuit such as an asic and an fpga, or an electronic circuit such as a cpu and an mpu. the load determination unit 71 acquires a cooling state of the cooling unit 12 , and determines whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit 12 based on the acquired cooling state. for example, in the first embodiment, the load determination unit 31 calculates a thermal load as the cooling state, and determines whether the calculated value exceeds a given threshold. when the thermal load of the task air conditioner exceeds the given threshold, the temperature of air sucked by the task air conditioner increases up to the temperature exceeding the cooling capacity. as a result, the task air conditioner exhausts air having a higher temperature than a set temperature because the task air conditioner cannot cool down air to the set temperature. therefore, the task air conditioner can determine whether the cooling state exceeds the upper limit value by determining whether the temperature of exhaust air is higher than the set temperature, without calculating the thermal load. more specifically, the load determination unit 71 measures the temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 as the cooling state, and determines that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity of the cooling unit 12 when the measured temperature exceeds the set temperature. for example, when receiving the notification from the thermal load setting reception unit 54 , the load determination unit 71 constantly measures the temperature of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 with the temperature sensor included in the exhaust unit 13 , and determines whether the temperature of the exhaust air exceeds a temperature threshold stored in the storage unit 60 . specifically, the load determination unit 71 determines that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity if the value of the temperature measured by the temperature sensor is larger than the temperature threshold “33° c.” stored in the storage unit 60 . the load determination unit 71 notifies the exhaust air volume controller 72 of the fact that the thermal load has exceeded the cooling capacity. on the other hand, if the value of the temperature measured by the temperature sensor is smaller than the temperature threshold “33° c.” stored in the storage unit 60 , the load determination unit 71 determines that the thermal load does not exceed the cooling capacity, and continues the determination of whether the measured temperature exceeds the set value. the exhaust air volume controller 72 has the following functions in addition to the functions of the exhaust air volume controller 32 described in the first embodiment. when the load determination unit 71 determines that the measured temperature exceeds the set temperature threshold, the exhaust air volume controller 72 reduces the volume of air exhausted by the exhaust unit 13 to a certain volume. for example, the exhaust air volume controller 72 reads a reserved cooling capacity of the base air conditioner 47 stored in the storage unit 60 . the reserved cooling capacity is determined as a result of the limitation of the cooling capacity of the base air conditioner 47 . the exhaust air volume controller 72 reduces the air volume corresponding to the read reserved cooling capacity. specifically, when the reserved cooling capacity of the base air conditioner 47 is 2.5 kw as a result of the limitation, the exhaust air volume controller 72 reduces the exhaust air volume by a volume corresponding to 2.5 kw. when having reduced the volume of exhaust air, the exhaust air volume controller 72 notifies the base air conditioner 47 coupled with the task air conditioner 50 through the network 49 of the fact that the volume of the exhaust air has been reduced. as a result, the base air conditioner 47 cancels the limitation so that the base air conditioner 47 does not have the reserved cooling capacity, and can process the thermal load until the thermal load reaches the upper limit value of the cooling capacity. procedure of processing performed by the task air conditioner according to the second embodiment a procedure of processing performed by the task air conditioner 50 according to the second embodiment is described with reference to fig. 6 . fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the processing performed by the task air conditioner 50 according to the second embodiment. if the operation start is received (yes at step s 201 ), the thermal load setting reception unit 54 determines whether a setting of a temperature threshold is received (step s 202 ). that is, the thermal load setting reception unit 54 determines whether the temperature threshold is received. if the thermal load setting reception unit 54 determines that the setting of the temperature threshold is received (yes at step s 202 ), the load determination unit 71 measures the temperature of exhaust air (step s 203 ). the load determination unit 71 may measure the temperatures of suction air and exhaust air, and the volume of exhaust air, and calculate a thermal load by using formula (1), in the same manner as the first embodiment. on the other hand, if determining that the setting of the temperature threshold is not received (no at step s 202 ), the thermal load setting reception unit 54 waits until the thermal load setting reception unit 54 receives the setting of the temperature threshold. subsequently, the load determination unit 71 determines whether the measured exhaust air temperature exceeds the given threshold (step s 204 ). after receiving the setting of the temperature threshold, the load determination unit 71 constantly measures the temperature of exhaust air. if the load determination unit 71 determines that the measured exhaust air temperature exceeds the threshold (yes at step s 204 ), the exhaust air volume controller 72 reduces the volume of exhaust air (step s 205 ). the exhaust air volume controller 72 notifies the base air conditioner 47 coupled with the task air conditioner 50 through the network 49 of the fact that the exhaust air volume has been reduced (step s 206 ). then, the load determination unit 71 determines whether a predetermined period of time elapses (step s 207 ). if determining that the predetermined period of time elapses (yes at step s 207 ), the load determination unit 71 returns to step s 203 to measure the temperature of exhaust air. on the other hand, if determining that the predetermined period of time does not elapse (no at step s 207 ), the load determination unit 71 waits until the predetermined period of time elapses. if determining that the measured exhaust air temperature does not exceed the threshold (no at step s 204 ), the load determination unit 71 determines whether the operation end is received (step s 208 ). if determining that the operation end is received (yes at step s 208 ), the load determination unit 71 ends the processing. on the other hand, if determining that the operation end is not received (no at step s 207 ), the load determination unit 71 moves to step s 203 to continue processing after step s 203 . effects of the second embodiment as described above, in the air conditioning system 40 according to the second embodiment, the task air conditioner 50 reduces the exhaust air volume so as to reduce the thermal load when the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity. the task air conditioner 50 allows the base air conditioner 47 to cancel the limitation of the exhaust air volume so that the base air conditioner 47 does not have the excess thermal load, and to make up for the insufficient air volume in the air conditioning system 40 . consequently, the task air conditioner 50 can process the thermal load exceeding the cooling capacity. the task air conditioner 50 can determine whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity only by measuring the temperature of exhaust air and determining whether the measured temperature exceeds a predetermined set value without calculating the thermal load. [c] third embodiment in the first and the second embodiments, the base air conditioner and the task air conditioner cool down the servers mounted in the it rack and the blade servers mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack. in a data center, only the task air conditioner may cool down the servers mounted in the it rack and the blade servers mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack. in a third embodiment, in the data center, no base air conditioner is provided, and only the task air conditioner cools down the servers mounted in the it rack and the blade servers mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack. structure of an air conditioning system according to the third embodiment a structure of an air conditioning system according to the third embodiment is described with reference to fig. 7 . fig. 7 is a schematic illustrating the structure of an air conditioning system 80 according to the third embodiment. the air conditioning system 80 according to the third embodiment includes the it rack 5 , the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 , a task air conditioner 90 , and a task air conditioner 100 . the functional elements playing the same roles as the elements of fig. 1 are labeled with the same numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. the task air conditioner 90 sucks air a exhausted from the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 , and cools down the sucked air. the task air conditioner 90 supplies cooled air b to the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 to form a region in which a locally circulating air flow is generated. the locally circulating air flow in the region formed by the task air conditioner 90 cools down the blade servers 6 a to 6 c. the task air conditioner 100 sucks air c exhausted from the it rack 5 , and cools down the sucked air. the task air conditioner 100 supplies cooled air d to the it rack 5 and forms a region in which a locally circulating air flow is generated. the locally circulating air flow in the region formed by the task air conditioner 100 cools down the servers 5 a to se. the task air conditioner 100 is operated such that the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner 100 so as to have a reserved cooling capacity. the reserved cooling capacity is determined as a result of the limitation of the cooling capacity of the task air conditioner 100 . when receiving a notification from the task air conditioner 90 , the task air conditioner 100 cancels the limitation to have the reserved cooling capacity, and increases the exhaust air volume. the task air conditioner 90 and the task air conditioner 100 are coupled with each other through a network 89 such that they can communicate with each other. the network 89 is, for example, a local area network (lan). each of the task air conditioners 90 and 100 has the same structure as the task air conditioner 50 , and thus, description thereof is omitted. in the air conditioning system 80 thus structured, the task air conditioner 90 acquires a cooling state, and determines whether the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity based on the acquired cooling state. when determining that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity, the task air conditioner 90 reduces the volume of the exhaust air b to a certain volume. the task air conditioner 90 notifies the task air conditioner 100 of the fact that the volume of the exhaust air b has been reduced, and allows the task air conditioner 100 to increase the exhaust air volume until the thermal load reaches the upper limit value of the cooling capacity. in this way, the task air conditioner 90 suppresses the occurrence of the hot spots, and can efficiently cool down the information processors such as the servers and blade servers. specifically, the reduction of the volume of the exhaust air b by the task air conditioner 90 causes a shortage of the air volume in the air conditioning system 80 , resulting in the occurrence of the hot spots at another place. upon receiving the notification that the exhaust air volume has been reduced to a certain volume from the task air conditioner 90 , the task air conditioner 100 increase the exhaust air volume until the thermal load reaches the upper limit value of the cooling capacity based on the reduced air volume. in other words, the task air conditioner 100 exhausts the air volume corresponding to the excess thermal load. the task air conditioner 100 exhausts the cooled air d so as to supply it to the it rack 5 and the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 . the blade servers 6 a to 6 c mounted in the high-heat-generating type it rack 6 suck the air b supplied by the task air conditioner 90 and the air d supplied by the task air conditioner 100 . the temperatures of the air b and the air d sucked by the blade servers 6 a to 6 c are lowered compared to when it is determined that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity because the volume of the air b has been reduced. as a result, the temperature of the air a exhausted by the blade servers 6 a to 6 c is also lowered. as a result, the temperature of the air a sucked by the task air conditioner 90 is also lowered. in this way, the task air conditioner 90 can reduce the thermal load. the reduction of the thermal load allows the task air conditioner 90 to lower also the temperature of exhaust air b, and to suppress the occurrence of the hot spots. in the air conditioning system 80 , the task air conditioner 90 acquires a cooling state. when determining that the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity based on the acquired cooling state, the task air conditioner 90 reduces the volume of the exhaust air a so as to lower the temperature of the air a exhausted from the task air conditioner 90 . as a result, the task air conditioner 90 can suppress the occurrence of the hot spots, and efficiently cool down the information processors such as the servers and blade servers. effects of the third embodiment as described above, in the third embodiment, the task air conditioner reduces the exhaust air volume when the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity, and can reduce the thermal load. the task air conditioner allows another task air conditioner to increase the thermal load, and can suppress the occurrence of the hot spots even though the task air conditioner reduces the exhaust air volume when the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity. in this way, the task air conditioners can efficiently cool down the information processors such as the servers and the blade servers without providing a base air conditioner. [d] fourth embodiment the air conditioner of the present invention may be embodied as various embodiments in addition to the above-described embodiments. in the fourth embodiment, other embodiments of the air conditioner of the present invention are described. system structure in the processes described in the above-described embodiments, all or a part of the processes described to be automatically performed can also be manually performed. alternatively, all or a part of the processes described to be manually performed can also be automatically performed by known methods. in addition, the processing procedures, the control procedures, and the specific names described in the above text and drawings can be arbitrarily modified unless otherwise specified. information stored in the storage units illustrated in the drawings is only an example. the information is not always required to be stored in the described manner. information stored in the storage units may be stored in an internal memory included in the controller. in the above-described embodiments, the task air conditioner reduces the exhaust air volume to a certain volume when the thermal load exceeds the cooling capacity. the way to reduce the volume, however, is not limited to those in the embodiments. for example, the task air conditioner may be designed and structured so as to reduce the exhaust air volume in a step-by-step manner. specifically, when having a reserved cooling capacity of 2.5 kw, the task air conditioner may repeat reducing the air volume corresponding to the cooling capacity of 0.5 kw, instead of reducing the air volume corresponding to the cooling capacity of 2.5 kw at one time. the air conditioner may be designed and structured so as to increase the exhaust air volume when the cooling capacity of the cooling unit falls to below the upper limit value after the exhaust unit has reduced the exhaust air volume to a certain volume. for example, when having reduced the air volume corresponding to the cooling capacity of 2.5 kw and thereafter the thermal load falls to a given threshold, the task air conditioner may increase the air volume by the volume corresponding to the cooling capacity of 2.5 kw. the task air conditioner may increase the air volume, at one time, or in a step-by-step manner, up to the air volume that is equal to the reduced air volume corresponding to the reserved cooling capacity. the constituent components illustrated in the drawings are functionally conceptual, and are not always required to be physically structured as illustrated in the drawings. for example, the load determination unit 31 and the exhaust air volume controller 32 may be integrated in the task air conditioner 10 . all or a part of the processing functions performed by the air conditioners may be realized by a cpu and a program analyzed and executed by the cpu, or may be realized by hardware based on wired logic. program the various processing described in the above-described embodiments can be achieved by a computer system, such as a personal computer and a work station, executing a preliminarily prepared program. an example of the computer system executing a program having the same functions as the above-described embodiments is described below. fig. 8 is a schematic illustrating a computer system executing an air conditioning control program. as illustrated in fig. 8 , a computer system 200 includes an ram 210 , a cpu 220 , an hdd 230 , and an input-output interface 240 . in addition, they are coupled with each other through a bus 250 . the input-output interface 240 corresponds to the thermal load setting reception unit 14 illustrated in fig. 2 . the hdd 230 preliminarily stores therein a program performing the same functions as the above-described embodiments. specifically, as illustrated in fig. 8 , the hdd 230 preliminarily stores therein a load determination program 231 and an exhaust air volume control program 232 . the cpu 220 reads the load determination program 231 and the exhaust air volume control program 232 so as to load the programs in the ram 210 . the cpu 220 executes the load determination program 231 as a load determination process 221 , and the exhaust air volume control program 232 as an exhaust air volume control process 222 . the load determination process 221 corresponds to the load determination unit 31 illustrated in fig. 2 while the exhaust air volume control process 222 corresponds to the exhaust air volume controller 32 illustrated in fig. 2 . the load determination program 231 and the exhaust air volume control program 232 are not always required to be stored in the hdd 230 . for example, they may be stored in a “portable physical medium”, such as a flexible disk (fd), a compact disk (cd)-rom, a magnet-optical (mo) disk, a digital versatile disk (dvd), a magneto optical disk, and an integrated circuit (ic) card, which is inserted into the computer system 200 . they may be stored in a “fixed physical medium”, such as an hdd provided as an external device of the computer system 200 . they may be stored in “another computer system” coupled with the computer system 200 though public lines, the internet, a local area network (lan), or a wide area network (wan), for example. the computer system 200 may read the programs from above-described media and systems, and execute them. that is, the programs are stored in a recording medium, such as the “portable physical medium”, the “fixed physical medium”, and the “communications medium” such that they can be read by a computer. the computer system 200 reads the programs from the recording medium, executes them, and realizes the same functions as the above-described embodiments. the programs described in the embodiment are not limited to be executed by the computer system 200 . for example, the present invention can be applied to a case, such as when the programs are executed by another computer system or server, and the programs are executed by cooperation of the computer system and the server. the air conditioner and the air conditioning system can efficiently cool down information processors. all examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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172-920-844-358-897
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US
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[
"US"
] |
B23B47/28,B23C3/05
| 1977-07-28T00:00:00 |
1977
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[
"B23"
] |
cutting tool for removing governor chest nozzles and refinishing the nozzle seats
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a portable cutting tool is mounted on the top of a governor chest after the chest cover and valving mechanisms have been removed from the chest. the cutting tool rotates and axially advances a cutting head to cut away the weld material which welds a nozzle to a wall of the governor chest. this permits removal and replacement of the nozzle. the cutting tool is mounted on a mounting plate so as to permit selection of one of several locations as the cutting site, thus permitting use of a single cutting tool to effect the removal of all the nozzles within a governor chest. the cutting head carries two tool bits which cut in annular overlapping paths and the cutting head is recessed so it may pass over a nozzle as a weld is cut. a second cutter head is provided for refinishing the nozzle seats after the nozzles have been removed. different interchangeable mounting plates permit the cutting tool to be utilized on governor chests of different sizes or having different spacings between nozzles.
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1. a cutting tool for removing nozzles from a governor chest, said nozzles being seated in and welded to the bottom of said governor chest, said cutting tool comprising: an adapter plate having an elongated opening therein and adapted for mounting on the top of the governor chest after the cover has been removed therefrom; means for attaching said adapter plate to the governor chest; a drive shaft; support means supporting said drive shaft for movement along and about its own axis, said support means supporting said drive shaft in a position extending through said opening whereby the top of said drive shaft is above the plane of said adapter plate and the bottom is within said governor chest; attachment means for fixedly attaching said support means to said adapter plate at any one of a plurality of lateral positions, the axis of said drive shaft being centered over one of said nozzles at each of said lateral positions; a cutter head attached to said drive shaft and carrying tool bit means on said cutter head for cutting the weld material which welds said nozzles to the bottom of said governor chest; and, means for rotating and axially advancing said drive shaft. 2. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support means includes a mounting plate and said attachment means includes dowels and screws, said mounting plate having a set of openings into which said dowels and screws may be inserted and said adapter plate having a plurality of sets of holes for receiving said dowels and screws after they have passed through said mounting plate, said adapter plate having a number of sets of holes corresponding to the number of said lateral positions. 3. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 2 wherein said support means further comprises a housing surrounding said drive shaft and having an annular flange; an adjusting plate; means fixedly securing said flange to said adjusting plate; a retainer plate surrounding said adjusting plate; means fixedly securing said retainer plate to said mounting plate, said retainer plate having an annular abutment extending over said adjusting plate whereby said adjusting plate is retained against said mounting plate; and a plurality of screws extending radially inwardly through said retainer plate for adjusting the position of said adjusting plate in a plane normal to the axis of said drive shaft. 4. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cutter head includes a cutter body having a recess in its lower surface whereby the upper extremity of a nozzle may pass into said recess as said tool bit means cuts said weld material. 5. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 4 wherein said tool bit means comprises two bits and means for mounting said tool bits at diametrically opposed positions on said cutter body. 6. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tool bit means comprises two bits and means for mounting said tool bits at diametrically opposed positions on said cutter head. 7. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 6 wherein said tool bits are mounted to traverse different but overlapping annular paths as said drive shaft is rotated. 8. a cutting tool as claimed in claim 7 wherein the one of said tool bits has a cutting edge for cutting to a planar surface and the other of said tool bits has a cutting edge for cutting to a curved surface.
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background of the invention the present invention relates to a cutting tool and more particularly to a cutting tool specifically adapted to cut the welds holding nozzles in the wall of a governor chest and, after removal of the nozzles, refinishing the nozzle seating surfaces of the wall. a governor chest finds use as a speed control device in steam driven turbines. typically, a governor chest has an inlet for steam, a valving chamber, a removably affixed top cover, and a plurality of outlet nozzles welded in openings in the bottom wall of the chest and extending upwardly from the interior surface of the bottom wall. a control mechanism extending through the top cover operates a mechanism within the chest to in turn operate a plurality of valves. the valves selectively block the nozzles and are operated in a preselected sequence to permit more or less steam to pass through the nozzles to the turbine. the nozzles in the governor chest must frequently be replaced because of corrosion, wear, and the cutting action of high pressure steam. at the present time, the usual process of removing a nozzle requires the use of hand-held and make-shift cutting tools for cutting away the weld material which holds the nozzle in the bottom wall of the chest. experience has shown that it is difficult to cut away the weld material utilizing present methods. the tool "chatters" or jumps about as the cutter tool bit rapidly and repeatedly strikes the weld material. the chatter makes it difficult to hold the tool in its proper position and as a result it frequently damages the surface on which the nozzle is seated. when the seating surface is damaged, it frequently requires that the entire governor chest be removed for repair or replacement, a very expensive and time-consuming operation. also, once the weld material has been cut away and the nozzle extracted from the wall of the chest, the turbine casing containing the nozzle block has to be removed to the machine shop for remachining if the nozzle seating surfaces are damaged. summary of the invention an object of the present invention is to provide a cutting tool which may be securely mounted on a governor chest after the chest cover is removed, whereby chatter of the cutting tool is eliminated as the cutter cuts away the weld holding a nozzle in a wall of the chest. an object of the present invention is to provide a cutting tool for removing nozzles from a governor chest, the nozzles being seated in, and welded to, the bottom of the governor chest, the cutting tool comprising: an adapter plate having an elongated opening therein and adapted for mounting on the top of the governor chest after the cover has been removed therefrom; means for attaching the adapter plate to the governor chest; a drive shaft; support means supporting the drive shaft for movement along and about its own axis, the support means supporting the drive shaft in a position extending through the opening in the adapter plate whereby the top of the drive shaft is above the plane of the adapter plate and the bottom is within the governor chest; attachment means for attaching the support means to the adapter plate at any one of a plurality of lateral positions, the axis of the drive shaft being centered over one of the nozzles at each of the lateral positions; a cutter head attached to the drive shaft and carrying tool bit means for cutting the weld material which welds the nozzles to the bottom of a governor chest; and means for rotating and axially advancing the drive shaft. the support means includes a mounting plate and the attachment means includes dowels and screws, the mounting plate having a set of openings into which the dowels and screws may be inserted and the adapter plate having a plurality of sets of holes for receiving the dowels and screws after they have passed through the mounting plate, the adapter plate having a number of sets of holes corresponding to the number of lateral positions. a further object of the invention is to provide a cutting tool as described above wherein the cutter head includes a cutter body having a recess in its lower surface whereby the upper extremity of a nozzle may pass into the recess as the tool bit means cuts the weld material. preferably, the tool bit means comprises two bits and means for mounting the tool bits at diametrically opposed positions on the cutter body. in a preferred embodiment, the two bits are mounted to traverse different but overlapping annular paths as the drive shaft and cutter head are rotated. a further object of the invention is to provide a cutting tool as described above wherein the adapter plate is easily replaceable whereby different adapter plates may be utilized thus adapting the cutting tool for use on governor chests of different sizes and having different spacings between nozzles. other objects of the invention and its mode of operation will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawings. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a front sectional view showing a cutting tool in weld-cutting position on a governor chest; fig. 1a is a sectional view of a wall of a governor chest after a nozzle has been removed therefrom and at the point where a cutting tool is just completing the refinishing of the seating surfaces for a new nozzle; fig. 2 is a left side view, partly in section, of the cutting tool illustrated in fig. 1; fig. 3 is a top view of a cutting tool; fig. 4 shows details of a mounting plate; fig. 5 shows details of an adjusting plate; fig. 6 shows details of a retainer plate; fig. 7 is a side view, partly in section, of a cutter head utilized to remove weld material holding a nozzle in a governor chest; fig. 8 is a bottom view of fig. 7; fig. 9 is a side view, partly in section, of a cutter head employed to refinish the seating surfaces in the wall of a governor chest after a nozzle has been removed therefrom; and, fig. 10 is a bottom view of the cutter head of fig. 9. detailed description of the invention fig. 1 is a sectional view of the invention as it would appear mounted and in use on the governor chest of a steam turbine. the bottom portion 1 of the governor chest is provided with a plurality of openings or bores with only two of these openings, 3 and 5, being illustrated in fig. 1. it should be understood that the governor chest has side walls extending upwardly to the plane designated a--a, and that a top cover plate is doweled and bolted to the sidewalls. the top cover plate of the governor chest as well as the valves and the valve operating mechanisms within the chest are removed before the cutting tool 9 is placed in position for use. in fig. 1, nozzle 11 illustrates the condition of a nozzle prior to the beginning of the removal and reboring operation. nozzle 11 is mounted in the bore 3 which extends through the bottom wall of the governor chest 1. the nozzle has an annular flange 11a which rests on an abutment 1a of the governor chest. a recess 13 is provided in the upper surface of governor chest 1 around each nozzle and the upper surface of the flange 11a lies in the plane of the bottom of the recess. welding material 15 is provided around the periphery of the nozzle in the recess 13 to weld the flange 11a to the governor chest 1. this prevents upward movement of the nozzle 11. in order to replace a nozzle 11, it is necessary to first remove the weld material 15. to accomplish this, a cutter head 17 carrying two tool bits 19 and 21 is attached to the bottom of cutting tool 9 and the tool is mounted in position on top of the governor chest. as shown in fig. 1, the cutter head 17 is then rotated and moved axially downwardly thereby progressively removing the weld material 15. fig. 1 shows the position of the tool bits 19 and 21 after they have completely removed any weld material holding the nozzle 23 in bore 5. after the weld material is removed, the cutting tool 9 is removed from the top of the governor chest after which the nozzle 23 may be extracted from the wall of the governor chest. once the nozzle has been extracted, the interior surfaces of bore 5 which seat the nozzle may need refinishing if steam cut. to accomplish this, the cutter head 17 (fig. 1) is replaced with a cutter head 25 (fig. 1a) having a single tool bit 27. the cutting tool 9 is then replaced on the governor chest and fastened in position after which the cutter head 25 is rotated and moved axially downwardly so that the tool bit 27 refinishes the surfaces 1a and 1b. after these surfaces have been refinished, the cutting tool 9 may be removed from the top of the governor chest, a new nozzle inserted into the refinished bore 7, and weld material applied as shown at 15 in fig. 1 to secure the new nozzle in place. the operating mechanisms and the cover to the governor chest may then be replaced. the cutting tool 9 for rotationally and axially moving the cutter heads 17 and 25 is similar to the boring bar disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 4,011,793. as illustrated in figs. 1 and 2, it comprises a housing 31, a feed screw 33, a drive shaft 35, and a lock ring 37. the housing 31 is essentially a hollow cylinder having interior threads 39 extending throughout its length. these threads mesh with exterior threads 41 provided on the feed screw 33. the lock ring 37 is also provided with interior threads which mesh with the threads 41 on the feed screw. the feed screw 33 is also essentially a hollow cylinder and the drive shaft 35 extends axially through the feed screw. the drive shaft 35 is supported by a pair of lower bearings 43 and an upper bearing 45. the uppermost bearing 43 engages an abutment 47 on the interior of feed screw 33 while the lowermost bearing 43 engages an abutment 49 on the drive shaft 35. oil seals 51 and 53 are located above bearing 45 and below the lowermost bearing 43. a portion of the drive shaft 35 extending above feed screw 33 is threaded to receive a thrust ring 55 and a lock ring 57. thrust ring 55 is tightened to press against bearing 45 which is held from downward movement by an abutment 59 on the interior of the feed screw 33. as the thrust bearing is tightened it draws drive shaft 35 upwardly until abutment 49 presses bearings 43 against the abutment 47. the lock ring 57 is then tightened against thrust ring 55 to firmly hold drive shaft 35 against any axial movement relative to the feed screw 33. the upper end of drive shaft 35 is hexagonally shaped at 35a, or otherwise adapted to receive the drive coupling of a rotary power source (not shown). as best shown in fig. 2 the lower end of drive shaft 35 is provided with an axially extending threaded recess 35b for receiving the threaded stub shafts of cutter heads such as those illustrated in figs. 7 and 9. a nylon bearing 59 is provided at the lower extremity of housing 1 to give further support to the drive shaft 35 and to seal the interior of the housing to prevent the entry of dirt therein. bearing 27 is held in place by a set screw 61. the housing 31 is drilled and tapped at a plurality of locations to receive set screws 63 having nylon noses. these set screws prevent unwanted rotation of feed screw 33 relative to housing 31 except when the feed screw 33 is manually rotated. the feed screw is provided with an enlarged upper end portion having a plurality of holes 65 for receiving drive pins or a threaded handle 67. lock ring 37 is provided with a single nylon nosed set screw 69 which prevents inadvertent rotation of the lock ring except when it is manually rotated. one or more holes 71 may be provided in the lock ring to receive a pin or a threaded handle for rotating the lock ring. the cutting tool 9 is mounted on the governor chest by an assembly comprising an adapter plate 73, a mounting plate 75, an adjustment plate 77 and a retainer plate 79. the adapter plate 73 is a thick, flat, steel plate having an elongated opening 81 therein as is illustrated in fig. 3. the plate 73 is adapted to mate with the top surface of the governor chest after the top cover of the governor chest has been removed. plate 73 is provided with a plurality of holes 83 by means of which the plate 73 may be mounted on the top of the governor chest. bolts (not shown) may be extended through the holes 83 and into the periphery of the top surface of the governor chest to secure the plate 73 to the chest. the top of the governor chest is normally provided with one or more dowel holes for accurately positioning the cover of the governor chest relative to the lower portion thereof. plate 73 is provided with a pair of dowel holes 85a and 85b through which dowels may be extended into the body of the governor chest thereby accurately locating adapter plate 73 relative to the governor chest. the mounting plate 75 is attached to the top of adapter plate 73 by means of a plurality of screws 87. as shown in fig. 4, mounting plate 75 is provided with a plurality of holes 89 through which the screws 87 may pass and two dowel holes 91 through which two dowels 93 may pass. it should be noted that the adapter plate 73 shown in fig. 3 is intended for use on a governor chest having six nozzles therein. therefore, the mounting plate 75 and the adapter plate 73 are adapted such that the plate 75 may be secured to the plate 73 at any one of six locations. in each of these locations the axis of drive shaft 35 will be centered over one of the nozzles in the governor chest. in order to mount the plate 75 in the left-most position on the adapter plate 73 of fig. 3, the plate 75 would be positioned such that the dowel holes 91 in plate 75 align with dowel holes 95 in plate 73. dowels 93 are then inserted through holes 91 and 95 to properly locate the plate 75 relative to plate 73. next, the screws 87 are inserted through the holes 89 in plate 75 and screwed into the holes 97a-97d in the plate 73. as a further example of the positioning of plate 75, assume that it is desired to locate the plate one position to the right of the left-most position. in this case, dowels 73 are driven through holes 91 in plate 75 and into the holes 99 in plate 73. screws 87 are then inserted through holes 89 in plate 75 and tightened into the threaded holes 101a-d in plate 73. it will be obvious that by employing different adapter plates having different spacings of threaded holes 97a-d, 101a-d, etc., one cutting tool may be utilized with different governor chests even though the spacings between the nozzles in the different chests may vary. mounting plate 75 has a centrally located opening 103 through which the housing 31 of cutting tool 9 may pass. the opening 103 is made slightly larger than the diameter of housing 31 so that the position of the housing 31 may be laterally adjusted relative to plate 75. as illustrated in fig. 1, housing 31 has a flange portion 31a by means of which the housing is attached to the adjusting plate 77. as illustrated in fig. 5, adjusting plate 77 is an annular member having a plurality of threaded holes 105 and a dowel hole 107. flange 31a is also provided with a dowel hole and a plurality of holes through which screws may be extended into the plate 77. a dowel 111 (figs. 1 and 3) extends through flange 31a and into the dowel hole 105 to accurately position cutting tool housing 31 relative to the adjusting plate 77. cutting tool housing 31 is inserted through the opening 103 in mounting plate 75 so that the adjusting plate 77 rests on the upper surface of the plate 75. retainer plate 79 is provided with a central opening 113 which has a smaller diameter toward its top surface and a larger diameter toward its lower surface as is best illustrated in figs. 1 and 6. these differing diameters create an abutment 115 which retains adjusting plate 77 against the upper surface of plate 75. two dowel holes 117 are provided in plate 79 and two matching dowel holes 119 are provided in plate 75 to accurately position the plates relative to each other when two dowel pins 121 (fig. 3) are inserted in the holes 117 and 119. plate 79 is provided with a plurality of holes 121 and plate 75 has matching threaded holes 123. a plurality of screws 125 are inserted through holes 121 and into holes 123 to hold plate 79 firmly against the upper surface of plate 75. in order to adjust for minor misalignments of the nozzles, it is desirable that the housing 31 be laterally adjustable relative to adapter plate 73 so that drive shaft 35 may be positioned exactly coaxial with the axis of a nozzle bore. this adjustment is accomplished by providing retainer plate 79 with four threaded screws 127 (fig. 1) which extend radially inwardly from the periphery of the plate. the periphery of plate 77 is notched to provide flat surfaces against which the screws 127 may press. by selectively adjusting the four screws 127, the position of plate 77 and thus, the position of housing 31 and drive shaft 35 may be varied within a small range. four lock screws 129 having nylon noses are provided for locking the screws 127. figs. 7 and 8 show details of the cutter head 17. the body of the cutter head is provided with two diametrically opposed slots 131 for receiving the two tool bits 19 and 21. two set screws 133 are provided to lock each bit in position. a further set screw 135 is provided for each tool bit to adjust its vertical position. the cutter head is provided with a threaded stud 137 which is adapted to be screwed into the opening 35b in the drive shaft 35. one or more holes 138 may be provided in the cutter head 17 for the insertion of a drive pin (not shown) which is used for tightening or loosening the cutter head on the drive shaft. a recess 139 (figs. 1 and 8) is provided in the bottom surface of the cutter head. the upper extremity of a nozzle extends into this recess as the cutter head is lowered to cut away the weld material. as is evident from inspection of fig. 1, the tool bits 19 and 21 differ in shape and traverse different but overlapping annular paths as the shaft 35 is rotated. tool bit 19 has a curved edge which matches the curvature around the edges of recess 13 in the chest 1. bit 19 cuts away welding material extending from the outer diameter of the recess 13 to a point approximately at the outer diameter of the annular flange 23a on the nozzle 23. tool bit 21 on the other hand, cuts away weld material extending from the inner edge of flange 23a to a point slightly beyond the outer edge of flange 23a. these two overlapping paths of the cutters 19 and 21 remove all weld material since the weld material should not extend into the region of the annular recess 23b. figs. 9 and 10 show the details of the cutter head 25. it is provided with a threaded stub shaft 141 which is adapted to be received into the threaded opening 35b of the drive shaft 35. the head 25 has a single radially extending opening 143 for receiving the tool bit 27. a set screw 145 is provided for adjusting the radial extension of tool bit 27 and two set screws 147 are provided for locking the tool bit in place. the operating procedure for the tool 9 is as follows, after the cover of the governor chest is removed a tool head 17 placed on the tool, a suitable adapter plate 73 mounted on top of the governor chest, and the mounting plate 75 mounted on plate 73. screws 127 are adjusted to position the axis of shaft 35 over the center of the nozzle to be removed if there should be a slight misalignment of the axis of shaft 35 with the axis of the nozzle. next, lock ring 37 is adjusted a distance above housing 31 equal to the distance the tool head is to be advanced downwardly. the rotary power source (not shown) is turned on to rotate shaft 35. while the shaft is rotating, handle 67 is turned to axially advance feed screw 33 and shaft 35. this is continued until lock ring 37 engages housing 31 and prevents further advancement. handle 67 is then turned to raise shaft 35 so that the work may be inspected. if cutting to a deeper depth is required, lock ring 37 is rotated to raise it by the amount of additional cut that is desired. handle 67 is then turned again to lower shaft 35 while the shaft is rotated by the power source. when the cutting has proceeded to the point where weld material 15 is completely removed, the mounting plate screws 87 are removed and the tool, minus the adapter plate 73, lifted from the governor chest. the nozzle is then extracted. if refinishing is needed, a cutter head 25 is placed on shaft 35, and the mounting plate replaced on the top of the adapter plate 73. the nozzle seating surfaces are then refinished by rotationally driving shaft 35 while advancing the shaft by means of handle 67. as with the weld-removing operation, the depth of cut may be limited using the lock ring 37. after one nozzle site is finished, the screws 87 are removed and the mounting plate 75 shifted relative to adapter plate 73 to place drive shaft 35 over the next nozzle to be removed. while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in specific detail, it will be understood that various modifications and substitutions may be made in the embodiment shown without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
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173-923-427-480-12X
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US
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[
"EP",
"US"
] |
B23H9/10,B23H1/00,B23H5/04,B23H9/14,F01D5/18,F02K1/82,B23K26/382,B23K101/00,B24C1/04
| 2021-08-13T00:00:00 |
2021
|
[
"B23",
"F01",
"F02",
"B24"
] |
forming cooling aperture(s) using electrical discharge machining
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a manufacturing method is provided. during this method, a preform component (60') is provided for a turbine engine. the preform component includes a substrate (74') comprising electrically conductive material having an outer coating (78') comprising non-electrically conductive material applied over a surface of the substrate. a preform aperture is formed in the preform component using an electrical discharge machining electrode (144). the preform aperture includes a meter section (102) of a cooling aperture (64) in the substrate. the preform aperture also includes a pilot hole (152) in the outer coating. a diffuser section (104) of the cooling aperture is formed in at least the outer coating using a second machining process.
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a manufacturing method, comprising: providing a preform component (60') for a turbine engine, the preform component (60') comprising a substrate (74') comprising electrically conductive material having an outer coating (78') comprising non-electrically conductive material applied over a surface (82) of the substrate (74'); forming a preform aperture (64') in the preform component using an electrical discharge machining electrode (144), the preform aperture (64') including a meter section (102) of a cooling aperture (64) in the substrate (74'), and the preform aperture (64') further including a pilot hole (152) in the outer coating (78'); and forming a diffuser section (104) of the cooling aperture (64) in at least the outer coating (78') using a second machining process. the manufacturing method of claim 1, wherein the forming of the preform aperture (64') comprises: removing a portion of the substrate (74') using an electric current discharged from the electrical discharge machining electrode to form the meter section (102); and directing fluid through a bore (150) of the electrical discharge machining electrode (144) to puncture the outer coating (78') and form the pilot hole (152). the manufacturing method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the diffuser section (104) is formed in the preform component (60') based on a location of the pilot hole (152). the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the pilot hole (152) is expanded within the outer coating (78') during the forming of the diffuser section (104). the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the diffuser section (104) extends into the substrate (74'). the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the preform component (60') further comprises an inner coating (76') between the substrate (74') and the outer coating (78'), and the preform aperture (64') extends through the inner coating (76'), wherein, optionally, the inner coating (76') comprises electrically conductive material that is different than the electrically conductive material of the substrate (74'). the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the electrically conductive material comprises metal, and the non-electrically conductive material comprises ceramic. the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the second machining process comprises: a laser machining process; or a water-jet guided laser machining process; or an abrasive water jet machining process. the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the providing of the preform component (60') comprises applying the outer coating (78') over the substrate (74'). the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the diffuser section (104) is configured as a single lobe diffuser section or a multi lobe diffuser section. the manufacturing method of any preceding claim, wherein the preform component (60') comprises: a preform of an airfoil (60a, 60b) for the turbine engine; or a preform of a flowpath wall (60g) for the turbine engine. a manufacturing method, comprising: providing a preform component (60') for a turbine engine, the preform component extending between a component first surface (68) and a component second surface (70), the preform component comprising a substrate (74') comprising metal and an outer coating (78') comprising ceramic applied over a surface (82) of the substrate; forming a preform aperture (64') in the preform component starting at the component first surface using an electrical discharge machining process, the preform aperture including a meter section (102) of a cooling aperture (64) in the substrate, and the preform aperture further including a pilot hole (152) in the outer coating; and forming a diffuser section (104) of the cooling aperture in at least the outer coating using a second machining process. the manufacturing method of claim 12, wherein the forming of the preform aperture comprises: removing a portion of the substrate using an electric current discharged from an electrode (144) to form the meter section; and directing fluid through a bore (150) of the electrode to liberate a portion of the outer coating and form the pilot hole. the manufacturing method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the diffuser section is aligned with the meter section based on a location of the pilot hole. a manufacturing method, comprising: providing a preform component (60') for a turbine engine, the preform component comprising a substrate (74') comprising electrically conductive material and an outer coating (78') comprising non-electrically conductive material applied over a surface (82) of the substrate; removing a portion of the substrate using an electric current discharged from an electrode (144) to form a meter section (102) of a cooling aperture (64) in the substrate; directing fluid through a bore (150) of the electrode against a backside of the outer coating to form a pilot hole (152) in the outer coating; and forming a diffuser section (104) of the cooling aperture in at least the outer coating using a laser machining process.
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background of the disclosure 1. technical field this disclosure relates generally to a turbine engine and, more particularly, to cooling apertures and formation thereof in a component of the turbine engine. 2. background information a gas turbine engine includes various fluid cooled components such as turbine blades and turbine vanes. such fluid cooled components may include one or more cooling apertures extending through a sidewall of the respective component. various methods are known in the art for forming cooling apertures. while these known cooling aperture formation methods have various benefits, there is still room in the art form improvement. summary of the disclosure according to an aspect of the invention, a manufacturing method is provided. during this method, a preform component is provided for a turbine engine. the preform component includes a substrate comprising electrically conductive material having an outer coating comprising non-electrically conductive material applied over a surface of the substrate. a preform aperture is formed in the preform component using an electrical discharge machining electrode. the preform aperture includes a meter section of a cooling aperture in the substrate. the preform aperture also includes a pilot hole in the outer coating. a diffuser section of the cooling aperture is formed in at least the outer coating using a second machining process. according to another aspect of the invention, another manufacturing method is provided. during this method, a preform component is provided for a turbine engine. the preform component extends between a component first surface and a component second surface. the preform component includes a substrate comprising metal (e.g., an electrically conductive metal) and an outer coating comprising ceramic applied over a surface of the substrate. a preform aperture is formed in the preform component starting at the component first surface using an electrical discharge machining process. the preform aperture includes a meter section of a cooling aperture in the substrate. the preform aperture also includes a pilot hole in the outer coating. a diffuser section of the cooling aperture is formed in at least the outer coating using a second machining process. according to still another aspect of the invention, another manufacturing method is provided. during this method, a preform component is provided for a turbine engine. the preform component includes a substrate comprising electrically conductive material and an outer coating comprising non-electrically conductive material applied over a surface of the substrate. a portion of the substrate is removed using an electric current discharged from an electrode to form a meter section of a cooling aperture in the substrate. fluid is directed through a bore of the electrode against a backside of the outer coating to form a pilot hole in the outer coating. a diffuser section of the cooling aperture is formed in at least the outer coating using a laser machining process. the following optional features may be applied to any of the above aspects. the forming of the preform aperture may include: removing a portion of the substrate using an electric current discharged from an electrode to form the meter section; and directing fluid through a bore of the electrode to liberate a portion of the outer coating and form the pilot hole. the diffuser section may be aligned with the meter section based on a location of the pilot hole. the forming of the preform aperture may include: removing a portion of the substrate using an electric current discharged from the electrical discharge machining electrode to form the meter section; and directing fluid through a bore of the electrical discharge machining electrode to puncture the outer coating and form the pilot hole. the diffuser section may be formed in the preform component based on a location of the pilot hole. the pilot hole may be expanded within the outer coating during the forming of the diffuser section. the diffuser section may extend into the substrate. the preform component may also include an inner coating between the substrate and the outer coating. the preform aperture may extend through the inner coating. the inner coating may include electrically conductive material that is different than the electrically conductive material of the substrate. the electrically conductive material may be configured as or otherwise include metal. the non-electrically conductive material may be configured as or otherwise include ceramic. the second machining process may be or otherwise include a laser machining process. the second machining process may be or otherwise include a water-jet guided laser machining process. the second machining process may be or otherwise include an abrasive water jet machining process. the providing of the preform component may include applying the outer coating over the substrate. the diffuser section may be configured as a single lobe diffuser section. the diffuser section may be configured as a multi lobe diffuser section. the preform component may be configured as or otherwise include a preform of an airfoil for the turbine engine. the preform component may be configured as or otherwise include a preform of a flowpath wall for the turbine engine. the present disclosure may include any one or more of the individual features disclosed above and/or below alone or in any combination thereof. the foregoing features and the operation of the invention will become more apparent in light of the following description and the accompanying drawings. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a side cutaway illustration of a geared turbofan turbine engine. fig. 2 is a perspective illustration of a portion of a fluid cooled component. fig. 3 is a sectional illustration of a portion of the fluid cooled component taken along a centerline of a cooling aperture. fig. 4 is a cross-sectional illustration of a portion of the fluid cooled component at a meter section outlet of the cooling aperture. fig. 5 is a cross-sectional illustration of a portion of the fluid cooled component at a diffuser section inlet of the cooling aperture. fig. 6 is a side illustration of a portion of the fluid cooled component at an outlet of the cooling aperture and its diffuser section. figs. 7 and 8 are side illustrations of portions of the fluid cooled component configured with various multi-lobed cooling apertures. fig. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for manufacturing a fluid cooled component. fig. 10 is a sectional illustration of a portion of a preform substrate. fig. 11 is a sectional illustration of a portion of the preform substrate configured with a preform inner coating. fig. 12 is a sectional illustration of a portion of the preform substrate further configured with a preform outer coating. fig. 13 is a sectional illustration of a portion of a preform component configured with a preform aperture. figs. 14 and 15 illustrate a sequence for forming the preform aperture in the preform component using an edm electrode. fig. 16 is a sectional illustration of a portion of the preform substrate configured with a cooling aperture formed therein. detailed description the present disclosure includes methods for manufacturing fluid cooled components of a gas turbine engine. for ease of description, the turbine engine may be described below as a turbofan turbine engine. the present disclosure, however, is not limited to such an exemplary gas turbine engine. the turbine engine, for example, may alternatively be configured as a turbojet turbine engine, a turboprop turbine engine, a turboshaft turbine engine, a propfan turbine engine, a pusher fan turbine engine or an auxiliary power unit (apu) turbine engine. the turbine engine may be configured as a geared turbine engine or a direct drive turbine engine. the present disclosure is also not limited to aircraft applications. the turbine engine, for example, may alternatively be configured as a ground-based industrial turbine engine for power generation, or any other type of turbine engine which utilizes fluid cooled components. fig. 1 is a side cutaway illustration of the turbofan turbine engine 20. this turbine engine 20 extends along an axial centerline 22 between a forward, upstream airflow inlet 24 and an aft, downstream airflow exhaust 26. the turbine engine 20 includes a fan section 28, a compressor section 29, a combustor section 30, a turbine section 31 and an exhaust section 32 (partially shown in fig. 1 ). the compressor section 29 includes a low pressure compressor (lpc) section 29a and a high pressure compressor (hpc) section 29b. the turbine section 31 includes a high pressure turbine (hpt) section 31a and a low pressure turbine (lpt) section 31b. the engine sections 28-31 are arranged sequentially along the axial centerline 22 within an engine housing 34. this engine housing 34 includes an inner case 36 (e.g., a core case) and an outer case 38 (e.g., a fan case). the inner case 36 may house one or more of the engine sections 29a-31b; e.g., an engine core. the outer case 38 may house at least the fan section 28. each of the engine sections 28, 29a, 29b, 31a and 31b includes a respective rotor 40-44. each of these rotors 40-44 includes a plurality of rotor blades arranged circumferentially around and connected to one or more respective rotor disks. the rotor blades, for example, may be formed integral with or mechanically fastened, welded, brazed, adhered and/or otherwise attached to the respective rotor disk(s). the fan rotor 40 is connected to a gear train 46, for example, through a fan shaft 48. the gear train 46 and the lpc rotor 41 are connected to and driven by the lpt rotor 44 through a low speed shaft 49. the hpc rotor 42 is connected to and driven by the hpt rotor 43 through a high speed shaft 50. the shafts 48-50 are rotatably supported by a plurality of bearings 52; e.g., rolling element and/or thrust bearings. each of these bearings 52 is connected to the engine housing 34 by at least one stationary structure such as, for example, an annular support strut. during operation, air enters the turbine engine 20 through the airflow inlet 24. this air is directed through the fan section 28 and into a core flowpath 54 and a bypass flowpath 56. the core flowpath 54 extends sequentially through the engine sections 29a-32. the air within the core flowpath 54 may be referred to as "core air". the bypass flowpath 56 extends through a bypass duct, which bypasses the engine core. the air within the bypass flowpath 56 may be referred to as "bypass air". the core air is compressed by the lpc rotor 41 and the hpc rotor 42 and directed into a combustion chamber 58 of a combustor in the combustor section 30. fuel is injected into the combustion chamber 58 and mixed with the compressed core air to provide a fuel-air mixture. this fuel air mixture is ignited and combustion products thereof flow through and sequentially cause the hpt rotor 43 and the lpt rotor 44 to rotate. the rotation of the hpt rotor 43 and the lpt rotor 44 respectively drive rotation of the hpc rotor 42 and the lpc rotor 41 and, thus, compression of the air received from a core airflow inlet. the rotation of the lpt rotor 44 also drives rotation of the fan rotor 40, which propels bypass air through and out of the bypass flowpath 56. the propulsion of the bypass air may account for a majority of thrust generated by the turbine engine 20, e.g., more than seventy-five percent (75%) of engine thrust. the turbine engine 20 of the present disclosure, however, is not limited to the foregoing exemplary thrust ratio. the turbine engine 20 includes a plurality of fluid cooled components (e.g., 60ah; generally referred to as "60") arranged within, for example, the combustor section 30, the turbine section 31 and/or the exhaust section 32. examples of these fluid cooled components 60 include airfoils such as, but not limited to, a rotor blade airfoil (e.g., 60a, 60d) and a stator vane airfoil (e.g., 60b, 60c, 60h). other examples of the fluid cooled components 60 include flowpath walls such as, but not limited to, a combustor wall (e.g., 60f), an exhaust duct wall (e.g., 60e), a shroud or other flowpath wall (e.g., 60g), a rotor blade platform and a stator vane platform. of course, various other fluid cooled components may be included in the turbine engine 20, and the present disclosure is not limited to any particular types or configurations thereof. fig. 2 illustrates a portion of one of the fluid cooled components 60 within the turbine engine 20. this fluid cooled component 60 has a component wall 62 (e.g., a sidewall or an endwall) configured with one or more cooling apertures 64. referring to fig. 3 , the component wall 62 has a thickness 66 that extends vertically (e.g., along a z-axis) between and to a first surface 68 and a second surface 70. the component first surface 68 may be configured as an interior and/or a cold side surface of the component wall 62. the component first surface 68, for example, may at least partially form a peripheral boundary of a cooling fluid volume 72 (e.g., a cavity or a passage) along the component wall 62. the component first surface 68 may thereby be subject to relatively cool fluid (e.g., cooling air) supplied to the cooling fluid volume 72. this cooling fluid volume 72 may be an internal volume formed within the fluid cooled component 60 where, for example, the component is an airfoil. alternatively, the cooling fluid volume 72 may be an external volume formed external to the fluid cooled component 60 where, for example, the component is a flowpath wall. the component second surface 70 may be configured as an exterior and/or a hot side surface of the component wall 62. the component second surface 70, for example, may at least partially form a peripheral boundary of a portion of, for example, the core flowpath 54 along the component wall 62. the component second surface 70 may thereby be subject to relative hot fluid (e.g., combustion products) flowing through the core flowpath 54 within, for example, one of the engine sections 30-32 of fig. 1 . the component wall 62 of fig. 3 includes a component substrate 74 and one or more external component coatings 76 and 78. the component substrate 74 at least partially or completely forms and carries the component first surface 68. the component substrate 74 has a thickness 80 that extends vertically (e.g., along the z-axis) between and to the component first surface 68 and a second surface 82 of the component substrate 74. this substrate second surface 82 may be configured as an exterior surface of the component substrate 74 prior to being (e.g., partially or completely) covered by the one or more component coatings 76 and 78. the substrate thickness 80 may be greater than one-half (1/2) of the wall thickness 66. the substrate thickness 80, for example, may be between two-third (2/3) and four-fifths (4/5) of the wall thickness 66. the component substrate 74 is constructed from substrate material 84. this substrate material 84 may be an electrically conductive material. the substrate material 84, for example, may be or otherwise include metal. examples of the metal include, but are not limited to, nickel (ni), titanium (ti), aluminum (al), chromium (cr), cobalt (co), and alloys thereof. the metal, for example, may be a nickel or cobalt based superalloy such as, but not limited to, pwa 1484 or pwa 1429. the inner coating 76 may be configured as a bond coating between the component substrate 74 and the outer coating 78. the inner coating 76 of fig. 3 is bonded (e.g., directly) to the substrate second surface 82. the inner coating 76 at least partially or completely covers the substrate second surface 82 (e.g., along an x-y plane of fig. 2 ). the inner coating 76 has a thickness 86 that extends vertically (e.g., along the z-axis) between and to component substrate 74 and the outer coating 78. this inner coating thickness 86 may be less than one-seventh (1/7) of the wall thickness 66. the inner coating thickness 86, for example, may be between one-eighth (1/8) and one-fortieth (1/40) of the wall thickness 66. the inner coating 76 is constructed from inner coating material 88. this inner coating material 88 may be an electrically conductive material. the inner coating material 88, for example, may be or otherwise include metal. examples of the metal include, but are not limited to, mcraly and malcrx, where "m" is nickel (ni), cobalt (co), iron (fe) or any combination thereof, and where "y" or "x" is hafnium (hf), yttrium (y), silicon (si) or any combination thereof. the mcraly and malcrx may be further modified with strengthening elements such as, but not limited to, tantalum (ta), rhenium (re), tungsten (w), molybdenum (mo) or any combination thereof. an example of the mcraly is pwa 286. the inner coating 76 may be formed from a single layer of the inner coating material 88. the inner coating 76 may alternatively be formed from a plurality of layers of the inner coating material 88, where the inner coating material 88 within each of those inner coating layers may be the same as one another or different from one another. the outer coating 78 may be configured as a protective coating for the component substrate 74 and, more generally, the fluid cooled component 60. the outer coating 78, for example, may be configured as a thermal barrier layer and/or an environmental layer. the outer coating 78 at least partially or completely forms and carries the component second surface 70. the outer coating 78 of fig. 2 is bonded (e.g., directly) to a second (e.g., exterior) surface 90 of the inner coating 76. the outer coating 78 at least partially or completely covers the inner coating second surface 90 as well as the underlying substrate second surface 82 (e.g., along an x-y plane of fig. 2 ). the outer coating 78 has a thickness 92 that extends vertically (e.g., along the z-axis) between and to the inner coating 76 and the component second surface 70. this outer coating thickness 92 may be less than one-half (1/2) of the wall thickness 66. the outer coating thickness 92, for example, may be between one-third (1/3) and one-eighth (1/8) of the wall thickness 66. the outer coating thickness 92, however, may be greater than the inner coating thickness 86. the outer coating 78 is constructed from outer coating material 94. this outer coating material 94 may be a non-electrically conductive material. the outer coating material 88, for example, may be or otherwise include ceramic. examples of the ceramic include, but are not limited to, yttria stabilized zirconia (ysz) and gadolinium zirconate (gdz). the outer coating material 94 of the present disclosure is not limited to non-electrically conductive materials. in other embodiments, for example, the outer coating material 94 may be an electrically conductive material; e.g., metal. the outer coating 78 may be formed from a single layer of the outer coating material 94. the outer coating 78 may alternatively be formed from a plurality of layers of the outer coating material 94, where the outer coating material 94 within each of those outer coating layers may be the same as one another or different from one another. for example, the outer coating 78 may include a thin interior layer of the ysz and a thicker exterior later of the gdz. each of the cooling apertures 64 extends along a respective longitudinal centerline 96 between and to an inlet 98 of the respective cooling aperture 64 and an outlet 100 of the respective cooling aperture 64. the cooling aperture inlet 98 of fig. 3 is located in the component first surface 68. the cooling aperture inlet 98 thereby fluidly couples its respective cooling aperture 64 with the cooling fluid volume 72 along the component first surface 68. the cooling aperture outlet 100 of fig. 3 is located in the component second surface 70. the cooling aperture outlet 100 thereby fluidly couples its respective cooling aperture 64 with the core flowpath 54 along the component second surface 70. each of the cooling apertures 64 may include a meter section 102 and a diffuser section 104. the meter section 102 is disposed at (e.g., on, adjacent or proximate) the cooling aperture inlet 98. the meter section 102 is configured to meter (e.g., regulate) a flow of cooling fluid flowing from the cooling fluid volume 72, through the substrate material 84, to the diffuser section 104. the diffuser section 104 is disposed at the cooling aperture outlet 100. the diffuser section 104 is configured to diffuse the cooling fluid exhausted (e.g., directed out) from the cooling aperture outlet 100 into, for example, a film for cooling a downstream portion of the component second surface 70. the meter section 102 of fig. 3 extends longitudinally along the longitudinal centerline 96 within (e.g., partially into) the component substrate 74. more particularly, the meter section 102 extends longitudinally along a meter segment 106 of the longitudinal centerline 96 (e.g., a centerline of the meter section 102) from the cooling aperture inlet 98 to an outlet 108 of the meter section 102. the meter section outlet 108 of fig. 3 is disposed vertically within the component substrate 74 intermediately between the component first surface 68 and the substrate second surface 82. the meter section outlet 108 of fig. 3 is thereby vertically recessed into the component substrate 74 by a vertical distance 110 (e.g., along the z-axis). the longitudinal centerline 96 and its (e.g., entire) meter segment 106 of fig. 3 are angularly offset from the component first surface 68 by an included angle 112. this meter segment angle 112 may be an acute angle, or a right angle. the meter segment angle 112, for example, may be between ten degrees (10°) and eighty degrees (80°); e.g., between twenty degrees (20°) and thirty degrees (30°). the meter section 102 has a longitudinal length 114 measured along the meter segment 106 between the cooling aperture inlet 98 and the meter section outlet 108. referring to fig. 4 , the meter section 102 has a first lateral width 118a (e.g., a major axis dimension; e.g., along the y-axis) and a second lateral width 118b (e.g., a minor axis dimension; e.g., along the x-axis). these lateral widths 118a and 118b (generally referred to as "118") may be measured, for example, along / within a plane parallel with the component first surface 68 and/or the component second surface 70 (see fig. 3 ); e.g., the x-y plane. the first lateral width 118a of fig. 4 is greater than the second lateral width 118b. however, in other embodiments, the first lateral width 118a may be equal to or less than the second lateral width 118b. the meter section 102 has a cross-sectional geometry when viewed, for example, in a (e.g., x-y plane) plane parallel with the component first surface 68 and/or the component second surface 70 (see fig. 3 ); e.g., the plane of fig. 4 . this meter section cross-sectional geometry may be uniform (e.g., remain constant) along the longitudinal length 114 of the meter section 102. the meter section cross-sectional geometry of fig. 4 has a rounded shape. examples of the rounded shape include, but are not limited to, an oval, an ellipse and a circle. the present disclosure, however, is not limited to the foregoing exemplary meter section cross-sectional geometry shapes as discussed below in further detail. the diffuser section 104 of fig. 3 extends longitudinally along the longitudinal centerline 96 out of the component substrate 74, through the inner coating 76 and the outer coating 78. more particularly, the diffuser section 104 of fig. 3 extends longitudinally along a diffuser segment 120 of the longitudinal centerline 96 (e.g., a centerline of the diffuser section 104) from an inlet 122 of the diffuser section 104 (here, also the meter section outlet 108), through the materials 84, 88 and 94, to the cooling aperture outlet 100. the diffuser section inlet 122 of fig. 3 is disposed vertically within the component substrate 74 intermediately between the component first surface 68 and the substrate second surface 82. the diffuser section inlet 122 of fig. 3 is thereby vertically recessed into the component substrate 74 by the vertical distance 110 (e.g., along the z-axis). the longitudinal centerline 96 and its (e.g., entire) diffuser segment 120 of fig. 3 are angularly offset from the component second surface 70 by an included angle 124. this diffuser segment angle 124 may be an acute angle. the diffuser segment angle 124, for example, may be between twenty degrees (20°) and eighty degrees (80°); e.g., between thirty-five degrees (35°) and fifty-five degrees (55°). the diffuser segment angle 124 of fig. 3 is different (e.g., less) than the meter segment angle 112. the diffuser segment 120 may thereby be angularly offset from the meter segment 106. the diffuser section 104 has a longitudinal length 126 measured along the diffuser segment 120 between the diffuser section inlet 122 and the cooling aperture outlet 100. this diffuser section longitudinal length 126 may be equal to or different (e.g., less or greater) than the meter section longitudinal length 114. referring to fig. 5 , the diffuser section 104 has a first lateral width 130a (e.g., a major axis dimension; e.g., along the y-axis) and a second lateral width 130b (e.g., a minor axis dimension; e.g., along the x-axis). these lateral widths 130a and 130b (generally referred to as "130") may be measured, for example, along / within a plane parallel with the component first surface 68 and/or the component second surface 70 (see fig. 3 ); e.g., the x-y plane. the first lateral width 130a of fig. 5 is greater than the second lateral width 130b. however, in other embodiments, the first lateral width 130a may be equal to or less than the second lateral width 130b. the first lateral width 130a and the corresponding first lateral width 118a (see fig. 4 ) at an interface 132 (see fig. 3 ) between the meter section 102 and the diffuser section 104 are equal. similarly, the second lateral width 130b and the corresponding second lateral width 118b (see fig. 4 ) at the interface 132 (see fig. 3 ) between the meter section 102 and the diffuser section 104 are equal. however, the lateral widths 130 of the diffuser section 104 at other locations along the longitudinal centerline 96 may be greater the corresponding lateral widths 118 of the meter section 102 (see fig. 4 ). more particularly, the diffuser section 104 of fig. 3 (see also transition from fig. 5 to fig. 6 ) laterally diverges as the diffuser section 104 projects longitudinally away from the meter section 102 towards or to the cooling aperture outlet 100. referring to fig. 5 , the diffuser section 104 has a cross-sectional geometry when viewed, for example, in a plane parallel with the component first surface 68 and/or the component second surface 70 (see fig. 3 ); e.g., the x-y plane. at the interface 132, the diffuser section cross-sectional geometry is the same as the meter section cross-sectional geometry (see fig. 4 ). the diffuser section cross-sectional geometry of fig. 5 , for example, has a rounded shape. examples of the rounded shape include, but are not limited to, an oval, an ellipse and a circle. the present disclosure, however, is not limited to the foregoing exemplary diffuser section cross-sectional geometry shapes as discussed below in further detail. referring to figs. 3 , 5 and 6 , a shape and/or dimensions of the diffuser section cross-sectional geometry change as the diffuser section 104 projects longitudinally away from the meter section 102, e.g. sequentially through the materials 84, 88 and 94 of fig. 3 , to the cooling aperture outlet 100. for example, at the cooling aperture outlet 100 of fig. 6 , the diffuser section cross-sectional geometry may have a complex shape when viewed, for example, in a plane parallel with the component first surface 68 and/or the component second surface 70; e.g., the x-y plane. this diffuser section cross-sectional geometry of fig. 6 includes a (e.g., curved or straight) leading edge section 134, a (e.g., curved or straight) trailing edge section 136 and opposing (e.g., curved or straight; concave, convex and/or splined) sidewall sections 138a and 138b (generally referred to as "138"). each of the sidewall sections 138 extends between and to respective ends of the leading and the trailing edge sections 134 and 136. a lateral width of the leading edge section 134 may be different (e.g., smaller) than a lateral width of the trailing edge section 136. the sidewall sections 138 may thereby generally laterally diverge away from one another as the sidewall sections 138 extend from the leading edge section 134 to the trailing edge section 136. in some embodiments, referring to fig. 6 , the diffuser section 104 may be configured as a single lobe diffuser section. in other embodiments, referring to figs. 7 and 8 , the diffuser section 104 may be configured as a multi-lobe diffuser section. various other single lobe and multi-lobe diffuser sections for cooling apertures are known in the art, and the present disclosure is not limited to any particular ones thereof. further details on various multi-lobe diffuser sections can be found in u.s. patent no. 9,598,979 , which is assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure and hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. fig. 9 is a flow diagram of a method 900 for manufacturing a fluid cooled component. for ease of description, the method 900 is described below with reference to the fluid cooled component 60 described above. the method 900 of the present disclosure, however, is not limited to manufacturing such an exemplary fluid cooled component. in step 902, a preform substrate 74' is provided. referring to fig. 10 , the preform substrate 74' may generally have the configuration (e.g., shape, size, etc.) of the substrate 74 for the fluid cooled component 60 to be formed (e.g., see fig. 3 ). the preform substrate 74' of fig. 10 , however, does not include any holes therein for forming the cooling apertures 64. in step 904, a preform inner coating 76' is applied over the preform substrate 74'. for example, referring to fig. 11 , the inner coating material 88 may be applied (e.g., deposited) onto the second surface 82 of the preform substrate 74'. the inner coating material 88 may be applied using various inner coating application techniques. examples of the inner coating application techniques include, but are not limited to, a physical vapor deposition (pvd) process, chemical vapor deposition (cvd) process, a plating process, and a thermal spray process (e.g., a plasma spray (ps) process, a high velocity oxygen fuel (hvof) process, high velocity air fuel (hvaf) process, a wire spray process or a combustion spray process). the inner coating application may be performed via a non-line-of-sight (nlos) coating process or a direct-line-of-sight (dlos) coating process. the preform inner coating 76' of fig. 11 may generally have the configuration of the inner coating 76 for the fluid cooled component 60 to be formed (e.g., see fig. 3 ). the preform inner coating 76' of fig. 11 , however, does not include any holes for forming the cooling apertures 64. in step 906, a preform outer coating 78' is applied over the preform substrate 74' and the preform inner coating 76'. for example, referring to fig. 12 , the outer coating material 94 may be applied (e.g., deposited) onto the second surface 90 of the preform inner coating 76'. the outer coating material 94 may be applied using various outer coating application techniques. examples of the outer coating application techniques include, but are not limited to, a physical vapor deposition (pvd) process (e.g., an electron-beam pvd process), chemical vapor deposition (cvd) process, a thermal spray process (e.g., a plasma spray (ps) process, a high velocity oxygen fuel (hvof) process, high velocity air fuel (hvaf) process, a wire spray process or a combustion spray process). the outer coating application may be performed via a non-line-of-sight (nlos) coating process or a direct-line-of-sight (dlos) coating process. the preform outer coating 78' of fig. 12 may generally have the configuration of the outer coating 78 for the fluid cooled component 60 to be formed (e.g., see fig. 3 ). the preform outer coating 78' of fig. 12 , however, does not include any holes for forming the cooling apertures 64. the combination of the preform substrate 74', the preform inner coating 76' and the preform outer coating 78' may provide a preform component 60'. this preform component 60' of fig. 12 may generally have the configuration of the fluid cooled component 60 to be formed (e.g., see fig. 3 ). the preform component 60' of fig. 12 , however, does not include any holes for forming the cooling apertures 64. in step 908, a preform aperture 64' is formed in the preform component 60'. for example, referring to fig. 13 , a portion of the component material (here, a combination of the materials 84, 88 and 94) is machined away (from the interior of the preform component 60') to form the preform aperture 64'. this preform aperture 64' extends longitudinally through the preform component 60' and its various layers 74', 76' and 78' along the meter segment 106 from the first surface 68 of the preform component 60' to the second surface 70 of the preform component 60'. the preform aperture 64' of fig. 13 includes the meter section 102 of a respective cooling aperture 64. the preform aperture 64' of fig. 13 also includes a preform diffuser section 104'. this preform diffuser section 104' may generally be configured as an extension of the meter section 102 which continues to extend longitudinally along a trajectory of the meter segment 106 out of the substrate material 84, through the coating materials 88 and 94, to an orifice 139 in the second surface 70 of the preform substrate 60'. the preform aperture 64' may be formed using an electrical discharge machining (edm) process. for example, referring to fig. 14 , a first portion 142 of the preform aperture 64' is formed in the electrically conductive material (e.g., 84, 88) of the preform component 60' using an electrical discharge machining (edm) electrode 144. this edm electrode 144 may be translated along an axis 146 (e.g., coaxial with the meter segment 106; see fig. 3 ) towards the first surface 68, and then into the preform component 60' towards the second surface 70. as the edm electrode 144 is translated along the axis 146, an electric current is discharged into the electrically conductive material (e.g., 84, 88). the discharge of the electric current may remove (e.g., erode, burn away, etc.) a respective portion of the electrically conductive material (e.g., 84, 88) along a path of a tip of the edm electrode 144. the edm electrode 144 may thereby form the meter section 102 in the substrate material 84 as well as respective portions of the preform diffuser section 104' in the substrate material 84 and the inner coating material 88. once a corresponding portion of the preform aperture 64' is formed through the inner coating material 88, a portion 148 of the outer coating material 94 overlapping the first portion 142 of the preform aperture 64' may be substantially unsupported. referring to fig. 15 , a pressure force exerted by a stream of (e.g., pressurized) fluid directed out of a bore 150 of the edm electrode 144 during the electrical discharge machining process may puncture a pilot hole 152 through the preform outer coating 78'; e.g., liberate at least some or all of the unsupported portion 142 (see fig. 14 ) of the outer coating material 94. this pilot hole 152 forms a second portion of the preform aperture 64' which extends through the non-electrically conductive material 94. the electrical discharge machining process may thereby be used to form the preform aperture 64' through both the electrically conductive material(s) 84, 88 as well as the non-electrically conductive material 94. in step 910, the diffuser section 104 of the respective cooling aperture 64 is formed in the preform component 60'. for example, referring to fig. 16 , a portion of the outer coating material 94, a portion of the inner coating material 88 and a portion of the underlying substrate material 84 is machined away (from the exterior of the preform component 60') to provide the respective diffuser section 104. the diffuser section 104 may be formed in the various materials of the preform component 60' using a diffuser section machining process. this diffuser section machining process is selected to form the diffuser section 104 in the various different electrically conductive and non-electrically conductive materials in the preform component 60'. the diffuser section machining process is also selected to provide the diffuser section 104 with a precise finish geometry. examples of the diffuser section machining process include, but are not limited to, a laser machining (e.g., ablation) process, a water-jet guided laser (wjgl) machining process, an abrasive water jet (awj) machining process, an electron beam machining process, and a mechanical drilling process. following this formation step 910, the respective diffuser section 104 may be fully formed in the preform component 60', and the preform component 60' may now be the fully formed fluid cooled component 60. during the formation step 910, the to-be-formed diffuser section 104 may be aligned with the meter section 102 based on a location of the pilot hole 152 through the preform outer coating 78'. for example, a processing system controlling the diffuser section machining process may determine the location and/or orientation of the meter section 102 based on the location and/or a visible orientation of the pilot hole 152. the diffuser section machining process may thereby be used to generally enlarge / expand the pilot hole 152 to provide the diffuser section 104. for ease of description, the method 900 is described above with respect to formation of a single cooling aperture 64 of the fluid cooled component 60. however, the fluid cooled component 60 may be formed with multiple of the cooling apertures 64, for example, by repeating the formation steps 908 and 910 at multiple locations along the preform component 60'. when forming multiple cooling apertures 64, the formation step 908 will typically be repeated at multiple locations before performing the formations step 910 at those locations to finish forming the cooling apertures 64. while various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of the disclosure. for example, the present disclosure as described herein includes several aspects and embodiments that include particular features. although these features may be described individually, it is within the scope of the present disclosure that some or all of these features may be combined with any one of the aspects and remain within the scope of the disclosure. accordingly, the present disclosure is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.
|
173-948-550-858-774
|
JP
|
[
"JP",
"US",
"DE",
"WO"
] |
H02J50/40,H02J7/00,H02J50/10,H02J50/90,H01F38/14,H02J7/02
| 2015-07-29T00:00:00 |
2015
|
[
"H02",
"H01"
] |
wireless charging device
|
a wireless charging device includes a plurality of charging coils, a plurality of position detection coils corresponding respectively to the charging coils, and a voltage monitoring circuit for measuring a coil-end voltage of each of the position detection coils. a comparison is performed between a coil-end voltage of a first position detection coil corresponding to a charging coil used for charging and a coil-end voltage of a position detection coil adjacent to the first position detection coil, and, depending on a result of the comparison, a charging coil to be used for charging is switched to an adjacent charging coil.
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1 . a wireless charging device for wirelessly transmitting charging power to an object to be charged, the wireless charging device comprising: a coil array including a plurality of charging coils; a plurality of position detection coils corresponding respectively to the plurality of charging coils; and a voltage monitoring circuit configured to measure a coil-end voltage of each of the position detection coils, wherein a comparison is performed between a coil-end voltage of a first position detection coil, of the plurality of position detection coils, corresponding to a first charging coil currently used for charging, and a coil-end voltage of a second position detection coil, of the plurality of position detection coils, adjacent to the first position detection coil, and, depending on a result of the comparison, a charging coil, among the plurality of charging coils, to be used for charging is switched from the first charging coil to a second charging coil adjacent to the first charging coil. 2 . the wireless charging device according to claim 1 , wherein the comparison is performed by calculating a ratio of the coil-end voltage of the first position detection coil to the coil-end voltage of the second position detection coil. 3 . the wireless charging device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of position detection coils is disposed concentrically with the plurality of corresponding charging coils, respectively. 4 . the wireless charging device according to claim 1 , wherein a charging coil to be used for charging is switched to a charging coil positioned in a direction opposite to a direction of a position detection coil whose coil-end voltage is increased, seen from the first charging coil. 5 . the wireless charging device according to claim 1 , wherein a threshold in the comparison is different depending on a position of the first charging coil in the coil array including the plurality of charging coils. 6 . the wireless charging device according to claim 5 , wherein the threshold in the comparison is different between a case where the first charging coil is positioned at an end of the coil array including the plurality of charging coils and a case where the first charging coil is positioned at a center of the coil array. 7 . the wireless charging device according to claim 1 , wherein while the charging coil to be used for charging is switched from the first charging coil to the second charging coil, charging by the first charging coil and charging by the second charging coil are performed simultaneously.
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technical field the present disclosure relates to a wireless charging device for charging a portable terminal. background art functions of a portable terminal such as a smartphone and a tablet pc (personal computer) have been extremely advanced, which leads to large power consumption. therefore, it is demanded that charging can be performed everywhere including an inside of a vehicle. as a trend in recent years, a portable terminal charging device capable of performing so-called wireless charging without using a cable has attracted attention. according to the wireless charging device, when a portable terminal is placed on a placement portion of an object to be charged, the portable terminal can be charged with magnetic flux from a charging coil. ptl 1 discloses an example of such a wireless charging device. the charging device disclosed in ptl 1 employs a coil array system. in the system, among a plurality of charging coils constituting a coil array, only a part of charging coils corresponding to a position on which a portable terminal is placed (exactly, a position of a power receiving coil incorporated in the portable terminal) is used for charging. citation list patent literature ptl 1: japanese translation of pct international publication no. 2012-523814 summary of the invention the charging device disclosed in ptl 1 performs an operation called ping in order to specify a position of the portable terminal. in the ping operation, energy is sequentially supplied to a plurality of charging coils so as to generate magnetic flux, and a reaction of a power receiving coil with respect to the magnetic flux is sensed. thereby, a position of the portable terminal is specified. therefore, when a positional displacement of the portable terminal occurs, it is necessary to stop charging once and then perform the ping operation again, for detecting a position of the portable terminal again. when a charging device is disposed in a place that is subjected to much vibration, for example, inside a car, a position of a portable terminal may be frequently displaced. when the charging device disclosed in ptl 1 is disposed in such a place, stopping of charging and the ping operation are repeated frequently. then, a period of time during which charging is stopped is increased. as a result, sufficient charging may not be performed. thus, a wireless charging device of the present disclosure includes a coil array including a plurality of charging coils, a plurality of position detection coils corresponding respectively to the plurality of charging coils, and a voltage monitoring circuit for measuring a coil-end voltage of each of the position detection coils. then, a comparison is performed between a coil-end voltage of a first position detection coil corresponding to a first charging coil currently used for charging, and a coil-end voltage of a second position detection coil adjacent to the first position detection coil. then, depending on a result of the comparison, a charging coil to be used for charging is switched from the first charging coil to the second adjacent charging coil adjacent to the first charging coil. with such a configuration, even when a position of an object to be charged is displaced due to vibration or the like, a coil to be used for charging is switched quickly, thus preventing frequent interruption of charging. according to the wireless charging device of the present disclosure, even when a position of an object to be charged is displaced due to vibration or the like, frequent interruption of charging can be prevented. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a view showing a state in which a wireless charging device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment is disposed in a vehicle interior. fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. fig. 3 is a view showing a state in which a portable terminal is placed on the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. fig. 4a is a view showing a section of the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. fig. 4b is a plan view showing charging coils and position detection coils of the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. fig. 5 is a circuit diagram of the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. fig. 6 is an operation flowchart of the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. fig. 7a is a diagram showing magnetic flux distribution during charging when a power receiving coil is provided immediately above the charging coil. fig. 7b is a diagram showing magnetic flux distribution during charging when the power receiving coil is slightly displaced from immediately above the charging coil. fig. 8 is a plan view showing charging coils and position detection coils of a modified example. description of embodiments hereinafter, an example of a wireless charging device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure and an example in which the wireless charging device is installed in a vehicle are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. fig. 1 is a view showing a state in which wireless charging device 101 in accordance with the exemplary embodiment is disposed in an interior of a vehicle. fig. 1 shows an example in which wireless charging device 101 is placed in a center console portion of the vehicle. fig. 2 shows a state in which wireless charging device 101 is taken out from the vehicle. wireless charging device 101 includes main body case 102 . the upper surface of main body case 102 is placement portion 103 of an object to be charged on which a portable terminal as the object to be charged is placed. fig. 3 is a view showing a state in which portable terminal 104 is placed on wireless charging device 101 in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. portable terminal 104 has power receiving coil 105 therein. when a user presses charging start button 106 of wireless charging device 101 , a charging coil incorporated in the main body case is supplied with energy. then, an electromotive force is generated in power receiving coil 105 by magnetic flux generated from the charging coil, and a battery (not shown) incorporated in portable terminal 104 is charged by the electromotive force. next, the inside of main body case 102 is described in detail. fig. 4a is a sectional view of main body case 102 taken along line 4 a- 4 a shown in fig. 2 . a plurality of charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 is disposed inside main body case 102 . the plurality of charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 forms a coil array arranged so as to cover a chargeable region of the wireless charging device. detection board 107 is disposed at a side provided with placement portion 103 with respect to the charging coil. on detection board 107 , a plurality of position detection coils ld 1 , ld 2 , and ld 3 is mounted. control board 108 is mounted at an opposite side to placement portion 103 with respect to the charging coil, that is, at a bottom surface side of the main body case. on control board 108 , a charging circuit, a voltage monitoring circuit, and the like described below, are mounted. fig. 4b is a plan view showing the charging coils and the position detection coils in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. for easy understanding, main body case 102 and the above-mentioned boards are not illustrated. each of charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 has a ring shape around which a thin metal wire is wound, and has a rectangular outer shape. charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 are arranged such that they overlap each other. furthermore, unlike other charging coils lc 1 and lc 3 , charging coil lc 2 is arranged such that it is rotated by 90 degrees. this is because the chargeable region of the wireless charging device is made larger in the lateral direction. note here that it is not necessary to arrange charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 such that they overlap each other. as shown in a modified example in fig. 8 , charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 may be arranged side by side without overlapping. position detection coils ld 1 , ld 2 , and ld 3 are coils for sensing a direction in which portable terminal 104 moves during charging. position detection coils ld 1 , ld 2 , and ld 3 have a ring shape, and correspond to charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 , respectively. the position detection coils are disposed immediately above the corresponding charging coils, respectively, and are formed substantially concentrically with the corresponding charging coils, respectively. next, a circuit including the charging coils and the position detection coils is described with reference to fig. 5 . as shown in fig. 5 , charging coils lc 1 , lc 2 , and lc 3 are connected to charging circuit 109 mounted on control board 108 . position detection coils ld 1 , ld 2 , and ld 3 are connected to voltage monitoring circuit 110 mounted on control board 108 . charging circuit 109 is a circuit for supplying energy to each charging coil. voltage monitoring circuit 110 is a circuit for monitoring a voltage generated across each of the position detection coils. furthermore, switches swc 1 to swc 3 and swd 1 to swd 3 are mounted on control board 108 , for switching the connection of the charging coils and the position detection coils. in addition, a control circuit (not shown) for controlling charging circuit 109 , voltage monitoring circuit 110 , and the switches is also mounted on control board 108 . the circuit diagram of fig. 5 is simplified. fig. 5 shows that when any one of switches swc 1 to swc 3 is turned on, energy is supplied to any one of charging coils lc 1 to lc 3 connected to the switch that is turned on. fig. also shows that when any one of switches swd 1 to swd 3 is turned on, a coil-end voltage generated across any one of position detection coils ld 1 to ld 3 connected to the switch that is turned on is measured. next, an operation of the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment is described with reference to fig. 6 , figs. 7a and 7b . firstly, when a user presses charging start button 106 of wireless charging device 101 , before charging starts, an initial position of portable terminal 104 (exactly, a position of incorporated power receiving coil 105 ) is sensed (s 101 ). a sensing method at this time may be a ping operation as in a conventional example, or a coil may be additionally provided for exclusive use for sensing a position of a portable terminal in a period during which charging is stopped. such a coil can be provided on detection board 107 . next, energy is supplied to a first charging coil that is the closest to a sensed position of portable terminal 104 , and charging is started (s 103 ). herein, charging coil lc 2 is the first charging coil to be used for charging. in a charging period, voltage monitoring circuit 110 monitors a coil-end voltage of a first position detection coil corresponding to the first charging coil used for charging and a coil-end voltage of a second position detection coil adjacent to the first position detection coil. voltage monitoring circuit 110 monitors the coil-end voltage of each of position detection coils ld 1 , ld 2 , and ld 3 , and outputs a signal indicating a value of each of the coil-end voltages v 1 , v 2 and v 3 to control unit (s 105 ). a coil-end voltage monitored by voltage monitoring circuit 110 is changed depending on which charging coil is used. for example, when charging coil lc 1 is used for charging, the coil-end voltage of position detection coil ld 1 corresponding to charging coil lc 1 and the coil-end voltage of position detection coil ld 2 adjacent to position detection coil ld 1 are monitored. when charging coil lc 3 is used for charging, the coil-end voltage of position detection coil ld 3 corresponding to charging coil lc 3 , and the coil-end voltage of position detection coil ld 2 adjacent to position detection coil ld 3 are monitored. furthermore, as in the exemplary embodiment, when charging coil lc 2 is used for charging, the coil-end voltage of position detection coil ld 2 corresponding to charging coil lc 2 and the coil-end voltages of position detection coils ld 1 and ld 3 at both adjacent sides of position detection coil ld 2 are monitored. the number of the charging coils in accordance with the exemplary embodiment is three. however, also when the number of coils is increased, the position detection coil corresponding to the charging coil in use and the adjacent position detection coils are appropriately selected. next, the control unit compares the coil-end voltages measured by voltage monitoring circuit 110 , and estimates a moving direction of power receiving coil 105 . this exemplary embodiment shows an example of a method for estimating the moving direction. the control unit calculates v 3 /v 2 and v 1 /v 2 based on the coil-end voltages input from voltage monitoring circuit 110 . that is to say, the control unit calculates a ratio of the coil-end voltage of the first position detection coil corresponding to a first charging coil used for charging with respect to the coil-end voltage of a second position detection coil adjacent to the first position detection coil. then, the control unit determines whether or not the value of v 1 /v 2 or v 3 /v 2 exceeds a threshold (s 107 ). when the control unit senses that the value of v 1 /v 2 exceeds the threshold (yes in s 107 ), the control unit switches a charging coil to be used for charging to the adjacent charging coil lc 3 with respect to the first position detection coil ld 2 (s 109 ). in this way, when the position of power receiving coil 105 moves, switching to a more appropriate charging coil is carried out instantly. note here that when neither v 1 /v 2 nor v 3 /v 2 exceeds the threshold (no in s 107 ), the coil-end voltages v 1 , v 2 , and v 3 are measured again. note here that in s 107 , the value of v 3 /v 2 exceeds the threshold (yes in s 107 ), the charging coil to be used for charging is switched to the adjacent charging coil lc 1 . as mentioned above, wireless charging device 101 in accordance with the exemplary embodiment performs comparison between the coil-end voltage of the first position detection coil corresponding to the charging coil used for charging and the coil-end voltage of the position detection coil adjacent to the first position detection coil. from a result of the comparison, the moving direction of power receiving coil 105 is estimated. then, the charging coil to be used for charging is switched to an adjacent charging coil that is in the moving direction of power receiving coil 105 . note here that in the switching of the charging coil in s 109 , the charging coil is switched to the adjacent charging coil not at one time, but charging may be performed in two steps. that is, charging by the first charging coil and charging by the adjacent charging coil are performed simultaneously, and then switching to the adjacent charging coil is performed completely. this is carried out for the purpose of preventing a large voltage from being applied to a switch when coils are switched at one time. then, relation between the moving direction of power receiving coil 105 and a change of value of the coil-end voltage is described. figs. 7a and 7b are diagrams showing magnetic flux distribution around the charging coils when charging coil lc 2 is used for charging. fig. 7a shows a state in which power receiving coil 105 is immediately above charging coil lc 2 . solid-line arrows in the drawing show magnetic flux directions, and show a state in which the magnetic flux passing through the inside of charging coil lc 2 passes through the inside of power receiving coil 105 , and returns to charging coil lc 2 again. herein, a case where power receiving coil 105 is slightly displaced from the initial position due to vibration or the like during charging is considered. fig. 7b shows a case where power receiving coil 105 is displaced from the position immediately above charging coil lc 2 to right. at this time, the coil-end voltage v 1 of position detection coil ld 1 positioned at the opposite side to the moving direction of power receiving coil 105 is increased. solid line arrows in fig. 7b show the magnetic flux distribution when power receiving coil 105 is displaced. when attention is paid to magnetic flux passing through the inside of position detection coil ld 1 , magnetic flux extending upward is attracted to a power receiving coil 105 side, and thereby balance between a magnetic flux extending upward and a magnetic flux extending downward is changed as shown in dotted-line arrows. by each of the magnetic flux extending upward and the magnetic flux extending downward, electromotive forces generated in position detection coil ld 1 are cancelled by each other. accordingly, when the direction of the magnetic flux is biased to any one side, the electromotive force is increased. it is considered that with change of the magnetic flux distribution from fig. 7a to fig. 7b , the rate of the magnetic flux extending downward in the magnetic flux passing through the inside of position detection coil ld 1 is increased, resulting in increasing the coil-end voltage v 1 . for the above-mentioned reasons, the charging coil to be used for charging is switched to a charging coil positioned in the direction opposite to the direction of the position detection coil in which increase in coil-end voltage v 1 is sensed. note here that this exemplary embodiment describes switching from charging coil lc 2 positioned in the center (which means other charging coils exist on both adjacent ends) of a coil array including a plurality of charging coils to adjacent other charging coil lc 1 or lc 3 . on the other hand, when the initial position of power receiving coil 105 is an end of the chargeable region, a first charging coil to be firstly used for charging is charging coil lc 1 or lc 3 positioned at an end of the coil array. therefore, the charging coil to be used for charging is switched from the charging coil positioned at the end to charging coil lc 2 positioned at the center. at this time, it is preferable that a threshold when the coil-end voltages are compared is made to be different from that in the case of switching from the center charging coil lc 2 . this is because magnetic flux distribution during charging is different between a case where the charging coil to be used for charging is at the end of the coil array and a case where the charging coil to be used for charging is at the center, so that a change amount of the coil-end voltage of the position detection coil, which is generated when a position of the power receiving coil is displaced, is different. therefore, it is preferable that a threshold in the comparing of the coil-end voltages is made to be different between a case of switching from a charging coil positioned at an end of the coil array to an adjacent charging coil and a case of switching from a position charging coil positioned at the center of the coil array to an adjacent charging coil. that is to say, it is preferable that a threshold in the comparison mentioned above is made to be different depending on the positions of the first charging coil in the coil array. as mentioned above, according to the wireless charging device in accordance with the exemplary embodiment, the coil-end voltages of the position detection coils are compared, and the charging coil to be used for charging is switched to an adjacent charging coil depending on the comparison result. therefore, even when a positional displacement of an object to be charged occurs, switching of charging coils can be carried out instantly. consequently, it is not necessary to stop and detect positions again every time when positional displacement of an object to be charged occurs. industrial applicability it is possible to provide a wireless charging device capable of preventing frequent interruption of charging even when a position of an object to be charged is displaced due to vibration or the like. reference marks in the drawings 101 wireless charging device102 main body case103 placement portion of an object to be charged104 portable terminal105 power receiving coil106 charging start button107 detection board108 control board109 charging circuit110 voltage monitoring circuitlc 1 , lc 2 , lc 3 charging coilld 1 , ld 2 , ld 3 position detection coil
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176-544-007-006-658
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US
|
[
"US"
] |
G06F19/00,G01F1/00
| 2005-08-25T00:00:00 |
2005
|
[
"G06",
"G01"
] |
mass air flow metering device and method
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an airflow metering device, including a conventional airflow sensing device signally connected to a signal processor is shown, having an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device. the signal processor is operable to determine a flow correction factor based upon a direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device. the output of the airflow metering device is an accurate measure of airflow, and comprises the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted by the flow correction factor determined by the signal processor.
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1. an airflow metering device, comprising: a unidirectional airflow sensing device: signally connected to a signal processor, and having an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device; and the signal processor; operable to determine a flow correction factor based upon a direction and the magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device; and the airflow metering device having an electrical signal output comprising the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted by the flow correction factor determined by the signal processor; wherein the signal processor operable to determine the flow correction factor based upon direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device comprises: an on-board microcontroller including an algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; and wherein the algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises: an algorithm operable to: characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; determine a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode, or a reverse flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal; and, select the flow correction factor, based upon the selected flow mode and the characterized input flow signal. 2. the airflow metering device of claim 1 , wherein determination of the no pulsing flow mode comprises a determination of amplitude of the characterized input flow signal varying less than a predetermined flowrate. 3. the airflow metering device of claim 1 , wherein the algorithm operable to characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises the algorithm operable to calculate a first derivative of the input flow signal. 4. the airflow metering device of claim 3 , wherein the algorithm operable to characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises the algorithm operable to calculate reverse minimum peak flow value based upon the first derivative of the input flow signal. 5. the airflow metering device of claim 4 , wherein the algorithm operable to characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises the algorithm operable to calculate reverse maximum peak flow value based upon the first derivative of the input flow signal. 6. an airflow metering device, comprising a unidirectional airflow sensing device; signally connected to a signal processor, and, having an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device; and the signal processor: operable to determine a flow correction factor based upon a direction and the magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device; and the airflow metering device having an electrical signal output comprising the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted by the flow correction factor determined by the signal processor; wherein the signal processor operable to determine the flow correction factor based upon direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device comprises; an on-board microcontroller including an algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; wherein the algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises: an algorithm operable to: characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device, determine a flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal, said determined flow mode comprising one of: a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode and a reverse flow mode, and select the flow correction factor, based upon the selected flow mode and the characterized input flow signal; and wherein determination of the onset of reverse flow mode comprises detection of an initial low level of reverse airflow based upon a second derivative of the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device. 7. the airflow metering device of claim 6 , wherein the airflow sensing device comprises a hot-film anemometer operably electrically and signally connected to a resistive bridge device. 8. the air flow metering device of claim 7 , wherein the air flow metering device is operable to meter airflow into an air intake system of an internal combustion engine. 9. the airflow metering device of claim 6 , wherein the signal processor operable to determine the flow correction factor based upon direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device comprises: a custom integrated circuit operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device. 10. the airflow metering device of claim 6 , wherein the signal processor operable to determine the flow correction factor based upon direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device comprises: an algorithm up-integrated into an electronic controller, and operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; said output of the airflow metering device comprising the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted by the flow correction factor determined by the algorithm up-integrated into the electronic controller. 11. an airflow metering device, comprising: a unidirectional airflow sensing device; signally connected to a signal processor, and, having an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device; and the signal processor: operable to determine a flow correction factor based upon a direction and the magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device; and the airflow metering device having an electrical signal output comprising the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted by the flow correction factor determined by the signal processor; wherein the signal processor operable to determine the flow correction factor based upon direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device comprises: an on-board microcontroller including an algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; wherein the algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises; an algorithm operable to: characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device, determine a flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal, said determined flow mode comprising one of: a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode and a reverse flow mode, and select the flow correction factor, based upon the selected flow mode and the characterized input flow signal; and wherein the algorithm operable to characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises the algorithm further operable to calculate a second derivative of the input flow signal. 12. a method to meter net mass airflow, comprising: determining an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past a unidirectional airflow sensing device; determining a magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the determined input flow signal; selecting a flow correction factor based upon a direction and the magnitude of the revere airflow; adjusting the determined input flow signal of the airflow sensing device with the selected flow correction factor; and determining signal output comprising the magnitude of mass air flowing past the unidirectional airflow sensing device to be the determined input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted with the selected flow correction factor; wherein determining the magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the determined input flow signal comprises: characterizing the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; determining a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode, or a reverse flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal; and, selecting the flow correction factor, based upon the determined flow mode and the characterized input flow signal. 13. the method of claim 12 , wherein selecting the no pulsing flow mode comprises determining amplitude of the characterized input flow signal varies less than a predetermined flowrate. 14. the method of claim 12 , wherein characterizing the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device comprises calculating a first derivative of the input flow signal. 15. a method to meter net mass airflow, comprising: determining an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past a unidirectional airflow sensing device; determining a magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the determined input flow signal; selecting a flow correction factor based upon a direction and the magnitude of the revere airflow; adjusting the determined input flow signal of the airflow sensing device with the selected flow correction factor; and determining a signal output comprising the magnitude of mass air flowing past the unidirectional airflow sensing device to be the determined input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted with the selected flow correction factor; wherein determining the magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the determined input flow signal comprises: characterizing the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; determining a flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal, said determined flow mode comprising selecting one of: a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode and a reverse flow mode; and selecting the flow correction factor, based upon the determined flow mode and the characterized input flow signal; and wherein selecting the onset of reverse flow mode comprises detecting initial low levels of reverse airflow based upon a second derivative of the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device. 16. a method to compensate output of a conventional unidirectional mass airflow meter, comprising: determining an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past an airflow sensing device of the conventional mass airflow meter; characterizing the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device; determining a flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal, said determined flow mode comprising selecting one of: a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode and a reverse flow mode; and, selecting the flow correction factor, based upon the determined flow mode and the characterized input flow signal; determining a flow correction factor based upon a direction and the magnitude of the reverse airflow; and adjusting the determined input flow signal of the airflow sensing device with the determined flow correction factor; wherein selecting the onset of reverse flow mode comprises detecting initial low levels of reverse airflow based upon a second derivative of the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device.
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technical field this invention pertains generally to internal combustion engine control systems, and more specifically to a method and apparatus to accurately meter flow of air into the internal combustion engine. background of the invention a typical air meter for measuring air intake into an internal combustion engine operates on the principle of hot-film anemometry. a heated element is placed within the airflow stream, and maintained at a constant temperature differential above the air temperature. the amount of electrical power required to maintain the heated element at the proper temperature is a direct function of the mass flow rate of the air past the element. the measurement function of the typical mass air flow meter is performed using a bridge circuit, often referred to as a wheatstone bridge, and shown as element 10 in fig. 2 . in this circuit, temperature-sensitive resistors are used as the ambient temperature sensor a 1 and as the heated sensing element h 1 . typical mass air flow measurement in an automotive environment employs a hot wire anemometer, with heated sensor h 1 and ambient sensor a 1 . both sensors have a high temperature coefficient of resistance. the heated sensor h 1 is placed in the air flowstream, and as air flows across the heated sensor h 1 heat is removed from the sensor in proportion to mass of air. resistance of ambient sensor a 1 changes with the temperature of the ambient air. the right side of the bridge, consisting of the ambient sensor a 1 and calibration resistors (r s and r c ), establishes a voltage (v r ) at node 3 which is based upon ambient temperature. the heated sensing element h 1 on the left side of the bridge and the resistor r p have low resistances relative to the resistors on the right side of the bridge. power dissipation due to a given voltage is inversely proportional to resistance (power=v 2 /r), and therefore the low resistance elements h 1 , r p on the left side of the bridge dissipate enough electrical power to cause self-heating. the sensing elements are temperature-sensitive resistors and any change in temperature due to self-heating will result in a change in resistance of h 1 . this affects the voltage divider ratio on the left side of the bridge, and thus the voltage (v l ), measured at node 2 . the sensing bridge is balanced when the voltages (v l and v r ) are equal. a feedback amplifier 26 operates a fet transistor 30 to adjust electrical potential at node 1 to maintain a balanced bridge voltage. consequently, the desired operating temperature of the heated elements is maintained. the bridge voltage, which is the electrical potential at node 1 , is a measure of the heat dissipation at resistor h 1 , compensated by the ambient sensor a 1 , and is therefore proportional the mass of air flowing past the sensor. in typical engine operation, especially with an engine having fewer than six cylinders, the airflow in the intake manifold experiences severe pulsations caused by engine dynamics related to opening and closing of intake valves and associated flow of air into each cylinder. there are areas of operation when airflow reverses, i.e., air flows out of the intake manifold away from the engine. a typical uni-directional air flow sensor is operable to measure magnitude of air flow, but not direction of the airflow. the inability to determine direction of airflow may result in introduction of significant errors in measure of mass air flow into the engine during conditions wherein reverse flow conditions occur. one potential solution for this problem comprises mounting four sensing resistors on a thin (˜2 micrometer thick) membrane, with a heater in the center of the membrane providing heat using the same bridge voltage as previously described. a constant temperature is maintained in the center of the membrane. air flowing across the upstream side of the membrane is cooled while the downstream side experiences slight heating. when the sensors are arranged in a bridge circuit, both magnitude and direction of the flow can be measured by comparing the voltage of the two sides of the bridge. however the sensor output signal is extremely small (i.e. range of millivolts) and the corresponding signal-to-noise ratio is not large enough to allow reliable measurement. furthermore, it is difficult to manufacture and process the sensor, including placement of the sensors in the middle of the membrane. incorrect placement of sensors may result in a drift of the output signal over time. most importantly, such a membrane has proven to be fragile, thus reducing reliability of the device, causing customer dissatisfaction and high warranty costs. another potential solution implemented includes attempts to mechanically block exposure of a sensing device to reverse flow conditions. this solution reduces error, but there still exists significant flow error. another potential solution for the aforementioned problem comprises developing a sophisticated filtering system to monitor signal input from a sensor, and identify reverse flow conditions. a sophisticated filtering system, comprising elements including second-order digital filters and other elements consume substantial amounts of execution time, microprocessor time and computer memory, and is not feasible for implementation in a low-cost microcontroller used primarily in an airflow sensing device. therefore, what is needed is a method and apparatus that employs the currently available uni-directional air meter design with additional circuitry and algorithms to effectively measure air flow during forward and reverse flow conditions to provide an accurate measure of net mass airflow. summary of the invention the present invention provides an improvement over conventional air flow metering solutions by employing a currently available conventional, unidirectional air flow sensing element with circuitry and algorithms to process and filter a raw signal output from the airflow meter, extract information regarding magnitude and direction of airflow from the signal output, provide compensation for the signal output, and deliver an accurate measure of airflow, in this embodiment to an [internal combustion engine. the present invention comprises a digital filter requiring minimal execution time and capable of handling pulse frequencies observed during pulsing flow conditions, filtering out high frequency noise, while still able to detect onset of reverse flow. in accordance with the present invention, an airflow metering device, including an airflow sensing device signally connected to a signal processor is shown, having an input flow signal correlatable to a magnitude of mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device. the signal processor is operable to determine a flow correction factor based upon a direction and magnitude of the mass air flowing past the airflow sensing device. the output of the airflow metering device comprises the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device adjusted by the flow correction factor determined by the signal processor. an aspect of the present invention comprises the airflow metering device wherein the signal processor operable to determine the flow correction factor comprises a microcontroller on-board the metering device including an algorithm operable to determine magnitude of reverse airflow based upon the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device. a further aspect of the present invention comprises the airflow metering device wherein the embedded algorithm is operable to characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device, determine a flow mode based upon the characterized input flow signal, and select the flow correction factor, based upon the determined flow mode and the characterized input flow signal. a further aspect of the present invention comprises the determined flow mode comprising one of a non-pulse flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode and a reverse flow mode. a further aspect of the present invention comprises the airflow metering device algorithm operable to determine the onset of reverse flow mode, which comprises detection of initial low levels of reverse airflow based upon a second derivative of the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device. a further aspect of the present invention comprises the airflow metering device algorithm operable to characterize the input flow signal of the airflow sensing device, comprising the algorithm operable to calculate a first derivative of the input flow signal. these and other aspects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description of the embodiments. brief description of the drawings the invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, the preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and wherein: fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an air meter, in accordance with the present invention; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an electrical circuit, in accordance with the present invention; figs. 3–6 are algorithmic flowcharts, in accordance with the present invention; and, figs. 7–11 are representative data graphs, in accordance with the present invention. detailed description of an embodiment referring now to the drawings, wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting the same, fig. 1 shows a mass airflow meter 1 which has been constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. the mass airflow sensor 1 of this embodiment preferably comprises a conventional unidirectional sensor, and is an element of an air intake system, preferably located in an air flowstream between an air filter and an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine (not shown). the air intake system includes ducting leading from the air filter to the intake manifold, and is designed to ensure all air entering the intake manifold passes through the air filter and past the mass air flow sensor. the air intake system is typically located in an engine compartment when included on a vehicle. the exemplary mass airflow meter 1 comprises a conventional hot-film anemometric sensing device 10 operable to sense mass airflow in the air flowstream, an electrical connector 2 , a microcontroller 32 , a custom integrated circuit 22 , and a flow correction circuit 34 . referring now to fig. 2 , the mass airflow meter 1 preferably includes the sensing device 10 with sensors 12 , 14 , custom integrated circuit 22 , on-board microcontroller 32 , and, flow correction circuit 34 , each electrically interconnected, as described hereinafter. the mass airflow sensor 1 is preferably connected at connector 2 to an electronic engine controller (not shown) via a wiring harness (not shown). the wiring harness conducts electrical power from an ignition circuit, typically a 12 volt dc supply, to the mass airflow meter 1 at node 6 , and conducts an electrical output from node 5 to the electronic engine controller, typically in the form of a digital signal of variable frequency. the digital signal of variable frequency that is output from node 5 correlates directly to mass of air flowing past the mass airflow meter 1 . the measure of mass of airflow is used in this embodiment by the electronic engine controller as part of overall engine control, as is known to one skilled in the art, and not discussed in detail herein. the sensing device 10 preferably comprises a hot film anemometer element 12 , known to one skilled in the art. the sensing device is electrically connected at node 1 with an ambient resistive element 14 , and electrically connected at nodes 2 and 3 into a bridge circuit with resistors 16 , 18 , 20 , and leading to an electrical ground 19 . electrical potentials at nodes 2 and 3 are input to a differential operational amplifier 26 of custom integrated circuit 22 . output of the differential operational amplifier 26 is electrically connected to a gate input of a fet transistor 30 to control electrical potential at node 1 , hence voltage to the hot film anemometer element 12 and the ambient resistive element 14 . the ambient resistive element 14 is a variable resistive device that varies resistance based upon ambient air temperature. therefore, the electrical potential at node 3 varies based upon ambient air temperature. the hot film anemometer element 12 and resistor 18 are preferably relatively lower in resistance than element 14 and resistors 16 , 20 . electrical power dissipation is inversely proportional to resistance (power=v 2 /r), leading to self-heating of hot film anemometer element 12 and resistor 18 when operated in the bridge circuit of sensing device 10 . hot film anemometer element 12 is made of material with a high temperature coefficient of resistance. as air passes over the hot film anemometer element 12 , heat is dissipated in proportion to mass of airflow, without accounting for ambient temperature, and affecting electrical potential at node 2 . the operational amplifier 26 and fet 30 drive the electrical potential at node 1 , balancing the bridge circuit and causing electrical potentials at node 2 and node 3 to become equal. this provides an adjustment in the electrical potential at node 2 for effects of ambient temperature, as determined by potential at node 3 . the electrical potential at node 1 is therefore proportional to mass airflow passing over the sensing element 12 . bridge circuits and hot film anemometers, including selection of elements 12 , 14 , and properly sized resistors 16 , 18 , 20 are known to one skilled in the art. the potential at node 1 is input to the microcontroller 32 for analysis, as is detailed hereinafter. the electronic microcontroller 32 is electrically connected to receive the electrical signal from node 1 , and provides a pulsewidth-modulated (‘pwm’) electrical output, based on analysis of the input signal. the pwm output is converted to electrical current by electrical circuit 34 , which is electrically summed at node 4 with electrical current needed to correct a pulsing or reversing flow waveform at node 1 , such that average indicated flow at node 5 is indicative of actual airflow to the engine. the summed electrical current at node 4 is input to a voltage controlled oscillator 28 that is an element of integrated circuit 22 , the output of which passes through node 5 to the engine controller (not shown). the electronic microcontroller 32 is preferably an off-the-shelf, low-cost microcontroller powered by a buffered 5 volt dc power supply. the buffered 5 volt dc power supply originates from the ignition circuit at node 6 , and passes through a voltage reference 24 that is an element of custom integrated circuit 22 . the electronic microcontroller 32 has an on-board internal 10 bit analog-to-digital converter operable to sample the signal at node 1 . the electronic microcontroller 32 preferably includes an internal clock with a fixed clock frequency of 4 megahertz (‘mhz’), driven by a 16 mhz external resonator (not shown), fixed memory of 8 kilobytes of programmable non-volatile memory (flash eeprom), and 256 bytes of volatile or random access memory (ram). the microcontroller 32 is in a small package to minimize space usage. the output of the microcontroller 32 is a correction signal, comprising a pwm output with 9-bit resolution that is converted to electrical current and summed at node 4 , as mentioned hereinabove. signal conditioning algorithms are preferably programmed into the programmable non-volatile memory of the microcontroller 32 during manufacturing of the air meter 1 , and are operable to execute during ongoing operation of the air meter 1 . the electronic microcontroller 32 preferably executes the signal conditioning algorithms at least once every 500 microseconds, and updates the pwm output accordingly. the pwm output preferably operates at 8 khz, in this embodiment. the signal conditioning algorithms are operable to determine input flow modes, based upon the monitored voltage potential across the hot film anemometer. the monitored voltage potential across the hot film anemometer comprises raw data representing air flow output from node 1 and analyzed by the microcontroller 32 . the raw data representing air flow is characterized, preferably comprising determining a flow mode based upon the characterized input flow. the determined flow mode preferably consists of a no pulsing flow mode, a pulse flow mode, an onset of reverse flow mode and a reverse flow mode. raw data output from node 1 , representing airflow, and exemplifying the no pulsing flow mode, pulse flow mode, onset of reverse flow mode and reverse flow mode are shown with reference to fig. 7 . an air flow correction factor is selected, based upon the determined flow mode and the characterized input flow. the output from node 1 , comprising the monitored voltage potential across the hot film anemometer, is corrected with the selected air flow correction factor, output from the microcontroller 32 and flow correction circuit 34 , thus providing an accurate real-time measurement of mass air flow passing the mass airflow meter 1 , and is preferably updated at least every 500 microseconds. this operation is hereinafter described in detail. referring now to figs. 3–7 , the signal conditioning algorithm in accordance with the invention is shown and described hereinafter. referring now to fig. 3 specifically, the signal conditioning algorithm is preferably executed in the electronic microcontroller 32 , and comprises ongoingly monitoring the electrical potential input at node 1 , converting the input to a digital signal with the analog to digital converter, now referred to as the input flow bridge voltage. the algorithm generally comprises inputting the input flow bridge voltage into an input flow characteristic determination subroutine (block 40 ). various outputs from input flow characteristic determination subroutine (block 40 ) are input to a second derivative peak characteristics and onset mode determination subroutine (block 80 ), an input flow peak characteristics and pulse and reverse mode determination subroutine (block 60 ), and a lookup correction factor subroutine (block 100 ), for further processing and analysis. the microcontroller 32 calculates a pwm electrical output signal correlatable to a determined correction factor. the pwm electrical output signal is converted into an electrical current by electrical circuit 34 and summed at node 4 with electrical current that is proportional to the electrical potential input from node 1 . the summed electrical current at node 4 , representative of corrected, or compensated, mass air flow, is input to voltage-controlled oscillator 28 that is an element of integrated circuit 22 . the output of the voltage-controlled oscillator 28 is preferably input from node 5 through connector 2 and wiring harness to the engine controller, as previously described. the input flow characteristic determination (block 40 ), second derivative peak characteristics and onset mode determination (block 80 ), input flow peak characteristics; pulse and reverse mode determination (block 60 ), and lookup correction factor (block 100 ) are detailed hereinafter. referring now to fig. 4 , the input flow characteristic determination subroutine is described in detail. the input flow signal is analyzed, and flow is preferably divided into four modes, as described hereinabove and as shown with reference to fig. 7 . there is the no pulsing flow mode, meaning a steady state flow or low amplitude pulsing flow needing no compensation. this is a calibratable threshold, typically about 2 grams per second peak-to-peak, or +/−1 gram per second from zero to a minimum or maximum peak. there is the pulse flow mode, wherein the input flow pulse amplitude is sufficient to likely cause substantial error (i.e. greater than 1.0% measurement error) in the flow output signal of the airflow meter. the third mode is the onset of reverse flow, also referred to as onset, which indicates a reversing direction of air flow, causing a slight inflection in the pulsing waveform of the air flow signal, which is difficult to detect. there is the reverse flow mode, wherein the input airflow changes direction. the input flow signal is typically reasonably sinusoidal, with a valid frequency in the range of 16 to 250 hz, corresponding to 480 to 7500 engine revolutions per minute when applied to a four-cylinder engine. a pulse frequency is determined, which correlates to the reasonably sinusoidal frequency of the input flow signal. referring again to fig. 4 , a time base (block 41 ) provides a sample timer output. the input flow bridge voltage is converted to raw input flow (block 42 ), and is subsequently filtered using a software algorithm (block 43 ), which preferably comprises a first-order low-pass filter with a variable cutoff frequency, preferably set at four times the pulse frequency. the filtered input flow is input to calculate a first derivative of the filter input flow signal (block 44 ). calculating the first derivative (block 44 ) comprises calculating a difference between measured input flow signal from immediately previous execution cycle and the currently measured input flow signal. the raw first derivative and the input flow are input with a pulse peak threshold and input flow ac to calculate an average of the input flow (block 48 ). the filtered input flow is input to ac-couple the input flow signal (block 49 ). the pulse frequency is calculated as an inverse of pulse period, determined with reference to block 47 , with inputs from the sample timer, a pulse peak threshold signal, and an ac zero cross time signal, output from block 46 . output from the first derivative (block 44 ) is filtered (block 45 ), preferably employing a variable moving average filter with two to four previously measured input flow samples. the filtered first derivative is used as input to calculate a second derivative or difference of input flow (block 50 ). the second derivative, or difference, is determined by calculating a difference between previously determined first derivative and the currently calculated first derivative (block 50 ). this is subsequently used to identify inflection points of the input flow signal and indicate a flow mode. output from the second derivative (block 50 ) is filtered (block 51 ), preferably employing a variable moving average filter with two to four previously calculated second derivative values. the pulse peak threshold is used with the sample timer and the input flow ac signal to identify input flow ac zero cross time signal (block 46 ). the input flow signal is ac-coupled to determine an input flow ac term (output from block 49 ). ac-coupling comprises employing a high-pass signal filter to extract a fixed offset, i.e. a dc voltage offset, from the input flow signal, leaving the frequency component of the input flow signal as the input flow ac term, to be used subsequently. referring now to fig. 5 , the subroutine for determination of input flow peak characteristics and determination of pulse and reverse modes is described in detail (block 60 ). during algorithm execution, it is necessary to know the values of the peaks of the pulsing waveform, input as the input flow ac. typically there is a maximum and minimum peak for each pulse. during obvious reverse flow (see fig. 9 ), there are two minimums below zero on an ac-coupled waveform, and a maximum between those peaks. these peaks may be determined on either the normal input flow waveform, or an ac-coupled flow waveform, depending on its usage. there are three methods to be considered for detecting peaks of the waveform. a first method comprises taking a first derivative of the waveform. a positive-to-negative or negative-to-positive crossing of the first derivative is an indication that a peak has been reached, and is useful to identify each peak without additional filtering. a second method comprises use of an n-deep stack to find the peak, which seeks a maximum or minimum value to be centered in stack of data. the ‘n’ is typically an odd positive integer. the larger the number, the more noise that is filtered, but increasing a potential risk of omitting certain valid low amplitude occurrences of minimum and maximum values. this method is effective when adding another derivative, wherein a filter is costly in terms of memory usage and throughput. a third method comprises a peak follower, wherein a maximum value of the waveform is tracked, until a reset condition occurs, e.g. a zero crossing. this method is useful when seeking to find a maximum value only. identifying a first reverse minimum peak (block 61 ) comprises monitoring input flow ac, the raw first derivative of the input flow, a pulse peak threshold (from block 67 ), pulse flow active flag set (block 66 ), and reverse flow detected flag set (block 63 . this detects a first minimum peak occurring after the ac-coupled input flow goes below zero. the value and location in time of the first minimum peak is important because it is the first indicator that obvious reverse flow is occurring. when the first minimum peak occurs with a subsequent reverse maximum peak, then it is called the first reverse minimum peak. a straightforward way to identify the first minimum peak is to identify a negative-to-positive change in the first derivative waveform (from block 44 ). this value is used to verify reverse flow validity when a reverse maximum peak subsequently occurs. if the minimum peak occurs without a corresponding reverse maximum peak, then reverse flow flag is not set (i.e. output from block 63 is low) and is called a normal minimum peak. an onset mode or pulse flow mode may be active when a normal peak is observed. identifying a reverse maximum peak (block 62 ) comprises monitoring input flow ac, the raw first derivative of the input flow, pulse peak threshold (from block 67 ), pulse flow active flag set (block 63 ), and reverse flow detected flag set, to detect when reverse flow occurs in the airflow. the reverse maximum peak is detected using positive-to-negative transition of the first derivative after the first normal minimum peak has been detected. when the reverse maximum peak is below the pulse peak threshold, it is considered a valid reverse maximum peak, and the previous minimum flow is a reverse minimum. identifying input flow ac maximum peak (block 65 ) comprises monitoring input flow ac and pulse peak threshold to determine a maximum value, and storing it for subsequent use. the output comprises an ac maximum peak term, which is used to calculate pulse peak threshold (block 67 ), which is typically about 45% of the previous ac-coupled maximum peak. the ac maximum peak term is used as an input to pulse mode determination (block 66 ) in conjunction with inputs from ac minimum peak and pulse period. output of pulse mode determination (block 66 ) comprises a flag indicating pulse flow active, i.e. the input flow pulse amplitude is sufficient to cause error in the flow output measurement, as previously described. real-world vehicle data taken has shown multiple peaks on the positive side (i.e., the portion above the average flow) of the input flow during pulse flow conditions. in such conditions, it is preferable to select the highest value peak. peak detection therefore uses peak follower detection (i.e. checking every point), or the first derivative (i.e. checking only when each new peak is detected). each successive maximum peak is checked and the maximum peak value is saved, or alternately, the most recent maximum peak value is saved. identifying input flow ac minimum peak (block 64 ) comprises monitoring input flow ac, the first derivative raw value, and pulse peak threshold value. the input flow ac minimum peak is identified as the last minimum peak occurring prior to the input flow ac going greater than pulse peak threshold (see, fig. 9 , second reverse minimum peak). this value is only used during pulsing flow and non-reversing flow conditions. determination of reverse mode (block 63 ) comprises monitoring the reverse minimum peak, the reverse maximum peak, and presence of pulse flow active flag, to identify when reverse flow is detected, and when reverse flow is active. this mode includes two different flags. the first flag, ‘reverse detected’, is a set/reset latch with reset priority. the latch is set when the ac coupled flow value is below the pulse peak threshold, the difference between the reverse max peak and the reverse minimum peak exceeds the reverse flow start threshold, and onset mode is active. the latch is reset when the ac coupled flow value transitions from below the pulse peak threshold to above the pulse peak threshold. if none of the above conditions are present, the latch maintains its previous value. this flag does a pulse-by-pulse test for reverse mode, resetting once each pulse cycle. this allows the mode flags to be cleared quickly when reverse conditions are no longer present. the reverse mode is detected part way through the first reverse cycle, after proper conditions (a minimum peak followed by another maximum peak within a short time) for reverse flow are confirmed, i.e. both the minimum and maximum peaks are verified. the second reverse mode flag, referred to as reverse flow active, is set when reverse flow detected flag is set, i.e. reverse conditions have been validated. the latch is reset when the ac coupled flow value transitions from below the pulse peak threshold to above the pulse peak threshold, and the difference between the reverse maximum peak and the reverse minimum peak is less than reverse flow end threshold. this adds hysteresis, thus minimizing reverse flow flag oscillation on and off during marginal reverse conditions. the reverse flow detected latch is reset causing the reverse active latch to reset one cycle after reverse mode has become inactive. the one cycle delay is a result of need for confirmation of proper reverse flow conditions (a minimum peak followed by another maximum peak within a short time), comprising the first minimum peak occurs and the subsequent reverse maximum peak does not occur within a predetermined time thereafter. in summary of the flow characteristics, there is the normal maximum peak which uses peak follower detection on the ac-coupled waveform. the absolute value of the normal maximum peak above zero is important for pulse flow determination. the last minimum peak uses the first derivative detection on the ac-coupled waveform. the absolute value of the normal maximum peak below zero is used during negative pulsing flow, for pulsing mode detection. the first reverse minimum peak uses the first derivative detection on the ac-coupled waveform. the differential value relative to the reverse maximum peak is used for reverse mode detection. the reverse maximum peak uses the first derivative detection on the ac-coupled waveform. the differential value relative to the first reverse minimum peak is used for reverse mode detection. referring now to fig. 6 , the subroutine for determination of second derivative peak characteristics and determination of onset of reverse flow modes is described in detail (block 80 ). referring to fig. 8 , an exemplary data graph comprising raw input flow data with onset of reverse flow and reverse identified, is shown. referring now to fig. 9 , an exemplary data graph comprising filtered input flow data with first and second reverse minimum peaks and reverse maximum peak is shown. analysis of the second derivative waveform indicates that when a normally ‘sinusoidal’ waveform makes an extra inflection when it is above zero, it is an indication of reverse flow. the wave shape of the second derivative is analyzed to detect reverse flow. in the case where reversion is not directly detectable in the input flow waveform, it is identified as onset flow mode and the onset flow flag is set. the onset flow is defined as onset of reverse flow. referring now to fig. 10 , an exemplary data graph comprising the filtered second derivative of the flow is shown, and includes first onset maximum peak, onset minimum peak, last onset maximum peak, and onset warble depth. the first onset maximum peak of the second derivative waveform is where onset flow begins. the flow is at its greatest value of reversion when the second derivative reaches the next onset minimum peak. the second derivative waveform then goes to another or last onset maximum peak, which indicates the end of onset flow. max peak of the second derivative is identified by monitoring the sample timer, pulse peak threshold, pulse period, ac zero cross time, the second derivative, and onset flow detection (block 82 ). an n-deep stack is preferably used to detect minimums and maximums of the second derivative. to determine a maximum value, the n-deep stack evaluates the last three or four samples of the second derivative and looks for the center, or second, sample to be greater than the two or three adjacent samples. this method is also used to detect peaks on the second derivative waveform which indicate onset flow is occurring. the value of the second maximum peak of the second derivative is output to onset mode determination (block 85 ). time of occurrence of the second maximum peak of the second derivative is similarly determined (block 81 ), based upon input of the pulse peak threshold, ac zero cross time, sample timer, pulse period, and the second derivative. the time of occurrence of the second maximum peak of the second derivative is output to onset mode determination (block 85 ), and segments of the algorithm identifying the second derivative minimum peak magnitude (block 84 ) and peak time (block 86 ). the minimum peak of the second derivative is identified by monitoring the sample timer, pulse peak threshold, pulse period, the second derivative, the second maximum peak time, and onset flow detection (block 84 ). a second n-deep stack is preferably used to detect a minimum value of the second derivative. to determine a minimum value, the n-deep stack evaluates the last three or four samples of the second derivative and looks for the center, or second, sample to be less than the two or three adjacent samples. this method is also used to detect peaks on the second derivative waveform which indicate onset flow is occurring. the value of the second minimum peak of the second derivative is output to onset mode determination (block 85 ), and to identify a second warble depth (block 83 ). time of occurrence of the second minimum peak of the second derivative is similarly determined (block 86 ), based upon input of the pulse peak threshold, sample timer, pulse period, second maximum peak timer, onset flow detection, and the second derivative. the time of occurrence of the second minimum peak of the second derivative is output to onset mode determination (block 85 ). second derivative onset warble depth, shown with reference to fig. 10 , is determined (block 83 ), using inputs from the second maximum peak, the second minimum peak, and the pulse peak threshold. this comprises a determination of transition from maximum peak input flow to minimum peak input flow to maximum peak input flow, and is calculated as a difference between the second derivative maximum peak and the second derivative minimum peak. onset of reversion mode determination (block 85 ) comprises monitoring inputs of the second maximum peak and the second maximum peak time; the second minimum peak and the second minimum peak time; input flow average, pulse period, pulse flow active flag, ac maximum peak, pulse peak threshold, and second warble depth. onset of reversion mode (block 85 ) is operable to detect initial low levels of reverse flow, using information from the second derivative of input flow. this mode is difficult to detect because it is only observable when the second derivative is calculated, such as when the input flow signal is noisy. determination of onset flow occurs in two steps. the first step evaluates pulse peaks for occurrence in the onset flow window, indicating the pulsewidth meets minimum and maximum duty cycle criteria, that a minimum pulse ratio, calculated as max pulse peak divided by input flow average, is met, and that the warble depth meets a minimum requirement, which varies as a predetermined percentage of pulse max peak value. if all these conditions are met, the onset flow detected flag is set to indicate that it is possible that onset flow is occurring. this flag is reset and re-evaluated each pulse cycle. the second onset flow flag is a latch that indicates that onset flow is active. if the onset flow detected flag is set, the minimum peak is within the onset overflow window, and the second derivative warble depth exceeds a second (higher than the first) threshold, then the onset flow active is set. to de-activate the onset flow active flag, onset flow must not be detected at the time the onset flow active flag is re-evaluated (once each pulse cycle). the air flow correction factor, indicative of mass of air flowing away from the intake manifold, is selected in lookup correction factor (block 100 ), based upon the input flow average, the ac minimum peak value, the ac maximum peak value, the reverse minimum peak value, the reverse maximum peak value, when the reverse flow active flag, the pulse flow active flag, or the onset flow active flag is set. three lookup tables are established in the microcontroller corresponding to the three airflow pulsing flow modes of pulse flow, onset flow, and reverse flow, also shown in fig. 7 . when pulse flow is active, as indicated by the pulse flow active flag while onset and reverse are not active, the flow correction factor is selected from the pulse offset table (not shown), or an equivalent equation. if onset flow is active, but reverse flow is not, the compensation is selected from the onset flow table (not shown). if reverse flow is active, the compensation is selected from the reverse flow table (not shown). calibration of the lookup tables comprises simulating the algorithm using pulsing flow speaker tests with known steady state flow values, and determining a target correction factor. the target correction factor used in determining the compensation table or equation is the difference between the actual measured flow, and the average flow of the input flow waveform. calibration as such is known to one skilled in the art. the flow correction factor comprising the pulse flow offset value is primarily a function of the ac max peak value, or pulse amplitude. the compensation table is preferably primarily based on this value, but could also change somewhat as a function of input flow average or pulse period. the flow correction factor comprising the onset flow offset value is primarily a function of the second derivative warble depth. the compensation table is preferably primarily based on this value, but could also change somewhat as a function of ac max peak, input flow average, or pulse period. the flow correction factor comprising the reverse flow offset value is primarily based upon the reverse flow warble depth. the table or equation is preferably primarily based on this value, but could also change somewhat as a function of ac max peak, input flow average, or pulse period. the flow correction factor is output to flow correction circuit 34 using an 8 khz pwm signal, with 9-bit accuracy. referring now to fig. 11 , a representative data graph showing exemplary data is show. data line a exemplifies true airflow, shown as a sinusoidal graph. data line b exemplifies output from a prior art unidirectional air meter, wherein magnitude of flow is measurable, but direction of flow is unknown. data line c shows an average (or root-mean squared) measure of the unidirectional flow taken from data line b. data line d shows an average measure of data line a, and is the true flow average, employing the invention described hereinabove. the invention has been described with specific reference to the embodiments and modifications thereto. further modifications and alterations may occur to others upon reading and understanding the specification. it is intended to include all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the invention. it is especially understood that although this invention describes an embodiment executed for application on an internal combustion engine, the invention is applicable to a multitude of systems wherein accurate measurement of air flow is desired.
|
176-676-817-025-927
|
JP
|
[
"JP",
"US"
] |
G06F13/00,A63F13/30,A63F13/35,H04L29/08
| 2014-10-30T00:00:00 |
2014
|
[
"G06",
"A63",
"H04"
] |
information processing device, information processing system, program, and computer readable recording medium
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an information processing device includes: a request transmitting unit configured to transmit a request to download contents; a condition receiving unit configured to receive download conditions of the contents in another terminal device than the information processing device; and a notification processing unit configured to notify the received download conditions to a user.
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1 . an information processing device comprising: a request transmitting unit configured to transmit a request to download contents; a condition receiving unit configured to receive download conditions of the contents in another terminal device than the information processing device; and a notification processing unit configured to notify the received download conditions to a user. 2 . the information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the information processing device is a portable device. 3 . the information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal device is a device registered as a download terminal by the user, and notifies the download conditions of the contents to a server, and the condition receiving unit receives the download conditions from the server. 4 . the information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the notification processing unit notifies that the contents downloaded to the terminal device are in an executable state. 5 . an information processing system comprising: a first information processing device; and a second information processing device; the first information processing device including a download processing unit configured to download contents from a server, and a download condition notifying unit configured to notify download conditions of the contents to the server; the second information processing device including a request transmitting unit configured to transmit a request to download the contents to the server, a condition receiving unit configured to receive the download conditions of the contents in the first information processing device from the server, and a notification processing unit configured to notify the received download conditions to a user of the second information processing device. 6 . a program for a computer, comprising: transmitting a request to download contents to a server; receiving download conditions of the contents in a terminal device; and notifying the received download conditions to a user.
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background the present technology relates to a technology for downloading contents. a technology in related art is known which sets a timer and automatically downloads software by a timer start at a set time. japanese patent laid-open no. 2012-3329, for example, discloses a technology in which an automatic download function is started at a set time to automatically access a file providing server and automatically download system software, a patch file of a game, or a content file of demonstration game software, a game trailer (game video), or the like. pct patent publication no. wo2014/111984 (hereinafter referred to as patent document 2) discloses game software logically divided into a plurality of groups and formed by a plurality of files, each file belonging to at least one of the plurality of groups, and at least one file belonging to each group. in relation to this game software, it is disclosed that when an information processing device has downloaded all of files of a first group to which a program file necessary to start the game software and a data file belong, the information processing device can start the game software even if the information processing device does not download files of a second group and subsequent groups. patent document 2 also discloses that download progress conditions of the file group of the first group are displayed on a display for a purpose of informing a user that the user does not need to wait for a long time. pct patent publication no. wo2013/111247 discloses “remote play,” in which a user transmits game operation information to an information processing device at a remote place, and receives a game image in which the operation information is reflected in the progress of the game from the information processing device. summary when the game software is downloaded as in patent document 2, the user is desirably able to recognize in some form that the game software has been downloaded. it is convenient for the user if a mechanism is constructed which informs the user that the game software has been downloaded even while the user is away from home, in particular. it is accordingly desirable to realize a mechanism that can notify completion of download of software efficiently. according to a mode of the present technology, there is provided an information processing device including: a request transmitting unit configured to transmit a request to download contents; a condition receiving unit configured to receive download conditions of the contents in another terminal device than the information processing device; and a notification processing unit configured to notify the received download conditions to a user. another mode of the present technology is an information processing system. this information processing system includes a first information processing device and a second information processing device. the first information processing device includes a download processing unit configured to download contents from a server and a download condition notifying unit configured to notify download conditions of the contents to the server. the second information processing device includes a request transmitting unit configured to transmit a request to download the contents to the server, a condition receiving unit configured to receive the download conditions of the contents in the first information processing device from the server, and a notification processing unit configured to notify the received download conditions to a user of the second information processing device. further another mode of the present technology is a program for a computer. the program includes: transmitting a request to download contents to a server; receiving download conditions of the contents in a terminal device; and notifying the received download conditions to a user. further another mode of the present technology is a computer readable recording medium for recording a program. the program includes: transmitting a request to download contents to a server; receiving download conditions of the contents in a terminal device; and notifying the received download conditions to a user. arbitrary combinations of the above constituent elements as well as modes obtained by converting expressions of the present technology between a method, a device, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like are also effective as modes of the present technology. according to the present information processing technology, it is possible to realize a mechanism that can notify completion of download of software efficiently. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a diagram showing an information processing system according to an embodiment; fig. 2 is a diagram showing functional blocks of a first information processing device; fig. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of the first information processing device; fig. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a second information processing device; fig. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a notifying server; fig. 6 is a diagram showing a sequence of remote download processing; fig. 7 is a diagram showing a download progress screen displayed on the second information processing device; and figs. 8a and 8b are diagrams showing examples of a screen displayed on the second information processing device. detailed description of the preferred embodiment fig. 1 shows an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment of the present technology. the information processing system 1 includes a first information processing device 10 and a second information processing device as user terminals, and an external server 5 . the first information processing device 10 may be a stationary terminal device, for example a game device, that is connected to a television set at home. the second information processing device 12 may be a portable terminal device such as a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a tablet, or the like. the first information processing device 10 and the second information processing device 12 are possessed by a same user. the user can carry the portable second information processing device 12 and operate the second information processing device 12 at any time even while the user is away from home. an auxiliary storage device 2 is a mass storage device such as a hard disk drive (hdd), a flash memory, or the like. the auxiliary storage device 2 may be an external storage device connected to the first information processing device 10 by a universal serial bus (usb) or the like, or may be an internal storage device. an output device 4 may be a television set including a display for outputting an image and a speaker for outputting sound. a camera 7 as an imaging device is provided in the vicinity of the output device 4 . the camera 7 images a space around the output device 4 . fig. 1 shows an example in which the camera 7 is attached to an upper portion of the output device 4 . however, the camera 7 may be disposed on a side of the output device 4 . in either case, the camera 7 is disposed in such a position as to be able to image the user playing a game in front of the output device 4 . incidentally, the camera 7 may be a stereo camera. the first information processing device 10 is connected to an input device 6 operated by the user by radio or by wire. the input device 6 outputs operation information indicating a result of operation by the user to the first information processing device 10 . when the first information processing device 10 receives the operation information from the input device 6 , the first information processing device 10 reflects the operation information in the processing of system software or an application, and outputs a result of the processing from the output device 4 . in the present embodiment, the first information processing device 10 may be a game device that executes a game program, and the input device 6 may be a game controller that provides user operation information to the game device. the game controller includes a plurality of input sections such as a plurality of push type operating buttons, an analog stick allowing an analog quantity to be input, a rotary button, and the like. an access point (hereinafter referred to as an “ap”) 8 has functions of a wireless access point and a router. the first information processing device 10 is connected to the ap 8 via radio or a wire to be communicatably connected to the external server 5 on a network 3 . incidentally, in the information processing system 1 , the second information processing device 12 can supply operation information indicating a result of operation by the user to the first information processing device 10 through the network 3 , and the first information processing device 10 can reflect the operation information input on the second information processing device 12 in the processing of the system software or the application. the first information processing device 10 transmits a processing result to the second information processing device 12 through the network 3 . the processing result is displayed on the display of the second information processing device 12 . this function is referred to as “remote play,” which means that the user can play a game while at a remote place. the external server 5 provides network service to the user. the external server 5 may be physically formed by a plurality of servers, and the servers may be maintained and managed by entities corresponding to the respective functions of the servers. the external server 5 includes a network server not shown in the figures. the first information processing device 10 is maintained in a state of being signed in to the network server at all times to be able to be provided with various kinds of service by the external server 5 . incidentally, while the external server 5 includes a providing server 14 and a notifying server 18 in the present example, the providing server 14 and the notifying server 18 may each be formed by a plurality of servers. the providing server 14 includes at least a content retaining server 15 and a management server 16 . the content retaining server 15 retains contents. the contents may be digital contents such as game software, moving images, music, cartoons, novels, and the like. the management server 16 mediates between the content retaining server 15 and the first information processing device 10 and between the content retaining server 15 and the second information processing device 12 . in the embodiment, when the management server 16 receives a request to download contents from the second information processing device 12 , the management server 16 obtains the contents from the content retaining server 15 , and places the contents in a download queue. the management server and the notifying server 18 thereafter cooperate with each other to assist in the processing of downloading the contents in the first information processing device 10 . incidentally, the download processing according to the embodiment is characterized in that the request to download contents is issued from the second information processing device 12 , and in that the contents are downloaded to the first information processing device 10 . the processing in which the user thus transmits a download request from the second information processing device 12 to the external server 5 and contents are downloaded to the first information processing device 10 as another terminal device will be referred to also as a “remote download” in the embodiment. the notifying server 18 is a relay server that provides a push notification of information to the first information processing device 10 and the second information processing device 12 according to an instruction from the management server 16 . the notifying server 18 has registered therein the identifying information and contact information (an address on the network 3 , a telephone number, and the like) of the first information processing device 10 and the second information processing device 12 possessed by the user in association with information (account identification (id)) identifying the user. in the embodiment, when the notifying server 18 receives information indicating that a remote download request is made from the management server 16 together with an account id, the notifying server 18 provides a push notification of a download instruction to the first information processing device 10 . receiving this notification, the first information processing device 10 downloads digital contents. when the first information processing device 10 completes the download, the notifying server 18 provides the second information processing device 12 with a push notification of information indicating that contents downloaded to the first information processing device 10 are in an executable state. the executable state of the contents refers to a state in which the user can play a game in a case of game software, a state in which the user can view a moving image or music, or a state in which the user can read a cartoon or a novel. when the second information processing device 12 is a terminal device using a mobile telephone line such as a smart phone or the like, the notification from the notifying server 18 is transmitted to the second information processing device 12 via a base station 9 . the second information processing device 12 displays, on the display, information indicating that the contents downloaded by the first information processing device 10 are in an executable state. when the user receives this notification and starts an application for remote operation which application is installed on the second information processing device 12 , the display of the second information processing device 12 displays a graphical user interface (gui) for accessing the first information processing device 10 from the second information processing device 12 , starting the first information processing device 10 , and executing the contents. incidentally, when the contents are game software, and are capable of remote play, the display of the second information processing device 12 may display a gui for the remote play of the contents. when the user operates the gui, an instruction to execute the contents is transmitted from the second information processing device 12 to the first information processing device 10 . the first information processing device 10 turns on main power, and executes the downloaded contents. the user can thereby operate the contents being executed by the first information processing device 10 from the second information processing device 12 . an example of a mode of use of the information processing system 1 will be shown. while the user is away from home, the user operates the second information processing device 12 as a smart phone or the like to access the management server and purchase desired contents retained in the content retaining server 15 . the purchase of the contents by the user is notified from the notifying server 18 to the first information processing device 10 . receiving this notification, the first information processing device 10 accesses the management server 16 , and downloads the contents. the first information processing device 10 successively reports download conditions to the management server 16 . when the management server 16 determines that the contents have become executable in the first information processing device 10 , the management server 16 provides a notification to the effect that the contents have become executable in the first information processing device 10 to the notifying server 18 together with the account id. the notifying server 18 provides a push notification that the contents have become executable to the second information processing device 12 operated at the time of the purchase of the contents. the user can thereby check at a place away from home that the contents are executable in the first information processing device 10 at the home of the user through the portable second information processing device 12 . viewing the notification, the user starts the application for remote operation on the second information processing device 12 . this application for remote operation can remotely start the first information processing device 10 , and instruct the first information processing device 10 to execute the contents. the first information processing device 10 thereby starts the processing of executing the contents. incidentally, when the contents are game software, and are capable of remote play, the application for remote operation notifies the first information processing device 10 that the contents are to be played remotely. thus the user can also remotely play the contents. fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of the first information processing device 10 . the first information processing device 10 includes a main power button 20 , a power-on light emitting diode (led) 21 , a standby led 22 , a system controller 24 , a clock 26 , a device controller 30 , a media drive 32 , a usb module 34 , a flash memory 36 , a radio communication module 38 , a wire communication module 40 , a subsystem 50 , and a main system 60 . the main system 60 includes a main central processing unit (cpu), a memory as a main storage device and a memory controller, a graphics processing unit (gpu), and the like. the gpu is used mainly for arithmetic processing of a game program. these functions may be configured as a system on chip, and formed on one chip. the main cpu has a function of executing a game program recorded in the auxiliary storage device 2 . the subsystem 50 includes a sub-cpu, a memory as a main storage device and a memory controller, and the like. the subsystem 50 does not include a gpu, and does not have a function of executing a game program. the number of circuit gates of the sub-cpu is smaller than the number of circuit gates of the main cpu. the power consumption in operation of the sub-cpu is lower than the power consumption in operation of the main cpu. the sub-cpu operates while the main cpu is in a standby state. the first information processing device 10 can therefore maintain a state of being connected to the external server 5 at all times. the main power button 20 is an input section to which an operating input from the user is performed. the main power button 20 is provided to a front surface of a casing of the first information processing device 10 . the main power button 20 is operated to turn on or off the supply of power to the main system 60 of the first information processing device 10 . the power-on led 21 is lit when the main power button 20 is turned on. the standby led 22 is lit when the main power button 20 is turned off. the system controller 24 detects the depression of the main power button 20 by the user. when the main power button 20 is depressed while a main power supply is in an off state, the system controller 24 obtains the depressing operation as a “turn-on instruction.” when the main power button 20 is depressed while the main power supply is in an on state, on the other hand, the system controller 24 obtains the depressing operation as a “turn-off instruction.” the clock 26 is a real-time clock. the clock 26 generates present date and time information, and supplies the present date and time information to the system controller 24 , the subsystem 50 , and the main system 60 . the device controller 30 is configured as a large-scale integrated circuit (lsi) that transfers information between devices like a southbridge. as shown in fig. 2 , the device controller 30 is connected with devices such as the system controller 24 , the media drive 32 , the usb module 34 , the flash memory 36 , the radio communication module 38 , the wire communication module 40 , the subsystem 50 , the main system 60 , and the like. the device controller 30 accommodates differences between electrical characteristics of the respective devices and differences between data transfer rates, and controls data transfer timing. the media drive 32 is a drive device that is loaded with and drives a read only memory (rom) medium 44 on which application software such as a game or the like and license information are recorded, and which drive device reads a program, data, and the like from the rom medium 44 . the rom medium 44 is a read-only recording medium such as an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a blu-ray disk, or the like. the usb module 34 is a module connected to an external device by a usb cable. the usb module 34 may be connected to the auxiliary storage device 2 and the camera 7 by a usb cable. the flash memory 36 is an auxiliary storage device forming an internal storage. the radio communication module 38 performs wireless communication with the input device 6 , for example, under a communication protocol such as a bluetooth (registered trademark) protocol, an ieee 802.11 protocol, or the like. incidentally, the radio communication module 38 may support a third-generation (3rd generation) digital mobile telephone system compliant with an international mobile telecommunication 2000 (imt-2000) standard defined by the international telecommunication union (itu), or may further support a digital mobile telephone system of another generation. the wire communication module 40 performs wire communication with an external device. the wire communication module 40 is connected to the external network via the ap 8 , for example. configurations of the first information processing device 10 , the second information processing device 12 , and the notifying server 18 will be shown in the following. fig. 3 shows the configuration of the first information processing device 10 . the first information processing device 10 includes a communicating section 100 and a processing section 110 . the processing section 110 includes a download processing unit 112 , a download condition notifying unit 114 , and an executing unit 116 . incidentally, the communicating section 100 exhibits the functions of the radio communication module 38 and the wire communication module 40 shown in fig. 2 . fig. 4 shows the configuration of the second information processing device 12 . the second information processing device 12 includes a communicating section 140 and a processing section 150 . the processing section 150 includes a download request transmitting unit 152 , a download condition checking unit 153 , a download condition receiving unit 154 , a notification processing unit 156 , a selecting operation receiving unit 158 , a remote play instruction receiving unit 160 , and a game operation receiving unit 162 . incidentally, in the embodiment, the communicating section 140 is configured as a radio communication module that communicates with the base station 9 via a mobile telephone line. however, the communicating section 140 may have a wireless lan communicating function. in addition, it is assumed in the embodiment that the second information processing device 12 is a portable terminal device. however, the second information processing device 12 may be a stationary terminal device, for example a desktop computer used at a place of work. in that case, the communicating section 140 may be connected to the network 3 by wire. fig. 5 shows the configuration of the notifying server 18 . the notifying server 18 includes a communicating section 180 and a processing section 190 . the processing section 190 includes an information receiving unit 192 , a notifying unit 194 , and a device information retaining unit 196 . the elements described as functional blocks performing various processing in figs. 3 to 5 can be configured by a circuit block, a memory, or another lsi in terms of hardware, and is implemented by a program loaded in a memory or the like in terms of software. hence, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be implemented in various forms by only hardware, only software, or combinations of hardware and software, and are not limited to any one of the forms. the first information processing device 10 has the main system 60 and the subsystem 50 . the subsystem 50 is in an active state even while the main system 60 is in a standby state. therefore, even when the main power to the first information processing device 10 is off, the subsystem 50 maintains connection to the network server, so that the signed-in state of the user is maintained. thus, the first information processing device 10 can be accessed from the external server 5 even when the main power is off. fig. 6 shows a sequence of remote download processing in the information processing system 1 . the user operates the user interface of the second information processing device 12 to display a screen for purchasing contents provided by the content retaining server 15 on the display of the second information processing device 12 . when the user selects desired contents on the purchase screen, and presses a purchase button, the download request transmitting unit 152 transmits a request to download the selected contents to the management server 16 (s 10 ). the management server 16 obtains the contents from the content retaining server 15 and places the contents in a remote download queue, and notifies information indicating that the remote download request has been made to the notifying server 18 together with the account id of the user (s 12 ). when the information receiving unit 192 in the notifying server 18 receives the account id and the remote download request, the notifying unit 194 refers to the device information retaining unit 196 , and identifies the first information processing device 10 associated with the account id. the device information retaining unit 196 has registered therein the identifying information and contact information (an address on the network 3 , a telephone number, and the like) of the first information processing device 10 and the second information processing device 12 possessed by the user in association with the account id. the notifying unit 194 provides a push notification of a remote download instruction to the identified first information processing device 10 (s 14 ). incidentally, the embodiment represents a case where the user possesses one first information processing device 10 . however, the user may possess a plurality of first information processing devices 10 of a same type, and the device information retaining unit 196 may have the plurality of first information processing devices 10 registered therein in association with the account id. in that case, the notifying unit 194 provides a push notification of a remote download instruction to the plurality of first information processing devices 10 . in the case where the plurality of first information processing devices 10 are registered in the notifying server 18 , the user sets, in advance, one of the first information processing devices 10 as a terminal for downloading the contents. this setting is locally registered in the first information processing device 10 selected by the user. accordingly, when each first information processing device 10 receives the remote download instruction, each first information processing device 10 determines whether or not the first information processing device 10 itself is set as a download terminal. only the first information processing device 10 that determines that the first information processing device 10 itself is set as a download terminal can respond to the download instruction. in the first information processing device 10 , when the download processing unit 112 receives the download instruction, the download processing unit 112 send an inquiry to the management server 16 (s 16 ). after the management server 16 performs user authentication using a token, and confirms that the contents are placed in the download queue, the management server 16 transmits an acknowledgment message to the first information processing device 10 (s 18 ). when the download processing unit 112 in the first information processing device 10 receives the acknowledgment message, the download processing unit 112 transmits a download request to the management server (s 20 ). receiving the download request from the first information processing device 10 , the management server 16 distributes content data to the first information processing device 10 (s 22 a and s 22 b ). while the contents are downloaded, the download condition notifying unit 114 periodically notifies download conditions to the management server 16 (s 24 a and s 24 b ). the download conditions may be information indicating what percentage of data size of the whole of the contents has been downloaded. the user can start the application for remote operation on the second information processing device 12 , access the management server 16 , and check the download conditions. fig. 7 shows an example of a download progress screen in the second information processing device 12 . when the management server 16 receives an inquiry about the progress of the download from the download condition checking unit 153 , the management server 16 notifies the download progress conditions to the notifying server 18 together with the identifying information of the second information processing device 12 . incidentally, the management server 16 may notify not only progress conditions with regard to the contents being downloaded now but also contents distributed to the first information processing device 10 by a remote download in the past. the notifying unit 194 in the notifying server 18 refers to the device information retaining unit 196 , identifies the contact information of the second information processing device 12 from the identifying information of the second information processing device 12 , and notifies the download progress conditions to the second information processing device 12 . the download condition receiving unit 154 receives the download progress conditions. the notification processing unit 156 generates a progress screen, and displays the progress screen. the download progress screen shown in fig. 7 indicates that an “abc soccer” game is being downloaded, that 25 percent has already been downloaded now, and that the download of a “xyz baseball” game has been completed. incidentally, a gui for starting remote play processing when operated is also displayed for the already downloaded “xyz baseball” game. thus the user can check the download progress conditions by using the second information processing device 12 while the user is at a place distant from the first information processing device 10 . when the management server 16 determines that the download has been completed from the download conditions periodically notified from the first information processing device 10 , the management server 16 notifies the completion of the download to the notifying server 18 together with the account id of the user (s 26 ). incidentally, the management server 16 also transmits the identifying information of the second information processing device 12 that transmitted the download request in s 10 to the notifying server 18 together with the notification of the completion of the download. in the notifying server 18 , the notifying unit 194 refers to the device information retaining unit 196 , identifies the contact information of the second information processing device 12 from the identifying information of the second information processing device 12 , and provides a push notification of the completion of the download to the second information processing device 12 (s 28 ). when the download condition receiving unit 154 in the second information processing device 12 receives the conditions of the download of the contents in the first information processing device 10 , the notification processing unit 156 notifies the received download conditions to the user (s 30 ). in this case, the notification processing unit 156 notifies, as the download conditions, that the contents downloaded to the first information processing device 10 are in an executable state. incidentally, when the contents need to be installed on the first information processing device 10 so that the contents become executable, the download processing unit 112 in the first information processing device 10 may automatically install the contents after the download of the contents is completed. at this time, the download condition notifying unit 114 notifies the management server 16 that the installation is completed. when the management server 16 is notified that the installation is completed, the management server 16 notifies the notifying server 18 that the installation is completed together with the account id of the user, and the notifying unit 194 may provide a push notification of the completion of the installation to the second information processing device 12 . the notification processing unit 156 can thus notify that the contents downloaded to the first information processing device 10 are in an executable state. fig. 8a shows an example of a notifying screen in the second information processing device 12 . when the second information processing device 12 is in a standby state, the notification processing unit 156 displays, on a standby screen, a message indicating that the downloaded “abc soccer” game is in a playable state. when the user taps a region displaying the message, the selecting operation receiving unit 158 receives the operation of selecting the message. this automatically starts the application for remote operation, and displays a remote operation screen on the display. in the present example, the region displaying the message constitutes a link for displaying the remote operation screen. however, the user may be allowed to select the message by operating the operating section of the second information processing device 12 . incidentally, when the download condition receiving unit 154 receives the conditions of the download of the contents in the first information processing device 10 in a state in which the user is operating the remote operation application on the second information processing device 12 , the notification processing unit 156 displays a message indicating that the game is in a playable state on the application screen. when the user taps the message display region, the selecting operation receiving unit 158 receives the operation of selecting the message, and the remote operation screen is displayed on the display. fig. 8b shows an example of the remote operation screen. when the user selects a gui of “remotely play right now,” the remote play instruction receiving unit 160 receives the instruction for the remote play of the downloaded contents. the remote play instruction receiving unit 160 transmits the instruction for the remote play of the “abc soccer” game to the first information processing device 10 via the network server together with an instruction for starting the first information processing device 10 . the executing unit 116 in the first information processing device 10 automatically starts the “abc soccer” game in a remote play mode. the game operation receiving unit 162 in the second information processing device receives a game operation from the user, and transmits information on the operation to the first information processing device 10 . the executing unit 116 in the first information processing device 10 reflects the operation information from the second information processing device 12 in the progress of the game, and transmits an image of the game to the second information processing device 12 . thus, the user can enjoy the game by the remote play immediately after the completion of the remote download while the user is at a remote place. the present technology has been described above on the basis of the embodiment thereof. it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that the present embodiment is illustrative, and that combinations of constituent elements and processing processes of the embodiment are susceptible of various modifications and that such modifications also fall within the scope of the present technology. in the embodiment, the notifying unit 194 notifies the download conditions to the second information processing device 12 that transmitted the download request in s 10 in fig. 6 . however, the notifying unit 194 may notify the download conditions also to another registered terminal device of the user. in addition, when the management server 16 receives the notification of the download conditions from the first information processing device 10 , and determines that the contents are in an executable state, the management server 16 may notify the download conditions to the notifying server 18 at that point in time, and the notifying server 18 may notify the download conditions to the second information processing device 12 . in a case where the game software has the mechanism disclosed in patent document 2, for example, when the management server 16 determines that all of the file group of a first group have been downloaded to the first information processing device 10 , the management server 16 may notify the notifying server 18 that the contents are in an executable state at that point in time, and the notifying server 18 may notify the second information processing device 12 that the contents are in an executable state. incidentally, in the embodiment, the management server 16 and the notifying server 18 are illustrated as separate servers. however, the functions of the notifying server 18 may be provided in the management server 16 . the application for remote operation may be able to access the management server 16 and indicate download order. when the user accesses the management server 16 and purchases a plurality of contents by operating the second information processing device 12 , for example, remote download processing is performed in the order of the purchases. however, the user may want to immediately perform remote play of a game purchased second rather than a game purchased first. the application for remote operation therefore allows the user to set the order of priority in download. for example, the user can set the order of priority in download from the download progress screen shown in fig. 7 . when two contents are purchased, the download progress screen displays download conditions in order in which download is started from a top, and the user can change the display order by operating the operating section of the second information processing device 12 , and thereby change the order of the download. incidentally, the application for remote operation may display a not-yet downloaded content screen displaying a list of contents whose download is not completed, and the user may be allowed to set download order on the screen. the present technology contains subject matter related to that disclosed in japanese priority patent application jp 2014-221916 filed in the japan patent office on oct. 30, 2014, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
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178-022-445-285-524
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US
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[
"US"
] |
E04H15/48,E04H15/58,E04H15/34
| 2012-07-31T00:00:00 |
2012
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[
"E04"
] |
portable shelter
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the specification discloses a portable shelter which is conveniently transportable, easy to set up, and structurally stable in a variety a situations. the portable shelter comprises a canopy which is supported by opposing side support structures connected by a lateral support member and canopy support beams. the portable shelter can be disassembled and/or folded for convenient transportation.
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1. a portable shelter comprising: a left-side support structure comprising a first rigid left-side support member with a bottom end configured to contact the ground, a second rigid left-side support member with a bottom end configured to contact the ground pivotally-connected to the first left-side support member, and an upper left-side support member that is hingedly-connected to an upper end of the second left-side support member, wherein the upper left-side support member comprises one or more attachment locations configured to engage an upper end of the first left-side support member; a right-side support structure comprising a first rigid right-side support member with a bottom end configured to contact the ground, a second rigid right-side support member with a bottom end configured to contact the ground pivotally-connected to the first right-side support member, and an upper right-side support member that is hingedly-connected to an upper end of the second right-side support member, wherein the upper right-side support member comprises one or more attachment locations configured to engage an upper end of the first right-side support member; a lateral support member comprising a bottom support member extending between first left-side support member and the first right-side support member, and a first rigid brace member hingedly attached to the bottom support member and configured to engage the first left-side support member or the first right-side support member, thereby forming a triangle comprising the first rigid brace member, a portion of the bottom support member, and a portion of the first left-side support member or the first right-side support member; a first canopy support beam configured to engage a first end of the left-side and right-side upper support members; a second canopy support beam configured to engage a second end of the left-side and right-side upper support members; and a canopy configured to be secured between the first canopy support beam and at least one other location of the portable shelter. 2. the portable shelter of claim 1 further comprising a second rigid brace member hingedly connected to bottom support member and configured to engage the other of first left-side support member or first right-side support member, thereby forming a triangle comprising the second rigid brace member, a portion of the bottom support member, and a portion of the other of the first left-side support member or the first right-side support member. 3. the portable shelter of claim 1 further comprising: two or more attachment locations defined on the left-side upper support member and configured to engage an upper end of the first left-side support member so that an angle of the left-side upper support member with respect to the ground can be adjusted by selection from among the two or more attachment locations; and two or more attachment locations defined on the right-side upper support member and configured to engage an upper end of the first right-side support member so that an angle of the left-side and right-side upper support members with respect to the ground can be adjusted by selection from among the two or more attachment locations. 4. the portable shelter of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of elastic straps configured to secure the canopy to the lateral support member. 5. the portable shelter of claim 1 wherein the canopy comprises a woven polyethylene fabric. 6. the portable shelter of claim 5 wherein the canopy comprises a uv resistant fabric. 7. the portable shelter of claim 1 further comprising: a plurality of canopy attachment brads extending from the front canopy support beam; and a plurality of canopy attachment holes defined in the canopy and configured to engage two or more of the canopy attachment brads.
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priority claims this application claims priority to u.s. provisional application no. 61/677,980, filed jul. 31, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference. technical field of the invention the present invention is generally directed to portable shelters, and in particular, to shelters that may be used for enjoyment of outdoor recreational activities. background art of the invention many outdoor activities can be affected by weather and the elements. even outdoor activities that rely on outdoor weather can be made less enjoyable by too much of a good thing. for example, people typically prefer sunny weather while lounging on a beach or near a pool. however, excessive sun exposure can cause discomfort, overheating, sunburns, and other problems. additionally, bright sunlight can interfere with enjoyment of other activities while lounging, such as reading or using electronic devices. accordingly, it is often desired to have a source of shade available. in some situations, protection from other weather conditions such as wind or rain is also desired. further, because shelter is often desired in locations where permanent structures do not exist or are unwanted, shelters which may be easily transported are often preferred. many types of shelters are known and have been used, including some which are portable. however, all known prior art shelters suffer from one or more of the following problems: they are too heavy or bulky for convenient transport, too difficult to assemble, rely on external features for support, or suffer from instability when assembled. summary the inventions described herein provide a shelter which is conveniently transportable, easy to set up, and structurally stable in a variety a situations. the inventions include portable shelters comprising: left-side and right-side support structure comprising a first side support member, a second side support member pivotally-connected to the first side support member, and an upper side support member that is hingedly-connected to an upper end of the second side support member, wherein the upper side support member comprises one or more attachment locations configured to engage an upper end of the first side support member;a lateral support member comprising a bottom support member configured to engage the first left-side and first right-side support member, and a brace member hingedly attached to the bottom support member and configured to engage the first left-side support member or the first right-side support member;a first canopy support beam configured to engage a first end of the left-side and right-side upper support members;a second canopy support beam configured to engage a second end of the left-side and right-side upper support members; anda canopy configured to be secured between the first canopy support beam and at least one other location of the portable shelter.all supports can be folded and placed into a bag for convenient transportation. in certain embodiments, the portable shelter comprises a plurality of attachment points defined on the left-side and right-side upper support members and configured so that an angle of the left-side and right-side upper support members can be adjusted by selection from among the plurality of attachment points. in other embodiments the portable shelter comprises elastic straps configured to secure the canopy to the lateral support member. in some embodiments the canopy comprises a woven polyethylene fabric and or a uv resistant fabric. in certain embodiments the portable shelter comprises a second brace member configured to engage the other side support member. brief description of the drawings the disclosed inventions will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show important sample embodiments and which are incorporated in the specification hereof by reference, wherein: fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portable shelter. fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portable shelter with canopy removed. fig. 3 is a side view of a portable shelter. fig. 4 is an illustration of a side support structure for a portable shelter in a folded configuration. fig. 5 is a front view of a portable shelter. fig. 6 is a rear view of lateral support member of a portable shelter with attached canopy. figs. 7-14 illustrate assembly of a portable shelter. detailed description of the preferred embodiments fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a portable shelter 10 employing certain aspects of the present inventions. portable shelter 10 preferablely comprises a frame 12 and a canopy 14 . fig. 2 is a perspective view of frame 12 without canopy 14 . frame 12 preferably comprises side support structures 20 and 20 ′ located at opposing ends of frame 12 , lateral support member 30 , front canopy support member 40 , and rear canopy support member 50 . fig. 3 is a side view of portable shelter 10 in which one side support structure 20 is easily seen. side support structure 20 preferably comprises first support member 22 , second support member 24 , and upper support member 26 . first support member 22 is preferably hingedly attached to outer support member 24 , e.g., by a hinge pin 25 . first support member 22 is preferably hingedly attached to upper support member 26 , e.g., by a double-holed plate 27 . alternatively to hinged attachments, components of side support structure 20 can be configured to be selectively detachable from others. second support member 24 is preferably attachable to upper support member 26 at one or more locations. in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 , four attachment holes 28 are defined in upper support member 26 . each attachment hole 28 represents a potential attachment location for second support member 24 . for additional flexibility, additional attachment points 25 can be defined on second support member 24 . second support member 24 can be attached to upper support member 26 by inserting a removable pin 29 through a hole defined in outer support member 26 and through one of attachment holes 28 . preferably, frame 12 comprises a second side support structure 20 ′ that is a mirror-image of a first side support structure 20 . alternatively, second side support structure 20 ′ can be identical to first side support structure 20 , rather than a mirror-image, or can be another variation. at least some components of side support structure 20 are preferably configured to be foldable to increase convenience of transport. fig. 4 shows side support structure 20 in a folded configuration. to fold side support structure 20 , second support member 24 is preferably disconnected from upper support member 26 . upper support member 26 , first support member 22 , and second support member 24 are then preferably moved to adjacent, parallel positions. fig. 5 is a front view of portable shelter 10 showing lateral support member 30 . lateral support member 30 comprises bottom support member 32 , left-side brace 34 , and right-side brace 36 . left-side brace 34 and right-side brace 36 are preferably hingedly-attached to bottom support member 32 . most preferably, a plate 33 with two defined holes is attached to bottom support member 32 . left-side brace member and right-side brace member are rotably-attached to the holes in plate 33 . also visible in fig. 5 is front canopy support member 40 and canopy 14 . canopy 14 is preferably affixed to front canopy support member 40 by brads 42 placed through canopy-attachment holes 44 defined in canopy 14 . canopy-attachment holes 44 are preferably reinforced using grommets. alternatively, canopy 14 may be attached to front canopy support member 40 , by screws, staples, glue or other means. canopy 14 preferably comprises a woven polyester material or lightweight, yet durable material. attachment holes are preferably defined near each end of front canopy support member 40 . attachment holes are configured to engage a front most end of upper support members 26 . fig. 6 is a rear view of lateral support member 30 with attached canopy 14 . in this view, canopy 14 is shown with elastic straps 52 extending around bottom support member 32 . elastic straps 52 preferably extend from canopy attachment holes 44 defined along an edge of canopy 14 . elastic straps 52 are configured to secure canopy 14 to frame 12 . optionally, the endmost elastic straps 52 can extend around second support member 24 and bottom support member 32 . components of frame 12 are preferably composed of rigid, relatively lightweight, and weather-resistant materials such as wood, plastic, fiberglass, or metal tubing. most preferably, larger elements of frame 12 are composed of a weather-resistant wood such as teak or treated oak, while joints, pins, and other small elements are composed of aluminum or stainless steel. canopy 14 can comprise any of many known fabrics such as woven polyethylene, polyester, nylon, cotton, or a blended fabric. most preferably, canopy 14 comprises uv-resistant woven polyethylene. figs. 7-14 illustrate one process for assembling a portable shelter. first, as shown in figs. 7-11 , side-support structures 20 , 20 ′ are assembled. next, side support structures 20 , 20 ′ are lifted upright and attached to lateral support member 30 , as shown in fig. 12 . a first end of bottom support member 32 is attached to first side support structure 20 and a second end of bottom support member 32 is attached to a second side support structure 20 ′. the attachments are preferably removable, e.g., by removable pin. next, left-side brace 34 is attached to first side support structure 20 and right-side brace 36 is attached to second side support structure 20 ′. then, rear canopy support member 50 is connected to side support structures 20 , 20 ′, as shown in fig. 13 . next, front canopy support member 40 is connected between side support structures 20 and 20 ′, as shown in fig. 14 . finally, a back edge of canopy 14 is connected to bottom support member 32 by elastic straps 52 . in the embodiment shown in fig. 14 , canopy 14 is permanently attached to front canopy support member 40 . canopy 14 can be rolled up around front canopy support member 40 for transport or storage. alternatively, canopy 14 can be made detachable from front canopy support member 40 . when disassembled and/or folded, portable shelter 10 can be placed in a bag, tote, backpack, or similar container for convenient transporation. although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. it is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.
|
178-186-506-755-587
|
JP
|
[
"JP",
"US"
] |
G09G3/36,H04M1/00,H04M1/02,H04M1/22,H04M1/72403
| 1999-09-14T00:00:00 |
1999
|
[
"G09",
"H04"
] |
method and device for lighting display
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problem to be solved: to change a color of a backlight for a schedule function for an operations schedule or the like and a calendar function or the like. solution: a storage section 12 stores period information from december 1st until the 2nd as its schedule function, and a color storage section 13 stores blue information in relation to this period information. when a user uses a key entry section 2 to enter a date from december 1 until december 2 as the schedule function, a cpu 15 reads this date from the storage section 12 and reads the blue information corresponding to the date read from the color storage section 13. then the cpu 15 causes a multi-color lighting section 14 to light blue color. thus, the key entry section 2 and an lcd display section 3 are lighted in blue.
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1. a display lighting apparatus, comprising: 2. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the date information comprises information that represents a period. 3. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the date information comprises information that represents a predetermined day. 4. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the date information comprises information that represents dates of one month. 5. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the date information comprises wakeup information. 6. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the date information comprises time information of an alarm clock. 7. a display lighting apparatus, comprising: 8. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 7 , wherein the key operation information comprises information that correlates keys and musical scales. 9. a display lighting apparatus, comprising: 10. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the screen information comprises a completion screen that represents that the setup of a desired function has been completed. 11. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the screen information comprises a non-completion screen that represents that the setup of a desired function has not been completed. 12. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the screen information comprises a scroll screen that allows one of a plurality of items to be selected. 13. a display lighting apparatus, comprising: 14. the display lighting apparatus as set forth in claim 13 , wherein the reception information comprises of a short mail information. 15. a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus including: 16. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the date information comprises information that represents a period. 17. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the date information comprises information that represents a predetermined day. 18. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the date information comprises information that represents dates of one month. 19. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the date information comprises wakeup information. 20. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the date information comprises timer information of an alarm clock. 21. a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus including: 22. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 21 , wherein the key operation information comprises information that correlates keys and musical scales. 23. a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus including: 24. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 23 , wherein the screen information comprises a completion screen that represents that the setup of a desired function has been completed. 25. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 23 , wherein the screen information comprises a non-completion screen that represents that the setup of a desired function has not been completed. 26. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 23 , wherein the screen information comprises a scroll screen that allows one of a plurality of items to be selected. 27. a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus including: 28. the display lighting method as set forth in claim 27 , wherein the reception information comprises a short mail information.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to a display lighting apparatus and a display lighting method and in particular, to a display lighting apparatus and a display lighting method for use with a portable telephone. 2. description of the related art a conventional portable telephone unit notifies the user of information using a combination of a display, a sound, and a mono-color (or two-color) light. such a conventional portable telephone unit operates as follows: when the portable telephone unit receives an incoming call, the portable telephone unit blinks the display (lcd: liquid crystal display), generates a ringing tone or activates a vibrator. when the battery of the portable telephone unit almost runs out, it lights the display, generates an alarm sound, and displays a low power message on the display. when the portable telephone unit notifies the user of his or her incorrect operation, the unit generates an alarm sound and displays an incorrect operation message on the display. however, such a related art technology has the following disadvantages. as a first disadvantage, since characters on the display and keys are small and illegible, the user cannot easily read them. this is because as a portable telephone unit becomes small, characters on the display and keys become small. as a second disadvantage, the user tends to mistakenly operate the portable telephone unit. as with the same reason of the first disadvantage, since the user cannot easily read the characters on the display and keys, he or she tends to mistakenly press keys. to allow the user to easily read characters on the lcd, a technology in which colors of the backlight of the lcd are added as display information along with characters and sounds has been disclosed in jpa 6-37715 (hereinafter referred to as first related art reference), jpa 5-37620 (hereinafter referred to as second related art reference), jpa 6-204910 (hereinafter referred to as third related art reference), jpa 9-191491 (hereinafter referred to as fourth related art reference), and jpa 10-145475 (hereinafter referred to as fifth related art reference). according to the first related art reference, when the portable telephone unit is in the standby state, the unit causes the backlight to shut off. when the portable telephone unit transmits an originating call, the unit causes the backlight to blink in green. when the portable telephone unit is in the communicating state, the unit causes the backlight to light in green. when the portable telephone unit is performing an abnormal process, the unit causes the backlight to blink in red. according to the second related art reference, the portable telephone unit notifies the user of a setup time using the color of the backlight. the third related art reference has disclosed the same technology as the first related art reference. according to the fourth related art reference, the portable telephone unit notifies the user of whether the current communicating mode is a cellular mode or a phs (personal handy phone system that is being serviced in japan) using different colors of the backlight. according to the fifth related art reference, the portable telephone unit causes the color of the backlight to vary corresponding to the battery level and depending on whether the telephone number of an incoming call has been registered in the memory. the technology in which the color of the backlight is varied depending on each state is known as explained above. although recent portable telephone units have a schedule function, a calendar function, and so forth, they have not disclosed a technology in which the color of the backlight is varied corresponding to such functions. summary of the invention an object of the present invention is to provide a display lighting apparatus and a display lighting method that allow the color of the backlight to be varied corresponding to a schedule function (of an action schedule table or the like), a calendar function, and so forth. to solve the above-explained problem, a first aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing date information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the date information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for input date information, and when desired date information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the date information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. a second aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing key operation information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the key operation information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for input key operation information, and when desired key operation information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the key operation information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. a third aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing screen information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the screen information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for screen information displayed on said displaying means, and when desired screen information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the screen information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. a fourth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing predetermined reception information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the reception information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for reception information, and when desired reception information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the reception information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. a fifth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing date information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the date information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for input date information, and when desired date information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the date information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. a sixth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing key operation information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the key operation information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for input key operation information, and when desired key operation information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the key operation information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. a seventh aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing screen information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the screen information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for screen information displayed on the displaying means, and when desired screen information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the screen information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. an eighth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing predetermined reception information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the reception information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for reception information, and when desired reception information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the reception information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. according to the first to eighth aspects of the present invention, a controlling means causes a lighting means to light in a color corresponding to function information stored in a first storing means and to color information correlated with the function information and stored in a second storing means, a technology of which the color of the backlight is varied corresponding to the schedule function (of such as action schedule table), the calendar function, and so forth can be applied. these and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of a best mode embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. brief description of drawings fig. 1 is an external view showing the structure of a portable telephone unit using a display lighting apparatus according to the best mode of the present invention; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the display lighting apparatus for use with the portable telephone unit; fig. 3 is a table showing information stored in a storing portion; fig. 4 is a detailed schematic diagram showing the structure of the display lighting apparatus; fig. 5 is a flow chart showing operations of first to third embodiments of the present invention; fig. 6 is a flow chart showing operations of fourth to eighth embodiments of the present invention; and fig. 7 is a flow chart showing operations of ninth to thirteenth embodiments of the present invention. description of preferred embodiments beset mode of present invention next, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the best mode of the present invention will be explained. fig. 1 is an external view showing the structure of a portable telephone unit using a display lighting apparatus according to the best mode of the present invention. referring to fig. 1 , a main body 1 of the portable telephone unit has a key input portion 2 , an lcd portion 3 , an led (light emitting diode) indicator 4 , a microphone 5 , a speaker 6 , and an antenna 7 . the key input portion 2 has numeric keys and function keys. a backlight (not shown) is disposed in the main body 1 . the backlight causes the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 to light from the rear. according to the present invention, the color of the backlight is varied corresponding to each function. the led indicator 4 indicates individual functions with different colors. when the main body 1 has the backlight that lights at least the key input portion 2 or the lcd portion 3 from the rear, the led indicator 4 can be omitted. in other words, the led indicator 4 is used for a portable telephone unit that does not have the backlight. as an example, the main body 1 shown in fig. 1 has both the lcd portion 3 and the led indicator 4 . the backlight lights in, for example, seven colors that are red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, and white. as with the lcd portion 3 , the led indicator 4 lights in seven colors. fig. 2 shows the structure of the display lighting apparatus for use with the portable telephone unit. for simplicity, in fig. 2 , similar portions to those in fig. 1 are denoted by similar reference numerals and their description is omitted. referring to fig. 2 , a display lighting apparatus 11 comprises a storing portion 12 , a color storing portion 13 , the key input portion 2 , the lcd portion 3 , a multi-color lighting portion (the above-mentioned backlight) 14 , and a cpu (central processing unit) 15 . the cpu 15 controls the storing portion 12 , the color storing portion 13 , the key input portion 2 , the lcd portion 3 , and the multi-color lighting portion 14 . the storing portion 12 stores function information. the color storing portion 13 stores color information of lighting corresponding to the function information stored in the storing portion 12 . the key input portion 2 allows the user to input a telephone number and function information. the lcd portion 3 displays a telephone number, a function, and other information. the multi-color lighting portion 14 causes the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 to light from the rear. for example, the storing portion 12 has stored information of dates from december 1 to december 2 as information of period 1 for a schedule function of such as an action schedule table. on the other hand, the color storing portion 13 has stored information blue corresponding to the dates from december 1 to december 2. when the user inputs the dates from december 1 to december 2 for the schedule function with the key input portion 2 or places the cursor at the dates from december 1 to december 2 displayed for the schedule function on the lcd portion 3 , the cpu 15 reads the information of the dates from december 1 to december 2 as information of period 1 from the storing portion 12 . thereafter, the cpu 15 reads information corresponding to the dates (namely, information blue) from the color storing portion 13 . thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue. as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in blue. thus, the user can intuitively know that the dates from december 1 to december 2 are displayed on the lcd portion 3 with the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 that light in blue without need to read characters on the lcd portion 3 . thus, even if characters displayed on the lcd portion 3 are small and illegible, the user can accurately know the information. now, it is assumed that the portable telephone unit has a music composing function using the keys and that the keys 1, 2, and 3 have been assigned to do, re, and mi of the musical scales, respectively. the storing portion 12 has stored information of the keys 1, 2, and 3 as the music composing function. on the other hand, the color storing portion 13 has stored information red, blue, and yellow corresponding to the keys 1, 2, and 3, respectively. when user inputs the key 1 for the music composing function from the key input portion 2 , the cpu 15 reads the information of the key 1 from the storing portion 12 corresponding to the key information that has been input from the key input portion 2 . thereafter, the cpu 15 reads information corresponding to the information of the key 1 (namely, the information red) from the color storing portion 13 . thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red. as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in red. likewise, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue and yellow corresponding to the information of the keys 2 and 3, respectively. thus, the user can check that he or she has pressed the keys 1, 2, and 3 with reference to the color (red, blue, and yellow) of the lighting of the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 , respectively. thus, the user can be prevented from mistakenly pressing keys. according to the best mode of the present invention, the multi-color lighting portion 14 causes the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 to light. alternatively, when the multi-color lighting portion 14 causes either the key input portion 2 or the lcd portion 3 to light, the object of the present invention can be accomplished. when the display portion is composed of an led or the like instead of an lcd, the multi-color lighting portion 14 is the led indicator 4 . since the operation of the led indicator 4 is the same as the multi-color lighting portion 14 , the operation thereof is omitted. first to third embodiments of present invention next, the embodiments of the present invention will be explained. in the following explanation, since the structure of the portable telephone unit and the structure of the display lighting apparatus are the same as those of the best mode of the present invention shown in figs. 1 and 2 , the following embodiments will be explained with reference to figs. 1 and 2 . fig. 3 is a table showing information stored in the storing portion 12 . with reference to fig. 3 , the left field and the right field of the table represent individual functions and information of color lighting on, respectively. in other words, the storing portion 12 has correlatively stored the individual functions and the information of color lighting on. color lighting on causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in a predetermined color corresponding to a particular function. in addition, the storing portion 12 has stored information of period 1 for the above-explained schedule function, information of the keys 1, 2, and 3 for the music composing function, and so forth (not shown). fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the detailed structure of the display lighting apparatus. referring to fig. 4 , the boxes of the storing portion 12 , the color storing portion 13 , and the multi-color lighting portion 14 contain information that they handle. fig. 5 is a flow chart showing the operations of the first to third embodiments of the present invention. with reference to fig. 5 , the cpu 15 determines whether or not a key has been pressed with the key input portion 2 (at step s 1 ). when any key has not been pressed (namely, the determined result at step s 1 is n), the cpu 15 checks for the state of the portable telephone unit 1 (at step s 2 ). when the portable telephone unit 1 is in the incoming call receiving state, the cpu 15 performs the following operation as the first embodiment. first embodiment the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the incoming call receiving state has been designated to color lighting on. according to the first embodiment, since the incoming call receiving state has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 3 is y), the cpu 15 references the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to repeatedly light in red, blue, and yellow in the order (see fig. 4 ). thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to repeatedly light in red, blue, and yellow in the order (at step s 4 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 repeatedly light in red, blue, and yellow in the order. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes a ringer sound generating process for the incoming call receiving process (at step s 5 ). on the other hand, when the incoming call receiving state has not been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 3 is n), the flow advances to step s 5 (function process) skipping step s 4 (color lighting process). the color storing portion 13 may have stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in for example green in the incoming call receiving state. thus, in the incoming call receiving state, the multi-color lighting portion 14 lights in green. second embodiment next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be explained. since the processes at steps s 1 and s 2 of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, their description is omitted. when the portable telephone unit 1 is in the standby state, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the standby state has been designated to color lighting on. according to the second embodiment, since the standby state has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 6 is y), the cpu 15 references the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information green as lighting in the standby state. thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in green (at step s 7 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in green. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the process of the standby state function (at step s 8 ). on the other hand, when the standby state has not been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 6 is n), the flow advances to step s 8 (standby process) skipping step s 7 (color lighting process). third embodiment next, the third embodiment of the present invention will be explained. since the processes at steps s 1 and s 2 of the third embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, their description is omitted. when the portable telephone unit 1 is in the communicating state, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the communicating state has been designated to color lighting on. according to the third embodiment, since the communicating state has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 9 is y), the cpu 15 references to the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information purple as lighting in the communicating state. thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in purple (at step s 10 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in purple. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the process of the communicating function (at step s 11 ). on the other hand, when the standby state has not been designated to color lighting on at step s 9 (namely, the determined result at step s 9 is n), the flow advances to step s 11 (communicating process) skipping step s 10 (color lighting process). fourth to eighth embodiments of present invention the fourth to eighth embodiments of the present invention are operations of the cpu 15 in the case that any key has been pressed with the key input portion 2 at step s 1 (namely, the determined result at step s 1 is y). fig. 6 is a flow chart showing the operations of the fourth to eighth embodiment of the present invention. fourth embodiment next, the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the cpu 15 checks for the function of the key that has been pressed (at step s 12 ). when the pressed key is a key assigned to a ringing tone composing function, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the ringing tone composing function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the fourth embodiment, since the ringing tone composing function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 13 is y), the cpu 15 references the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that correlates the musical scales of the ringing tone composing/activating state and lighting colors (see fig. 4 ). referring to fig. 4 , the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multicolor lighting portion 14 to light in red, blue, or yellow when the pressed key is a key assigned to do, re, or mi of the musical scales, respectively. thus, when the pressed key is a key assigned to do of the musical scale, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red. when the pressed key is a key assigned to re of the musical scale, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue. when the pressed key is a key assigned to mi of the musical scale, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in yellow (at step s 14 ). as a result, when the pressed key is a key assigned to do of the musical scale, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in red. when the pressed key is a key assigned to re of the musical scale, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in blue. when the pressed key is a key assigned to mi of the musical scale, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in yellow. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the process of the ringing tone composing function (at step s 15 ). on the other hand, when the ringing tone composing function has not been designated to color lighting on at step s 13 (namely, the determined result at step s 13 is n), the flow advances to step s 15 (ringing tone composing process) skipping step s 14 (color lighting process). fifth embodiment next, the fifth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the fifth embodiment is an operation of the function setup. the function setup is a function that distinguishes a completion screen, a non-completion screen, and a scroll screen (selection screen). the completion screen is displayed when a particular function that is set with reference to information displayed on the lcd portion 3 has been completed. the non-completion screen is displayed when a particular function that is set with reference to information displayed on the lcd portion 3 has not been completed. the scroll screen is displayed when the screen is scrolled to select one of a plurality of items. the cpu 15 checks for a key that has been pressed (at step s 12 ). when the pressed key is a key assigned to the function setup, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the function setup has been designated to color lighting on. according to the fifth embodiment, since the function setup has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 16 is yes), the cpu 15 references the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the completion screen to light in green, the non-completion screen to light in orange, and the scroll screen (selection screen) to light in blue (see fig. 4 ). thus, when the screen displayed on the lcd portion 3 is the completion screen, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in green. when the screen displayed on the lcd portion 3 is the non-completion screen, the cpu 15 causes the multicolor lighting portion 14 to light in orange. when the screen displayed on the lcd portion 3 is the scroll screen (selection screen), the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue (at step s 17 ). as a result, when the screen displayed on the lcd portion 3 is the completion screen, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in green. when the screen displayed on the lcd portion 3 is the non-completion screen, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in orange. when the screen displayed on the lcd portion 3 is the scroll screen (selection screen), the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in blue. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the function setup process (at step s 18 ). on the other hand, when the function setup has not been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 16 is n), the flow advances to step s 18 (function setup process) skipping step s 17 (color lighting process). sixth embodiment next, the sixth embodiment will be explained. the six embodiment is an operation of a schedule function. the schedule function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of date and time information. the cpu 15 checks for a key that has been pressed (at step s 12 ). when the pressed key is a key assigned to the schedule function, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the schedule function has been designated to color lighting one. according to the sixth embodiment, the schedule function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 19 is y). on the other hand, with reference to fig. 4 , the storing portion 12 has stored information for assigning december 1 to december 2 to period 1 and january 1 to february 2 to period 2 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue for period 1 and in red for period 2 for period 2 . when period 1 has been selected for the schedule function, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not period 1 has been stored for the schedule function. since the storing portion 12 has stored period 1 for the schedule function, the cpu 15 reads color information correlated with period 1 for the schedule function from the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue for period 1 (see fig. 4 ). thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue (at step s 20 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in blue. likewise, when period 2 has been selected for the schedule function, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red (at step s 20 ). thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the schedule process (at step s 21 ). on the other hand, when the schedule function has not been designated to color lighting on at step s 19 (namely, the determined result at step s 19 is n), the flow advances to step s 21 (schedule process) skipping step s 20 (color lighting process). seventh embodiment next, the seventh embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the seventh embodiment is an operation of an anniversary function. the anniversary function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information of a date that the user designates. the cpu 15 checks for a key that has been pressed (at step s 12 ). when the pressed key is a key assigned to the anniversary function, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the anniversary function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the seventh embodiment, the anniversary function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 22 is y). on the other hand, with reference to fig. 4 , the storing portion 12 has stored information for assigning december 24 to anniversary 1 and january 1 to anniversary 2 for the anniversary function. the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in white for anniversary 1 and in red for anniversary 2 for the anniversary function. when anniversary 1 has been selected for the anniversary function, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not anniversary 1 has been stored for the anniversary function. since the storing portion 12 has stored anniversary 1 for the anniversary function, the cpu 15 reads color information correlated with anniversary 1 for the anniversary function from the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in white for anniversary 1 (see fig. 4 ). thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in white (at step s 23 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in white. likewise, when anniversary 2 has been selected for the anniversary function, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red (at step s 23 ). thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the anniversary process (at step s 24 ). on the other hand, when the anniversary function has not been designated to color lighting on at step s 22 (namely, the determined result at step s 22 is n), the flow advances to step s 24 (anniversary function) skipping step s 23 (color lighting process). eighth embodiment next, the eighth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the eighth embodiment is an operation of a calendar function. the calendar function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information of a date that the user designates. the cpu 15 checks for a key that has been pressed (at step s 12 ). when the pressed key is a key assigned to the calendar function, the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the calendar function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the eighth embodiment, the calendar function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 25 is y). on the other hand, with reference to fig. 4 , the storing portion 12 has stored information for assigning december 1 to calendar 1 , december 2 to calendar 2 , december 3 to calendar 3 , . . . and december 31 to calendar 31 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red for day 1 , in yellow for day 2 , in blue for day 3 , . . . and in non-color for day 31 . when calendar 1 has been selected for the calendar function (for example, the cursor is placed at a character position of calendar 1 (december 1) on the lcd portion 3 ), the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not calendar 1 has been stored for the calendar function. since the storing portion 12 has stored calendar 1 for the calendar function, the cpu 15 reads color information correlated with calendar 1 for the calendar function from the color storing portion 13 . the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red for calendar 1 (day 1 ) (see fig. 4 ). thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red (at step s 26 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in red. likewise, when calendar 2 has been selected for the calendar function, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in yellow. when calendar 3 has been selected, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue. when calendar 31 has been selected, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in non-color (at step s 26 ). thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the calendar process (at step s 27 ). on the other hand, when the calendar function has not been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 25 is n), the flow advances to step s 27 (calendar process) skipping step s 26 (color lighting process). ninth to thirteenth embodiments of present invention next, the ninth to thirteenth embodiments of the present invention will be explained. the ninth to thirteenth embodiments are operations of the cpu 15 in the case that any key has not been pressed with the key input portion 2 at step s 1 (namely, the determined result at step s 1 is n). fig. 7 is a flow chart showing the operations of the ninth to thirteenth embodiments. ninth embodiment next, the ninth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the ninth embodiment is an operation of a low voltage alarm function. the low voltage alarm function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information in the low voltage state. referring to fig. 7 , when the cpu 15 knows that the power voltage of the portable telephone unit 1 does not satisfy a predetermined criterion (namely, detects a low voltage alarm) (at step s 2 ), the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the lower voltage alarm function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the ninth embodiment, the low voltage alarm function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 28 is y). on the other hand, the storing portion 12 has stored information about the low voltage alarm function. the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red for the low voltage alarm function. when the cpu 15 knows that the storing portion 12 has stored information about the low voltage alarm function, the cpu 15 reads information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red for the low voltage alarm function. thus, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in red (at step s 29 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in red. therefore, the cpu 15 executes the low voltage alarm process (at step s 30 ). on the other hand, when the low voltage alarm function has not been designated to color lighting on at step s 28 (namely, the determined result at step at step s 28 is n), the flow advances to step s 30 (low voltage alarm process) skipping step s 29 (color lighting process). tenth embodiment next, the tenth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the tenth embodiment is an operation of a short mail color transmitting function. the short mail color transmitting function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information of a short mail. when the cpu 15 has determined that the current state is the short mail color transmitting function (at step s 2 ), the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the short mail color transmitting function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the tenth embodiment, the short mail color transmitting function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 31 is y). on the other hand, the storing portion 12 has a storage area for the transmission short mail. in addition, the color storing portion 13 has stored information that causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue for the short mail color transmitting function. when the cpu 15 has determined that the storing portion 12 had stored the transmission short mail and a mail message had been opened, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue (at step s 32 ). thus, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in blue. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the short mail process (at step s 33 ). on the other hand, when the short mail color transmitting function has not been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 31 is n), the flow advances to step s 33 (short mail process) skipping step s 32 (color lighting process). eleventh embodiment next, the eleventh embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the eleventh embodiment is an operation of a memory designated incoming call accepting function. the memory designated incoming call accepting function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information of incoming calls. when the cpu 15 has determined that the current state is the memory designated incoming call accepting function (at step s 2 ), the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the memory designated incoming call accepting function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the eleventh embodiment, the memory designated incoming call accepting function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 34 is y). on the other hand, the storing portion 12 has stored identification information of predetermined telephone numbers and so forth. the color storing portion 13 has stored color information correlated with the identification information. in other words, when the color storing portion 13 has stored information yellow in memory address 01 and the cpu 15 has determined that a call is being received from a telephone number stored in memory address 01, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in yellow (at step s 35 ). as a result, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in yellow. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the memory designated incoming call accepting process (at step s 36 ). on the other hand, when the memory designated incoming call accepting function has not been designated to call lighting on at step s 34 (namely, the determined result at step s 34 is n), the flow advances to step s 36 (memory designated incoming call accepting process) skipping step s 35 (color lighting process). twelfth embodiment next, the twelfth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the twelfth embodiment is an operation of a wakeup function. the wakeup function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information in the event that the power of the portable telephone unit is turned on. when the cpu 15 has determined that the current state is the wakeup function (at step s 2 ), the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the wakeup function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the twelfth embodiment, the wakeup function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 37 is y). on the other hand, the storing portion 12 has stored information about the wakeup function. the color storing portion 13 has stored color information about the wakeup function. now, it is assumed that the storing portion 12 has stored information about the wakeup function and the color storing portion 13 has stored information blue. in this case, the cpu 15 executes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in blue (at step s 38 ). thus, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in blue. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the wakeup process (at step s 39 ). on the other hand, when the wakeup function has not been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 37 is n), the flow advances to step s 39 (wakeup process) skipping step s 38 (color lighting process). thirteenth embodiment next, the thirteenth embodiment of the present invention will be explained. the thirteenth embodiment is an operation of an alarm clock function. the alarm clock function is a function for storing and processing many kinds of information of time. when the cpu 15 has determined that the current state is the alarm clock function (at step s 2 ), the cpu 15 references the storing portion 12 and determines whether or not the alarm clock function has been designated to color lighting on. according to the thirteenth embodiment, the alarm clock function has been designated to color lighting on (namely, the determined result at step s 40 is y). on the other hand, the storing portion 12 has stored time information of an alarm clock (for example, time information pm 1). the color storing portion 13 has stored information orange as the color information correlated with the time information. the cpu 15 reads the time information pm 1 and the color information orange correlated with the time information from the color storing portion 13 . at pm 1, the cpu 15 causes the multi-color lighting portion 14 to light in orange (at step s 41 ). thus, the key input portion 2 and the lcd portion 3 light in orange. thereafter, the cpu 15 executes the alarm clock process (at step s 42 ). on the other hand, when the alarm clock function has not been designated to color lighting on at step s 40 (namely, the determined result at step s 40 is n), the flow advances to step s 42 (alarm clock process) skipping step s 41 (color lighting process). a first aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing date information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the date information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for input date information, and when desired date information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the date information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. in other words, the conventional drawback of which characters on the display and keys are small and illegible can be solved. in addition, a key operation can be suppressed from being mistakenly performed. a second aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing key operation information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the key operation information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for input key operation information, and when desired key operation information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the key operation information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. a third aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing screen information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the screen information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for screen information displayed on said displaying means, and when desired screen information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the screen information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. a fourth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting apparatus, comprising a first storing means for storing predetermined reception information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the reception information, a displaying means for displaying information, a lighting means for lighting said displaying means, and a controlling means for searching said first storing means for reception information, and when desired reception information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the reception information from said second storing means, and causing said lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. a fifth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing date information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the date information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for input date information, and when desired date information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the date information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. a sixth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing key operation information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the key operation information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for input key operation information, and when desired key operation information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the key operation information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. a seventh aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing screen information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the screen information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for screen information displayed on the displaying means, and when desired screen information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the screen information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. an eighth aspect of the present invention is a display lighting method of a display lighting apparatus having a first storing means for storing predetermined reception information, a second storing means for storing color information correlated with the reception information, a displaying means for displaying information, and a lighting means for lighting the displaying means, the method comprising the steps of searching the first storing means for reception information, and when desired reception information is obtained, reading color information correlated with the reception information from the second storing means, and causing the lighting means to light corresponding to the color information. thus, the same effect as the first aspect of the present invention can be accomplished. although the present invention has been shown and explained with respect to a best mode embodiment thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions, and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
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178-321-256-716-938
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US
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[
"US"
] |
H04L12/64,H04B15/00,H04L25/02,H04L25/08,H04W16/26
| 2015-07-14T00:00:00 |
2015
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[
"H04"
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apparatus and methods for generating non-interfering electromagnetic waves on an uninsulated conductor
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aspects of the subject disclosure may include, receiving a plurality of communication signals, and generating, according to the plurality of communication signals, a plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer of a conductor. the plurality of electromagnetic waves propagates along the dielectric layer of the conductor without an electrical return path, where each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves includes a different portions of the plurality of communication signals, and where the plurality of electromagnetic waves utilizes a signal multiplexing configuration that at least reduces an interference between the plurality of electromagnetic waves. other embodiments are disclosed.
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1. a method, comprising: receiving a plurality of communication signals; and generating, by a transmitting device according to the plurality of communication signals, a plurality of wireless signals that induces a plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer on an uninsulated conductor, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves propagates along the dielectric layer on the uninsulated conductor without requiring an electrical return path, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves conveys at least a portion of the plurality of communication signals, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves has a plurality of wave modes that at least reduces interference between the plurality of electromagnetic waves and enables a receiving device to retrieve from each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves at least the portion of the plurality of communication signals. 2. the method of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of wave modes comprises a fundamental wave mode and another of the plurality of wave modes comprises a non-fundamental wave mode. 3. the method of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of wave modes comprises a hybrid wave mode. 4. the method of claim 3 , wherein the hybrid wave mode comprises an he11 wave mode. 5. the method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of wave modes comprises a first hybrid wave mode and a second hybrid wave mode, and wherein the first hybrid wave mode has a first target polarization, and wherein the second hybrid wave mode has a second target polarization. 6. the method of claim 5 , wherein a first electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves has the first hybrid wave mode and a second electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves has the second hybrid wave mode, and wherein the first target polarization and the second target polarization at least reduce interference between the first electromagnetic wave and the second electromagnetic wave. 7. the method of claim 5 , wherein the first target polarization is substantially orthogonal to the second target polarization. 8. the method of claim 5 , wherein the first target polarization comprises a horizontal polarization, and wherein the second target polarization comprises a vertical polarization. 9. the method of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of wave modes further comprises a fundamental wave mode. 10. the method of claim 9 , wherein the fundamental wave mode, the first hybrid wave mode and the second hybrid wave mode are substantially orthogonal to each other. 11. the method of claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the plurality of electromagnetic waves operates at a first frequency band, wherein a second portion of the plurality of electromagnetic waves operates at a second frequency band, and wherein the first frequency band differs from the second frequency band. 12. the method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of wave modes is substantially orthogonal to each other and thereby facilitates wave mode division multiplexing, and wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves is further configured for frequency division multiplexing. 13. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: detecting an obstruction causing propagation losses affecting at least one of the plurality of electromagnetic waves; and adjusting the at least one of the plurality of electromagnetic waves according to a wave mode division multiplexing configuration or a frequency division multiplexing configuration to at least reduce the propagation losses. 14. the method of claim 13 , wherein the obstruction comprises water. 15. the method of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric layer comprises an aluminum oxide layer. 16. a launcher, comprising: a generator; and a circuit coupled to the generator, wherein the circuit performs operations including: receiving a plurality of communication signals; and generating, by the generator according to the plurality of communication signals, a plurality of wireless signals that induces a plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer of a conductor, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves conveys a different one of one or more portions of the plurality of communication signals, and wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves is configured for wave mode division multiplexing to at least reduce an interference between the plurality of electromagnetic waves and enable a receiving device to selectively retrieve from each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves the different one of the one or more portions of the plurality of communication signals. 17. the launcher of claim 16 , wherein the wave mode division multiplexing comprises a fundamental wave mode, a first hybrid wave mode having a first polarization, a second hybrid wave mode having a second polarization, or any combinations thereof. 18. a method, comprising: receiving, by a receiving device, a plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer of an uninsulated conductor, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves propagates along the dielectric layer on the uninsulated conductor without requiring an electrical return path, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves conveys a plurality of communication signals, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves has a plurality of wave modes that at least reduces interference between the plurality of electromagnetic waves; and retrieving, by the receiving device, the plurality of communication signals from the plurality of electromagnetic waves. 19. the method of claim 18 , wherein one of the plurality of wave modes comprises a hybrid wave mode. 20. the method of claim 19 , wherein the hybrid wave mode comprises an he11 wave mode.
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cross-reference to related application(s) this application is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 15/293,819 filed oct. 14, 2016, which is a continuation-in-part of u.s. patent application ser. no. 15/293,608 filed oct. 14, 2016 (now u.s. pat. no. 10,033,108), which is a continuation-in-part of u.s. patent application ser. no. 15/274,987 filed sep. 23, 2016 (now u.s. pat. no. 10,170,840), which is a continuation-in-part of u.s. patent application ser. no. 14/965,523 filed dec. 10, 2015 (now u.s. pat. no. 10,033,107), which is a continuation-in-part of u.s. patent application ser. no. 14/885,463 filed oct. 16, 2015 (now u.s. pat. no. 9,722,318), which is a continuation-in-part of u.s. application ser. no. 14/799,272 filed jul. 14, 2015 (now u.s. pat. no. 9,628,116). the contents of each of the foregoing are hereby incorporated by reference into this application as if set forth herein in full. field of the disclosure the subject disclosure relates to apparatus and methods for generating non-interfering electromagnetic waves on an uninsulated conductor. background as smart phones and other portable devices increasingly become ubiquitous, and data usage increases, macrocell base station devices and existing wireless infrastructure in turn require higher bandwidth capability in order to address the increased demand. to provide additional mobile bandwidth, small cell deployment is being pursued, with microcells and picocells providing coverage for much smaller areas than traditional macrocells. in addition, most homes and businesses have grown to rely on broadband data access for services such as voice, video and internet browsing, etc. broadband access networks include satellite, 4g or 5g wireless, power line communication, fiber, cable, and telephone networks. brief description of the drawings reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein: fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a guided-wave communications system in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a transmission device in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 3 is a graphical diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 4 is a graphical diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 5a is a graphical diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a frequency response in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 5b is a graphical diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a longitudinal cross-section of an insulated wire depicting fields of guided electromagnetic waves at various operating frequencies in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 6 is a graphical diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an arc coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an arc coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 9a is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a stub coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 9b is a diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 10a and 10b are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of couplers and transceivers in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dual stub coupler in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a repeater system in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 13 illustrates a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a bidirectional repeater in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a waveguide system in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 15 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a guided-wave communications system in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 16a & 16b are block diagrams illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a system for managing a power grid communication system in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 17a illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for detecting and mitigating disturbances occurring in a communication network of the system of figs. 16a and 16b . fig. 17b illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for detecting and mitigating disturbances occurring in a communication network of the system of figs. 16a and 16b . figs. 18a, 18b, and 18c are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiment of a transmission medium for propagating guided electromagnetic waves. fig. 18d is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of bundled transmission media in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 18e is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a plot depicting cross-talk between first and second transmission mediums of the bundled transmission media of fig. 18d in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 18f is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of bundled transmission media to mitigate cross-talk in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 18g and 18h are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a transmission medium with an inner waveguide in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 18i and 18j are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of connector configurations that can be used with the transmission medium of fig. 18a, 18b , or 18 c. fig. 18k is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of transmission mediums for propagating guided electromagnetic waves. fig. 18l is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of bundled transmission media to mitigate cross-talk in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 18m is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of exposed stubs from the bundled transmission media for use as antennas in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 18n, 18o, 18p, 18q, 18r, 18s, 18t, 18u, 18v and 18w are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a waveguide device for transmitting or receiving electromagnetic waves in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 19a and 19b are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna and corresponding gain and field intensity plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 19c and 19d are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna coupled to a lens and corresponding gain and field intensity plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 19e and 19f are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna coupled to a lens with ridges and corresponding gain and field intensity plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19g is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dielectric antenna having an elliptical structure in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19h is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of near-field and far-field signals emitted by the dielectric antenna of fig. 19g in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19i is a block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna for adjusting far-field wireless signals in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 19j and 19k are block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of a flange that can be coupled to a dielectric antenna in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19l is a block diagram of example, non-limiting embodiments of the flange, waveguide and dielectric antenna assembly in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19m is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dielectric antenna coupled to a gimbal for directing wireless signals generated by the dielectric antenna in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19n is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dielectric antenna in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 19o is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of an array of dielectric antennas configurable for steering wireless signals in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 19 p 1 , 19 p 2 , 19 p 3 , 19 p 4 , 19 p 5 , 19 p 6 , 19 p 7 and 19 p 8 are side-view block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of a cable, a flange, and dielectric antenna assembly in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 19 q 1 , 19 q 2 and 19 q 3 are front-view block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of dielectric antennas in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 20a and 20b are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of the transmission medium of fig. 18a used for inducing guided electromagnetic waves on power lines supported by utility poles. fig. 20c is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a communication network in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 20d is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of an antenna mount for use in a communication network in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 20e is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of an antenna mount for use in a communication network in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 20f is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of an antenna mount for use in a communication network in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 21a illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for transmitting downlink signals. fig. 21b illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for transmitting uplink signals. fig. 21c illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for inducing and receiving electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium. fig. 21d illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for inducing and receiving electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium. fig. 21e illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for transmitting wireless signals from a dielectric antenna. fig. 21f illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for receiving wireless signals at a dielectric antenna. fig. 21g illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for detecting and mitigating disturbances occurring in a communication network. fig. 21h is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an alignment of fields of an electromagnetic wave to mitigate propagation losses due to water accumulation on a transmission medium in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 21i and 21j are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of electric field intensities of different electromagnetic waves propagating in the cable illustrated in fig. 20h in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 21k is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of electric fields of a goubau wave in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 21l is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of electric fields of a hybrid wave in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 21m is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of electric field characteristics of a hybrid wave versus a goubau wave in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 21n is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of mode sizes of hybrid waves at various operating frequencies in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 22a and 22b are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a waveguide device for launching hybrid waves in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 23 is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a hybrid wave launched by the waveguide device of figs. 21a and 21b in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 24 illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for managing electromagnetic waves. figs. 25a, 25b, 25c, and 25d are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a waveguide device in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 25e, 25f, 25g, 25h, 25i, 25j, 25k, 25l, 25m, 25n, 25o, 25p, 25q, 25r, 25s, and 25t are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of wave modes and electric field plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25u is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a waveguide device in accordance with various aspects described herein. figs. 25v, 25w, 25x are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of wave modes and electric field plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25y illustrates a flow diagrams of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method for managing electromagnetic waves. fig. 25z is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of substantially orthogonal wave modes in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25aa is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an insulated conductor in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ab is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an uninsulated conductor in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ac is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an oxide layer formed on the uninsulated conductor of fig. 25ab in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ad is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of spectral plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ae is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of spectral plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25af is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a wave mode and electric field plot in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ag is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for transmitting orthogonal wave modes according to the method of fig. 25y in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ah is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for transmitting orthogonal wave modes according to the method of fig. 25y in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ai is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for selectively receiving a wave mode according to the method of fig. 25y in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ad is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for selectively receiving a wave mode according to the method of fig. 25y in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25ak is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for selectively receiving a wave mode according to the method of fig. 25y in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25al is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for selectively receiving a wave mode according to the method of fig. 25y in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 26 is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a computing environment in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 27 is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a mobile network platform in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 28 is a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a communication device in accordance with various aspects described herein. detailed description one or more embodiments are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. in the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments. it is evident, however, that the various embodiments can be practiced without these details (and without applying to any particular networked environment or standard). in an embodiment, a guided wave communication system is presented for sending and receiving communication signals such as data or other signaling via guided electromagnetic waves. the guided electromagnetic waves include, for example, surface waves or other electromagnetic waves that are bound to or guided by a transmission medium. it will be appreciated that a variety of transmission media can be utilized with guided wave communications without departing from example embodiments. examples of such transmission media can include one or more of the following, either alone or in one or more combinations: wires, whether insulated or not, and whether single-stranded or multi-stranded; conductors of other shapes or configurations including wire bundles, cables, rods, rails, pipes; non-conductors such as dielectric pipes, rods, rails, or other dielectric members; combinations of conductors and dielectric materials; or other guided wave transmission media. the inducement of guided electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium can be independent of any electrical potential, charge or current that is injected or otherwise transmitted through the transmission medium as part of an electrical circuit. for example, in the case where the transmission medium is a wire, it is to be appreciated that while a small current in the wire may be formed in response to the propagation of the guided waves along the wire, this can be due to the propagation of the electromagnetic wave along the wire surface, and is not formed in response to electrical potential, charge or current that is injected into the wire as part of an electrical circuit. the electromagnetic waves traveling on the wire therefore do not require a circuit to propagate along the wire surface. the wire therefore is a single wire transmission line that is not part of a circuit. also, in some embodiments, a wire is not necessary, and the electromagnetic waves can propagate along a single line transmission medium that is not a wire. more generally, “guided electromagnetic waves” or “guided waves” as described by the subject disclosure are affected by the presence of a physical object that is at least a part of the transmission medium (e.g., a bare wire or other conductor, a dielectric, an insulated wire, a conduit or other hollow element, a bundle of insulated wires that is coated, covered or surrounded by a dielectric or insulator or other wire bundle, or another form of solid or otherwise non-liquid or non-gaseous transmission medium) so as to be at least partially bound to or guided by the physical object and so as to propagate along a transmission path of the physical object. such a physical object can operate as at least a part of a transmission medium that guides, by way of an interface of the transmission medium (e.g., an outer surface, inner surface, an interior portion between the outer and the inner surfaces or other boundary between elements of the transmission medium), the propagation of guided electromagnetic waves, which in turn can carry energy, data and/or other signals along the transmission path from a sending device to a receiving device. unlike free space propagation of wireless signals such as unguided (or unbounded) electromagnetic waves that decrease in intensity inversely by the square of the distance traveled by the unguided electromagnetic waves, guided electromagnetic waves can propagate along a transmission medium with less loss in magnitude per unit distance than experienced by unguided electromagnetic waves. an electrical circuit allows electrical signals to propagate from a sending device to a receiving device via a forward electrical path and a return electrical path, respectively. these electrical forward and return paths can be implemented via two conductors, such as two wires or a single wire and a common ground that serves as the second conductor. in particular, electrical current from the sending device (direct and/or alternating) flows through the electrical forward path and returns to the transmission source via the electrical return path as an opposing current. more particularly, electron flow in one conductor that flows away from the sending device, returns to the receiving device in the opposite direction via a second conductor or ground. unlike electrical signals, guided electromagnetic waves can propagate along a transmission medium (e.g., a bare conductor, an insulated conductor, a conduit, a non-conducting material such as a dielectric strip, or any other type of object suitable for the propagation of surface waves) from a sending device to a receiving device or vice-versa without requiring the transmission medium to be part of an electrical circuit (i.e., without requiring an electrical return path) between the sending device and the receiving device. although electromagnetic waves can propagate in an open circuit, i.e., a circuit without an electrical return path or with a break or gap that prevents the flow of electrical current through the circuit, it is noted that electromagnetic waves can also propagate along a surface of a transmission medium that is in fact part of an electrical circuit. that is electromagnetic waves can travel along a first surface of a transmission medium having a forward electrical path and/or along a second surface of a transmission medium having an electrical return path. as a consequence, guided electromagnetic waves can propagate along a surface of a transmission medium from a sending device to a receiving device or vice-versa with or without an electrical circuit. this permits, for example, transmission of guided electromagnetic waves along a transmission medium having no conductive components (e.g., a dielectric strip). this also permits, for example, transmission of guided electromagnetic waves that propagate along a transmission medium having no more than a single conductor (e.g., an electromagnetic wave that propagates along the surface of a single bare conductor or along the surface of a single insulated conductor or an electromagnetic wave that propagates all or partly within the insulation of an insulated conductor). even if a transmission medium includes one or more conductive components and the guided electromagnetic waves propagating along the transmission medium generate currents that, at times, flow in the one or more conductive components in a direction of the guided electromagnetic waves, such guided electromagnetic waves can propagate along the transmission medium from a sending device to a receiving device without a flow of an opposing current on an electrical return path back to the sending device from the receiving device. as a consequence, the propagation of such guided electromagnetic waves can be referred to as propagating via a single transmission line or propagating via a surface wave transmission line. in a non-limiting illustration, consider a coaxial cable having a center conductor and a ground shield that are separated by an insulator. typically, in an electrical system a first terminal of a sending (and receiving) device can be connected to the center conductor, and a second terminal of the sending (and receiving) device can be connected to the ground shield. if the sending device injects an electrical signal in the center conductor via the first terminal, the electrical signal will propagate along the center conductor causing, at times, forward currents and a corresponding flow of electrons in the center conductor, and return currents and an opposing flow of electrons in the ground shield. the same conditions apply for a two terminal receiving device. in contrast, consider a guided wave communication system such as described in the subject disclosure, which can utilize different embodiments of a transmission medium (including among others a coaxial cable) for transmitting and receiving guided electromagnetic waves without an electrical circuit (i.e., without an electrical forward path or electrical return path depending on your perspective). in one embodiment, for example, the guided wave communication system of the subject disclosure can be configured to induce guided electromagnetic waves that propagate along an outer surface of a coaxial cable (e.g., the outer jacket or insulation layer of the coaxial cable). although the guided electromagnetic waves will cause forward currents on the ground shield, the guided electromagnetic waves do not require return currents in the center conductor to enable the guided electromagnetic waves to propagate along the outer surface of the coaxial cable. said another way, while the guided electromagnetic waves will cause forward currents on the ground shield, the guided electromagnetic waves will not generate opposing return currents in the center conductor (or other electrical return path). the same can be said of other transmission media used by a guided wave communication system for the transmission and reception of guided electromagnetic waves. for example, guided electromagnetic waves induced by the guided wave communication system on an outer surface of a bare conductor, or an insulated conductor can propagate along the outer surface of the bare conductor or the other surface of the insulated conductor without generating opposing return currents in an electrical return path. as another point of differentiation, where the majority of the signal energy in an electrical circuit is induced by the flow of electrons in the conductors themselves, guided electromagnetic waves propagating in a guided wave communication system on an outer surface of a bare conductor, cause only minimal forward currents in the bare conductor, with the majority of the signal energy of the electromagnetic wave concentrated above the outer surface of the bare conductor and not inside the bare conductor. furthermore, guided electromagnetic waves that are bound to the outer surface of an insulated conductor cause only minimal forward currents in the center conductor or conductors of the insulated conductor, with the majority of the signal energy of the electromagnetic wave concentrated in regions inside the insulation and/or above the outside surface of the insulated conductor—in other words, the majority of the signal energy of the electromagnetic wave is concentrated outside the center conductor(s) of the insulated conductor. consequently, electrical systems that require two or more conductors for carrying forward and reverse currents on separate conductors to enable the propagation of electrical signals injected by a sending device are distinct from guided wave systems that induce guided electromagnetic waves on an interface of a transmission medium without the need of an electrical circuit to enable the propagation of the guided electromagnetic waves along the interface of the transmission medium. it is further noted that guided electromagnetic waves as described in the subject disclosure can have an electromagnetic field structure that lies primarily or substantially outside of a transmission medium so as to be bound to or guided by the transmission medium and so as to propagate non-trivial distances on or along an outer surface of the transmission medium. in other embodiments, guided electromagnetic waves can have an electromagnetic field structure that lies primarily or substantially inside a transmission medium so as to be bound to or guided by the transmission medium and so as to propagate non-trivial distances within the transmission medium. in other embodiments, guided electromagnetic waves can have an electromagnetic field structure that lies partially inside and partially outside a transmission medium so as to be bound to or guided by the transmission medium and so as to propagate non-trivial distances along the transmission medium. the desired electronic field structure in an embodiment may vary based upon a variety of factors, including the desired transmission distance, the characteristics of the transmission medium itself, and environmental conditions/characteristics outside of the transmission medium (e.g., presence of rain, fog, atmospheric conditions, etc.). various embodiments described herein relate to coupling devices, that can be referred to as “waveguide coupling devices”, “waveguide couplers” or more simply as “couplers”, “coupling devices” or “launchers” for launching and/or extracting guided electromagnetic waves to and from a transmission medium at millimeter-wave frequencies (e.g., 30 to 300 ghz), wherein the wavelength can be small compared to one or more dimensions of the coupling device and/or the transmission medium such as the circumference of a wire or other cross sectional dimension, or lower microwave frequencies such as 300 mhz to 30 ghz. transmissions can be generated to propagate as waves guided by a coupling device, such as: a strip, arc or other length of dielectric material; a horn, monopole, rod, slot or other antenna; an array of antennas; a magnetic resonant cavity, or other resonant coupler; a coil, a strip line, a waveguide or other coupling device. in operation, the coupling device receives an electromagnetic wave from a transmitter or transmission medium. the electromagnetic field structure of the electromagnetic wave can be carried inside the coupling device, outside the coupling device or some combination thereof. when the coupling device is in close proximity to a transmission medium, at least a portion of an electromagnetic wave couples to or is bound to the transmission medium, and continues to propagate as guided electromagnetic waves. in a reciprocal fashion, a coupling device can extract guided waves from a transmission medium and transfer these electromagnetic waves to a receiver. according to an example embodiment, a surface wave is a type of guided wave that is guided by a surface of a transmission medium, such as an exterior or outer surface of the wire, or another surface of the wire that is adjacent to or exposed to another type of medium having different properties (e.g., dielectric properties). indeed, in an example embodiment, a surface of the wire that guides a surface wave can represent a transitional surface between two different types of media. for example, in the case of a bare or uninsulated wire, the surface of the wire can be the outer or exterior conductive surface of the bare or uninsulated wire that is exposed to air or free space. as another example, in the case of insulated wire, the surface of the wire can be the conductive portion of the wire that meets the insulator portion of the wire, or can otherwise be the insulator surface of the wire that is exposed to air or free space, or can otherwise be any material region between the insulator surface of the wire and the conductive portion of the wire that meets the insulator portion of the wire, depending upon the relative differences in the properties (e.g., dielectric properties) of the insulator, air, and/or the conductor and further dependent on the frequency and propagation mode or modes of the guided wave. according to an example embodiment, the term “about” a wire or other transmission medium used in conjunction with a guided wave can include fundamental guided wave propagation modes such as a guided waves having a circular or substantially circular field distribution, a symmetrical electromagnetic field distribution (e.g., electric field, magnetic field, electromagnetic field, etc.) or other fundamental mode pattern at least partially around a wire or other transmission medium. in addition, when a guided wave propagates “about” a wire or other transmission medium, it can do so according to a guided wave propagation mode that includes not only the fundamental wave propagation modes (e.g., zero order modes), but additionally or alternatively non-fundamental wave propagation modes such as higher-order guided wave modes (e.g., 1 st order modes, 2 nd order modes, etc.), asymmetrical modes and/or other guided (e.g., surface) waves that have non-circular field distributions around a wire or other transmission medium. as used herein, the term “guided wave mode” refers to a guided wave propagation mode of a transmission medium, coupling device or other system component of a guided wave communication system. for example, such non-circular field distributions can be unilateral or multi-lateral with one or more axial lobes characterized by relatively higher field strength and/or one or more nulls or null regions characterized by relatively low-field strength, zero-field strength or substantially zero-field strength. further, the field distribution can otherwise vary as a function of azimuthal orientation around the wire such that one or more angular regions around the wire have an electric or magnetic field strength (or combination thereof) that is higher than one or more other angular regions of azimuthal orientation, according to an example embodiment. it will be appreciated that the relative orientations or positions of the guided wave higher order modes or asymmetrical modes can vary as the guided wave travels along the wire. as used herein, the term “millimeter-wave” can refer to electromagnetic waves/signals that fall within the “millimeter-wave frequency band” of 30 ghz to 300 ghz. the term “microwave” can refer to electromagnetic waves/signals that fall within a “microwave frequency band” of 300 mhz to 300 ghz. the term “radio frequency” or “rf” can refer to electromagnetic waves/signals that fall within the “radio frequency band” of 10 khz to 1 thz. it is appreciated that wireless signals, electrical signals, and guided electromagnetic waves as described in the subject disclosure can be configured to operate at any desirable frequency range, such as, for example, at frequencies within, above or below millimeter-wave and/or microwave frequency bands. in particular, when a coupling device or transmission medium includes a conductive element, the frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves that are carried by the coupling device and/or propagate along the transmission medium can be below the mean collision frequency of the electrons in the conductive element. further, the frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves that are carried by the coupling device and/or propagate along the transmission medium can be a non-optical frequency, e.g., a radio frequency below the range of optical frequencies that begins at 1 thz. as used herein, the term “antenna” can refer to a device that is part of a transmitting or receiving system to transmit/radiate or receive wireless signals. in accordance with one or more embodiments, a method includes receiving a plurality of communication signals, and generating, by a transmitting device according to the plurality of communication signals, a first plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer environmentally formed on an uninsulated conductor, wherein the first plurality of electromagnetic waves propagate along the dielectric layer of the uninsulated conductor without an electrical return path, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the first plurality of electromagnetic waves includes a different one of the plurality of communication signals, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the first plurality of electromagnetic waves has a different one of a plurality of wave modes that at least reduces interference between the first plurality of electromagnetic waves and that enables a receiving device to retrieve from each electromagnetic wave of the first plurality of electromagnetic waves a communication signal of the plurality of communication signals and communication data associated with the communication signal. in accordance with one or more embodiments, a launcher can include a generator, and a circuit coupled to the generator. the controller performs operations including receiving a plurality of communication signals, and generating, by the generator according to the plurality of communication signals, a plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer environmentally formed on a conductor, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves propagate along the dielectric layer of the conductor without an electrical return path, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves includes a different one of the plurality of communication signals, and wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves utilizes a wave mode division multiplexing configuration that at least reduces interference between the plurality of electromagnetic waves and that enables a receiving device to retrieve from each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves a communication signal of the plurality of communication signals and communication data associated with the communication signal. in accordance with one or more embodiments, a device includes means for receiving a plurality of communication signals, and means for generating, according to the plurality of communication signals, a plurality of electromagnetic waves bound at least in part to a dielectric layer environmentally formed on a conductor, wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves propagate along the dielectric layer of the conductor without an electrical return path, wherein each electromagnetic wave of the plurality of electromagnetic waves includes a different portions of the plurality of communication signals, and wherein the plurality of electromagnetic waves utilizes a signaling multiplexing configuration that at least reduces interference between the plurality of electromagnetic waves. referring now to fig. 1 , a block diagram 100 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a guided wave communications system is shown. in operation, a transmission device 101 receives one or more communication signals 110 from a communication network or other communications device that includes data and generates guided waves 120 to convey the data via the transmission medium 125 to the transmission device 102 . the transmission device 102 receives the guided waves 120 and converts them to communication signals 112 that include the data for transmission to a communications network or other communications device. the guided waves 120 can be modulated to convey data via a modulation technique such as phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, amplitude modulation, multi-carrier modulation such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and via multiple access techniques such as frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, multiplexing via differing wave propagation modes and via other modulation and access strategies. the communication network or networks can include a wireless communication network such as a mobile data network, a cellular voice and data network, a wireless local area network (e.g., wifi or an 802.xx network), a satellite communications network, a personal area network or other wireless network. the communication network or networks can also include a wired communication network such as a telephone network, an ethernet network, a local area network, a wide area network such as the internet, a broadband access network, a cable network, a fiber optic network, or other wired network. the communication devices can include a network edge device, bridge device or home gateway, a set-top box, broadband modem, telephone adapter, access point, base station, or other fixed communication device, a mobile communication device such as an automotive gateway or automobile, laptop computer, tablet, smartphone, cellular telephone, or other communication device. in an example embodiment, the guided wave communication system 100 can operate in a bi-directional fashion where transmission device 102 receives one or more communication signals 112 from a communication network or device that includes other data and generates guided waves 122 to convey the other data via the transmission medium 125 to the transmission device 101 . in this mode of operation, the transmission device 101 receives the guided waves 122 and converts them to communication signals 110 that include the other data for transmission to a communications network or device. the guided waves 122 can be modulated to convey data via a modulation technique such as phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, amplitude modulation, multi-carrier modulation such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and via multiple access techniques such as frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, multiplexing via differing wave propagation modes and via other modulation and access strategies. the transmission medium 125 can include a cable having at least one inner portion surrounded by a dielectric material such as an insulator or other dielectric cover, coating or other dielectric material, the dielectric material having an outer surface and a corresponding circumference. in an example embodiment, the transmission medium 125 operates as a single-wire transmission line to guide the transmission of an electromagnetic wave. when the transmission medium 125 is implemented as a single wire transmission system, it can include a wire. the wire can be insulated or uninsulated, and single-stranded or multi-stranded (e.g., braided). in other embodiments, the transmission medium 125 can contain conductors of other shapes or configurations including wire bundles, cables, rods, rails, pipes. in addition, the transmission medium 125 can include non-conductors such as dielectric pipes, rods, rails, or other dielectric members; combinations of conductors and dielectric materials, conductors without dielectric materials or other guided wave transmission media. it should be noted that the transmission medium 125 can otherwise include any of the transmission media previously discussed. further, as previously discussed, the guided waves 120 and 122 can be contrasted with radio transmissions over free space/air or conventional propagation of electrical power or signals through the conductor of a wire via an electrical circuit. in addition to the propagation of guided waves 120 and 122 , the transmission medium 125 may optionally contain one or more wires that propagate electrical power or other communication signals in a conventional manner as a part of one or more electrical circuits. referring now to fig. 2 , a block diagram 200 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a transmission device is shown. the transmission device 101 or 102 includes a communications interface (i/f) 205 , a transceiver 210 and a coupler 220 . in an example of operation, the communications interface 205 receives a communication signal 110 or 112 that includes data. in various embodiments, the communications interface 205 can include a wireless interface for receiving a wireless communication signal in accordance with a wireless standard protocol such as lte or other cellular voice and data protocol, wifi or an 802.11 protocol, wimax protocol, ultra wideband protocol, bluetooth protocol, zigbee protocol, a direct broadcast satellite (dbs) or other satellite communication protocol or other wireless protocol. in addition or in the alternative, the communications interface 205 includes a wired interface that operates in accordance with an ethernet protocol, universal serial bus (usb) protocol, a data over cable service interface specification (docsis) protocol, a digital subscriber line (dsl) protocol, a firewire (ieee 1394) protocol, or other wired protocol. in additional to standards-based protocols, the communications interface 205 can operate in conjunction with other wired or wireless protocol. in addition, the communications interface 205 can optionally operate in conjunction with a protocol stack that includes multiple protocol layers including a mac protocol, transport protocol, application protocol, etc. in an example of operation, the transceiver 210 generates an electromagnetic wave based on the communication signal 110 or 112 to convey the data. the electromagnetic wave has at least one carrier frequency and at least one corresponding wavelength. the carrier frequency can be within a millimeter-wave frequency band of 30 ghz-300 ghz, such as 60 ghz or a carrier frequency in the range of 30-40 ghz or a lower frequency band of 300 mhz-30 ghz in the microwave frequency range such as 26-30 ghz, 11 ghz, 6 ghz or 3 ghz, but it will be appreciated that other carrier frequencies are possible in other embodiments. in one mode of operation, the transceiver 210 merely upconverts the communications signal or signals 110 or 112 for transmission of the electromagnetic signal in the microwave or millimeter-wave band as a guided electromagnetic wave that is guided by or bound to the transmission medium 125 . in another mode of operation, the communications interface 205 either converts the communication signal 110 or 112 to a baseband or near baseband signal or extracts the data from the communication signal 110 or 112 and the transceiver 210 modulates a high-frequency carrier with the data, the baseband or near baseband signal for transmission. it should be appreciated that the transceiver 210 can modulate the data received via the communication signal 110 or 112 to preserve one or more data communication protocols of the communication signal 110 or 112 either by encapsulation in the payload of a different protocol or by simple frequency shifting. in the alternative, the transceiver 210 can otherwise translate the data received via the communication signal 110 or 112 to a protocol that is different from the data communication protocol or protocols of the communication signal 110 or 112 . in an example of operation, the coupler 220 couples the electromagnetic wave to the transmission medium 125 as a guided electromagnetic wave to convey the communications signal or signals 110 or 112 . while the prior description has focused on the operation of the transceiver 210 as a transmitter, the transceiver 210 can also operate to receive electromagnetic waves that convey other data from the single wire transmission medium via the coupler 220 and to generate communications signals 110 or 112 , via communications interface 205 that includes the other data. consider embodiments where an additional guided electromagnetic wave conveys other data that also propagates along the transmission medium 125 . the coupler 220 can also couple this additional electromagnetic wave from the transmission medium 125 to the transceiver 210 for reception. the transmission device 101 or 102 includes an optional training controller 230 . in an example embodiment, the training controller 230 is implemented by a standalone processor or a processor that is shared with one or more other components of the transmission device 101 or 102 . the training controller 230 selects the carrier frequencies, modulation schemes and/or guided wave modes for the guided electromagnetic waves based on feedback data received by the transceiver 210 from at least one remote transmission device coupled to receive the guided electromagnetic wave. in an example embodiment, a guided electromagnetic wave transmitted by a remote transmission device 101 or 102 conveys data that also propagates along the transmission medium 125 . the data from the remote transmission device 101 or 102 can be generated to include the feedback data. in operation, the coupler 220 also couples the guided electromagnetic wave from the transmission medium 125 and the transceiver receives the electromagnetic wave and processes the electromagnetic wave to extract the feedback data. in an example embodiment, the training controller 230 operates based on the feedback data to evaluate a plurality of candidate frequencies, modulation schemes and/or transmission modes to select a carrier frequency, modulation scheme and/or transmission mode to enhance performance, such as throughput, signal strength, reduce propagation loss, etc. consider the following example: a transmission device 101 begins operation under control of the training controller 230 by sending a plurality of guided waves as test signals such as pilot waves or other test signals at a corresponding plurality of candidate frequencies and/or candidate modes directed to a remote transmission device 102 coupled to the transmission medium 125 . the guided waves can include, in addition or in the alternative, test data. the test data can indicate the particular candidate frequency and/or guide-wave mode of the signal. in an embodiment, the training controller 230 at the remote transmission device 102 receives the test signals and/or test data from any of the guided waves that were properly received and determines the best candidate frequency and/or guided wave mode, a set of acceptable candidate frequencies and/or guided wave modes, or a rank ordering of candidate frequencies and/or guided wave modes. this selection of candidate frequenc(ies) or/and guided-mode(s) are generated by the training controller 230 based on one or more optimizing criteria such as received signal strength, bit error rate, packet error rate, signal to noise ratio, propagation loss, etc. the training controller 230 generates feedback data that indicates the selection of candidate frequenc(ies) or/and guided wave mode(s) and sends the feedback data to the transceiver 210 for transmission to the transmission device 101 . the transmission device 101 and 102 can then communicate data with one another based on the selection of candidate frequenc(ies) or/and guided wave mode(s). in other embodiments, the guided electromagnetic waves that contain the test signals and/or test data are reflected back, repeated back or otherwise looped back by the remote transmission device 102 to the transmission device 101 for reception and analysis by the training controller 230 of the transmission device 101 that initiated these waves. for example, the transmission device 101 can send a signal to the remote transmission device 102 to initiate a test mode where a physical reflector is switched on the line, a termination impedance is changed to cause reflections, a loop back mode is switched on to couple electromagnetic waves back to the source transmission device 102 , and/or a repeater mode is enabled to amplify and retransmit the electromagnetic waves back to the source transmission device 102 . the training controller 230 at the source transmission device 102 receives the test signals and/or test data from any of the guided waves that were properly received and determines selection of candidate frequenc(ies) or/and guided wave mode(s). while the procedure above has been described in a start-up or initialization mode of operation, each transmission device 101 or 102 can send test signals, evaluate candidate frequencies or guided wave modes via non-test such as normal transmissions or otherwise evaluate candidate frequencies or guided wave modes at other times or continuously as well. in an example embodiment, the communication protocol between the transmission devices 101 and 102 can include an on-request or periodic test mode where either full testing or more limited testing of a subset of candidate frequencies and guided wave modes are tested and evaluated. in other modes of operation, the re-entry into such a test mode can be triggered by a degradation of performance due to a disturbance, weather conditions, etc. in an example embodiment, the receiver bandwidth of the transceiver 210 is either sufficiently wide or swept to receive all candidate frequencies or can be selectively adjusted by the training controller 230 to a training mode where the receiver bandwidth of the transceiver 210 is sufficiently wide or swept to receive all candidate frequencies. referring now to fig. 3 , a graphical diagram 300 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution is shown. in this embodiment, a transmission medium 125 in air includes an inner conductor 301 and an insulating jacket 302 of dielectric material, as shown in cross section. the diagram 300 includes different gray-scales that represent differing electromagnetic field strengths generated by the propagation of the guided wave having an asymmetrical and non-fundamental guided wave mode. in particular, the electromagnetic field distribution corresponds to a modal “sweet spot” that enhances guided electromagnetic wave propagation along an insulated transmission medium and reduces end-to-end transmission loss. in this particular mode, electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium 125 to propagate along an outer surface of the transmission medium—in this case, the outer surface of the insulating jacket 302 . electromagnetic waves are partially embedded in the insulator and partially radiating on the outer surface of the insulator. in this fashion, electromagnetic waves are “lightly” coupled to the insulator so as to enable electromagnetic wave propagation at long distances with low propagation loss. as shown, the guided wave has a field structure that lies primarily or substantially outside of the transmission medium 125 that serves to guide the electromagnetic waves. the regions inside the conductor 301 have little or no field. likewise regions inside the insulating jacket 302 have low field strength. the majority of the electromagnetic field strength is distributed in the lobes 304 at the outer surface of the insulating jacket 302 and in close proximity thereof. the presence of an asymmetric guided wave mode is shown by the high electromagnetic field strengths at the top and bottom of the outer surface of the insulating jacket 302 (in the orientation of the diagram)—as opposed to very small field strengths on the other sides of the insulating jacket 302 . the example shown corresponds to a 38 ghz electromagnetic wave guided by a wire with a diameter of 1.1 cm and a dielectric insulation of thickness of 0.36 cm. because the electromagnetic wave is guided by the transmission medium 125 and the majority of the field strength is concentrated in the air outside of the insulating jacket 302 within a limited distance of the outer surface, the guided wave can propagate longitudinally down the transmission medium 125 with very low loss. in the example shown, this “limited distance” corresponds to a distance from the outer surface that is less than half the largest cross sectional dimension of the transmission medium 125 . in this case, the largest cross sectional dimension of the wire corresponds to the overall diameter of 1.82 cm, however, this value can vary with the size and shape of the transmission medium 125 . for example, should the transmission medium 125 be of a rectangular shape with a height of 0.3 cm and a width of 0.4 cm, the largest cross sectional dimension would be the diagonal of 0.5 cm and the corresponding limited distance would be 0.25 cm. the dimensions of the area containing the majority of the field strength also vary with the frequency, and in general, increase as carrier frequencies decrease. it should also be noted that the components of a guided wave communication system, such as couplers and transmission media can have their own cut-off frequencies for each guided wave mode. the cut-off frequency generally sets forth the lowest frequency that a particular guided wave mode is designed to be supported by that particular component. in an example embodiment, the particular asymmetric mode of propagation shown is induced on the transmission medium 125 by an electromagnetic wave having a frequency that falls within a limited range (such as fc to 2fc) of the lower cut-off frequency fc for this particular asymmetric mode. the lower cut-off frequency fc is particular to the characteristics of transmission medium 125 . for embodiments as shown that include an inner conductor 301 surrounded by an insulating jacket 302 , this cutoff frequency can vary based on the dimensions and properties of the insulating jacket 302 and potentially the dimensions and properties of the inner conductor 301 and can be determined experimentally to have a desired mode pattern. it should be noted however, that similar effects can be found for a hollow dielectric or insulator without an inner conductor. in this case, the cutoff frequency can vary based on the dimensions and properties of the hollow dielectric or insulator. at frequencies lower than the lower cut-off frequency, the asymmetric mode is difficult to induce in the transmission medium 125 and fails to propagate for all but trivial distances. as the frequency increases above the limited range of frequencies about the cut-off frequency, the asymmetric mode shifts more and more inward of the insulating jacket 302 . at frequencies much larger than the cut-off frequency, the field strength is no longer concentrated outside of the insulating jacket, but primarily inside of the insulating jacket 302 . while the transmission medium 125 provides strong guidance to the electromagnetic wave and propagation is still possible, ranges are more limited by increased losses due to propagation within the insulating jacket 302 —as opposed to the surrounding air. referring now to fig. 4 , a graphical diagram 400 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution is shown. in particular, a cross section diagram 400 , similar to fig. 3 is shown with common reference numerals used to refer to similar elements. the example shown corresponds to a 60 ghz wave guided by a wire with a diameter of 1.1 cm and a dielectric insulation of thickness of 0.36 cm. because the frequency of the guided wave is above the limited range of the cut-off frequency of this particular asymmetric mode, much of the field strength has shifted inward of the insulating jacket 302 . in particular, the field strength is concentrated primarily inside of the insulating jacket 302 . while the transmission medium 125 provides strong guidance to the electromagnetic wave and propagation is still possible, ranges are more limited when compared with the embodiment of fig. 3 , by increased losses due to propagation within the insulating jacket 302 . referring now to fig. 5a , a graphical diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a frequency response is shown. in particular, diagram 500 presents a graph of end-to-end loss (in db) as a function of frequency, overlaid with electromagnetic field distributions 510 , 520 and 530 at three points for a 200 cm insulated medium voltage wire. the boundary between the insulator and the surrounding air is represented by reference numeral 525 in each electromagnetic field distribution. as discussed in conjunction with fig. 3 , an example of a desired asymmetric mode of propagation shown is induced on the transmission medium 125 by an electromagnetic wave having a frequency that falls within a limited range (such as fc to 2fc) of the lower cut-off frequency fc of the transmission medium for this particular asymmetric mode. in particular, the electromagnetic field distribution 520 at 6 ghz falls within this modal “sweet spot” that enhances electromagnetic wave propagation along an insulated transmission medium and reduces end-to-end transmission loss. in this particular mode, guided waves are partially embedded in the insulator and partially radiating on the outer surface of the insulator. in this fashion, the electromagnetic waves are “lightly” coupled to the insulator so as to enable guided electromagnetic wave propagation at long distances with low propagation loss. at lower frequencies represented by the electromagnetic field distribution 510 at 3 ghz, the asymmetric mode radiates more heavily generating higher propagation losses. at higher frequencies represented by the electromagnetic field distribution 530 at 9 ghz, the asymmetric mode shifts more and more inward of the insulating jacket providing too much absorption, again generating higher propagation losses. referring now to fig. 5b , a graphical diagram 550 illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a longitudinal cross-section of a transmission medium 125 , such as an insulated wire, depicting fields of guided electromagnetic waves at various operating frequencies is shown. as shown in diagram 556 , when the guided electromagnetic waves are at approximately the cutoff frequency (f c ) corresponding to the modal “sweet spot”, the guided electromagnetic waves are loosely coupled to the insulated wire so that absorption is reduced, and the fields of the guided electromagnetic waves are bound sufficiently to reduce the amount radiated into the environment (e.g., air). because absorption and radiation of the fields of the guided electromagnetic waves is low, propagation losses are consequently low, enabling the guided electromagnetic waves to propagate for longer distances. as shown in diagram 554 , propagation losses increase when an operating frequency of the guide electromagnetic waves increases above about two-times the cutoff frequency (f c )—or as referred to, above the range of the “sweet spot”. more of the field strength of the electromagnetic wave is driven inside the insulating layer, increasing propagation losses. at frequencies much higher than the cutoff frequency (f c ) the guided electromagnetic waves are strongly bound to the insulated wire as a result of the fields emitted by the guided electromagnetic waves being concentrated in the insulation layer of the wire, as shown in diagram 552 . this in turn raises propagation losses further due to absorption of the guided electromagnetic waves by the insulation layer. similarly, propagation losses increase when the operating frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves is substantially below the cutoff frequency (f c ), as shown in diagram 558 . at frequencies much lower than the cutoff frequency (f c ) the guided electromagnetic waves are weakly (or nominally) bound to the insulated wire and thereby tend to radiate into the environment (e.g., air), which in turn, raises propagation losses due to radiation of the guided electromagnetic waves. referring now to fig. 6 , a graphical diagram 600 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic field distribution is shown. in this embodiment, a transmission medium 602 is a bare wire, as shown in cross section. the diagram 300 includes different gray-scales that represent differing electromagnetic field strengths generated by the propagation of a guided wave having a symmetrical and fundamental guided wave mode at a single carrier frequency. in this particular mode, electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium 602 to propagate along an outer surface of the transmission medium—in this case, the outer surface of the bare wire. electromagnetic waves are “lightly” coupled to the wire so as to enable electromagnetic wave propagation at long distances with low propagation loss. as shown, the guided wave has a field structure that lies substantially outside of the transmission medium 602 that serves to guide the electromagnetic waves. the regions inside the conductor 602 have little or no field. referring now to fig. 7 , a block diagram 700 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an arc coupler is shown. in particular a coupling device is presented for use in a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . the coupling device includes an arc coupler 704 coupled to a transmitter circuit 712 and termination or damper 714 . the arc coupler 704 can be made of a dielectric material, or other low-loss insulator (e.g., teflon, polyethylene, etc.), or made of a conducting (e.g., metallic, non-metallic, etc.) material, or any combination of the foregoing materials. as shown, the arc coupler 704 operates as a waveguide and has a wave 706 propagating as a guided wave about a waveguide surface of the arc coupler 704 . in the embodiment shown, at least a portion of the arc coupler 704 can be placed near a wire 702 or other transmission medium, (such as transmission medium 125 ), in order to facilitate coupling between the arc coupler 704 and the wire 702 or other transmission medium, as described herein to launch the guided wave 708 on the wire. the arc coupler 704 can be placed such that a portion of the curved arc coupler 704 is tangential to, and parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 . the portion of the arc coupler 704 that is parallel to the wire can be an apex of the curve, or any point where a tangent of the curve is parallel to the wire 702 . when the arc coupler 704 is positioned or placed thusly, the wave 706 travelling along the arc coupler 704 couples, at least in part, to the wire 702 , and propagates as guided wave 708 around or about the wire surface of the wire 702 and longitudinally along the wire 702 . the guided wave 708 can be characterized as a surface wave or other electromagnetic wave that is guided by or bound to the wire 702 or other transmission medium. a portion of the wave 706 that does not couple to the wire 702 propagates as a wave 710 along the arc coupler 704 . it will be appreciated that the arc coupler 704 can be configured and arranged in a variety of positions in relation to the wire 702 to achieve a desired level of coupling or non-coupling of the wave 706 to the wire 702 . for example, the curvature and/or length of the arc coupler 704 that is parallel or substantially parallel, as well as its separation distance (which can include zero separation distance in an embodiment), to the wire 702 can be varied without departing from example embodiments. likewise, the arrangement of arc coupler 704 in relation to the wire 702 may be varied based upon considerations of the respective intrinsic characteristics (e.g., thickness, composition, electromagnetic properties, etc.) of the wire 702 and the arc coupler 704 , as well as the characteristics (e.g., frequency, energy level, etc.) of the waves 706 and 708 . the guided wave 708 stays parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 , even as the wire 702 bends and flexes. bends in the wire 702 can increase transmission losses, which are also dependent on wire diameters, frequency, and materials. if the dimensions of the arc coupler 704 are chosen for efficient power transfer, most of the power in the wave 706 is transferred to the wire 702 , with little power remaining in wave 710 . it will be appreciated that the guided wave 708 can still be multi-modal in nature (discussed herein), including having modes that are non-fundamental or asymmetric, while traveling along a path that is parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 , with or without a fundamental transmission mode. in an embodiment, non-fundamental or asymmetric modes can be utilized to minimize transmission losses and/or obtain increased propagation distances. it is noted that the term parallel is generally a geometric construct which often is not exactly achievable in real systems. accordingly, the term parallel as utilized in the subject disclosure represents an approximation rather than an exact configuration when used to describe embodiments disclosed in the subject disclosure. in an embodiment, substantially parallel can include approximations that are within 30 degrees of true parallel in all dimensions. in an embodiment, the wave 706 can exhibit one or more wave propagation modes. the arc coupler modes can be dependent on the shape and/or design of the coupler 704 . the one or more arc coupler modes of wave 706 can generate, influence, or impact one or more wave propagation modes of the guided wave 708 propagating along wire 702 . it should be particularly noted however that the guided wave modes present in the guided wave 706 may be the same or different from the guided wave modes of the guided wave 708 . in this fashion, one or more guided wave modes of the guided wave 706 may not be transferred to the guided wave 708 , and further one or more guided wave modes of guided wave 708 may not have been present in guided wave 706 . it should also be noted that the cut-off frequency of the arc coupler 704 for a particular guided wave mode may be different than the cutoff frequency of the wire 702 or other transmission medium for that same mode. for example, while the wire 702 or other transmission medium may be operated slightly above its cutoff frequency for a particular guided wave mode, the arc coupler 704 may be operated well above its cut-off frequency for that same mode for low loss, slightly below its cut-off frequency for that same mode to, for example, induce greater coupling and power transfer, or some other point in relation to the arc coupler's cutoff frequency for that mode. in an embodiment, the wave propagation modes on the wire 702 can be similar to the arc coupler modes since both waves 706 and 708 propagate about the outside of the arc coupler 704 and wire 702 respectively. in some embodiments, as the wave 706 couples to the wire 702 , the modes can change form, or new modes can be created or generated, due to the coupling between the arc coupler 704 and the wire 702 . for example, differences in size, material, and/or impedances of the arc coupler 704 and wire 702 may create additional modes not present in the arc coupler modes and/or suppress some of the arc coupler modes. the wave propagation modes can comprise the fundamental transverse electromagnetic mode (quasi-tem 00 ), where only small electric and/or magnetic fields extend in the direction of propagation, and the electric and magnetic fields extend radially outwards while the guided wave propagates along the wire. this guided wave mode can be donut shaped, where few of the electromagnetic fields exist within the arc coupler 704 or wire 702 . waves 706 and 708 can comprise a fundamental tem mode where the fields extend radially outwards, and also comprise other, non-fundamental (e.g., asymmetric, higher-level, etc.) modes. while particular wave propagation modes are discussed above, other wave propagation modes are likewise possible such as transverse electric (te) and transverse magnetic (tm) modes, based on the frequencies employed, the design of the arc coupler 704 , the dimensions and composition of the wire 702 , as well as its surface characteristics, its insulation if present, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, etc. it should be noted that, depending on the frequency, the electrical and physical characteristics of the wire 702 and the particular wave propagation modes that are generated, guided wave 708 can travel along the conductive surface of an oxidized uninsulated wire, an unoxidized uninsulated wire, an insulated wire and/or along the insulating surface of an insulated wire. in an embodiment, a diameter of the arc coupler 704 is smaller than the diameter of the wire 702 . for the millimeter-band wavelength being used, the arc coupler 704 supports a single waveguide mode that makes up wave 706 . this single waveguide mode can change as it couples to the wire 702 as guided wave 708 . if the arc coupler 704 were larger, more than one waveguide mode can be supported, but these additional waveguide modes may not couple to the wire 702 as efficiently, and higher coupling losses can result. however, in some alternative embodiments, the diameter of the arc coupler 704 can be equal to or larger than the diameter of the wire 702 , for example, where higher coupling losses are desirable or when used in conjunction with other techniques to otherwise reduce coupling losses (e.g., impedance matching with tapering, etc.). in an embodiment, the wavelength of the waves 706 and 708 are comparable in size, or smaller than a circumference of the arc coupler 704 and the wire 702 . in an example, if the wire 702 has a diameter of 0.5 cm, and a corresponding circumference of around 1.5 cm, the wavelength of the transmission is around 1.5 cm or less, corresponding to a frequency of 70 ghz or greater. in another embodiment, a suitable frequency of the transmission and the carrier-wave signal is in the range of 30-100 ghz, perhaps around 30-60 ghz, and around 38 ghz in one example. in an embodiment, when the circumference of the arc coupler 704 and wire 702 is comparable in size to, or greater, than a wavelength of the transmission, the waves 706 and 708 can exhibit multiple wave propagation modes including fundamental and/or non-fundamental (symmetric and/or asymmetric) modes that propagate over sufficient distances to support various communication systems described herein. the waves 706 and 708 can therefore comprise more than one type of electric and magnetic field configuration. in an embodiment, as the guided wave 708 propagates down the wire 702 , the electrical and magnetic field configurations will remain the same from end to end of the wire 702 . in other embodiments, as the guided wave 708 encounters interference (distortion or obstructions) or loses energy due to transmission losses or scattering, the electric and magnetic field configurations can change as the guided wave 708 propagates down wire 702 . in an embodiment, the arc coupler 704 can be composed of nylon, teflon, polyethylene, a polyamide, or other plastics. in other embodiments, other dielectric materials are possible. the wire surface of wire 702 can be metallic with either a bare metallic surface, or can be insulated using plastic, dielectric, insulator or other coating, jacket or sheathing. in an embodiment, a dielectric or otherwise non-conducting/insulated waveguide can be paired with either a bare/metallic wire or insulated wire. in other embodiments, a metallic and/or conductive waveguide can be paired with a bare/metallic wire or insulated wire. in an embodiment, an oxidation layer on the bare metallic surface of the wire 702 (e.g., resulting from exposure of the bare metallic surface to oxygen/air) can also provide insulating or dielectric properties similar to those provided by some insulators or sheathings. it is noted that the graphical representations of waves 706 , 708 and 710 are presented merely to illustrate the principles that wave 706 induces or otherwise launches a guided wave 708 on a wire 702 that operates, for example, as a single wire transmission line. wave 710 represents the portion of wave 706 that remains on the arc coupler 704 after the generation of guided wave 708 . the actual electric and magnetic fields generated as a result of such wave propagation may vary depending on the frequencies employed, the particular wave propagation mode or modes, the design of the arc coupler 704 , the dimensions and composition of the wire 702 , as well as its surface characteristics, its optional insulation, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, etc. it is noted that arc coupler 704 can include a termination circuit or damper 714 at the end of the arc coupler 704 that can absorb leftover radiation or energy from wave 710 . the termination circuit or damper 714 can prevent and/or minimize the leftover radiation or energy from wave 710 reflecting back toward transmitter circuit 712 . in an embodiment, the termination circuit or damper 714 can include termination resistors, and/or other components that perform impedance matching to attenuate reflection. in some embodiments, if the coupling efficiencies are high enough, and/or wave 710 is sufficiently small, it may not be necessary to use a termination circuit or damper 714 . for the sake of simplicity, these transmitter 712 and termination circuits or dampers 714 may not be depicted in the other figures, but in those embodiments, transmitter and termination circuits or dampers may possibly be used. further, while a single arc coupler 704 is presented that generates a single guided wave 708 , multiple arc couplers 704 placed at different points along the wire 702 and/or at different azimuthal orientations about the wire can be employed to generate and receive multiple guided waves 708 at the same or different frequencies, at the same or different phases, at the same or different wave propagation modes. fig. 8 , a block diagram 800 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an arc coupler is shown. in the embodiment shown, at least a portion of the coupler 704 can be placed near a wire 702 or other transmission medium, (such as transmission medium 125 ), in order to facilitate coupling between the arc coupler 704 and the wire 702 or other transmission medium, to extract a portion of the guided wave 806 as a guided wave 808 as described herein. the arc coupler 704 can be placed such that a portion of the curved arc coupler 704 is tangential to, and parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 . the portion of the arc coupler 704 that is parallel to the wire can be an apex of the curve, or any point where a tangent of the curve is parallel to the wire 702 . when the arc coupler 704 is positioned or placed thusly, the wave 806 travelling along the wire 702 couples, at least in part, to the arc coupler 704 , and propagates as guided wave 808 along the arc coupler 704 to a receiving device (not expressly shown). a portion of the wave 806 that does not couple to the arc coupler propagates as wave 810 along the wire 702 or other transmission medium. in an embodiment, the wave 806 can exhibit one or more wave propagation modes. the arc coupler modes can be dependent on the shape and/or design of the coupler 704 . the one or more modes of guided wave 806 can generate, influence, or impact one or more guide-wave modes of the guided wave 808 propagating along the arc coupler 704 . it should be particularly noted however that the guided wave modes present in the guided wave 806 may be the same or different from the guided wave modes of the guided wave 808 . in this fashion, one or more guided wave modes of the guided wave 806 may not be transferred to the guided wave 808 , and further one or more guided wave modes of guided wave 808 may not have been present in guided wave 806 . referring now to fig. 9a , a block diagram 900 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a stub coupler is shown. in particular a coupling device that includes stub coupler 904 is presented for use in a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . the stub coupler 904 can be made of a dielectric material, or other low-loss insulator (e.g., teflon, polyethylene and etc.), or made of a conducting (e.g., metallic, non-metallic, etc.) material, or any combination of the foregoing materials. as shown, the stub coupler 904 operates as a waveguide and has a wave 906 propagating as a guided wave about a waveguide surface of the stub coupler 904 . in the embodiment shown, at least a portion of the stub coupler 904 can be placed near a wire 702 or other transmission medium, (such as transmission medium 125 ), in order to facilitate coupling between the stub coupler 904 and the wire 702 or other transmission medium, as described herein to launch the guided wave 908 on the wire. in an embodiment, the stub coupler 904 is curved, and an end of the stub coupler 904 can be tied, fastened, or otherwise mechanically coupled to a wire 702 . when the end of the stub coupler 904 is fastened to the wire 702 , the end of the stub coupler 904 is parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 . alternatively, another portion of the dielectric waveguide beyond an end can be fastened or coupled to wire 702 such that the fastened or coupled portion is parallel or substantially parallel to the wire 702 . the fastener 910 can be a nylon cable tie or other type of non-conducting/dielectric material that is either separate from the stub coupler 904 or constructed as an integrated component of the stub coupler 904 . the stub coupler 904 can be adjacent to the wire 702 without surrounding the wire 702 . like the arc coupler 704 described in conjunction with fig. 7 , when the stub coupler 904 is placed with the end parallel to the wire 702 , the guided wave 906 travelling along the stub coupler 904 couples to the wire 702 , and propagates as guided wave 908 about the wire surface of the wire 702 . in an example embodiment, the guided wave 908 can be characterized as a surface wave or other electromagnetic wave. it is noted that the graphical representations of waves 906 and 908 are presented merely to illustrate the principles that wave 906 induces or otherwise launches a guided wave 908 on a wire 702 that operates, for example, as a single wire transmission line. the actual electric and magnetic fields generated as a result of such wave propagation may vary depending on one or more of the shape and/or design of the coupler, the relative position of the dielectric waveguide to the wire, the frequencies employed, the design of the stub coupler 904 , the dimensions and composition of the wire 702 , as well as its surface characteristics, its optional insulation, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, etc. in an embodiment, an end of stub coupler 904 can taper towards the wire 702 in order to increase coupling efficiencies. indeed, the tapering of the end of the stub coupler 904 can provide impedance matching to the wire 702 and reduce reflections, according to an example embodiment of the subject disclosure. for example, an end of the stub coupler 904 can be gradually tapered in order to obtain a desired level of coupling between waves 906 and 908 as illustrated in fig. 9a . in an embodiment, the fastener 910 can be placed such that there is a short length of the stub coupler 904 between the fastener 910 and an end of the stub coupler 904 . maximum coupling efficiencies are realized in this embodiment when the length of the end of the stub coupler 904 that is beyond the fastener 910 is at least several wavelengths long for whatever frequency is being transmitted. turning now to fig. 9b , a diagram 950 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an electromagnetic distribution in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. in particular, an electromagnetic distribution is presented in two dimensions for a transmission device that includes coupler 952 , shown in an example stub coupler constructed of a dielectric material. the coupler 952 couples an electromagnetic wave for propagation as a guided wave along an outer surface of a wire 702 or other transmission medium. the coupler 952 guides the electromagnetic wave to a junction at x 0 via a symmetrical guided wave mode. while some of the energy of the electromagnetic wave that propagates along the coupler 952 is outside of the coupler 952 , the majority of the energy of this electromagnetic wave is contained within the coupler 952 . the junction at x 0 couples the electromagnetic wave to the wire 702 or other transmission medium at an azimuthal angle corresponding to the bottom of the transmission medium. this coupling induces an electromagnetic wave that is guided to propagate along the outer surface of the wire 702 or other transmission medium via at least one guided wave mode in direction 956 . the majority of the energy of the guided electromagnetic wave is outside or, but in close proximity to the outer surface of the wire 702 or other transmission medium. in the example shown, the junction at x 0 forms an electromagnetic wave that propagates via both a symmetrical mode and at least one asymmetrical surface mode, such as the first order mode presented in conjunction with fig. 3 , that skims the surface of the wire 702 or other transmission medium. it is noted that the graphical representations of guided waves are presented merely to illustrate an example of guided wave coupling and propagation. the actual electric and magnetic fields generated as a result of such wave propagation may vary depending on the frequencies employed, the design and/or configuration of the coupler 952 , the dimensions and composition of the wire 702 or other transmission medium, as well as its surface characteristics, its insulation if present, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, etc. turning now to fig. 10a , illustrated is a block diagram 1000 of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a coupler and transceiver system in accordance with various aspects described herein. the system is an example of transmission device 101 or 102 . in particular, the communication interface 1008 is an example of communications interface 205 , the stub coupler 1002 is an example of coupler 220 , and the transmitter/receiver device 1006 , diplexer 1016 , power amplifier 1014 , low noise amplifier 1018 , frequency mixers 1010 and 1020 and local oscillator 1012 collectively form an example of transceiver 210 . in operation, the transmitter/receiver device 1006 launches and receives waves (e.g., guided wave 1004 onto stub coupler 1002 ). the guided waves 1004 can be used to transport signals received from and sent to a host device, base station, mobile devices, a building or other device by way of a communications interface 1008 . the communications interface 1008 can be an integral part of system 1000 . alternatively, the communications interface 1008 can be tethered to system 1000 . the communications interface 1008 can comprise a wireless interface for interfacing to the host device, base station, mobile devices, a building or other device utilizing any of various wireless signaling protocols (e.g., lte, wifi, wimax, ieee 802.xx, etc.) including an infrared protocol such as an infrared data association (irda) protocol or other line of sight optical protocol. the communications interface 1008 can also comprise a wired interface such as a fiber optic line, coaxial cable, twisted pair, category 5 (cat-5) cable or other suitable wired or optical mediums for communicating with the host device, base station, mobile devices, a building or other device via a protocol such as an ethernet protocol, universal serial bus (usb) protocol, a data over cable service interface specification (docsis) protocol, a digital subscriber line (dsl) protocol, a firewire (ieee 1394) protocol, or other wired or optical protocol. for embodiments where system 1000 functions as a repeater, the communications interface 1008 may not be necessary. the output signals (e.g., tx) of the communications interface 1008 can be combined with a carrier wave (e.g., millimeter-wave carrier wave) generated by a local oscillator 1012 at frequency mixer 1010 . frequency mixer 1010 can use heterodyning techniques or other frequency shifting techniques to frequency shift the output signals from communications interface 1008 . for example, signals sent to and from the communications interface 1008 can be modulated signals such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (ofdm) signals formatted in accordance with a long-term evolution (lte) wireless protocol or other wireless 3g, 4g, 5g or higher voice and data protocol, a zigbee, wimax, ultrawideband or ieee 802.11 wireless protocol; a wired protocol such as an ethernet protocol, universal serial bus (usb) protocol, a data over cable service interface specification (docsis) protocol, a digital subscriber line (dsl) protocol, a firewire (ieee 1394) protocol or other wired or wireless protocol. in an example embodiment, this frequency conversion can be done in the analog domain, and as a result, the frequency shifting can be done without regard to the type of communications protocol used by a base station, mobile devices, or in-building devices. as new communications technologies are developed, the communications interface 1008 can be upgraded (e.g., updated with software, firmware, and/or hardware) or replaced and the frequency shifting and transmission apparatus can remain, simplifying upgrades. the carrier wave can then be sent to a power amplifier (“pa”) 1014 and can be transmitted via the transmitter receiver device 1006 via the diplexer 1016 . signals received from the transmitter/receiver device 1006 that are directed towards the communications interface 1008 can be separated from other signals via diplexer 1016 . the received signal can then be sent to low noise amplifier (“lna”) 1018 for amplification. a frequency mixer 1020 , with help from local oscillator 1012 can downshift the received signal (which is in the millimeter-wave band or around 38 ghz in some embodiments) to the native frequency. the communications interface 1008 can then receive the transmission at an input port (rx). in an embodiment, transmitter/receiver device 1006 can include a cylindrical or non-cylindrical metal (which, for example, can be hollow in an embodiment, but not necessarily drawn to scale) or other conducting or non-conducting waveguide and an end of the stub coupler 1002 can be placed in or in proximity to the waveguide or the transmitter/receiver device 1006 such that when the transmitter/receiver device 1006 generates a transmission, the guided wave couples to stub coupler 1002 and propagates as a guided wave 1004 about the waveguide surface of the stub coupler 1002 . in some embodiments, the guided wave 1004 can propagate in part on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002 and in part inside the stub coupler 1002 . in other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 can propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002 . in yet other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 can propagate substantially or completely inside the stub coupler 1002 . in this latter embodiment, the guided wave 1004 can radiate at an end of the stub coupler 1002 (such as the tapered end shown in fig. 4 ) for coupling to a transmission medium such as a wire 702 of fig. 7 . similarly, if guided wave 1004 is incoming (coupled to the stub coupler 1002 from a wire 702 ), guided wave 1004 then enters the transmitter/receiver device 1006 and couples to the cylindrical waveguide or conducting waveguide. while transmitter/receiver device 1006 is shown to include a separate waveguide—an antenna, cavity resonator, klystron, magnetron, travelling wave tube, or other radiating element can be employed to induce a guided wave on the coupler 1002 , with or without the separate waveguide. in an embodiment, stub coupler 1002 can be wholly constructed of a dielectric material (or another suitable insulating material), without any metallic or otherwise conducting materials therein. stub coupler 1002 can be composed of nylon, teflon, polyethylene, a polyamide, other plastics, or other materials that are non-conducting and suitable for facilitating transmission of electromagnetic waves at least in part on an outer surface of such materials. in another embodiment, stub coupler 1002 can include a core that is conducting/metallic, and have an exterior dielectric surface. similarly, a transmission medium that couples to the stub coupler 1002 for propagating electromagnetic waves induced by the stub coupler 1002 or for supplying electromagnetic waves to the stub coupler 1002 can, in addition to being a bare or insulated wire, be wholly constructed of a dielectric material (or another suitable insulating material), without any metallic or otherwise conducting materials therein. it is noted that although fig. 10a shows that the opening of transmitter receiver device 1006 is much wider than the stub coupler 1002 , this is not to scale, and that in other embodiments the width of the stub coupler 1002 is comparable or slightly smaller than the opening of the hollow waveguide. it is also not shown, but in an embodiment, an end of the coupler 1002 that is inserted into the transmitter/receiver device 1006 tapers down in order to reduce reflection and increase coupling efficiencies. before coupling to the stub coupler 1002 , the one or more waveguide modes of the guided wave generated by the transmitter/receiver device 1006 can couple to the stub coupler 1002 to induce one or more wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004 . the wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004 can be different than the hollow metal waveguide modes due to the different characteristics of the hollow metal waveguide and the dielectric waveguide. for instance, wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004 can comprise the fundamental transverse electromagnetic mode (quasi-tem 00 ), where only small electrical and/or magnetic fields extend in the direction of propagation, and the electric and magnetic fields extend radially outwards from the stub coupler 1002 while the guided waves propagate along the stub coupler 1002 . the fundamental transverse electromagnetic mode wave propagation mode may or may not exist inside a waveguide that is hollow. therefore, the hollow metal waveguide modes that are used by transmitter/receiver device 1006 are waveguide modes that can couple effectively and efficiently to wave propagation modes of stub coupler 1002 . it will be appreciated that other constructs or combinations of the transmitter/receiver device 1006 and stub coupler 1002 are possible. for example, a stub coupler 1002 ′ can be placed tangentially or in parallel (with or without a gap) with respect to an outer surface of the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter/receiver device 1006 ′ (corresponding circuitry not shown) as depicted by reference 1000 ′ of fig. 10b . in another embodiment, not shown by reference 1000 ′, the stub coupler 1002 ′ can be placed inside the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter/receiver device 1006 ′ without an axis of the stub coupler 1002 ′ being coaxially aligned with an axis of the hollow metal waveguide of the transmitter/receiver device 1006 ′. in either of these embodiments, the guided wave generated by the transmitter/receiver device 1006 ′ can couple to a surface of the stub coupler 1002 ′ to induce one or more wave propagation modes of the guided wave 1004 ′ on the stub coupler 1002 ′ including a fundamental mode (e.g., a symmetric mode) and/or a non-fundamental mode (e.g., asymmetric mode). in one embodiment, the guided wave 1004 ′ can propagate in part on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002 ′ and in part inside the stub coupler 1002 ′. in another embodiment, the guided wave 1004 ′ can propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the stub coupler 1002 ′. in yet other embodiments, the guided wave 1004 ′ can propagate substantially or completely inside the stub coupler 1002 ′. in this latter embodiment, the guided wave 1004 ′ can radiate at an end of the stub coupler 1002 ′ (such as the tapered end shown in fig. 9 ) for coupling to a transmission medium such as a wire 702 of fig. 9 . it will be further appreciated that other constructs the transmitter/receiver device 1006 are possible. for example, a hollow metal waveguide of a transmitter/receiver device 1006 ″ (corresponding circuitry not shown), depicted in fig. 10b as reference 1000 ″, can be placed tangentially or in parallel (with or without a gap) with respect to an outer surface of a transmission medium such as the wire 702 of fig. 4 without the use of the stub coupler 1002 . in this embodiment, the guided wave generated by the transmitter/receiver device 1006 ″ can couple to a surface of the wire 702 to induce one or more wave propagation modes of a guided wave 908 on the wire 702 including a fundamental mode (e.g., a symmetric mode) and/or a non-fundamental mode (e.g., asymmetric mode). in another embodiment, the wire 702 can be positioned inside a hollow metal waveguide of a transmitter/receiver device 1006 ′ (corresponding circuitry not shown) so that an axis of the wire 702 is coaxially (or not coaxially) aligned with an axis of the hollow metal waveguide without the use of the stub coupler 1002 —see fig. 10b reference 1000 ′″. in this embodiment, the guided wave generated by the transmitter/receiver device 1006 ′″ can couple to a surface of the wire 702 to induce one or more wave propagation modes of a guided wave 908 on the wire including a fundamental mode (e.g., a symmetric mode) and/or a non-fundamental mode (e.g., asymmetric mode). in the embodiments of 1000 ″ and 1000 ′″, for a wire 702 having an insulated outer surface, the guided wave 908 can propagate in part on the outer surface of the insulator and in part inside the insulator. in embodiments, the guided wave 908 can propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the insulator, or substantially or completely inside the insulator. in the embodiments of 1000 ″ and 1000 ′″, for a wire 702 that is a bare conductor, the guided wave 908 can propagate in part on the outer surface of the conductor and in part inside the conductor. in another embodiment, the guided wave 908 can propagate substantially or completely on the outer surface of the conductor. referring now to fig. 11 , a block diagram 1100 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dual stub coupler is shown. in particular, a dual coupler design is presented for use in a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . in an embodiment, two or more couplers (such as the stub couplers 1104 and 1106 ) can be positioned around a wire 1102 in order to receive guided wave 1108 . in an embodiment, one coupler is enough to receive the guided wave 1108 . in that case, guided wave 1108 couples to coupler 1104 and propagates as guided wave 1110 . if the field structure of the guided wave 1108 oscillates or undulates around the wire 1102 due to the particular guided wave mode(s) or various outside factors, then coupler 1106 can be placed such that guided wave 1108 couples to coupler 1106 . in some embodiments, four or more couplers can be placed around a portion of the wire 1102 , e.g., at 90 degrees or another spacing with respect to each other, in order to receive guided waves that may oscillate or rotate around the wire 1102 , that have been induced at different azimuthal orientations or that have non-fundamental or higher order modes that, for example, have lobes and/or nulls or other asymmetries that are orientation dependent. however, it will be appreciated that there may be less than or more than four couplers placed around a portion of the wire 1102 without departing from example embodiments. it should be noted that while couplers 1106 and 1104 are illustrated as stub couplers, any other of the coupler designs described herein including arc couplers, antenna or horn couplers, magnetic couplers, etc., could likewise be used. it will also be appreciated that while some example embodiments have presented a plurality of couplers around at least a portion of a wire 1102 , this plurality of couplers can also be considered as part of a single coupler system having multiple coupler subcomponents. for example, two or more couplers can be manufactured as single system that can be installed around a wire in a single installation such that the couplers are either pre-positioned or adjustable relative to each other (either manually or automatically with a controllable mechanism such as a motor or other actuator) in accordance with the single system. receivers coupled to couplers 1106 and 1104 can use diversity combining to combine signals received from both couplers 1106 and 1104 in order to maximize the signal quality. in other embodiments, if one or the other of the couplers 1104 and 1106 receive a transmission that is above a predetermined threshold, receivers can use selection diversity when deciding which signal to use. further, while reception by a plurality of couplers 1106 and 1104 is illustrated, transmission by couplers 1106 and 1104 in the same configuration can likewise take place. in particular, a wide range of multi-input multi-output (mimo) transmission and reception techniques can be employed for transmissions where a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 includes multiple transceivers and multiple couplers. it is noted that the graphical representations of waves 1108 and 1110 are presented merely to illustrate the principles that guided wave 1108 induces or otherwise launches a wave 1110 on a coupler 1104 . the actual electric and magnetic fields generated as a result of such wave propagation may vary depending on the frequencies employed, the design of the coupler 1104 , the dimensions and composition of the wire 1102 , as well as its surface characteristics, its insulation if any, the electromagnetic properties of the surrounding environment, etc. referring now to fig. 12 , a block diagram 1200 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a repeater system is shown. in particular, a repeater device 1210 is presented for use in a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . in this system, two couplers 1204 and 1214 can be placed near a wire 1202 or other transmission medium such that guided waves 1205 propagating along the wire 1202 are extracted by coupler 1204 as wave 1206 (e.g. as a guided wave), and then are boosted or repeated by repeater device 1210 and launched as a wave 1216 (e.g. as a guided wave) onto coupler 1214 . the wave 1216 can then be launched on the wire 1202 and continue to propagate along the wire 1202 as a guided wave 1217 . in an embodiment, the repeater device 1210 can receive at least a portion of the power utilized for boosting or repeating through magnetic coupling with the wire 1202 , for example, when the wire 1202 is a power line or otherwise contains a power-carrying conductor. it should be noted that while couplers 1204 and 1214 are illustrated as stub couplers, any other of the coupler designs described herein including arc couplers, antenna or horn couplers, magnetic couplers, or the like, could likewise be used. in some embodiments, repeater device 1210 can repeat the transmission associated with wave 1206 , and in other embodiments, repeater device 1210 can include a communications interface 205 that extracts data or other signals from the wave 1206 for supplying such data or signals to another network and/or one or more other devices as communication signals 110 or 112 and/or receiving communication signals 110 or 112 from another network and/or one or more other devices and launch guided wave 1216 having embedded therein the received communication signals 110 or 112 . in a repeater configuration, receiver waveguide 1208 can receive the wave 1206 from the coupler 1204 and transmitter waveguide 1212 can launch guided wave 1216 onto coupler 1214 as guided wave 1217 . between receiver waveguide 1208 and transmitter waveguide 1212 , the signal embedded in guided wave 1206 and/or the guided wave 1216 itself can be amplified to correct for signal loss and other inefficiencies associated with guided wave communications or the signal can be received and processed to extract the data contained therein and regenerated for transmission. in an embodiment, the receiver waveguide 1208 can be configured to extract data from the signal, process the data to correct for data errors utilizing for example error correcting codes, and regenerate an updated signal with the corrected data. the transmitter waveguide 1212 can then transmit guided wave 1216 with the updated signal embedded therein. in an embodiment, a signal embedded in guided wave 1206 can be extracted from the transmission and processed for communication with another network and/or one or more other devices via communications interface 205 as communication signals 110 or 112 . similarly, communication signals 110 or 112 received by the communications interface 205 can be inserted into a transmission of guided wave 1216 that is generated and launched onto coupler 1214 by transmitter waveguide 1212 . it is noted that although fig. 12 shows guided wave transmissions 1206 and 1216 entering from the left and exiting to the right respectively, this is merely a simplification and is not intended to be limiting. in other embodiments, receiver waveguide 1208 and transmitter waveguide 1212 can also function as transmitters and receivers respectively, allowing the repeater device 1210 to be bi-directional. in an embodiment, repeater device 1210 can be placed at locations where there are discontinuities or obstacles on the wire 1202 or other transmission medium. in the case where the wire 1202 is a power line, these obstacles can include transformers, connections, utility poles, and other such power line devices. the repeater device 1210 can help the guided (e.g., surface) waves jump over these obstacles on the line and boost the transmission power at the same time. in other embodiments, a coupler can be used to jump over the obstacle without the use of a repeater device. in that embodiment, both ends of the coupler can be tied or fastened to the wire, thus providing a path for the guided wave to travel without being blocked by the obstacle. turning now to fig. 13 , illustrated is a block diagram 1300 of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a bidirectional repeater in accordance with various aspects described herein. in particular, a bidirectional repeater device 1306 is presented for use in a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . it should be noted that while the couplers are illustrated as stub couplers, any other of the coupler designs described herein including arc couplers, antenna or horn couplers, magnetic couplers, or the like, could likewise be used. the bidirectional repeater 1306 can employ diversity paths in the case of when two or more wires or other transmission media are present. since guided wave transmissions have different transmission efficiencies and coupling efficiencies for transmission medium of different types such as insulated wires, un-insulated wires or other types of transmission media and further, if exposed to the elements, can be affected by weather, and other atmospheric conditions, it can be advantageous to selectively transmit on different transmission media at certain times. in various embodiments, the various transmission media can be designated as a primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. whether or not such designation indicates a preference of one transmission medium over another. in the embodiment shown, the transmission media include an insulated or uninsulated wire 1302 and an insulated or uninsulated wire 1304 (referred to herein as wires 1302 and 1304 , respectively). the repeater device 1306 uses a receiver coupler 1308 to receive a guided wave traveling along wire 1302 and repeats the transmission using transmitter waveguide 1310 as a guided wave along wire 1304 . in other embodiments, repeater device 1306 can switch from the wire 1304 to the wire 1302 , or can repeat the transmissions along the same paths. repeater device 1306 can include sensors, or be in communication with sensors (or a network management system 1601 depicted in fig. 16a ) that indicate conditions that can affect the transmission. based on the feedback received from the sensors, the repeater device 1306 can make the determination about whether to keep the transmission along the same wire, or transfer the transmission to the other wire. turning now to fig. 14 , illustrated is a block diagram 1400 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a bidirectional repeater system. in particular, a bidirectional repeater system is presented for use in a transmission device, such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . the bidirectional repeater system includes waveguide coupling devices 1402 and 1404 that receive and transmit transmissions from other coupling devices located in a distributed antenna system or backhaul system. in various embodiments, waveguide coupling device 1402 can receive a transmission from another waveguide coupling device, wherein the transmission has a plurality of subcarriers. diplexer 1406 can separate the transmission from other transmissions, and direct the transmission to low-noise amplifier (“lna”) 1408 . a frequency mixer 1428 , with help from a local oscillator 1412 , can downshift the transmission (which is in the millimeter-wave band or around 38 ghz in some embodiments) to a lower frequency, such as a cellular band (˜1.9 ghz) for a distributed antenna system, a native frequency, or other frequency for a backhaul system. an extractor (or demultiplexer) 1432 can extract the signal on a subcarrier and direct the signal to an output component 1422 for optional amplification, buffering or isolation by power amplifier 1424 for coupling to communications interface 205 . the communications interface 205 can further process the signals received from the power amplifier 1424 or otherwise transmit such signals over a wireless or wired interface to other devices such as a base station, mobile devices, a building, etc. for the signals that are not being extracted at this location, extractor 1432 can redirect them to another frequency mixer 1436 , where the signals are used to modulate a carrier wave generated by local oscillator 1414 . the carrier wave, with its subcarriers, is directed to a power amplifier (“pa”) 1416 and is retransmitted by waveguide coupling device 1404 to another system, via diplexer 1420 . an lna 1426 can be used to amplify, buffer or isolate signals that are received by the communication interface 205 and then send the signal to a multiplexer 1434 which merges the signal with signals that have been received from waveguide coupling device 1404 . the signals received from coupling device 1404 have been split by diplexer 1420 , and then passed through lna 1418 , and downshifted in frequency by frequency mixer 1438 . when the signals are combined by multiplexer 1434 , they are upshifted in frequency by frequency mixer 1430 , and then boosted by pa 1410 , and transmitted to another system by waveguide coupling device 1402 . in an embodiment bidirectional repeater system can be merely a repeater without the output device 1422 . in this embodiment, the multiplexer 1434 would not be utilized and signals from lna 1418 would be directed to mixer 1430 as previously described. it will be appreciated that in some embodiments, the bidirectional repeater system could also be implemented using two distinct and separate unidirectional repeaters. in an alternative embodiment, a bidirectional repeater system could also be a booster or otherwise perform retransmissions without downshifting and upshifting. indeed in example embodiment, the retransmissions can be based upon receiving a signal or guided wave and performing some signal or guided wave processing or reshaping, filtering, and/or amplification, prior to retransmission of the signal or guided wave. referring now to fig. 15 , a block diagram 1500 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a guided wave communications system is shown. this diagram depicts an exemplary environment in which a guided wave communication system, such as the guided wave communication system presented in conjunction with fig. 1 , can be used. to provide network connectivity to additional base station devices, a backhaul network that links the communication cells (e.g., macrocells and macrocells) to network devices of a core network correspondingly expands. similarly, to provide network connectivity to a distributed antenna system, an extended communication system that links base station devices and their distributed antennas is desirable. a guided wave communication system 1500 such as shown in fig. 15 can be provided to enable alternative, increased or additional network connectivity and a waveguide coupling system can be provided to transmit and/or receive guided wave (e.g., surface wave) communications on a transmission medium such as a wire that operates as a single-wire transmission line (e.g., a utility line), and that can be used as a waveguide and/or that otherwise operates to guide the transmission of an electromagnetic wave. the guided wave communication system 1500 can comprise a first instance of a distribution system 1550 that includes one or more base station devices (e.g., base station device 1504 ) that are communicably coupled to a central office 1501 and/or a macrocell site 1502 . base station device 1504 can be connected by a wired (e.g., fiber and/or cable), or by a wireless (e.g., microwave wireless) connection to the macrocell site 1502 and the central office 1501 . a second instance of the distribution system 1560 can be used to provide wireless voice and data services to mobile device 1522 and to residential and/or commercial establishments 1542 (herein referred to as establishments 1542 ). system 1500 can have additional instances of the distribution systems 1550 and 1560 for providing voice and/or data services to mobile devices 1522 - 1524 and establishments 1542 as shown in fig. 15 . macrocells such as macrocell site 1502 can have dedicated connections to a mobile network and base station device 1504 or can share and/or otherwise use another connection. central office 1501 can be used to distribute media content and/or provide internet service provider (isp) services to mobile devices 1522 - 1524 and establishments 1542 . the central office 1501 can receive media content from a constellation of satellites 1530 (one of which is shown in fig. 15 ) or other sources of content, and distribute such content to mobile devices 1522 - 1524 and establishments 1542 via the first and second instances of the distribution system 1550 and 1560 . the central office 1501 can also be communicatively coupled to the internet 1503 for providing internet data services to mobile devices 1522 - 1524 and establishments 1542 . base station device 1504 can be mounted on, or attached to, utility pole 1516 . in other embodiments, base station device 1504 can be near transformers and/or other locations situated nearby a power line. base station device 1504 can facilitate connectivity to a mobile network for mobile devices 1522 and 1524 . antennas 1512 and 1514 , mounted on or near utility poles 1518 and 1520 , respectively, can receive signals from base station device 1504 and transmit those signals to mobile devices 1522 and 1524 over a much wider area than if the antennas 1512 and 1514 were located at or near base station device 1504 . it is noted that fig. 15 displays three utility poles, in each instance of the distribution systems 1550 and 1560 , with one base station device, for purposes of simplicity. in other embodiments, utility pole 1516 can have more base station devices, and more utility poles with distributed antennas and/or tethered connections to establishments 1542 . a transmission device 1506 , such as transmission device 101 or 102 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 , can transmit a signal from base station device 1504 to antennas 1512 and 1514 via utility or power line(s) that connect the utility poles 1516 , 1518 , and 1520 . to transmit the signal, radio source and/or transmission device 1506 upconverts the signal (e.g., via frequency mixing) from base station device 1504 or otherwise converts the signal from the base station device 1504 to a microwave band signal and the transmission device 1506 launches a microwave band wave that propagates as a guided wave traveling along the utility line or other wire as described in previous embodiments. at utility pole 1518 , another transmission device 1508 receives the guided wave (and optionally can amplify it as needed or desired or operate as a repeater to receive it and regenerate it) and sends it forward as a guided wave on the utility line or other wire. the transmission device 1508 can also extract a signal from the microwave band guided wave and shift it down in frequency or otherwise convert it to its original cellular band frequency (e.g., 1.9 ghz or other defined cellular frequency) or another cellular (or non-cellular) band frequency. an antenna 1512 can wireless transmit the downshifted signal to mobile device 1522 . the process can be repeated by transmission device 1510 , antenna 1514 and mobile device 1524 , as necessary or desirable. transmissions from mobile devices 1522 and 1524 can also be received by antennas 1512 and 1514 respectively. the transmission devices 1508 and 1510 can upshift or otherwise convert the cellular band signals to microwave band and transmit the signals as guided wave (e.g., surface wave or other electromagnetic wave) transmissions over the power line(s) to base station device 1504 . media content received by the central office 1501 can be supplied to the second instance of the distribution system 1560 via the base station device 1504 for distribution to mobile devices 1522 and establishments 1542 . the transmission device 1510 can be tethered to the establishments 1542 by one or more wired connections or a wireless interface. the one or more wired connections may include without limitation, a power line, a coaxial cable, a fiber cable, a twisted pair cable, a guided wave transmission medium or other suitable wired mediums for distribution of media content and/or for providing internet services. in an example embodiment, the wired connections from the transmission device 1510 can be communicatively coupled to one or more very high bit rate digital subscriber line (vdsl) modems located at one or more corresponding service area interfaces (sais—not shown) or pedestals, each sai or pedestal providing services to a portion of the establishments 1542 . the vdsl modems can be used to selectively distribute media content and/or provide internet services to gateways (not shown) located in the establishments 1542 . the sais or pedestals can also be communicatively coupled to the establishments 1542 over a wired medium such as a power line, a coaxial cable, a fiber cable, a twisted pair cable, a guided wave transmission medium or other suitable wired mediums. in other example embodiments, the transmission device 1510 can be communicatively coupled directly to establishments 1542 without intermediate interfaces such as the sais or pedestals. in another example embodiment, system 1500 can employ diversity paths, where two or more utility lines or other wires are strung between the utility poles 1516 , 1518 , and 1520 (e.g., for example, two or more wires between poles 1516 and 1520 ) and redundant transmissions from base station/macrocell site 1502 are transmitted as guided waves down the surface of the utility lines or other wires. the utility lines or other wires can be either insulated or uninsulated, and depending on the environmental conditions that cause transmission losses, the coupling devices can selectively receive signals from the insulated or uninsulated utility lines or other wires. the selection can be based on measurements of the signal-to-noise ratio of the wires, or based on determined weather/environmental conditions (e.g., moisture detectors, weather forecasts, etc.). the use of diversity paths with system 1500 can enable alternate routing capabilities, load balancing, increased load handling, concurrent bi-directional or synchronous communications, spread spectrum communications, etc. it is noted that the use of the transmission devices 1506 , 1508 , and 1510 in fig. 15 are by way of example only, and that in other embodiments, other uses are possible. for instance, transmission devices can be used in a backhaul communication system, providing network connectivity to base station devices. transmission devices 1506 , 1508 , and 1510 can be used in many circumstances where it is desirable to transmit guided wave communications over a wire, whether insulated or not insulated. transmission devices 1506 , 1508 , and 1510 are improvements over other coupling devices due to no contact or limited physical and/or electrical contact with the wires that may carry high voltages. the transmission device can be located away from the wire (e.g., spaced apart from the wire) and/or located on the wire so long as it is not electrically in contact with the wire, as the dielectric acts as an insulator, allowing for cheap, easy, and/or less complex installation. however, as previously noted conducting or non-dielectric couplers can be employed, for example in configurations where the wires correspond to a telephone network, cable television network, broadband data service, fiber optic communications system or other network employing low voltages or having insulated transmission lines. it is further noted, that while base station device 1504 and macrocell site 1502 are illustrated in an embodiment, other network configurations are likewise possible. for example, devices such as access points or other wireless gateways can be employed in a similar fashion to extend the reach of other networks such as a wireless local area network, a wireless personal area network or other wireless network that operates in accordance with a communication protocol such as a 802.11 protocol, wimax protocol, ultrawideband protocol, bluetooth protocol, zigbee protocol or other wireless protocol. referring now to figs. 16a & 16b , block diagrams illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a system for managing a power grid communication system are shown. considering fig. 16a , a waveguide system 1602 is presented for use in a guided wave communications system, such as the system presented in conjunction with fig. 15 . the waveguide system 1602 can comprise sensors 1604 , a power management system 1605 , a transmission device 101 or 102 that includes at least one communication interface 205 , transceiver 210 and coupler 220 . the waveguide system 1602 can be coupled to a power line 1610 for facilitating guided wave communications in accordance with embodiments described in the subject disclosure. in an example embodiment, the transmission device 101 or 102 includes coupler 220 for inducing electromagnetic waves on a surface of the power line 1610 that longitudinally propagate along the surface of the power line 1610 as described in the subject disclosure. the transmission device 101 or 102 can also serve as a repeater for retransmitting electromagnetic waves on the same power line 1610 or for routing electromagnetic waves between power lines 1610 as shown in figs. 12-13 . the transmission device 101 or 102 includes transceiver 210 configured to, for example, up-convert a signal operating at an original frequency range to electromagnetic waves operating at, exhibiting, or associated with a carrier frequency that propagate along a coupler to induce corresponding guided electromagnetic waves that propagate along a surface of the power line 1610 . a carrier frequency can be represented by a center frequency having upper and lower cutoff frequencies that define the bandwidth of the electromagnetic waves. the power line 1610 can be a wire (e.g., single stranded or multi-stranded) having a conducting surface or insulated surface. the transceiver 210 can also receive signals from the coupler 220 and down-convert the electromagnetic waves operating at a carrier frequency to signals at their original frequency. signals received by the communications interface 205 of transmission device 101 or 102 for up-conversion can include without limitation signals supplied by a central office 1611 over a wired or wireless interface of the communications interface 205 , a base station 1614 over a wired or wireless interface of the communications interface 205 , wireless signals transmitted by mobile devices 1620 to the base station 1614 for delivery over the wired or wireless interface of the communications interface 205 , signals supplied by in-building communication devices 1618 over the wired or wireless interface of the communications interface 205 , and/or wireless signals supplied to the communications interface 205 by mobile devices 1612 roaming in a wireless communication range of the communications interface 205 . in embodiments where the waveguide system 1602 functions as a repeater, such as shown in figs. 12-13 , the communications interface 205 may or may not be included in the waveguide system 1602 . the electromagnetic waves propagating along the surface of the power line 1610 can be modulated and formatted to include packets or frames of data that include a data payload and further include networking information (such as header information for identifying one or more destination waveguide systems 1602 ). the networking information may be provided by the waveguide system 1602 or an originating device such as the central office 1611 , the base station 1614 , mobile devices 1620 , or in-building devices 1618 , or a combination thereof. additionally, the modulated electromagnetic waves can include error correction data for mitigating signal disturbances. the networking information and error correction data can be used by a destination waveguide system 1602 for detecting transmissions directed to it, and for down-converting and processing with error correction data transmissions that include voice and/or data signals directed to recipient communication devices communicatively coupled to the destination waveguide system 1602 . referring now to the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602 , the sensors 1604 can comprise one or more of a temperature sensor 1604 a , a disturbance detection sensor 1604 b , a loss of energy sensor 1604 c , a noise sensor 1604 d , a vibration sensor 1604 e , an environmental (e.g., weather) sensor 1604 f , and/or an image sensor 1604 g . the temperature sensor 1604 a can be used to measure ambient temperature, a temperature of the transmission device 101 or 102 , a temperature of the power line 1610 , temperature differentials (e.g., compared to a setpoint or baseline, between transmission device 101 or 102 and 1610 , etc.), or any combination thereof. in one embodiment, temperature metrics can be collected and reported periodically to a network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614 . the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b can perform measurements on the power line 1610 to detect disturbances such as signal reflections, which may indicate a presence of a downstream disturbance that may impede the propagation of electromagnetic waves on the power line 1610 . a signal reflection can represent a distortion resulting from, for example, an electromagnetic wave transmitted on the power line 1610 by the transmission device 101 or 102 that reflects in whole or in part back to the transmission device 101 or 102 from a disturbance in the power line 1610 located downstream from the transmission device 101 or 102 . signal reflections can be caused by obstructions on the power line 1610 . for example, a tree limb may cause electromagnetic wave reflections when the tree limb is lying on the power line 1610 , or is in close proximity to the power line 1610 which may cause a corona discharge. other obstructions that can cause electromagnetic wave reflections can include without limitation an object that has been entangled on the power line 1610 (e.g., clothing, a shoe wrapped around a power line 1610 with a shoe string, etc.), a corroded build-up on the power line 1610 or an ice build-up. power grid components may also impede or obstruct with the propagation of electromagnetic waves on the surface of power lines 1610 . illustrations of power grid components that may cause signal reflections include without limitation a transformer and a joint for connecting spliced power lines. a sharp angle on the power line 1610 may also cause electromagnetic wave reflections. the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b can comprise a circuit to compare magnitudes of electromagnetic wave reflections to magnitudes of original electromagnetic waves transmitted by the transmission device 101 or 102 to determine how much a downstream disturbance in the power line 1610 attenuates transmissions. the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b can further comprise a spectral analyzer circuit for performing spectral analysis on the reflected waves. the spectral data generated by the spectral analyzer circuit can be compared with spectral profiles via pattern recognition, an expert system, curve fitting, matched filtering or other artificial intelligence, classification or comparison technique to identify a type of disturbance based on, for example, the spectral profile that most closely matches the spectral data. the spectral profiles can be stored in a memory of the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b or may be remotely accessible by the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b . the profiles can comprise spectral data that models different disturbances that may be encountered on power lines 1610 to enable the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b to identify disturbances locally. an identification of the disturbance if known can be reported to the network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614 . the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b can also utilize the transmission device 101 or 102 to transmit electromagnetic waves as test signals to determine a roundtrip time for an electromagnetic wave reflection. the round trip time measured by the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b can be used to calculate a distance traveled by the electromagnetic wave up to a point where the reflection takes place, which enables the disturbance detection sensor 1604 b to calculate a distance from the transmission device 101 or 102 to the downstream disturbance on the power line 1610 . the distance calculated can be reported to the network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614 . in one embodiment, the location of the waveguide system 1602 on the power line 1610 may be known to the network management system 1601 , which the network management system 1601 can use to determine a location of the disturbance on the power line 1610 based on a known topology of the power grid. in another embodiment, the waveguide system 1602 can provide its location to the network management system 1601 to assist in the determination of the location of the disturbance on the power line 1610 . the location of the waveguide system 1602 can be obtained by the waveguide system 1602 from a pre-programmed location of the waveguide system 1602 stored in a memory of the waveguide system 1602 , or the waveguide system 1602 can determine its location using a gps receiver (not shown) included in the waveguide system 1602 . the power management system 1605 provides energy to the aforementioned components of the waveguide system 1602 . the power management system 1605 can receive energy from solar cells, or from a transformer (not shown) coupled to the power line 1610 , or by inductive coupling to the power line 1610 or another nearby power line. the power management system 1605 can also include a backup battery and/or a super capacitor or other capacitor circuit for providing the waveguide system 1602 with temporary power. the loss of energy sensor 1604 c can be used to detect when the waveguide system 1602 has a loss of power condition and/or the occurrence of some other malfunction. for example, the loss of energy sensor 1604 c can detect when there is a loss of power due to defective solar cells, an obstruction on the solar cells that causes them to malfunction, loss of power on the power line 1610 , and/or when the backup power system malfunctions due to expiration of a backup battery, or a detectable defect in a super capacitor. when a malfunction and/or loss of power occurs, the loss of energy sensor 1604 c can notify the network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614 . the noise sensor 1604 d can be used to measure noise on the power line 1610 that may adversely affect transmission of electromagnetic waves on the power line 1610 . the noise sensor 1604 d can sense unexpected electromagnetic interference, noise bursts, or other sources of disturbances that may interrupt reception of modulated electromagnetic waves on a surface of a power line 1610 . a noise burst can be caused by, for example, a corona discharge, or other source of noise. the noise sensor 1604 d can compare the measured noise to a noise profile obtained by the waveguide system 1602 from an internal database of noise profiles or from a remotely located database that stores noise profiles via pattern recognition, an expert system, curve fitting, matched filtering or other artificial intelligence, classification or comparison technique. from the comparison, the noise sensor 1604 d may identify a noise source (e.g., corona discharge or otherwise) based on, for example, the noise profile that provides the closest match to the measured noise. the noise sensor 1604 d can also detect how noise affects transmissions by measuring transmission metrics such as bit error rate, packet loss rate, jitter, packet retransmission requests, etc. the noise sensor 1604 d can report to the network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614 the identity of noise sources, their time of occurrence, and transmission metrics, among other things. the vibration sensor 1604 e can include accelerometers and/or gyroscopes to detect 2d or 3d vibrations on the power line 1610 . the vibrations can be compared to vibration profiles that can be stored locally in the waveguide system 1602 , or obtained by the waveguide system 1602 from a remote database via pattern recognition, an expert system, curve fitting, matched filtering or other artificial intelligence, classification or comparison technique. vibration profiles can be used, for example, to distinguish fallen trees from wind gusts based on, for example, the vibration profile that provides the closest match to the measured vibrations. the results of this analysis can be reported by the vibration sensor 1604 e to the network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614 . the environmental sensor 1604 f can include a barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature (which can be provided by the temperature sensor 1604 a ), wind speed, humidity, wind direction, and rainfall, among other things. the environmental sensor 1604 f can collect raw information and process this information by comparing it to environmental profiles that can be obtained from a memory of the waveguide system 1602 or a remote database to predict weather conditions before they arise via pattern recognition, an expert system, knowledge-based system or other artificial intelligence, classification or other weather modeling and prediction technique. the environmental sensor 1604 f can report raw data as well as its analysis to the network management system 1601 . the image sensor 1604 g can be a digital camera (e.g., a charged coupled device or ccd imager, infrared camera, etc.) for capturing images in a vicinity of the waveguide system 1602 . the image sensor 1604 g can include an electromechanical mechanism to control movement (e.g., actual position or focal points/zooms) of the camera for inspecting the power line 1610 from multiple perspectives (e.g., top surface, bottom surface, left surface, right surface and so on). alternatively, the image sensor 1604 g can be designed such that no electromechanical mechanism is needed in order to obtain the multiple perspectives. the collection and retrieval of imaging data generated by the image sensor 1604 g can be controlled by the network management system 1601 , or can be autonomously collected and reported by the image sensor 1604 g to the network management system 1601 . other sensors that may be suitable for collecting telemetry information associated with the waveguide system 1602 and/or the power lines 1610 for purposes of detecting, predicting and/or mitigating disturbances that can impede the propagation of electromagnetic wave transmissions on power lines 1610 (or any other form of a transmission medium of electromagnetic waves) may be utilized by the waveguide system 1602 . referring now to fig. 16b , block diagram 1650 illustrates an example, non-limiting embodiment of a system for managing a power grid 1653 and a communication system 1655 embedded therein or associated therewith in accordance with various aspects described herein. the communication system 1655 comprises a plurality of waveguide systems 1602 coupled to power lines 1610 of the power grid 1653 . at least a portion of the waveguide systems 1602 used in the communication system 1655 can be in direct communication with a base station 1614 and/or the network management system 1601 . waveguide systems 1602 not directly connected to a base station 1614 or the network management system 1601 can engage in communication sessions with either a base station 1614 or the network management system 1601 by way of other downstream waveguide systems 1602 connected to a base station 1614 or the network management system 1601 . the network management system 1601 can be communicatively coupled to equipment of a utility company 1652 and equipment of a communications service provider 1654 for providing each entity, status information associated with the power grid 1653 and the communication system 1655 , respectively. the network management system 1601 , the equipment of the utility company 1652 , and the communications service provider 1654 can access communication devices utilized by utility company personnel 1656 and/or communication devices utilized by communications service provider personnel 1658 for purposes of providing status information and/or for directing such personnel in the management of the power grid 1653 and/or communication system 1655 . fig. 17a illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 1700 for detecting and mitigating disturbances occurring in a communication network of the systems of figs. 16a & 16b . method 1700 can begin with step 1702 where a waveguide system 1602 transmits and receives messages embedded in, or forming part of, modulated electromagnetic waves or another type of electromagnetic waves traveling along a surface of a power line 1610 . the messages can be voice messages, streaming video, and/or other data/information exchanged between communication devices communicatively coupled to the communication system 1655 . at step 1704 the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602 can collect sensing data. in an embodiment, the sensing data can be collected in step 1704 prior to, during, or after the transmission and/or receipt of messages in step 1702 . at step 1706 the waveguide system 1602 (or the sensors 1604 themselves) can determine from the sensing data an actual or predicted occurrence of a disturbance in the communication system 1655 that can affect communications originating from (e.g., transmitted by) or received by the waveguide system 1602 . the waveguide system 1602 (or the sensors 1604 ) can process temperature data, signal reflection data, loss of energy data, noise data, vibration data, environmental data, or any combination thereof to make this determination. the waveguide system 1602 (or the sensors 1604 ) may also detect, identify, estimate, or predict the source of the disturbance and/or its location in the communication system 1655 . if a disturbance is neither detected/identified nor predicted/estimated at step 1708 , the waveguide system 1602 can proceed to step 1702 where it continues to transmit and receive messages embedded in, or forming part of, modulated electromagnetic waves traveling along a surface of the power line 1610 . if at step 1708 a disturbance is detected/identified or predicted/estimated to occur, the waveguide system 1602 proceeds to step 1710 to determine if the disturbance adversely affects (or alternatively, is likely to adversely affect or the extent to which it may adversely affect) transmission or reception of messages in the communication system 1655 . in one embodiment, a duration threshold and a frequency of occurrence threshold can be used at step 1710 to determine when a disturbance adversely affects communications in the communication system 1655 . for illustration purposes only, assume a duration threshold is set to 500 ms, while a frequency of occurrence threshold is set to 5 disturbances occurring in an observation period of 10 sec. thus, a disturbance having a duration greater than 500 ms will trigger the duration threshold. additionally, any disturbance occurring more than 5 times in a 10 sec time interval will trigger the frequency of occurrence threshold. in one embodiment, a disturbance may be considered to adversely affect signal integrity in the communication systems 1655 when the duration threshold alone is exceeded. in another embodiment, a disturbance may be considered as adversely affecting signal integrity in the communication systems 1655 when both the duration threshold and the frequency of occurrence threshold are exceeded. the latter embodiment is thus more conservative than the former embodiment for classifying disturbances that adversely affect signal integrity in the communication system 1655 . it will be appreciated that many other algorithms and associated parameters and thresholds can be utilized for step 1710 in accordance with example embodiments. referring back to method 1700 , if at step 1710 the disturbance detected at step 1708 does not meet the condition for adversely affected communications (e.g., neither exceeds the duration threshold nor the frequency of occurrence threshold), the waveguide system 1602 may proceed to step 1702 and continue processing messages. for instance, if the disturbance detected in step 1708 has a duration of 1 ms with a single occurrence in a 10 sec time period, then neither threshold will be exceeded. consequently, such a disturbance may be considered as having a nominal effect on signal integrity in the communication system 1655 and thus would not be flagged as a disturbance requiring mitigation. although not flagged, the occurrence of the disturbance, its time of occurrence, its frequency of occurrence, spectral data, and/or other useful information, may be reported to the network management system 1601 as telemetry data for monitoring purposes. referring back to step 1710 , if on the other hand the disturbance satisfies the condition for adversely affected communications (e.g., exceeds either or both thresholds), the waveguide system 1602 can proceed to step 1712 and report the incident to the network management system 1601 . the report can include raw sensing data collected by the sensors 1604 , a description of the disturbance if known by the waveguide system 1602 , a time of occurrence of the disturbance, a frequency of occurrence of the disturbance, a location associated with the disturbance, parameters readings such as bit error rate, packet loss rate, retransmission requests, jitter, latency and so on. if the disturbance is based on a prediction by one or more sensors of the waveguide system 1602 , the report can include a type of disturbance expected, and if predictable, an expected time occurrence of the disturbance, and an expected frequency of occurrence of the predicted disturbance when the prediction is based on historical sensing data collected by the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602 . at step 1714 , the network management system 1601 can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique, which may include directing the waveguide system 1602 to reroute traffic to circumvent the disturbance if the location of the disturbance can be determined. in one embodiment, the waveguide coupling device 1402 detecting the disturbance may direct a repeater such as the one shown in figs. 13-14 to connect the waveguide system 1602 from a primary power line affected by the disturbance to a secondary power line to enable the waveguide system 1602 to reroute traffic to a different transmission medium and avoid the disturbance. in an embodiment where the waveguide system 1602 is configured as a repeater the waveguide system 1602 can itself perform the rerouting of traffic from the primary power line to the secondary power line. it is further noted that for bidirectional communications (e.g., full or half-duplex communications), the repeater can be configured to reroute traffic from the secondary power line back to the primary power line for processing by the waveguide system 1602 . in another embodiment, the waveguide system 1602 can redirect traffic by instructing a first repeater situated upstream of the disturbance and a second repeater situated downstream of the disturbance to redirect traffic from a primary power line temporarily to a secondary power line and back to the primary power line in a manner that avoids the disturbance. it is further noted that for bidirectional communications (e.g., full or half-duplex communications), repeaters can be configured to reroute traffic from the secondary power line back to the primary power line. to avoid interrupting existing communication sessions occurring on a secondary power line, the network management system 1601 may direct the waveguide system 1602 to instruct repeater(s) to utilize unused time slot(s) and/or frequency band(s) of the secondary power line for redirecting data and/or voice traffic away from the primary power line to circumvent the disturbance. at step 1716 , while traffic is being rerouted to avoid the disturbance, the network management system 1601 can notify equipment of the utility company 1652 and/or equipment of the communications service provider 1654 , which in turn may notify personnel of the utility company 1656 and/or personnel of the communications service provider 1658 of the detected disturbance and its location if known. field personnel from either party can attend to resolving the disturbance at a determined location of the disturbance. once the disturbance is removed or otherwise mitigated by personnel of the utility company and/or personnel of the communications service provider, such personnel can notify their respective companies and/or the network management system 1601 utilizing field equipment (e.g., a laptop computer, smartphone, etc.) communicatively coupled to network management system 1601 , and/or equipment of the utility company and/or the communications service provider. the notification can include a description of how the disturbance was mitigated and any changes to the power lines 1610 that may change a topology of the communication system 1655 . once the disturbance has been resolved (as determined in decision 1718 ), the network management system 1601 can direct the waveguide system 1602 at step 1720 to restore the previous routing configuration used by the waveguide system 1602 or route traffic according to a new routing configuration if the restoration strategy used to mitigate the disturbance resulted in a new network topology of the communication system 1655 . in another embodiment, the waveguide system 1602 can be configured to monitor mitigation of the disturbance by transmitting test signals on the power line 1610 to determine when the disturbance has been removed. once the waveguide system 1602 detects an absence of the disturbance it can autonomously restore its routing configuration without assistance by the network management system 1601 if it determines the network topology of the communication system 1655 has not changed, or it can utilize a new routing configuration that adapts to a detected new network topology. fig. 17b illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 1750 for detecting and mitigating disturbances occurring in a communication network of the system of figs. 16a and 16b . in one embodiment, method 1750 can begin with step 1752 where a network management system 1601 receives from equipment of the utility company 1652 or equipment of the communications service provider 1654 maintenance information associated with a maintenance schedule. the network management system 1601 can at step 1754 identify from the maintenance information, maintenance activities to be performed during the maintenance schedule. from these activities, the network management system 1601 can detect a disturbance resulting from the maintenance (e.g., scheduled replacement of a power line 1610 , scheduled replacement of a waveguide system 1602 on the power line 1610 , scheduled reconfiguration of power lines 1610 in the power grid 1653 , etc.). in another embodiment, the network management system 1601 can receive at step 1755 telemetry information from one or more waveguide systems 1602 . the telemetry information can include among other things an identity of each waveguide system 1602 submitting the telemetry information, measurements taken by sensors 1604 of each waveguide system 1602 , information relating to predicted, estimated, or actual disturbances detected by the sensors 1604 of each waveguide system 1602 , location information associated with each waveguide system 1602 , an estimated location of a detected disturbance, an identification of the disturbance, and so on. the network management system 1601 can determine from the telemetry information a type of disturbance that may be adverse to operations of the waveguide, transmission of the electromagnetic waves along the wire surface, or both. the network management system 1601 can also use telemetry information from multiple waveguide systems 1602 to isolate and identify the disturbance. additionally, the network management system 1601 can request telemetry information from waveguide systems 1602 in a vicinity of an affected waveguide system 1602 to triangulate a location of the disturbance and/or validate an identification of the disturbance by receiving similar telemetry information from other waveguide systems 1602 . in yet another embodiment, the network management system 1601 can receive at step 1756 an unscheduled activity report from maintenance field personnel. unscheduled maintenance may occur as result of field calls that are unplanned or as a result of unexpected field issues discovered during field calls or scheduled maintenance activities. the activity report can identify changes to a topology configuration of the power grid 1653 resulting from field personnel addressing discovered issues in the communication system 1655 and/or power grid 1653 , changes to one or more waveguide systems 1602 (such as replacement or repair thereof), mitigation of disturbances performed if any, and so on. at step 1758 , the network management system 1601 can determine from reports received according to steps 1752 through 1756 if a disturbance will occur based on a maintenance schedule, or if a disturbance has occurred or is predicted to occur based on telemetry data, or if a disturbance has occurred due to an unplanned maintenance identified in a field activity report. from any of these reports, the network management system 1601 can determine whether a detected or predicted disturbance requires rerouting of traffic by the affected waveguide systems 1602 or other waveguide systems 1602 of the communication system 1655 . when a disturbance is detected or predicted at step 1758 , the network management system 1601 can proceed to step 1760 where it can direct one or more waveguide systems 1602 to reroute traffic to circumvent the disturbance. when the disturbance is permanent due to a permanent topology change of the power grid 1653 , the network management system 1601 can proceed to step 1770 and skip steps 1762 , 1764 , 1766 , and 1772 . at step 1770 , the network management system 1601 can direct one or more waveguide systems 1602 to use a new routing configuration that adapts to the new topology. however, when the disturbance has been detected from telemetry information supplied by one or more waveguide systems 1602 , the network management system 1601 can notify maintenance personnel of the utility company 1656 or the communications service provider 1658 of a location of the disturbance, a type of disturbance if known, and related information that may be helpful to such personnel to mitigate the disturbance. when a disturbance is expected due to maintenance activities, the network management system 1601 can direct one or more waveguide systems 1602 to reconfigure traffic routes at a given schedule (consistent with the maintenance schedule) to avoid disturbances caused by the maintenance activities during the maintenance schedule. returning back to step 1760 and upon its completion, the process can continue with step 1762 . at step 1762 , the network management system 1601 can monitor when the disturbance(s) have been mitigated by field personnel. mitigation of a disturbance can be detected at step 1762 by analyzing field reports submitted to the network management system 1601 by field personnel over a communications network (e.g., cellular communication system) utilizing field equipment (e.g., a laptop computer or handheld computer/device). if field personnel have reported that a disturbance has been mitigated, the network management system 1601 can proceed to step 1764 to determine from the field report whether a topology change was required to mitigate the disturbance. a topology change can include rerouting a power line 1610 , reconfiguring a waveguide system 1602 to utilize a different power line 1610 , otherwise utilizing an alternative link to bypass the disturbance and so on. if a topology change has taken place, the network management system 1601 can direct at step 1770 one or more waveguide systems 1602 to use a new routing configuration that adapts to the new topology. if, however, a topology change has not been reported by field personnel, the network management system 1601 can proceed to step 1766 where it can direct one or more waveguide systems 1602 to send test signals to test a routing configuration that had been used prior to the detected disturbance(s). test signals can be sent to affected waveguide systems 1602 in a vicinity of the disturbance. the test signals can be used to determine if signal disturbances (e.g., electromagnetic wave reflections) are detected by any of the waveguide systems 1602 . if the test signals confirm that a prior routing configuration is no longer subject to previously detected disturbance(s), then the network management system 1601 can at step 1772 direct the affected waveguide systems 1602 to restore a previous routing configuration. if, however, test signals analyzed by one or more waveguide coupling device 1402 and reported to the network management system 1601 indicate that the disturbance(s) or new disturbance(s) are present, then the network management system 1601 will proceed to step 1768 and report this information to field personnel to further address field issues. the network management system 1601 can in this situation continue to monitor mitigation of the disturbance(s) at step 1762 . in the aforementioned embodiments, the waveguide systems 1602 can be configured to be self-adapting to changes in the power grid 1653 and/or to mitigation of disturbances. that is, one or more affected waveguide systems 1602 can be configured to self-monitor mitigation of disturbances and reconfigure traffic routes without requiring instructions to be sent to them by the network management system 1601 . in this embodiment, the one or more waveguide systems 1602 that are self-configurable can inform the network management system 1601 of its routing choices so that the network management system 1601 can maintain a macro-level view of the communication topology of the communication system 1655 . while for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respective processes are shown and described as a series of blocks in figs. 17a and 17b , respectively, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein. turning now to fig. 18a , a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a transmission medium 1800 for propagating guided electromagnetic waves is shown. in particular, a further example of transmission medium 125 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 is presented. in an embodiment, the transmission medium 1800 can comprise a first dielectric material 1802 and a second dielectric material 1804 disposed thereon. in an embodiment, the first dielectric material 1802 can comprise a dielectric core (referred to herein as dielectric core 1802 ) and the second dielectric material 1804 can comprise a cladding or shell such as a dielectric foam that surrounds in whole or in part the dielectric core (referred to herein as dielectric foam 1804 ). in an embodiment, the dielectric core 1802 and dielectric foam 1804 can be coaxially aligned to each other (although not necessary). in an embodiment, the combination of the dielectric core 1802 and the dielectric foam 1804 can be flexed or bent at least by 45 degrees without damaging the materials of the dielectric core 1802 and the dielectric foam 1804 . in an embodiment, an outer surface of the dielectric foam 1804 can be further surrounded in whole or in part by a third dielectric material 1806 , which can serve as an outer jacket (referred to herein as jacket 1806 ). the jacket 1806 can prevent exposure of the dielectric core 1802 and the dielectric foam 1804 to an environment that can adversely affect the propagation of electromagnetic waves (e.g., water, soil, etc.). the dielectric core 1802 can comprise, for example, a high density polyethylene material, a high density polyurethane material, or other suitable dielectric material(s). the dielectric foam 1804 can comprise, for example, a cellular plastic material such an expanded polyethylene material, or other suitable dielectric material(s). the jacket 1806 can comprise, for example, a polyethylene material or equivalent. in an embodiment, the dielectric constant of the dielectric foam 1804 can be (or substantially) lower than the dielectric constant of the dielectric core 1802 . for example, the dielectric constant of the dielectric core 1802 can be approximately 2.3 while the dielectric constant of the dielectric foam 1804 can be approximately 1.15 (slightly higher than the dielectric constant of air). the dielectric core 1802 can be used for receiving signals in the form of electromagnetic waves from a launcher or other coupling device described herein which can be configured to launch guided electromagnetic waves on the transmission medium 1800 . in one embodiment, the transmission 1800 can be coupled to a hollow waveguide 1808 structured as, for example, a circular waveguide 1809 , which can receive electromagnetic waves from a radiating device such as a stub antenna (not shown). the hollow waveguide 1808 can in turn induce guided electromagnetic waves in the dielectric core 1802 . in this configuration, the guided electromagnetic waves are guided by or bound to the dielectric core 1802 and propagate longitudinally along the dielectric core 1802 . by adjusting electronics of the launcher, an operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves can be chosen such that a field intensity profile 1810 of the guided electromagnetic waves extends nominally (or not at all) outside of the jacket 1806 . by maintaining most (if not all) of the field strength of the guided electromagnetic waves within portions of the dielectric core 1802 , the dielectric foam 1804 and/or the jacket 1806 , the transmission medium 1800 can be used in hostile environments without adversely affecting the propagation of the electromagnetic waves propagating therein. for example, the transmission medium 1800 can be buried in soil with no (or nearly no) adverse effect to the guided electromagnetic waves propagating in the transmission medium 1800 . similarly, the transmission medium 1800 can be exposed to water (e.g., rain or placed underwater) with no (or nearly no) adverse effect to the guided electromagnetic waves propagating in the transmission medium 1800 . in an embodiment, the propagation loss of guided electromagnetic waves in the foregoing embodiments can be 1 to 2 db per meter or better at an operating frequency of 60 ghz. depending on the operating frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves and/or the materials used for the transmission medium 1800 other propagation losses may be possible. additionally, depending on the materials used to construct the transmission medium 1800 , the transmission medium 1800 can in some embodiments be flexed laterally with no (or nearly no) adverse effect to the guided electromagnetic waves propagating through the dielectric core 1802 and the dielectric foam 1804 . fig. 18b depicts a transmission medium 1820 that differs from the transmission medium 1800 of fig. 18a , yet provides a further example of the transmission medium 125 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . the transmission medium 1820 shows similar reference numerals for similar elements of the transmission medium 1800 of fig. 18 a. in contrast to the transmission medium 1800 , the transmission medium 1820 comprises a conductive core 1822 having an insulation layer 1823 surrounding the conductive core 1822 in whole or in part. the combination of the insulation layer 1823 and the conductive core 1822 will be referred to herein as an insulated conductor 1825 . in the illustration of fig. 18b , the insulation layer 1823 is covered in whole or in part by a dielectric foam 1804 and jacket 1806 , which can be constructed from the materials previously described. in an embodiment, the insulation layer 1823 can comprise a dielectric material, such as polyethylene, having a higher dielectric constant than the dielectric foam 1804 (e.g., 2.3 and 1.15, respectively). in an embodiment, the components of the transmission medium 1820 can be coaxially aligned (although not necessary). in an embodiment, a hollow waveguide 1808 having metal plates 1809 , which can be separated from the insulation layer 1823 (although not necessary) can be used to launch guided electromagnetic waves that substantially propagate on an outer surface of the insulation layer 1823 , however other coupling devices as described herein can likewise be employed. in an embodiment, the guided electromagnetic waves can be sufficiently guided by or bound by the insulation layer 1823 to guide the electromagnetic waves longitudinally along the insulation layer 1823 . by adjusting operational parameters of the launcher, an operating frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves launched by the hollow waveguide 1808 can generate an electric field intensity profile 1824 that results in the guided electromagnetic waves being substantially confined within the dielectric foam 1804 thereby preventing the guided electromagnetic waves from being exposed to an environment (e.g., water, soil, etc.) that adversely affects propagation of the guided electromagnetic waves via the transmission medium 1820 . fig. 18c depicts a transmission medium 1830 that differs from the transmission mediums 1800 and 1820 of figs. 18a and 18b , yet provides a further example of the transmission medium 125 presented in conjunction with fig. 1 . the transmission medium 1830 shows similar reference numerals for similar elements of the transmission mediums 1800 and 1820 of figs. 18a and 18b , respectively. in contrast to the transmission mediums 1800 and 1820 , the transmission medium 1830 comprises a bare (or uninsulated) conductor 1832 surrounded in whole or in part by the dielectric foam 1804 and the jacket 1806 , which can be constructed from the materials previously described. in an embodiment, the components of the transmission medium 1830 can be coaxially aligned (although not necessary). in an embodiment, a hollow waveguide 1808 having metal plates 1809 coupled to the bare conductor 1832 can be used to launch guided electromagnetic waves that substantially propagate on an outer surface of the bare conductor 1832 , however other coupling devices described herein can likewise be employed. in an embodiment, the guided electromagnetic waves can be sufficiently guided by or bound by the bare conductor 1832 to guide the guided electromagnetic waves longitudinally along the bare conductor 1832 . by adjusting operational parameters of the launcher, an operating frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves launched by the hollow waveguide 1808 can generate an electric field intensity profile 1834 that results in the guided electromagnetic waves being substantially confined within the dielectric foam 1804 thereby preventing the guided electromagnetic waves from being exposed to an environment (e.g., water, soil, etc.) that adversely affects propagation of the electromagnetic waves via the transmission medium 1830 . it should be noted that the hollow launcher 1808 used with the transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 and 1830 of figs. 18a, 18b and 18c , respectively, can be replaced with other launchers or coupling devices. additionally, the propagation mode(s) of the electromagnetic waves for any of the foregoing embodiments can be fundamental mode(s), a non-fundamental (or asymmetric) mode(s), or combinations thereof. fig. 18d is a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of bundled transmission media 1836 in accordance with various aspects described herein. the bundled transmission media 1836 can comprise a plurality of cables 1838 held in place by a flexible sleeve 1839 . the plurality of cables 1838 can comprise multiple instances of cable 1800 of fig. 18a , multiple instances of cable 1820 of fig. 18b , multiple instances of cable 1830 of fig. 18c , or any combinations thereof. the sleeve 1839 can comprise a dielectric material that prevents soil, water or other external materials from making contact with the plurality of cables 1838 . in an embodiment, a plurality of launchers, each utilizing a transceiver similar to the one depicted in fig. 10a or other coupling devices described herein, can be adapted to selectively induce a guided electromagnetic wave in each cable, each guided electromagnetic wave conveys different data (e.g., voice, video, messaging, content, etc.). in an embodiment, by adjusting operational parameters of each launcher or other coupling device, the electric field intensity profile of each guided electromagnetic wave can be fully or substantially confined within layers of a corresponding cable 1838 to reduce cross-talk between cables 1838 . in situations where the electric field intensity profile of each guided electromagnetic wave is not fully or substantially confined within a corresponding cable 1838 , cross-talk of electromagnetic signals can occur between cables 1838 as illustrated by signal plots associated with two cables depicted in fig. 18e . the plots in fig. 18e show that when a guided electromagnetic wave is induced on a first cable, the emitted electric and magnetic fields of the first cable can induce signals on the second cable, which results in cross-talk. several mitigation options can be used to reduce cross-talk between the cables 1838 of fig. 18d . in an embodiment, an absorption material 1840 that can absorb electromagnetic fields, such as carbon, can be applied to the cables 1838 as shown in fig. 18f to polarize each guided electromagnetic wave at various polarization states to reduce cross-talk between cables 1838 . in another embodiment (not shown), carbon beads can be added to gaps between the cables 1838 to reduce cross-talk. in yet another embodiment (not shown), a diameter of cable 1838 can be configured differently to vary a speed of propagation of guided electromagnetic waves between the cables 1838 in order to reduce cross-talk between cables 1838 . in an embodiment (not shown), a shape of each cable 1838 can be made asymmetric (e.g., elliptical) to direct the guided electromagnetic fields of each cable 1838 away from each other to reduce cross-talk. in an embodiment (not shown), a filler material such as dielectric foam can be added between cables 1838 to sufficiently separate the cables 1838 to reduce cross-talk therebetween. in an embodiment (not shown), longitudinal carbon strips or swirls can be applied to on an outer surface of the jacket 1806 of each cable 1838 to reduce radiation of guided electromagnetic waves outside of the jacket 1806 and thereby reduce cross-talk between cables 1838 . in yet another embodiment, each launcher can be configured to launch a guided electromagnetic wave having a different frequency, modulation, wave propagation mode, such as an orthogonal frequency, modulation or mode, to reduce cross-talk between the cables 1838 . in yet another embodiment (not shown), pairs of cables 1838 can be twisted in a helix to reduce cross-talk between the pairs and other cables 1838 in a vicinity of the pairs. in some embodiments, certain cables 1838 can be twisted while other cables 1838 are not twisted to reduce cross-talk between the cables 1838 . additionally, each twisted pair cable 1838 can have different pitches (i.e., different twist rates, such as twists per meter) to further reduce cross-talk between the pairs and other cables 1838 in a vicinity of the pairs. in another embodiment (not shown), launchers or other coupling devices can be configured to induce guided electromagnetic waves in the cables 1838 having electromagnetic fields that extend beyond the jacket 1806 into gaps between the cables to reduce cross-talk between the cables 1838 . it is submitted that any one of the foregoing embodiments for mitigating cross-talk between cables 1838 can be combined to further reduce cross-talk therebetween. figs. 18g and 18h are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a transmission medium with an inner waveguide in accordance with various aspects described herein. in an embodiment, a transmission medium 1841 can comprise a core 1842 . in one embodiment, the core 1842 can be a dielectric core 1842 (e.g., polyethylene). in another embodiment, the core 1842 can be an insulated or uninsulated conductor. the core 1842 can be surrounded by a shell 1844 comprising a dielectric foam (e.g., expanded polyethylene material) having a lower dielectric constant than the dielectric constant of a dielectric core, or insulation layer of a conductive core. the difference in dielectric constants enables electromagnetic waves to be bound and guided by the core 1842 . the shell 1844 can be covered by a shell jacket 1845 . the shell jacket 1845 can be made of rigid material (e.g., high density plastic) or a high tensile strength material (e.g., synthetic fiber). in an embodiment, the shell jacket 1845 can be used to prevent exposure of the shell 1844 and core 1842 from an adverse environment (e.g., water, moisture, soil, etc.). in an embodiment, the shell jacket 1845 can be sufficiently rigid to separate an outer surface of the core 1842 from an inner surface of the shell jacket 1845 thereby resulting in a longitudinal gap between the shell jacket 1854 and the core 1842 . the longitudinal gap can be filled with the dielectric foam of the shell 1844 . the transmission medium 1841 can further include a plurality of outer ring conductors 1846 . the outer ring conductors 1846 can be strands of conductive material that are woven around the shell jacket 1845 , thereby covering the shell jacket 1845 in whole or in part. the outer ring conductors 1846 can serve the function of a power line having a return electrical path similar to the embodiments described in the subject disclosure for receiving power signals from a source (e.g., a transformer, a power generator, etc.). in one embodiment, the outer ring conductors 1846 can be covered by a cable jacket 1847 to prevent exposure of the outer ring conductors 1846 to water, soil, or other environmental factors. the cable jacket 1847 can be made of an insulating material such as polyethylene. the core 1842 can be used as a center waveguide for the propagation of electromagnetic waves. a hallow waveguide launcher 1808 , such as the circular waveguide previously described, can be used to launch signals that induce electromagnetic waves guided by the core 1842 in ways similar to those described for the embodiments of figs. 18a, 18b, and 18c . the electromagnetic waves can be guided by the core 1842 without utilizing the electrical return path of the outer ring conductors 1846 or any other electrical return path. by adjusting electronics of the launcher 1808 , an operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves can be chosen such that a field intensity profile of the guided electromagnetic waves extends nominally (or not at all) outside of the shell jacket 1845 . in another embodiment, a transmission medium 1843 can comprise a hollow core 1842 ′ surrounded by a shell jacket 1845 ′. the shell jacket 1845 ′ can have an inner conductive surface or other surface materials that enable the hollow core 1842 ′ to be used as a conduit for electromagnetic waves. the shell jacket 1845 ′ can be covered at least in part with the outer ring conductors 1846 described earlier for conducting a power signal. in an embodiment, a cable jacket 1847 can be disposed on an outer surface of the outer ring conductors 1846 to prevent exposure of the outer ring conductors 1846 to water, soil or other environmental factors. a waveguide launcher 1808 can be used to launch electromagnetic waves guided by the hollow core 1842 ′ and the conductive inner surface of the shell jacket 1845 ′. in an embodiment (not shown) the hollow core 1842 ′ can further include a dielectric foam such as described earlier. transmission medium 1841 can represent a multi-purpose cable that conducts power on the outer ring conductors 1846 utilizing an electrical return path and that provides communication services by way of an inner waveguide comprising a combination of the core 1842 , the shell 1844 and the shell jacket 1845 . the inner waveguide can be used for transmitting or receiving electromagnetic waves (without utilizing an electrical return path) guided by the core 1842 . similarly, transmission medium 1843 can represent a multi-purpose cable that conducts power on the outer ring conductors 1846 utilizing an electrical return path and that provides communication services by way of an inner waveguide comprising a combination of the hollow core 1842 ′ and the shell jacket 1845 ′. the inner waveguide can be used for transmitting or receiving electromagnetic waves (without utilizing an electrical return path) guided the hollow core 1842 ′ and the shell jacket 1845 ′. it is submitted that embodiments of figs. 18g-18h can be adapted to use multiple inner waveguides surrounded by outer ring conductors 1846 . the inner waveguides can be adapted to use to cross-talk mitigation techniques described above (e.g., twisted pairs of waveguides, waveguides of different structural dimensions, use of polarizers within the shell, use of different wave modes, etc.). for illustration purposes only, the transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 , 1830 1836 , 1841 and 1843 will be referred to herein as a cable 1850 with an understanding that cable 1850 can represent any one of the transmission mediums described in the subject disclosure, or a bundling of multiple instances thereof. for illustration purposes only, the dielectric core 1802 , insulated conductor 1825 , bare conductor 1832 , core 1842 , or hollow core 1842 ′ of the transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 , 1830 , 1836 , 1841 and 1843 , respectively, will be referred to herein as transmission core 1852 with an understanding that cable 1850 can utilize the dielectric core 1802 , insulated conductor 1825 , bare conductor 1832 , core 1842 , or hollow core 1842 ′ of transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 , 1830 , 1836 , 1841 and/or 1843 , respectively. turning now to figs. 18i and 18j , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of connector configurations that can be used by cable 1850 are shown. in one embodiment, cable 1850 can be configured with a female connection arrangement or a male connection arrangement as depicted in fig. 18i . the male configuration on the right of fig. 18i can be accomplished by stripping the dielectric foam 1804 (and jacket 1806 if there is one) to expose a portion of the transmission core 1852 . the female configuration on the left of fig. 18i can be accomplished by removing a portion of the transmission core 1852 , while maintaining the dielectric foam 1804 (and jacket 1806 if there is one). in an embodiment in which the transmission core 1852 is hollow as described in relation to fig. 18h , the male portion of the transmission core 1852 can represent a hollow core with a rigid outer surface that can slide into the female arrangement on the left side of fig. 18i to align the hollow cores together. it is further noted that in the embodiments of figs. 18g-18h , the outer ring of conductors 1846 can be modified to connect male and female portions of cable 1850 . based on the aforementioned embodiments, the two cables 1850 having male and female connector arrangements can be mated together. a sleeve with an adhesive inner lining or a shrink wrap material (not shown) can be applied to an area of a joint between cables 1850 to maintain the joint in a fixed position and prevent exposure (e.g., to water, soil, etc.). when the cables 1850 are mated, the transmission core 1852 of one cable will be in close proximity to the transmission core 1852 of the other cable. guided electromagnetic waves propagating by way of either the transmission core 1852 of cables 1850 traveling from either direction can cross over between the disjoint the transmission cores 1852 whether or not the transmission cores 1852 touch, whether or not the transmission cores 1852 are coaxially aligned, and/or whether or not there is a gap between the transmission cores 1852 . in another embodiment, a splicing device 1860 having female connector arrangements at both ends can be used to mate cables 1850 having male connector arrangements as shown in fig. 18j . in an alternative embodiment not shown in fig. 18j , the splicing device 1860 can be adapted to have male connector arrangements at both ends which can be mated to cables 1850 having female connector arrangements. in another embodiment not shown in fig. 18j , the splicing device 1860 can be adapted to have a male connector arrangement and a female connector arrangement at opposite ends which can be mated to cables 1850 having female and male connector arrangements, respectively. it is further noted that for a transmission core 1852 having a hollow core, the male and female arrangements described in fig. 18i can be applied to the splicing device 1860 whether the ends of the splicing device 1860 are both male, both female, or a combination thereof. the foregoing embodiments for connecting cables illustrated in figs. 18i-18j can be applied to each single instance of cable 1838 of bundled transmission media 1836 . similarly, the foregoing embodiments illustrated in figs. 18i-18j can be applied to each single instance of an inner waveguide for a cable 1841 or 1843 having multiple inner waveguides. turning now to fig. 18k , a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of transmission mediums 1800 ′, 1800 ″, 1800 ′″ and 1800 ″″ for propagating guided electromagnetic waves is shown. in an embodiment, a transmission medium 1800 ′ can include a core 1801 , and a dielectric foam 1804 ′ divided into sections and covered by a jacket 1806 as shown in fig. 18k . the core 1801 can be represented by the dielectric core 1802 of fig. 18a , the insulated conductor 1825 of fig. 18b , or the bare conductor 1832 of fig. 18c . each section of dielectric foam 1804 ′ can be separated by a gap (e.g., air, gas, vacuum, or a substance with a low dielectric constant). in an embodiment, the gap separations between the sections of dielectric foam 1804 ′ can be quasi-random as shown in fig. 18k , which can be helpful in reducing reflections of electromagnetic waves occurring at each section of dielectric foam 1804 ′ as they propagate longitudinally along the core 1801 . the sections of the dielectric foam 1804 ′ can be constructed, for example, as washers made of a dielectric foam having an inner opening for supporting the core 1801 in a fixed position. for illustration purposes only, the washers will be referred to herein as washers 1804 ′. in an embodiment, the inner opening of each washer 1804 ′ can be coaxially aligned with an axis of the core 1801 . in another embodiment, the inner opening of each washer 1804 ′ can be offset from the axis of the core 1801 . in another embodiment (not shown), each washer 1804 ′ can have a variable longitudinal thickness as shown by differences in thickness of the washers 1804 ′. in an alternative embodiment, a transmission medium 1800 ″ can include a core 1801 , and a strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″ wrapped around the core in a helix covered by a jacket 1806 as shown in fig. 18k . although it may not be apparent from the drawing shown in fig. 18k , in an embodiment the strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″ can be twisted around the core 1801 with variable pitches (i.e., different twist rates) for different sections of the strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″. utilizing variable pitches can help reduce reflections or other disturbances of the electromagnetic waves occurring between areas of the core 1801 not covered by the strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″. it is further noted that the thickness (diameter) of the strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″ can be substantially larger (e.g., 2 or more times larger) than diameter of the core 1801 shown in fig. 18k . in an alternative embodiment, a transmission medium 1800 ′″ (shown in a cross-sectional view) can include a non-circular core 1801 ′ covered by a dielectric foam 1804 and jacket 1806 . in an embodiment, the non-circular core 1801 ′ can have an elliptical structure as shown in fig. 18k , or other suitable non-circular structure. in another embodiment, the non-circular core 1801 ′ can have an asymmetric structure. a non-circular core 1801 ′ can be used to polarize the fields of electromagnetic waves induced on the non-circular core 1801 ′. the structure of the non-circular core 1801 ′ can help preserve the polarization of the electromagnetic waves as they propagate along the non-circular core 1801 ′. in an alternative embodiment, a transmission medium 1800 ″″ (shown in a cross-sectional view) can include multiple cores 1801 ″ (only two cores are shown but more are possible). the multiple cores 1801 ″ can be covered by a dielectric foam 1804 and jacket 1806 . the multiple cores 1801 ″ can be used to polarize the fields of electromagnetic waves induced on the multiple cores 1801 ″. the structure of the multiple cores 1801 ′ can preserve the polarization of the guided electromagnetic waves as they propagate along the multiple cores 1801 ″. it will be appreciated that the embodiments of fig. 18k can be used to modify the embodiments of figs. 18g-18h . for example, core 1842 or core 1842 ′ can be adapted to utilized sectionalized shells 1804 ′ with gaps therebetween, or one or more strips of dielectric foam 1804 ″. similarly, core 1842 or core 1842 ′ can be adapted to have a non-circular core 1801 ′ that may have symmetric or asymmetric cross-sectional structure. additionally, core 1842 or core 1842 ′ can be adapted to use multiple cores 1801 ″ in a single inner waveguide, or different numbers of cores when multiple inner waveguides are used. accordingly, any of the embodiments shown in fig. 18k can be applied singly or in combination to the embodiments of 18 g- 18 h. turning now to fig. 18l is a block diagram illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of bundled transmission media to mitigate cross-talk in accordance with various aspects described herein. in an embodiment, a bundled transmission medium 1836 ′ can include variable core structures 1803 . by varying the structures of cores 1803 , fields of guided electromagnetic waves induced in each of the cores of transmission medium 1836 ′ may differ sufficiently to reduce cross-talk between cables 1838 . in another embodiment, a bundled transmission media 1836 ″ can include a variable number of cores 1803 ′ per cable 1838 . by varying the number of cores 1803 ′ per cable 1838 , fields of guided electromagnetic waves induced in the one or more cores of transmission medium 1836 ″ may differ sufficiently to reduce cross-talk between cables 1838 . in another embodiment, the cores 1803 or 1803 ′ can be of different materials. for example, the cores 1803 or 1803 ′ can be a dielectric core 1802 , an insulated conductor core 1825 , a bare conductor core 1832 , or any combinations thereof. it is noted that the embodiments illustrated in figs. 18a-18d and 18f-18h can be modified by and/or combined with some of the embodiments of figs. 18k-18l . it is further noted that one or more of the embodiments illustrated in figs. 18k-18l can be combined (e.g., using sectionalized dielectric foam 1804 ′ or a helix strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″ with cores 1801 ′, 1801 ″, 1803 or 1803 ′). in some embodiments guided electromagnetic waves propagating in the transmission mediums 1800 ′, 1800 ″, 1800 ′″, and/or 1800 ″″ of fig. 18k may experience less propagation losses than guided electromagnetic waves propagating in the transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 and 1830 of figs. 18a-18c . additionally, the embodiments illustrated in figs. 18k-18l can be adapted to use the connectivity embodiments illustrated in figs. 18i-18j . turning now to fig. 18m , a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of exposed tapered stubs from the bundled transmission media 1836 for use as antennas 1855 is shown. each antenna 1855 can serve as a directional antenna for radiating wireless signals directed to wireless communication devices or for inducing electromagnetic wave propagation on a surface of a transmission medium (e.g., a power line). in an embodiment, the wireless signals radiated by the antennas 1855 can be beam steered by adapting the phase and/or other characteristics of the wireless signals generated by each antenna 1855 . in an embodiment, the antennas 1855 can individually be placed in a pie-pan antenna assembly for directing wireless signals in various directions. it is further noted that the terms “core”, “cladding”, “shell”, and “foam” as utilized in the subject disclosure can comprise any types of materials (or combinations of materials) that enable electromagnetic waves to remain bound to the core while propagating longitudinally along the core. for example, a strip of dielectric foam 1804 ″ described earlier can be replaced with a strip of an ordinary dielectric material (e.g., polyethylene) for wrapping around the dielectric core 1802 (referred to herein for illustration purposes only as a “wrap”). in this configuration an average density of the wrap can be small as a result of air space between sections of the wrap. consequently, an effective dielectric constant of the wrap can be less than the dielectric constant of the dielectric core 1802 , thereby enabling guided electromagnetic waves to remain bound to the core. accordingly, any of the embodiments of the subject disclosure relating to materials used for core(s) and wrappings about the core(s) can be structurally adapted and/or modified with other dielectric materials that achieve the result of maintaining electromagnetic waves bound to the core(s) while they propagate along the core(s). additionally, a core in whole or in part as described in any of the embodiments of the subject disclosure can comprise an opaque material (e.g., polyethylene) that is resistant to propagation of electromagnetic waves having an optical operating frequency. accordingly, electromagnetic waves guided and bound to the core will have a non-optical frequency range (e.g., less than the lowest frequency of visible light). figs. 18n, 18o, 18p, 18q, 18r, 18s and 18t are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a waveguide device for transmitting or receiving electromagnetic waves in accordance with various aspects described herein. in an embodiment, fig. 18n illustrates a front view of a waveguide device 1865 having a plurality of slots 1863 (e.g., openings or apertures) for emitting electromagnetic waves having radiated electric fields (e-fields) 1861 . in an embodiment, the radiated e-fields 1861 of pairs of symmetrically positioned slots 1863 (e.g., north and south slots of the waveguide 1865 ) can be directed away from each other (i.e., polar opposite radial orientations about the cable 1862 ). while the slots 1863 are shown as having a rectangular shape, other shapes such as other polygons, sector and arc shapes, ellipsoid shapes and other shapes are likewise possible. for illustration purposes only, the term north will refer to a relative direction as shown in the figures. all references in the subject disclosure to other directions (e.g., south, east, west, northwest, and so forth) will be relative to northern illustration. in an embodiment, to achieve e-fields with opposing orientations at the north and south slots 1863 , for example, the north and south slots 1863 can be arranged to have a circumferential distance between each other that is approximately one wavelength of electromagnetic waves signals supplied to these slots. the waveguide 1865 can have a cylindrical cavity in a center of the waveguide 1865 to enable placement of a cable 1862 . in one embodiment, the cable 1862 can comprise an insulated conductor. in another embodiment, the cable 1862 can comprise an uninsulated conductor. in yet other embodiments, the cable 1862 can comprise any of the embodiments of a transmission core 1852 of cable 1850 previously described. in one embodiment, the cable 1862 can slide into the cylindrical cavity of the waveguide 1865 . in another embodiment, the waveguide 1865 can utilize an assembly mechanism (not shown). the assembly mechanism (e.g., a hinge or other suitable mechanism that provides a way to open the waveguide 1865 at one or more locations) can be used to enable placement of the waveguide 1865 on an outer surface of the cable 1862 or otherwise to assemble separate pieces together to form the waveguide 1865 as shown. according to these and other suitable embodiments, the waveguide 1865 can be configured to wrap around the cable 1862 like a collar. fig. 18o illustrates a side view of an embodiment of the waveguide 1865 . the waveguide 1865 can be adapted to have a hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 that receives electromagnetic waves 1866 generated by a transmitter circuit as previously described in the subject disclosure (e.g., see figs. 1 and 10a ). the electromagnetic waves 1866 can be distributed by the hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 into in a hollow collar 1869 of the waveguide 1865 . the rectangular waveguide portion 1867 and the hollow collar 1869 can be constructed of materials suitable for maintaining the electromagnetic waves within the hollow chambers of these assemblies (e.g., carbon fiber materials). it should be noted that while the waveguide portion 1867 is shown and described in a hollow rectangular configuration, other shapes and/or other non-hollow configurations can be employed. in particular, the waveguide portion 1867 can have a square or other polygonal cross section, an arc or sector cross section that is truncated to conform to the outer surface of the cable 1862 , a circular or ellipsoid cross section or cross sectional shape. in addition, the waveguide portion 1867 can be configured as, or otherwise include, a solid dielectric material. as previously described, the hollow collar 1869 can be configured to emit electromagnetic waves from each slot 1863 with opposite e-fields 1861 at pairs of symmetrically positioned slots 1863 and 1863 ′. in an embodiment, the electromagnetic waves emitted by the combination of slots 1863 and 1863 ′ can in turn induce electromagnetic waves 1868 on that are bound to the cable 1862 for propagation according to a fundamental wave mode without other wave modes present—such as non-fundamental wave modes. in this configuration, the electromagnetic waves 1868 can propagate longitudinally along the cable 1862 to other downstream waveguide systems coupled to the cable 1862 . it should be noted that since the hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 of fig. 18o is closer to slot 1863 (at the northern position of the waveguide 1865 ), slot 1863 can emit electromagnetic waves having a stronger magnitude than electromagnetic waves emitted by slot 1863 ′ (at the southern position). to reduce magnitude differences between these slots, slot 1863 ′ can be made larger than slot 1863 . the technique of utilizing different slot sizes to balance signal magnitudes between slots can be applied to any of the embodiments of the subject disclosure relating to figs. 18n, 18o, 18q, 18s, 18u and 18v —some of which are described below. in another embodiment, fig. 18p depicts a waveguide 1865 ′ that can be configured to utilize circuitry such as monolithic microwave integrated circuits (mmics) 1870 each coupled to a signal input 1872 (e.g., coaxial cable that provides a communication signal). the signal input 1872 can be generated by a transmitter circuit as previously described in the subject disclosure (e.g., see reference 101 , 1000 of figs. 1 and 10a ) adapted to provide electrical signals to the mmics 1870 . each mmic 1870 can be configured to receive signal 1872 which the mmic 1870 can modulate and transmit with a radiating element (e.g., an antenna) to emit electromagnetic waves having radiated e-fields 1861 . in one embodiment, the mmics 1870 can be configured to receive the same signal 1872 , but transmit electromagnetic waves having e-fields 1861 of opposing orientation. this can be accomplished by configuring one of the mmics 1870 to transmit electromagnetic waves that are 180 degrees out of phase with the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the other mmic 1870 . in an embodiment, the combination of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the mmics 1870 can together induce electromagnetic waves 1868 that are bound to the cable 1862 for propagation according to a fundamental wave mode without other wave modes present—such as non-fundamental wave modes. in this configuration, the electromagnetic waves 1868 can propagate longitudinally along the cable 1862 to other downstream waveguide systems coupled to the cable 1862 . a tapered horn 1880 can be added to the embodiments of figs. 18o and 18p to assist in the inducement of the electromagnetic waves 1868 on cable 1862 as depicted in figs. 18q and 18r . in an embodiment where the cable 1862 is an uninsulated conductor, the electromagnetic waves induced on the cable 1862 can have a large radial dimension (e.g., 1 meter). to enable use of a smaller tapered horn 1880 , an insulation layer 1879 can be applied on a portion of the cable 1862 at or near the cavity as depicted with hash lines in figs. 18q and 18r . the insulation layer 1879 can have a tapered end facing away from the waveguide 1865 . the added insulation enables the electromagnetic waves 1868 initially launched by the waveguide 1865 (or 1865 ′) to be tightly bound to the insulation, which in turn reduces the radial dimension of the electromagnetic fields 1868 (e.g., centimeters). as the electromagnetic waves 1868 propagate away from the waveguide 1865 ( 1865 ′) and reach the tapered end of the insulation layer 1879 , the radial dimension of the electromagnetic waves 1868 begin to increase eventually achieving the radial dimension they would have had had the electromagnetic waves 1868 been induced on the uninsulated conductor without an insulation layer. in the illustration of figs. 18q and 18r the tapered end begins at an end of the tapered horn 1880 . in other embodiments, the tapered end of the insulation layer 1879 can begin before or after the end of the tapered horn 1880 . the tapered horn can be metallic or constructed of other conductive material or constructed of a plastic or other non-conductive material that is coated or clad with a dielectric layer or doped with a conductive material to provide reflective properties similar to a metallic horn. in an embodiment, cable 1862 can comprise any of the embodiments of cable 1850 described earlier. in this embodiment, waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ can be coupled to a transmission core 1852 of cable 1850 as depicted in figs. 18s and 18t . the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ can induce, as previously described, electromagnetic waves 1868 on the transmission core 1852 for propagation entirely or partially within inner layers of cable 1850 . it is noted that for the foregoing embodiments of figs. 18q, 18r, 18s and 18t , electromagnetic waves 1868 can be bidirectional. for example, electromagnetic waves 1868 of a different operating frequency can be received by slots 1863 or mmics 1870 of the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′, respectively. once received, the electromagnetic waves can be converted by a receiver circuit (e.g., see reference 101 , 1000 of figs. 1 and 10a ) for generating a communication signal for processing. although not shown, it is further noted that the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ can be adapted so that the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ can direct electromagnetic waves 1868 upstream or downstream longitudinally. for example, a first tapered horn 1880 coupled to a first instance of a waveguide 1865 or 1865 ′ can be directed westerly on cable 1862 , while a second tapered horn 1880 coupled to a second instance of a waveguide 1865 or 1865 ′ can be directed easterly on cable 1862 . the first and second instances of the waveguides 1865 or 1865 ′ can be coupled so that in a repeater configuration, signals received by the first waveguide 1865 or 1865 ′ can be provided to the second waveguide 1865 or 1865 ′ for retransmission in an easterly direction on cable 1862 . the repeater configuration just described can also be applied from an easterly to westerly direction on cable 1862 . the waveguide 1865 of figs. 18n, 18o, 18q and 18s can also be configured to generate electromagnetic fields having only non-fundamental or asymmetric wave modes. fig. 18u depicts an embodiment of a waveguide 1865 that can be adapted to generate electromagnetic fields having only non-fundamental wave modes. a median line 1890 represents a separation between slots where electrical currents on a backside (not shown) of a frontal plate of the waveguide 1865 change polarity. for example, electrical currents on the backside of the frontal plate corresponding to e-fields that are radially outward (i.e., point away from a center point of cable 1862 ) can in some embodiments be associated with slots located outside of the median line 1890 (e.g., slots 1863 a and 1863 b). electrical currents on the backside of the frontal plate corresponding to e-fields that are radially inward (i.e., point towards a center point of cable 1862 ) can in some embodiments be associated with slots located inside of the median line 1890 . the direction of the currents can depend on the operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves 1866 supplied to the hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 (see fig. 18o ) among other parameters. for illustration purposes, assume the electromagnetic waves 1866 supplied to the hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 have an operating frequency whereby a circumferential distance between slots 1863 a and 1863 b is one full wavelength of the electromagnetic waves 1866 . in this instance, the e-fields of the electromagnetic waves emitted by slots 1863 a and 1863 b point radially outward (i.e., have opposing orientations). when the electromagnetic waves emitted by slots 1863 a and 1863 b are combined, the resulting electromagnetic waves on cable 1862 will propagate according to the fundamental wave mode. in contrast, by repositioning one of the slots (e.g., slot 1863 b) inside the media line 1890 (i.e., slot 1863 c), slot 1863 c will generate electromagnetic waves that have e-fields that are approximately 180 degrees out of phase with the e-fields of the electromagnetic waves generated by slot 1863 a. consequently, the e-field orientations of the electromagnetic waves generated by slot pairs 1863 a and 1863 c will be substantially aligned. the combination of the electromagnetic waves emitted by slot pairs 1863 a and 1863 c will thus generate electromagnetic waves that are bound to the cable 1862 for propagation according to a non-fundamental wave mode. to achieve a reconfigurable slot arrangement, waveguide 1865 can be adapted according to the embodiments depicted in fig. 18v . configuration (a) depicts a waveguide 1865 having a plurality of symmetrically positioned slots. each of the slots 1863 of configuration (a) can be selectively disabled by blocking the slot with a material (e.g., carbon fiber or metal) to prevent the emission of electromagnetic waves. a blocked (or disabled) slot 1863 is shown in black, while an enabled (or unblocked) slot 1863 is shown in white. although not shown, a blocking material can be placed behind (or in front) of the frontal plate of the waveguide 1865 . a mechanism (not shown) can be coupled to the blocking material so that the blocking material can slide in or out of a particular slot 1863 much like closing or opening a window with a cover. the mechanism can be coupled to a linear motor controllable by circuitry of the waveguide 1865 to selectively enable or disable individual slots 1863 . with such a mechanism at each slot 1863 , the waveguide 1865 can be configured to select different configurations of enabled and disabled slots 1863 as depicted in the embodiments of fig. 18v . other methods or techniques for covering or opening slots (e.g., utilizing rotatable disks behind or in front of the waveguide 1865 ) can be applied to the embodiments of the subject disclosure. in one embodiment, the waveguide system 1865 can be configured to enable certain slots 1863 outside the median line 1890 and disable certain slots 1863 inside the median line 1890 as shown in configuration (b) to generate fundamental waves. assume, for example, that the circumferential distance between slots 1863 outside the median line 1890 (i.e., in the northern and southern locations of the waveguide system 1865 ) is one full wavelength. these slots will therefore have electric fields (e-fields) pointing at certain instances in time radially outward as previously described. in contrast, the slots inside the median line 1890 (i.e., in the western and eastern locations of the waveguide system 1865 ) will have a circumferential distance of one-half a wavelength relative to either of the slots 1863 outside the median line. since the slots inside the median line 1890 are half a wavelength apart, such slots will produce electromagnetic waves having e-fields pointing radially outward. if the western and eastern slots 1863 outside the median line 1890 had been enabled instead of the western and eastern slots inside the median line 1890 , then the e-fields emitted by those slots would have pointed radially inward, which when combined with the electric fields of the northern and southern would produce non-fundamental wave mode propagation. accordingly, configuration (b) as depicted in fig. 18v can be used to generate electromagnetic waves at the northern and southern slots 1863 having e-fields that point radially outward and electromagnetic waves at the western and eastern slots 1863 with e-fields that also point radially outward, which when combined induce electromagnetic waves on cable 1862 having a fundamental wave mode. in another embodiment, the waveguide system 1865 can be configured to enable a northerly, southerly, westerly and easterly slots 1863 all outside the median line 1890 , and disable all other slots 1863 as shown in configuration (c). assuming the circumferential distance between a pair of opposing slots (e.g., northerly and southerly, or westerly and easterly) is a full wavelength apart, then configuration (c) can be used to generate electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode with some e-fields pointing radially outward and other fields pointing radially inward. in yet another embodiment, the waveguide system 1865 can be configured to enable a northwesterly slot 1863 outside the median line 1890 , enable a southeasterly slot 1863 inside the median line 1890 , and disable all other slots 1863 as shown in configuration (d). assuming the circumferential distance between such a pair of slots is a full wavelength apart, then such a configuration can be used to generate electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode with e-fields aligned in a northwesterly direction. in another embodiment, the waveguide system 1865 can be configured to produce electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode with e-fields aligned in a southwesterly direction. this can be accomplished by utilizing a different arrangement than used in configuration (d). configuration (e) can be accomplished by enabling a southwesterly slot 1863 outside the median line 1890 , enabling a northeasterly slot 1863 inside the median line 1890 , and disabling all other slots 1863 as shown in configuration (e). assuming the circumferential distance between such a pair of slots is a full wavelength apart, then such a configuration can be used to generate electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode with e-fields aligned in a southwesterly direction. configuration (e) thus generates a non-fundamental wave mode that is orthogonal to the non-fundamental wave mode of configuration (d). in yet another embodiment, the waveguide system 1865 can be configured to generate electromagnetic waves having a fundamental wave mode with e-fields that point radially inward. this can be accomplished by enabling a northerly slot 1863 inside the median line 1890 , enabling a southerly slot 1863 inside the median line 1890 , enabling an easterly slot outside the median 1890 , enabling a westerly slot 1863 outside the median 1890 , and disabling all other slots 1863 as shown in configuration (f). assuming the circumferential distance between the northerly and southerly slots is a full wavelength apart, then such a configuration can be used to generate electromagnetic waves having a fundamental wave mode with radially inward e-fields. although the slots selected in configurations (b) and (f) are different, the fundamental wave modes generated by configurations (b) and (f) are the same. it yet another embodiment, e-fields can be manipulated between slots to generate fundamental or non-fundamental wave modes by varying the operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves 1866 supplied to the hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 . for example, assume in the illustration of fig. 18u that for a particular operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves 1866 the circumferential distance between slot 1863 a and 1863 b is one full wavelength of the electromagnetic waves 1866 . in this instance, the e-fields of electromagnetic waves emitted by slots 1863 a and 1863 b will point radially outward as shown, and can be used in combination to induce electromagnetic waves on cable 1862 having a fundamental wave mode. in contrast, the e-fields of electromagnetic waves emitted by slots 1863 a and 1863 c will be radially aligned (i.e., pointing northerly) as shown, and can be used in combination to induce electromagnetic waves on cable 1862 having a non-fundamental wave mode. now suppose that the operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves 1866 supplied to the hollow rectangular waveguide portion 1867 is changed so that the circumferential distance between slot 1863 a and 1863 b is one-half a wavelength of the electromagnetic waves 1866 . in this instance, the e-fields of electromagnetic waves emitted by slots 1863 a and 1863 b will be radially aligned (i.e., point in the same direction). that is, the e-fields of electromagnetic waves emitted by slot 1863 b will point in the same direction as the e-fields of electromagnetic waves emitted by slot 1863 a. such electromagnetic waves can be used in combination to induce electromagnetic waves on cable 1862 having a non-fundamental wave mode. in contrast, the e-fields of electromagnetic waves emitted by slots 1863 a and 1863 c will be radially outward (i.e., away from cable 1862 ), and can be used in combination to induce electromagnetic waves on cable 1862 having a fundamental wave mode. in another embodiment, the waveguide 1865 ′ of figs. 18p, 18r and 18t can also be configured to generate electromagnetic waves having only non-fundamental wave modes. this can be accomplished by adding more mmics 1870 as depicted in fig. 18w . each mmic 1870 can be configured to receive the same signal input 1872 . however, mmics 1870 can selectively be configured to emit electromagnetic waves having differing phases using controllable phase-shifting circuitry in each mmic 1870 . for example, the northerly and southerly mmics 1870 can be configured to emit electromagnetic waves having a 180 degree phase difference, thereby aligning the e-fields either in a northerly or southerly direction. any combination of pairs of mmics 1870 (e.g., westerly and easterly mmics 1870 , northwesterly and southeasterly mmics 1870 , northeasterly and southwesterly mmics 1870 ) can be configured with opposing or aligned e-fields. consequently, waveguide 1865 ′ can be configured to generate electromagnetic waves with one or more non-fundamental wave modes, electromagnetic waves with one or more fundamental wave modes, or any combinations thereof. it is submitted that it is not necessary to select slots 1863 in pairs to generate electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode. for example, electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode can be generated by enabling a single slot from the plurality of slots shown in configuration (a) of fig. 18v and disabling all other slots. similarly, a single mmic 1870 of the mmics 1870 shown in fig. 18w can be configured to generate electromagnetic waves having a non-fundamental wave mode while all other mmics 1870 are not in use or disabled. likewise other wave modes and wave mode combinations can be induced by enabling other non-null proper subsets of waveguide slots 1863 or the mmics 1870 . it is further submitted that the e-field arrows shown in figs. 18u-18v are illustrative only and represent a static depiction of e-fields. in practice, the electromagnetic waves may have oscillating e-fields, which at one instance in time point outwardly, and at another instance in time point inwardly. for example, in the case of non-fundamental wave modes having e-fields that are aligned in one direction (e.g., northerly), such waves may at another instance in time have e-fields that point in an opposite direction (e.g., southerly). similarly, fundamental wave modes having e-fields that are radial may at one instance have e-fields that point radially away from the cable 1862 and at another instance in time point radially towards the cable 1862 . it is further noted that the embodiments of figs. 18u-18w can be adapted to generate electromagnetic waves with one or more non-fundamental wave modes, electromagnetic waves with one or more fundamental wave modes (e.g., tm00 and he11 modes), or any combinations thereof. it is further noted that such adaptions can be used in combination with any embodiments described in the subject disclosure. it is also noted that the embodiments of figs. 18u-18w can be combined (e.g., slots used in combination with mmics). it is further noted that in some embodiments, the waveguide systems 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w may generate combinations of fundamental and non-fundamental wave modes where one wave mode is dominant over the other. for example, in one embodiment electromagnetic waves generated by the waveguide systems 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w may have a weak signal component that has a non-fundamental wave mode, and a substantially strong signal component that has a fundamental wave mode. accordingly, in this embodiment, the electromagnetic waves have a substantially fundamental wave mode. in another embodiment electromagnetic waves generated by the waveguide systems 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w may have a weak signal component that has a fundamental wave mode, and a substantially strong signal component that has a non-fundamental wave mode. accordingly, in this embodiment, the electromagnetic waves have a substantially non-fundamental wave mode. further, a non-dominant wave mode may be generated that propagates only trivial distances along the length of the transmission medium. it is also noted that the waveguide systems 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w can be configured to generate instances of electromagnetic waves that have wave modes that can differ from a resulting wave mode or modes of the combined electromagnetic wave. it is further noted that each mmic 1870 of the waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18w can be configured to generate an instance of electromagnetic waves having wave characteristics that differ from the wave characteristics of another instance of electromagnetic waves generated by another mmic 1870 . one mmic 1870 , for example, can generate an instance of an electromagnetic wave having a spatial orientation and a phase, frequency, magnitude, electric field orientation, and/or magnetic field orientation that differs from the spatial orientation and phase, frequency, magnitude, electric field orientation, and/or magnetic field orientation of a different instance of another electromagnetic wave generated by another mmic 1870 . the waveguide system 1865 ′ can thus be configured to generate instances of electromagnetic waves having different wave and spatial characteristics, which when combined achieve resulting electromagnetic waves having one or more desirable wave modes. from these illustrations, it is submitted that the waveguide systems 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w can be adapted to generate electromagnetic waves with one or more selectable wave modes. in one embodiment, for example, the waveguide systems 1865 and 1865 ′ can be adapted to select one or more wave modes and generate electromagnetic waves having a single wave mode or multiple wave modes selected and produced from a process of combining instances of electromagnetic waves having one or more configurable wave and spatial characteristics. in an embodiment, for example, parametric information can be stored in a look-up table. each entry in the look-up table can represent a selectable wave mode. a selectable wave mode can represent a single wave mode, or a combination of wave modes. the combination of wave modes can have one or dominant wave modes. the parametric information can provide configuration information for generating instances of electromagnetic waves for producing resultant electromagnetic waves that have the desired wave mode. for example, once a wave mode or modes is selected, the parametric information obtained from the look-up table from the entry associated with the selected wave mode(s) can be used to identify which of one or more mmics 1870 to utilize, and/or their corresponding configurations to achieve electromagnetic waves having the desired wave mode(s). the parametric information may identify the selection of the one or more mmics 1870 based on the spatial orientations of the mmics 1870 , which may be required for producing electromagnetic waves with the desired wave mode. the parametric information can also provide information to configure each of the one or more mmics 1870 with a particular phase, frequency, magnitude, electric field orientation, and/or magnetic field orientation which may or may not be the same for each of the selected mmics 1870 . a look-up table with selectable wave modes and corresponding parametric information can be adapted for configuring the slotted waveguide system 1865 . in some embodiments, a guided electromagnetic wave can be considered to have a desired wave mode if the corresponding wave mode propagates non-trivial distances on a transmission medium and has a field strength that is substantially greater in magnitude (e.g., 20 db higher in magnitude) than other wave modes that may or may not be desirable. such a desired wave mode or modes can be referred to as dominant wave mode(s) with the other wave modes being referred to as non-dominant wave modes. in a similar fashion, a guided electromagnetic wave that is said to be substantially without the fundamental wave mode has either no fundamental wave mode or a non-dominant fundamental wave mode. a guided electromagnetic wave that is said to be substantially without a non-fundamental wave mode has either no non-fundamental wave mode(s) or only non-dominant non-fundamental wave mode(s). in some embodiments, a guided electromagnetic wave that is said to have only a single wave mode or a selected wave mode may have only one corresponding dominant wave mode. it is further noted that the embodiments of figs. 18u-18w can be applied to other embodiments of the subject disclosure. for example, the embodiments of figs. 18u-18w can be used as alternate embodiments to the embodiments depicted in figs. 18n-18t or can be combined with the embodiments depicted in figs. 18n-18t . turning now to figs. 19a and 19b , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna and corresponding gain and field intensity plots in accordance with various aspects described herein are shown. fig. 19a depicts a dielectric horn antenna 1901 having a conical structure. the dielectric horn antenna 1901 is coupled to one end 1902 ′ of a feedline 1902 having a feed point 1902 ″ at an opposite end of the feedline 1902 . the dielectric horn antenna 1901 and the feedline 1902 (as well as other embodiments of the dielectric antenna described below in the subject disclosure) can be constructed of dielectric materials such as a polyethylene material, a polyurethane material or other suitable dielectric material (e.g., a synthetic resin, other plastics, etc.). the dielectric horn antenna 1901 and the feedline 1902 (as well as other embodiments of the dielectric antenna described below in the subject disclosure) can be adapted to be substantially or entirely devoid of any conductive materials. for example, the external surfaces 1907 of the dielectric horn antenna 1901 and the feedline 1902 can be non-conductive or substantially non-conductive with at least 95% of the external surface area being non-conductive and the dielectric materials used to construct the dielectric horn antenna 1901 and the feedline 1902 can be such that they substantially do not contain impurities that may be conductive (e.g., such as less than 1 part per thousand) or result in imparting conductive properties. in other embodiments, however, a limited number of conductive components can be used such as a metallic connector component used for coupling to the feed point 1902 ″ of the feedline 1902 with one or more screws, rivets or other coupling elements used to bind components to one another, and/or one or more structural elements that do not significantly alter the radiation pattern of the dielectric antenna. the feed point 1902 ″ can be adapted to couple to a core 1852 such as previously described by way of illustration in figs. 18i and 18j . in one embodiment, the feed point 1902 ″ can be coupled to the core 1852 utilizing a joint (not shown in fig. 19a ) such as the splicing device 1860 of fig. 18j . other embodiments for coupling the feed point 1902 ″ to the core 1852 can be used. in an embodiment, the joint can be configured to cause the feed point 1902 ″ to touch an endpoint of the core 1852 . in another embodiment, the joint can create a gap between the feed point 1902 ″ and an end of the core 1852 . in yet another embodiment, the joint can cause the feed point 1902 ″ and the core 1852 to be coaxially aligned or partially misaligned. notwithstanding any combination of the foregoing embodiments, electromagnetic waves can in whole or at least in part propagate between the junction of the feed point 1902 ″ and the core 1852 . the cable 1850 can be coupled to the waveguide system 1865 depicted in fig. 18s or the waveguide system 1865 ′ depicted in fig. 18t . for illustration purposes only, reference will be made to the waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18t . it is understood, however, that the waveguide system 1865 of fig. 18s or other waveguide systems can also be utilized in accordance with the discussions that follow. the waveguide system 1865 ′ can be configured to select a wave mode (e.g., non-fundamental wave mode, fundamental wave mode, a hybrid wave mode, or combinations thereof as described earlier) and transmit instances of electromagnetic waves having a non-optical operating frequency (e.g., 60 ghz). the electromagnetic waves can be directed to an interface of the cable 1850 as shown in fig. 18t . the instances of electromagnetic waves generated by the waveguide system 1865 ′ can induce a combined electromagnetic wave having the selected wave mode that propagates from the core 1852 to the feed point 1902 ″. the combined electromagnetic wave can propagate partly inside the core 1852 and partly on an outer surface of the core 1852 . once the combined electromagnetic wave has propagated through the junction between the core 1852 and the feed point 1902 ″, the combined electromagnetic wave can continue to propagate partly inside the feedline 1902 and partly on an outer surface of the feedline 1902 . in some embodiments, the portion of the combined electromagnetic wave that propagates on the outer surface of the core 1852 and the feedline 1902 is small. in these embodiments, the combined electromagnetic wave can be said to be guided by and tightly coupled to the core 1852 and the feedline 1902 while propagating longitudinally towards the dielectric antenna 1901 . when the combined electromagnetic wave reaches a proximal portion of the dielectric antenna 1901 (at a junction 1902 ′ between the feedline 1902 and the dielectric antenna 1901 ), the combined electromagnetic wave enters the proximal portion of the dielectric antenna 1901 and propagates longitudinally along an axis of the dielectric antenna 1901 (shown as a hashed line). by the time the combined electromagnetic wave reaches the aperture 1903 , the combined electromagnetic wave has an intensity pattern similar to the one shown by the side view and front view depicted in fig. 19b . the electric field intensity pattern of fig. 19b shows that the electric fields of the combined electromagnetic waves are strongest in a center region of the aperture 1903 and weaker in the outer regions. in an embodiment, where the wave mode of the electromagnetic waves propagating in the dielectric antenna 1901 is a hybrid wave mode (e.g., he11), the leakage of the electromagnetic waves at the external surfaces 1907 is reduced or in some instances eliminated. it is further noted that while the dielectric antenna 1901 is constructed of a solid dielectric material having no physical opening, the front or operating face of the dielectric antenna 1901 from which free space wireless signals are radiated or received will be referred to as the aperture 1903 of the dielectric antenna 1901 even though in some prior art systems the term aperture may be used to describe an opening of an antenna that radiates or receives free space wireless signals. methods for launching a hybrid wave mode on cable 1850 is discussed below. in an embodiment, the far-field antenna gain pattern depicted in fig. 19b can be widened by decreasing the operating frequency of the combined electromagnetic wave from a nominal frequency. similarly, the gain pattern can be narrowed by increasing the operating frequency of the combined electromagnetic wave from the nominal frequency. accordingly, a width of a beam of wireless signals emitted by the aperture 1903 can be controlled by configuring the waveguide system 1865 ′ to increase or decrease the operating frequency of the combined electromagnetic wave. the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19a can also be used for receiving wireless signals, such as free space wireless signals transmitted by either a similar antenna or conventional antenna design. wireless signals received by the dielectric antenna 1901 at the aperture 1903 induce electromagnetic waves in the dielectric antenna 1901 that propagate towards the feedline 1902 . the electromagnetic waves continue to propagate from the feedline 1902 to the junction between the feed point 1902 ″ and an endpoint of the core 1852 , and are thereby delivered to the waveguide system 1865 ′ coupled to the cable 1850 as shown in fig. 18t . in this configuration, the waveguide system 1865 ′ can perform bidirectional communications utilizing the dielectric antenna 1901 . it is further noted that in some embodiments the core 1852 of the cable 1850 (shown with dashed lines) can be configured to be collinear with the feed point 1902 ″ to avoid a bend shown in fig. 19a . in some embodiments, a collinear configuration can reduce an alteration in the propagation of the electromagnetic due to the bend in cable 1850 . turning now to figs. 19c and 19d , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna 1901 coupled to or integrally constructed with a lens 1912 and corresponding gain and field intensity plots in accordance with various aspects described herein are shown. in one embodiment, the lens 1912 can comprise a dielectric material having a first dielectric constant that is substantially similar or equal to a second dielectric constant of the dielectric antenna 1901 . in other embodiments, the lens 1912 can comprise a dielectric material having a first dielectric constant that differs from a second dielectric constant of the dielectric antenna 1901 . in either of these embodiments, the shape of the lens 1912 can be chosen or formed so as to equalize the delays of the various electromagnetic waves propagating at different points in the dielectric antenna 1901 . in one embodiment, the lens 1912 can be an integral part of the dielectric antenna 1901 as depicted in the top diagram of fig. 19c and in particular, the lens and dielectric antenna 1901 can be molded, machined or otherwise formed from a single piece of dielectric material. alternatively, the lens 1912 can be an assembly component of the dielectric antenna 1901 as depicted in the bottom diagram of fig. 19c , which can be attached by way of an adhesive material, brackets on the outer edges, or other suitable attachment techniques. the lens 1912 can have a convex structure as shown in fig. 19c which is adapted to adjust a propagation of electromagnetic waves in the dielectric antenna 1901 . while a round lens and conical dielectric antenna configuration is shown, other shapes include pyramidal shapes, elliptical shapes and other geometric shapes can likewise be implemented. in particular, the curvature of the lens 1912 can be chosen in manner that reduces phase differences between near-field wireless signals generated by the aperture 1903 of the dielectric antenna 1901 . the lens 1912 accomplishes this by applying location-dependent delays to propagating electromagnetic waves. because of the curvature of the lens 1912 , the delays differ depending on where the electromagnetic waves emanate from at the aperture 1903 . for example, electromagnetic waves propagating by way of a center axis 1905 of the dielectric antenna 1901 will experience more delay through the lens 1912 than electromagnetic waves propagating radially away from the center axis 1905 . electromagnetic waves propagating towards, for example, the outer edges of the aperture 1903 will experience minimal or no delay through the lens. propagation delay increases as the electromagnetic waves get close to the center axis 1905 . accordingly, a curvature of the lens 1912 can be configured so that near-field wireless signals have substantially similar phases. by reducing differences between phases of the near-field wireless signals, a width of far-field signals generated by the dielectric antenna 1901 is reduced, which in turn increases the intensity of the far-field wireless signals within the width of the main lobe as shown by the far-field intensity plot shown in fig. 19d , producing a relatively narrow beam pattern with high gain. turning now to figs. 19e and 19f , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna 1901 coupled to a lens 1912 with ridges (or steps) 1914 and corresponding gain and field intensity plots in accordance with various aspects described herein are shown. in these illustration, the lens 1912 can comprise concentric ridges 1914 shown in the side and perspective views of fig. 19e . each ridge 1914 can comprise a riser 1916 and a tread 1918 . the size of the tread 1918 changes depending on the curvature of the aperture 1903 . for example, the tread 1918 at the center of the aperture 1903 can be greater than the tread at the outer edges of the aperture 1903 . to reduce reflections of electromagnetic waves that reach the aperture 1903 , each riser 1916 can be configured to have a depth representative of a select wavelength factor. for example, a riser 1916 can be configured to have a depth of one-quarter a wavelength of the electromagnetic waves propagating in the dielectric antenna 1901 . such a configuration causes the electromagnetic wave reflected from one riser 1916 to have a phase difference of 180 degrees relative to the electromagnetic wave reflected from an adjacent riser 1916 . consequently, the out of phase electromagnetic waves reflected from the adjacent risers 1916 substantially cancel, thereby reducing reflection and distortion caused thereby. while a particular riser/tread configuration is shown, other configurations with a differing number of risers, differing riser shapes, etc. can likewise be implemented. in some embodiments, the lens 1912 with concentric ridges depicted in fig. 19e may experience less electromagnetic wave reflections than the lens 1912 having the smooth convex surface depicted in fig. 19c . fig. 19f depicts the resulting far-field gain plot of the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19e . turning now to fig. 19g , a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dielectric antenna 1901 having an elliptical structure in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. fig. 19g depicts a side view, top view, and front view of the dielectric antenna 1901 . the elliptical shape is achieved by reducing a height of the dielectric antenna 1901 as shown by reference 1922 and by elongating the dielectric antenna 1901 as shown by reference 1924 . the resulting elliptical shape 1926 is shown in the front view depicted by fig. 19g . the elliptical shape can be formed, via machining, with a mold tool or other suitable construction technique. turning now to fig. 19h , a block diagram illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of near-field signals 1928 and far-field signals 1930 emitted by the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19g in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. the cross section of the near-field beam pattern 1928 mimics the elliptical shape of the aperture 1903 of the dielectric antenna 1901 . the cross section of the far-field beam pattern 1930 have a rotational offset (approximately 90 degrees) that results from the elliptical shape of the near-field signals 1928 . the offset can be determined by applying a fourier transform to the near-field signals 1928 . while the cross section of the near-field beam pattern 1928 and the cross section of the far-field beam pattern 1930 are shown as nearly the same size in order to demonstrate the rotational effect, the actual size of the far-field beam pattern 1930 may increase with the distance from the dielectric antenna 1901 . the elongated shape of the far-field signals 1930 and its orientation can prove useful when aligning a dielectric antenna 1901 in relation to a remotely located receiver configured to receive the far-field signals 1930 . the receiver can comprise one or more dielectric antennas coupled to a waveguide system such as described by the subject disclosure. the elongated far-field signals 1930 can increase the likelihood that the remotely located receiver will detect the far-field signals 1930 . in addition, the elongated far-field signals 1930 can be useful in situations where a dielectric antenna 1901 coupled to a gimbal assembly such as shown in fig. 19m , or other actuated antenna mount including but not limited to the actuated gimbal mount described in the co-pending application entitled, communication device and antenna assembly with actuated gimbal mount, and u.s. patent application ser. no. 14/873,241, filed on oct. 2, 2015 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for any and all purposes. in particular, the elongated far-field signals 1930 can be useful in situations where such as gimbal mount only has two degrees of freedom for aligning the dielectric antenna 1901 in the direction of the receiver (e.g., yaw and pitch is adjustable but roll is fixed). although not shown, it will be appreciated that the dielectric antenna 1901 of figs. 19g and 19h can have an integrated or attachable lens 1912 such as shown in figs. 19c and 19e to increase an intensity of the far-fields signals 1930 by reducing phase differences in the near-field signals. turning now to fig. 19i , block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of a dielectric antenna 1901 for adjusting far-field wireless signals in accordance with various aspects described herein are shown. in some embodiments, a width of far-field wireless signals generated by the dielectric antenna 1901 can be said to be inversely proportional to a number of wavelengths of the electromagnetic waves propagating in the dielectric antenna 1901 that can fit in a surface area of the aperture 1903 of the dielectric antenna 1901 . hence, as the wavelengths of the electromagnetic waves increases, the width of the far-field wireless signals increases (and its intensity decreases) proportionately. put another way, when the frequency of the electromagnetic waves decreases, the width of the far-field wireless signals increases proportionately. accordingly, to enhance a process of aligning a dielectric antenna 1901 using, for example, the gimbal assembly shown in fig. 19m or other actuated antenna mount, in a direction of a receiver, the frequency of the electromagnetic waves supplied to the dielectric antenna 1901 by way of the feedline 1902 can be decreased so that the far-field wireless signals are sufficiently wide to increase a likelihood that the receiver will detect a portion of the far-field wireless signals. in some embodiments, the receiver can be configured to perform measurements on the far-field wireless signals. from these measurements the receiver can direct a waveguide system coupled to the dielectric antenna 1901 generating the far-field wireless signals. the receiver can provide instructions to the waveguide system by way of an omnidirectional wireless signal or a tethered interface therebetween. the instructions provided by the receiver can result in the waveguide system controlling actuators in the gimbal assembly coupled to the dielectric antenna 1901 to adjust a direction of the dielectric antenna 1901 to improve its alignment to the receiver. as the quality of the far-field wireless signals improves, the receiver can also direct the waveguide system to increase a frequency of the electromagnetic waves, which in turn reduces a width of the far-field wireless signals and correspondingly increases its intensity. in an alternative embodiment, absorption sheets 1932 constructed from carbon or conductive materials and/or other absorbers can be embedded in the dielectric antenna 1901 as depicted by the perspective and front views shown in fig. 19i . when the electric fields of the electromagnetic waves are parallel with the absorption sheets 1932 , the electromagnetic waves are absorbed. a clearance region 1934 where absorption sheets 1932 are not present will, however, allow the electromagnetic waves to propagate to the aperture 1903 and thereby emit near-field wireless signals having approximately the width of the clearance region 1934 . by reducing the number of wavelengths to a surface area of the clearance region 1932 , the width of the near-field wireless signals is decreases, while the width of the far-field wireless signals is increased. this property can be useful during the alignment process previously described. for example, at the onset of an alignment process, the polarity of the electric fields emitted by the electromagnetic waves can be configured to be parallel with the absorption sheets 1932 . as the remotely located receiver instructs a waveguide system coupled to the dielectric antenna 1901 to direct the dielectric antenna 1901 using the actuators of a gimbal assembly or other actuated mount, it can also instruct the waveguide system to incrementally adjust the alignment of the electric fields of the electromagnetic waves relative to the absorption sheets 1932 as signal measurements performed by the receiver improve. as the alignment improves, eventually waveguide system adjusts the electric fields so that they are orthogonal to the absorption sheets 1932 . at this point, the electromagnetic waves near the absorption sheets 1932 will no longer be absorbed, and all or substantially all electromagnetic waves will propagate to the aperture 1903 . since the near-field wireless signals now cover all or substantially all of the aperture 1903 , the far-field signals will have a narrower width and higher intensity as they are directed to the receiver. it will be appreciated that the receiver configured to receive the far-field wireless signals (as described above) can also be configured to utilize a transmitter that can transmit wireless signals directed to the dielectric antenna 1901 utilized by the waveguide system. for illustration purposes, such a receiver will be referred to as a remote system that can receive far-field wireless signals and transmit wireless signals directed to the waveguide system. in this embodiment, the waveguide system can be configured to analyze the wireless signals it receives by way of the dielectric antenna 1901 and determine whether a quality of the wireless signals generated by the remote system justifies further adjustments to the far-field signal pattern to improve reception of the far-field wireless signals by the remote system, and/or whether further orientation alignment of the dielectric antenna by way of the gimbal (see fig. 19m ) or other actuated mount is needed. as the quality of a reception of the wireless signals by the waveguide system improves, the waveguide system can increase the operating frequency of the electromagnetic waves, which in turn reduces a width of the far-field wireless signals and correspondingly increases its intensity. in other modes of operation, the gimbal or other actuated mount can be periodically adjusted to maintain an optimal alignment. the foregoing embodiments of fig. 19i can also be combined. for example, the waveguide system can perform adjustments to the far-field signal pattern and/or antenna orientation adjustments based on a combination of an analysis of wireless signals generated by the remote system and messages or instructions provided by the remote system that indicate a quality of the far-field signals received by the remote system. turning now to fig. 19j , block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of a collar such as a flange 1942 that can be coupled to a dielectric antenna 1901 in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. the flange can be constructed with metal (e.g., aluminum) dielectric material (e.g., polyethylene and/or foam), or other suitable materials. the flange 1942 can be utilized to align the feed point 1902 ″ (and in some embodiments also the feedline 1902 ) with a waveguide system 1948 (e.g., a circular waveguide) as shown in fig. 19k . to accomplish this, the flange 1942 can comprise a center hole 1946 for engaging with the feed point 1902 ″. in one embodiment, the hole 1946 can be threaded and the feedline 1902 can have a smooth surface. in this embodiment, the flange 1942 can engage the feed point 1902 ″ (constructed of a dielectric material such as polyethylene) by inserting a portion of the feed point 1902 ″ into the hole 1946 and rotating the flange 1942 to act as a die to form complementary threads on the soft outer surface of the feedline 1902 . once the feedline 1902 has been threaded by or into the flange 1942 , the feed point 1902 ″ and portion of the feedline 1902 extending from the flange 1942 can be shortened or lengthened by rotating the flange 1942 accordingly. in other embodiments the feedline 1902 can be pre-threaded with mating threads for engagement with the flange 1942 for improving the ease of engaging it with the flange 1942 . in yet other embodiments, the feedline 1902 can have a smooth surface and the hole 1946 of the flange 1942 can be non-threaded. in this embodiment, the hole 1946 can have a diameter that is similar to diameter of the feedline 1902 such as to cause the engagement of the feedline 1902 to be held in place by frictional forces. for alignment purposes, the flange 1942 the can further include threaded holes 1944 accompanied by two or more alignment holes 1947 , which can be used to align to complementary alignment pins 1949 of the waveguide system 1948 , which in turn assist in aligning holes 1944 ′ of the waveguide system 1948 to the threaded holes 1944 of the flange 1942 (see figs. 19k-19l ). once the flange 1942 has been aligned to the waveguide system 1948 , the flange 1942 and waveguide system 1948 can be secured to each other with threaded screws 1950 resulting in a completed assembly depicted in fig. 19l . in a threaded design, the feed point 1902 ″ of the feedline 1902 can be adjusted inwards or outwards in relation to a port 1945 of the waveguide system 1948 from which electromagnetic waves are exchanged. the adjustment enables the gap 1943 between the feed point 1902 ″ and the port 1945 to be increased or decreased. the adjustment can be used for tuning a coupling interface between the waveguide system 1948 and the feed point 1902 ″ of the feedline 1902 . fig. 19l also shows how the flange 1942 can be used to align the feedline 1902 with coaxially aligned dielectric foam sections 1951 held by a tubular outer jacket 1952 . the illustration in fig. 19l is similar to the transmission medium 1800 ′ illustrated in fig. 18k . to complete the assembly process, the flange 1942 can be coupled to a waveguide system 1948 as depicted in fig. 19l . turning now to fig. 19n , a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a dielectric antenna 1901 ′ in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. fig. 19n depicts an array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′, each having a corresponding aperture 1903 ′. each antenna of the array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ can have a feedline 1902 with a corresponding feed point 1902 ″ that couples to each corresponding core 1852 of a plurality of cables 1850 . each cable 1850 can be coupled to a different (or a same) waveguide system 1865 ′ such as shown in fig. 18t . the array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ can be used to transmit wireless signals having a plurality of spatial orientations. an array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ covering 360 degrees can enable a one or more waveguide systems 1865 ′ coupled to the antennas to perform omnidirectional communications with other communication devices or antennas of similar type. the bidirectional propagation properties of electromagnetic waves previously described for the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19a are also applicable for electromagnetic waves propagating from the core 1852 to the feed point 1902 ″ guided by the feedline 1902 to the aperture 1903 ′ of the pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′, and in the reverse direction. similarly, the array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ can be substantially or entirely devoid of conductive external surfaces and internal conductive materials as discussed above. for example, in some embodiments, the array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ and their corresponding feed points 1902 ′ can be constructed of dielectric-only materials such as polyethylene or polyurethane materials or with only trivial amounts of conductive material that does not significantly alter the radiation pattern of the antenna. it is further noted that each antenna of the array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ can have similar gain and electric field intensity maps as shown for the dielectric antenna 1901 in fig. 19b . each antenna of the array of pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antennas 1901 ′ can also be used for receiving wireless signals as previously described for the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19a . in some embodiments, a single instance of a pyramidal-shaped dielectric horn antenna can be used. similarly, multiple instances of the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19a can be used in an array configuration similar to the one shown in fig. 19n . turning now to fig. 19o , block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of an array 1976 of dielectric antennas 1901 configurable for steering wireless signals in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. the array 1976 of dielectric antennas 1901 can be conical shaped antennas 1901 or pyramidal-shaped dielectric antennas 1901 ′. to perform beam steering, a waveguide system coupled to the array 1976 of dielectric antennas 1901 can be adapted to utilize a circuit 1972 comprising amplifiers 1973 and phase shifters 1974 , each pair coupled to one of the dielectric antennas 1901 in the array 1976 . the waveguide system can steer far-field wireless signals from left to right (west to east) by incrementally increasing a phase delay of signals supplied to the dielectric antennas 1901 . for example, the waveguide system can provide a first signal to the dielectric antennas of column 1 (“c1”) having no phase delay. the waveguide system can further provide a second signal to column 2 (“c2”), the second signal comprising the first signal having a first phase delay. the waveguide system can further provide a third signal to the dielectric antennas of column 3 (“c3”), the third signal comprising the second signal having a second phase delay. lastly, the waveguide system can provide a fourth signal to the dielectric antennas of column 4 (“c4”), the fourth signal comprising the third signal having a third phase delay. these phase shifted signals will cause far-field wireless signals generated by the array to shift from left to right. similarly, far-field signals can be steered from right to left (east to west) (“c4” to c1), north to south (“r1” to “r4”), south to north (“r4” to “r1”), and southwest to northeast (“c1-r4” to “c4-r1”). utilizing similar techniques beam steering can also be performed in other directions such as southwest to northeast by configuring the waveguide system to incrementally increase the phase of signals transmitted by the following sequence of antennas: “c1-r4”, “c1-r3/c2-r4”, “c1-r2/c2-r3/c3-r4”, “c1-r1/c2-r2/c3- r3/c4-r4”, “c2-r1/c3-r2/c4-r3”, “c3-r1/c4-r2”, “c4-r1”. in a similar way, beam steering can be performed northeast to southwest, northwest to southeast, southeast to northwest, as well in other directions in three-dimensional space. beam steering can be used, among other things, for aligning the array 1976 of dielectric antennas 1901 with a remote receiver and/or for directivity of signals to mobile communication devices. in some embodiments, a phased array 1976 of dielectric antennas 1901 can also be used to circumvent the use of the gimbal assembly of fig. 19m or other actuated mount. while the foregoing has described beam steering controlled by phase delays, gain and phase adjustment can likewise be applied to the dielectric antennas 1901 of the phased array 1976 in a similar fashion to provide additional control and versatility in the formation of a desired beam pattern. turning now to figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 , side-view block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of a cable, a flange, and dielectric antenna assembly in accordance with various aspects described herein are shown. fig. 19 p 1 depicts a cable 1850 such as described earlier, which includes a transmission core 1852 . the transmission core 1852 can comprise a dielectric core 1802 , an insulated conductor 1825 , a bare conductor 1832 , a core 1842 , or a hollow core 1842 ′ as depicted in the transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 , 1830 , 1836 , 1841 and/or 1843 of figs. 18a-18d, and 18f-18h , respectively. the cable 1850 can further include a shell (such as a dielectric shell) covered by an outer jacket such as shown in figs. 18a-18c . in some embodiments, the outer jacket can be conductorless (e.g., polyethylene or equivalent). in other embodiments, the outer jacket can be a conductive shield which can reduce leakage of the electromagnetic waves propagating along the transmission core 1852 . in some embodiments, one end of the transmission core 1852 can be coupled to a flange 1942 as previously described in relation to figs. 19j-19l . as noted above, the flange 1942 can enable the transmission core 1852 of the cable 1850 to be aligned with a feed point 1902 of the dielectric antenna 1901 . in some embodiments, the feed point 1902 can be constructed of the same material as the transmission core 1852 . for example, in one embodiment the transmission core 1852 can comprise a dielectric core, and the feed point 1902 can comprise a dielectric material also. in this embodiment, the dielectric constants of the transmission core 1852 and the feed point 1902 can be similar or can differ by a controlled amount. the difference in dielectric constants can be controlled to tune the interface between the transmission core 1852 and the feed point 1902 for the exchange of electromagnetic waves propagating therebetween. in other embodiments, the transmission core 1852 may have a different construction than the feed point 1902 . for example, in one embodiment the transmission core 1852 can comprise an insulated conductor, while the feed point 1902 comprises a dielectric material devoid of conductive materials. as shown in fig. 19j , the transmission core 1852 can be coupled to the flange 1942 via a center hole 1946 , although in other embodiments it will be appreciated that such a hole could be off-centered as well. in one embodiment, the hole 1946 can be threaded and the transmission core 1852 can have a smooth surface. in this embodiment, the flange 1942 can engage the transmission core 1852 by inserting a portion of the transmission core 1852 into the hole 1946 and rotating the flange 1942 to act as a die to form complementary threads on the outer surface of the transmission core 1852 . once the transmission core 1852 has been threaded by or into the flange 1942 , the portion of the transmission core 1852 extending from the flange 1942 can be shortened or lengthened by rotating the flange 1942 accordingly. in other embodiments the transmission core 1852 can be pre-threaded with mating threads for engagement with the hole 1946 of the flange 1942 for improving the ease of engaging the transmission core 1852 with the flange 1942 . in yet other embodiments, the transmission core 1852 can have a smooth surface and the hole 1946 of the flange 1942 can be non-threaded. in this embodiment, the hole 1946 can have a diameter that is similar to the diameter of the transmission core 1852 such as to cause the engagement of the transmission core 1852 to be held in place by frictional forces. it will be appreciated that there can be several other ways of engaging the transmission core 1852 with the flange 1942 , including various clips, fusion, compression fittings, and the like. the feed point 1902 of the dielectric antenna 1901 can be engaged with the other side of the hole 1946 of the flange 1942 in the same manner as described for transmission core 1852 . a gap 1943 can exist between the transmission core 1852 and the feed point 1902 . the gap 1943 , however, can be adjusted in an embodiment by rotating the feed point 1902 while the transmission core 1852 is held in place or vice-versa. in some embodiments, the ends of the transmission core 1852 and the feed point 1902 engaged with the flange 1942 can be adjusted so that they touch, thereby removing the gap 1943 . in other embodiments, the ends of the transmission core 1852 or the feed point 1902 engaged with the flange 1942 can intentionally be adjusted to create a specific gap size. the adjustability of the gap 1943 can provide another degree of freedom to tune the interface between the transmission core 1852 and the feed point 1902 . although not shown in figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 , an opposite end of the transmission core 1852 of cable 1850 can be coupled to a waveguide device such as depicted in figs. 18s and 18t utilizing another flange 1942 and similar coupling techniques. the waveguide device can be used for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves along the transmission core 1852 . depending on the operational parameters of the electromagnetic waves (e.g., operating frequency, wave mode, etc.), the electromagnetic waves can propagate within the transmission core 1852 , on an outer surface of the transmission core 1852 , or partly within the transmission core 1852 and the outer surface of the transmission core 1852 . when the waveguide device is configured as a transmitter, the signals generated thereby induce electromagnetic waves that propagate along the transmission core 1852 and transition to the feed point 1902 at the junction therebetween. the electromagnetic waves then propagate from the feed point 1902 into the dielectric antenna 1901 becoming wireless signals at the aperture 1903 of the dielectric antenna 1901 . a frame 1982 can be used to surround all or at least a substantial portion of the outer surfaces of the dielectric antenna 1901 (except the aperture 1903 ) to improve transmission or reception of and/or reduce leakage of the electromagnetic waves as they propagate towards the aperture 1903 . in some embodiments, a portion 1984 of the frame 1982 can extend to the feed point 1902 as shown in fig. 19 p 2 to prevent leakage on the outer surface of the feed point 1902 . the frame 1982 , for example, can be constructed of materials (e.g., conductive or carbon materials) that reduce leakage of the electromagnetic waves. the shape of the frame 1982 can vary based on a shape of the dielectric antenna 1901 . for example, the frame 1852 can have a flared straight-surface shape as shown in figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 4 . alternatively, the frame 1852 can have a flared parabolic-surface shape as shown in figs. 19 p 5 - 19 p 8 . it will be appreciated that the frame 1852 can have other shapes. the aperture 1903 can be of different shapes and sizes. in one embodiment, for example, the aperture 1903 can utilize a lens having a convex structure 1983 of various dimensions as shown in figs. 19 p 1 , 19 p 4 , and 19 p 6 - 19 p 8 . in other embodiments, the aperture 1903 can have a flat structure 1985 of various dimensions as shown in figs. 19 p 2 and 19 p 5 . in yet other embodiments, the aperture 1903 can utilize a lens having a pyramidal structure 1986 as shown in figs. 19 p 3 and 19 q 1 . the lens of the aperture 1903 can be an integral part of the dielectric antenna 1901 or can be a component that is coupled to the dielectric antenna 1901 as shown in fig. 19c . additionally, the lens of the aperture 1903 can be constructed with the same or a different material than the dielectric antenna 1901 . also, in some embodiments, the aperture 1903 of the dielectric antenna 1901 can extend outside the frame 1982 as shown in figs. 19 p 7 - 19 p 8 or can be confined within the frame 1982 as shown in figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 6 . in one embodiment, the dielectric constant of the lens of the apertures 1903 shown in figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 can be configured to be substantially similar or different from that of the dielectric antenna 1901 . additionally, one or more internal portions of the dielectric antenna 1901 , such as section 1986 of fig. 19 p 4 , can have a dielectric constant that differs from that of the remaining portions of the dielectric antenna. the surface of the lens of the apertures 1903 shown in figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 can have a smooth surface or can have ridges such as shown in fig. 19e to reduce surface reflections of the electromagnetic waves as previously described. depending on the shape of the dielectric antenna 1901 , the frame 1982 can be of different shapes and sizes as shown in the front views depicted in figs. 19 q 1 , 19 q 2 and 19 q 3 . for example, the frame 1982 can have a pyramidal shape as shown in fig. 19 q 1 . in other embodiments, the frame 1982 can have a circular shape as depicted in fig. 19 q 2 . in yet other embodiments, the frame 1982 can have an elliptical shape as depicted in fig. 19 q 3 . the embodiments of figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 and 19 q 1 - 19 q 3 can be combined in whole or in part with each other to create other embodiments contemplated by the subject disclosure. additionally, the embodiments of figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 and 19 q 1 - 19 q 3 can be combined with other embodiments of the subject disclosure. for example, the multi-antenna assembly of fig. 20f can be adapted to utilize any one of the embodiments of figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 and 19 q 1 - 19 q 3 . additionally, multiple instances of a multi-antenna assembly adapted to utilize one of the embodiments of figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 19 q 1 - 19 q 3 can be stacked on top of each other to form a phased array that functions similar to the phased array of fig. 19o . in other embodiments, absorption sheets 1932 can be added to the dielectric antenna 1901 as shown in fig. 19i to control the widths of near-field and far-field signals. other combinations of the embodiments of figs. 19 p 1 - 19 p 8 and 19 q 1 - 19 q 3 and the embodiments of the subject disclosure are contemplated. turning now to figs. 20a and 20b , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of the cable 1850 of fig. 18a used for inducing guided electromagnetic waves on power lines supported by utility poles. in one embodiment, as depicted in fig. 20a , a cable 1850 can be coupled at one end to a microwave apparatus that launches guided electromagnetic waves within one or more inner layers of cable 1850 utilizing, for example, the hollow waveguide 1808 shown in figs. 18a-18c . the microwave apparatus can utilize a microwave transceiver such as shown in fig. 10a for transmitting or receiving signals from cable 1850 . the guided electromagnetic waves induced in the one or more inner layers of cable 1850 can propagate to an exposed stub of the cable 1850 located inside a horn antenna (shown as a dotted line in fig. 20a ) for radiating the electromagnetic waves via the horn antenna. the radiated signals from the horn antenna in turn can induce guided electromagnetic waves that propagate longitudinally on power line such as a medium voltage (mv) power line. in one embodiment, the microwave apparatus can receive ac power from a low voltage (e.g., 220v) power line. alternatively, the horn antenna can be replaced with a stub antenna as shown in fig. 20b to induce guided electromagnetic waves that propagate longitudinally on a power line such as the mv power line or to transmit wireless signals to other antenna system(s). in an alternative embodiment, the hollow horn antenna shown in fig. 20a can be replaced with a solid dielectric antenna such as the dielectric antenna 1901 of fig. 19a , or the pyramidal-shaped horn antenna 1901 ′ of fig. 19n . in this embodiment the horn antenna can radiate wireless signals directed to another horn antenna such as the bidirectional horn antennas 2040 shown in fig. 20c . in this embodiment, each horn antenna 2040 can transmit wireless signals to another horn antenna 2040 or receive wireless signals from the other horn antenna 2040 as shown in fig. 20c . such an arrangement can be used for performing bidirectional wireless communications between antennas. although not shown, the horn antennas 2040 can be configured with an electromechanical device to steer a direction of the horn antennas 2040 . in alternate embodiments, first and second cables 1850 a′ and 1850 b′ can be coupled to the microwave apparatus and to a transformer 2052 , respectively, as shown in figs. 20a and 20b . the first and second cables 1850 a′ and 1850 b′ can be represented by, for example, cable 1820 or cable 1830 of figs. 18b and 18c , respectively, each having a conductive core. a first end of the conductive core of the first cable 1850 a′ can be coupled to the microwave apparatus for propagating guided electromagnetic waves launched therein. a second end of the conductive core of the first cable 1850 a′ can be coupled to a first end of a conductive coil of the transformer 2052 for receiving the guided electromagnetic waves propagating in the first cable 1850 a′ and for supplying signals associated therewith to a first end of a second cable 1850 b′ by way of a second end of the conductive coil of the transformer 2052 . a second end of the second cable 1850 b′ can be coupled to the horn antenna of fig. 20a or can be exposed as a stub antenna of fig. 20b for inducing guided electromagnetic waves that propagate longitudinally on the mv power line. in an embodiment where cable 1850 , 1850 a′ and 1850 b′ each comprise multiple instances of transmission mediums 1800 , 1820 , and/or 1830 , a poly-rod structure of antennas 1855 can be formed such as shown in fig. 18k . each antenna 1855 can be coupled, for example, to a horn antenna assembly as shown in fig. 20a or a pie-pan antenna assembly (not shown) for radiating multiple wireless signals. alternatively, the antennas 1855 can be used as stub antennas in fig. 20b . the microwave apparatus of figs. 20a-20b can be configured to adjust the guided electromagnetic waves to beam steer the wireless signals emitted by the antennas 1855 . one or more of the antennas 1855 can also be used for inducing guided electromagnetic waves on a power line. turning now to fig. 20c , a block diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a communication network 2000 in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. in one embodiment, for example, the waveguide system 1602 of fig. 16a can be incorporated into network interface devices (nids) such as nids 2010 and 2020 of fig. 20c . a nid having the functionality of waveguide system 1602 can be used to enhance transmission capabilities between customer premises 2002 (enterprise or residential) and a pedestal 2004 (sometimes referred to as a service area interface or sai). in one embodiment, a central office 2030 can supply one or more fiber cables 2026 to the pedestal 2004 . the fiber cables 2026 can provide high-speed full-duplex data services (e.g., 1-100 gbps or higher) to mini-dslams 2024 located in the pedestal 2004 . the data services can be used for transport of voice, internet traffic, media content services (e.g., streaming video services, broadcast tv), and so on. in prior art systems, mini-dslams 2024 typically connect to twisted pair phone lines (e.g., twisted pairs included in category 5e or cat. 5e unshielded twisted-pair (utp) cables that include an unshielded bundle of twisted pair cables, such as 24 gauge insulated solid wires, surrounded by an outer insulating sheath), which in turn connect to the customer premises 2002 directly. in such systems, dsl data rates taper off at 100 mbps or less due in part to the length of legacy twisted pair cables to the customer premises 2002 among other factors. the embodiments of fig. 20c , however, are distinct from prior art dsl systems. in the illustration of fig. 20c , a mini-dslam 2024 , for example, can be configured to connect to nid 2020 via cable 1850 (which can represent in whole or in part any of the cable embodiments described in relation to figs. 18a-18d and 18f-18l singly or in combination). utilizing cable 1850 between customer premises 2002 and a pedestal 2004 , enables nids 2010 and 2020 to transmit and receive guide electromagnetic waves for uplink and downlink communications. based on embodiments previously described, cable 1850 can be exposed to rain, or can be buried without adversely affecting electromagnetic wave propagation either in a downlink path or an uplink path so long as the electric field profile of such waves in either direction is confined at least in part or entirely within inner layers of cable 1850 . in the present illustration, downlink communications represents a communication path from the pedestal 2004 to customer premises 2002 , while uplink communications represents a communication path from customer premises 2002 to the pedestal 2004 . in an embodiment where cable 1850 comprises one of the embodiments of figs. 18g-18h , cable 1850 can also serve the purpose of supplying power to the nid 2010 and 2020 and other equipment of the customer premises 2002 and the pedestal 2004 . in customer premises 2002 , dsl signals can originate from a dsl modem 2006 (which may have a built-in router and which may provide wireless services such as wifi to user equipment shown in the customer premises 2002 ). the dsl signals can be supplied to nid 2010 by a twisted pair phone 2008 . the nid 2010 can utilize the integrated waveguide 1602 to launch within cable 1850 guided electromagnetic waves 2014 directed to the pedestal 2004 on an uplink path. in the downlink path, dsl signals generated by the mini-dslam 2024 can flow through a twisted pair phone line 2022 to nid 2020 . the waveguide system 1602 integrated in the nid 2020 can convert the dsl signals, or a portion thereof, from electrical signals to guided electromagnetic waves 2014 that propagate within cable 1850 on the downlink path. to provide full duplex communications, the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 on the uplink can be configured to operate at a different carrier frequency and/or a different modulation approach than the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 on the downlink to reduce or avoid interference. additionally, on the uplink and downlink paths, the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 are guided by a core section of cable 1850 , as previously described, and such waves can be configured to have a field intensity profile that confines the guide electromagnetic waves in whole or in part in the inner layers of cable 1850 . although the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 are shown outside of cable 1850 , the depiction of these waves is for illustration purposes only. for this reason, the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 are drawn with “hash marks” to indicate that they are guided by the inner layers of cable 1850 . on the downlink path, the integrated waveguide system 1602 of nid 2010 receives the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 generated by nid 2020 and converts them back to dsl signals conforming to the requirements of the dsl modem 2006 . the dsl signals are then supplied to the dsl modem 2006 via a set of twisted pair wires of phone line 2008 for processing. similarly, on the uplink path, the integrated waveguide system 1602 of nid 2020 receives the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 generated by nid 2010 and converts them back to dsl signals conforming to the requirements of the mini-dslam 2024 . the dsl signals are then supplied to the mini-dslam 2024 via a set of twisted pair wires of phone line 2022 for processing. because of the short length of phone lines 2008 and 2022 , the dsl modem 2006 and the mini-dslam 2024 can send and receive dsl signals between themselves on the uplink and downlink at very high speeds (e.g., 1 gbps to 60 gbps or more). consequently, the uplink and downlink paths can in most circumstances exceed the data rate limits of traditional dsl communications over twisted pair phone lines. typically, dsl devices are configured for asymmetric data rates because the downlink path usually supports a higher data rate than the uplink path. however, cable 1850 can provide much higher speeds both on the downlink and uplink paths. with a firmware update, a legacy dsl modem 2006 such as shown in fig. 20c can be configured with higher speeds on both the uplink and downlink paths. similar firmware updates can be made to the mini-dslam 2024 to take advantage of the higher speeds on the uplink and downlink paths. since the interfaces to the dsl modem 2006 and mini-dslam 2024 remain as traditional twisted pair phone lines, no hardware change is necessary for a legacy dsl modem or legacy mini-dslam other than firmware changes and the addition of the nids 2010 and 2020 to perform the conversion from dsl signals to guided electromagnetic waves 2014 and vice-versa. the use of nids enables a reuse of legacy modems 2006 and mini-dslams 2024 , which in turn can substantially reduce installation costs and system upgrades. for new construction, updated versions of mini-dslams and dsl modems can be configured with integrated waveguide systems to perform the functions described above, thereby eliminating the need for nids 2010 and 2020 with integrated waveguide systems. in this embodiment, an updated version of modem 2006 and updated version of mini-dslam 2024 would connect directly to cable 1850 and communicate via bidirectional guided electromagnetic wave transmissions, thereby averting a need for transmission or reception of dsl signals using twisted pair phone lines 2008 and 2022 . in an embodiment where use of cable 1850 between the pedestal 2004 and customer premises 2002 is logistically impractical or costly, nid 2010 can be configured instead to couple to a cable 1850 ′ (similar to cable 1850 of the subject disclosure) that originates from a waveguide 108 on a utility pole 118 , and which may be buried in soil before it reaches nid 2010 of the customer premises 2002 . cable 1850 ′ can be used to receive and transmit guided electromagnetic waves 2014 ′ between the nid 2010 and the waveguide 108 . waveguide 108 can connect via waveguide 106 , which can be coupled to base station 104 . base station 104 can provide data communication services to customer premises 2002 by way of its connection to central office 2030 over fiber 2026 ′. similarly, in situations where access from the central office 2030 to pedestal 2004 is not practical over a fiber link, but connectivity to base station 104 is possible via fiber link 2026 ′, an alternate path can be used to connect to nid 2020 of the pedestal 2004 via cable 1850 ″ (similar to cable 1850 of the subject disclosure) originating from pole 116 . cable 1850 ″ can also be buried before it reaches nid 2020 . turning now to figs. 20d-20f , block diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of antenna mounts that can be used in the communication network 2000 of fig. 20c (or other suitable communication networks) in accordance with various aspects described herein are shown. in some embodiments, an antenna mount 2053 can be coupled to a medium voltage power line by way of an inductive power supply that supplies energy to one or more waveguide systems (not shown) integrated in the antenna mount 2053 as depicted in fig. 20d . the antenna mount 2053 can include an array of dielectric antennas 1901 (e.g., 16 antennas) such as shown by the top and side views depicted in fig. 20f . the dielectric antennas 1901 shown in fig. 20f can be small in dimension as illustrated by a picture comparison between groups of dielectric antennas 1901 and a conventional ballpoint pen. in other embodiments, a pole mounted antenna 2054 can be used as depicted in fig. 20d . in yet other embodiments, an antenna mount 2056 can be attached to a pole with an arm assembly as shown in fig. 20e . in other embodiments, an antenna mount 2058 , depicted in fig. 20e , can be placed on a top portion of a pole coupled to a cable 1850 such as the cables as described in the subject disclosure. the array of dielectric antennas 1901 in any of the antenna mounts of figs. 20d-20e can include one or more waveguide systems as described in the subject disclosure by way of figs. 1-20 . the waveguide systems can be configured to perform beam steering with the array of dielectric antennas 1901 (for transmission or reception of wireless signals). alternatively, each dielectric antenna 1901 can be utilized as a separate sector for receiving and transmitting wireless signals. in other embodiments, the one or more waveguide systems integrated in the antenna mounts of figs. 20d-20e can be configured to utilize combinations of the dielectric antennas 1901 in a wide range of multi-input multi-output (mimo) transmission and reception techniques. the one or more waveguide systems integrated in the antenna mounts of figs. 20d-20e can also be configured to apply communication techniques such as siso, simo, miso, siso, signal diversity (e.g., frequency, time, space, polarization, or other forms of signal diversity techniques), and so on, with any combination of the dielectric antennas 1901 in any of the antenna mounts of figs. 20d-20e . in yet other embodiments, the antenna mounts of figs. 20d-20e can be adapted with two or more stacks of the antenna arrays shown in fig. 20f . figs. 21a and 21b describe embodiments for downlink and uplink communications. method 2100 of fig. 21a can begin with step 2102 where electrical signals (e.g., dsl signals) are generated by a dslam (e.g., mini-dslam 2024 of pedestal 2004 or from central office 2030 ), which are converted to guided electromagnetic waves 2014 at step 2104 by nid 2020 and which propagate on a transmission medium such as cable 1850 for providing downlink services to the customer premises 2002 . at step 2108 , the nid 2010 of the customer premises 2002 converts the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 back to electrical signals (e.g., dsl signals) which are supplied at step 2110 to customer premises equipment (cpe) such as dsl modem 2006 over phone line 2008 . alternatively, or in combination, power and/or guided electromagnetic waves 2014 ′ can be supplied from a power line 1850 ′ of a utility grid (having an inner waveguide as illustrated in fig. 18g or 18h ) to nid 2010 as an alternate or additional downlink (and/or uplink) path. at step 2122 of method 2120 of fig. 21b , the dsl modem 2006 can supply electrical signals (e.g., dsl signals) via phone line 2008 to nid 2010 , which in turn at step 2124 , converts the dsl signals to guided electromagnetic waves directed to nid 2020 by way of cable 1850 . at step 2128 , the nid 2020 of the pedestal 2004 (or central office 2030 ) converts the guided electromagnetic waves 2014 back to electrical signals (e.g., dsl signals) which are supplied at step 2129 to a dslam (e.g., mini-dslam 2024 ). alternatively, or in combination, power and guided electromagnetic waves 2014 ′ can be supplied from a power line 1850 ′ of a utility grid (having an inner waveguide as illustrated in fig. 18g or 18h ) to nid 2020 as an alternate or additional uplink (and/or downlink) path. turning now to fig. 21c , a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2130 for inducing and receiving electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium is shown. at step 2132 , the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18t can be configured to generate first electromagnetic waves from a first communication signal (supplied, for example, by a communication device such as a base station), and induce at step 2134 the first electromagnetic waves with “only” a fundamental wave mode at an interface of the transmission medium. in an embodiment, the interface can be an outer surface of the transmission medium as depicted in figs. 18q and 18r . in another embodiment, the interface can be an inner layer of the transmission medium as depicted in figs. 18s and 18t . at step 2136 , the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18t can be configured to receive second electromagnetic waves at an interface of a same or different transmission medium described in fig. 21c . in an embodiment, the second electromagnetic waves can have “only” a fundamental wave mode. in other embodiments, the second electromagnetic waves may have a combination of wave modes such as a fundamental and non-fundamental wave modes. at step 2138 , a second communication signal can be generated from the second electromagnetic waves for processing by, for example, a same or different communication device. the embodiments of figs. 21c and 21d can be applied to any embodiments described in the subject disclosure. turning now to fig. 21d , a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2140 for inducing and receiving electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium is shown. at step 2142 , the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w can be configured to generate first electromagnetic waves from a first communication signal (supplied, for example, by a communication device), and induce at step 2144 second electromagnetic waves with “only” a non-fundamental wave mode at an interface of the transmission medium. in an embodiment, the interface can be an outer surface of the transmission medium as depicted in figs. 18q and 18r . in another embodiment, the interface can be an inner layer of the transmission medium as depicted in figs. 18s and 18t . at step 2146 , the waveguides 1865 and 1865 ′ of figs. 18n-18w can be configured to receive electromagnetic waves at an interface of a same or different transmission medium described in fig. 21e . in an embodiment, the electromagnetic waves can have “only” a non-fundamental wave mode. in other embodiments, the electromagnetic waves may have a combination of wave modes such as a fundamental and non-fundamental wave modes. at step 2148 , a second communication signal can be generated from the electromagnetic waves for processing by, for example, a same or different communication device. the embodiments of figs. 21e and 21f can be applied to any embodiments described in the subject disclosure. fig. 21e illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2150 for radiating signals from a dielectric antenna such as those shown in figs. 19a and 19n . method 2150 can begin with step 2152 where a transmitter such as waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18t generates first electromagnetic waves including a first communication signal. the first electromagnetic waves in turn induce at step 2153 second electromagnetic waves on a core 1852 of a cable 1850 coupled to a feed point of any of the dielectric antenna described in the subject disclosure. the second electromagnetic waves are received at the feed point at step 2154 and propagate at step 2155 to a proximal portion of the dielectric antenna. at step 2156 , the second electromagnetic waves continue to propagate from the proximal portion of the dielectric antenna to an aperture of the antenna and thereby cause at step 2157 wireless signals to be radiated as previously described in relation to figs. 19a-19n . fig. 21f illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2160 for receiving wireless signals at a dielectric antenna such as the dielectric antennas of fig. 19a or 19n . method 2160 can begin with step 2161 where the aperture of the dielectric antenna receives wireless signals. at step 2162 , the wireless signals induce electromagnetic waves that propagate from the aperture to the feed point of the dielectric antenna. the electromagnetic waves once received at the feed point at step 2163 , propagate at step 2164 to the core of the cable coupled to the feed point. at step 2165 , a receiver such as the waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18t receives the electromagnetic waves and generates therefrom at step 2166 a second communication signal. methods 2150 and 2160 can be used to adapt the dielectric antennas of figs. 19a, 19c, 19e, 19g-19i, and 19l-19o for bidirectional wireless communications with other dielectric antennas such as the dielectric antennas 2040 shown in fig. 20c , and/or for performing bidirectional wireless communications with other communication devices such as a portable communication devices (e.g., cell phones, tablets, laptops), wireless communication devices situated in a building (e.g., a residence), and so on. a microwave apparatus such as shown in fig. 20a can be configured with one or more cables 1850 that couple to a plurality of dielectric antennas 2040 as shown in fig. 20c . in some embodiments, the dielectric antennas 2040 shown in fig. 20c can be configured with yet more dielectric antennas (e.g., 19 c, 19 e, 19 g- 19 i, and 19 l- 19 o) to further expand the region of wireless communications by such antennas. methods 2150 and 2160 can be further adapted for use with the phased array 1976 of dielectric antennas 1901 of fig. 19o by applying incremental phase delays to portions of the antennas to steer far-field wireless signals emitted. methods 2150 and 2160 can also be adapted for adjusting the far-field wireless signals generated by the dielectric antenna 1901 and/or an orientation of the dielectric antenna 1901 utilizing the gimbal depicted in fig. 19m (which may have controllable actuators) to improve reception of the far-field wireless signals by a remote system (such as another dielectric antenna 1901 coupled to a waveguide system). additionally, the methods 2150 and 2160 can be adapted to receive instructions, messages or wireless signals from the remote system to enable the waveguide system receiving such signals by way of its dielectric antenna 1901 to perform adjustments of the far-field signals. while for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respective processes are shown and described as a series of blocks in figs. 21a-21f , it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein. fig. 21g illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2170 for detecting and mitigating disturbances occurring in a communication network, such as, for example, the system of figs. 16a and 16b . method 2170 can begin with step 2172 where a network element, such as the waveguide system 1602 of figs. 16a-16b , can be configured to monitor degradation of guided electromagnetic waves on an outer surface of a transmission medium, such as power line 1610 . a signal degradation can be detected according to any number of factors including without limitation, a signal magnitude of the guided electromagnetic waves dropping below a certain magnitude threshold, a signal to noise ratio (snr) dropping below a certain snr threshold, a quality of service (qos) dropping below one or more thresholds, a bit error rate (ber) exceeding a certain ber threshold, a packet loss rate (plr) exceeding a certain plr threshold, a ratio of reflected electromagnetic waves to forward electromagnetic waves exceeding a certain threshold, an unexpected change or alteration to a wave mode, a spectral change in the guided electromagnetic waves indicating an object or objects are causing a propagation loss or scattering of the guided electromagnetic waves (e.g., water accumulation on an outer surface of the transmission medium, a splice in the transmission medium, a broken tree limb, etc.), or any combinations thereof. a sensing device such as, the disturbance sensor 1604 b of fig. 16a , can be adapted to perform one or more of the above signal measurements and determine thereby whether the electromagnetic waves are experiencing signal degradation. other sensing devices suitable for performing the above measurements are contemplated by the subject disclosure. if signal degradation is detected at step 2174 , the network element can proceed to step 2176 where it can determine which object or objects may be causing the degradation, and once detected, report the detected object(s) to the network management system 1601 of figs. 16a-16b . object detection can be accomplished by spectral analysis or other forms of signal analysis, environmental analysis (e.g., barometric readings, rain detection, etc.), or other suitable techniques for detecting foreign objects that may adversely affect propagation of electromagnetic waves guided by the transmission medium. for example, the network element can be configured to generate spectral data derived from an electromagnetic wave received by the network element. the network element can then compare the spectral data to a plurality of spectral profiles stored in its memory. the plurality of spectral profiles can be pre-stored in a memory of the network element, and can be used to characterize or identify obstructions that may cause a propagation loss or signal degradation when such obstructions are present on an outer surface of the transmission medium. for example, an accumulation of water on an outer surface of a transmission medium, such as a thin layer of water and/or water droplets, may cause a signal degradation in electromagnetic waves guided by the transmission medium that may be identifiable by a spectral profile comprising spectral data that models such an obstruction. the spectral profile can be generated in a controlled environment (such as a laboratory or other suitable testing environment) by collecting and analyzing spectral data generated by test equipment (e.g., a waveguide system with spectrum analysis capabilities) when receiving electromagnetic waves over an outer surface of a transmission medium that has been subjected to water (e.g., simulated rain water). an obstruction such as water can generate a different spectral signature than other obstructions (e.g., a splice between transmission mediums). a unique spectral signature can be used to identify certain obstructions over others. with this technique, spectral profiles can be generated for characterizing other obstructions such as a fallen tree limb on the transmission medium, a splice, and so on. in addition to spectral profiles, thresholds can be generated for different metrics such as snr, ber, plr, and so on. these thresholds can be chosen by a service provider according to desired performance measures for a communication network that utilizing guided electromagnetic waves for transport of data. some obstructions may also be detected by other methods. for example, rain water may be detected by a rain detector coupled to a network element, fallen tree limbs may be detected by a vibration detector coupled to the network element, and so on. if a network element does not have access to equipment to detect objects that may be causing a degradation of electromagnetic waves, then the network element can skip step 2176 and proceed to step 2178 where it notifies one or more neighboring network elements (e.g., other waveguide system(s) 1602 in a vicinity of the network element) of the detected signal degradation. if signal degradation is significant, the network element can resort to a different medium for communicating with neighboring network element(s), such as, for example, wireless communications. alternatively, the network element can substantially reduce the operating frequency of the guided electromagnetic waves (e.g., from 40 ghz to 1 ghz), or communicate with neighboring network elements utilizing other guided electromagnetic waves operating at a low frequency, such as a control channel (e.g., 1 mhz). a low frequency control channel may be much less susceptible to interference by the object(s) causing the signal degradation at much higher operating frequencies. once an alternate means of communication is established between network elements, at step 2180 the network element and neighboring network elements can coordinate a process to adjust the guided electromagnetic waves to mitigate the detected signal degradation. the process can include, for example, a protocol for choosing which of the network elements will perform the adjustments to the electromagnetic waves, the frequency and magnitude of adjustments, and goals to achieve a desired signal quality (e.g., qos, ber, plr, snr, etc.). if, for example, the object causing the signal degradation is water accumulation on the outer surface of the transmission medium, the network elements can be configured to adjust a polarization of the electrical fields (e-fields) and/or magnetic fields (h-fields) of the electromagnetic waves to attain a radial alignment of the e-fields as shown in fig. 21h . in particular, fig. 21h presents a block diagram 2101 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of an alignment of e-fields of an electromagnetic wave to mitigate propagation losses due to water accumulation on a transmission medium in accordance with various aspects described herein. in this example, the longitudinal section of a cable, such as an insulated metal cable implementation of transmission medium 125 , is presented along with field vectors that illustrate the e-fields associated with guided electromagnetic waves that propagate at 40 ghz. stronger e-fields are presented by darker field vectors relative to weaker e-fields. in one embodiment, an adjustment in polarization can be accomplished by generating a specific wave mode of the electromagnetic waves (e.g., transverse magnetic (tm) mode, transverse electric (te) mode, transverse electromagnetic (tem) mode, or a hybrid of a tm mode and te mode also known as an he mode). assuming, for example, that the network element comprises the waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18w , an adjustment in a polarization of e-fields can be accomplished by configuring two or more mmics 1870 to alter a phase, frequency, amplitude or combinations thereof of the electromagnetic waves generated by each mmic 1870 . certain adjustments may cause, for example, the e-fields in the region of the water film shown in fig. 21h to align perpendicularly to the surface of the water. electric fields that are perpendicular (or approximately perpendicular) to the surface of water will induce weaker currents in the water film than e-fields parallel to the water film. by inducing weaker currents, the electromagnetic waves propagating longitudinally will experience less propagation loss. additionally, it is also desirable for the concentration of the e-fields to extend above the water film into the air. if the concentration of e-fields in the air remains high and the majority of the total field strength is in the air instead of being concentrated in the region of the water and the insulator, then propagation losses will also be reduced. for example, e-fields of electromagnetic waves that are tightly bound to an insulation layer such as, goubau waves (or tm00 waves—see block diagram 2131 of fig. 21k ), will experience higher propagation losses even though the e-fields may be perpendicular (or radially aligned) to the water film because more of the field strength is concentrated in the region of the water. accordingly, electromagnetic waves with e-fields perpendicular (or approximately perpendicular) to a water film having a higher proportion of the field strength in a region of air (i.e., above the water film) will experience less propagation loss than tightly bound electromagnetic waves having more field strength in the insulating or water layers or electromagnetic waves having e-fields in the direction of propagation within the region of the water film that generate greater losses. fig. 21h depicts, in a longitudinal view of an insulated conductor, e-field for tm01 electromagnetic waves operating at 40 ghz. figs. 21i and 21j , in contrast, depict cross-sectional views 2111 and 2121 , respectively, of the insulated conductor of fig. 21h illustrating the field strength of e-fields in the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic waves (i.e., e-fields directed out of the page of figs. 21i and 21j ). the electromagnetic waves shown in figs. 21i and 21j have a tm01 wave mode at 45 ghz and 40 ghz, respectively. fig. 21i shows that the intensity of the e-fields in the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic waves is high in a region between the outer surface of the insulation and the outer surface of the water film (i.e., the region of the water film). the high intensity is depicted by a light color (the lighter the color the higher the intensity of the e-fields directed out of the page). fig. 21i illustrates that there is a high concentration of e-fields polarized longitudinally in the region of the water film, which causes high currents in the water film and consequently high propagation losses. thus, under certain circumstances, electromagnetic waves at 45 ghz (having a tm01 wave mode) are less suitable to mitigate rain water or other obstructions located on the outer surface of the insulated conductor. in contrast, fig. 21j shows that the intensity of the e-fields in the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic waves is weaker in the region of the water film. the lower intensity is depicted by the darker color in the region of the water film. the lower intensity is a result of the e-fields being polarized mostly perpendicular or radial to the water film. the radially aligned e-fields also are highly concentrated in the region of air as shown in fig. 21h . thus, electromagnetic waves at 40 ghz (having a tm01 wave mode) produce e-fields that induce less current in the water film than 45 ghz waves with the same wave mode. accordingly, the electromagnetic waves of fig. 21j exhibit properties more suitable for reducing propagation losses due to a water film or droplets accumulating on an outer surface of an insulated conductor. since the physical characteristics of a transmission medium can vary, and the effects of water or other obstructions on the outer surface of the transmission medium may cause non-linear effects, it may not always be possible to precisely model all circumstances so as to achieve the e-field polarization and e-field concentration in air depicted in fig. 21h on a first iteration of step 2182 . to increase a speed of the mitigation process, a network element can be configured to choose from a look-up table at step 2186 a starting point for adjusting electromagnetic waves. in one embodiment, entries of the look-up table can be searched for matches to a type of object detected at step 2176 (e.g., rain water). in another embodiment, the look-up table can be searched for matches to spectral data derived from the affected electromagnetic wave received by the network elements. table entries can provide specific parameters for adjusting electromagnetic waves (e.g., frequency, phase, amplitude, wave mode, etc.) to achieve at least a coarse adjustment that achieves similar e-field properties as shown in fig. 21h . a coarse adjustment can serve to improve the likelihood of converging on a solution that achieves the desirable propagation properties previously discussed in relation to figs. 21h and 21j . once a coarse adjustment is made at step 2186 , the network element can determine at step 2184 whether the adjustment has improved signal quality to a desirable target. step 2184 can be implemented by a cooperative exchange between network elements. for example, suppose the network element at step 2186 generates an adjusted electromagnetic wave according to parameters obtained from the look-up table and transmits the adjusted electromagnetic wave to a neighboring network element. at step 2184 the network element can determine whether the adjustment has improved signal quality by receiving feedback from a neighboring network element receiving the adjusted electromagnetic waves, analyzing the quality of the received waves according to agreed target goals, and providing the results to the network element. similarly, the network element can test adjusted electromagnetic waves received from neighboring network elements and can provide feedback to the neighboring network elements including the results of the analysis. while a particular search algorithm is discussed above, other search algorithms such as a gradient search, genetic algorithm, global search or other optimization techniques can likewise be employed. accordingly, steps 2182 , 2186 and 2184 represent an adjustment and testing process performed by the network element and its neighbor(s). with this in mind, if at step 2184 a network element (or its neighbors) determine that signal quality has not achieved one or more desired parametric targets (e.g., snr, ber, plr, etc.), then incremental adjustments can begin at step 2182 for each of the network element and its neighbors. at step 2182 , the network element (and/or its neighbors) can be configured to adjust a magnitude, phase, frequency, wave mode and/or other tunable features of the electromagnetic waves incrementally until a target goal is achieved. to perform these adjustments, a network element (and its neighbors) can be configured with the waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18w . the network element (and its neighbors) can utilize two or more mmics 1870 to incrementally adjust one or more operational parameters of the electromagnetic waves to achieve e-fields polarized in a particular direction (e.g., away from the direction of propagation in the region of the water film). the two or more mmics 1870 can also be configured to incrementally adjust one or more operational parameters of the electromagnetic waves that achieve e-fields having a high concentration in a region of air (outside the obstruction). the iteration process can be a trial-and-error process coordinated between network elements to reduce a time for converging on a solution that improves upstream and downstream communications. as part of the coordination process, for example, one network element can be configured to adjust a magnitude but not a wave mode of the electromagnetic waves, while another network element can be configured to adjust the wave mode and not the magnitude. the number of iterations and combination of adjustments to achieve desirable properties in the electromagnetic waves to mitigate obstructions on an outer surface of a transmission medium can be established by a service provider according to experimentation and/or simulations and programmed into the network elements. once the network element(s) detect at step 2184 that signal quality of upstream and downstream electromagnetic waves has improved to a desirable level that achieves one or more parametric targets (e.g. snr, ber, plr, etc.), the network elements can proceed to step 2188 and resume communications according to the adjusted upstream and downstream electromagnetic waves. while communications take place at step 2188 , the network elements can be configured to transmit upstream and downstream test signals based on the original electromagnetic waves to determine if the signal quality of such waves has improved. these test signals can be transmitted at periodic intervals (e.g., once every 30 seconds or other suitable periods). each network element can, for example, analyze spectral data of the received test signals to determine if they achieve a desirable spectral profile and/or other parametric target (e.g. snr, ber, plr, etc.). if the signal quality has not improved or has improved nominally, the network elements can be configured to continue communications at step 2188 utilizing the adjusted upstream and downstream electromagnetic waves. if, however, signal quality has improved enough to revert back to utilizing the original electromagnetic waves, then the network element(s) can proceed to step 2192 to restore settings (e.g., original wave mode, original magnitude, original frequency, original phase, original spatial orientation, etc.) that produce the original electromagnetic waves. signal quality may improve as a result of a removal of the obstruction (e.g., rain water evaporates, field personnel remove a fallen tree limb, etc.). at step 2194 , the network elements can initiate communications utilizing the original electromagnetic waves and perform upstream and downstream tests. if the network elements determine at step 2196 from tests performed at step 2194 that signal quality of the original electromagnetic waves is satisfactory, then the network elements can resume communications with the original electromagnetic waves and proceed to step 2172 and subsequent steps as previously described. a successful test can be determined at step 2196 by analyzing test signals according to parametric targets associated with the original electromagnetic waves (e.g., ber, snr, plr, etc.). if the tests performed at step 2194 are determined to be unsuccessful at step 2196 , the network element(s) can proceed to steps 2182 , 2186 and 2184 as previously described. since a prior adjustment to the upstream and downstream electromagnetic waves may have already been determined successfully, the network element(s) can restore the settings used for the previously adjusted electromagnetic waves. accordingly, a single iteration of any one of steps 2182 , 2186 and 2184 may be sufficient to return to step 2188 . it should be noted that in some embodiments restoring the original electromagnetic waves may be desirable if, for example, data throughput when using the original electromagnetic waves is better than data throughput when using the adjusted electromagnetic waves. however, when data throughput of the adjusted electromagnetic waves is better or substantially close to the data throughput of the original electromagnetic waves, the network element(s) may instead be configured to continue from step 2188 . it is also noted that although figs. 21h and 21k describe a tm01 wave mode, other wave modes (e.g., he waves, te waves, tem waves, etc.) or combination of wave modes may achieve the desired effects shown in fig. 21h . accordingly, a wave mode singly or in combination with one or more other wave modes may generate electromagnetic waves with e-field properties that reduce propagation losses as described in relation to figs. 21h and 21j . such wave modes are therefore contemplated as possible wave modes the network elements can be configured to produce. it is further noted that method 2170 can be adapted to generate at steps 2182 or 2186 other wave modes that may not be subject to a cutoff frequency. for example, fig. 21l depicts a block diagram 2141 of an example, non-limiting embodiment of electric fields of a hybrid wave in accordance with various aspects described herein. waves having an he mode have linearly polarized e-fields which point away from a direction of propagation of electromagnetic waves and can be perpendicular (or approximately perpendicular) to a region of obstruction (e.g., water film shown in figs. 21h-21j ). waves with an he mode can be configured to generate e-fields that extend substantially outside of an outer surface of an insulated conductor so that more of the total accumulated field strength is in air. accordingly, some electromagnetic waves having an he mode can exhibit properties of a large wave mode with e-fields orthogonal or approximately orthogonal to a region of obstruction. as described earlier, such properties can reduce propagation losses. electromagnetic waves having an he mode also have the unique property that they do not have a cutoff frequency (i.e., they can operate near dc) unlike other wave modes which have non-zero cutoff frequencies. turning now to fig. 21m , a block diagram 2151 illustrating an example, non-limiting embodiment of electric field characteristics of a hybrid wave versus a goubau wave in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. diagram 2158 shows a distribution of energy between he11 mode waves and goubau waves for an insulated conductor. the energy plots of diagram 2158 assume that the amount of power used to generate the goubau waves is the same as the he11 waves (i.e., the area under the energy curves is the same). in the illustration of diagram 2158 , goubau waves have a steep drop in power when goubau waves extend beyond the outer surface of an insulated conductor, while he11 waves have a substantially lower drop in power beyond the insulation layer. consequently, goubau waves have a higher concentration of energy near the insulation layer than he11 waves. diagram 2167 depicts similar goubau and he11 energy curves when a water film is present on the outer surface of the insulator. the difference between the energy curves of diagrams 2158 and 2167 is that the drop in power for the goubau and the he11 energy curves begins on an outer edge of the insulator for diagram 2158 and on an outer edge of the water film for diagram 2167 . the energy curves diagrams 2158 and 2167 , however, depict the same behavior. that is, the electric fields of goubau waves are tightly bound to the insulation layer, which when exposed to water results in greater propagation losses than electric fields of he11 waves having a higher concentration outside the insulation layer and the water film. these properties are depicted in the he11 and goubau diagrams 2168 and 2159 , respectively. by adjusting an operating frequency of he11 waves, e-fields of he11 waves can be configured to extend substantially above a thin water film as shown in block diagram 2169 of fig. 21n having a greater accumulated field strength in areas in the air when compared to fields in the insulator and a water layer surrounding the outside of the insulator. fig. 21n depicts a wire having a radius of 1 cm and an insulation radius of 1.5 cm with a dielectric constant of 2.25. as the operating frequency of he11 waves is reduced, the e-fields extend outwardly expanding the size of the wave mode. at certain operating frequencies (e.g., 3 ghz) the wave mode expansion can be substantially greater than the diameter of the insulated wire and any obstructions that may be present on the insulated wire. by having e-fields that are perpendicular to a water film and by placing most of its energy outside the water film, he11 waves have less propagation loss than goubau waves when a transmission medium is subjected to water or other obstructions. although goubau waves have radial e-fields which are desirable, the waves are tightly coupled to the insulation layer, which results in the e-fields being highly concentrated in the region of an obstruction. consequently, goubau waves are still subject to high propagation losses when an obstruction such as a water film is present on the outer surface of an insulated conductor. turning now to figs. 22a and 22b , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of a waveguide system 2200 for launching hybrid waves in accordance with various aspects described herein is shown. the waveguide system 2200 can comprise probes 2202 coupled to a slideable or rotatable mechanism 2204 that enables the probes 2202 to be placed at different positions or orientations relative to an outer surface of an insulated conductor 2208 . the mechanism 2204 can comprise a coaxial feed 2206 or other coupling that enables transmission of electromagnetic waves by the probes 2202 . the coaxial feed 2206 can be placed at a position on the mechanism 2204 so that the path difference between the probes 2202 is one-half a wavelength or some odd integer multiple thereof. when the probes 2202 generate electromagnetic signals of opposite phase, electromagnetic waves can be induced on the outer surface of the insulated conductor 2208 having a hybrid mode (such as an he11 mode). the mechanism 2204 can also be coupled to a motor or other actuator (not shown) for moving the probes 2202 to a desirable position. in one embodiment, for example, the waveguide system 2200 can comprise a controller that directs the motor to rotate the probes 2202 (assuming they are rotatable) to a different position (e.g., east and west) to generate electromagnetic waves that have a horizontally polarized he11 mode as shown in a block diagram 2300 of fig. 23 . to guide the electromagnetic waves onto the outer surface of the insulated conductor 2208 , the waveguide system 2200 can further comprise a tapered horn 2210 shown in fig. 22b . the tapered horn 2210 can be coaxially aligned with the insulated conductor 2208 . to reduce the cross-sectional dimension of the tapered horn 2210 , an additional insulation layer (not shown) can placed on the insulated conductor 2208 . the additional insulation layer can be similar to the tapered insulation layer 1879 shown in figs. 18q and 18r . the additional insulation layer can have a tapered end that points away from the tapered horn 2210 . the tapered insulation layer 1879 can reduce a size of an initial electromagnetic wave launched according to an he11 mode. as the electromagnetic waves propagate towards the tapered end of the insulation layer, the he11 mode expands until it reaches its full size as shown in fig. 23 . in other embodiments, the waveguide system 2200 may not need to use the tapered insulation layer 1879 . fig. 23 illustrates that he11 mode waves can be used to mitigate obstructions such as rain water. for example, suppose that rain water has caused a water film to surround an outer surface of the insulated conductor 2208 as shown in fig. 23 . further assume that water droplets have collected at the bottom of the insulated conductor 2208 . as illustrated in fig. 23 , the water film occupies a small fraction of the total he11 wave. also, by having horizontally polarized he11 waves, the water droplets are in a least-intense area of the he11 waves reducing losses caused by the droplets. consequently, the he11 waves experience much lower propagation losses than goubau waves or waves having a mode that is tightly coupled to the insulated conductor 2208 and thus greater energy in the areas occupied by the water. it is submitted that the waveguide system 2200 of figs. 22a-22b can be replaced with other waveguide systems of the subject disclosure capable of generating electromagnetic waves having an he mode. for example, the waveguide system 1865 ′ of fig. 18w can be configured to generate electromagnetic waves having an he mode. in an embodiment, two or more mmics 1870 of the waveguide system 1865 ′ can be configured to generate electromagnetic waves of opposite phase to generate polarized e-fields such as those present in an he mode. in another embodiment, different pairs of mmics 1870 can be selected to generate he waves that are polarized at different spatial positions (e.g., north and south, west and east, northwest and southeast, northeast and southeast, or other sub-fractional coordinates). additionally, the waveguide systems of figs. 18n-18w can be configured to launch electromagnetic waves having an he mode onto the core 1852 of one or more embodiments of cable 1850 suitable for propagating he mode waves. although he waves can have desirable characteristics for mitigating obstructions on a transmission medium, it is submitted that certain wave modes having a cutoff frequency (e.g., te modes, tm modes, tem modes or combinations thereof) may also exhibit waves that are sufficiently large and have polarized e-fields that are orthogonal (or approximately orthogonal) to a region of an obstruction enabling their use for mitigating propagation losses caused by the obstruction. method 2070 can be adapted, for example, to generate such wave modes from a look-up table at step 2086 . wave modes having a cutoff frequency that exhibit, for example, a wave mode larger than the obstruction and polarized e-fields perpendicular (or approximately perpendicular) to the obstruction can be determined by experimentation and/or simulation. once a combination of parameters (e.g., magnitude, phase, frequency, wave mode(s), spatial positioning, etc.) for generating one or more waves with cutoff frequencies having low propagation loss properties is determined, the parametric results for each wave can be stored in a look-up table in a memory of a waveguide system. similarly, wave modes with cutoff frequencies exhibiting properties that reduce propagation losses can also be generated iteratively by any of the search algorithms previously described in the process of steps 2082 - 2084 . while for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respective processes are shown and described as a series of blocks in fig. 21g , it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein. fig. 24 illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2400 for sending and receiving electromagnetic waves. method 2400 can be adapted for the waveguides 2522 shown in figs. 25a through 25c . method 2400 can begin at step 2402 where a generator generates a first electromagnetic wave. at step 2404 a waveguide guides the first electromagnetic wave to an interface of a transmission medium, which in turn induces at step 2406 a second electromagnetic wave at the interface of the transmission medium. steps 2402 - 2406 can be applied to the waveguides 2522 of figs. 25a, 25b and 25c . the generator can be an mmic 1870 or slot 1863 as shown in figs. 18n through 18w . for illustration purposes only, the generator is assumed to be an mmic 2524 positioned within the waveguide 2522 as shown in figs. 25a through 25c . although figs. 25a through 25c illustrate in a longitudinal view of cylindrical waveguides 2522 , the waveguides 2522 can be adapted to other structural shapes (e.g., square, rectangular, etc.). turning to the illustration of fig. 25a , the waveguide 2522 covers a first region 2506 of a core 2528 . within the first region 2506 , waveguide 2522 has an outer surface 2522 a and an inner surface 2523 . the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 can be constructed from a metallic material, carbon, or other material that reflects electromagnetic waves and thereby enables the waveguide 2522 to be configured at step 2404 to guide the first electromagnetic wave 2502 towards the core 2528 . the core 2528 can comprise a dielectric core (as described in the subject disclosure) that extends to the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . in other embodiments, the dielectric core can be surrounded by cladding (such as shown in fig. 18a ), whereby the cladding extends to the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . in yet other embodiments, the core 2528 can comprise an insulated conductor, where the insulation extends to the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . in this embodiment, the insulated conductor can be a power line, a coaxial cable, or other types of insulated conductors. in the first region 2506 , the core 2528 comprises an interface 2526 for receiving the first electromagnetic wave 2502 . in one embodiment, the interface 2526 of the core 2528 can be configured to reduce reflections of the first electromagnetic wave 2502 . in one embodiment, the interface 2526 can be a tapered structure to reduce reflections of the first electromagnetic wave 2502 from a surface of the core 2528 . other structures can be used for the interface 2526 . for example, the interface 2526 can be partially tapered with a rounded point. accordingly, any structure, configuration, or adaptation of the interface 2526 that can reduced reflections of the first electromagnetic wave 2502 is contemplated by the subject disclosure. at step 2406 , the first electromagnetic wave 2502 induces (or otherwise generates) a second electromagnetic wave 2504 that propagates within the core 2528 in the first region 2506 covered by the waveguide 2522 . the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 confines the second electromagnetic wave 2504 within the core 2528 . a second region 2508 of the core 2528 is not covered by the waveguide 2522 , and is thereby exposed to the environment (e.g., air). in the second region 2508 , the second electromagnetic wave 2504 expands outwardly beginning from the discontinuity between the edge of the waveguide 2522 and the exposed core 2528 . to reduce the radiation into the environment from the second electromagnetic wave 2504 , the core 2528 can be configured to have a tapered structure 2520 . as the second electromagnetic wave 2504 propagates along the tapered structure 2520 , the second electromagnetic wave 2504 remains substantially bound to the tapered structure 2520 thereby reducing radiation losses. the tapered structure 2520 ends at a transition from the second region 2508 to a third region 2510 . in the third region, the core has a cylindrical structure 2529 having a diameter equal to the endpoint of the tapered structure 2520 at the juncture between the second region 2508 and the third region 2510 . in the third region 2510 of the core 2528 , the second electromagnetic wave 2504 experiences a low propagation loss. in one embodiment, this can be accomplished by selecting a diameter of the core 2528 that enables the second electromagnetic wave 2504 to be loosely bound to the outer surface of the core 2528 in the third region 2510 . alternatively, or in combination, propagation losses of the second electromagnetic wave 2504 can be reduced by configuring the mmics 2524 to adjust a wave mode, wave length, operating frequency, or other operational parameter of the first electromagnetic wave 2502 . fig. 25d illustrates a portion of the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25a depicted as a cylindrical ring (that does not show the mmics 2524 or the tapered structure 2526 of fig. 25a ). in the simulations, a first electromagnetic wave is injected at the endpoint of the core 2528 shown in fig. 25d . the simulation assumes no reflections of the first electromagnetic wave based on an assumption that a tapered structure 2526 (or other suitable structure) is used to reduce such reflections. the simulations are shown as two longitudinal cross-sectional views of the core 2528 covered in part by waveguide section 2523 a, and an orthogonal cross-sectional view of the core 2528 . in the case of the longitudinal cross-sectional views, one of the illustrations is a blown up view of a portion of the first illustration. as can be seen from the simulations, electromagnetic wave fields 2532 of the second electromagnetic wave 2504 are confined within the core 2528 by the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide section 2523 a. as the second electromagnetic wave 2504 enters the second region 2508 (no longer covered by the waveguide section 2523 a), the tapered structure 2520 reduces radiation losses of the electromagnetic wave fields 2532 as it expands over the outer tapered surface of the core 2528 . as the second electromagnetic wave 2504 enters the third region 2510 , the electromagnetic wave fields 2532 stabilize and thereafter remain loosely coupled to the core 2528 (depicted in the longitudinal and orthogonal cross-sectional views), which reduces propagation losses. fig. 25b provides an alternative embodiment to the tapered structure 2520 in the second region 2508 . the tapered structure 2520 can be avoided by extending the waveguide 2522 into the second region 2508 with a tapered structure 2522 b and maintaining the diameter of the core 2528 throughout the first, second and third regions 2506 , 2508 and 2510 of the core 2528 as depicted in fig. 25b . the horn structure 2522 b can be used to reduce radiation losses of the second electromagnetic wave 2504 as the second electromagnetic wave 2504 transitions from the first region 2506 to the second region 2508 . in the third region 2510 , the core 2528 is exposed to the environment. as noted earlier, the core 2528 is configured in the third region 2510 to reduce propagation losses by the second electromagnetic wave 2504 . in one embodiment, this can be accomplished by selecting a diameter of the core 2528 that enables the second electromagnetic wave 2504 to be loosely bound to the outer surface of the core 2528 in the third region 2510 . alternatively, or in combination, propagation losses of the second electromagnetic wave 2504 can be reduced by adjusting a wave mode, wave length, operating frequency, or other performance parameter of the first electromagnetic wave 2502 . the waveguides 2522 of figs. 25a and 25b can also be adapted for receiving electromagnetic waves. for example, the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25a can be adapted to receive an electromagnetic wave at step 2412 . this can be represented by an electromagnetic wave 2504 propagating in the third region 2510 from east to west (orientation shown at bottom right of figs. 25a-25b ) towards the second region 2508 . upon reaching the second region 2508 , the electromagnetic wave 2504 gradually becomes more tightly coupled to the tapered structure 2520 . when it reaches the boundary between the second region 2508 and the first region 2506 (i.e., the edge of the waveguide 2522 ), the electromagnetic wave 2504 propagates within the core 2528 confined by the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . eventually the electromagnetic wave 2504 reaches an endpoint of the tapered interface 2526 of the core 2528 and radiates as a new electromagnetic wave 2502 which is guided by the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . one or more antennas of the mmics 2524 can be configured to receive the electromagnetic wave 2502 thereby converting the electromagnetic wave 2502 to an electrical signal at step 2414 which can be processed by a processing device (e.g., a receiver circuit and microprocessor). to prevent interference between electromagnetic waves transmitted by the mmics 2524 , a remote waveguide system that transmitted the electromagnetic wave 2504 that is received by the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25a can be adapted to transmit the electromagnetic wave 2504 at a different operating frequency, different wave mode, different phase, or other adjustable operational parameter to avoid interference. electromagnetic waves can be received by the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25b in a similar manner as described above. turning now to fig. 25c , the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25b can be adapted to support transmission mediums 2528 that have no endpoints such as shown in fig. 25c . in this illustration, the waveguide 2522 comprises a chamber 2525 in a first region 2506 of the core 2528 . the chamber 2525 creates a gap 2527 between an outer surface 2521 of the core 2528 and the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . the gap 2527 provides sufficient room for placement of the mmics 2524 on the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 . to enable the waveguide 2522 to receive electromagnetic waves from either direction, the waveguide 2522 can be configured with symmetrical regions: 2508 and 2508 ′, 2510 and 2510 ′, and 2512 , and 2512 ′. in the first region 2506 , the chamber 2525 of the waveguide 2522 has two tapered structures 2522 b′ and 2522 b″. these tapered structures 2522 b′ and 2522 b″ enable an electromagnetic wave to gradually enter or exit the chamber 2525 from either direction of the core 2528 . the mmics 2524 can be configured with directional antennas to launch a first electromagnetic wave 2502 directed from east-to-west or from west-to-east in relation to the longitudinal view of the core 2528 . similarly, the directional antennas of the mmics 2524 can be configured to receive an electromagnetic waves propagating longitudinally on the core 2528 from east-to-west or from west-to-east. the process for transmitting electromagnetic waves is similar to that described for fig. 25b depending on whether the directional antennas of the mmics 2524 are transmitting from east-to-west or from west-to-east. although not shown, the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25c can be configured with a mechanism such as one or more hinges that enable splitting the waveguide 2522 into two parts that can be separated. the mechanism can be used to enable installation of the waveguide 2522 onto a core 2528 without endpoints. other mechanisms for installation of the waveguide 2522 of fig. 25c on a core 2528 are contemplated by the subject disclosure. for example, the waveguide 2522 can be configured with a slot opening that spans the entire waveguide structure longitudinally. in a slotted design of the waveguide 2522 , the regions 2522 c′ and 2522 c of the waveguide 2522 can be configured so that the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 is tightly coupled to the outer surface of the core 2528 . the tight coupling between the inner surface 2523 of the waveguide 2522 the outer surface of the core 2528 prevents sliding or movement of the waveguide 2522 relative to the core 2528 . a tight coupling in the regions 2522 c′ and 2522 c can also be applied to a hinged design of the waveguide 2522 . the waveguides 2522 shown in figs. 25a, 25b and 25c can be adapted to perform one or more embodiments described in other figures of the subject disclosure. accordingly, it is contemplated that such embodiments can be applied to the waveguide 2522 of figs. 25a, 25b and 25c . additionally, any adaptations in the subject disclosure of a core can be applied to the waveguide 2522 of figs. 25a, 25b and 25c . while for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respective processes are shown and described as a series of blocks in fig. 24 , it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein. it is further noted that the waveguide launchers 2522 of figs. 25a-25d and/or other waveguide launchers described and shown in the figures of the subject disclosure (e.g., figs. 7-14, 18n-18w, 22a-22b and other drawings) and any methods thereof can be adapted to generate on a transmission medium having an outer surface composed of, for example, a dielectric material (e.g., insulation, oxidation, or other material with dielectric properties) a single wave mode or combination of wave modes that reduce propagation losses when propagating through a substance, such as a liquid (e.g., water produced by humidity, snow, dew, sleet and/or rain), disposed on the outer surface of the transmission medium. figs. 25e, 25f, 25g, 25h, 25i, 25j, 25k, 25l, 25m, 25n, 25o, 25p, 25q, 25r, 25s and 25t are block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments of wave modes (and electric field plots associated therewith) that can be generated on an outer surface of a transmission medium by one or more of the waveguides of the subject disclosure and adaptations thereof. turning first to fig. 25e , an illustration is provided that depicts a longitudinal cross-section of a transmission medium 2542 . the transmission medium 2542 can comprise a conductor 2543 , a dielectric material 2544 (e.g., insulation, oxidation, etc.) disposed on the conductor 2543 , and a substance/water film 2545 (or other accumulation of water, liquid, or other substance) disposed on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 . the transmission medium 2542 can be exposed to a gaseous substance such as atmosphere or air 2546 (or can be located in a vacuum). the respective thicknesses of the conductor 2543 , dielectric material 2544 , and water film 2545 are not drawn to scale and are therefore meant only to be illustrative. although not shown in fig. 25e , the conductor 2543 can be a cylindrical conductor (e.g., single conductor, braided multi-strand conductor, etc.) surrounded by the dielectric material 2544 , and air 2546 . to simplify the illustration of the subject disclosure, only a portion of the conductor 2543 near the upper (or first) surface is shown. furthermore, a symmetrical portion of the dielectric material 2544 , water film 2545 , and air 2546 , which would be located under (or on an opposite/bottom side of) the conductor 2543 , in the longitudinal cross section of fig. 25e , is not shown. in certain embodiments, gravitational forces can cause the water film 2545 to be concentrated predominantly on a limited portion of the outer surface of the transmission medium 2542 (e.g., on a bottom side of the transmission medium 2542 ). it is therefore not necessary in the present illustration for the outer surface of the dielectric material to be completely surrounded by the water film 2545 . it is further noted that the water film 2545 can be droplets or beads of water rather than a contiguous water film. although fig. 25e illustrates an insulated conductor (i.e., conductor 2543 surrounded by the dielectric material 2544 ), other configurations of the transmission medium 2542 are possible and applicable to the subject disclosure, such as, for example, a transmission medium 2542 composed of a bare wire or other uninsulated conductor or solely of a dielectric material of various structural shapes (e.g., cylindrical structure, rectangular structure, square structure, etc.). fig. 25e further depicts electric fields of a fundamental transverse magnetic wave mode in the form of tm00 wave mode, sometimes referred to as the goubau wave mode, launched onto the outer surface of the transmission medium 2542 by one of the waveguide launchers described in the subject disclosure or an adaptation thereof and that travels in a longitudinal direction along the transmission medium 2542 corresponding to the direction of wave propagation shown. electromagnetic waves that propagate along a transmission medium via a transverse magnetic (tm) mode have electric fields with both radial rho-field components that extend radially outward from the transmission medium and are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and longitudinal z-field components that vary as a function of time and distance of propagation that are parallel to the longitudinal direction but no azimuthal phi-field components that are perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the radial direction. the tm00 goubau wave mode produces electric fields with predominant radial rho-field components extending away from the conductor at a high field strength throughout the dielectric in the region 2550 . the tm00 goubau wave mode also produces electric fields with predominant radial rho-field components extending into the conductor at a high field strength throughout the dielectric in the region 2550 ″. furthermore, in the region 2550 ′ between regions 2550 and 2550 ″, electric fields with smaller magnitudes and with predominant longitudinal z-field components are produced. the presence of these electric fields inside the dielectric produces some attenuation, but losses in these regions are insignificant compared with the effects of a thin water film as will be discussed below. an expanded view 2548 of a small region of the transmission medium 2542 (depicted by a dashed oval) is shown at the bottom right of fig. 25e . the expanded view 2548 depicts a higher resolution of the electric fields present in the small region of the transmission medium 2542 . the expanded view shows electric fields in the dielectric material 2544 , the water film 2545 and the air 2546 . a substantial portion of the electric fields depicted in region 2547 of the expanded view 2548 has a significant longitudinal component, particularly in the region near the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 in an area of the water film 2545 . as an electromagnetic wave exhibiting a tm00 (goubau) wave mode propagates longitudinally (left-to-right or right-to-left), the areas of strong longitudinal component of the electric fields shown in region 2547 cause the electric field to traverse a greater portion of the water film 2545 thereby causing substantial propagation losses, which can be in the order of 200 db/m of attenuation for frequencies in the range of 24-40 ghz, for example. fig. 25f depicts a cross-sectional longitudinal view of simulated electromagnetic waves having a tm00 (goubau) wave mode, and the effects when such waves propagate on a dry versus wet transmission medium 2542 implemented as a 1-meter (in length) insulated conductor. for illustration purposes only, the simulation assumes a lossless insulator to focus the analysis on a degree of attenuation caused by a 0.1 mm water film. as shown in the illustration, when electromagnetic waves having the tm00 (goubau) wave mode propagate on the dry transmission medium 2452 , the waves experience minimal propagation losses. in contrast, when the same electromagnetic waves having the tm00 (goubau) wave mode propagate in the wet transmission medium 2542 , they experience significant propagation losses greater than 200 db in attenuation over the 1 meter length of the insulated conductor for frequencies in the range of 24-40 ghz, for example. fig. 25g illustrates a simulation depicting the magnitude and frequency properties of electromagnetic waves having a tm00 goubau wave mode that propagate on a dry insulated conductor 2542 versus a wet insulated conductor 2542 . for illustration purposes only, the simulation assumes a lossless insulator to focus the analysis on the degree of attenuation caused by a 0.1 mm water film. the plots show that when the transmission medium 2542 is wet, electromagnetic waves having a tm00 goubau wave mode experience attenuations of approximately 200 db/m for a range of frequencies of 24-40 ghz. in contrast, the plot for the dry insulated conductor 2542 experiences nearly no attenuation in the same range of frequencies. figs. 25h and 25i illustrate electric field plots of an electromagnetic wave having tm00 goubau wave mode with an operating frequency of 3.5 ghz and 10 ghz, respectively. although the vertical axis represents field intensity and not distance, hash lines have been superimposed on the plots of figs. 25h and 25i (as well as the plots of figs. 25m-25s ) to depict the respective portions of the conductor, insulator and water film relative to their position indicated by the x-axis. while the field strengths were calculated in figs. 25h and 25i (as well as the plots of figs. 25m-25s ) based on a condition where no water is present, the plot shown in fig. 25h nevertheless helps explain why a tm00 goubau wave mode at lower frequencies has low propagation losses when water is present on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 in the position shown. to understand the plots of figs. 25h and 25i , it is important to understand the difference between radial rho-fields and longitudinal z-fields. when viewing a longitudinal cross-section of a transmission medium 2542 such as shown in fig. 25e , rho-fields represent electric fields that extend radially outward from or inward to (perpendicular to the longitudinal axis) the conductor 2543 through the dielectric material 2544 , a water film 2545 that may be present, and the air 2546 . in contrast, z-fields are electric fields that are aligned with the dielectric material 2544 , the water film 2545 , or the air 2546 in a manner that is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the transmission medium 2542 . a propagating electromagnetic wave having solely electric field components that are radial or perpendicular to a water film 2545 does not experience a significant loss in field strength as the electromagnetic wave propagates longitudinally (from left-to-right or right-to-left) along the outer surface of the transmission medium 2542 . in contrast, a propagating electromagnetic wave having electric field components that are parallel (or longitudinal), i.e., z-fields aligned with the water film 2545 , having a field strength substantially greater than 0 will experience a substantial loss in field strength (i.e., propagation loss) as the electromagnetic wave propagates longitudinally (from left-to-right or right-to-left) along the outer surface of the transmission medium 2542 . in the case of a tm00 goubau wave mode at 3.5 ghz as shown in the plot of fig. 25h , the z-field component of the electric fields has a field strength that is small relative to the rho-field (radial) component beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the position where a water film 2545 could be present as shown in fig. 25h . in particular, the plot 25 h indicates the magnitude of the field strength of the rho-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the plot shown in fig. 25g nevertheless helps explain why a tm00 goubau wave mode at lower frequencies has low propagation losses when water is present on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 in the position shown. indeed, according to an embodiment, where the electric fields have large radial components (e.g., radial rho fields) that are perpendicular to the propagation direction, and conversely relatively small longitudinal components (e.g., z-fields) at the region of the substance/water film, then there can be relatively low propagation losses. consequently, an electromagnetic wave having a tm00 goubau wave mode at 3.5 ghz will not experience a substantial attenuation when the water film 2545 is disposed on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 (due to rain, snow, dew, sleet and/or excess humidity). this is not true for all frequencies however, particularly as frequencies approach the millimeter wave range. for instance, fig. 25i depicts a plot of a tm00 wave mode at 10 ghz. in this plot, the field strength of the z-field component in the region of the water film is relatively large when compared to the rho-field (radial) component. consequently, propagation losses are very high. fig. 25j shows that when a water film having a thickness of 0.1 mm is present on the external surface of the insulated conductor, a tm00 wave mode at 4 ghz experiences an attenuation of 0.62 db/m which is significantly lower than a tm00 wave mode at 10 ghz, which experiences an attenuation of 45 db/m. accordingly, a tm00 wave mode operating at high frequencies reaching millimeter wave frequencies can experience a substantial propagation loss when a water film is present on the outer surface of a transmission medium. turning now to fig. 25k , an illustration is provided that depicts an electromagnetic wave having a tm01 wave mode (e.g., a non-fundamental wave mode) that propagates on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 . in the expanded view 2548 , region 2547 illustrates that the electric fields of the electromagnetic wave having a tm01 wave mode have a significant radial rho-field component, and insignificant longitudinal z-field component in the region near the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 in an area of the water film 2545 . tm01 wave modes have a cutoff frequency greater than zero hertz. when the electromagnetic wave having a tm01 wave mode is configured by a waveguide launcher of the subject disclosure (an adaptation thereof or other launcher) to operate in a frequency range near its cutoff frequency, a small fraction of power is carried by the dielectric material 2544 , while most of the power is concentrated in the air 2546 . the tm01 wave mode produces electric fields in the region 2551 with predominant radial rho-field components extending away from the conductor that reverse in the dielectric 2544 and point inward from the air into the dielectric 2544 at the surface of the dielectric. the tm01 wave mode also produces electric fields in the region 2551 ″ with predominant radial rho-field components extending into the conductor that reverse in the dielectric 2544 and point outward into the air from the dielectric 2544 at the surface of the dielectric. furthermore, in the region 2551 ′ between regions 2551 and 2551 ″, electric fields with predominant longitudinal z-field components are produced within the dielectric layer 2544 . as in the case of the tm00 mode, the presence of these electric fields inside the dielectric 2544 produces some attenuation, but losses in these regions may not be significant enough to prevent propagation of a tm01 wave over significant distances. additionally, the electric fields of the tm01 wave mode in region 2547 of the water film 2545 are predominantly radial and have relatively insignificant longitudinal components. consequently, the propagating wave does not experience large propagation losses as the electromagnetic wave with this field structure propagates longitudinally (from left-to-right or right-to-left) along the outer surface of the transmission medium 2542 . fig. 25l depicts a cross-sectional longitudinal view of electromagnetic waves having a tm01 wave mode, and the effects when such waves propagate on a dry versus wet transmission medium 2542 at a millimeter wave frequency or slightly below. as shown in the illustration, when electromagnetic waves having the tm01 wave mode propagate on the dry transmission medium 2452 , the waves experience minimal propagation losses. in contrast to the electromagnetic wave having a tm00 goubau wave mode at similar frequencies, when the electromagnetic waves having tm01 wave mode propagate in the wet transmission medium 2542 , they experience only a modest additional attenuation. electromagnetic waves having a tm01 wave mode in a millimeter frequency range, for example, are therefore much less susceptible to increased propagation losses due to the presence of the water film 2545 than electromagnetic waves having a tm00 goubau wave mode in this same frequency range. fig. 25m provides an illustration of an electric field plot of a radial rho-field component and longitudinal z-field component of the electric fields of a tm01 wave mode having an operating frequency at 30.437 ghz, which is 50 mhz above its cutoff frequency. the cutoff frequency is at 30.387 ghz based on a 4 mm radius of the conductor 2543 and 4 mm thickness of the dielectric material 2544 . a higher or lower cutoff frequency for a tm01 wave mode is possible when the dimensions of the conductor 2543 and dielectric material 2544 differ from the present illustration. in particular, the plot indicates the magnitude of the field strength of the rho-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the plot shown in fig. 25m nevertheless helps explain why a tm01 wave mode has low propagation losses when water is present on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 in the position shown. as noted earlier, electric fields that are substantially perpendicular to the water film 2545 do not experience a significant loss in field strength, while electric fields that are parallel/longitudinal to the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 within the area of the water film 2545 will experience a substantial loss in field strength as the electromagnetic wave having this field structure propagates along the transmission medium 2542 . in the case of a tm01 wave mode, the longitudinal z-field component of the electric fields can have a field strength that is extremely small relative to the magnitude of the radial field beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the water film 2545 as shown in fig. 25m . consequently, an electromagnetic wave having a tm01 wave mode at 30.437 ghz will experience much less attenuation than a tm00 goubau wave mode at a frequency greater than 6 ghz (e.g., at 10 ghz—see fig. 25j ) when a water film 2545 is disposed on the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 (due to rain, dew, snow, sleet and/or excess humidity). fig. 25n illustrates a plot depicting the magnitude and frequency properties of electromagnetic waves having a tm01 wave mode that propagate on a dry transmission medium 2542 versus a wet transmission medium 2542 . the plots show that when the transmission medium 2542 is wet, electromagnetic waves having a tm01 wave mode experience a modest attenuation when the tm01 wave mode is operating in a frequency range (e.g., 28 ghz-31 ghz) near its cutoff frequency. in contrast, the tm00 goubau wave mode experiences a significant attenuation of 200 db/m as shown in the plot of fig. 25 g over this same frequency range. the plot of fig. 25n thus confirms the results of the dry versus wet simulations shown in fig. 25l . figs. 25o, 25p, 25q, 25r and 25s depict other wave modes that can exhibit similar properties like those shown for a tm01 wave mode. for example, fig. 25o provides an illustration of an electric field plot of a radial rho-field component and a longitudinal z-field component of the electric fields of a tm02 wave mode having an operating frequency at 61.121 ghz, which is 50 mhz above its cutoff frequency. as noted above, the cutoff frequency can be higher or lower when the dimensions of the conductor 2543 and dielectric material 2544 differ from the present illustration. in particular, the plot indicates the magnitude of the field strength of the rho-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the z-field component of the electric fields can have a field strength that is extremely small relative to the magnitude of the radial rho-field beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the position that would be occupied by the water film 2545 as shown in fig. 25o . consequently, an electromagnetic wave exhibiting a tm02 wave mode will experience much less attenuation due to an accumulation of water on an outer surface of a dielectric layer than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. fig. 25p provides an illustration of an electric field plot of a radial rho-field component, a longitudinal z-field component, and an azimuthal phi-field component of the electric fields of a hybrid wave mode; specifically, an eh11 wave mode having an operating frequency at 31.153 ghz, which is 50 mhz above its cutoff frequency. as before, the cutoff frequency in the illustration of fig. 25p can be higher or lower depending on the dimensions of the conductor 2543 and dielectric material 2544 . non-tm wave modes such as hybrid eh wave modes can have azimuthal field components that are perpendicular to the radial rho-field and longitudinal z-field components and that tangentially encircle the circumference of the transmission medium 2542 in a clockwise and/or counterclockwise direction like the z-field components, phi-field (azimuthal) components at the outer surface of the dielectric 2544 can cause significant propagation losses in the presence of a thin film of water 2545 . the plot of fig. 25p indicates the magnitudes of the field strength of the rho-field, phi-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium 2542 . while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the z-field and phi-field components of the electric field each have a field strength that is very small relative to the magnitude of the radial field beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the position that would be occupied by the water film 2545 . consequently, an electromagnetic wave having an eh11 wave mode will experience much less attenuation due to an accumulation of water on an outer surface of a dielectric layer than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. fig. 25q provides an illustration of an electric field plot of a radial rho-field component, a longitudinal z-field component, and an azimuthal phi-field component of the electric fields of a higher order hybrid wave mode; specifically, an eh12 wave mode having an operating frequency at 61.5 ghz, which is 50 mhz above its cutoff frequency. as before, the cutoff frequency can be higher or lower depending on the dimensions of the conductor 2543 and dielectric material 2544 . in particular, the plot indicates the magnitudes of the field strength of the rho-field, phi-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the z-field and phi-field components of the electric field each have a field strength that is very small relative to the magnitude of the radial field beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the position that would be occupied by the water film 2545 . consequently, an electromagnetic wave exhibiting an eh12 wave mode will experience much less attenuation due to an accumulation of water on an outer surface of a dielectric layer than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. fig. 25r provides an illustration of an electric field plot of a radial rho-field component, a longitudinal z-field component, and an azimuthal phi-field component of the electric fields of a hybrid wave mode; specifically, an he22 wave mode having an operating frequency at 36.281 ghz, which is 50 mhz above its cutoff frequency. as before, the cutoff frequency can be higher or lower depending on the dimensions of the conductor 2543 and dielectric material 2544 . in particular, the plot indicates the magnitudes of the field strength of the rho-field, phi-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the z-field and phi-field components of the electric field each have a field strength that is small relative to the magnitude of the radial field beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the position that would be occupied by the water film 2545 . consequently, an electromagnetic wave exhibiting an eh22 wave mode will experience much less attenuation due to an accumulation of water on an outer surface of a dielectric layer than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. fig. 25s provides an illustration of an electric field plot of a radial rho-field component, a longitudinal z-field component, and an azimuthal phi-field component of the electric fields of a higher order hybrid wave mode; specifically, an he23 wave mode having an operating frequency at 64.425 ghz, which is 50 mhz above its cutoff frequency. as before, the cutoff frequency can be higher or lower depending on the dimensions of the conductor 2543 and dielectric material 2544 . in particular, the plot indicates the magnitudes of the field strength of the rho-field, phi-field and z-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a transmission medium. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the z-field and phi-field components of the electric field each have a field strength that is small relative to the magnitude of the radial field beginning from the outer surface of the dielectric material 2544 and through the position that would be occupied by the water film 2545 . consequently, an electromagnetic wave exhibiting an he23 wave mode will experience much less attenuation due to an accumulation of water on an outer surface of a dielectric layer than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. based on the observations of the electric field plots of figs. 25m and 25o , it can be said that electromagnetic waves having a tm0m wave mode, where m>0, will experience less propagation losses than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and/or phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. similarly, based on the observations of the electric field plots of figs. 25p-25q , it can be said that electromagnetic waves having an eh1m wave mode, where m>0, will experience less propagation losses than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and/or phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. additionally, based on the observations of the electric field plots of figs. 25r-25s , it can be said that electromagnetic waves having an he2m wave mode, where m>1, will experience less propagation losses than wave modes with more significant longitudinal z-field and/or phi-field components in a position corresponding to the water film. it is further noted that the waveguide launchers 2522 of figs. 25a-25d and/or other waveguide launchers described and shown in the figures of the subject disclosure (e.g., figs. 7-14, 18n-18w, 22a-22b and other drawings) can be adapted to generate or induce on a transmission medium having an outer surface composed of, for example, a dielectric material (e.g., insulation, oxidation, or other material with dielectric properties) an electromagnetic wave having a tm0m wave mode or an eh1m wave mode (where m>0), an he2m wave mode (where m>1), or any other type of wave mode that exhibits a low field strength for a z-field component (and azimuthal field component if present) in a proximal region above the outer surface of the transmission medium where a water film may be present. since certain wave modes have electric field structures near an out surface of a transmission medium that are less susceptible to propagation losses, the waveguide launchers of the subject disclosure can be adapted to generate singly, or when suitable, in combination, an electromagnetic wave(s) having the aforementioned wave mode properties to reduce propagation losses when propagating through a substance, such as a liquid (e.g., water produced by humidity and/or rain), disposed on the outer surface of the transmission medium. it is further noted that in certain embodiments the transmission medium used to propagate one or more of the aforementioned wave modes can be composed solely of a dielectric material. referring back to the tm01 wave mode of fig. 25k , it is also noted that the region 2549 in the expanded view 2548 shows electric field vectors exhibiting the behavior of an eddy (e.g., a circular or whirlpool-like pattern). although it would appear that certain electric field vectors in region 2549 have longitudinal field components located within the water film 2545 , such vectors have a very low field strength and are also substantially less in quantity when compared to the higher strength radial field components located within region 2547 (without including region 2549 ). nevertheless, the few electric field vectors with non-zero longitudinal components in region 2549 can be a contributing factor to the modest attenuation described earlier in relation to the wet transmission medium 2542 of fig. 25l . the adverse effects of the electric field vectors in the small eddy region 2549 of fig. 25k are substantially less than the adverse effects caused by the substantial number of electric field vectors with significant longitudinal components in region 2547 of the tm00 goubau wave mode of fig. 25e , which have a much higher field strength and are within the water film 2545 . as noted earlier, the electric field vectors in region 2547 of the tm00 goubau wave mode cause a much higher propagation loss (as much as 200 db/m attenuation) at frequencies above 6 ghz as depicted by the wet transmission medium 2542 of figs. 25f-25g, 25i and 25j , which is not the case for a tm01 wave mode. it is also noted that the electric field depictions in figs. 25e and 25k are not static in time and space. that is, as an electromagnetic wave propagates in space longitudinally along a transmission medium, the electric fields associated with the electromagnetic wave change when viewed at a static location of the transmission medium as time progresses. consequently, the electric field plots shown in figs. 25h, 25i, 25m and 25o-25s , are non-static and can expand and contract, as well as, reverse in polarity. even though the electric field plots are not static, the average field strength of the z-field component (and azimuthal field component when present) for a tm0m wave mode and eh1m wave mode (where m>0), and he2m wave mode (where m>1) is substantially lower than that exhibited by z-field component of a tm00 goubau wave mode above 6 ghz. consequently, a tm0m wave mode and eh1m wave mode (where m>0), and he2m wave mode (where m>1) experience a much lower propagation loss than a tm00 goubau wave mode in the range of frequencies above 6 ghz in the presence of a water film 2545 . it is further noted that the electric fields of a tm00 goubau wave mode differ substantially from a tm0m wave mode and eh1m wave mode (where m>0), and a he2m wave mode (where m>1). take for instance the electric fields of a tm00 goubau wave mode and a tm01 wave mode depicted in an orthogonal cross-sectional view of the transmission medium 2542 shown in fig. 25t . the tm00 goubau wave mode depicts radial electric fields extending away from the conductor at a high field strength throughout the dielectric. this behavior is depicted in the region 2550 of fig. 25e at an instance in time and space of the transmission medium 2542 . in contrast, the tm01 wave mode depicts electric fields that extend away from the conductor, decrease substantially in field strength at a midpoint of the dielectric, and reverse in polarity and increase in field strength towards the outer surface of the dielectric. this behavior is depicted in the region 2551 of fig. 25k at an instance in time and space of the transmission medium 2542 . if the cross-sectional slice shown in fig. 25t remains the same as time progresses, in the tm00 goubau wave mode, the electric fields in region 2550 ′ (of fig. 25e ) will in time reach the cross-sectional slice decreasing in field strength, and suddenly reversing polarity as the electric fields in region 2550 ″ reach the cross-sectional slice. in contrast, in the tm01 wave mode, the electric fields in region 2551 ′ (of fig. 25k ) will in time reach the cross-sectional slice becoming longitudinal (i.e., pointing out of the drawing of fig. 25t ), thereby causing the electric fields shown in fig. 25t for the tm01 wave mode to appear to disappear, and then returning with the polarities reversed from what is shown in fig. 25t as the electric fields in region 2551 ″ reach the cross-sectional slice. it will be appreciated that the electromagnetic wave modes described in figs. 25e-25t and in other sections of the subject disclosure can be launched singly or in combination as multiple wave modes in whole or in part on an outer surface, or embedded within any one of the transmission media described in the subject disclosure (e.g., figs. 18a-18l ). it is further noted that these electromagnetic wave modes can be converted into wireless signals by any of the antennas described in the subject disclosure (e.g., figs. 18m, 19a-19f, 20a-20f ) or converted from wireless signals received by an antenna back to one or more electromagnetic wave modes that propagate along one of the aforementioned transmission media. the methods and systems described in the subject disclosure can also be applied to these electromagnetic wave modes for purposes of transmission, reception or processing of these electromagnetic wave modes, or adaptation or modification of these electromagnetic wave modes. it is further noted that any of the waveguide launchers (or adaptions thereof) can be configured to induce or generate on a transmission medium one or more electromagnetic waves having a target field structure or target wave mode that exhibits a spatial alignment of electric fields for purposes of reducing propagation losses and/or signal interference. the waveguide device of fig. 25u provides a non-limiting illustration of an adaptation of the waveguide launchers of the subject disclosure. referring now to fig. 25u , there is illustrated a diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a waveguide device 2522 in accordance with various aspects described herein. the waveguide device 2522 is similar to the waveguide device 2522 shown in fig. 25c with a few adaptations. in the illustration of fig. 25u , the waveguide device 2522 is coupled to a transmission medium 2542 comprising a conductor 2543 and insulation layer 2543 , which together form an insulated conductor such as the one shown in drawings of figs. 25e and 25k . although not shown, the waveguide device 2522 can be constructed in two halves, which can be connected together at one longitudinal end with one or more mechanical hinges to enable opening a longitudinal edge at an opposite end of the one or more hinges for placement of the waveguide device 2522 over the transmission medium 2542 . once placed, one or more latches at the longitudinal edge opposite the one or more hinges can be used to secure the waveguide device 2522 to the transmission medium 2542 . other embodiments for coupling the waveguide device 2522 to the transmission medium 2542 can be used and are therefore contemplated by the subject disclosure. the chamber 2525 of the waveguide device 2522 of fig. 25u includes a dielectric material 2544 ′. the dielectric material 2544 ′ in the chamber 2525 can have a dielectric constant similar to the dielectric constant of the dielectric layer 2544 of the insulated conductor. additionally, a disk 2525 ′ having a center-hole 2525 ″ can be used to divide the chamber 2525 in two halves for transmission or reception of electromagnetic waves. the disk 2525 ′ can be constructed of a material (e.g., carbon, metal or other reflective material) that does not allow electromagnetic waves to progress between the halves of the chamber 2525 . the mmics 2524 ′ can be located inside the dielectric material 2544 ′ of the chamber 2525 as shown in fig. 25u . additionally, the mmics 2524 ′ can be located near an outer surface of the dielectric layer 2543 of the transmission medium 2542 . fig. 25u shows an expanded view 2524 a′ of an mmic 2524 ′ that includes an antenna 2524 b′ (such as a monopole antenna, dipole antenna or other antenna) that can be configured to be longitudinally aligned with the outer surface of the dielectric layer 2543 of the transmission medium 2542 . the antenna 2524 b′ can be configured to radiate signals that have a longitudinal electric field directed east or west as will be discussed shortly. it will be appreciated that other antenna structures that can radiate signals that have a longitudinal electric field can be used in place of the dipole antenna 2524 b′ of fig. 25u . it will be appreciated that although two mmics 2524 ′ are shown in each half of the chambers 2525 of the waveguide device 2522 , more mmics can be used. for example, fig. 18w shows a transverse cross-sectional view of a cable (such as the transmission medium 2542 ) surrounded by a waveguide device with 8 mmics located in positions: north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. the two mmics 2524 ′ shown in fig. 25u can be viewed, for illustration purposes, as mmics 2524 ′ located in the north and south positions shown in fig. 18w . the waveguide device 2522 of fig. 25u can be further configured with mmics 2524 ′ at western and eastern positions as shown in fig. 18w . additionally, the waveguide device 2522 of fig. 25u can be further configured with mmics at northwestern, northeastern, southwestern and southeastern positions as shown in fig. 18w . accordingly, the waveguide device 2522 can be configured with more than the 2 mmics shown in fig. 25u . with this in mind, attention is now directed to figs. 25v, 25w, 25x , which illustrate diagrams of example, non-limiting embodiments of wave modes and electric field plots in accordance with various aspects described herein. fig. 25v illustrates the electric fields of a tm01 wave mode. the electric fields are illustrated in a transverse cross-sectional view (top) and a longitudinal cross-sectional view (below) of a coaxial cable having a center conductor with an external conductive shield separated by insulation. fig. 25w illustrates the electric fields of a tm11 wave mode. the electric fields are also illustrated in a transverse cross-sectional view and a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a coaxial cable having a center conductor with an external conductive shield separated by an insulation. fig. 25x further illustrates the electric fields of a tm21 wave mode. the electric fields are illustrated in a transverse cross-sectional view and a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a coaxial cable having a center conductor with an external conductive shield separated by an insulation. as shown in the transverse cross-sectional view, the tm01 wave mode has circularly symmetric electric fields (i.e., electric fields that have the same orientation and intensity at different azimuthal angles), while the transverse cross-sectional views of the tm11 and tm21 wave modes shown in figs. 25w-25x , respectively, have non-circularly symmetric electric fields (i.e., electric fields that have different orientations and intensities at different azimuthal angles). although the transverse cross-sectional views of the tm11 and tm21 wave modes have non-circularly symmetric electric fields, the electric fields in the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the tm01, tm11 and tm21 wave modes are substantially similar with the exception that that the electric field structure of the tm11 wave mode has longitudinal electric fields above the conductor and below the conductor that point in opposite longitudinal directions, while the longitudinal electric fields above the conductor and below the conductor for the tm01 and tm21 wave modes point in the same longitudinal direction. the longitudinal cross-sectional views of the coaxial cable of figs. 25v, 25w and 25x can be said to have a similar structural arrangement to the longitudinal cross-section of the waveguide device 2522 in region 2506 ′ shown in fig. 25u . specifically, in figs. 25v, 25w and 25x the coaxial cable has a center conductor and a shield separated by insulation, while region 2506 ′ of the waveguide device 2522 has a center conductor 2543 , a dielectric layer 2544 , covered by the dielectric material 2544 ′ of the chamber 2525 , and shielded by the reflective inner surface 2523 of the waveguide device 2522 . the coaxial configuration in region 2506 ′ of the waveguide device 2522 continues in the tapered region 2506 ″ of the waveguide device 2522 . similarly, the coaxial configuration continues in regions 2508 and 2510 of the waveguide device 2522 with the exception that no dielectric material 2544 ′ is present in these regions other than the dielectric layer 2544 of the transmission medium 2542 . at the outer region 2512 , the transmission medium 2542 is exposed to the environment (e.g., air) and thus the coaxial configuration is no longer present. as noted earlier, the electric field structure of a tm01 wave mode is circularly symmetric in a transverse cross-sectional view of the coaxial cable shown in fig. 25v . for illustration purposes, it will be assumed that the waveguide device 2522 of fig. 25u has 4 mmics located in northern, southern, western and eastern locations as depicted in fig. 18w . in this configuration, and with an understanding of the longitudinal and transverse electric field structures of the tm01 wave mode shown in fig. 25v , the 4 mmics 2524 ′ of the waveguide device 2522 in fig. 25u can be configured to launch from a common signal source a tm01 wave mode on the transmission medium 2542 . this can be accomplished by configuring the north, south, east and west mmics 2524 ′ to launch wireless signals with the same phase (polarity). the wireless signals generated by the 4 mmics 2524 ′ combine via superposition of their respective electric fields in the dielectric material 2544 ′ of the chamber 2525 and the dielectric layer 2544 (since both dielectric materials have similar dielectric constants) to form a tm01 electromagnetic wave 2502 ′ bound to these dielectric materials with the electric field structure shown in longitudinal and transverse views of fig. 25v . the electromagnetic wave 2502 ′ having the tm01 wave mode in turn propagates toward the tapered structure 2522 b of the waveguide device 2522 and thereby becomes an electromagnetic wave 2504 ′ embedded within the dielectric layer 2544 of the transmission medium 2542 ′ in region 2508 . in the tapered horn section 2522 d the electromagnetic wave 2504 ′ having the tm01 wave mode expands in region 2510 and eventually exits the waveguide device 2522 without change to the tm01 wave mode. in another embodiment, the waveguide device 2522 can be configured to launch a tm11 wave mode having a vertical polarity in region 2506 ′. this can be accomplished by configuring the mmic 2524 ′ in the northern position to radiate from a signal source a first wireless signal having a phase (polarity) opposite to the phase (polarity) of a second wireless signal radiated from the same signal source by the southern mmic 2524 ′. these wireless signals combine via superposition of their respective electric fields to form an electromagnetic wave having a tm11 wave mode (vertically polarized) bound to the dielectric materials 2544 ′ and 2544 with the electric field structures shown in the longitudinal and transverse cross-sectional views shown in fig. 25w . similarly, the waveguide device 2522 can be configured to launch a tm11 wave mode having a horizontal polarity in region 2506 ′. this can be accomplished by configuring the mmic 2524 ′ in the eastern position to radiate a first wireless signal having a phase (polarity) opposite to the phase (polarity) of a second wireless signal radiated by the western mmic 2524 ′. these wireless signals combine via superposition of their respective electric fields to form an electromagnetic wave having a tm11 wave mode (horizontally polarized) bound to the dielectric materials 2544 ′ and 2544 with the electric field structures shown in the longitudinal and transverse cross-sectional views shown in fig. 25w (but with a horizontal polarization). since the tm11 wave mode with horizontal and vertical polarizations are orthogonal (i.e., a dot product of corresponding electric field vectors between any pair of these wave modes at each point of space and time produces a summation of zero), the waveguide device 2522 can be configured to launch these wave modes simultaneously without interference, thereby enabling wave mode division multiplexing. it is further noted that the tm01 wave mode is also orthogonal to the tm11 and tm21 wave modes. while the electromagnetic wave 2502 ′ or 2504 ′ having the tm11 wave mode propagates within the confines of the inner surfaces 2523 of the waveguide device 2522 in regions 2506 ′, 2506 ″, 2508 and 2510 , the tm11 wave mode remains unaltered. however, when the electromagnetic wave 2504 ′ having the tm11 wave mode exits the waveguide device 2522 in region 2512 the inner wall 2523 is no longer present and the tm11 wave mode becomes a hybrid wave mode, specifically, an eh11 wave mode (vertically polarized, horizontally polarized, or both if two electromagnetic waves are launched in region 2506 ′). in yet other embodiments, the waveguide device 2522 can also be configured to launch a tm21 wave mode in region 2506 ′. this can be accomplished by configuring the mmic 2524 ′ in the northern position to radiate from a signal source a first wireless signal having a phase (polarity) that is in phase (polarity) to a second wireless signal generated from the same signal source by the southern mmic 2524 ′. at the same time, the mmic 2524 ′ in the western position is configured to radiate from the same signal source a third wireless signal that is in phase with a fourth wireless signal radiated from the same signal source by the mmic 2524 ′ located in the eastern position. the north and south mmics 2524 ′, however, generate first and second wireless signals of opposite polarity to the polarity of the third and fourth wireless signals generated by the western and eastern mmics 2524 ′. the four wireless signals of alternating polarity combine via superposition of their respective electric fields to form an electromagnetic wave having a tm21 wave mode bound to the dielectric materials 2544 ′ and 2544 with the electric field structures shown in the longitudinal and transverse cross-sectional views shown in fig. 25x . when the electromagnetic wave 2504 ′ exits the waveguide device 2522 it may be transformed to a hybrid wave mode such as, for example, an he21 wave mode, an eh21 wave mode, or a hybrid wave mode with a different radial mode (e.g., he2m or eh2m, where m>1). figs. 25u-25x illustrate several embodiments for launching tm01, eh11, and other hybrid wave modes utilizing the waveguide device 2522 of fig. 25u . with an understanding of the electric field structures of other wave modes that propagate on a coaxial cable (e.g., tm12, tm22, and so on), the mmics 2524 ′ can be further configured in other ways to launch other wave modes (e.g., eh12, he22, etc.) that have a low intensity z-field component and phi-field component in the electric field structures near the outer surface of a transmission medium 2542 , which is useful for mitigating propagation losses due to a substance such as water, droplets or other substances that can cause an attenuation of the electric fields of an electromagnetic wave propagating along the outer surface of the transmission medium 2542 . fig. 25y illustrates a flow diagram of an example, non-limiting embodiment of a method 2560 for sending and receiving electromagnetic waves. method 2560 can be applied to waveguides 2522 of figs. 25a-25d and/or other waveguide systems or launchers described and shown in the figures of the subject disclosure (e.g., figs. 7-14, 18n-18w, 22a-22b and other drawings) for purposes of launching or receiving substantially orthogonal wave modes such as those shown in fig. 25z . fig. 25z depicts three cross-sectional views of an insulated conductor where a tm00 fundamental wave mode, an he wave mode with horizontal polarization, and an he wave mode with vertical polarization, propagates respectively. the electric field structure shown in fig. 25z can vary over time and is therefore an illustrative representation at a certain instance or snapshot in time. the wave modes shown in fig. 25z are orthogonal to each other. that is, a dot product of corresponding electric field vectors between any pair of the wave modes at each point of space and time produces a summation of zero. this property enables the tm00 wave mode, the he wave mode with horizontal polarization, and the he wave mode with vertical polarization to propagate simultaneously along a surface of the same transmission medium in the same frequency band without signal interference. with this in mind, method 2560 can begin at step 2562 where a waveguide system of the subject disclosure can be adapted to receive communication signals from a source (e.g., a base station, a wireless signal transmitted by a mobile or stationary device to an antenna of the waveguide system as described in the subject disclosure, or by way of another communication source.). the communication signals can be, for example, communication signals modulated according to a specific signaling protocol (e.g., lte, 5g, docsis, dsl, etc.) operating in a native frequency band (e.g., 900 mhz, 1.9 ghz, 2.4 ghz, 5 ghz, etc.), baseband signals, analog signals, other signals, or any combinations thereof. at step 2564 , the waveguide system can be adapted to generate or launch on a transmission medium a plurality of electromagnetic waves according to the communication signals by up-converting (or in some instances down-converting) such communication signals to one or more operating frequencies of the plurality of electromagnetic waves. the transmission medium can be an insulated conductor as shown in fig. 25aa , or an uninsulated conductor that is subject to environmental exposure to oxidation (or other chemical reaction based on environmental exposure) as shown in figs. 25ab and 25ac . in other embodiments, the transmission medium can be a dielectric material such as a dielectric core described in fig. 18a . to avoid interference, the waveguide system can be adapted to simultaneously launch at step 2564 a first electromagnetic wave using a tm00 wave mode, a second electromagnetic wave using an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization, and a third electromagnetic wave using an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization—see fig. 25z . since the first, second and third electromagnetic waves are orthogonal (i.e., non-interfering) they can be launched in the same frequency band without interference or with a small amount of acceptable interference. the combined transmission of three orthogonal electromagnetic wave modes in the same frequency band constitutes a form of wave mode division multiplexing, which provides a means for increasing the information bandwidth by a factor of three. by combining the principles of frequency division multiplexing with wave mode division multiplexing, bandwidth can be further increased by configuring the waveguide system to launch a fourth electromagnetic wave using a tm00 wave mode, a fifth electromagnetic wave using an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization, and a sixth electromagnetic wave using an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization in a second frequency band that does not overlap with the first frequency band of the first, second and third orthogonal electromagnetic waves. it will be appreciated that other types of multiplexing could be additionally or alternatively used with wave mode division multiplexing without departing from example embodiments. to illustrate this point, suppose each of three orthogonal electromagnetic waves in a first frequency band supports 1 ghz of transmission bandwidth. and further suppose each of three orthogonal electromagnetic waves in a second frequency band also supports 1 ghz of transmission bandwidth. with three wave modes operating in two frequency bands, 6 ghz of information bandwidth is possible for conveying communication signals by way of electromagnetic surface waves utilizing these wave modes. with more frequency bands, the bandwidth can be increased further. now suppose a transmission medium in the form of an insulated conductor (see fig. 25aa ) is used for surface wave transmissions. further suppose the transmission medium has a dielectric layer with thickness proportional to the conductor radius (e.g., a conductor having a 4 mm radius and an insulation layer with a 4 mm thickness). with this type of transmission medium, the waveguide system can be configured to select from several options for transmitting electromagnetic waves. for example, the waveguide system can be configured at step 2564 to transmit first through third electromagnetic waves using wave mode division multiplexing at a first frequency band (e.g., at 1 ghz), third through fourth electromagnetic waves using wave mode division multiplexing at a second frequency band (e.g., at 2.1 ghz), seventh through ninth electromagnetic waves using wave mode division multiplexing at a third frequency band (e.g., at 3.2 ghz), and so on. assuming each electromagnetic wave supports 1 ghz of bandwidth, collectively the first through ninth electromagnetic waves can support 9 ghz of bandwidth. alternatively, or contemporaneous with transmitting electromagnetic waves with orthogonal wave modes at step 2564 , the waveguide system can be configured at step 2564 to transmit on the insulated conductor one or more high frequency electromagnetic waves (e.g., millimeter waves). in one embodiment, the one or more high frequency electromagnetic waves can be configured in non-overlapping frequencies bands according to one or more corresponding wave modes that are less susceptible to a water film such as a tm0m wave mode and eh1m wave mode (where m>0), or an he2m wave mode (where m>1) as previously described. in other embodiments, the waveguide system can instead be configured to transmit one or more high frequency electromagnetic waves in non-overlapping frequency bands according to one or more corresponding wave modes that have longitudinal and/or azimuthal fields near the surface of the transmission medium that may be susceptible to water, but nonetheless exhibit low propagation losses when the transmission medium is dry. a waveguide system can thus be configured to transmit several combinations of wave modes on an insulated conductor (as well as a dielectric-only transmission medium such as a dielectric core) when the insulated conductor is dry. now suppose a transmission medium in the form of an uninsulated conductor (see figs. 25ab-25ac ) is used for surface wave transmissions. further consider that the uninsulated conductor or bare conductor is exposed to an environment subject to various levels of moisture and/or rain (as well as air and atmospheric gases like oxygen). uninsulated conductors, such as overhead power lines and other uninsulated wires, are often made of aluminum which is sometimes reinforced with steel. aluminum can react spontaneously with water and/or air to form aluminum oxide. an aluminum oxide layer can be thin (e.g., nano to micrometers in thickness). an aluminum oxide layer has dielectric properties and can therefore serve as a dielectric layer. accordingly, uninsulated conductors can propagate not only tm00 wave modes, but also other wave modes such as an he wave mode with horizontal polarization, and an he wave mode with vertical polarization at high frequencies based at least in part on the thickness of the oxide layer. accordingly, uninsulated conductors having an environmentally formed dielectric layer such as an oxide layer can be used for transmitting electromagnetic waves using wave mode division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing. other electromagnetic waves having a wave mode (with or without a cutoff frequency) that can propagate on an oxide layer are contemplated by the subject disclosure and can be applied to the embodiments described in the subject disclosure. in one embodiment, the term “environmentally formed dielectric layer” can represent an uninsulated conductor that is exposed to an environment that is not artificially created in a laboratory or other controlled setting (e.g., bare conductor exposed to air, humidity, rain, etc. on a utility pole or other exposed environment). in other embodiments, an environmentally formed dielectric layer can be formed in a controlled setting such as a manufacturing facility that exposes uninsulated conductors to a controlled environment (e.g., controlled humidity, or other gaseous substance) that forms a dielectric layer on the outer surface of the uninsulated conductor. in yet another alternative embodiment, the uninsulated conductor can also be “doped” with particular substances/compounds (e.g., a reactant) that facilitate chemical reactions with other substances/compounds that are either available in a natural environment or in an artificially created laboratory or controlled setting, thereby resulting in the creation of the environmentally formed dielectric layer. wave mode division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing can prove useful in mitigating obstructions such as water accumulating on an outer surface of a transmission medium. to determine if mitigating an obstruction is necessary, a waveguide system can be configured at step 2566 to determine if an obstruction is present on the transmission medium. a film of water (or water droplets) collected on an outer surface of the transmission medium due to rain, condensation, and/or excess humidity can be one form of an obstruction that can cause propagation losses in electromagnetic waves if not mitigated. a splicing of a transmission medium or other object coupled to the outer surface of the transmission medium can also serve as an obstruction. obstructions can be detected by a source waveguide system that transmits electromagnetic waves on a transmission medium and measures reflected electromagnetic waves based on these transmissions. alternatively, or in combination, the source waveguide system can detect obstructions by receiving communication signals (wireless or electromagnetic waves) from a recipient waveguide system that receives and performs quality metrics on electromagnetic waves transmitted by the source waveguide system. when an obstruction is detected at step 2566 , the waveguide system can be configured to identify options to update, modify, or otherwise change the electromagnetic waves being transmitted. suppose, for example, that in the case of an insulated conductor, the waveguide system had launched at step 2564 a high order wave mode such as tm01 wave mode with a frequency band that starts at 30 ghz having a large bandwidth (e.g., 10 ghz) when the insulated conductor is dry such as shown in fig. 25n . the illustration in fig. 25n is based on simulations which may not take into account all possible environmental conditions or properties of a specific insulated conductor. accordingly, a tm01 wave mode may have a lower bandwidth than shown. for illustration purposes, however, a 10 ghz bandwidth will be assumed for an electromagnetic wave having a tm01 wave mode. although it was noted earlier in the subject disclosure that a tm01 wave mode has a desirable electric field alignment that is not longitudinal and not azimuthal near the outer surface, it can nonetheless be subject to some signal attenuation which in turn reduces its operating bandwidth when a water film (or droplets) accumulates on the insulated conductor. this attenuation is illustrated in fig. 25n which shows that an electromagnetic wave having a tm01 wave mode with a bandwidth of approximately 10 ghz (30 to 40 ghz) on a dry insulated conductor drops to a bandwidth of approximately 1 ghz (30 to 31 ghz) when the insulated conductor is wet. to mitigate the loss in bandwidth, the waveguide system can be configured to launch electromagnetic waves at much lower frequencies (e.g., less than 6 ghz) using wave mode division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing. for example, the waveguide system can be configured to transmit a first set of electromagnetic waves; specifically, a first electromagnetic wave having a tm00 wave mode, a second electromagnetic wave having an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization, and a third electromagnetic wave having an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, each electromagnetic wave having a center frequency at 1 ghz. assuming a useable frequency band from 500 mhz to 1.5 ghz to convey communication signals, each electromagnetic wave can provide 1 ghz of bandwidth, and collectively 3 ghz of system bandwidth. suppose also the waveguide system is configured to transmit a second set of electromagnetic waves; specifically, a fourth electromagnetic wave having a tm00 wave mode, a fifth electromagnetic wave having an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization, and a sixth electromagnetic wave having an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, each electromagnetic wave having a center frequency at 2.1 ghz. assuming a frequency band from 1.6 ghz to 2.6 ghz, with a guard band of 100 mhz between the first and second sets of electromagnetic waves, each electromagnetic wave can provide 1 ghz of bandwidth, and collectively 3 ghz of additional bandwidth, thereby now providing up to 6 ghz of system bandwidth. further suppose the waveguide system is also configured to transmit a third set of electromagnetic waves; specifically, a seventh electromagnetic wave having a tm00 wave mode, an eighth electromagnetic wave having an he wave mode with horizontal polarization, and a ninth electromagnetic wave having an he wave mode with vertical polarization, each electromagnetic wave having a center frequency at 3.2 ghz. assuming a frequency band from 2.7 ghz to 3.7 ghz, with a guard band of 100 mhz between the second and third sets of electromagnetic waves, each electromagnetic wave can provide 1 ghz of bandwidth, and collectively 3 ghz of additional bandwidth, thereby now providing up to 9 ghz of system bandwidth. the combination of the tm01 wave mode, and the three sets of electromagnetic waves configured for wave mode division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing, provide a total system bandwidth of 10 ghz, thereby restoring a bandwidth of 10 ghz previously available when the high frequency electromagnetic wave having the tm01 wave mode was propagating on a dry insulated conductor. fig. 25ad illustrates a process for performing mitigation of a tm01 wave mode subject to an obstruction such as a water film detected at step 2566 . fig. 25ad illustrates a transition from a dry insulated conductor that supports a high bandwidth tm01 wave mode to a wet insulated conductor that supports a lower bandwidth tm01 wave mode that is combined with low frequency tm00 and he11 wave modes configured according to wave mode division multiplexing (wmdm) and frequency division multiplexing (fdm) schemes to restore losses in system bandwidth. consider now an uninsulated conductor where the waveguide system had launched at step 2564 a tm00 wave mode with a frequency band that starts at 10 ghz having a large bandwidth (e.g., 10 ghz). suppose now that transmission medium propagating the 10 ghz tm00 wave mode is exposed to an obstruction such as water. as noted earlier, a high frequency tm00 wave mode on an insulated conductor is subject to a substantial amount of signal attenuation (e.g., 45 db/m at 10 ghz—see fig. 25j ) when a water film (or droplets) accumulates on the outer surface of the insulated conductor. similar attenuations will be present for a 10 ghz (or greater) tm00 wave mode propagating on an “uninsulated” conductor. an environmentally exposed uninsulated conductor (e.g., aluminum), however, can have an oxide layer formed on the outer surface which can serve as a dielectric layer that supports wave modes other than tm00 (e.g., he11 wave modes). it is further noted that at lower frequencies a tm00 wave mode propagating on an insulated conductor exhibits a much lower attenuation (e.g., 0.62 db/m at 4 ghz—see fig. 25j ). a tm00 wave mode operating at less than 6 ghz would similarly exhibit low propagation losses on an uninsulated conductor. accordingly, to mitigate the loss in bandwidth, the waveguide system can be configured to launch electromagnetic waves having a tm00 wave mode at lower frequencies (e.g., 6 ghz or less) and electromagnetic waves having an he11 wave mode configured for wmdm and fdm at higher frequencies. referring back to fig. 25y , suppose then that the waveguide system detects an obstruction such as water at step 2566 on an environmentally exposed uninsulated conductor. a waveguide system can be configured to mitigate the obstruction by transmitting a first electromagnetic wave configured with a tm00 wave mode having a center frequency at 2.75 ghz. assuming a useable frequency band from 500 mhz to 5.5 ghz to convey communication signals, the electromagnetic waves can provide 5 ghz of system bandwidth. fig. 25af provides an illustration of an electric field plot of an he11 wave mode at 200 ghz on a bare conductor with a thin aluminum oxide layer (4 um). the plot indicates the magnitude of the field strength of the rho-field, z-field, and phi-field components, at a point in time when they are at their peak, as a function of radial distance away from the center of a bare conductor. while the field strengths were calculated based on a condition where no water is present, the z-field and phi-field components of the electric fields can have a field strength that is extremely small relative to the magnitude of the radial rho-field beginning from the outer surface of the oxide layer and through the position that would be occupied by the water film as shown in fig. 25af . assuming an oxide layer or other dielectric layer comparable to the size in the plot of fig. 25af , the waveguide system can be configured to transmit a second electromagnetic wave having an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization, and a third electromagnetic wave having an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, each electromagnetic wave having a center frequency at 200 ghz (other lower or higher center frequencies can be used). further assuming each electromagnetic wave is configured according to an he vertically polarized wave mode and he horizontally polarized wave mode, respectively, having a 2.5 ghz bandwidth, these waves collectively provide 5 ghz of additional bandwidth. by combining the low frequency tm00 wave mode with the high frequency he wave modes, system bandwidth can be restored to 10 ghz. it will be appreciated that he wave modes at other center frequencies and bandwidth may be possible depending on the thickness of the oxide layer, the characteristics of the uninsulated conductor, and/or other environmental factors. fig. 25ae illustrates a process for performing mitigation of a high frequency tm00 wave mode subject to an obstruction such as a water film detected at step 2566 . fig. 25ad illustrates a transition from a dry uninsulated conductor that supports a high bandwidth tm00 wave mode to a wet uninsulated conductor that combines a low frequency tm00 wave mode and high frequency he11 wave modes configured according to wmdm and fdm schemes to restore losses in system bandwidth. it will be appreciated that the aforementioned mitigation techniques are non-limiting. for example, the center frequencies described above can differ between systems. additionally, the original wave mode used before an obstruction is detected can differ from the illustrations above. for example, in the case of an insulated conductor an eh11 wave mode can be used singly or in combination with a tm01 wave mode. it is also appreciated that wmdm and fdm techniques can be used to transmit electromagnetic waves at all times and not just when an obstruction is detected at step 2566 . it is further appreciated that other wave modes that can support wmdm and/or fdm techniques can be applied to and/or combined with the embodiments described in the subject disclosure, and are therefore contemplated by the subject disclosure. referring back to fig. 25y , once a mitigation scheme using wmdm and/or fdm has been determined in accordance with the above illustrations, the waveguide system can be configured at step 2568 to notify one or more other waveguide systems of the mitigation scheme intended to be used for updating one or more electromagnetic waves prior to executing the update at step 2570 . the notification can be sent wirelessly to one or more other waveguide systems utilizing antennas if signal degradation in the electromagnetic waves is too severe. if signal attenuation is tolerable, then the notification can be sent via the affected electromagnetic waves. in other embodiments, the waveguide system can be configured to skip step 2568 and perform the mitigation scheme using wmdm and/or fdm at step 2570 without notification. this embodiment can be applied in cases where, for example, other recipient waveguide system(s) know beforehand what kind of mitigation scheme would be used, or the recipient waveguide system(s) are configured to use signal detection techniques to discover the mitigation scheme. once the mitigation scheme using wmdm and/or fdm has been initiated at step 2570 , the waveguide system can continue to process received communication signals at steps 2562 and 2564 as described earlier using the updated configuration of the electromagnetic waves. at step 2566 , the waveguide system can monitor if the obstruction is still present. this determination can be performed by sending test signals (e.g., electromagnetic surface waves in the original wave mode) to other waveguide system(s) and awaiting test results back from the waveguide systems if the situation has improved, and/or by using other obstruction detection techniques such as signal reflection testing based on the sent test signals. once the obstruction is determined to have been removed (e.g., the transmission medium becomes dry), the waveguide system can proceed to step 2572 and determine that a signal update was performed at step 2568 using wmdm and/or fdm as a mitigation technique. the waveguide system can then be configured to notify recipient waveguide system(s) at step 2568 of the intent to restore transmissions to the original wave mode, or bypass this step and proceed to step 2570 where it restores transmissions to an original wave mode and assumes the recipient waveguide system(s) know the original wave modes and corresponding transmission parameters, or can otherwise detect this change. a waveguide system can also be adapted to receive electromagnetic waves configured for wmdm and/or fdm. for example, suppose that an electromagnetic wave having a high bandwidth (e.g., 10 ghz) tm01 wave mode is propagating on an insulated conductor as shown in fig. 25ad and that the electromagnetic wave is generated by a source waveguide system. at step 2582 , a recipient waveguide system can be configured to process the single electromagnetic wave with the tm01 wave mode under normal condition. suppose, however, that the source waveguide system transitions to transmitting electromagnetic waves using wmdm and fdm along with a tm01 wave mode with a lower bandwidth on the insulated conductor, as previously described in fig. 25ad . in this instance, the recipient waveguide system would have to process multiple electromagnetic waves of different wave modes. specifically, the recipient waveguide system would be configured at step 2582 to selectively process each of the first through ninth electromagnetic waves using wmdm and fdm and the electromagnetic wave using the tm01 wave mode as shown in fig. 25ad . once the one or more electromagnetic waves have been received at step 2582 , the recipient waveguide can be configured to use signal processing techniques to obtain the communication signals that were conveyed by the electromagnetic wave(s) generated by the source waveguide system at step 2564 (and/or step 2570 if an update has occurred). at step 2586 , the recipient waveguide system can also determine if the source waveguide system has updated the transmission scheme. the update can be detected from data provided in the electromagnetic waves transmitted by the source waveguide system, or from wireless signals transmitted by the source waveguide system. if there are no updates, the recipient waveguide system can continue to receive and process electromagnetic waves at steps 2582 and 2584 as described before. if, however, an update is detected at step 2586 , the recipient waveguide system can proceed to step 2588 to coordinate the update with the source waveguide system and thereafter receive and process updated electromagnetic waves at steps 2582 and 2584 as described before. it will be appreciated that method 2560 can be used in any communication scheme including simplex and duplex communications between waveguide systems. accordingly, a source waveguide system that performs an update for transmitting electromagnetic waves according to other wave modes will in turn cause a recipient waveguide system to perform similar steps for return electromagnetic wave transmissions. it will also be appreciated that the aforementioned embodiments associated with method 2560 of fig. 25y and the embodiments shown in figs. 25z through 25ae can be combined in whole or in part with other embodiments of the subject disclosure for purposes of mitigating propagation losses caused by an obstruction at or in a vicinity of an outer surface of a transmission medium (e.g., insulated conductor, uninsulated conductor, or any transmission medium having an external dielectric layer). the obstruction can be a liquid (e.g., water), a solid object disposed on the outer surface of the transmission medium (e.g., ice, snow, a splice, a tree limb, etc.), or any other objects located at or near the outer surface of the transmission medium. while for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respective processes are shown and described as a series of blocks in fig. 25y , it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methods described herein. referring now to figs. 25ag and 25ah , block diagrams illustrating example, non-limiting embodiments for transmitting orthogonal wave modes according to the method 2560 of fig. 25y are shown. fig. 25ag depicts an embodiment for simultaneously transmitting a tm00 wave mode, an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, and an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization as depicted in an instance in time in fig. 25z . in one embodiment, these orthogonal wave modes can be transmitted with a waveguide launcher having eight (8) mmics as shown in fig. 18 located at symmetrical locations (e.g., north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest). the waveguide launcher of fig. 18r (or fig. 18t ) can be configured with these 8 mmics. additionally, the waveguide launcher can be configured with a cylindrical sleeve 2523 a and tapered dielectric that wraps around the transmission medium (e.g., insulated conductor, uninsulated conductor, or other cable with a dielectric layer such as dielectric core). the housing assembly of the waveguide launcher (not shown) can be configured to include a mechanism (e.g., a hinge) to enable a longitudinal opening of the waveguide launcher for placement and latching around a circumference of a transmission medium. with these configurations in mind, the waveguide launcher can include three transmitters (tx 1 , tx 2 , and tx 3 ) coupled to mmics having various coordinate positions (see fig. 25ag and fig. 18w ). the interconnectivity between the transmitters (tx 1 , tx 2 , and tx 3 ) and the mmics can be implemented with a common printed circuit board or other suitable interconnecting technology. the first transmitter (tx 1 ) can be configured to launch a tm00 wave mode, the second transmitter (tx 2 ) can be configured to launch an he11 vertical polarization wave mode, and the third transmitter (tx 3 ) can be configured to launch an he11 horizontal polarization wave mode. a first signal port (shown as “sp 1 ”) of the first transmitter (tx 1 ) can be coupled in parallel to each of the 8 mmics. a second signal port (shown as “sp 2 ”) of the first transmitter (tx 1 ) can be coupled to a conductive sleeve 2523 a that is placed on the transmission medium by the waveguide launcher as noted above. the first transmitter (tx 1 ) can be configured to receive a first group of the communication signals described in step 2562 of fig. 25y . the first group of communication signals can be frequency-shifted by the first transmitter (tx 1 ) from their native frequencies (if necessary) for an orderly placement of the communication signals in channels of a first electromagnetic wave configured according to the tm00 wave mode. the 8 mmics coupled to the first transmitter (tx 1 ) can be configured to up-convert (or down-convert) the first group of the communication signals to the same center frequency (e.g., 1 ghz for the first electromagnetic wave as described in relation to fig. 25ad ). all 8 mmics would have synchronized reference oscillators that can be phase locked using various synchronization techniques. since the 8 mmics receive signals from the first signal port of the first transmitter (tx 1 ) based on the reference provided by the second signal port, the 8 mmics thereby receive signals with the same polarity. consequently, once these signals have been up-converted (or down-converted) and processed for transmission by the 8 mmics, one or more antennas of each of the 8 mmics simultaneously radiates signals with electric fields of the same polarity. collectively, mmics that are opposite in location to each other (e.g., mmic north and mmic south) will have an electric field structure aligned towards or away from the transmission medium, thereby creating at a certain instance in time an outward field structure like the tm00 wave mode shown in fig. 25z . due to the constant oscillatory nature of the signals radiated by the 8 mmics, it will be appreciated that at other instances in time, the field structure shown in fig. 25z will radiate inward. by symmetrically radiating electric fields with the same polarity the collection of opposing mmics contribute to the inducement of a first electromagnetic wave having a tm00 wave mode that propagates on a transmission medium with a dielectric layer and can convey the first group of the communication signals to a receiving waveguide system. turning now to the second transmitter (tx 2 ) in fig. 25ag , this transmitter has a first signal port (sp 1 ) coupled to mmics located in north, northeast and northwest positions, while a second signal port (sp 2 ) of the second transmitter (tx 2 ) is coupled to the mmics located in south, southeast and southwest positions (see fig. 18w ). the second transmitter (tx 2 ) can be configured to receive a second group of the communication signals described in step 2562 of fig. 25y , which differs from the first group of the communication signals received by the first transmitter (tx 1 ). the second group of communication signals can be frequency-shifted by the second transmitter (tx 2 ) from their native frequencies (if necessary) for an orderly placement of the communication signals in channels of a second electromagnetic wave configured according to an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization. the 6 mmics coupled to the second transmitter (tx 2 ) can be configured to up-convert (or down-conversion) the second group of the communication signals to the same center frequency as used for the tm00 wave mode (i.e., 1 ghz as described in relation to fig. 25ad ). since a tm00 wave mode is orthogonal to an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, they can share the same center frequency in an overlapping frequency band without interference. referring back to fig. 25ag , the first signal port (sp 1 ) of the second transmitter (tx 2 ) generates signals of opposite polarity to the signals of the second signal port (sp 2 ). as a result, the electric field alignment of signals generated by one or more antennas of the northern mmic will be of opposite polarity to the electric field alignment of signals generated by one or more antennas of the southern mmic. consequently, the electric fields of the north and south mmics will have an electric field structure that is vertically aligned in the same direction, thereby creating at a certain instance in time a northern field structure like the he11 wave mode with vertical polarization shown in fig. 25z . due to the constant oscillatory nature of the signals radiated by the north and south mmics, it will be appreciated that at other instances in time, the he11 wave mode will have a southern field structure. similarly, based on the opposite polarity of signals supplied to the northeast and southeast mmics by the first and second signal ports, respectively, these mmics will generate at a certain instance in time the curved electric field structure shown on the east side of the he11 wave mode with vertical polarization depicted in fig. 25z . also, based on the opposite polarity of signals supplied to the northwest and southwest mmics, these mmics will generate at a certain instance in time the curved electric field structure shown on the west side of the he11 wave mode with vertical polarization depicted in fig. 25z . by radiating electric fields with opposite polarity by opposing mmics (north, northeast and northwest versus south, southeast and southwest), the collection of signals with a directionally aligned field structure contribute to the inducement of a second electromagnetic wave having the he11 wave mode with vertical polarization shown in fig. 25z . the second electromagnetic wave propagates along the “same” transmission medium as previously described for the first transmitter (tx 1 ). given the orthogonality of a tm00 wave mode and an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, there will be ideally no interference between the first electromagnetic wave and the second electromagnetic wave. consequently, the first and second electromagnetic waves having overlapping frequency bands propagating along the same transmission medium can successfully convey the first and second groups of the communication signals to the same (or other) receiving waveguide system. turning now to the third transmitter (tx 3 ) in fig. 25ag , this transmitter has a first signal port (sp 1 ) coupled to mmics located in east, northeast and southeast positions, while a second signal port (sp 2 ) of the third transmitter (tx 3 ) is coupled to the mmics located in west, northwest and southwest positions (see fig. 18w ). the third transmitter (tx 3 ) can be configured to receive a third group of the communication signals described in step 2562 of fig. 25y , which differs from the first and second groups of the communication signals received by the first transmitter (tx 1 ) and the second transmitter (tx 2 ), respectively. the third group of communication signals can be frequency-shifted by the third transmitter (tx 3 ) from their native frequencies (if necessary) for an orderly placement of the communication signals in channels of a second electromagnetic wave configured according to an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization. the 6 mmics coupled to the third transmitter (tx 3 ) can be configured to up-convert (or down-conversion) the third group of the communication signals to the same center frequency as used for the tm00 wave mode and he11 wave mode with vertical polarization (i.e., 1 ghz as described in relation to fig. 25ad ). since a tm00 wave mode, an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, and an he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization are orthogonal, they can share the same center frequency in an overlapping frequency band without interference. referring back to fig. 25ag , the first signal port (sp 1 ) of the third transmitter (tx 3 ) generates signals of opposite polarity to the signals of the second signal port (sp 2 ). as a result, the electric field alignment of signals generated by one or more antennas of the eastern mmic will be of opposite polarity to the electric field alignment of signals generated by one or more antennas of the western mmic. consequently, the electric fields of the east and west mmics will have an electric field structure that is horizontally aligned in the same direction, thereby creating at a certain instance in time a western field structure like the he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization shown in fig. 25z . due to the constant oscillatory nature of the signals radiated by the east and west mmics, it will be appreciated that at other instances in time, the he wave mode will have an eastern field structure. similarly, based on the opposite polarity of signals supplied to the northeast and northwest mmics by the first and second signal ports, respectively, these mmics will generate at a certain instance in time the curved electric field structure shown on the north side of the he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization depicted in fig. 25z . also, based on the opposite polarity of signals supplied to the southeast and southwest mmics, these mmics will generate at a certain instance in time the curved electric field structure shown on the south side of the he wave mode with horizontal polarization depicted in fig. 25z . by radiating electric fields with opposite polarity by opposing mmics (east, northeast and southeast versus west, northwest and southwest), the collection of signals with a directionally aligned field structure contribute to the inducement of a third electromagnetic wave having the he wave mode with horizontal polarization shown in fig. 25z . the third electromagnetic wave propagates along the “same” transmission medium as previously described for the first transmitter (tx 1 ) and the second transmitter (tx 2 ). given the orthogonality of a tm00 wave mode, an he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, and an he wave mode with horizontal polarization, there will be, ideally, no interference between the first electromagnetic wave, the second electromagnetic wave, and the third electromagnetic wave. consequently, the first, second and third electromagnetic waves having overlapping frequency bands propagating along the same transmission medium can successfully convey the first, second and third groups of the communication signal to the same (or other) receiving waveguide system. because of the orthogonality of the electromagnetic waves described above, a recipient waveguide system can be configured to selectively retrieve the first electromagnetic wave having the tm00 wave mode, the second electromagnetic wave having the he11 wave mode with vertical polarization, and the third electromagnetic wave having the he11 wave mode with horizontal polarization. after processing each of these electromagnetic waves, the recipient waveguide system can be further configured to obtain the first, second and third group of the communication signals conveyed by these waves. fig. 25ah illustrates a block diagram for selectively receiving each of the first, second and third electromagnetic waves. specifically, the first electromagnetic wave having the tm00 wave mode can be selectively received by a first receiver (rx 1 ) shown in fig. 25ah by taking the difference between the signals received by all 8 mmics and the signal reference provided by the metal sleeve 2523 a as depicted in the block diagram in fig. 25ai . the second electromagnetic wave having the he11 wave mode with vertical polarization can be selectively received by a second receiver (rx 2 ) shown in fig. 25ah by taking the difference between the signals received by the mmics located in north, northeast and northwest positions and the signals received by the mmics located in south, southeast and southwest positions as depicted in the block diagram in fig. 25aj . the third electromagnetic wave having the he wave mode with horizontal polarization can be selectively received by a third receiver (rx 3 ) shown in fig. 25ah by taking the difference between the signals received by the mmics located in east, northeast and southeast positions and the signals received by the mmics located in west, northwest and southwest positions as depicted in the block diagram in fig. 25ak . fig. 25al illustrates a simplified functional block diagram of an mmic. the mmic can, for example, utilize a mixer coupled to a reference (tx) oscillator that shifts one of the communication signals supplied by one of the signal ports (sp 1 or sp 2 ) of one of the transmitters (tx 1 , tx 2 or tx 3 ) to a desired center frequency in accordance with the configurations shown in fig. 25ag . for example, in the case of tx 1 , the communication signal from sp 1 is supplied to a transmit path of each of the mmics (i.e., ne, nw, se, sw, n, s, e, and w). in the case of tx 2 , the communication signal from sp 1 is supplied to another transmit path of three mmics (i.e., n, e, and nw). note the transmit paths used by mmics n, e and w for the communication signal supplied by sp 1 of tx 2 are different from the transmit paths used by the mmics for the communication signal supplied by sp 1 of tx 1 . similarly, the communication signal from sp 2 of tx 2 is supplied to another transmit path of three other mmics (i.e., s, se, and sw). again, the transmit paths used by mmics s, se and sw for the communication signal supplied by sp 2 of tx 2 are different from the transmit paths used by the mmics for the communication signals from sp 1 of tx 1 , and sp 1 of tx 2 . lastly, in the case of tx 3 , the communication signal from sp 1 is supplied to yet another transmit path of three mmics (i.e., e, ne, and se). note the transmit paths used for mmics e, ne, and se for the communication signal from sp 1 of tx 3 are different from the transmit paths used by the mmics for the communication signals supplied by sp 1 of tx 1 , sp 1 of tx 2 , and sp 2 of tx 2 . similarly, the communication signal from sp 2 of tx 3 is supplied to another transmit path of three other mmics (i.e., w, nw, and sw). again, the transmit paths used by mmics w, nw, and sw for the communication signal supplied by sp 2 of tx 3 are different from the transmit paths used by the mmics for the communication signals from sp 1 of tx 1 , sp 1 of tx 2 , and sp 2 of tx 2 , and sp 1 of tx 3 . once the communication signals have been frequency-shifted by the mixer shown in the transmit path, he frequency-shifted signal generated by the mixer can then be filtered by a bandpass filter that removes spurious signals. the output of the bandpass filter in turn can be provided to a power amplifier that couples to an antenna by way of a duplexer for radiating signals in the manner previously described. the duplexer can be used to isolate a transmit path from a receive path. the illustration of fig. 25al is intentionally oversimplified to enable ease of illustration. it will be appreciated that other components (not shown) such as an impedance matching circuit, phase lock loop, or other suitable components for improving the accuracy and efficiency of the transmission path (and receive path) is contemplated by the subject disclosure. furthermore, while a single antenna can be implemented by each mmic, other designs with multiple antennas can likewise be employed. it is further appreciated that to achieve more than one orthogonal wave mode with overlapping frequency bands (e.g., tm00, he11 vertical, and he11 horizontal wave modes described above), the transmit path can be repeated n times using the same reference oscillator. n can represent an integer associated with the number of instances the mmic is used to generate each of the wave modes. for example, in fig. 25ag , mmic ne is used three times; hence, mmic ne has three transmit paths (n=3), mmic nw is used three times; hence, mmic nw has three transmit paths (n=3), mmic n is used twice; hence, mmic n has two transmit paths (n=2), and so on. if frequency division multiplexing is employed to generate the same wave modes in other frequency band(s) (see figs. 25ad and 25ae ), the transmit path can be further repeated using different reference oscillator(s) that are centered at the other frequency band(s). in the receive path shown in fig. 25al , n signals supplied by n antennas via the duplexer of each transmit path in the mmic can be filtered by a corresponding n bandpass filters, which supply their output to n low-noise amplifiers. the n low-noise amplifiers in turn supply their signals to n mixers to generate n intermediate-frequency received signals. as before, n is representative of the number of instances the mmic is used for receiving wireless signals for different wave modes. for example, in fig. 25ah , mmic ne is used in three instances; hence, mmic ne has three receive paths (n=3), mmic n is used in two instances; hence, mmic n has two receive paths (n=2), and so on. referring back to fig. 25al , to reconstruct a wave mode signal, y received signals supplied by receiver paths of certain mmics (or a reference from the metal sleeve 2523 a of fig. 25d ) is subtracted from x received signals supplied by other mmics based on the configurations shown in figs. 25ai-25ak . for example, a tm00 signal is reconstructed by supplying the received signals of all mmics (ne, nw, se, sw, n, s, e, w) to the plus port of the summer (i.e., x signals), while the reference signal from the metal sleeve 2523 a of fig. 25d is supplied to the negative port of the summer (i.e., y signal)—see fig. 25ai . the difference between the x and y signals results in the tm00 signal. to reconstruct the he11 vertical signal, the received signals of mmics n, ne, and nw are supplied to the plus port of the summer (i.e., x signals), while the received signals of mmics s, se, and sw are supplied to the negative port of the summer (i.e., y signals)—see fig. 25aj . the difference between the x and y signals results in the he11 vertical signal. lastly, to reconstruct the he11 horizontal signal, the received signals of mmics e, ne, and se are supplied to the plus port of the summer (i.e., x signals), while the received signals of mmics w, nw, and sw are supplied to the negative port of the summer (i.e., y signals)—see fig. 25ak . the difference between the x and y signals results in the he11 horizontal signal. since there are three wave mode signals being reconstructed, the block diagram of the summer with the x and y signals is repeated three times. each of these reconstructed signals is at intermediate frequencies. these intermediate-frequency signals are provided to receivers (rx 1 , rx 2 and rx 3 ) which include circuitry (e.g., a dsp, a/d converter, etc.) for processing and to selectively obtain communication signals therefrom. similar to the transmit paths, the reference oscillators of the three receiver paths can be configured to be synchronized with phase lock loop technology or other suitable synchronization technique. if frequency division multiplexing is employed for the same wave modes in other frequency band(s) (see figs. 25ad and 25ae ), the receiver paths can be further repeated using a different reference oscillator that is centered at the other frequency band(s). it will be appreciated that other suitable designs that can serve as alternative embodiments to those shown in figs. 25ag-25al can be used for transmitting and receiving orthogonal wave modes. for example, there can be fewer or more mmics than described above. in place of the mmics, or in combination, slotted launchers as shown in figs. 18n-18o, 18q, 18s, 18u and 18v can be used. it is further appreciated that more or fewer sophisticated functional components can be used for transmitting or receiving orthogonal wave modes. accordingly, other suitable designs and/or functional components are contemplated by the subject disclosure for transmitting and receiving orthogonal wave modes. referring now to fig. 26 , there is illustrated a block diagram of a computing environment in accordance with various aspects described herein. in order to provide additional context for various embodiments of the embodiments described herein, fig. 26 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment 2600 in which the various embodiments of the subject disclosure can be implemented. while the embodiments have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that can run on one or more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments can be also implemented in combination with other program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software. generally, program modules comprise routines, programs, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the inventive methods can be practiced with other computer system configurations, comprising single-processor or multiprocessor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which can be operatively coupled to one or more associated devices. as used herein, a processing circuit includes processor as well as other application specific circuits such as an application specific integrated circuit, digital logic circuit, state machine, programmable gate array or other circuit that processes input signals or data and that produces output signals or data in response thereto. it should be noted that while any functions and features described herein in association with the operation of a processor could likewise be performed by a processing circuit. the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, as used in the claims, unless otherwise clear by context, is for clarity only and doesn't otherwise indicate or imply any order in time. for instance, “a first determination,” “a second determination,” and “a third determination,” does not indicate or imply that the first determination is to be made before the second determination, or vice versa, etc. the illustrated embodiments of the embodiments herein can be also practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. in a distributed computing environment, program modules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. computing devices typically comprise a variety of media, which can comprise computer-readable storage media and/or communications media, which two terms are used herein differently from one another as follows. computer-readable storage media can be any available storage media that can be accessed by the computer and comprises both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. by way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable storage media can be implemented in connection with any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, program modules, structured data or unstructured data. computer-readable storage media can comprise, but are not limited to, random access memory (ram), read only memory (rom), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (eeprom), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read only memory (cd-rom), digital versatile disk (dvd) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or other tangible and/or non-transitory media which can be used to store desired information. in this regard, the terms “tangible” or “non-transitory” herein as applied to storage, memory or computer-readable media, are to be understood to exclude only propagating transitory signals per se as modifiers and do not relinquish rights to all standard storage, memory or computer-readable media that are not only propagating transitory signals per se. computer-readable storage media can be accessed by one or more local or remote computing devices, e.g., via access requests, queries or other data retrieval protocols, for a variety of operations with respect to the information stored by the medium. communications media typically embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal such as a modulated data signal, e.g., a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and comprises any information delivery or transport media. the term “modulated data signal” or signals refers to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in one or more signals. by way of example, and not limitation, communication media comprise wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, rf, infrared and other wireless media. with reference again to fig. 26 , the example environment 2600 for transmitting and receiving signals via or forming at least part of a base station (e.g., base station devices 1504 , macrocell site 1502 , or base stations 1614 ) or central office (e.g., central office 1501 or 1611 ). at least a portion of the example environment 2600 can also be used for transmission devices 101 or 102 . the example environment can comprise a computer 2602 , the computer 2602 comprising a processing unit 2604 , a system memory 2606 and a system bus 2608 . the system bus 2608 couple's system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 2606 to the processing unit 2604 . the processing unit 2604 can be any of various commercially available processors. dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures can also be employed as the processing unit 2604 . the system bus 2608 can be any of several types of bus structure that can further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. the system memory 2606 comprises rom 2610 and ram 2612 . a basic input/output system (bios) can be stored in a non-volatile memory such as rom, erasable programmable read only memory (eprom), eeprom, which bios contains the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 2602 , such as during startup. the ram 2612 can also comprise a high-speed ram such as static ram for caching data. the computer 2602 further comprises an internal hard disk drive (hdd) 2614 (e.g., eide, sata), which internal hard disk drive 2614 can also be configured for external use in a suitable chassis (not shown), a magnetic floppy disk drive (fdd) 2616 , (e.g., to read from or write to a removable diskette 2618 ) and an optical disk drive 2620 , (e.g., reading a cd-rom disk 2622 or, to read from or write to other high capacity optical media such as the dvd). the hard disk drive 2614 , magnetic disk drive 2616 and optical disk drive 2620 can be connected to the system bus 2608 by a hard disk drive interface 2624 , a magnetic disk drive interface 2626 and an optical drive interface 2628 , respectively. the interface 2624 for external drive implementations comprises at least one or both of universal serial bus (usb) and institute of electrical and electronics engineers (ieee) 1394 interface technologies. other external drive connection technologies are within contemplation of the embodiments described herein. the drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. for the computer 2602 , the drives and storage media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. although the description of computer-readable storage media above refers to a hard disk drive (hdd), a removable magnetic diskette, and a removable optical media such as a cd or dvd, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of storage media which are readable by a computer, such as zip drives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, cartridges, and the like, can also be used in the example operating environment, and further, that any such storage media can contain computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein. a number of program modules can be stored in the drives and ram 2612 , comprising an operating system 2630 , one or more application programs 2632 , other program modules 2634 and program data 2636 . all or portions of the operating system, applications, modules, and/or data can also be cached in the ram 2612 . the systems and methods described herein can be implemented utilizing various commercially available operating systems or combinations of operating systems. examples of application programs 2632 that can be implemented and otherwise executed by processing unit 2604 include the diversity selection determining performed by transmission device 101 or 102 . a user can enter commands and information into the computer 2602 through one or more wired/wireless input devices, e.g., a keyboard 2638 and a pointing device, such as a mouse 2640 . other input devices (not shown) can comprise a microphone, an infrared (ir) remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, touch screen or the like. these and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 2604 through an input device interface 2642 that can be coupled to the system bus 2608 , but can be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, an ieee 1394 serial port, a game port, a universal serial bus (usb) port, an ir interface, etc. a monitor 2644 or other type of display device can be also connected to the system bus 2608 via an interface, such as a video adapter 2646 . it will also be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, a monitor 2644 can also be any display device (e.g., another computer having a display, a smart phone, a tablet computer, etc.) for receiving display information associated with computer 2602 via any communication means, including via the internet and cloud-based networks. in addition to the monitor 2644 , a computer typically comprises other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc. the computer 2602 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wired and/or wireless communications to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer(s) 2648 . the remote computer(s) 2648 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically comprises many or all of the elements described relative to the computer 2602 , although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device 2650 is illustrated. the logical connections depicted comprise wired/wireless connectivity to a local area network (lan) 2652 and/or larger networks, e.g., a wide area network (wan) 2654 . such lan and wan networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which can connect to a global communications network, e.g., the internet. when used in a lan networking environment, the computer 2602 can be connected to the local network 2652 through a wired and/or wireless communication network interface or adapter 2656 . the adapter 2656 can facilitate wired or wireless communication to the lan 2652 , which can also comprise a wireless ap disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless adapter 2656 . when used in a wan networking environment, the computer 2602 can comprise a modem 2658 or can be connected to a communications server on the wan 2654 or has other means for establishing communications over the wan 2654 , such as by way of the internet. the modem 2658 , which can be internal or external and a wired or wireless device, can be connected to the system bus 2608 via the input device interface 2642 . in a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 2602 or portions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device 2650 . it will be appreciated that the network connections shown are example and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. the computer 2602 can be operable to communicate with any wireless devices or entities operatively disposed in wireless communication, e.g., a printer, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, portable data assistant, communications satellite, any piece of equipment or location associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand, restroom), and telephone. this can comprise wireless fidelity (wi-fi) and bluetooth® wireless technologies. thus, the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices. wi-fi can allow connection to the internet from a couch at home, a bed in a hotel room or a conference room at work, without wires. wi-fi is a wireless technology similar to that used in a cell phone that enables such devices, e.g., computers, to send and receive data indoors and out; anywhere within the range of a base station. wi-fi networks use radio technologies called ieee 802.11 (a, b, g, n, ac, ag, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. a wi-fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the internet, and to wired networks (which can use ieee 802.3 or ethernet). wi-fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 ghz radio bands for example or with products that contain both bands (dual band), so the networks can provide real-world performance similar to the basic 10baset wired ethernet networks used in many offices. fig. 27 presents an example embodiment 2700 of a mobile network platform 2710 that can implement and exploit one or more aspects of the disclosed subject matter described herein. in one or more embodiments, the mobile network platform 2710 can generate and receive signals transmitted and received by base stations (e.g., base station devices 1504 , macrocell site 1502 , or base stations 1614 ), central office (e.g., central office 1501 or 1611 ), or transmission device 101 or 102 associated with the disclosed subject matter. generally, wireless network platform 2710 can comprise components, e.g., nodes, gateways, interfaces, servers, or disparate platforms, that facilitate both packet-switched (ps) (e.g., internet protocol (ip), frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (atm)) and circuit-switched (cs) traffic (e.g., voice and data), as well as control generation for networked wireless telecommunication. as a non-limiting example, wireless network platform 2710 can be included in telecommunications carrier networks, and can be considered carrier-side components as discussed elsewhere herein. mobile network platform 2710 comprises cs gateway node(s) 2722 which can interface cs traffic received from legacy networks like telephony network(s) 2740 (e.g., public switched telephone network (pstn), or public land mobile network (plmn)) or a signaling system #7 (ss7) network 2770 . circuit switched gateway node(s) 2722 can authorize and authenticate traffic (e.g., voice) arising from such networks. additionally, cs gateway node(s) 2722 can access mobility, or roaming, data generated through ss7 network 2770 ; for instance, mobility data stored in a visited location register (vlr), which can reside in memory 2730 . moreover, cs gateway node(s) 2722 interfaces cs-based traffic and signaling and ps gateway node(s) 2718 . as an example, in a 3gpp umts network, cs gateway node(s) 2722 can be realized at least in part in gateway gprs support node(s) (ggsn). it should be appreciated that functionality and specific operation of cs gateway node(s) 2722 , ps gateway node(s) 2718 , and serving node(s) 2716 , is provided and dictated by radio technology(ies) utilized by mobile network platform 2710 for telecommunication. in addition to receiving and processing cs-switched traffic and signaling, ps gateway node(s) 2718 can authorize and authenticate ps-based data sessions with served mobile devices. data sessions can comprise traffic, or content(s), exchanged with networks external to the wireless network platform 2710 , like wide area network(s) (wans) 2750 , enterprise network(s) 2770 , and service network(s) 2780 , which can be embodied in local area network(s) (lans), can also be interfaced with mobile network platform 2710 through ps gateway node(s) 2718 . it is to be noted that wans 2750 and enterprise network(s) 2760 can embody, at least in part, a service network(s) like ip multimedia subsystem (ims). based on radio technology layer(s) available in technology resource(s) 2717 , packet-switched gateway node(s) 2718 can generate packet data protocol contexts when a data session is established; other data structures that facilitate routing of packetized data also can be generated. to that end, in an aspect, ps gateway node(s) 2718 can comprise a tunnel interface (e.g., tunnel termination gateway (ttg) in 3gpp umts network(s) (not shown)) which can facilitate packetized communication with disparate wireless network(s), such as wi-fi networks. in embodiment 2700 , wireless network platform 2710 also comprises serving node(s) 2716 that, based upon available radio technology layer(s) within technology resource(s) 2717 , convey the various packetized flows of data streams received through ps gateway node(s) 2718 . it is to be noted that for technology resource(s) 2717 that rely primarily on cs communication, server node(s) can deliver traffic without reliance on ps gateway node(s) 2718 ; for example, server node(s) can embody at least in part a mobile switching center. as an example, in a 3gpp umts network, serving node(s) 2716 can be embodied in serving gprs support node(s) (sgsn). for radio technologies that exploit packetized communication, server(s) 2714 in wireless network platform 2710 can execute numerous applications that can generate multiple disparate packetized data streams or flows, and manage (e.g., schedule, queue, format . . . ) such flows. such application(s) can comprise add-on features to standard services (for example, provisioning, billing, customer support . . . ) provided by wireless network platform 2710 . data streams (e.g., content(s) that are part of a voice call or data session) can be conveyed to ps gateway node(s) 2718 for authorization/authentication and initiation of a data session, and to serving node(s) 2716 for communication thereafter. in addition to application server, server(s) 2714 can comprise utility server(s), a utility server can comprise a provisioning server, an operations and maintenance server, a security server that can implement at least in part a certificate authority and firewalls as well as other security mechanisms, and the like. in an aspect, security server(s) secure communication served through wireless network platform 2710 to ensure network's operation and data integrity in addition to authorization and authentication procedures that cs gateway node(s) 2722 and ps gateway node(s) 2718 can enact. moreover, provisioning server(s) can provision services from external network(s) like networks operated by a disparate service provider; for instance, wan 2750 or global positioning system (gps) network(s) (not shown). provisioning server(s) can also provision coverage through networks associated to wireless network platform 2710 (e.g., deployed and operated by the same service provider), such as the distributed antennas networks shown in fig. 1 that enhance wireless service coverage by providing more network coverage. repeater devices such as those shown in figs. 7, 8, and 9 also improve network coverage in order to enhance subscriber service experience by way of ue 2775 . it is to be noted that server(s) 2714 can comprise one or more processors configured to confer at least in part the functionality of macro network platform 2710 . to that end, the one or more processor can execute code instructions stored in memory 2730 , for example. it is should be appreciated that server(s) 2714 can comprise a content manager 2715 , which operates in substantially the same manner as described hereinbefore. in example embodiment 2700 , memory 2730 can store information related to operation of wireless network platform 2710 . other operational information can comprise provisioning information of mobile devices served through wireless platform network 2710 , subscriber databases; application intelligence, pricing schemes, e.g., promotional rates, flat-rate programs, couponing campaigns; technical specification(s) consistent with telecommunication protocols for operation of disparate radio, or wireless, technology layers; and so forth. memory 2730 can also store information from at least one of telephony network(s) 2740 , wan 2750 , enterprise network(s) 2770 , or ss7 network 2760 . in an aspect, memory 2730 can be, for example, accessed as part of a data store component or as a remotely connected memory store. in order to provide a context for the various aspects of the disclosed subject matter, fig. 27 , and the following discussion, are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable environment in which the various aspects of the disclosed subject matter can be implemented. while the subject matter has been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions of a computer program that runs on a computer and/or computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosed subject matter also can be implemented in combination with other program modules. generally, program modules comprise routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks and/or implement particular abstract data types. fig. 28 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication device 2800 . the communication device 2800 can serve as an illustrative embodiment of devices such as mobile devices and in-building devices referred to by the subject disclosure (e.g., in figs. 15, 16a and 16b ). the communication device 2800 can comprise a wireline and/or wireless transceiver 2802 (herein transceiver 2802 ), a user interface (ui) 2804 , a power supply 2814 , a location receiver 2816 , a motion sensor 2818 , an orientation sensor 2820 , and a controller 2806 for managing operations thereof. the transceiver 2802 can support short-range or long-range wireless access technologies such as bluetooth®, zigbee®, wifi, dect, or cellular communication technologies, just to mention a few (bluetooth® and zigbee® are trademarks registered by the bluetooth® special interest group and the zigbee® alliance, respectively). cellular technologies can include, for example, cdma- 1 x, umts/hsdpa, gsm/gprs, tdma/edge, ev/do, wimax, sdr, lte, as well as other next generation wireless communication technologies as they arise. the transceiver 2802 can also be adapted to support circuit-switched wireline access technologies (such as pstn), packet-switched wireline access technologies (such as tcp/ip, voip, etc.), and combinations thereof. the ui 2804 can include a depressible or touch-sensitive keypad 2808 with a navigation mechanism such as a roller ball, a joystick, a mouse, or a navigation disk for manipulating operations of the communication device 2800 . the keypad 2808 can be an integral part of a housing assembly of the communication device 2800 or an independent device operably coupled thereto by a tethered wireline interface (such as a usb cable) or a wireless interface supporting for example bluetooth®. the keypad 2808 can represent a numeric keypad commonly used by phones, and/or a qwerty keypad with alphanumeric keys. the ui 2804 can further include a display 2810 such as monochrome or color lcd (liquid crystal display), oled (organic light emitting diode) or other suitable display technology for conveying images to an end user of the communication device 2800 . in an embodiment where the display 2810 is touch-sensitive, a portion or all of the keypad 2808 can be presented by way of the display 2810 with navigation features. the display 2810 can use touch screen technology to also serve as a user interface for detecting user input. as a touch screen display, the communication device 2800 can be adapted to present a user interface having graphical user interface (gui) elements that can be selected by a user with a touch of a finger. the touch screen display 2810 can be equipped with capacitive, resistive or other forms of sensing technology to detect how much surface area of a user's finger has been placed on a portion of the touch screen display. this sensing information can be used to control the manipulation of the gui elements or other functions of the user interface. the display 2810 can be an integral part of the housing assembly of the communication device 2800 or an independent device communicatively coupled thereto by a tethered wireline interface (such as a cable) or a wireless interface. the ui 2804 can also include an audio system 2812 that utilizes audio technology for conveying low volume audio (such as audio heard in proximity of a human ear) and high volume audio (such as speakerphone for hands free operation). the audio system 2812 can further include a microphone for receiving audible signals of an end user. the audio system 2812 can also be used for voice recognition applications. the ui 2804 can further include an image sensor 2813 such as a charged coupled device (ccd) camera for capturing still or moving images. the power supply 2814 can utilize common power management technologies such as replaceable and rechargeable batteries, supply regulation technologies, and/or charging system technologies for supplying energy to the components of the communication device 2800 to facilitate long-range or short-range portable communications. alternatively, or in combination, the charging system can utilize external power sources such as dc power supplied over a physical interface such as a usb port or other suitable tethering technologies. the location receiver 2816 can utilize location technology such as a global positioning system (gps) receiver capable of assisted gps for identifying a location of the communication device 2800 based on signals generated by a constellation of gps satellites, which can be used for facilitating location services such as navigation. the motion sensor 2818 can utilize motion sensing technology such as an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or other suitable motion sensing technology to detect motion of the communication device 2800 in three-dimensional space. the orientation sensor 2820 can utilize orientation sensing technology such as a magnetometer to detect the orientation of the communication device 2800 (north, south, west, and east, as well as combined orientations in degrees, minutes, or other suitable orientation metrics). the communication device 2800 can use the transceiver 2802 to also determine a proximity to a cellular, wifi, bluetooth®, or other wireless access points by sensing techniques such as utilizing a received signal strength indicator (rssi) and/or signal time of arrival (toa) or time of flight (tof) measurements. the controller 2806 can utilize computing technologies such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (dsp), programmable gate arrays, application specific integrated circuits, and/or a video processor with associated storage memory such as flash, rom, ram, sram, dram or other storage technologies for executing computer instructions, controlling, and processing data supplied by the aforementioned components of the communication device 2800 . other components not shown in fig. 28 can be used in one or more embodiments of the subject disclosure. for instance, the communication device 2800 can include a slot for adding or removing an identity module such as a subscriber identity module (sim) card or universal integrated circuit card (uicc). sim or uicc cards can be used for identifying subscriber services, executing programs, storing subscriber data, and so on. in the subject specification, terms such as “store,” “storage,” “data store,” data storage,” “database,” and substantially any other information storage component relevant to operation and functionality of a component, refer to “memory components,” or entities embodied in a “memory” or components comprising the memory. it will be appreciated that the memory components described herein can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can comprise both volatile and nonvolatile memory, by way of illustration, and not limitation, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, disk storage, and memory storage. further, nonvolatile memory can be included in read only memory (rom), programmable rom (prom), electrically programmable rom (eprom), electrically erasable rom (eeprom), or flash memory. volatile memory can comprise random access memory (ram), which acts as external cache memory. by way of illustration and not limitation, ram is available in many forms such as synchronous ram (sram), dynamic ram (dram), synchronous dram (sdram), double data rate sdram (ddr sdram), enhanced sdram (esdram), synchlink dram (sldram), and direct rambus ram (drram). additionally, the disclosed memory components of systems or methods herein are intended to comprise, without being limited to comprising, these and any other suitable types of memory. moreover, it will be noted that the disclosed subject matter can be practiced with other computer system configurations, comprising single-processor or multiprocessor computer systems, mini-computing devices, mainframe computers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices (e.g., pda, phone, smartphone, watch, tablet computers, netbook computers, etc.), microprocessor-based or programmable consumer or industrial electronics, and the like. the illustrated aspects can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network; however, some if not all aspects of the subject disclosure can be practiced on stand-alone computers. in a distributed computing environment, program modules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. some of the embodiments described herein can also employ artificial intelligence (ai) to facilitate automating one or more features described herein. for example, artificial intelligence can be used in optional training controller 230 evaluate and select candidate frequencies, modulation schemes, mimo modes, and/or guided wave modes in order to maximize transfer efficiency. the embodiments (e.g., in connection with automatically identifying acquired cell sites that provide a maximum value/benefit after addition to an existing communication network) can employ various ai-based schemes for carrying out various embodiments thereof. moreover, the classifier can be employed to determine a ranking or priority of the each cell site of the acquired network. a classifier is a function that maps an input attribute vector, x=(x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4 . . . x n ), to a confidence that the input belongs to a class, that is, f(x)=confidence (class). such classification can employ a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis (e.g., factoring into the analysis utilities and costs) to prognose or infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed. a support vector machine (svm) is an example of a classifier that can be employed. the svm operates by finding a hypersurface in the space of possible inputs, which the hypersurface attempts to split the triggering criteria from the non-triggering events. intuitively, this makes the classification correct for testing data that is near, but not identical to training data. other directed and undirected model classification approaches comprise, e.g., naïve bayes, bayesian networks, decision trees, neural networks, fuzzy logic models, and probabilistic classification models providing different patterns of independence can be employed. classification as used herein also is inclusive of statistical regression that is utilized to develop models of priority. as will be readily appreciated, one or more of the embodiments can employ classifiers that are explicitly trained (e.g., via a generic training data) as well as implicitly trained (e.g., via observing ue behavior, operator preferences, historical information, receiving extrinsic information). for example, svms can be configured via a learning or training phase within a classifier constructor and feature selection module. thus, the classifier(s) can be used to automatically learn and perform a number of functions, including but not limited to determining according to a predetermined criteria which of the acquired cell sites will benefit a maximum number of subscribers and/or which of the acquired cell sites will add minimum value to the existing communication network coverage, etc. as used in some contexts in this application, in some embodiments, the terms “component,” “system” and the like are intended to refer to, or comprise, a computer-related entity or an entity related to an operational apparatus with one or more specific functionalities, wherein the entity can be either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. as an example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, computer-executable instructions, a program, and/or a computer. by way of illustration and not limitation, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. one or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. in addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. the components may communicate via local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems via the signal). as another example, a component can be an apparatus with specific functionality provided by mechanical parts operated by electric or electronic circuitry, which is operated by a software or firmware application executed by a processor, wherein the processor can be internal or external to the apparatus and executes at least a part of the software or firmware application. as yet another example, a component can be an apparatus that provides specific functionality through electronic components without mechanical parts, the electronic components can comprise a processor therein to execute software or firmware that confers at least in part the functionality of the electronic components. while various components have been illustrated as separate components, it will be appreciated that multiple components can be implemented as a single component, or a single component can be implemented as multiple components, without departing from example embodiments. further, the various embodiments can be implemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. the term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device or computer-readable storage/communications media. for example, computer readable storage media can include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (cd), digital versatile disk (dvd)), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive). of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications can be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the various embodiments. in addition, the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as an instance or illustration. any embodiment or design described herein as “example” or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. rather, use of the word example or exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. as used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. that is, unless specified otherwise or clear from context, “x employs a or b” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. that is, if x employs a; x employs b; or x employs both a and b, then “x employs a or b” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. in addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. moreover, terms such as “user equipment,” “mobile station,” “mobile,” subscriber station,” “access terminal,” “terminal,” “handset,” “mobile device” (and/or terms representing similar terminology) can refer to a wireless device utilized by a subscriber or user of a wireless communication service to receive or convey data, control, voice, video, sound, gaming or substantially any data-stream or signaling-stream. the foregoing terms are utilized interchangeably herein and with reference to the related drawings. furthermore, the terms “user,” “subscriber,” “customer,” “consumer” and the like are employed interchangeably throughout, unless context warrants particular distinctions among the terms. it should be appreciated that such terms can refer to human entities or automated components supported through artificial intelligence (e.g., a capacity to make inference based, at least, on complex mathematical formalisms), which can provide simulated vision, sound recognition and so forth. as employed herein, the term “processor” can refer to substantially any computing processing unit or device comprising, but not limited to comprising, single-core processors; single-processors with software multithread execution capability; multi-core processors; multi-core processors with software multithread execution capability; multi-core processors with hardware multithread technology; parallel platforms; and parallel platforms with distributed shared memory. additionally, a processor can refer to an integrated circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (asic), a digital signal processor (dsp), a field programmable gate array (fpga), a programmable logic controller (plc), a complex programmable logic device (cpld), a discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. processors can exploit nano-scale architectures such as, but not limited to, molecular and quantum-dot based transistors, switches and gates, in order to optimize space usage or enhance performance of user equipment. a processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units. as used herein, terms such as “data storage,” data storage,” “database,” and substantially any other information storage component relevant to operation and functionality of a component, refer to “memory components,” or entities embodied in a “memory” or components comprising the memory. it will be appreciated that the memory components or computer-readable storage media, described herein can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. what has been described above includes mere examples of various embodiments. it is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing these examples, but one of ordinary skill in the art can recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the present embodiments are possible. accordingly, the embodiments disclosed and/or claimed herein are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. in addition, a flow diagram may include a “start” and/or “continue” indication. the “start” and “continue” indications reflect that the steps presented can optionally be incorporated in or otherwise used in conjunction with other routines. in this context, “start” indicates the beginning of the first step presented and may be preceded by other activities not specifically shown. further, the “continue” indication reflects that the steps presented may be performed multiple times and/or may be succeeded by other activities not specifically shown. further, while a flow diagram indicates a particular ordering of steps, other orderings are likewise possible provided that the principles of causality are maintained. as may also be used herein, the term(s) “operably coupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via one or more intervening items. such items and intervening items include, but are not limited to, junctions, communication paths, components, circuit elements, circuits, functional blocks, and/or devices. as an example of indirect coupling, a signal conveyed from a first item to a second item may be modified by one or more intervening items by modifying the form, nature or format of information in a signal, while one or more elements of the information in the signal are nevertheless conveyed in a manner than can be recognized by the second item. in a further example of indirect coupling, an action in a first item can cause a reaction on the second item, as a result of actions and/or reactions in one or more intervening items. although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement which achieves the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the embodiments described or shown by the subject disclosure. the subject disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, can be used in the subject disclosure. for instance, one or more features from one or more embodiments can be combined with one or more features of one or more other embodiments. in one or more embodiments, features that are positively recited can also be negatively recited and excluded from the embodiment with or without replacement by another structural and/or functional feature. the steps or functions described with respect to the embodiments of the subject disclosure can be performed in any order. the steps or functions described with respect to the embodiments of the subject disclosure can be performed alone or in combination with other steps or functions of the subject disclosure, as well as from other embodiments or from other steps that have not been described in the subject disclosure. further, more than or less than all of the features described with respect to an embodiment can also be utilized.
|
180-437-138-069-457
|
TW
|
[
"TW",
"US"
] |
G02B26/08
| 2003-06-09T00:00:00 |
2003
|
[
"G02"
] |
method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices
|
a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirrors devices is disclosed. in the method, a portion of a mirror layer and a first sacrificial layer beneath the portion of the mirror layer are removed simultaneously to expose the substrate while defining a pattern of the mirror layer. then, a second sacrificial layer is deposited conformally, and a substrate contact opening and a mirror layer contact opening are defined in the second sacrificial layer at the same time. subsequently, a support material layer is deposited conformally and etched back, so as to form a supporting post of the mirror layer in the substrate contact opening. before the support material layer is etched back, the substrate contact opening can be filled with a photoresist material first, so as to maintain the support material layer in the substrate contact opening and increase the structural intensity of the supporting post.
|
1 . a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, the method comprising: providing a substrate, wherein a first sacrificial layer and a mirror layer are formed in sequence to stack on the substrate; removing a portion of the mirror layer and a portion of the first sacrificial layer to form a plurality of openings in the mirror layer and the first sacrificial layer and to expose a portion of the substrate; forming a second sacrificial layer to cover the mirror layer, the first sacrificial layer, and the substrate; removing a portion of the second sacrificial layer to form a substrate contact opening in each of the openings and to at least form a mirror layer contact opening on the mirror layer; forming a support material layer to conformally cover the second sacrificial layer, the openings, the substrate contact opening, and the mirror layer contact opening; and performing an etching back step to remove a portion of the support material layer until exposing the second sacrificial layer. 2 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the substrate is a transparent material. 3 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the substrate is glass. 4 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the first sacrificial layer is amorphous silicon. 5 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , wherein the mirror layer is an sio ₓ layer/alsicu layer/sio ₓ layer compound structure. 6 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the second sacrificial layer is amorphous silicon. 7 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the support material layer is sin. 8 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , between the step of forming the support material layer and the etching back step, further comprises forming a photoresist layer filling in a portion of the openings. 9 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 1 , after the etching back step, further comprises forming a hinge layer on the second sacrificial layer, the support material layer, and the mirror layer. 10 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 9 , wherein the hinge layer is a ti layer/sin ₓ layer/ti layer compound structure. 11 . a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, the method comprising: providing a substrate, wherein a first sacrificial layer and a mirror layer are formed in sequence to stack on the substrate; removing a portion of the mirror layer and a portion of the first sacrificial layer to form a plurality of openings in the mirror layer and the first sacrificial layer and to expose a portion of the substrate; forming a second sacrificial layer to cover the mirror layer, the first sacrificial layer, and the substrate; removing a portion of the second sacrificial layer to form a substrate contact opening in each of the openings and to at least form a mirror layer contact opening on the mirror layer; forming a support material layer to conformally cover the second sacrificial layer, the openings, the substrate contact opening, and the mirror layer contact opening; forming a photoresist layer to fill a portion of the openings; and performing an etching back step to remove a portion of the support material layer until exposing the second sacrificial layer. 12 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , wherein the material of the substrate is a transparent material. 13 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , wherein the material of the substrate is glass. 14 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , wherein the material of the first sacrificial layer is amorphous silicon. 15 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , wherein the mirror layer is an sio ₓ layer/alsicu layer/sio ₓ layer compound structure. 16 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , wherein the material of the second sacrificial layer is amorphous silicon. 17 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , wherein the material of the support material layer is sin. 18 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 11 , after the etching back step, further comprises forming a hinge layer on the second sacrificial layer, the support material layer, and the mirror layer. 19 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 18 , wherein the hinge layer is a ti layer/sin ₓ layer/ti layer compound structure. 20 . a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, the method comprising: providing a substrate, wherein a first sacrificial layer and a mirror layer are formed in sequence to stack on the substrate; removing a portion of the mirror layer and a portion of the first sacrificial layer to form a plurality of openings in the mirror layer and the first sacrificial layer and to expose a portion of the substrate; forming a second sacrificial layer to cover the mirror layer, the first sacrificial layer, and the substrate; removing a portion of the second sacrificial layer to form a substrate contact opening in each of the openings and to at least form a mirror layer contact opening on the mirror layer; and providing a support layer in the substrate contact opening in each of the openings and a portion of the mirror layer contact opening. 21 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , wherein the material of the substrate is a transparent material. 22 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , wherein the material of the substrate is glass. 23 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , wherein the material of the first sacrificial layer is amorphous silicon. 24 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , wherein the mirror layer is an sio ₓ layer/alsicu layer/sio ₓ layer compound structure. 25 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , wherein the material of the second sacrificial layer is amorphous silicon. 26 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , wherein the material of the support layer is sin. 27 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 20 , after the step of proving the support layer, further comprises forming a hinge layer on the second sacrificial layer, the support layer, and the mirror layer. 28 . the method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices according to claim 27 , wherein the hinge layer is a ti layer/sin ₓ layer/ti layer compound structure.
|
field of the invention the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, and more particularly, to a manufacturing method of reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices that can avoid sacrificial layers peeling off and can simplify the process. background of the invention referring to fig. 1 , fig. 1 illustrates a top view of typical reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices. a mirror device 102 of a typical reflective spatial light modulator is formed above a substrate 100 , and a mirror layer 104 of the mirror device 102 is supported by a hinge layer 106 and is separated from the substrate 100 with a distance, wherein the hinge layer 106 is supported by supporting posts 108 . furthermore, on the hinge layer 106 , a contact opening 110 is formed, and the contact opening 110 is filled with the hinge layer 106 made of a conductive material, so that the hinge layer 106 is directly connected to the mirror layer 104 . because the material of the mirror layer 104 is a conductive material, the hinge layer 106 is electrically connected to the mirror layer 104 . referring to fig. 2 to fig. 6 , fig. 2 to fig. 6 are schematic flow diagrams showing the conventional process for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, wherein the cross-sectional views of fig. 2 to fig. 6 are obtained along cross-sectional line i-i shown in fig. 1 . a sacrificial layer 114 is first formed by using a deposition method to cover a substrate 100 which is transparent, and a mirror layer 104 is formed by using a sputtering method to cover the sacrificial layer 114 , wherein the material of the sacrificial layer 114 is dielectric material and the material of the mirror layer 104 is metal. then, a photolithography technique and an etching technique are used to define the mirror layer 104 , thereby removing a portion of the mirror layer 104 to form openings 116 on the sacrificial layer 114 and expose a portion of the sacrificial layer 114 , and meanwhile, a mirror pattern of the mirror device 102 is transferred onto the mirror layer 104 , such as shown in fig. 2 . after the mirror pattern of the mirror device 102 is transferred onto the mirror layer 104 , a sacrificial layer 118 is formed by using a deposition method to cover the mirror layer 104 and the sacrificial layer 114 exposed by the openings 116 . then, a definition step is performed by using a photolithography technique and an etching technique, and a portion of the sacrificial layer 118 is removed to expose a portion of the mirror layer 104 , so as to form a contact opening 110 of the mirror layer 104 in the sacrificial layer 118 on the portion of the mirror layer 104 , such as shown in fig. 3 . after the contact opening 110 of the mirror layer 104 is formed, a definition step is performed by using a photolithography method and an etching method similarly, and a portion of the sacrificial layer 118 located in the openings 116 is removed to expose a portion of the substrate 100 , so as to form contact openings 120 of the substrate 100 in the opening 116 , such as shown in fig. 4 . besides, the contact openings 120 of the substrate 100 can be formed before the contact opening 110 of the mirror layer 104 is formed. after the contact opening 110 of the mirror layer 104 , and the contact openings 120 of the substrate 100 are formed, a support material layer (of which only a support layer 122 and the supporting posts 108 are shown) is formed by using a deposition method to cover the sacrificial layer 118 ; the mirror layer 104 exposed by the contact opening 110 ; and the substrate 100 and the sacrificial layer 114 exposed by the contact openings 120 . then, a portion of the support material layer is removed by using an etching back method until the surface of the sacrificial layer 118 is exposed. at this point, the remaining support material layer within the contact openings 120 forms the supporting posts 108 , and the remaining support material layer within the contact opening 110 forms the support layer 122 . the contact opening 110 is wider, so that after etching back step is performed, the bottom of the contact opening 110 is not entirely covered by the support layer 122 within the contact opening 110 , and a portion of the mirror layer 104 is exposed, such as shown in fig. 5 . then, a material film of the hinge layer 106 is formed by using a sputtering method to cover the sacrificial layer 118 , the supporting posts 108 , the support layer 122 , and the mirror layer 104 exposed by the contact opening 110 , wherein the material of the material film of the hinge layer 106 is a conductive material. a patterning definition step of the hinge layer 106 is performed by using a photolithography method and an etching method, so as to form the hinge layer 106 on a portion of the sacrificial layer 118 ; the support layer 122 ; the supporting posts 108 ; the contact openings 120 ; the mirror layer 104 exposed by the contact opening 110 ; and the contact opening 110 , such as shown in fig. 6 . the supporting posts 108 in the contact openings 120 can be used to support the hinge layer 106 , and the hinge layer 106 in the contact opening 110 is directly connected to the mirror layer 104 . after the sacrificial layer 114 and the sacrificial layer 118 are removed, the hinge layer 106 is first supported by the supporting posts 108 , and the mirror layer 104 is hanged via the direct connection of the hinge layer 106 and a portion of the mirror layer 104 . however, referring to fig. 3 and fig. 4 ., because a portion of the sacrificial layer 114 is stacked with the sacrificial layer 118 , and the adhesion between the sacrificial layer 114 and the sacrificial layer 118 is poor, the sacrificial layer 114 and the sacrificial layer 118 peel off easily, and thus the process reliability is reduced. next, referring to fig. 3 and fig. 4 again, during the aforementioned process for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, the sacrificial layer 118 and the sacrificial layer 114 need to be etched while the contact openings 120 of the substrate 100 are manufactured, and only the sacrificial layer 118 needs to be removed while the contact opening 110 of the mirror layer 104 is manufactured. hence, the contact openings 120 of the substrate 100 and the contact opening 110 of the mirror layer 104 need to be manufactured respectively, and thus process steps are increased. moreover, while the etching back step of the support material layer is performed, a portion of the support material layer in the contact openings 120 is removed, so that the structural strength of the supporting posts 108 formed in the contact openings 120 is reduced. summary of the invention according to the aforementioned conventional method for manufacturing the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, the stacked portion of the second sacrificial layer and the first sacrificial layer peels off easily, thus decreasing the process reliability and yield. besides, due to the second sacrificial layer stacked with the first sacrificial layer, the contact opening of the mirror layer and the contact openings of the substrate need to be defined respectively, thus increasing the number of process steps, and increasing process load and process cost. therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, by etching and removing a first sacrificial layer beneath a portion of a mirror layer while a pattern of the mirror layer is etched. hence, the first sacrificial layer would not be stacked with a second sacrificial layer deposited subsequently, thereby preventing the first sacrificial layer and the second sacrificial layer from peeling off. another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices. in the method, while a pattern of a mirror layer is defined, openings are formed in the mirror layer and a first sacrificial layer, and a substrate is exposed. thus, after a second sacrificial layer is formed subsequently, the thickness of the sacrificial layer in the openings is approximate to that on the mirror layer, so that contact openings of the substrate located in the openings and a contact opening of the mirror layer located on the mirror layer are formed simultaneously, thereby decreasing the number of process steps; reducing process complexity; and lowering process cost. still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices. in the method, after a support material layer is conformally deposited on contact openings of a substrate, the contact openings of the substrate can be first filled with a photoresist material, and then an etching back step of the support material layer is performed. therefore, the support material layer structure within the contact openings of the substrate used as supporting posts of the mirror layer can be maintained, so as to enhance the structural strength of the supporting posts of the mirror layer. according to the aforementioned major object, the present invention further provides a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, the method comprising: providing a transparent substrate, wherein a first sacrificial layer and a mirror layer are formed in sequence to stack on the transparent substrate, wherein the material of the first sacrificial layer can be such as amorphous silicon; removing a portion of the mirror layer and a portion of the first sacrificial layer to form a plurality of openings in the mirror layer and the first sacrificial layer and to expose a portion of the transparent substrate; forming a second sacrificial layer to cover the mirror layer, the first sacrificial layer exposed by the openings, and the transparent substrate exposed by the openings; removing a portion of the second sacrificial layer to form a substrate contact opening in each of the openings and to form a mirror layer contact opening on the mirror layer; forming a support material layer to conformally cover the second sacrificial layer, the openings, the substrate contact opening, the mirror layer contact opening, the substrate exposed by the substrate contact opening, and the mirror layer exposed by the mirror layer contact opening; forming a photoresist layer to fill a portion of each of the substrate contact opening and to cover the support material layer in the substrate contact opening; and performing an etching back step to remove a portion of the support material layer until exposing the second sacrificial layer. after the etching back step of the support material layer is completed, the photoresist layer in the substrate contact opening is removed, and a hinge layer is formed to cover the second sacrificial layer, the support material layer, and the mirror layer, so as to complete the major process for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices. because a portion of the mirror layer and the first sacrificial layer beneath the portion of the mirror layer are removed simultaneously during the first definition step, the peeling, resulted from the first sacrificial layer and the second sacrificial layer stacked with each other, between the first sacrificial layer and the second sacrificial layer can be avoided, thereby enhancing process reliability and yield. furthermore, the substrate contact opening and the mirror layer contact opening can be defined at the same time during the second definition step, so as to decrease the number of process steps and achieve the object of reducing process load. besides, before the support material layer is etched back, the photoresist layer is filled in each of the substrate contact openings, so that the structural strength of the support material layer in each of the substrate contact openings can be prevented from being decreased due to etching, and supporting posts composed of stronger support material layer can be obtained. brief description of the drawings the foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: fig. 1 illustrates a top view of typical reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices; fig. 2 to fig. 6 are schematic flow diagrams showing the conventional process for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, wherein the cross-sectional views of fig. 2 to fig. 6 are obtained along cross-sectional line i-i shown in fig. 1 ; and fig. 7 to fig. 12 are schematic flow diagrams showing the process for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiment the present invention discloses a method for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices, and with the application of the method, process step can be simplified, process cost can be reduced effectively, and the object of enhancing reliability and yield can be obtained. in order to make the illustration of the present invention more explicitly and completely, the following description and the drawings from fig. 7 to fig. 12 are stated. referring to fig. 7 and fig. 12 , fig. 7 to fig. 12 are schematic flow diagrams showing the process for manufacturing reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. firstly, a substrate 200 , which is transparent, is provided, wherein the material of the substrate 200 can be a transparent material, such as glass. preferably, the thickness of the substrate 200 is between 600 m and 700 m. next, a sacrificial layer 202 is formed by using such as a deposition method to cover the surface of the substrate 200 , wherein the material of the sacrificial layer 202 can be such as amorphous silicon, and the thickness of sacrificial layer 202 is preferably between 5000 and 10000 . then, a mirror layer 204 is formed by using such as a sputtering method to cover the sacrificial layer 202 , wherein the mirror layer 204 is preferably composed of an sio ₓ layer/alsicu layer/sio ₓ layer compound structure. in the sio ₓ layer/alsicu layer/sio ₓ layer compound structure, the thickness of each of the sio ₓ layer is preferably between 100 and 500 , and the thickness of the alsicu layer is preferably between 1000 and 3000 . after the deposition step of the mirror layer 204 is completed, a definition step is performed by using such as a photolithography technique and an etching technique to remove a portion of the mirror layer 204 and a portion of the sacrificial layer 202 , so as to form openings 206 in the mirror layer 204 and the sacrificial layer 202 to expose a portion of the substrate 200 , such as the structure shown in fig. 7 . after the openings 206 are formed in the mirror layer 204 and the sacrificial layer 202 , a sacrificial layer 208 is formed by using such as a conformal deposition method to cover the mirror layer 204 , and the substrate 200 and the sacrificial layer 202 exposed by the openings 206 , wherein the material of the sacrificial layer 208 can be such as amorphous silicon, and the thickness of the sacrificial layer 208 is preferably between 5000 and 10000 . after the sacrificial layer 208 is formed, a photoresist layer 210 is formed by using such as a photolithography method to cover a portion of the sacrificial layer 208 . in the openings 206 , the photoresist layer 210 comprises openings 212 having a substrate contact pattern, and on the mirror layer 204 , the photoresist layer 210 comprises an opening 216 having mirror layer contact pattern, such as shown in fig. 8 . then, the sacrificial layer 208 exposed by the openings 212 and the opening 216 are removed by using such as an etching method, so as to form contact openings 218 of the substrate 200 to expose the substrate 200 and a contact opening 222 of the mirror layer 204 . subsequently, the remaining photoresist layer 210 is removed by using such as a stripping method, and the sacrificial layer 208 is exposed, such as shown in fig. 9 . one feature of the present invention is that while manufacturing the contact openings 218 of the substrate 200 and the contact opening 222 of the mirror layer 204 , only the sacrificial layer 208 conformally deposited previously needs to be removed, and the difference of the thickness through the sacrificial layer 208 is very small. therefore, only one definition step is needed to form the contact openings 218 of the substrate 200 and the contact opening 222 of the mirror layer 204 simultaneously, thereby decreasing the number of process step, reducing process load, and lower process cost. after the contact openings 218 and the contact opening 222 are completed, a support material layer 224 is formed by using such as a conformal deposition method to cover the sacrificial layer 208 , the substrate 200 exposed by the contact openings 218 , and the mirror layer 204 exposed by the contact opening 222 . the material of the support material layer 224 is preferably a material with stronger structure, such as sin, and the thickness of the support material layer 224 is preferably between 2000 and 4000 . at this point, an etching back step is performed on the support material layer 224 directly. or, in order to decrease the etching degree of the support material layer 224 within the contact openings 218 , a portion of the contact openings 218 can be first filled with a photoresist layer 226 , such as shown in fig. 10 . then, an etching back step is performed on the support material layer 224 to remove a portion of the support material layer 224 until exposing the sacrificial layer 208 . after the etching back step of the support material layer 224 is performed, the remaining support material layer 224 is remained in the contact openings 218 and the sidewall of the contact opening 222 , and a portion of the mirror layer 204 is exposed. the support material layer 224 remaining within the contact openings 218 form supporting posts 223 , and the support material layer 224 remaining in the contact opening 222 form support layers 225 , such as shown in fig. 11 . subsequently, a material film of the hinge layer 228 is formed by using such as a deposition method to cover the supporting posts 223 , the support layers 225 , the sacrificial layer 208 , and the mirror layer 204 exposed by the contact opening 222 . the material film of the hinge layer 228 is preferably a ti layer/sin ₓ layer/ti layer compound structure, and the thickness of each of the ti layer is preferably between 100 and 300 , and the thickness of the sin ₓ layer is preferably between 400 and 600 . then, the material film of the hinge layer 228 is defined by using such as a photolithography method and an etching method, so as to form the hinge layer 228 on the supporting posts 223 , the support layers 225 , a portion of the sacrificial layer 208 , and the mirror layer 204 exposed by the contact opening 222 , such as shown in fig. 12 . at this point, all of the sacrificial layer 202 and the sacrificial layer 208 can be removed to complete the process of the reflective spatial light modulator mirror devices such as shown in fig. 1 . the supporting posts 223 in the contact openings 218 can be used to support the hinge layer 228 , and the hinge layer 228 in the contact opening 222 is connected with the mirror layer 204 . after the sacrificial layer 202 and the sacrificial layer 208 are removed, the supporting posts 223 are used to support the hinge layer 228 firstly, and the mirror layer 204 is hanged via the connection of the hinge layer 228 and a portion of the mirror layer 204 . according to the aforementioned description, one advantage of the present invention is that while a pattern of a mirror layer is etched, a sacrificial layer beneath a portion of the mirror layer is etched and removed simultaneously. therefore, the sacrificial layer would not be stacked with a sacrificial deposited subsequently, thereby preventing the sacrificial layers from peeling off, and achieving the object of enhancing process reliability and yield. another advantage of the present invention is, because openings are formed in the mirror layer and a first sacrificial layer while a pattern of a mirror layer is defined, a substrate is exposed. thus, after a second sacrificial layer is formed subsequently, the second sacrificial layer only exists in the openings and on the mirror layer, and the thickness of the sacrificial layer in the openings is approximate to that on the mirror layer, so that contact openings of the substrate and contact openings of the mirror layer are formed simultaneously, thereby achieving the object of decreasing the number of process steps; reducing process complexity; and lowering process cost. still another advantage of the present invention is, because after a support material layer is conformally deposited on contact openings of a substrate, the contact openings of the substrate can be first filled with a photoresist material, and then an etching back step of the support material layer is performed, the etching degree of the support material layer within the contact openings of the substrate can be reduced, so as to achieve the object of effectively enhancing the structural strength of supporting posts of the mirror layer. as is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structure.
|
181-378-334-544-357
|
JP
|
[
"JP",
"US"
] |
B41J11/42,B65H16/00,B65H23/188,B41J11/20,B41J11/00,B41J11/66,B41J13/03
| 2020-05-14T00:00:00 |
2020
|
[
"B41",
"B65"
] |
recording device and transport control method of the same
|
to provide a structure which reduces a transport error caused by transport rollers to perform accurate transport and achieve high quality image recording.solution: a recording device includes: a first roller which nips a recording medium and transports the recording medium in a transport direction; a second roller which nips the recording medium at the downstream in the transport direction and transports the recording medium; and a recording head which records an image on the recording medium transported by the second roller. the recording device carries out the following control. that is, a nip pressure exerted by the first roller is set to a first pressure until recording by the recording head reaches a point near a rear end of a print length and the nip pressure exerted by the first roller is set to a second pressure which is larger than the first pressure when the recording reaches the point near the rear end of the print length. alternatively, a transport speed of the recording medium transported by the first roller after the recording by the recording head reaches the point near the rear end of the print length is set higher than that of the recording medium transported by the first roller until the recording by the recording head reaches the point near the rear end of the print length.selected drawing: figure 5
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1 . a printing apparatus comprising: a first roller configured to nip and convey, in a conveyance direction, a printing medium; a second roller configured to nip and convey a printing medium at a downstream side of the first roller in the conveyance direction; a print unit configured to print an image on a printing medium conveyed by the second roller; and a control unit configured to, until printing by the print unit reaches a vicinity of a trailing end of a print length, set a nip pressure of the first roller to a first pressure, and when printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, set the nip pressure of the first roller to a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. 2 . the printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit, when the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length is reached, increases a conveying speed of a printing medium by the first roller. 3 . the printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit, until printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, sets conveying speeds of the first roller and the second roller to be the same, and when printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, sets the conveying speed of the first roller to be greater than the conveying speed of the second roller so as to control to form a loop of the printing medium in a conveyance path of the printing medium between the first roller and the second roller. 4 . a printing apparatus comprising: a first roller configured to nip and convey, in a conveyance direction, a printing medium; a second roller configured to nip and convey a printing medium at a downstream side of the first roller in the conveyance direction; a print unit configured to print an image on a printing medium conveyed by the second roller; and a control unit configured to set a conveying speed of a printing medium by the first roller, after printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, to be greater than a conveying speed of the first roller, until printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length. 5 . the printing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit, when the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length is reached, sets a nip pressure of a printing medium by the first roller from a first pressure to a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. 6 . the printing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the control unit, after printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, sets the conveying speed of the first roller to be greater than a conveying speed of the second roller so as to control to form a loop of the printing medium in a conveyance path of the printing medium between the first roller and the second roller. 7 . the printing apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising: a feeding unit configured to feed the printing medium; a conveyance unit configured to nip, by the first roller and the second roller, the printing medium fed by the feeding unit and convey the nipped printing medium; a cutting unit, provided in the conveyance path of the printing medium between the first roller and the feeding unit, configured to cut the printing medium fed from the feeding unit; and a calculation unit configured to calculate a conveyance amount of the printing medium by the conveyance unit, wherein the control unit, in a case where it is determined, based on the conveyance amount of the printing medium calculated by the calculation unit, that a position of the printing medium corresponding to the print length has reached a position where the cutting unit is provided, controls the cutting unit to operate and cut the printing medium. 8 . the printing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit, in a case where while a printing operation by the print unit is continuing, the conveyance amount of the printing medium calculated by the calculation unit has reached a predetermined value, determines that printing by the print unit has reached the vicinity of the trailing end of a print length. 9 . the printing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the predetermined value, in a case where a distance between the position where the cutting unit is provided and the first roller is l, is determined based on the print length and 1.5 l to 2.0 l. 10 . the printing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the calculation unit, by counting an encoder signal pulse outputted from a rotary encoder provided near the first roller or an input pulse to a stepping motor that drives the first roller, calculates the conveyance amount of the printing medium. 11 . the printing apparatus according to claim 3 further comprising: a determination unit configured to determine whether a length of the formed loop has reached a stipulated value that is defined in advance, wherein the control unit, in a case where it is determined by the determination unit that the length of the formed loop has reached the stipulated value that is defined in advance, controls so that the conveying speed of the first roller is the same as the conveying speed of the second roller and controls so as to eliminate the formed loop. 12 . the printing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the control unit controls so as to maintain the nip pressure by the first roller at the second pressure. 13 . the printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the print length is calculated based on image data transmitted from a host apparatus connected to the printing apparatus or an input by a user from an operation panel of the printing apparatus. 14 . the printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the print unit is a full-line print unit having a print width corresponding to a width of the printing medium. 15 . the printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the printing medium is a roll sheet, and the apparatus comprises at least two attachment units configured to attach the roll sheet. 16 . a conveyance control method of a printing apparatus having a first roller that nips and conveys, in a conveyance direction, a printing medium; a second roller that nips and conveys a printing medium at a downstream side of the first roller in the conveyance direction; and a print unit that prints an image on a printing medium conveyed by the second roller, the method comprising: controlling, until printing by the print unit reaches a vicinity of a trailing end of a print length, set a nip pressure of the first roller to a first pressure, and when printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, set the nip pressure of the first roller to a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure.
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background of the invention field of the invention the present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a conveyance control method thereof. description of the related art conventionally, printing apparatuses that print images with an image forming unit using continuous sheets such as a roll sheet are known. for example, japanese patent laid-open no. 2009-220498 discloses an image forming apparatus that feeds, to an image forming unit that uses an electrographic method, a roll sheet that is loaded onto a roll sheet feeding apparatus and then forms images on the roll sheet using the unit. according to japanese patent laid-open no. 2009-220498, a roll sheet, which is fed from a roll sheet feeding apparatus via a feed roller and then a cutter, is formed into a loop in front of an image forming unit on a conveyance path thereof. then, the sheet length of the roll sheet that is fed to the image forming unit from the feed rollers is measured; if the sheet length is greater than a stipulated value that is set in advance, rotation information that is used to calculate the sheet length is corrected, and if the sheet length is less than or equal to the stipulated value that is set in advance, the rotation information is not corrected. for this rotation information, a number of pulses of a pulse signal that controls a motor that drives the feed roller is used. furthermore, in a case where the sheet length is greater than or equal to the stipulated value that is set in advance, the amount of slack (loop) that is formed is reduced, whereas in a case where the sheet length is shorter than the stipulated value that is set in advance, the amount of slack (loop) that is formed is controlled so as not to be reduced. also, the continuous sheet is cut with the cutter based on a calculation result, which is a calculated sheet length. according to the conventional technique that was proposed by japanese patent laid-open no. 2009-220498 as described above, slack (a loop) is formed in a continuous sheet such as a roll sheet on a conveyance path on which the continuous sheet is fed, and then the sheet is cut using the time it takes for the loop to be eliminated. then, it is determined, in accordance with whether a length to be fed is longer or shorter than a predetermined sheet length, whether to feed the continuous sheet while maintaining the slack (loop) or to reduce the slack (loop) and then feed the continuous sheet. furthermore, in a case where the length to be fed is longer than the predetermined sheet length, by performing correction processing on the measured value of the sheet length, errors that are generated due to the rollers slipping and the like are corrected. according to the conventional example as described above, in accordance with a length and a paper quality of a sheet to be fed and/or environmental conditions, switches between creating a loop and reducing a loop of the sheet are performed; furthermore, in a case where the length is longer than a predetermined sheet length, correction of the amount of rotation of a feed roller, for which a sheet feed rate has been calculated, is performed. summary of the invention according to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: a first roller configured to nip and convey, in a conveyance direction, a printing medium; a second roller configured to nip and convey a printing medium at a downstream side of the first roller in the conveyance direction; a print unit configured to print an image on a printing medium conveyed by the second roller; and a control unit configured to, until printing by the print unit reaches a vicinity of a trailing end of a print length, set a nip pressure of the first roller to a first pressure, and when printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, set the nip pressure of the first roller to a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. according to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: a first roller configured to nip and convey, in a conveyance direction, a printing medium; a second roller configured to nip and convey a printing medium at a downstream side of the first roller in the conveyance direction; a print unit configured to print an image on a printing medium conveyed by the second roller; and a control unit configured to set a conveying speed of a printing medium by the first roller, after printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, to be greater than a conveying speed of the first roller, until printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length. according to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a conveyance control method of a printing apparatus having a first roller that nips and conveys, in a conveyance direction, a printing medium; a second roller that nips and conveys a printing medium at a downstream side of the first roller in the conveyance direction; and a print unit that prints an image on a printing medium conveyed by the second roller, the method comprising: controlling, until printing by the print unit reaches a vicinity of a trailing end of a print length, set a nip pressure of the first roller to a first pressure, and when printing by the print unit reaches the vicinity of the trailing end of the print length, set the nip pressure of the first roller to a second pressure that is greater than the first pressure. further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings). brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is an external perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink-jet printing apparatus that is a representative embodiment of the present invention. fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a printhead. fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration for controlling a printing apparatus illustrated in fig. 1 . fig. 4 is an overview of a cross section of the printing apparatus illustrated in fig. 1 and is a view schematically illustrating a configuration for conveying a roll sheet. fig. 5a is a view illustrating a roll sheet conveyance sequence in which the roll sheet is fed from a roll sheet attachment unit, printing is performed, and then a trailing end of the roll sheet is cut. fig. 5b is a view illustrating a roll sheet conveyance sequence in which the roll sheet is fed from a roll sheet attachment unit, printing is performed, and then a trailing end of the roll sheet is cut. fig. 5c is a view illustrating a roll sheet conveyance sequence in which the roll sheet is fed from a roll sheet attachment unit, printing is performed, and then a trailing end of the roll sheet is cut. fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating control for conveying the roll sheet. description of the embodiments however, in the above conventional example, in cases of apparatuses that perform printing using large-sized sheets such as ao and bo, correction amounts change significantly depending on the print environment and the sheets. also, in a case where a printing sheet is nipped and conveyed by conveyance rollers, the sheet slips between the conveyance rollers during the conveyance, and a difference is generated between a conveyance amount that is calculated from the rotation of the conveyance rollers and an actual conveyance amount of the sheet. particularly in cases of continuous sheets such as large-sized ao and bo sheets and roll sheets, the length of conveyance is long, and therefore, conveyance error due to slipping accumulates and becomes large. by this, accurate execution of a printing operation becomes impaired. embodiments of the present invention provide a printing apparatus that can reduce conveyance errors due to conveyance rollers, perform accurate conveyance, and achieve high-quality image printing, and a conveyance control method thereof. hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. note, the following embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention. multiple features are described in the embodiments, but limitation is not made to an invention that requires all such features, and multiple such features may be combined as appropriate. furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar configurations, and redundant description thereof is omitted. note that in this specification, “print” encompasses forming not only meaningful information such as characters and shapes, but also meaningless information. furthermore, “print” broadly encompasses cases in which an image or pattern is formed on a printing medium irrespective of whether or not it is something that a person can visually perceive, and cases in which a medium is processed. also, “printing medium” broadly encompasses not only paper used in a typical printing apparatus, but also things that can receive ink such as cloths, plastic films, metal plates, glass, ceramics, wood materials, hides or the like. furthermore, similarly to the foregoing definition of “print”, “ink” (also referred to as “liquid”) should be broadly interpreted. therefore, it is assumed that the liquid is a liquid which can be subjected to the formation of an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like, or the processing of the printing medium, or the processing of the ink (for example, the solidification or insolubilization of the colorant in the ink to be applied to the printing medium) by being applied onto the printing medium. furthermore, “nozzle”, unless specified otherwise, encompasses a discharge port and an element that produces energy that is used for discharge of ink and a fluid channel that communicates therewith collectively. an element substrate for a printhead (a head substrate) used below does not indicate a mere substrate consisting of a silicon semiconductor but rather indicates a configuration in which elements, wiring lines, and the like are disposed. furthermore, “on the substrate” means not only simply on top of the element substrate, but also the surface of the element substrate, and the inside of the element substrate in the vicinity of the surface. also, “built-in” in the present invention does not mean that separate elements are simply arranged as separate bodies on a substrate surface, but rather means that the elements are formed and manufactured integrally on the element board by a semiconductor circuit manufacturing process. <overview of printing apparatus ( fig. 1 )> fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ink-jet printing apparatus (hereinafter, a printing apparatus) that is a representative embodiment of the present invention. as illustrated in fig. 1 , in a printing apparatus 1 , an operation panel 100 for performing various settings that are related to printing and displaying states of the apparatus is arranged. also, the printing apparatus 1 is supported by a stand 101 , and a print unit thereof is normally covered by a cover 16 that can be opened/closed. furthermore, the printing apparatus 1 has an ink tank cover 2 that is operated when replacing ink tanks. the printing apparatus 1 , as described later, has a print width that corresponds to the width direction of printing media and comprises a full-line printhead (hereinafter, printhead) as a print unit that prints images by discharging ink droplets onto the printing media. the printhead is configured by printheads, which have the same configuration, of four colors: black (k), cyan (c), magenta (m), and yellow (y). accordingly, four ink tanks containing black, cyan, magenta, and yellow ink, respectively, are housed under the ink tank cover 2 . these ink tanks can be replaced independently of each other. the printing apparatus 1 is loaded with a printing medium such as a rolled sheet that has a width, which correspond to the print width of the printhead, for example, of 10 inches to 40 inches, and can perform printing by conveying the printing medium to a printing region of the printhead. note that as illustrated in fig. 1 , printing media such as a continuous sheet in a rolled shape can be stored in two levels (a roll sheet attachment unit 4 a of an upper level, and a roll sheet attachment unit 4 b of a lower level), and printing is possible in relation to either of the attached rolled sheets. note that in fig. 1 , a state in which a roll sheet r is attached onto the roll sheet attachment unit 4 b of the lower level, is illustrated. next, a configuration of the printhead will be described further in detail. <description of configuration of printheads ( fig. 2 )> fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a printhead 3 . the printhead 3 is a line-type printhead on which fifteen arrays of element substrates 10 each capable of discharging four colors of ink c/m/y/k are arranged linearly (arranged in a line). note that other than this kind of an arrangement, it may be set so that four printheads 3 , each of which is formed to discharge one color ink, will be arranged in the conveyance direction of the printing medium to discharge the four colors of ink c/m/y/k. as illustrated in fig. 2 , the printhead 3 comprises the element substrates 10 and signal input terminals 91 and power supply terminals 92 , which are connected electrically via flexible wiring substrates 93 and an electric wiring substrate 90 . the signal input terminals 91 and the power supply terminals 92 are connected electrically with a control unit of the printing apparatus 1 and supply the element substrates 10 with power that is necessary for discharge drive signals and discharge, respectively. the number of signal input terminals 91 and the number of power supply terminals 92 can be made smaller than the number of the element substrates 10 by integrating the wiring by the electrical circuit in the electric wiring substrate 90 . by this, the number of electrical connection portions that need to be detached when attaching the printhead 3 in relation to the printing apparatus 1 or when replacing the printhead can be kept small. on the element substrates 10 , electrothermal transducing elements (heaters; not shown) are formed corresponding to each discharge port; the electrothermal transducing elements generate bubbles in the ink by joule heating, and with bubble generating energy thereof, cause the ink to be discharged from the discharge ports. <description of control configuration ( fig. 3 )> fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control circuit of the printing apparatus 1 . as illustrated in fig. 3 , the printing apparatus 1 is configured by a print engine unit 417 that mainly controls the print unit, a scanner engine unit 411 that controls a scanner unit, and a controller unit 410 that controls the entire printing apparatus 1 . a print controller 419 incorporating an mpu and a non-volatile memory (an eeprom or the like) controls the various kinds of mechanisms of the print engine unit 417 in accordance with instructions from a main controller 401 of the controller unit 410 . the various kinds of mechanisms of the scanner engine unit 411 are controlled by the main controller 401 of the controller unit 410 . the details of the control arrangement will be described hereinafter. in the controller unit 410 , the main controller 401 that is configured by a cpu controls the entire printing apparatus 1 in accordance with programs and various kinds of parameters stored in a rom 407 while using a ram 406 as a work area. for example, when a print job is input from a host apparatus 400 via a host i/f 402 or a wireless i/f 403 , an image processing unit 408 will perform predetermined image processing on received image data in accordance with the instruction of the main controller 401 . the main controller 401 transmits the image data that has undergone the image processing to the print engine unit 417 via a print engine i/f 405 . note that the printing apparatus 1 may obtain image data from the host apparatus 400 via wireless communication or wired communication, and may obtain image data from an external storage apparatus (such as a usb memory) that is connected to the printing apparatus 1 . the communication method to be used in the wireless communication or the wired communication is not limited. for example, wi-fi® (wireless fidelity) or bluetooth® is applicable as the communication method used in the wireless communication. also, for example, a usb (universal serial bus) or the like is applicable as the communication method used in the wired communication. furthermore, for example, when a read instruction is input from the host apparatus 400 , the main controller 401 transmits this instruction to the scanner engine unit 411 via a scanner engine i/f 409 . an operation panel 404 is a unit for a user to perform input/output in relation to the printing apparatus 1 . via the operation panel 404 , the user can instruct an operation such as a copy operation or a scan operation, set a printing mode, or recognize information of the printing apparatus 1 . in the print engine unit 417 , the print controller 419 that is configured by a cpu controls the various kinds of mechanisms of the print engine unit 417 in accordance with programs and various kinds of parameters stored in a rom 420 with a ram 421 as a work area. when various kinds of commands and image data are received via a controller i/f 418 , the print controller 419 temporarily stores these commands and image data in the ram 421 . the print controller 419 causes an image processing controller 422 to convert the stored image data into print data so that the printhead 3 can use the data in the printing operation. when the print data is generated, the print controller 419 causes the printhead 3 to execute a printing operation based on the print data via a head i/f 427 . at this time, the print controller 419 drives conveyance rollers 28 and an lf roller 29 via a conveyance control unit 426 to convey the printing medium. print processing is performed under the instruction of the print controller 419 by executing the printing operation by the printhead 3 in combination with the conveyance operation of the printing medium. a head carriage control unit 425 changes the direction and the position of the printhead 3 in accordance with a maintenance state or an operation state such as a print state of the printing apparatus 1 . an ink supply control unit 424 controls a liquid supply unit 220 so that the pressure of ink supplied to the printhead 3 will fall within a suitable range. a maintenance control unit 423 controls the operation of a cap unit and a wiping unit in a maintenance unit (not shown) when a maintenance operation that is related to the printhead 3 is performed. in the scanner engine unit 411 , the main controller 401 controls the hardware resources of a scanner controller 415 in accordance with the programs and various kinds of parameters stored in the rom 407 while using the ram 406 as a work area. by this, various kinds of mechanisms included in the scanner engine unit 411 are controlled. for example, the main controller 401 controls the hardware resources in the scanner controller 415 via a controller i/f 414 , conveys an original, which has been placed on an adf (not shown) by the user, via a conveyance control unit 413 , and then reads the original by a sensor 416 . then, the scanner controller 415 stores the read image data in a ram 412 . note that the print controller 419 can convert image data obtained in the manner described above into print data to cause the printhead 3 to execute a printing operation based on the image data read by the scanner controller 415 . <description of configuration of conveying roll sheet ( fig. 4 )> fig. 4 is a side sectional view of the printing apparatus 1 illustrated in fig. 1 and schematically illustrates a configuration for conveying a roll sheet. in fig. 4 , a state in which a roll sheet r 1 and a roll sheet r 2 are loaded onto the roll sheet attachment unit 4 a and the roll sheet attachment unit 4 b respectively is illustrated. in fig. 4 , when the user loads the roll sheet r 1 onto a portion in dashed lines in the roll sheet attachment unit 4 a , the roll sheet r 1 moves by rotation to a shaded portion and then is fixed and attached onto the printing apparatus. similarly, when the user loads the roll sheet r 2 onto a portion in dashed lines in the roll sheet attachment unit 4 b , the roll sheet r 2 moves by rotation to a shaded portion and then is fixed and attached onto the printing apparatus. for example, in regards to printing images onto the roll sheet r 1 , when a feeding motor (not shown) that is attached onto a rotation axis of the roll sheet attachment unit 4 a is driven, a leading end of the roll sheet r 1 is fed, and when the leading end is detected by a sheet feeding sensor 21 , it is nipped by a pair of feed rollers 23 . then, the leading end of the roll sheet r 1 is further conveyed by the rotation of the pair of feed rollers 23 , and then the leading end portion of the roll sheet r 1 is cut by a cutter 25 , thereby having its shape trimmed. similarly, in a case where an image is printed on the roll sheet r 2 , when a feeding motor (not shown) that is attached onto a rotation axis of the roll sheet attachment unit 4 b is driven, a leading end of the roll sheet r 2 is fed, and when the leading end is detected by a sheet feeding sensor 22 , it is nipped by a pair of feed rollers 24 . then, the leading end of the roll sheet r 2 is further conveyed by the rotation of the pair of feed rollers 24 , and then the leading end portion of the roll sheet r 2 is cut by a cutter 26 , thereby having its shape trimmed. a roll sheet whose leading end has been trimmed by either the cutter 25 or 26 is further fed in the direction of the arrows, and when the leading end is detected by a leading end detection sensor 27 , the conveyance rollers are driven and then start to rotate. then, the roll sheet whose leading end is nipped by conveyance rollers 28 is further conveyed and then reaches the lf roller 29 . when the leading end of the roll sheet is nipped by the lf roller 29 , the conveyance of the roll sheet is performed by the lf roller 29 and the conveyance rollers 28 , and then the roll sheet is conveyed on a conveyance belt 41 . note that a fixed guide 30 is disposed in the vicinity of the leading end detection sensor 27 , and by this, smooth conveyance of the roll sheet is supported. at this time, when a rotation speed (v0) of the lf roller 29 and a rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 are caused to be slightly different so as to control v to be slightly greater than v0, a loop 31 is formed in the roll sheet as illustrated in a dashed line in fig. 4 . a configuration is taken such that a flapper 32 whose one end is fixed and freely rotates using the fixed portion as a rotation axis rotates in accordance with the formation of the loop 31 so as not to impede the roll sheet from forming a loop. note that if the effects of friction and slips between each of the lf roller 29 and the conveyance rollers 28 and the roll sheet are ignored, each of the rotation speed of the lf roller 29 and the rotation speed of the conveyance rollers 28 corresponds to the conveying speed of the roll sheet at the nip portion between each roller and the roll sheet. in such a state, the roll sheet is further conveyed and then reaches a printing position between a lower portion of the printhead 3 and a platen 40 . as illustrated in fig. 4 , the platen 40 is disposed under the conveyance belt 41 that conveys the roll sheet between an upstream side and a downstream side, in regards to the conveyance direction of the roll sheet, of the printhead 3 , and the platen 40 is connected to a suction fan 43 via a duct 42 . with such a configuration, by operating the suction fan 43 , suctioning the air inside the duct 42 , and generating a negative pressure, the roll sheet is caused to adhere to the conveyance belt 41 through the holes that are disposed on the platen 40 , and the roll sheet is prevented from being lifted off during conveyance. also, in regards to the conveyance direction of the roll sheet, on the upstream side of the printhead 3 , a recovery unit 51 is disposed and on the downstream side of the printhead 3 , a cap 52 and a drying unit 53 are disposed. as illustrated in fig. 4 , configuration is taken such that the recovery unit 51 can move in the conveyance direction of the roll sheet and the cap 52 can rotate about a rotation axis 52 a . furthermore, the printhead 3 has a print width that corresponds to the width of the roll sheet, which is the printing medium as described above, and although it is fixed during printing, in cases aside from a printing operation, configuration is taken so as to be able to move in an up-and-down direction as indicated by arrows in fig. 4 . by such a configuration, in a case where, for example, a discharge state of the printhead 3 is to be recovered, the printhead 3 moves upward and the recovery unit 51 is moved into a space that has been created thereby. then, the recovery unit 51 executes a recovery operation by wiping the ink discharge surface of the printhead 3 , suctioning the discharge ports thereof, causing the printhead 3 to perform a preliminary discharge, and the like. note that these operations are well-known techniques, and therefore, description thereof is omitted. meanwhile, in a case where neither the printing operation nor the recovery operation is performed, in order to prevent the ink discharge surface of the printhead 3 from drying, the printhead 3 is moved upward and a cap 3 is rotated into the space that has been created thereby. then, the printhead 3 is moved downward and the printhead 3 is capped by the cap 3 . also, by operating the drying unit 53 and then heating the surface of the roll sheet, the roll sheet on which printing has been completed by discharging ink from the printhead 3 is dried. this prevents the roll sheet that is in a wet state after printing from being further conveyed and then soiling the inside of the apparatus (particularly the conveyance path of the roll sheet) with ink. furthermore, a fan 54 and a duct 55 are disposed above the printhead 3 , and by operating the fan 54 , the air from the outside is blown in the direction of the arrow via the duct 55 , thereby promoting the roll sheet, after printing, to dry. then, by either a user instruction from the operation panel 100 or an instruction from the host apparatus 400 , the printing length (l) in the conveyance direction of the roll sheet is specified. then, once it is confirmed that the roll sheet whose leading end has been trimmed with either the cutter 25 or 26 has been conveyed the printing length (l) from the leading end, the trailing end thereof is cut with either the cutter 25 or 26 . the roll sheet on which printing has been performed with the printhead 3 and whose trailing end has been cut (from this point onward, referred to as a cut sheet) is discharged into a back surface basket 60 or onto a front surface stacker 61 . the selection of the discharge location is performed either by a user instruction from the operation panel 100 or an instruction from the host apparatus 400 . in a case where the cut sheet is to be discharged into the back surface basket 60 , a flapper 62 rotates and then forms a conveyance path in the direction of the back surface basket 60 . by this, the cut sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the conveyance belt 41 and then drops into the back surface basket 60 as indicated by a dashed line in fig. 4 . note that detection of the leading end, passing through being in progress, and the trailing end of the cut sheet is performed with output signals from a sheet sensor 63 . in contrast to this, in a case where the cut sheet is to be discharged onto the front surface stacker 61 , the flapper 62 rotates and becomes positioned at a location that is indicated with dashed lines, thereby forming a conveyance path in the direction of the front surface stacker 61 . by this, the cut sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the conveyance belt 41 , reaches a pair of discharge rollers 64 and then a pair of discharge rollers 65 , and in the end, is discharged onto the front surface stacker 61 . note that sheet sensors 66 and 67 and a discharge sensor 68 are disposed on the conveyance path to the front surface stacker 61 , and a discharge state of the cut sheet is detected thereby. also, a trailing end holding lever 69 is disposed between the pair of discharge rollers 65 and the discharge sensor 68 , thereby preventing the trailing end of the cut sheet from being lifted off and supporting a smooth discharge of the cut sheet. note that the scanner engine unit 411 , by having the user insert an image original in the direction of a solid line of an arrow, reads its image. however, as the configuration of the scanner engine unit 411 uses a conventional configuration, description will be omitted here. next, roll sheet conveyance control to be executed in the printing apparatus of the above configuration will be described in detail. figs. 5a to 5c are views illustrating a roll sheet conveyance sequence in which the roll sheet is fed from a roll sheet attachment unit, printing is performed, and then a trailing end of the roll sheet is cut. in figs. 5a to 5c , a sequence of supplying the roll sheet r 1 from the roll sheet attachment unit 4 a and nipping and then conveying the roll sheet with the conveyance rollers 28 and the lf roller 29 is illustrated. note that as reference numerals indicating components that are used in figs. 5a to 5c have all been described with reference to fig. 4 , description thereof will be omitted. also, in figs. 5a to 5c , l is a distance between a cutting position of the cutter 25 and a nip point of the conveyance rollers 28 in the conveyance path on the roll sheet. in this embodiment, the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 can be switched between two stages: “strong” and “weak”, and the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 can be switched between two stages: a rotation speed that is the same as the rotation speed (v0) of the lf roller 29 and a rotation speed (v1) that is slightly faster than that. fig. 5a illustrates a state of conveying the roll sheet from the start of supplying the roll sheet r 1 from the roll sheet attachment unit 4 a until it is conveyed to the printing position and then the printing is started by the printhead 3 . at this time, the flapper 32 is in a closed state in order to support the smooth conveyance of the roll sheet. also, due to control by the print controller 419 and the conveyance control unit 426 , the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be the same as that of the lf roller 29 (i.e., v=v0) and the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be “weak (first pressure)”. by such control, the roll sheet is conveyed without forming a loop. fig. 5b illustrates a state in which conveyance of the roll sheet by the conveyance rollers 28 and the lf roller 29 and printing by the printhead 3 progress and the cutting position of the roll sheet r 1 has approached the position of the cutter 25 . at such a time, the flapper 32 is in an open state in order to provide a space that is necessary for forming a loop in the roll sheet. in this embodiment, specifically, when the remaining length, in regards to the conveyance direction of the roll sheet, from the printing position by the printhead 3 to the end of printing reaches approximately 1.5 l to 2.0 l, the loop formation is started. note that the timing to start forming the loop is not limited to this numerical value and is to be determined by the internal structure of the printing apparatus such as the relationship between the arrangement positions of the respective components, and so another value may be used in accordance with the apparatus. also, due to control by the print controller 419 and the conveyance control unit 426 , the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be faster than that of the lf roller 29 (i.e., v=v1>v0) and the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be “strong (second pressure)”. by such control, the loop 31 is formed in the roll sheet as indicated by a dashed arrow in fig. 5b and the roll sheet is conveyed. fig. 5c illustrates a state in which the trailing end of the roll sheet has been cut by the cutter 25 . when it is determined that the conveyance amount of the roll sheet that corresponds to the length from the leading end of the roll sheet to the position of the cutter 25 has reached the length of the cut sheet to be determined by either a user instruction from the operation panel 100 or an instruction from the host apparatus 400 , the roll sheet is cut by the cutter 25 . at this time, due to control by the print controller 419 and the conveyance control unit 426 , the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be the same as that of the lf roller 29 (i.e., v=v0) and the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be “strong”. by such control, the loop 31 that was formed in the roll sheet, in conjunction with the conveyance of the cut sheet, as indicated by the dashed arrow in fig. 5c , will gradually become smaller and then eliminated. also, the flapper 32 , in conjunction with the reduction of the loop 31 , transitions from an opened state to a closed state. fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating control for conveying the roll sheet as illustrated in figs. 5a to 5c . this conveyance control involves not only the components illustrated in figs. 5a to 5c but also the main controller 401 , the print controller 419 , the conveyance control unit 426 , and the like, whereby the control is executed. according to fig. 6 , first, in step s 10 , a print length in the conveyance direction of the roll sheet is calculated based on image data that was transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 from the host apparatus 400 . note that the print length may be set based on a value that the user inputted from the operation panel 100 . next, in step s 15 , the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 is set to “weak”. when these calculations and settings are completed, the printing apparatus 1 , in step s 20 , by controlling the conveyance control unit 426 , feeds, for example, the roll sheet r 1 that is attached onto the roll sheet attachment unit 4 a to the printing position by the printhead 3 and then starts printing. at this time, the roll sheet r 1 is nipped by the conveyance rollers 28 and the lf roller 29 and then conveyed as described with reference to fig. 5a . here, the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 is controlled to be the same as that of the lf roller 29 (i.e., v=v0). also, the flapper 32 is in a closed state, and a loop is not formed in the roll sheet r 1 . next, in step s 25 , while the printing operation by the printhead 3 is continuing, it is monitored whether the conveyance amount (feed rate) by the conveyance rollers 28 has reached a predetermined value. here, when it is confirmed that the conveyance amount has reached the predetermined value, the processing advances to step s 30 . the conveyance amount is calculated by counting encoder signal pulses that are outputted from a rotary encoder (not shown), which is disposed near the conveyance rollers 28 , or input pulses to a stepping motor that drives the conveyance rollers. in step s 30 , it is determined that printing by the printhead 3 has progressed and that a trailing end of the calculated print length is approaching, and the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 is thereby set to “strong”. furthermore, in step s 35 , the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 is changed so as to be faster than that of the lf roller 29 (i.e., v=v1>v0). by these processes, the loop 31 is formed in the roll sheet by the difference in the rotation speeds (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 and the lf roller 29 . at this time, the flapper 32 enters an opened state as described with reference to fig. 5b . by such processing, as printing comes closer to the end, a loop is formed in the roll sheet and in step s 40 , it is examined whether the length of the loop has reached a stipulated value. here, when it is confirmed that the length of the loop has reached the predetermined value, the processing advances to step s 45 . note that the length of the loop is calculated by a difference in the rotation speeds (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 and the lf roller 29 and an elapsed time from when the loop started forming. also, during the loop formation, by setting the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers 28 to “strong” and then conveying the roll sheet, the occurrence of slips between the roll sheet and the conveyance roller is reduced. in step s 45 , the rotation speed (v) of the conveyance rollers 28 is again changed to be the same as that of the lf roller 29 (i.e., v=v0). by this, the loop 31 of the roll sheet becomes smaller as described with reference to fig. 5c and then in the end, is eliminated. note that the nip pressure by the conveyance rollers 28 in the stage of causing the loop 31 to be eliminated is maintained at a “strong” state. furthermore, in step s 50 , it is examined whether the end of the print length that was estimated based on the conveyance amount of the roll sheet by the conveyance rollers 28 has reached the position of the cutter 25 . here, if it is determined that the end of the print length has reached the position of the cutter 25 , the processing advances to step s 55 . as described with reference to figs. 5a to 5c , the distance between the position of cutting by the cutter 25 and the nip point by the conveyance rollers 28 is l, and so it can be determined whether to operate the cutter 25 by examining whether a conveyance amount +l of the roll sheet has reached the print length. in step s 55 , the cutter 25 is operated and the roll sheet is cut. this cutting point is a point that corresponds to the length from the leading end of the roll sheet to the print length. then, printing by the printhead 3 and the conveyance of the cut sheet are continued, and in step s 60 , the printing is ended and the cut sheet whose printing was ended is discharged into the back surface basket 60 or onto the front surface stacker 61 based on a user instruction from the operation panel 100 or an instruction from the host apparatus 400 . hence, according to the embodiment described above, because a loop is formed by increasing the nip pressure of the conveyance rollers only in the vicinity of the printing end edge of the roll sheet, the occurrence of slips is reduced, thereby making it possible to reduce errors in the conveyance amount of a sheet, which is associated with loop formation. by this, the accumulation of errors in the conveyance amount that accompany loop formation will be reduced even in cases where printing is performed on sheets whose print lengths are long, thereby enabling more accurate conveyance, which enables higher quality printing. note that although in the embodiment described above, description was given using a printing apparatus on which a full-line printhead is provided as an example, the present invention is not limited by this. for example, it is also possible to apply the present invention to a printing apparatus, in which a printhead is provided on a carriage that moves back and forth in a direction that is perpendicular to the conveyance direction of printing media, configured to perform printing by discharging ink from the printhead while causing the carriage to move back and forth. other embodiments embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (asic)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). the computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (cpu), micro processing unit (mpu)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. the computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. the storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (ram), a read only memory (rom), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (cd), digital versatile disc (dvd), or blu-ray disc (bd)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like. while the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. the scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions. this application claims the benefit of japanese patent application no. 2020-085492, filed may 14, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
|
183-139-371-339-744
|
US
|
[
"US",
"KR",
"CN",
"EP",
"HK",
"WO",
"JP"
] |
A61B5/296,A61B19/00,A61M25/00,A61M25/01,A61B34/30,A61B34/35,A61B18/04
| 2009-05-25T00:00:00 |
2009
|
[
"A61"
] |
remote manipulator device
|
a system for operating a catheter having a distal end adapted to be navigated in the body, and a proximal end having a handle with a translatable control and a rotatable control for acting on the distal end of the device includes a support for receiving and engaging the handle of the catheter; a translation mechanism for advancing and retracting the support to advance and retract a catheter whose handle is received in the support; a rotation mechanism for rotating the support to rotate a catheter whose handle is received in the support; a translation operator for engaging the translatable control of a catheter whose handle is received in the support and operating the translatable control to act on the distal end of the device; and a rotation operator for engaging the rotatable control of a catheter whose handle is received in the support and operating the rotatable control to act on the distal end of the device.
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1 . a system for operating a catheter having a distal end adapted to be navigated in the body, and a proximal end having a handle with a translatable control and a rotatable control for acting on the distal end of the device, the system comprising: a support for receiving and engaging the handle of the catheter; a translation mechanism for advancing and retracting the support to advance and retract a catheter whose handle is received in the support; a rotation mechanism for rotating the support to rotate a catheter whose handle is received in the support; a translation operator for engaging the translatable control of a catheter whose handle is received in the support and operating the translatable control to act on the distal end of the device; and a rotation operator for engaging the rotatable control of a catheter whose handle is received in the support and operating the rotatable control to act on the distal end of the device. 2 . the system according to claim 1 wherein the rotation mechanism and the rotation operator operate in a coordinated manner to rotate the catheter without operating the rotatable controller. 3 . the system according to claim 1 wherein the rotation mechanism comprises a rotatable clamp for receiving the handle of a catheter. 4 . the system according to claim 3 wherein the rotation operator comprises a rotatable clamp for receiving the rotation control of a catheter. 5 . in combination with a catheter having a distal end adapted to be navigated in the body, and a proximal end having a handle with a translatable control and a rotatable control for acting on the distal end of the device, a system for remotely manipulating the catheter, the system comprising: a support for receiving and engaging the handle of the catheter; a translation mechanism for advancing and retracting the support to advance and retract a catheter; a rotation mechanism for rotating the support to rotate the catheter; a translation operator for engaging the translatable control of the catheter and operating the translatable control to act on the distal end of the device; and a rotation operator for engaging the rotatable control of the catheter and operating the rotatable control to act on the distal end of the device. 6 . a system for remotely manipulating an elongate medical device of the type having a distal end adapted to be introduced into a patient and a handle at the proximal end with rotatable and translatable controls for manipulating the device, the system comprising: a device driver positionable adjacent the patient; a device interface releasably mounted on the device driver, the device interface comprising a first clamp for releasably engaging a first portion of the handle of the medical device and a second clamp for releasably engaging a second portion of the handle of the medical device; and a control for selectively operating the device driver to advance and retract the device driver relative to the patient to advance and retract the distal end of the medical device in the patient; selectively operating the device driver to cause the first and second clamps to rotate the first and second portions of the handle of the medical device to rotate the distal end of the medical device in the patient; selectively operating the device driver to move the second clamp relative to the first clamp to cause relative translation between the first portion of the handle and the second portion of the handle to thereby operate the translatable control on the handle; and selectively operating the device driver to cause the at least one of the first and second clamps to rotate the portion of the medical device releasably engaged therein, to cause relative rotation between the first portion of the handle and the second portion of the handle to thereby operate the rotatable control on the handle. 7 . the system according to claim 6 wherein each of the first and second clamps comprises a base having a concave recess, a hinged cover having a concave recess, the cover being pivotally operable between an open position in which a portion of the handle of a medical device can be inserted and removed from the clamp, and a closed position in which the concave recesses in the base and cover cooperate to create a central opening for receiving and retaining the portion of the handle of the medical device inserted therein; and a latch for releasably securing the cover in its closed position. 8 . the system according to claim 7 wherein each of the clamps further comprises an adapter ring, ratably mountable in the central opening between the cover and the base, and comprise first and second hingedly connected portions adapted to enclose a portion of the handle of the medical device. 9 . the system according to claim 8 wherein the adapter ring includes a ring gear, and wherein the base includes a gear train engaging the ring gear on the adapter ring and engagable with the device driver to turn the adapter ring within the clamp. 10 . the system according to claim 6 wherein the device interface comprises a tray, a first clamp mounted on the tray in a fixed position, and a second clamp slidably mounted on the tray. 11 . the system according to claim 10 wherein the first and second clamps have portions extending through the tray, adapted to engage portions of the device driver. 12 . a system for remotely manipulating an elongate medical device of the type having a distal end adapted to be introduced into a patient and a handle at the proximal end with rotatable and translatable controls for manipulating the device, the system comprising: a device driver positionable adjacent the patient; a device interface releasably mounted on the device driver, the device interface comprising a tray having a first clamp for releasably engaging a first portion of the handle of the medical device in a rotatable adapter ring and a second clamp slidably mounted on the tray, for releasably engaging a second portion of the handle of the medical device in a rotatable adapter ring; each of the clamps including a portion extending through the tray and engaging the device driver, and a gear train engagable with the device driver for rotating the adapter ring; and a control for selectively operating the device driver to advance and retract the device driver relative to the patient to advance and retract the distal end of the medical device in the patient; selectively operating the device driver to cause the first and second clamps to rotate the first and second portions of the handle of the medical device to rotate the distal end of the medical device in the patient; selectively operating the device driver to move the second clamp relative to the first clamp to cause relative translation between the first portion of the handle and the second portion of the handle to thereby operate the translatable control on the handle; and selectively operating the device driver to cause the at least one of the first and second clamps to rotate the portion of the medical device releasably engaged therein, to cause relative rotation between the first portion of the handle and the second portion of the handle to thereby operate the rotatable control on the handle. 13 . the system according to claim 12 wherein the device driver comprises a base; a body, a translation mechanism for translating the body relative to the base; a transmission for engaging a portion of the first clamp mounted thereon to operate the gear train to rotate the adapter ring of the first clamp; a translation mechanism engaging a portion of the second clamp for translating the second clamp relative to the first clamp; and a transmission for engaging a portion of the second clamp mounted thereon to operate the gear train to rotate the adapter ring of the second clamp. 14 . a device driver for mounting and operating a device interface to remotely manipulate an elongate medical device engaged in the device interface, the medical device of the type having a distal end adapted to be introduced into a patient and a handle at the proximal end with rotatable and translatable controls for manipulating the medical device, the device driver comprising: a base; and a body slidably mounted on the base; a translation mechanism in the body for translating the body relative to the base; a socket that receives and selectively rotates a portion of a first part of the device interface, a socket that receives and selectively translates a portion of a second part of the device interface; and a socket that receives and selectively rotates a portion of the second part of the device interface. 15 . a device interface for mounting on a device driver to engage and operate a medical device of the type having a distal end adapted to be introduced into a patient and a handle at the proximal end with rotatable and translatable controls for manipulating the medical device, the device interface comprising: a tray; a first clamp mounted on the tray, the first clamp comprising a base, a hinged cover; and a split adapter ring, rotatably mounted in the base and cover, adapted to receive a first portion of the handle of the medical device, and a gear train for rotating the split adapter ring, the gear train having a projecting spline adapted to engage a socket on a device driver on which the device interface is mounted so that the device driver can rotate the split ring adapter of the first clamp; and a second clamp slidably mounted on the tray, the second clamp comprising a base, a hinged cover; and a split adapter ring, rotatably mounted in the base and cover, adapted to receive a second portion of the handle of the medical device, and a gear train for rotating the split adapter ring, the gear train having a projecting spline adapted to engage a socket on a device driver on which the device interface is mounted so that the device driver can rotate the split ring adapter of the second clamp, the second clamp having a depending portion adapted to engage a translation mechanism on a device driver on which the device interface is mounted so that the device driver can translate the second clamp relative to the first clamp. 16 . a method of operating a medical device of the type having a distal end adapted to be introduced into a patient and a handle at the proximal end with rotatable and translatable controls for manipulating the device, the method comprising: engaging a first portion of the handle of the medical device in an adapter ring releasably rotatably mounted in a first clamp; engaging a second portion of the handle of the medical device in an adapter ring releasably rotatably mounted in a first clamp; and selectively moving the first and second clamps together to advance and retract the distal end of the medical device in the patient; selectively rotating the adapter rings of the first and second clamps to rotate the distal end of the medical device in the patient; selectively moving the second clamp relative to the first clamp to cause relative translation between the first portion of the handle and the second portion of the handle to thereby operate the translatable control on the handle; and selectively differentially rotating the adapter rings of the first and second clamps to thereby operate the rotatable control on the handle.
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cross-reference to related applications this application claims priority to prior u.s. provisional patent application no. 61/180,926 filed on may 25, 2009. the entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference. background this section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. this invention relates to automating the operation of medical devices. significant progress has been made in automating the navigation of medical devices in the body. remote navigation systems, such as the niobe® magnetic navigation system available from stereotaxis, inc., st. louis, mo., allows a physician to remotely orient the distal end of a medical device in the body. more recently, an automated advancer for advancing and retracting the device in the body has also become available, allowing more fully automated catheter navigation systems. however, a practical means of completely automating (under the supervision of a physician) the operation of medical devices, whereby a medical device can be automatically navigated to a particular location and then operated to perform some diagnostic or therapeutic procedure has not been available. this is particularly true with respect to automating the operation of conventional manually operated medical devices. summary this section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features. embodiments of the present invention provide a remote manipulator that not only can manipulate a conventional catheter, but can operate its controls. this not only allows the catheter to be remotely navigated, but also to be remotely operated. this allows a physician to conduct the procedure away from the patient, and also permits the complete automation of the procedure, with a computer navigating the catheter and operating the catheter without the need for human intervention. further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. the description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. drawings the drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a remote manipulator device in accordance with the principles of this invention; fig. 2 is a rear perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the drive cables removed for clarity; fig. 3 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the drive cables removed for clarity; fig. 4 is a rear elevation view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the drive cables removed for clarity; fig. 5 is a left side elevation view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the drive cables removed for clarity; fig. 6 is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device; fig. 7 is a front perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the device driver removed for clarity; fig. 8 is a rear perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the device driver removed for clarity; fig. 9 is a left side elevation view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the device driver removed for clarity; fig. 10 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the device driver removed for clarity; fig. 11 is a front elevation view of the preferred embodiment of the remote manipulator device, with the device driver removed for clarity; fig. 12 is a rear perspective view of the preferred embodiment, with the cover removed from the controller; fig. 13 is a perspective view of the device driver of the preferred embodiment; fig. 14 is a side elevation view of the device driver of the preferred embodiment; fig. 15 is an front end elevation view of the device driver of the preferred embodiment; fig. 16 is a rear end elevation view of the device driver of the preferred embodiment; fig. 17 is a top plan view of the device driver of the preferred embodiment; fig. 18 is a perspective view of the body of the device driver, with the upper and lower members separated to show the details of construction; fig. 19 is a perspective view of the body of the device driver, with the upper member removed to show the details of construction; fig. 20 is an exploded perspective view of the body of the device driver, with the upper member removed; fig. 21 is an exploded perspective view of the body of the device driver, with parts removed to show details of construction; fig. 22 is a perspective view of the device interface of the preferred embodiment; fig. 23 is a top plan view of the device interface of the preferred embodiment; fig. 24 is a side elevation view of the device interface of the preferred embodiment; fig. 25 is a bottom plan view of the device interface of the preferred embodiment; fig. 26 is an exploded perspective view of the device interface of the preferred embodiment; fig. 27 is a perspective view of one of the clamps used in the device interface of the preferred embodiment; fig. 28 is a rear elevation view of the clamp; fig. 29 is a front elevation view of the clamp; fig. 30 is a top plan view of the clamp; fig. 31 is a side elevation view of the clamp, showing the hinged connection between the base and cover; fig. 32 is an exploded perspective view of the clamp; fig. 33 is a perspective view of the split ring adapter used in the clamp; fig. 34 is a front elevation view of the split ring adapter; fig. 35 is a side elevation view of the split ring adapter; fig. 36 is an exploded perspective view of the split ring adapter; fig. 37 is a perspective view showing the support installed on the bed; fig. 38 is a perspective view showing the mounting of the bracket and controller on the base plate of the support; fig. 39 is a perspective view of the proximal end of a telescoping catheter support; fig. 40a is a perspective view of a medical device being placed in the clamps; fig. 40b is a perspective view of the covers of the clamps being closed over a medical device being placed in the clamps; and fig. 40c is a perspective view of the covers of the clamps being latched to secure a medical device being placed in the clamps. corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. detailed description example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. a preferred embodiment of a remote manipulator device constructed according to the principles of this invention is indicated generally as 50 in figs. 1-5 . the remote manipulator 50 is adapted to engage and operate a medical device. the medical device may be, for example, an electrophysiology catheter of the type comprising an elongate sheath having a handle at its proximal end, and an electrophysiology wire extending through the sheath and out the distal end, forming a loop. the handle preferably has controls for manipulating the distal end of the wire, for example a translatable control for bending the distal end, and a rotatable control for expanding and contracting the loop. while this preferred embodiment is described with respect to an electrophysiology catheter, this invention is not limited to electrophysiology catheters and applies to any medical device with an elongate portion, and a handle at the proximal end that can be manipulated to position and operate the distal end of the elongate portion of the medical device. as shown in the figs. 1-5 , the remote manipulator 50 comprises a device driver 52 for mounting and operating a device interface 54 (not shown in figs. 1-5 ), which in this preferred embodiment is both replaceable and disposable. the device driver 52 is mounted on the distal end of an articulated arm 56 , whose proximal end is mounted on a post 58 on bracket 60 . a controller 62 , which can be mounted to the bracket 60 , is connected to the device driver 52 by a plurality of flexible drive cables 64 to operate the device driver 52 . a platform 66 , attachable to the patient bed (not shown in figs. 1-5 ), can mount the bracket 60 and/or the controller 62 . as shown in fig. 6-11 , the articulated arm 56 comprises proximal and distal sections 70 and 72 . proximal section 70 has a collar 74 at its proximal end for mounting the proximal section 70 on the post 58 . the proximal section 70 can translate up and down, and rotate around, the post 58 . a locking screw 76 allows the collar and thus, the proximal section 70 to be releasably locked relative to the post 58 . the distal end of the proximal section 70 is pivotally connected to the proximal end of the distal section 72 . a lock (not shown) can be provided to releasably lock the proximal and distal sections 70 and 72 relative to each other. a first wrist element 78 is pivotally mounted to the distal end of the distal section 72 to pivot about a first axis generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the distal section. a second wrist element 80 is pivotally mounted to the first wrist element to pivot about a second axis generally perpendicular to the first axis. a mounting plate 82 is rotatably mounted to the second wrist element 80 to rotate about a third axis, perpendicular to the first axis. the wrists pivoting about the first and second axis and the mounting plate rotating about the third axis are selectively releasably lockable, to releasably secure the articulated arm in a desired configuration with the device driver 52 in a desired location. as also shown in figs. 6-11 , the bracket 60 has hand loops 90 and 92 thereon. pins 94 and 96 with enlarged conical heads project from the front face of the bracket 60 . there is a semi-circular notch 98 in the bottom of the bracket 60 . as also shown in figs. 6-11 , the platform 66 comprises a base plate 100 , and a generally right-triangular frame 102 , comprising legs 104 and 106 , extending from the base plate 100 and leg 108 extending between the legs 104 and 106 . a generally l-shaped bracket 110 telescopes from the leg 104 of the frame 102 . cleats 112 and 114 are mounted in slots 116 and 118 in the base plate 100 with threaded bolts 120 and 122 which have knurled heads that allow the cleats to be tightened against the side rail typically found on a patient bed. similarly, a cleat 124 is mounted in slot 126 in the end of l-shaped bracket 110 with a threaded bolt 128 with a knurled head that allows the cleat to be tightened against the side rail of the patient bed. the top edge of the base plate 100 has semi-circular notches 130 and 132 for engaging the pins 94 and 96 on the bracket, and the back face of the base plate has a projecting pin 134 for engaging the semi-circular notch 98 in the bracket 60 . a bolt 136 on the bracket 60 can be tightened to engage a slot 138 on the base plate 100 to secure the bracket and base plate 100 . the controller 62 can be attached to the bracket 60 and mounted on the platform 66 . as shown in fig. 12 , the controller includes a housing 140 with four drives: a drive 142 for operating a first clamp driver on the device driver 52 ; a drive 144 for operating the second clamp translation driver on the device driver; a drive 146 for operating a second clamp driver on the device driver; and a drive 148 for operating the translation driver on the device driver for translating the device, as will be described in more detail below. flexible drive cables 64 connect each drive in the controller with its respective driver in the device drive 52 . as shown in figs. 13-21 , the device driver 52 comprises a base 160 having a mount 162 for attaching the device driver to the mounting plate 82 on the end of the articulated arm 56 . a hand loop 164 on the opposite side of the base 160 from the mount 162 can be provided for gripping the device driver 52 to reposition it. a generally v-shaped bracket 166 projects from the front of the base 160 , the end of the bracket is bent upwardly and has a fixture 168 mounted thereon for mounting a sheath, as described in more detail below. the device driver 52 further comprises a body 170 mounted on the base 160 to translate forwardly and rearwardly with respect to the base. the top surface of the body 170 has a platform 172 for mounting a device interface 54 thereon. as described below, the device interface 54 has one or more clamps 174 (not shown in figs. 13-21 ) for engaging and operating the handle of an elongate medical device. the platform 172 has a first pair of mounting sockets 176 and 178 for engaging a clamp 174 on the device interface 54 , and a drive socket 180 for receiving and engaging a drive shaft of the clamp to operate the clamp. in this preferred embodiment, the platform 172 also has a second pair of mounting sockets 182 and 184 for engaging a second clamp 174 on the device interface 54 , and a drive socket 186 for receiving and engaging a drive shaft of the second clamp to operate the second clamp. the second pair of sockets 182 and 184 , and the drive socket 186 are disposed in slots so that they can translate relative to the first set of sockets 176 and 178 , to accommodate relative movement between the clamps 174 on the device interface 54 , as will be described in more detail below. there is an electrical contact pad 194 on the platform 172 for making electrical contact with a corresponding electrical contact pad 196 on the device interface 54 . as shown in detail in fig. 18 , the body 170 comprises upper and lower housing members 200 and 202 . the platform 172 is formed in the top of the upper housing member 200 , and comprises a raised platform area 204 with openings for the sockets 176 and 178 and 182 and 184 , as well as contact pad 194 . as shown in fig. 19 , in the lower housing member 202 , the distal end of flexible drive cable 64 a, connects the drive 142 to a transmission 206 for turning socket 180 to operate a first clamp 174 on a device interface 54 seated on the platform 172 . the distal end of a cable 64 b connects the drive 144 to a screw-driven translation mechanism 208 for translating the second pair of sockets 182 and 184 relative to first pair or sockets 176 and 178 . the distal end of cable 64 c connects the drive 146 to a transmission 210 for turning socket 186 to operate a second clamp 174 on a device interface 54 . lastly, a flexible drive cable 64 d connects the drive 148 to a screw translation mechanism 212 ( fig. 21 ) for moving the body 170 relative to the base 160 . as shown in figs. 22-26 , the device interface 54 comprises a tray 220 that is adapted to fit onto the raised platform 204 forming the platform 172 on the device driver 52 . the tray 220 has a generally rectangular shape, but preferably has a curved side or other feature that prevents the tray from being installed on the device driver 52 incorrectly. there are handles 222 and 224 at either end of the tray 220 to facilitate handling the tray. one or more clamps 174 are mounted on the tray 220 . in this preferred embodiment there are two clamps, a first clamp 174 a, which is fixedly mounted with respect to the tray 220 , and a second clamp 174 b, which is slidably mounted with respect to the tray 220 . as described in more detail below, each of the clamps has two depending pins 226 and 228 , and a depending drive spline 230 . the tray 220 has a pair of holes 232 and 234 for receiving the pins 226 and 228 of clamp 174 a, and a hole 236 for receiving the drive spline 230 . two mounting holes 238 and 240 allow the clamp 174 a to be secured to the tray with screws 242 and washers 244 . the tray 220 also has a pair of slots 246 and 248 for receiving the pins 226 and 228 of clamp 174 b, and a slot 250 for receiving the drive spline 230 . two mounding slots 252 and 254 allow the clamp 174 b to be secured to the tray with screws 242 and washers 244 . the slots 246 , 248 , 250 and 252 and 254 allow the clamp to translate on the tray 220 . a contact plate 192 is secured on the bottom of the tray for making electrical contact with the contact pad 194 on the device driver 52 . as shown in figs. 27-36 , each of the clamps 174 comprises a base 260 which carries the pins 226 and 228 and the drive spline 230 . the base 260 has a semi-circular notch 262 . a generally arcuate cover 264 has a semi-circular notch 266 therein which is hingedly attached at one end to the base 260 , to pivot between an open position and closed position, in which the semi-circular notch 262 in the base 260 and the semi-circular notch 266 in the cover 264 form a generally circular opening 268 through the clamp. an over-center latch 270 releasably secures the other end of the cover 264 to the base 260 to retain the cover in its closed configuration. as best shown in fig. 32 , a worm gear 280 is mounted on the end of the spline 230 to rotate with the spline. the worm gear engages a sprocket 282 , so that the sprocket turns when the spline 230 turns. a split adapter ring 290 comprises first and second generally semi-circular halves 292 and 294 , and has a hinged connection 296 at one side to pivot between an open position and a closed position in which the halves 292 and 294 form a ring. the other ends of the halves 292 and 294 are releasably connected, for example with a snap latch 298 to form a ring with a central opening 300 . the split adapter ring 290 can be secured around a portion of the handle of a conventional manually operated medical device. the split adapter ring 290 has an associated ring gear 302 and is adapted to fit inside the clamp 174 b, with the ring gear 302 engaged with the sprocket 282 . the interior of each of the halves 292 and 294 can be specially adapted to receive the handle of a particular medical device, or various inserts (for example inserts 304 and 306 shown in fig. 36 ) can be used to adapt a standardized halves to accommodate different medical devices. operation the operation of the preferred embodiment will be described with respect to a loop type ep catheter, although, the invention is not so limited and embodiments of the remote manipulator can be used to operate a wide variety of medical devices which can be controlled through the manipulation of handle. the medical device has a handle with an actuator ring. rotation of the actuator ring relative to the remainder of the handle causes the distal end of the loop catheter to bend. translation of the actuator ring relative to the remainder of the handle causes the ring at the distal end to increase or decrease in size. the system is first installed on a patient bed. as shown in fig. 37 , the platform 66 is laid across the surface of the bed, and secured to rails found on the sides of a typical patient bed. the cleats on the 112 and 114 on the base plate 100 are secured to the rail on one side of the bed by tightening the bolts 120 and 122 . similarly, on the opposite side of the bed, the cleat 124 on l-shaped bracket 110 is secured to the rail by tightening the bolt 128 . once the platform 66 has been secured on the patient bed, the bracket 60 is mounted on the platform 66 . as shown in fig. 38 , the pins 94 and 96 on the bracket 60 fit into the semi-circular notches 130 and 132 in the support plate 100 , and the pin 134 on the plate 100 engages the semi-circular notch 98 in the bracket 60 . the bracket 60 and the support plate are secured by tightening bolt 136 on the bracket to engage the slot 138 in the base plate. the device driver 52 is then positioned in the appropriate location by pivoting the articulating arm 56 around post 58 , and securing it with bolt 76 . the sections 70 and 72 can be moved and driver device 52 can be pivoted about the first, second, and third axes to bring the driver device to an appropriate position for conducting the procedure. a surgical drape (not shown) in the form of an elongate plastic bag can be installed over the device driver 52 and articulating arm 56 . the drape preferably has a puncturable window that generally corresponds in size and shape to the platform 204 , and is aligned therewith. a replaceable disposable device interface 54 , which can be provided in a sterile package, is removed from its sterile packaging and installed on the platform 204 of the device driver 52 , with the pins 226 and 228 and spline 230 of each of the clamps 174 piercing the drape to connect to the sockets in the driver device. alternatively, the window in the drape can be a framed opening, the tray 220 can seal with the frame, and the pins 226 and 228 , and the spline 230 can engage their respective sockets without interference from the drape. the elongate medical device is then prepared for use and mounting in the remote manipulator system. as shown in fig. 39 , the distal end of the medical device is introduced into the opening 300 in the proximal end of a telescoping catheter support 302 . the telescoping catheter support 302 comprises at least two relatively telescoping tubes 304 and 306 with a lock 308 for locking the tubes 304 and 306 in position to set the length of the support. the distal end of the support 302 engages the introducer sheath. a clip 310 allows the proximal end of the catheter support 302 to engage the mount 168 . as shown in figs. 40a through 40c , the clamps 174 a and 174 b are opened, and the handle of the medical device placed in the clamps, with the actuator ring of the medical device aligned with clamp 174 a, and the remainder of the handle aligned with clamp 1748 . the covers 264 of the clamps 174 a and 174 b are closed, and the latches 270 engaged. once the medical device is engaged in the remote manipulator system, the distal end of the medical device can be introduced into the body and manipulated with the remote manipulation system 50 . when it is desired to advance the catheter, the drive 148 is actuated which causes the translation mechanism 212 to advance the body 170 of the device driver 52 relative to the base 160 , which advances the catheter mounted thereon. when it is desired to retract the catheter, the drive 148 is actuated which causes the translation mechanism 212 to retract the body 170 of the device driver relative to its base 160 . when it is desired to rotate the distal end of the catheter, the drives 142 and 146 are operated to operate transmissions 206 and 310 which cause the splines 230 of both of the clamps 174 a and 174 b to turn, thereby turning the split adapter ring gears 302 and thus, the entire device engaged therein. when it is desired to operate the actuation ring on the handle of the device, relative translation of the ring and the remainder of the handle can be caused by operating the drive 144 to operate the translation mechanism 208 to cause the clamp 174 b engaging the handle to move relative to the clamp 174 a engaging the actuator ring, to thereby cause relative movement between the actuator ring and the handle. relative rotation of the actuator ring and the remainder of the handle can be caused by operating the drive 142 to operate transmission 206 to operate the spline 230 of clamp 174 a, rotating the actuator ring relative to the remainder of the handle, or operating drive 210 to operate transmission 210 to operate the spline 230 of clamp 174 b rotating the remainder of the handle relative to the actuator ring, or to operate drives 142 and 146 and different rates and or in different directions to cause relative rotation between the actuator ring engaged in clamp 174 a and the remainder of the handle engaged in 174 b. the drives 142 , 144 , 146 , and 148 can be under direct control by a physician through a suitable interface, or the drives can be under the control of a microprocessor under the supervision and direction of a physician. in an emergency, the clamps 174 a and 174 b can be easily opened by operating latches 270 to release the cover and pulling the medical device free. the split adapter rings can be easily removed from the device so that the device can be used manually. embodiments of the remote manipulator device can be adapted to a wide variety of medical devices to allow the devices to be positioned and operated inside the body under remote control by a physician, or by physician-supervised computer control. the foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention. individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. the same may also be varied in many ways. such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the invention, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.
|
186-506-164-661-766
|
US
|
[
"US",
"EP",
"PL",
"CA"
] |
F02C9/48,B64C11/30,B64D31/06,B64C11/34,B64C11/40,F02C9/58,B64D31/00
| 2018-09-19T00:00:00 |
2018
|
[
"F02",
"B64"
] |
model-based control system and method for a turboprop engine
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systems and methods for controlling a gas turbine engine and a propeller are described herein. a target output power for the engine and a target speed for the propeller are received. a measurements of at least one engine parameter and a measurement of at least one propeller parameter are received. at least one engine control command is generated based on the target output power, the measurement of the at least one engine parameter and at least one model of the engine. at least one propeller control command is generated based on the target speed, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter and the at least one model of the propeller. the at least one engine control command is output for controlling an operation of the engine accordingly and the at least one propeller control command is output for controlling an operation of the propeller accordingly.
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1. a control system for an engine and a propeller coupled to the engine, the control system comprising: at least one processing unit; a non-transitory computer-readable memory having stored thereon program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for: receiving a target output power for the engine and a target speed for the propeller; receiving, from at least one sensing device, a measurement of at least one engine parameter and a measurement of at least one propeller parameter; modeling at least one model of the engine based on the measurement of the at least one engine parameter and modeling at least one model of the propeller based on the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, the at least one model of the engine representative of dynamics of the engine and the at least one model of the propeller representative of dynamics of the propeller; generating at least one engine control command based on the target output power, the measurement of the at least one engine parameter, and the at least one model of the engine, the at least one engine control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one engine parameter to bring an output power of the engine toward the target output power; generating at least one propeller control command based on the target speed, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, and the at least one model of the propeller, the at least one propeller control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one propeller parameter to bring a rotational speed of the propeller toward the target speed; outputting the at least one engine control command for controlling an operation of the engine accordingly; and outputting the at least one propeller control command for controlling an operation of the propeller accordingly. 2. the system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one engine parameter comprises a fuel flow to the engine and the at least one engine propeller parameter comprises a beta angle of the propeller. 3. the system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one engine control command comprises a fuel flow command to adjust the fuel flow to the engine and the at least one propeller control command comprises a beta angle command to adjust the beta angle of the propeller. 4. the system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one engine parameter further comprises at least one of: an inlet guide vane position, a core guide vane position, and a bleed valve position. 5. the system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for generating the at least one engine control command and the at least one propeller control command comprises: formulating at least one optimization problem based on the at least one model of the engine, the at least one model of the propeller, the target output power and the target speed; and determining the at least one engine control command and the at least one propeller control command by iteratively solving the at least one optimization problem. 6. the system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one model of the engine and the at least one model of the propeller are determined based on the measurement of the at least one engine parameter, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, and at least one of: a calculated engine parameter, a calculated propeller parameter, an ambient condition and an aircraft condition. 7. the system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one optimization problem is formulated based on the at least one model of the engine, the at least one model of the propeller, the target output power, the target speed and at least one of: an engine operating limit, a propeller operating limit, an inlet guide vane schedule, a core guide vane schedule and a blow off valve schedule. 8. the system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable for determining a target torque for the engine from the target output power; and wherein determining the at least one engine control command comprises determining the at least one engine control command based on the target torque, the measurements of the at least one engine parameter and the at least one model of the engine. 9. a method for controlling an engine and a propeller coupled to the engine, the method comprising: receiving a target output power for the engine and a target speed for the propeller; receiving, from at least one sensing device, a measurement of at least one engine parameter and a measurement of at least one propeller parameter; modeling at least one model of the engine based on the measurement of the at least one engine parameter and modeling at least one model of the propeller based on the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, the at least one model of the engine representative of dynamics of the engine and the at least one model of the propeller representative of dynamics of the propeller; generating at least one engine control command based on the target output power, the measurement of the at least one engine parameter, and the at least one model of the engine, the at least one engine control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one engine parameter to bring an output power of the engine toward the target output power; generating at least one propeller control command based on the target speed, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, and the at least one model of the propeller, the at least one propeller control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one propeller parameter to bring a rotational speed of the propeller toward the target speed; outputting the at least one engine control command for controlling an operation of the engine accordingly; and outputting the at least one propeller control command for controlling an operation of the propeller accordingly. 10. the method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one engine parameter comprises a fuel flow to the engine and the at least one engine propeller parameter comprises a beta angle of the propeller. 11. the method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one engine control command comprises a fuel flow command to adjust the fuel flow to the engine and the at least one propeller control command comprises a beta angle command to adjust the beta angle of the propeller. 12. the method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one engine parameter further comprises at least one of: an inlet guide vane position, a core guide vane position, and a bleed valve position. 13. the method of claim 9 , wherein generating the at least one engine control command and the at least one propeller control command comprises: formulating at least one optimization problem based on the at least one model of the engine, the at least one model of the propeller, the target output power and the target speed; and determining the at least one engine control command and the at least one propeller control command by iteratively solving the at least one optimization problem. 14. the method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one model of the engine and the at least one model of the propeller are determined based on the measurement of the at least one engine parameter, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, and at least one of: a calculated engine parameter, a calculated propeller parameter, an ambient condition and an aircraft condition. 15. the method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one optimization problem is formulated based on the at least one model of the engine, the at least one model of the propeller, the target output power, the target speed and at least one of: an engine operating limit, a propeller operating limit, an inlet guide vane schedule, a core guide vane schedule and a blow off valve schedule. 16. the method of claim 9 , further comprising determining a target torque for the engine from the target output power; and wherein determining the at least one engine control command comprises determining the at least one engine control command based on the target torque, the measurements of the at least one engine parameter and the at least one model of the engine.
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technical field the present disclosure relates generally to engine control, and, more particularly, to a control system for an engine having a propeller coupled thereto. background of the art for turboprop engines, there are two principal and distinct components: a gas turbine engine and a propeller. an engine control system is used to modulate the power output of the engine, for example by controlling fuel flow to the engine. similarly, a propeller control system is used to modulate the thrust produced by the propeller, for example by changing a propeller rotational speed and/or a propeller blade pitch. in traditional propeller driven aircraft, each of the engine control system and the propeller control system is operated by a pilot using a respective lever for each of the engine and propeller components. for instance, a throttle lever is used to set a desired engine power output, and a condition lever is used to set a desired propeller rotational speed and blade pitch angle. however, separate control systems may not be desirable in certain circumstances. there is therefore a need for an improved control system for a turboprop engine. summary in one aspect, there is provided a control system for an engine and a propeller coupled to the engine. the control system comprises: at least one processing unit; and a non-transitory computer-readable memory having stored thereon program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for: receiving a target output power for the engine and a target speed for the propeller; receiving, from at least one sensing device, a measurement of at least one engine parameter and a measurement of at least one propeller parameter; generating at least one engine control command based on the target output power, the measurement of the at least one engine parameter, and at least one model of the engine, the at least one engine control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one engine parameter to bring an output power of the engine toward the target output power; generating at least one propeller control command based on the target speed, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, and at least one model of the propeller, the at least one propeller control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one propeller parameter to bring a rotational speed of the propeller toward the target speed; outputting the at least one engine control command for controlling an operation of the engine accordingly; and outputting the at least one propeller control command for controlling an operation of the propeller accordingly. in one aspect, there is provided a method for controlling an engine and a propeller coupled to the engine. the method comprises: receiving a target output power for the engine and a target speed for the propeller; receiving, from at least one sensing device, a measurement of at least one engine parameter and a measurement of at least one propeller parameter; generating at least one engine control command based on the target output power, the measurement of the at least one engine parameter, and at least one model of the engine, the at least one engine control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one engine parameter to bring an output power of the engine toward the target output power; generating at least one propeller control command based on the target speed, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter, and at least one model of the propeller, the at least one propeller control command comprising instructions for adjusting the at least one propeller parameter to bring a rotational speed of the propeller toward the target speed; outputting the at least one engine control command for controlling an operation of the engine accordingly; and outputting the at least one propeller control command for controlling an operation of the propeller accordingly. description of the drawings reference is now made to the accompanying figures in which: fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example gas turbine engine; fig. 2 is a block diagram of a system for controlling an engine and a propeller in accordance with an embodiment; fig. 3a is a block diagram of an example model-based controller of the system of fig. 2 in accordance with an embodiment; fig. 3b is a block diagram of the model-based controller of fig. 3a illustrating a first embodiment of a feedforward path; fig. 3c is a block diagram of the feedforward module of fig. 3b in accordance with an embodiment; fig. 3d is a block diagram of the model-based controller of fig. 3a illustrating a second embodiment of a feedforward path; fig. 4 is a block diagram of a variant of the system of fig. 2 with separate engine and propeller controllers in accordance with an embodiment; fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for controlling an engine and a propeller in accordance with an embodiment; fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the step of fig. 5 for determining the control commands; and fig. 7 is a block diagram of an example computing system for implementing the model based controller of fig. 3a and/or the method of fig. 5 in accordance with an embodiment. it will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals. detailed description fig. 1 illustrates a turbopropeller powerplant 10 for an aircraft of a type preferably provided for use in subsonic flight, generally comprising a gas turbine engine 100 and a propeller 120 . the turbopropeller powerplant 10 can be controlled using the systems and methods described herein. the turbopropeller powerplant 10 generally comprises in serial flow communication the propeller 120 attached to a shaft 108 and through which ambient air is propelled, a compressor section 114 for pressurizing the air, a combustor 116 in which the compressed air is mixed with fuel and ignited for generating an annular stream of hot combustion gases, and a turbine section 106 for extracting energy from the combustion gases. the propeller 120 converts rotary motion from a shaft of the engine 110 to provide propulsive force for the aircraft, also known as thrust. the propeller 120 comprises one or more propeller blades 122 . a blade angle of the propeller blades 122 may be adjusted. the blade angle may be referred to as a beta angle, an angle of attack or a blade pitch. the turbopropeller powerplant 10 may be implemented to comprise a single or multi-spool gas turbine engine with a free turbine or boosted architecture, where the turbine section 106 is connected to the propeller 120 through a gearbox rgb. with reference to fig. 2 , there is shown a control system 200 for controlling an engine and a propeller coupled to the engine. while the system 200 is described herein with reference to the engine 100 and the propeller 120 , this is for example purposes. the system 200 may be applied to any other suitable engine and/or other suitable propeller with at least one blade having a variable blade angle. the control system 200 comprises a model-based controller 210 . the model-based controller 210 comprises at least one model of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the model-based controller 210 simultaneously controls the engine 100 and the propeller 120 according to a target output power (or torque) of the engine 100 and a target speed of the propeller 120 . the model-based controller 210 controls the engine 100 and the propeller 120 by providing control commands that adjust at least one parameter of the engine 100 in order to adjust the output power of the engine 100 and at least one parameter of the propeller 120 in order to adjust the rotational speed of the propeller 120 . in other words, the at least one engine parameter is adjustable to control the output power of the engine 100 and the at least one propeller parameter is adjustable to control the rotational speed of the propeller 120 . in accordance with an embodiment, a thrust management system 202 provides the target output power (or torque) and the target speed to the model-based controller 210 . the thrust management system 202 may determine the target output power (or torque) and the target speed from input provided from at least one pilot lever. the at least one pilot lever may comprise a thrust lever used to set a desired engine thrust, a power lever used to set a desired engine power output, and/or a condition lever used to set a desired propeller rotational speed and/or blade pitch angle. accordingly, the target output power is indicative of a target output power for the engine 100 , the target torque is indicative of a target output torque for the engine 100 , and the target speed is indicative of a target rotational speed for the propeller 120 . the thrust management system 202 may be implemented based on the thrust management system described in u.s. patent application publication no. 2018/0112603 to morgan et al., the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. in some embodiments, the target torque is determined from the target output power. in some embodiments, the target output power (or torque) and/or the target speed may be provided to the model-based controller 210 directly from the at least one pilot lever. accordingly, the model-based controller 210 may implement the functionality of the thrust management system 202 . in accordance with an embodiment, the model-based controller 210 provides at least one control command to at least one actuator 222 associated with the engine 100 . each one of the actuators 222 may be associated with the control of a given engine parameter. while the actuators 222 are illustrated as separate from the engine 100 (for clarity purposes), the engine 100 may comprise the actuators 222 . the actuator(s) 222 physically adjust components of the engine 100 to control operation of the engine 100 based on the control command(s). for example, the control commands (referred to herein as the “engine control commands”) output by the model-based controller 210 to the actuators 222 may comprise one or more control commands to adjust each of one or more engine parameters to control an operating condition of the engine 100 . the engine control commands may comprise one or more commands for adjusting: a fuel flow (wf) to the engine 100 , a position of at least one inlet guide vane (igv), a position of at least one core variable guide vane (vgv), engine bleed, a position of at least one blow off valve (bov) or may comprise any other suitable engine control command for adjusting an engine parameter to control an operating condition of the engine 100 , the engine parameters may comprise one or more of: shaft power, shaft torque, shaft speed, compressor pressure, turbine temperature, a fuel flow to the engine 100 , a position of at least one inlet guide vane, a position of at least one core variable guide vane, engine bleed, a position of at least one blow off valve, or any other suitable engine parameter corresponding to an operation condition of the engine 100 . similarly, in accordance with an embodiment, the model-based controller 210 provides at least one control command to at least one actuator 224 associated with the propeller 120 . each one of the actuators 224 may be associated with the control of a given propeller parameter. while the actuators 224 are illustrated as separate from the propeller 120 , the propeller 120 may comprise the actuators 224 which physically adjust components of the propeller 120 to control the operation of the propeller 120 . for example, the control commands (referred to as “propeller control commands”) output by the model-based controller 210 to the actuators 224 may comprise one or more control commands for controlling one or more propeller parameters. the propeller parameters may comprise one or more of: the blade angle of the propeller 120 , a position of a beta ring of the propeller 120 , the rotational speed of the propeller 120 and/or any other suitable propeller parameter. for example, during flight, the propeller parameter may be the propeller rotational speed, which is commanded to achieve the target speed by generating propeller control commands to adjust the blade angle to a coarser or finer pitch. by way of another example, during ground taxiing and/or reverse thrust on landing, the propeller control commands may be a position of an actuator for adjusting the blade angle or beta ring. in accordance with an embodiment, the engine 100 has one or more sensors 232 for measuring the engine parameter(s) and the propeller 120 has one or more sensors 234 for measuring the propeller parameter(s). the measurements of the engine parameter(s) and/or propeller parameter(s) may be obtained continuously (e.g. in real time) and/or may be recorded regularly in accordance with any suitable time interval or irregularly. the sensor measurements are fed back to the model-based controller 210 . in some embodiments, one or more of the engine or propeller parameters may be provided to an engine and/or aircraft computer. one or more of the engine or propeller parameters may be derived from the sensor measurements. in some embodiments, one or more of the engine or propeller parameters may be provided by an engine and/or aircraft computer. for example, an ambient temperature measurement may be provided by an aircraft computer, which may be used by the controller 210 for corrections. given ones of the sensors 232 , 234 and/or actuators 222 , 224 may be part of a unit or system that controls and/or measures a given engine or propeller parameter. for example, a fuel metering unit may control and measure the fuel flow, an inlet guide vane system may control and measure the position of the inlet guide vanes, a core guide vane system may control and measure the position of the core variable guide vanes, a bleed valve system may control and measure the position of the bleed valves, a blow off valve system may control and measure the position of the blow off valves and/or a beta angle system may control and measure the beta angle of the propeller 120 . the model-based controller 210 may receive limits for the engine 100 and the propeller 120 and/or one or more schedules. alternatively, the model-based controller 210 may already be provided with the limits and/or one or more schedules. the limits may comprise one or more of a core spool acceleration limit (ngdot), a core spool deceleration limit, an engine rotational speed limit, a fuel flow rate of change limit, a ratio unit limit of fuel flow to combustor inlet pressure, an overspeed limit and/or any other suitable limit. the limits may be categorized as one or more of: engine transient limits, propeller transient limits, engine operating limits, propeller operating limits and actuator limits. the transient limits correspond to limits that need to be maintained when the engine 100 accelerates or decelerates between operating conditions. transient limits may be imposed to prevent compressor surging or stalling or turbine overheating on acceleration, or combustor flaming out on deceleration. for example, the core spool acceleration limit can be imposed to prevent the compressor from surging on acceleration. by way of another example, the core spool deceleration limit can be imposed to prevent the combustor from flaming out. the fuel flow rate of change limits and the ratio unit are examples of transient limits. operating limits may be maximum or minimum limits. maximum operating limits may be imposed to maintain the structural integrity or the life of engine components. for example, overspeed limits can be used to prevent shaft, gearbox or propeller breakage; turbine blade off or pressure limits can be used to maintain combustor life; and temperature limits can be used to prevent burning out of the turbine blade. minimum operating limits may be imposed to prevent combustor flame out and to also maintain the structural integrity. for example, to prevent combustor flameout, minimum core speed or combustor pressure limits may be used. by way of another example, to maintain structural integrity, minimum shaft speed limits may be used to prevent exciting certain vibration modes of the shaft or compressor turbine blades. actuator limits are imposed to prevent commanding a higher rate than the actuator's capability or beyond the actuator's range of motion. the schedules may include one or more of igv, vgv, bov schedules and/or any other suitable schedule. the aforementioned limits may also be scheduled as a function of one or more given engine parameters. for example, core spool acceleration may be scheduled as a function of corrected core spool speed. the model-based controller 210 controls the engine 100 and the propeller 120 , within the engine and propeller operating limits, by controlling the at least one engine parameter and the at least one propeller parameter with the determined control commands. in accordance with an embodiment, the engine and propeller control commands are determined by the model-based controller 210 from the target output power (or torque), the target speed, the sensor measurements, the one or more schedules and the operating limits. it should be appreciated that, in accordance with an embodiment, the model-based controller 210 is implemented without the use of an inner and outer control loop configuration and without separate control systems for the engine and the propeller. referring to fig. 3a , an example of the model-based controller 210 is shown. in accordance with an embodiment, the model-based controller 210 comprises an engine and propeller model(s) module 310 , an optimization formulation module 320 and a constrained optimization solver module 330 . the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 models the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 may model the engine 100 and the propeller 120 using a single integrated model of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 may model the engine 100 and the propeller 120 using separate models of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the engine 100 and/or propeller 120 may be modeled using multiple sub-models corresponding to various aspects of the engine 100 and/or propeller 120 . the at least one model of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 corresponds to an internal representation of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the at least one model may represent the dynamics of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 , for example, to account for cross-coupling effects or interactions from the actuators 222 , 224 on governing targets and limits. the model(s) may be linear or nonlinear. linear model(s) may be in the form of piecewise transfer functions or state-space schedules. the transfer functions or state-space schedules may be as a function of ambient conditions (e.g., altitude, mach correction, and/or any other suitable ambient condition), aircraft conditions (e.g., speed and/or any other suitable aircraft conditions), and/or engine parameters (e.g., power turbine speed, torque and/or any other suitable parameter). non-linear model(s) may comprise differential equations. the at least one model is determined based on the inputs that the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 receives. in other words, based on the input that the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 receives, the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 models the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 may receive sensor measurements, measured and/or calculated engine and/or propeller parameters, actuator positions, ambient conditions, aircraft conditions, any other suitable operating condition of the engine 100 and/or the propeller, and/or any other suitable input. for example, the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 may determine at least one model of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 based at least on the sensor measurements. by way of another example, the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 may determine at least one model of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 based at least on the sensor measurements and one or more of the following: calculated engine and/or propeller parameters, previous control commands, ambient conditions and aircraft conditions. the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 provides the model(s) to the optimization formulation module 320 by outputting data indicative of the model(s). this outputted data may comprise engine parameters and/or propeller parameters of the modelled engine and/or the propeller. for example, the output data may comprise one or more of speeds, torque, thrust, pressures, temperatures, airflows, ratios of pressure or temperature of the modelled engine and/or the propeller. the optimization formulation module 320 receives the model(s) of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the optimization formulation module 320 may receive the model(s) as the outputted data from the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 . the optimization formulation module 320 may further receive the power (or torque) target, the target speed, the operating limits of the engine 100 and/or the propeller 120 , the schedules, and/or any other suitable input. based on the input, the optimization formulation module 320 determines at least one optimization problem which an optimization solver may be able to solve, for example, using a numerical iterative process in real-time. the optimization formulation module 320 may determine an optimization problem based at least on the model(s) of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 , the target output power (or torque), and the target speed. by way of another example, the optimization formulation module 320 may determine an optimization problem based at least on the model(s) of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 , the target output power (or torque), the target speed and one or more of: the engine operating limits, the propeller operating limits, the igv schedule(s), the vgv schedule(s), the bov schedule(s). the optimization formulation module 320 provides the at least one optimization problem to the constrained optimization solver module 330 . the constrained optimization solver module 330 receives the at least one optimization problem. the constrained optimization solver module 330 solves the at least one optimization problem to find optimal engine and propeller control commands to achieve the target output power (or torque) and the target speed. the constrained optimization solver module 330 may solve the at least one optimization problem to find the engine and propeller control commands using a numerical iterative process in real-time. the constrained optimization solver module 330 solves the at least one optimization problem while respecting engine and propeller limits. the constrained optimization solver module 330 outputs the engine and propeller control commands that are provided to the actuator(s) 222 , 224 . it should be appreciated that the model-based controller 210 may implement a multivariable control of the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . the multivariable control may allow for fast control of the output power of the engine 10 to the target output power and the rotational speed of the propeller 120 to the target speed. in some embodiments, a feedforward path can be added to the target output power and/or the target speed. the feedforward path may allow for faster transitions to the optimal control commands to limit looping of the numerical iterative process, thereby providing faster time to control the engine 100 and the propeller 120 within the engine, propeller and actuator operating limits. referring to fig. 3b , a first example embodiment of a feedforward path is illustrated. the target speed and target output power provided to the optimization formulation module 320 are also provided to a feedforward module 350 . the feedforward module 350 may generate additional engine and/or propeller control commands which are added to the engine and/or propeller control commands generated by the constrained optimization solver module 330 , thereby generating modified engine and/or propeller control commands. the modified engine and/or propeller control commands are accordingly provided to the actuators 222 , 224 . with additional reference to fig. 3c , an embodiment of the feedforward module 350 is illustrated. in some embodiments, the feedforward module 350 comprises a control command generation module 352 that generates control commands from the target output power and/or the target speed. the control command generation module 352 may comprise a lookup table for determining control commands from the target output power and/or the target speed. the control command generation module 352 may comprise one or more models represented as one or more transfer functions. for example, a transfer function may associates the target output power to a fuel flow command. the feedforward module 350 may optionally comprise an anticipation filter 354 such as a derivative filter to filter the engine and/or propeller control commands generated by the control command generation module 352 . referring to fig. 3d , a second example embodiment of a feedforward path is illustrated. in this example, the target speed and target output power are inputted into the feedforward module 350 ′ which reshapes the profile of the target speed and target output power that is inputted into the optimization formulation module 320 . the feedforward module 350 ′ may be implemented in a similar manner as the feedforward module 350 (e.g., using lookup tables, models, transfer functions, and/or filters). in some embodiments, an error based amplification may be included in the model-based controller 210 . for example, an error value, such as target output power minus power feedback, can be amplified. when the error value is higher than zero, the error value can be amplified to be larger than its current value to make the controller 210 react faster or track closer to a changing target output power or target speed. when the error value is lower than zero, the error may be lowered or even zeroed to make the controller 210 less reactive, for example, for the purposes of reducing jitter in the control commands when governing close at target. in some embodiments, the model(s) of the engine 100 and/or propeller 120 may be adapted in real-time to account for production variability or deterioration. for instance, the model(s) may be designed to represent a new engine or propeller condition. when the engine 100 and/or propeller 120 deteriorate, the model(s) may not capture the change in dynamics (e.g., core spool speed may proportionally change with a change in fuel flow as the engine deteriorates). this may lead to a decrease in closed-loop control response quality when controlling the engine 100 and/or propeller 120 (e.g., higher overshoots, decreased tracking ability to target speed or power). in order to maintain closed-loop control response quality throughout the operating life of the engine 100 and propeller 120 , the model(s) can be adapted to represent the current state of the engine 100 and/or propeller 120 . for example, the internal states of the model(s) may be adjusted using a kalman filtering technique by comparing the available sensor measurements with corresponding model(s) outputs. correction terms into the model(s) may be generated with the objective to minimize the error between the measured and model outputs. in some embodiments, in the event of failure of one or more of the sensors 232 , 234 , or momentary loss of a measurement signal is detected (e.g., loss of the torque signal), the model-based controller 210 and/or the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 may operate using the at least one model without one or more sensor measurements. accordingly, the model-based controller 210 may receive an operation mode indicating the inputs that the model-based controller 210 is to operate on and/or a failure mode indicating the model-based controller 210 is to operate without one or more sensor measurements. referring to fig. 4 , a variant of the system 200 of fig. 2 is shown. the system 200 ′ substitutes the model-based controller 210 of fig. 2 with a model-based controller 210 ′ and a propeller speed controller 410 . the model-based controller 210 ′ may function similarly to the model-based controller 210 . for example, the model-based controller 210 ′ may comprise at least one model of the engine 100 without any model of the propeller 120 . in some embodiments, the model-based controller 210 ′ comprises the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 , the optimization formulation module 320 and the constrained optimization solver module 330 , where the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 comprises at least one model of the engine 100 without any model of the propeller 120 . the model-based controller 210 ′ determines and outputs the engine control commands similarly to the model-based controller 210 . the propeller speed controller 410 implements the propeller speed control external to the model-based controller 210 ′. the propeller speed controller 410 may be a model-based controller that functions similarly to the model-based controller 210 . for example, the propeller speed controller 410 may comprise at least one model of the propeller 120 without any model of the engine 100 . in some embodiments, the propeller speed controller 410 comprises the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 , the optimization formulation module 320 and the constrained optimization solver module 330 , where the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 comprises at least one model of the propeller 120 without any model of the engine 100 . the propeller speed controller 410 may determine the propeller control commands based on the propeller model and one or more of a propeller load map, propeller inertia, a load estimator to estimate propeller accelerations and a dynamic inversion algorithm. the propeller speed controller 410 may be a proportional controller, a proportional with null bias controller, proportional with integral controller or any other suitable controller. the model-based controller 210 ′ outputs the engine control commands to the actuator(s) 222 and the propeller speed controller 410 outputs the propeller control commands to the actuator(s) 224 . the sensor measurements from the sensor(s) 232 associated with the engine 100 are fed back to the model-based controller 210 ′ and the propeller speed controller 410 . in the illustrated embodiment, the sensor measurements from the sensor(s) 234 associated with the propeller 120 are fed back to the propeller speed controller 410 . in some embodiments, the sensor measurements from the sensor(s) 234 associated with the propeller 120 may be fed back to the model-based controller 210 ′. with reference to fig. 5 , there is shown a flowchart illustrating an example method 500 for controlling an engine and propeller coupled to the engine, such as at the engine 100 and the propeller 120 . while the method 500 is described herein with reference to the engine 100 and the propeller 120 , this is for example purposes. the method 200 may be applied to any other suitable engine and/or other suitable types of propeller with a blade having a variable blade angle. at step 502 , the target output power for the engine 100 and the target speed for the propeller 120 are received. the target output power and/or the target speed may be received from the thrust management system 202 or from the at least one pilot lever. in some embodiments, a target torque is determined from the target output power. alternatively, a target torque may be received from the thrust management system 202 or from the at least one pilot lever. at step 504 , a measurement of at least one engine parameter and a measurement of at least one propeller parameter are received. the measurements may be received from at least one sensing device, for example, the sensors 232 , 234 . the at least one engine parameter and the at least one propeller parameter may be obtained in any other suitable manner. at step 506 , at least one engine control command and at least one propeller control command are generated. the at least one engine control command is generated based at least on the target output power, the measurement of the at least one engine parameter and the engine model(s). the at least one propeller control command is generated based at least on the target speed, the measurement of the at least one propeller parameter and the propeller model(s). in accordance with an embodiment, the at least one engine control command comprises instructions for adjusting the at least one engine parameter to bring the output power of the engine 100 toward the target output power. in accordance with an embodiment, the at least one propeller control command comprises instructions for adjusting the at least one propeller parameter to bring the rotational speed of the propeller towards the target speed. in some embodiments, the at least one engine control command and the at least one propeller control command are determined with the model-based controller 210 . alternatively, in some embodiments, the at least one engine control command is determined with the model-based controller 210 ′ and the at least one propeller control command is determined with the propeller speed controller 410 . at step 508 , the at least one engine control command is output for controlling an operation of the engine accordingly and the at least one propeller control command is output for controlling an operation of the propeller 120 accordingly. in accordance with an embodiment, the at least one engine control command is output to the actuator(s) 222 of the engine 100 and the at least one propeller control command is output to the actuator(s) 224 of the propeller 120 . the actuator(s) 222 of the engine 100 may adjust the at least one engine parameter to control the output power of the engine substantially at the target output power. the actuator(s) 224 of the propeller 120 may adjust the at least one propeller parameter to control the rotational speed of the propeller substantially at the target speed. with additional reference to fig. 6 , an example of step 506 is illustrated. at step 602 , the engine and the propeller are modelled, thereby creating the at least one model of the engine and the propeller. step 602 may be performed by the engine and propeller model(s) module 310 . the at least one model is created based on the measurements of the at least one engine parameter and the at least one propeller parameter. at step 604 , the at least one optimization problem is formulated. step 604 may be performed by the optimization formulation module 320 . the at least one optimization problem is formulated based on the at least one model, the target output power and the target speed. at step 606 , the at least one engine control command and the at least one propeller control command are determined by iteratively solving the at least one optimization problem. step 606 may be performed by the constrained optimization solver module 330 . in some embodiments, the engine parameter used in method 500 is the fuel flow to the engine and the propeller parameter used in method 500 is the beta angle of the propeller 120 . accordingly, in some embodiments, the at least one engine control command comprises a fuel flow command to adjust the fuel flow to the engine 100 and the at least one propeller control command comprises a beta angle command to adjust the beta angle of the propeller 120 . in some embodiments, the engine parameter used in method 500 is the fuel flow to the engine and one or more of an inlet guide vane position, a core guide vane position, engine bleed, and a blow off valve position; and the at least one propeller control command comprises a beta angle command to adjust the beta angle of the propeller 120 . accordingly, the at least one engine control command may comprise control commands for each of the engine parameters and the at least one propeller control command may comprise control commands for each of the propeller parameters. with reference to fig. 7 , the method 500 may be implemented using a computing device 700 comprising a processing unit 712 and a memory 714 which has stored therein computer-executable instructions 716 . similarly, the model-based controller 210 may be implemented using the computing device 700 . the processing unit 712 may comprise any suitable devices configured to implement the system such that instructions 716 , when executed by the computing device 700 or other programmable apparatus, may cause the functions/acts/steps of the method 500 as described herein to be executed. the processing unit 712 may comprise, for example, any type of general-purpose microprocessor or microcontroller, a digital signal processing (dsp) processor, a central processing unit (cpu), an integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array (fpga), a reconfigurable processor, other suitably programmed or programmable logic circuits, or any combination thereof. the memory 714 may comprise any suitable known or other machine-readable storage medium. the memory 714 may comprise non-transitory computer readable storage medium, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. the memory 714 may include a suitable combination of any type of computer memory that is located either internally or externally to device, for example random-access memory (ram), read-only memory (rom), compact disc read-only memory (cdrom), electro-optical memory, magneto-optical memory, erasable programmable read-only memory (eprom), and electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (eeprom), ferroelectric ram (fram) or the like. memory 714 may comprise any storage means (e.g., devices) suitable for retrievably storing machine-readable instructions 716 executable by processing unit 712 . in some embodiments, the computing device 700 can be implemented as part of a full-authority digital engine controls (fadec) or other similar device, including electronic engine control (eec), engine control unit (ecu), and the like. the methods and systems for controlling an engine and a propeller described herein may be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming or scripting language, or a combination thereof, to communicate with or assist in the operation of a computer system, for example the computing device 700 . alternatively, the methods and systems for controlling an engine and a propeller may be implemented in assembly or machine language. the language may be a compiled or interpreted language. program code for implementing the methods and systems for controlling an engine and a propeller may be stored on a storage media or a device, for example a rom, a magnetic disk, an optical disc, a flash drive, or any other suitable storage media or device. the program code may be readable by a general or special-purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described herein. embodiments of the methods and systems for controlling an engine and a propeller may also be considered to be implemented by way of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. the computer program may comprise computer-readable instructions which cause a computer, or in some embodiments the processing unit 712 of the computing device 700 , to operate in a specific and predefined manner to perform the functions described herein. computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, including program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. typically the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. the above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the scope of the invention disclosed. still other modifications which fall within the scope of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in light of a review of this disclosure. various aspects of the methods and systems for controlling an engine and a propeller may be used alone, in combination, or in a variety of arrangements not specifically discussed in the embodiments described in the foregoing and is therefore not limited in its application to the details and arrangement of components set forth in the foregoing description or illustrated in the drawings. for example, aspects described in one embodiment may be combined in any manner with aspects described in other embodiments. although particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects. the scope of the following claims should not be limited by the embodiments set forth in the examples, but should be given the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the description as a whole.
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186-669-974-939-607
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US
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[
"US",
"WO"
] |
G06N3/00,H04Q7/20,G06F17/00,G06N3/12,G06F17/17,G06N7/02
| 2006-09-21T00:00:00 |
2006
|
[
"G06",
"H04"
] |
method and apparatus for using bayesian networks for localization
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the invention is a technique for performing sampling in connection with markov chain monte carlo simulations in which no attempt is made to limit the selected samples to a selected slice of the entire sample domain, as is typical in markov chain monte carlo sampling. rather, samples are taken from the entire domain and any samples that fall below a randomly selected probability density level are discarded.
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1. a computer-implemented markov chain monte carlo method of sampling for purposes of generating a sequence of instances of a bayesian network such that a distribution of values across the sequence of instances follows the same distribution as the actual probability density function for at least one variable comprising: (a) selecting by a computer a function, g(x), that is directly proportional to a probability density function, f, where f provides a probability distribution of a particular value of a variable, x, in a bayesian network; (b) selecting by a computer a first sample value of x uniformly distributed over the domain of x; (c) picking by a computer a random value, y, between 0 and the value of g(x) for the first value of x; (d) choosing by a computer another value of x uniformly distributed over the whole domain of x; (e) if the value g(x) for the another value of x is less than the random value, y, discarding the second value, x i , and iterating (d), (e), and (f); and (f) if the value g(x) for the another value of x is greater than the random value, y, using the another value of x as a sample to generate a next instance of the bayesian network. 2. the method of claim 1 wherein x comprises a plurality of variables. 3. the method of claim 1 comprising iterating (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) 4. the method of claim 3 comprising iterating (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) predetermined number of times. 5. the method of claim 3 comprising iterating (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) until the sequence of network instances reaches a substantially stationary distribution. 6. the method of claim 3 wherein, for at least some of the repetitions of (b), the selected first value of x is the same value of the another value of x from a preceding iteration of (d). 7. a computer-implemented method of determining a location of a wireless device comprising: (a) observing a signal characteristic of the wireless device as measured at a plurality of known locations; (b) developing by a computer a bayesian network modeling a probability density function of the signal characteristic of a wireless device as observed at the plurality of known locations as a function of a location of a wireless device relative to each of the plurality of known locations; (c) selecting by a computer a function that is directly proportional to a probability density function that provides a probability distribution of the signal characteristic as a function of a set of variables including at least one location variable of the wireless device and at least one other variable in the bayesian network; d) selecting by a computer a first value of the set of variables uniformly distributed over the domain of the set of variables; (e) picking by a computer a random value between 0 and the value of function for the selected value of the signal characteristic; (f) choosing by a computer another value of the set of variables uniformly distributed over the domain of the signal characteristic; (g) if the value of the function for the another value of the set of variables is less than the random value, discarding the second value and repeating (f), (g), and (h); and (h) if the value of the function for the another value of the set of variables is greater than the random value, using the second value as a sample to generate a next instance of the bayesian network; and (i) predicting by a computer a location of the wireless device as a function of the distribution of the at least one location variable from the plurality of instances. 8. the method of claim 7 wherein the wireless device comprises a plurality of wireless devices. 9. the method of claim 7 wherein the signal characteristic is signal strength. 10. the method of claim 7 wherein the at least one other variable includes an angle of arrival. 11. the method of claim 7 wherein the at least one other variable includes at least one signal propagation constant. 12. the method of claim 7 wherein the signal characteristic is a signal to noise ratio. 13. the method of claim 7 comprising iterating (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h). 14. the method of claim 13 wherein, for at least some of the iterations of (d), the selected value of the set of variables is the same value of the second set of values from a preceding iteration of (f). 15. a computer program product embodied on a tangible memory for sampling for purposes of generating a sequence of instances of a bayesian network such that a distribution of values across the sequence of instances follows the same distribution as the actual probability density function for at least one variable comprising: (a) computer executable instructions for selecting a function, g(x), that is directly proportional to a probability density function, f, where f provides a probability distribution of a particular value of a variable, x, as a function of at least one other variable, k, in a bayesian network; (b) computer executable instructions for selecting a first sample value of x uniformly distributed over the domain of x; (c) computer executable instructions for picking a random value, y, between 0 and the value of g(x) for the first value of x; (d) computer executable instructions for choosing another value of x uniformly distributed over the whole domain of x; (e) computer executable instructions for, if the value g(x) for the another value of x is less than the random value, y, discarding the another value of x and iterating (d), (e), and (f); and (f) computer executable instructions for, if the value g(x) for the another value of x is greater than the random value, y, using the another value of x as a sample to generate a next instance of the bayesian network. 16. the computer program product of claim 15 comprising computer executable instructions for iterating (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f). 17. the computer program product of claim 16 wherein, for at least some of the repetitions, the computer executable instructions (b) select as the first value of x the same value of one of the another values of x, from a preceding repetition of (d).
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cross reference to related applications this application is a national stage filing under 35 u.s.c. §371(c) of international application serial no. pct/us07/20444 filed sep. 21, 2007, which, in turn, claims the benefit under 35 u.s.c. §119(e) to u.s. provisional patent application ser. no. 60/846,378 which was filed on sep. 21, 2006, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. field of the invention the invention pertains to the generation of distributions that correspond to probability density functions for bayesian networks. the invention is particularly adapted to reduce the computational load of using bayesian networks for localization applications, but is not limited thereto. background of the invention bayesian networks often are used in the process of determining probability distribution functions in multi-variable universes. one particular application in which bayesian networks are commonly used to generate distributions that follow probability density functions is in localization techniques for mobile wireless devices. particularly, in wireless communication environments such as ieee 802.11b or 802.11g wireless lans, it is often a desirable feature to determine the location of a mobile wireless device using the network based on the characteristics of signals from the mobile wireless device received at multiple antennas of the wireless network (or vice versa). the characteristics are ones that are indicative of the location of the device relative to the landmarks. for instance, received signal strength (e.g., rssi) or signal-to-noise ratio (s/n) are indicative of the distance between the landmark and the mobile device. on the other hand, using directional antennas, the angle of arrival of the signal can be used as an indicator of the bearing of the mobile device relative to the landmark. the localization can be determined either by the devices themselves or by the network. that is, in some localization systems, the network determines the location of the wireless devices based on data collected by the landmarks and transmitted through the network to a central processing unit that determines the location of the devices. however, in other wireless device location systems, the wireless devices themselves may measure the characteristics of signals received from the landmarks to determine their own locations. in some applications of the latter type, the mobile wireless device may then transmit its own location to the network for use by other network equipment. in other applications, however, the mobile wireless device may be the only equipment that needs to know its location, such that the location as determined by the mobile wireless device need not be transmitted to any other equipment at all. in order to simplify the following discussion, the following discussion shall speak in terms of an exemplary wireless network localization system in which the landmarks measure signal characteristics of signals transmitted from the mobile wireless devices as received at multiple landmarks of the network to determine the locations of the mobile wireless devices. however, the relevant principles would be equally applicable to localization systems using the inverse operational paradigm noted above. there are any number of practical applications for such mobile wireless device localization. for instance, in hospitals and manufacturing plants, it may be desirable to track down the location of an individual or a piece of equipment using such a technique. the individual can be equipped with a wireless device (which may simply be the individual's personal cell phone) that communicates with the wireless lan. the person can be located by locating the wireless device (assuming, obviously, that the person is carrying the wireless device on his or her person). additionally, portable equipment can be equipped with a wireless transmitter and/or transceiver so that it can be located using such localization techniques. several different techniques are available for mobile wireless device localization. these techniques generally involve the gathering of information about one or more characteristics of the signals received from the wireless devices at a plurality of landmarks in the wireless network environment (or alternately signals received at the mobile wireless devices from a plurality of network landmarks). a landmark generally is a stationary wireless transmitter, receiver, or transceiver having a known location and that can communicate with the mobile wireless devices. thus, for instance, landmarks typically include network base stations and other fixed position network nodes. these types of landmarks usually have both wireless and wired capabilities so that they can serve as a connection point between the wireless portion of a network and the wired portion of the network. however, alternately, a landmark need not be a communication node of the network. a landmark can be placed in the area covered by the wireless network strictly as a transmitter or receiver strictly for the purpose of providing a network landmark for use in localization of mobile wireless devices. there are many different general techniques for wireless device localization, including triangulation, trilateration, and scene-matching. in scene-matching, for instance, one first builds a map of the wireless network by placing a wireless device at multiple locations in the wireless network environment and recording signal characteristics of signals transmitted by the device as received at multiple landmarks for each such location to build a scene map of signal characteristics as a function of location. once a scene map is built and stored, an algorithm tries to match the signal characteristics of each wireless device to the location in the scene map that most closely corresponds to those signal characteristics. on the other hand, in systems that utilize triangulation, the landmarks use directional antennas so that they can measure the angle of arrival of signals at the landmarks to determine the relative bearing between the wireless device and each of the landmarks. by correlating the bearing data of multiple landmarks, the location of the device can be predicted by relatively simple trigonometric algorithms. in lateration, signal characteristics such as rssi and/or s/n of signals received from a wireless device at a plurality of landmarks are used as an indication of the distance between the wireless device and the various landmarks. time of flight is another characteristic that can be determined and used as an indication of distance. given the distance between the wireless device and a plurality of different landmarks, the location of the device can be predicted by lateration equations. (note the use of the term lateration, rather than the more common term trilateration in order to avoid any implication that there must be three and only three reference points (or landmarks). if rssi or s/n were closely correlated to the distance between a wireless device and a landmark, then making a fairly reliable prediction of the location of wireless devices would be a computationally simple task. however, that is not the case in the real world. both rssi and s/n are affected by many factors in addition to the distance between the device and a landmark. for instance, rssi and s/n are dependent on the number of walls or other obstacles between the two devices, the relative humidity, interference with other rf devices, etc. all of these variables, including distance, are unknown and it is practically impossible to develop a closed equation set to solve for location in a real-world environment. accordingly, such problems are commonly solved using predictive statistical methods such as bayesian networks using markov chain monte carlo and other such simulations, which are well known statistical modeling techniques. bayesian networks and markov chain monte carlo simulations are well known in the field of statistics and, in fact, are already being used in mobile wireless device localization systems. however, as the number of dimensions in the network (i.e., the number of unknown variables that must be solved for) increases, the computational load can very quickly exceed reasonable signal processing capabilities. for instance, markov chain monte carlo simulations involve the collection of many “samples”, wherein each sample comprises one specific value assigned to each of the variables. in a typical mobile wireless device localization system, there likely will be at least five variables, including some or all of x coordinate, y coordinate, z coordinate, and at least two or three distinct signal propagation constants. with five or more dimensions, the computational load necessary to generate a probability density function using bayesian networks and markov chain monte carlo simulations is significant and difficult to perform in real time using the hardware and software that is practically available. it would be desirable to reduce the processing load to perform mobile wireless device localization. it also would be desirable in general to simplify the use of bayesian networks and markov chain monte carlo simulations in statistical analysis. summary of the invention the invention is a technique for performing sampling in connection with markov chain monte carlo simulations in which no attempt is made to limit the selected samples to a selected slice of the entire sample domain, as is typical in markov chain monte carlo sampling. rather, samples are taken from the entire domain and any samples that fall below a randomly selected probability density level are discarded. an embodiment of the invention also includes a computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium for sampling for purposes of generating a sequence of instances of a bayesian network such that a distribution of values across the sequence of instances follows the same distribution as the actual probability density function for at least one variable. this substantially reduces the computational load for generating a probability density function using markov chain monte carlo simulations. particularly, the computational load to determine the domain slice employed in a conventional markov chain monte carlo simulation is significant, particularly as the number of dimensions in the network increases. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a block diagram representing the major components of a wireless network including wireless network a incorporating a wireless device localization. figs. 2a-2d are graphical models of exemplary bayesian networks. fig. 3 is a graphical representation of a probability density function. fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the basic steps in accordance with one particular embodiment of the invention. figs. 5a-5h are graphs showing the average execution times of gibbs sampling under different conditions. figs. 6a-6i are graphs showing the average performance achieved by various algorithms expressed as relative accuracy and standard deviation vs. time. fig. 7 is a graph showing the average number of evaluations per variable x and y under exemplary conditions. fig. 8 is a pair of graphs showing the performance of an algorithm in accordance with the present invention as compared to an algorithm in accordance with winbugs. fig. 9a is a graph showing the relative accuracy versus run time of a localization system comparing an algorithm in accordance with the present invention with several prior art algorithms. fig. 9b is a graph showing the standard deviation versus run time of a localization system comparing an algorithm in accordance with the present invention with several prior art algorithms. detailed description of the invention introduction fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the basic components found in a wireless network incorporating wireless device localization. for sake of simplicity, let us consider a network in which the landmarks gather the data to be used for localization and the landmarks report that data to a localization signal processing node in the wired portion of the network, which determines the location of the mobile wireless device system. rectangle 101 represents the physical volume within which wireless device localization is performed. there are a plurality of landmarks 103 a , 103 b , 103 c spread throughout the localization volume 101 . furthermore, a plurality of wireless devices 105 a , 105 b , 105 c , 105 ed , 105 e , 105 f are located within volume 101 . exemplary wireless device 105 d communicates with a plurality of the landmarks 103 a , 103 b , 103 c and those landmarks each determine at least one signal characteristic indicative of the location of the device 105 d such as rssi or s/n. after determining such information, each landmark 103 a , 103 b , 103 c transmits such information to a localization server 109 . the server 109 collects the rssi or s/n data from the plurality of landmarks and pre-processes them for the solver 110 . for instance, server 109 may clean up and summarize the traffic observations received from the landmarks. the server 109 then transmits the cleaned and summarized data to the solver 110 , which perform a markov chain monte carlo simulation, generate a bayesian network, use the bayesian network to develop a predicted location of the device. markov chain monte carlo simulations and bayesian networks comprises merely one exemplary form of a solver for wireless device localization. other types of algorithms could be employed in the alternative. while the discussion above focuses on localization of a single exemplary mobile wireless device, it should be understood that the network actually typically observes signal characteristics of and predicts the locations of multiple mobile wireless devices simultaneously (which makes the necessary processing for localization substantially more complex). fig. 2a is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary bayesian graphical network. fig. 2a represents a five dimensional model, each circle 203 a - 203 g enclosing one variable. particularly, the model assumes two physical dimensions represented by the x and y coordinates 203 a , 203 b (which is a common assumption when all wireless devices are known to be on a single floor of a building), two signal propagation constants, b i0 and b i1 203 d , 203 e , and a multi-path constant, t i 203 c . d represents distance and s represents a signal characteristic. the subscript i indicates the particular sample, i.e., the sample index. the arrowed lines 205 a - 205 f are called edges. an edge represents the mathematical relationship or function between the two variables that it connects. thus, for instance, edge 205 f represents the equation d i =f(x). the box 201 encloses the variables that comprise the network while the variables outside of the box are the variables that are being solved for. the present invention is a method and apparatus for sampling in connection with the building of bayesian networks. the method can be implemented by any reasonable apparatus, but most likely would be implemented in the form of software running on a general purpose computer. this software would reside in the solver 110 in fig. 1 , for example. however, it should be understood that all of part of the method can be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, a digital signal processor, a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (asic), a state machine, a programmed general purpose processor or computer, or any other reasonable apparatus for processing data. as noted above, the present invention is a sampling technique that can be used in markov chain monte carlo sampling. markov chain monte carlo (mcmc) sampling is a statistical tool used in varied applications including, but not limited to, localization of wireless devices in a wireless network environment. the present invention will be described herein with specific reference to a wireless device localization system. however, it should be understood that the invention has broader application and that this particular application is merely exemplary. y. chen, j. francisco, k. kleisouris, h. xue, r. martin, e. elnahrawy, x. li, grail: general real - time adaptable indoor localization , proceedings of the 4th international conference on embedded networked sensor systems, boulder, colo., usa, 2006, pages: 351-352, isbn: 1-59593-343-3 fully incorporated herein by reference, describes grail, which is an exemplary real time localization system for wireless networks into which the present invention can be incorporated. aforementioned fig. 1 illustrates a network architecture into which the grail system can be incorporated. grail is built around the four logical types of objects shown in fig. 1 : namely, landmarks 103 , a server 109 , a solver 110 , and transmitters 105 . localization using the grail system thus assumes the sensor field has hierarchical access to powerful computing nodes. specifically these objects are: transmitters 105 . these are the devices to be localized. any device that transmits packets can be localized, including weak sensor nodes. in the examples discussed hereinabove, for instance, they may be cellular telephones.landmarks 103 . these gateway class nodes listen to packet traffic and know their own locations. landmarks also summarize data before forwarding the data to the localization server. landmarks do not need significant computing capability, but need to aggregate all observable traffic, e.g., average the rssi over many transmission on a per-transmitter basis.server 109 . a server is a powerful machine that collects information from the landmarks. a centralized server solution makes easier the cleaning and summarizing of the traffic observations. second, it enables a variety of additional services such as attack detection and tracking to use the same framework.solvers 110 . a solver takes the readings collected by the landmarks and summarized etc. by the server 109 and returns localization results. there are several ways for a solver to solve for the location of wireless devices in a wireless network. one such way is via a bayesian network. the present invention would reside in the solver 110 in the exemplary system of fig. 1 and comprises a technique for markov chain monte carlo sampling for a bayesian network. the system of fig. 1 has the following 4 steps of localizing a wireless transmitter. 1. the sensor node 105 sends a packet. some number of landmarks 103 observe the packet and record physical layer properties of the packet. in the example to be discussed herein below, rssi is the primary physical layer modality. however, angle-of-arrival, s/n, or time-of-flight can be supported in the alternative or additionally.2. the landmarks 103 forward traffic summaries, i.e., the physical layer properties observed from transmitting devices 103 , to the server 109 . for example, for each transmitter, the observing landmarks 110 and the history of the rssi would be sent to the server 109 .3. the server 109 presents the solvers 110 with the necessary data for localization. depending on the algorithm, some additional selection of the data may occur at the server 109 .4. the solver 110 determines the coordinates of each sensor node 105 . in addition, the bayesian network solver of the present invention also can return an estimation of the uncertainty in the position. although bayesian networks are attractive compared to other approaches because they provide similar performance with much less training data, the computational cost of using these networks is quite large with standard statistical packages, such as winbugs (lunn, d. j., thomas, a., best, n., and spiegelhalter, d. (2000) winbugs—a bayesian modelling framework: concepts, structure, and extensibility . statistics and computing, 10:325-337). localizing a few points can take up to 10 seconds. in addition, stock solvers do not scale well when localizing many points at once or with zero training data. in these cases, localization can take well over a minute on a well-equipped machine. what is desirable is a method of solving bayesian networks used for localization and other problems that is computationally efficient and simultaneously provides quick convergence. finding such a method not only reveals how fast localization can be performed, but also the accuracy to be expected as compared to solutions provided by packages like winbugs. the bayesian networks for such localization systems have no closed-form solutions and, thus, markov chain monte carlo (mcmc) simulations are used to solve these networks. this family of approaches uses statistical sampling to explore the probability density functions (pdfs) of the variables in the network. specifically, mcmc methods within which the present invention can be employed include gibbs sampling and metropolis-within-gibbs sampling. within these variants, there is a rich diversity of approaches to sampling individual variables. slice sampling is the method that dominates the entire execution time in gibbs approach to localize many points simultaneously. specifically, the number of evaluations of the conditional posterior distribution is the prevailing factor that makes slice sampling computationally expensive. second, using real data, it was determined the conditional posterior distributions of the coordinates of an item to be localized as well as the angle of the received signal strength are relatively flat. to take advantage of this flatness property, the present invention implements a variation of slice sampling herein termed whole domain sampling. this method samples uniformly over the whole domain, as opposed to carefully choosing only parts of the domain to sample from. whole domain sampling is computationally fast and simultaneously mixes rapidly, and thus provides fast convergence. such a method requires no tuning, hence making it an attractive approach because it constitutes a “black-box” sampler for the networks. for other methods, such as metropolis, tuning is critical to obtaining reasonable results. the flatness of the conditional posterior distributions is a key factor in determining the effectiveness of the whole domain approach. furthermore, in order to better understand why whole domain sampling converges faster than other methods, an analytic model was built that estimates the number of evaluations of the conditional posterior distribution under slice sampling when using: (a) a whole domain approach and (b) a step out process. this analytical model analytically determines how flat a double exponential distribution should be in order for whole domain sampling to be faster than a step out approach. comparing the shape of that pdf to the actual pdfs in bayesian networks shows qualitatively that these curves clearly fall in the regime where whole domain sampling is faster than a step out approach. bayesian networks are known as a location estimation technique. researchers have found that signal strength information, such as rssi, from a collection of access points can be exploited to localize simultaneously a set of terminals. additionally, a model has been developed that provides accurate location estimates without any location information in the training data, leading to a truly adaptive zero-profiling technique. other research has extended the field by incorporating angle-of-arrival (aoa) of the signal along with the received signal strength (rss) for better position estimation. such a solution reduces the size of the training examples needed to reach the same performance of bayesian networks that rely solely on rss. neal, r. m., “ probabilistic inference using markov chain monte carlo methods ” department of computer science, university of toronto, toronto, ontario, canada, tech. rep. crg-tr-93-1, september 1993 and neal, r. m., “ slice sampling ( with discussion )”, annals of statistics, vol. 31, pp. 705-767, 2003 provide an extensive study of methods used for probabilistic inference using mcmc methods, such as gibbs sampling, slice sampling and the metropolis algorithm. also, agrawal, d. k., gelfand, a. e., “ slice gibbs sampling for simulation - based fitting of spatial data models ”, statistics and computing, vol. 15, pp. 61-69, 2005 describes a slice gibbs sampler, that, unlike slice sampling that slices the prior x likelihood, it slices only the likelihood. the present invention focuses on minimizing the computational cost of mcmc methods. a graphical model such as illustrated in fig. 2a is a multivariate statistical model embodying a set of conditional independence relationships. here, we focus on acyclic digraphs (adgs). the edges 205 in the graph encode the relationships. each vertex 203 corresponds to a random variable xv, vεv, taking values in a sample space xv. to simplify notation, v will be used in place of xv hereinafter. in an adg, the parents of a vertex v, pa(v), are those vertices from which edges point into v. the descendants of a vertex v, pa(v), are those vertices from which edges point into v. the descendants of a vertex v are the vertices that are reachable from v along a directed path. a vertex w is a child of v if there is an edge from v to w. the parents of v are taken to be the only direct influences on v, so that v is independent of its non-descendants given its parents. this property implies a factorization of the joint density of xv, which is denoted by p(v), given by in the bayesian framework, model parameters are random variables and, hence, appear as vertices in the graph. when some variables are discrete and others continuous, or when some of the variables are latent or have missing values, a closed-form bayesian analysis generally does not exist. analysis then requires either analytic approximations or some kind of simulation methods. one such simulation method is the monte carlo method that has been used to compute the integral of some function f(x) over some region d, by drawing independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) random samples uniformly from d. fig. 1 provides some intuition in this process. the curve represents the unknown probability density function (pdf) of a variable (e.g. the x-coordinate of an object to be localized). monte carlo sampling methods approximate the pdf by building a histogram using randomized draws. if the draws are generated by evolving a markov chain, they are no longer independent, and the process is called markov chain monte carlo (mcmc). markov chain monte carlo an mcmc method starts with some initial values for each stochastic variable v (e.g. x-coordinate), and then cycles through the graph replacing the old value of each v with a new value. the new value is drawn from some distribution that depends on the mcmc method used. after sufficient iterations of the procedure, one assumes the markov chain has reached its stationary distribution. future simulated values are then monitored. the monitoring process may record the entire histogram, or only measure the median, mean, or the 95% interval. once a markov chain has reached its stationary distribution, a delicate issue is whether the chain moves fast around the space of the conditional posterior distribution of a stochastic variable. if it does, it is said that the chain “mixes” rapidly. intuitively, mixing describes how much of the domain is explored as a function of time. below is a brief overview of two exemplary mcmc methods that can be used for bayesian inference. more details and other methods can be found in the literature. gibbs sampling a single-variable or univariate (updates one variable at a time) gibbs sampler chooses the new value of a stochastic variable v from its conditional probability distribution, given all the other quantities, denoted v\v, fixed at their current values (known as the “full conditional”). the crucial connection between directed graphical models and gibbs sampling lies in expression (1). the full conditional distribution for any vertex v is equal to: i.e., a prior term and a set of likelihood terms, one for each child of v. thus, when sampling from the full conditional for v, one need consider only vertices that are parents, children, or parents of children of v to perform local computations. conjugate sampling in many applications, full conditional densities can be expressed in a closed form (conjugate). thus, drawing samples from it can be done using standard algorithms. for instance, the full conditional could be a normal or a gamma distribution from which sampling is straightforward. slice sampling in bayesian networks representing typical wireless device localization scenarios, some full conditionals are complex and unavailable in closed form. for instance, one cannot directly compute the pdf of a variable that represents the x-coordinate of a point to be localized. in these situations, slice sampling can be used, which is a general process that works to estimate arbitrary distributions. with reference to fig. 3 , which is a probability density function of y as a function of x, i.e., y=f(x), suppose f(x) is the full conditional density of a variable, x. an issue in gibbs sampling is that each time the value of one variable changes, the underlying f for that instance of the network also changes. thus, the true joint-density of a variable cannot be computed by simply running through the domain in small increments and building the curve directly, because the curve will change when the value of another variable is changed. slice sampling follows a strategy of drawing randomized values of f(x) for each variable, following a procedure to pick randomized values in the domain in a way such that the number of times these occur (or fall into specific discrete ranges) will approximate the pdf of the full conditional. for an initial value x o for the variable x, then the method uses an auxiliary variable y=k f(x 0 ), where k is uniformly distributed in (0, 1), to define a slice s, such that s={x: y<f(x)\} (see fig. 3 ). assuming s is known, then one would like to pick a new value, x 1 , uniformly across the domain defined by the slice. however, the edges of s are not necessarily easily estimated, and so it must be approximated with an interval i. several schemes are possible in order to find i: if the range of the variable is bounded, i can be the whole range. thus, there is no computational cost for i. this approach is herein termed whole domain sampling and it is the approach of the present invention.alternately, one can start with an initial guess w of s that contains the current value of the variable, and then perhaps expand it by a “stepping out” process. the process expands w in steps of size w until both ends are outside the slice or a predetermined limit is reached. for example, in fig. 1 , if w is equal to the width of a bar in the histogram, i might by off from s by at most one w on each side.as another alternative, given a guess w of s, w can be expanded following a “doubling out” procedure. doubling produces a sequence of intervals, each twice the size of the previous one, until an interval is found with both ends outside the slice or a predetermined limit is reached. the concept behind this approach is that finding the edges of s should be much faster even though some precision is lost. both “step out” and “double out” start by positioning the estimate w randomly around the current value x 0 . the predetermined limit that may apply to terminate the expansion of w is an interval of size mw, for some specified integer m. once an interval i has been found, “step out” follows a shrinkage procedure that samples uniformly from an interval that is initially equal to i and which shrinks each time a point is drawn that is not in s∩i (e.g. point x 2 in fig. 3 where f(x 2 )<y). a point picked that is outside s∩i is used to shrink i in such a way that the current point x 0 remains within it. “double out” follows the same shrinkage process with some additional constraints for the point that is finally accepted. depending on the shape of f(x), and the quality of i's approximation of s, many draws of x may be rejected. in practice, to avoid possible problems with floating-point underflow, it is safer to compute g(x)=−in(f(x)) rather than f(x) itself, and thus s={x:g(x)<−in(k)+g(x0)}. g(x) is herein termed “minus log the full conditional density”. metropolis algorithm a univariate metropolis algorithm is an mcmc method that chooses the next value of a stochastic variable v by first sampling a candidate point y from a proposal distribution q. practically, q is used to propose a random “unbiased perturbation” of the current value of v. for example, q could be a normal distribution with a mean current value of v and a user defined variance. it then computes the “gain” in an objective function resulting from this perturbation. a random number u uniformly distributed in (0, 1), is generated and the candidate point y is accepted if in(u) is smaller than or equal to the “gain”. otherwise, it is rejected and v retains its current value. heuristically, the metropolis algorithm is constructed based on a “trial-and-error” strategy. in this work, one selects as an objective function minus log the full conditional g of v and, thus, measures the “gain” as δg=g(v)−g(y). gibbs sampling can be seen as a special case of the metropolis algorithm, since the proposal function for gibbs is the full conditional of a node and the acceptance function is always one (the candidate point y in gibbs sampling is always accepted). finally, in some embodiments, the metropolis algorithm can be used for some nodes of a network and gibbs sampling can be used for the remaining nodes. this is herein called metropolis-within-gibbs sampling. localization models figs. 2a-2d present a series of bayesian network models of increasing complexity that embody extant knowledge about wi-fi signals as well as physical constraints. the models are called m 1 , m 2 , m 3 and a 1 . each rectangle is a “plate”, and shows a part of the network that is repeated. the nodes in each plate are repeated for each of the d access points (or landmarks). the vertices x and y represent location, while vertex d i represents the euclidean distance between the location specified by (x,y) and the ith access point. x and y are bounded by the length l and the breadth b, respectively of the wireless network coverage area (or a particular building employing wireless device localization). the vertex si (m 1 , m 2 , m 3 ) represents the signal strength measured at (x, y) with respect to the ith access point. model a 1 of fig. 2d differs from the other models in that it incorporates both the knowledge of angle-of-arrival of the signal (aoa) and the knowledge of received signal strength (rss). in a 1 , there are m signal strength readings at a particular location (x,y) with respect to the ith access point. each is measured when the rotational directional antenna of the access point is at an angle θ ij and the signal is received by the mobile at an angle a ij . the ratio 360/m is called granularity g and is the angle interval, in a rotation of the antenna, at which the signal strengths are measured. all models reflect the fact that signal strength decays approximately linearly with log distance. flowchart in short, algorithms in accordance with the present invention save significant processing overhead by substantially reducing the number of times that the value of the probability density function (or a function that is directly proportional to the probability distribution) (hereinafter collectively “density function”) has to be calculated to generate a bayesian network. particularly, in the prior art, the value of g(x) had to be performed repeatedly for every instance of the network in order to determine an interval s or i ( fig. 1 ) in which a sample would be taken. in the present invention, no interval is determined. instead, a random value x 0 (or value set if more than one variable) is taken anywhere within the whole domain of the variable(s) x and the value of the density function, g, for that value of x is calculated, i.e., g(x 0 ). fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the basic steps in accordance with one particular embodiment of the invention. the process commences at 400 . in step 402 , a random value x 0 (or value set if more than one variable or a single value if doing them in turn) is taken anywhere within the whole domain of the variable(s) x. in step 404 , the value of the density function, g, for that value of x is calculated, i.e., g(x 0 ). in step 406 , a random value y between 0 and the value of the density function for x 0 , g(x 0 ), is selected. next, in step 408 , another random value x 1 of the variable(s) x over the whole domain of x is taken. in step 410 , the value of the density function for value x 1 is calculated, i.e., g(x 1 ). in step 412 , it is determined if the value of the density function for x 1 is greater than y. if so, flow proceeds to step 414 , in which the sample is used to build the next instance of the bayesian network. if not, the sample is discarded and flow proceeds back to step 408 , where another sample of x, e.g., x 2 , is taken. steps 408 , 410 , and 412 are repeated until g(x i ) yields a value greater than y (so that flow can proceed from step 412 to step 414 , in which a next instance of the bayesian network is built with the sample. next, in decision step 416 , it is determined if enough samples have been collected to accurately calculate a distribution. this determination may be based strictly on the number of samples reaching a predetermined number, as is common. however, it also may be based on some calculation indicative of whether the density function has reached a substantially stationary distribution. in any event, if more samples must be collected, flow returns to step 402 to start the process for the next sample. on the other hand, if enough samples have been collected, flow proceeds to step 418 , in which the distribution is calculated. the process ends at step 420 . when flow returns from step 416 to step 402 , another value of x can be selected at random. however, in order to save even further processing overhead by further reducing the number of times g(x i ) must be calculated, any one of the previous samples selected in step 408 (whether they were used or discarded) can be used as the “random” value of x for the generation of the next instance of the network. this saves computational overhead because the value of the distribution function g(x) for that value of x was already calculated previously and can simply be re-used. experimental results this section presents results of experiments performed on a pentium 4 pc with a 2.80 ghz cpu, 1 gb of ram running microsoft windows xp. the software was implemented in ansi c. all of the networks use training data in the learning process that maps signals to locations (m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , a 1 ) and also to angles (a 1 ). for m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , we used the br dataset from madigan, e., elnahrawy, e., martin, r. p., ju, w., krishnan, p., and krishnakumar, a., “ bayesian indoor positioning systems ”, infocom, 2005, that contains 253 training points, was collected in a building that measures 255 ft×144 ft, and has 5 access points. for a 1 , we used a dataset from eiman elnahrawy, john austin-francisco and richard p. martin, “adding angle of arrival modality to basic rss location management techniques”. to appear in proceedings of ieee international symposium on wireless pervasive computing (iswpc '07), puerto rico, february, 2007, consisting of 20 points that were collected in a building that measures 200 ft×80 ft and has 4 access points. profiling a gibbs sampler a gibbs sampler was implemented first for all the exemplary networks of figs. 2a-2d . the sampler uses slice sampling for the variables x, y (m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , a 1 ) and α ij (a 1 ). all the other stochastic quantities are sampled using either a conjugate normal or a conjugate gamma method. the solvers were implemented in such a way so that the values of deterministic nodes (nodes that are a logical function of other nodes in the network) that do not change in every iteration are calculated only once in the whole sampling process. examples of such cases are the values of nodes d i and c i for the observable data. figs. 5a-5h show the breakdown of the average execution times of gibbs sampling when slice sampling uses step out ( figs. 5a , 5 b, 5 e, and 5 f) and the whole domain ( figs. 5c , 5 d, 5 g, and 5 h). the top row ( figs. 5a-5d ) is expressed in terms of absolute time, whereas the bottom row (figs. e- 5 h) is expressed as a percentage of the whole time. figs. 5a and 5b depict the average execution time breakdown (over 30 runs) of gibbs sampling for the four networks of figs. 2a-2d , when the slice sampling method applies step out with w=1 ft and m=10 (mw is used as a limit to terminate the step out process; see slice sampling description). for network a 1 of fig. 2d , the value of granularity is g=120. one can see that, as the number of points one tries to localize increases from 1 ( figs. 5a and 5e ) to 10 ( figs. 5d and 5f ), slice sampling dominates the total time of the sampler. there also is an increase on the time of the conjugate methods because, when there are 10 points to localize, there are more deterministic nodes corresponding to non-observables whose values need to be estimated in every iteration. the reason that slice sampling takes so much time in network a 1 is that it is used not only to estimate x and y, but also to estimate the angle, α ij . mcmc algorithms to speed slice sampling, several variations were tried. metropolis-within-gibbs sampling also was implemented. table i below summarizes the mcmc methods used for bayesian inference on the networks. it can be categorized into metropolis-within-gibbs sampling (met algorithms) and gibbs sampling (slice algorithms). the metropolis-within-gibbs samplers apply the metropolis algorithm for x, y, a ij and conjugate sampling for the remaining stochastic quantities. for the experiments, two forms for the proposal distribution of the metropolis algorithm were used; namely, a uniform distribution over the whole domain of the variables x, y, a ij , since these variables are bounded with domain (0 . . . l), (0 . . . b) and (0 . . . 2π) respectively, and also a gaussian centered on the current value and standard deviation k for x, y and i for a ij . on the other hand, gibbs samplers apply slice sampling for x, y, a ij and conjugate sampling for the other variables. four types of slice sampling were implemented including, univariate slice sampling by: (a) sampling uniformly over the whole domain of x, y, a ij , (b) doing step out, (c) doing double out. for the latter two cases, we used w=kft for x and y, w=i radians for a ij and m=10 to terminate the expanding process. finally, two-dimensional slice sampling (multivariate approach) was implemented that updates x and y simultaneously and samples uniformly over the domain of x and y, while for a ij it follows univariate slice sampling over the whole domain. table iall algorithms.algorithmdescriptionmet wdunivariate metropolis with proposal uniform overthe whole domain of x, y (uniform over the wholedomain for angle)met sd = kunivariate metropolis with proposal gaussian whose(or sd = k, l)standard deviation is k and mean the current value(the standard deviation is l for angle).slice wdunivariate slice sampling over the whole domain ofx, y (univariate slice sampling over the wholedomain for angle).slice so = kunivariate slice sampling for x, y by doing step(or so = k, l)out with w = k and m = 10 (w = l for angle).slice do = kunivariate slice sampling for x, y by doing double(or do = k, l)out with w = k and m = 10 (w = l for angle).slice2d wdtwo-dimensional (x and y are updated together) slicesampling over the whole domain of x, y (univariateslice sampling over the whole domain for angle).the text in the parentheses refers to a1 comparing algorithms figs. 6a-6i present the average performance achieved by the algorithms in accordance with the present invention expressed as relative accuracy and standard deviation vs. time. relative accuracy is herein deemed to be the euclidean distance of the results of the solver compared to the ones from winbugs after running winbugs for 10000 iterations as burn-in, 100000 additional and having the over relax option set. the samples of the burn-in iterations are discarded and do not count in the estimation of analytic summaries for the stochastic quantities. the idea here is that the per-variable statistics of long runs of a well-tested, widely-used solver should converge to the true distribution as defined by the combination of the model and data. all the results are thus compared against this standard, as opposed to “ground truth” accuracy of the true location of the object. the solvers were run with 100 iterations as burn-in and the additional ranged from 1000 to 10000 with increments of 1000. in each case, the results are the average of 30 runs. univariate slice sampling over the whole domain (“slice wd” in the graphs) has the best ratio of relative accuracy vs. time for all networks. specifically, it can localize 1 or 10 points with relative accuracy less than 1 ft in less than half a second. moreover, “met sd=1” and “slice so=1” have the worst performance, since they converge very slowly to the winbugs solution as can be seen from fig. 6f . hence, they fail to mix rapidly. among the remaining algorithms, “slice do=1”, “met sd=20” and “slice so=10” are not stable in providing a solution, as indicated by their standard deviation in figs. 6g , 6 h, and 6 i that needs more than 10000 iterations in order for its value to become small. furthermore, as can be seen in the graphs of figs. 6a-6i , some lines are shorter than others. the reason is that the computational cost per iteration is different for the algorithms in accordance with the present invention and as a result some algorithms take less time to execute than others. the computational cost of all these algorithms is determined by the number of evaluations of minus log the full conditional g of a stochastic variable. fig. 7 depicts the average number of evaluations per variable x and y for network m 1 after 10,000 iterations of minus log the full conditional g(x) for 253 training points to localize i. the metropolis algorithms perform fewer evaluations compared to the slice sampling algorithms. the reason is that slice sampling algorithms that follow the step out and double out processes (“slice so” and “slice do” in the graphs) evaluate g several times until they get an estimate of the slice. in addition, all slice sampling methods follow a shrinkage procedure during which g could potentially be evaluated several times until the next value to be accepted is found. on the other hand, metropolis algorithms evaluate g once before a candidate point y is proposed and once after. among the slice sampling algorithms, two-dimensional slice sampling (“slice2d wd”) and univariate slice sampling (“slice wd”) over the whole domain of x and y have the fewest evaluations. the first of the two takes advantage of the fact that x and y have the same full conditional and, as a result, g is estimated once when x and y need to be updated, whereas the latter estimates g once for x and once for y. since “slice wd” and “slice2d wd” take the whole domain as an estimate of the slice, the only evaluations of g they perform is in the shrinkage process. specifically, “slice wd” performs 4.13 evaluations per variable on average in the shrinkage process, out of which 2.13 are rejections. this is a clear indication that g is relatively flat, because the method can find a point within the slice with only a few rejections. figs. 5c , 5 d, 5 g, and 5 h depict the average execution time breakdown of gibbs sampling, when slice sampling uses the “slice wd” method. “slice wd” takes less time when compared to “slice so=1” that is shown in figs. 5a , 5 b, 5 e, and 5 f. particularly, slice sampling is 2.06 times faster for m 3 to 2.57 times faster for a 1 when localizing 1 point, and is 2.13 times faster for m 3 to 2.51 times faster for a 1 when localizing 10 points. finally, fig. 8 compares the average execution time (over 30 runs) of gibbs sampling when using “slice wd” to winbugs (over relax option set). the solver in accordance with the present invention is faster than winbugs by a factor that ranges from 9.8 (m 3 ) to 17.9 (a 1 ) for localizing 1 point, and from 9.1 (m 1 ) to 16.1 (a 1 ) for 10 points. no location information madigan, d., elnahrawy, e., martin, r. p., ju, w., krishnan, p., and krishnakumar, a., “ bayesian indoor positioning systems ”, infocom, 2005, showed how m 2 can localize points with no location information in the training set. however, when the solver was run for 51 signal vectors and with 51 unknown positions, the solver occasionally returned a solution different from winbugs. the solver found an alternate, but incorrect, solution for the values of the coefficients of the linear regression model that describes how a signal degrades linearly with log distance. specifically, although the parameters b i0 and b i1 (see figs. 2a-2d ) are supposed to be negative and positive respectively, the solver found a solution with inverted signs for these parameters. when there is location information in the training set, alternate solutions are never rendered because the location information restricts the sign of b i0 to be negative. so, b i0 was bounded to be negative when there is no location information. figs. 9a and 9b show the performance of the solver of the present invention for seven of the algorithms after bounding b i0 . specifically, figs. 9a and 9b are graphs showing the relative accuracy and standard deviation, respectively, versus run time of a localization system comparing an algorithm in accordance with the present invention with several prior art algorithms. the figures show that the solver localizes a point with relative accuracy of less than 3 ft in 6 seconds with all algorithms except “slice do” that converges more slowly to the winbugs solution. the remaining two algorithms, “slice so=1” and “met sd=1” (not shown) perform poorly. having thus described a few particular embodiments of the invention, various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. such alterations, modifications, and improvements as are made obvious by this disclosure are intended to be part of this description though not expressly stated herein, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention. accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only, and not limiting. the invention is limited only as defined in the following claims and equivalents thereto.
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"AT",
"DE"
] |
F01D5/18,F23R3/04,F28D15/00,F01D5/28
| 2005-04-12T00:00:00 |
2005
|
[
"F01",
"F23",
"F28"
] |
component with film cooling hole
|
conventionally coated components with film cooling holes are known, comprising a diffuser, extending through the layers into the substrate. according to the invention, the component is embodied such that the whole diffuser (13) is largely arranged in the layer (7, 10).
|
1 .- 15 . (canceled) 16 . a component having a film cooling hole, comprising: a component substrate; and a layer arranged on the substrate where the film cooling hole comprises a diffuser in an outer region and a hot gas flows over the film cooling hole in an overflow direction, the film cooling hole comprising a lower part, and the diffuser adjoins the lower part as part of the film cooling hole and wherein, the diffuser is substantially arranged in the layer, the overall coating thickness is 60% of the overall length of the diffuser as measured along a normal to the outer surface of the layer, the diffuser widens in the plane of the outer surface of the layer in the overflow direction at an angle to the overflow direction transversely to the overflow direction, the outlet opening of the film cooling hole comprises a leading edge and a trailing edge in the overflow direction and the diffuser widens in the plane of the outlet opening starting from the leading edge, so that the diffuser is shaped trapezoidally in the plane of the outer surface. 17 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the coating thickness is 90% of the overall length of the diffuser. 18 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the coating thickness is equal to the overall length of the diffuser. 19 . the component as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the substrate comprises an outer surface, and the film cooling hole extends between an angle of 30°-45° to the outer surface in the layer. 20 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein a medium flows through the film cooling hole in an outflow direction, the film cooling hole comprises a lower part, the diffuser adjoins the lower part as part of the film cooling hole and in the outflow direction has a cross section widening perpendicular to the outflow direction, the cross section of the diffuser widening in particular only in the overflow direction. 21 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein in that a medium flows through the film cooling hole in an outflow direction, in that the film cooling hole comprises a lower part, in that the diffuser adjoins the lower part as part of the film cooling hole, in that a contour line along the contour of the lower part extends parallel to the outflow direction, a diffuser line extends on the inner side of the diffuser, which is a projection of the overflow direction onto the inner face of an appendage of the diffuser, and the diffuser line makes an angle of 10° with the contour line. 22 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein a hot gas flows over the film cooling hole in an overflow direction, a medium flows through the film cooling hole in an outflow direction, the film cooling hole comprises a lower part, the diffuser adjoins the lower part as part of the film cooling hole and in the outflow direction has a cross section widening perpendicular to the outflow direction, the area of the diffuser as seen in the overflow direction at the level of the surface is arranged substantially behind the film cooling hole. 23 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the diffuser consists of a continuation of the contour of the lower part and an appendage, and only the appendage of the diffuser widens toward the outer surface so that it is shaped trapezoidally in the outer surface. 24 . the component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an angle between the overflow direction and a lateral delimiting line of the appendage of the diffuser in the plane of the surface is 10°. 25 . the component as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the diffuser has a longitudinal length in the plane of the outer surface in the overflow direction equal to 3 mm, and the broadest transverse length perpendicularly to the longitudinal length is at most 10 mm. 26 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein an outer layer is applied on an intermediately lying layer. 27 . the component as claimed in claim 25 , wherein the intermediately lying layer consists of an mcralx type alloy, and the outer layer constitutes a ceramic thermal insulation layer. 28 . the component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the component is a steam or gas turbine component. 29 . the component as claimed in claim 28 , wherein the steam or gas turbine component is a turbine blade or a heat shield element.
|
the invention relates to a component having a film cooling hole according to the preamble of claim 1 . components for applications at high temperatures consist of a superalloy with additional protection against oxidation, corrosion and high temperatures. to this end, the substrate of the component comprises a corrosion protection layer on which, for example, an outer ceramic thermal insulation layer is also applied. through-holes, out of which a coolant flows on the outer surface and contributes to the film cooling, are also made in the substrate and the layers for additional cooling. the film cooling hole is widened in the vicinity of the outer surface to form a so-called diffuser. when newly producing a component having a film cooling hole, problems arise since the diffuser must be made both through the layers and for the most part in the substrate. during the refurbishment of components, the problem is that the through-hole is already present and the substrate needs to be recoated, so that coating material must subsequently be removed from the diffuser region in the through-hole. u.s. pat. no. 4,743,462 discloses a method for closing a film cooling hole, in which a plug consisting of a pin and a spherical head is inserted into the film cooling hole. a bell-shaped indentation is thereby produced inside the coating. the indentation does not serve as a diffuser, however, since it is symmetrically designed. the functionality of the head furthermore consists in the material of the head evaporating during the coating. it is not therefore possible to produce accurate, reproducible indentations for a multiplicity of film cooling holes. similar symmetrical widening of a film cooling hole is disclosed in fig. 3 of u.s. pat. no. 6,573,474. ep 1 350 860 a1 discloses a method for masking a film cooling hole. the material of the masking means is selected so that no coating material is deposited there during the subsequent coating. an accurate, reproducible shape of the indentations inside a layer cannot be produced in this case. furthermore, a diffuser is not described here. ep 1 091 090 a2 discloses a film cooling hole in which a groove is made in the layer, so that the groove extends along a plurality of film cooling holes. neither the film cooling holes nor the groove have a diffuser region. u.s. pat. no. 5,941,686 discloses a layer system, in which the substrate is processed. a diffuser region is not disclosed. ep 1 076 107 a1 discloses a method for masking film cooling holes in which a plug, which protrudes from the hole, is respectively produced in the film cooling hole. to this end air is blown through the film cooling hole in a first step and a coating is applied, a precursor for the plug to be produced subsequently being introduced into the film cooling hole and into the coating. that part of the plug which is arranged inside the temporary layer has its shape determined by how strongly a medium is blown through the film cooling hole and how the coating of the temporary layer is carried out. the shape of that part of the plug which protrudes from the hole is therefore not reproducible. it is therefore an object of the invention to overcome this problem. the object is achieved by a component as claimed in claim 1 . further advantageous measures, which may arbitrarily be combined with one another in an advantageous way, are listed in the dependent claims. figs. 1 to 6 show exemplary embodiments of a component according to the invention having a film cooling hole, figs. 7 , 8 show a plan view of a film cooling hole according to the invention, figs. 9 to 13 show configurations of a film cooling hole, fig. 14 illustrates the disadvantage of the prior art, fig. 15 shows a turbine blade, fig. 16 shows a combustion chamber, fig. 17 shows a gas turbine. fig. 1 shows a component 1 , 120 , 130 , 138 , 155 consisting of a substrate 4 and a single outer layer 7 . particularly for components 120 , 130 , 138 , 155 for turbines, the substrate 4 is a superalloy based on iron, nickel and/or cobalt. the outer layer 7 is preferably a corrosion and/or oxidation layer based on an mcralx alloy ( fig. 15 ). it may however also be ceramic. the substrate 4 and the layer 7 comprise at least one film cooling hole 28 which, on the side 22 which is hot under operational conditions of use, comprises a diffuser 13 which departs from the e.g. cylindrical, square or generally speaking symmetrical contour 49 of the lower part 24 of the film cooling hole 28 near a cooling reservoir 31 and increases in cross section. the film cooling hole 28 thus consists of a lower part 24 and the outer diffuser 13 . the diffuser 13 has an outlet opening 58 , over which a hot gas flows in an overflow direction 37 . the diffuser 13 is formed from an imaginary extension 12 of the contour 49 as far as the surface 25 and an appendage 14 ( fig. 2 ), which adjoins one or more side faces of the extension 12 . in the cross-sectional view of fig. 1 , the appendage 14 preferably has a wedge shape. in the plane of the outer surface, the diffuser 13 thus does not have rotational symmetry, the centroid of the asymmetric shape being displaced in the overflow direction 37 from the centroid of the symmetric shape of the contour 49 . along the normal 27 to the outer surface 25 , that cross-sectional area of the film cooling hole 28 which is perpendicular to the normal 27 becomes greater, i.e. the diffuser 13 is fully or preferably partially designed with a funnel shape. according to the invention, the diffuser 13 is arranged for the most part inside the single layer 7 , i.e. when the diffuser 13 extends with an overall length 19 into the depth along a normal 27 of the component 1 which is perpendicular to the outer surface 25 or perpendicular to the overflow direction 37 , then there is a substrate length 16 of the diffuser 13 which constitutes the proportion of the diffuser 13 in the substrate 4 . the substrate length 16 is designed to be significantly less than the overall length 19 . the overall coating thickness 26 (here that of the layer 7 ) forms the remaining part of the overall length 19 of the diffuser 13 . the coating thickness 26 is at least 50%, preferably at least 60% or at least 70%, in particular 80% or 90% of the overall length 19 . as an alternative, the diffuser 13 may be arranged entirely in the single layer 7 ( fig. 3 , layer thickness 26 =overall length 19 ). in fig. 4 , there are two layers on the substrate 4 . these are in turn a corrosion and oxidation protection layer 7 , on which an outer ceramic thermal insulation layer 10 is also applied. as in fig. 1 , there are lengths 16 , 19 of the diffuser 13 , the layer thickness 26 again constituting at least 50%, 60% or in particular 70%, in particular 80% or 90% of the overall length 19 . the diffuser 13 may likewise be arranged entirely in the two layers 7 , 10 ( fig. 5 ). correspondingly as for the two layers according to figs. 4 , 5 , this also applies for three or more layers. the fact that the diffuser 13 is arranged for the most part or entirely in the layers 7 , 10 provides advantages for refurbishing the component 1 , for example in respect of laser erosion or removal of material, above the lower part 24 , which covers the outlet opening 58 after recoating of the component 1 , specifically in that the laser or other coating apparatus only needs to be adjusted for the material of the layers 7 , 10 and processing of the other material, i.e. that of the substrate 4 , does not need to be taken into account. fig. 6 shows a cross section through a component 1 having a film cooling hole 28 . the substrate 4 comprises an outer surface 43 , on which the at least one layer 7 , 10 is applied. the diffuser 13 is for example arranged for the most part (according to figs. 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) in the layer 7 , 10 , although it may also exist entirely in the substrate 4 or for the most part in the substrate 4 . the lower part 24 of the film cooling hole 28 comprises for example a symmetry line 46 in longitudinal section. the symmetry line 46 also constitutes for example an outflow direction 46 for a coolant, which flows through the cooling hole 28 . a contour line 47 , which extends parallel to the symmetry line 46 on the inner side of the film cooling hole 28 or represents a projection of the symmetry line 46 onto the inner side of the lower part 24 of the film cooling hole 28 , makes an acute angle α 1 with the outer surface 43 , which is in particular 300+/−10%. the film cooling hole 28 is thus inclined in the overflow direction 37 . the edge length a 28 ( fig. 8 ) or the diameter φ 28 of the film cooling hole 28 is for example about 0.62 mm or 0.7 mm for a rotor blade and about 0.71 mm or 0.8 mm for guide vanes. the contour line 47 , which preferably extends parallel to the outflow direction 46 along the contour 49 of the lower part 24 , makes an acute angle α 2 with a diffuser line 48 which extends on the inner face 50 of the appendage 14 of the diffuser 13 , and which represents a projection of the overflow direction 37 onto the inner face 50 of the appendage 14 of the diffuser 13 . the angle α 2 is in particular 10°+/−10%. along the symmetry line 46 , the lower part 24 has a constant cross section which comprises in particular n-fold rotational symmetry (square, rectangular, round, oval, . . . ). the diffuser 13 is created by the cross-sectional area of the film cooling hole 28 widening, i.e. being designed with a funnel shape in cross section. the appendage 14 to the contour 49 does not necessarily extend entirely around the outlet opening 58 of the film cooling hole 28 , rather only partially, in particular over half or less of the circumference of the outlet opening 58 . the diffuser 13 is preferably arranged only—as seen in the overflow direction 37 of the hot gas 22 —in the rear region of the opening 58 ( fig. 7 ). side lines 38 of the diffuser 13 or of the appendage 14 extend for example parallel to the overflow direction 37 in plan view ( fig. 7 ). the overall layer thickness of the at least one layer 7 , 10 is from about 400 μm to 700 μm, in particular 600 μm. fig. 8 shows another configuration of the film cooling hole 28 and a plan view of the diffuser 13 in the plane of the outer surface 25 of the layer system or component 1 . the appendage 14 has, for example, a trapezoidal shape in the plane of the outer surface 25 . in the plane of the surface 25 , the appendage 14 of the diffuser 13 has a longitudinal length l 1 of preferably about 3 mm in the overflow direction 37 . the greatest width i.e. the greatest transverse length l 2 of the diffuser 13 in the surface, i.e. measured perpendicularly to the overflow direction 37 , preferably has a size of 2+−0.2 mm for rotor blades and a size of 4+−0.2 mm for guide vanes, and is at most 8 mm. in the exemplary embodiment of fig. 8 , the widening of the diffuser 13 begins on a widening front edge 62 , i.e. at the appendage 14 , and widens in the overflow direction 37 . the overflow direction 37 makes an acute angle α 3 , in particular 10°+/−10%, with a lateral delimiting line 38 of the appendage 14 in the plane of the outer surface 25 . the diffuser 13 preferably widens departing from the contour 49 of the lower part 24 , which is for example symmetrical with respect to two mutually perpendicular axes, transversely to the flow direction 37 in each case by an angle α 3 , which is in particular 10°+/−10%, in which case the widening already begins on a leading edge 61 (as seen in the overflow direction 37 ) of the film cooling hole 28 and extends as far as the trailing edge 64 . the diffuser 13 therefore has a trapezoidal cross section in the plane of the surface 25 ( fig. 9 ). the diffuser 13 is produced by a material erosion method, for example electron bombardment or laser irradiation. only in this way can a multiplicity of cooling holes be produced accurately and reproduced. figs. 10 , 11 , 12 and 13 show various contours of the film cooling hole 28 . the lower part 24 of the film cooling hole 28 is designed to be cuboid here, merely by way of example, although it may also have a round or oval cross-sectional shape. the diffuser 13 in fig. 10 is lengthened for example only in the overflow direction 37 , so that the cross section of the outlet opening 58 is greater than the cross section of the lower part 24 . the film cooling hole 28 thus corresponds to the film cooling hole according to fig. 2 , 6 or 7 . based on fig. 10 , fig. 11 represents a film cooling hole 28 which is also widened in the overflow direction 37 transversely to the overflow direction 37 , i.e. it corresponds to fig. 8 . the diffuser 13 in fig. 12 is lengthened for example only transversely to the overflow direction 37 , so that here again the cross section of the outlet opening 58 is greater than the cross section of the lower part 24 . the film cooling hole 28 consists for example of a cuboid lower part 24 , which is adjoined by a diffuser 13 in the form of a hexahedron with parallel trapezoidal side faces. the diffuser 13 in fig. 13 is widened both only in the overflow direction 37 and in both directions transversely to the overflow direction 37 . figs. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 and 13 respectively show that the diffuser 13 is for the most part arranged behind the outlet opening 58 , as seen in the overflow direction 37 . this means that the diffuser 13 is formed by an asymmetric widening as seen in the overflow direction 37 . uniform widening of the cross section of the lower part 24 of the film cooling hole 28 at the level of the outer surface 25 is not desired. it can be seen clearly in fig. 6 , and is correspondingly described, that the appendage 14 represents a widening of the cross section in the overflow direction 37 so that the diffuser is formed. this is also shown by the plan view of fig. 6 according to fig. 7 . in fig. 8 , the widening of the aperture of the cross section of the film cooling hole in the overflow direction 37 begins from the line 62 . in fig. 9 , the widening of the diffuser 13 already begins on the leading edge 61 as seen in the overflow direction 37 . widening of the cross section of the film cooling hole 28 at the level of the outer surface 25 against the flow direction 37 , i.e. before the leading edge 61 , is not present or is present only to a small extent compared with the widening of the cross section in the overflow direction 37 . fig. 15 shows a perspective view of a rotor blade 120 or guide vane 130 of a turbomachine, which extends along a longitudinal axis 121 . the turbomachine may be a gas turbine of an aircraft or of a power plant for electricity generation, a steam turbine or a compressor. successively along the longitudinal axis 121 , the blade 120 , 130 comprises a fastening region 400 , a blade platform 403 adjacent thereto and a blade surface 406 . as a guide vane 130 , the vane 130 may have a further platform (not shown) at its vane tip 415 . a blade root 183 , which is used to fasten the rotor blades 120 , 130 on a shaft or a disk (not shown), is formed in the fastening region 400 . the blade root 183 is configured, for example, as a hammerhead. other configurations as a firtree or dovetail root are possible. the blade 120 , 130 comprises a leading edge 409 and a trailing edge 412 for a medium which flows past the blade surface 406 . in conventional blades 120 , 130 , for example, solid metallic materials, in particular superalloys, are used in all regions 400 , 403 , 406 of the blade 120 , 130 . such superalloys are known, for example, from ep 1 204 776 b1, ep 1 306 454, ep 1 319 729 a1, wo 99/67435 or wo 00/44949; these documents are part of the disclosure in respect of the chemical composition of the alloy. the blades 120 , 130 may in this case be manufactured by a casting method, also by means of directional solidification, by a forging method, by a machining method or combinations thereof. workpieces with a monocrystalline structure or structures are used as components for machines which are exposed to heavy mechanical, thermal and/or chemical loads during operation. such monocrystalline workpieces are manufactured, for example, by directional solidification from the melt. these are casting methods in which the liquid metal alloy is solidified to form a monocrystalline structure, i.e. to form the monocrystalline workpieces, or directionally. dendritic crystals are in this case aligned along the heat flux and form either a rod-crystalline grain structure (columnar, i.e. grains which extend over the entire length of the workpiece and in this case, according to general terminology usage, are referred to as directionally solidified) or a monocrystalline structure, i.e. the entire workpiece consists of a single crystal. it is necessary to avoid the transition to globulitic (polycrystalline) solidification in this method, since nondirectional growth will necessarily form transverse and longitudinal grain boundaries which negate the good properties of the directionally solidified or monocrystalline component. when directionally solidified structures are referred to in general, this is intended to mean both single crystals which have no grain boundaries or at most small-angle grain boundaries, and also rod-crystal structures which, although they do have grain boundaries extending in the longitudinal direction, do not have any transverse grain boundaries. these latter crystalline structures are also referred to as directionally solidified structures. such methods are known from u.s. pat. no. 6,024,792 and ep 0 892 090 a1; these documents are part of the disclosure. the blades 120 , 130 may likewise comprise coatings against corrosion or oxidation, for example (mcralx; m is at least one element from the group iron (fe), cobalt (co), nickel (ni), x is an active element and stands for yttrium (y) and/or silicon and/or at least one rare-earth element, for example hafnium (hf)). such alloys are known, for example, from ep 0 486 489 b1, ep 0 786 017 b1, ep 0 412 397 b1 or ep 1 306 454 a1, which are intended to be part of this disclosure in respect of the chemical composition of the alloy. on the mcralx, there may also be a thermal insulation layer which consists for example of zro 2 , y 2 o 3 —zro 2 , i.e. it is non-stabilized or partially or fully stabilized by yttrium oxide and/or calcium oxide and/or magnesium oxide. rod-shaped grains are generated in the thermal insulation layer by suitable coating methods, for example electron beam deposition (eb-pvd). refurbishment means that components 120 , 130 may need to have protective layers removed from them after their use (for example by sandblasting). corrosion and/or oxidation layers or products are then removed. optionally, cracks in the component 120 , 130 will also be repaired. the component 120 , 130 is then recoated and the component 120 , 130 is used again. the blade 120 , 130 may be designed to be a hollow or solid. if the blade 120 , 130 is intended to be cooled, it will be hollow and optionally also comprise film cooling holes 418 (represented by dashes). fig. 16 shows a combustion chamber 110 of a gas turbine 100 . the combustion chamber 110 is designed for example as a so-called ring combustion chamber, in which a multiplicity of burners 107 arranged in the circumferential direction around a rotation axis 102 , which produce flames 156 , open into a common combustion chamber space 154 . to this end, the combustion chamber 110 in its entirety is designed as an annular structure which is positioned around the rotation axis 102 . in order to achieve a comparatively high efficiency, the combustion chamber 110 is designed for a relatively high temperature of the working medium m, i.e. about 1000° c. to 1600° c. in order to permit a comparatively long operating time even under these operating parameters which are unfavorable for the materials, the combustion chamber wall 153 is provided with an inner lining formed by heat shield elements 155 on its side facing the working medium m. each heat shield element 155 made of an alloy is equipped with a particularly heat-resistant protective layer on the working medium side (mcralx layer and/or ceramic coating), or is made of refractory material (solid ceramic blocks). these protective layers may be similar to the turbine blades, i.e. for example mcralx means: m is at least one element from the group iron (fe), cobalt (co), nickel (ni), x is an active element and stands for yttrium (y) and/or silicon and/or at least one rare-earth element, for example hafnium (hf). such alloys are known, for example, from ep 0 486 489 b1, ep 0 786 017 b1, ep 0 412 397 b1 or ep 1 306 454 a1, which are intended to be part of this disclosure in respect of the chemical composition of the alloy. on the mcralx, there may also be an e.g. ceramic thermal insulation layer which consists for example of zro 2 , y 2 o 3 —zro 2 , i.e. it is non-stabilized or partially or fully stabilized by yttrium oxide and/or calcium oxide and/or magnesium oxide. rod-shaped grains are generated in the thermal insulation layer by suitable coating methods, for example electron beam deposition (eb-pvd). refurbishment means that heat shield elements 155 may need to have protective layers removed from them after their use (for example by sandblasting). corrosion and/or oxidation layers or products are then removed. optionally, cracks in the heat shield element 155 will also be repaired. the heat shield elements 155 are then recoated and the heat shield elements 155 are used again. owing to the high temperatures inside the combustion chamber 110 , a cooling system is also provided for the heat shield elements 155 or their holding elements. the heat shield elements 155 are then for example hollow and optionally also comprise cooling holes (not shown) opening into the combustion chamber space 154 . fig. 17 shows by way of example a gas turbine 100 in a longitudinal partial section. the gas turbine 100 internally comprises a rotor 103 , or turbine rotor, mounted so that it can rotate about a rotation axis 102 and having a shaft 101 . successively along the rotor 103 , there are an intake manifold 104 , a compressor 105 , an e.g. toroidal combustion chamber 110 , in particular a ring combustion chamber, having a plurality of burners 107 arranged coaxially, a turbine 108 and the exhaust manifold 109 . the ring combustion chamber 110 communicates with an e.g. annular hot gas channel 111 . there, for example, four successively connected turbine stages 112 form the turbine 108 . each turbine stage 112 is for example formed by two blade rings. as seen in the flow direction of a working medium 113 , a row 125 formed by rotor blades 120 follows in the hot gas channel 111 of a guide vane row 115 . the guide vanes 130 are fastened on the stator 143 while the rotor blades 120 of a row 125 are fitted on the rotor 103 , for example by means of a turbine disk 133 . coupled to the rotor 103 , there is a generator or a work engine (not shown). during operation of the gas turbine 100 , air 135 is taken in by the compressor 105 through the intake manifold 104 and compressed. the compressed air provided at the turbine-side end of the compressor 105 is delivered to the burners 107 and mixed there with a fuel. the mixture is then burnt to form the working medium 113 in the combustion chamber 110 . from there, the working medium 113 flows along the hot gas channel 111 past the guide vanes 130 and the rotor blades 120 . at the rotor blades 120 , the working medium 113 expands by imparting momentum, so that the rotor blades 120 drive the rotor 103 and the work engine coupled to it. during operation of the gas turbine 100 , the components exposed to the hot working medium 113 experience thermal loads. apart from the heat shield elements lining the ring combustion chamber 110 , the guide vanes 130 and rotor blades 120 of the first turbine stage 112 , as seen in the flow direction of the working medium 113 , are thermally loaded most greatly. in order to withstand the temperatures prevailing there, they may be cooled by means of a coolant. the substrates may likewise comprise a directional structure, i.e. they are monocrystalline (sx structure) or comprise only longitudinally directed grains (ds). iron-, nickel- or cobalt-based superalloys, for example, are used as material for the components, in particular for the turbine blades and vanes 120 , 130 and components of the combustion chamber 110 . such superalloys are known, for example, from ep 1 204 776 b1, ep 1 306 454, ep 1 319 729 a1, wo 99/67435 or wo 00/44949; these documents are part of the disclosure in respect of the chemical composition of the alloy. the blades and vanes 120 , 130 may likewise comprise coatings against corrosion (mcralx; m is at least one element in the group iron (fe), cobalt (co), nickel (ni), x is an active element and stands for yttrium (y) and/or silicon, and/or at least one rare-earth element or hafnium). such alloys are known, for example, from ep 0 486 489 b1, ep 0 786 017 b1, ep 0 412 397 b1 or ep 1 306 454 a1, which are intended to be part of this disclosure in respect of the chemical composition of the alloy. on the mcralx, there may also be a thermal insulation layer, which consists for example of zro 2 , y 2 o 3 —zro 2 , i.e. it is non-stabilized or partially or fully stabilized by yttrium oxide and/or calcium oxide and/or magnesium oxide. rod-shaped grains are generated in the thermal insulation layer by suitable coating methods, for example electron beam deposition (eb-pvd). the guide vanes 130 comprise a guide vane root (not shown here) facing the inner housing 138 of the turbine 108 , and a guide vane head lying opposite the guide vane root. the guide vane head faces the rotor 103 and is fixed on a fastening ring 140 of the stator 143 .
|
190-095-459-700-022
|
JP
|
[
"CN",
"US",
"JP"
] |
H04N5/225,H04N5/232,H04N5/76,H04N5/926,H04N5/94,H04N9/88,H04N5/93
| 2008-04-21T00:00:00 |
2008
|
[
"H04"
] |
image processing apparatus, control method therefor
|
an image processing apparatus includes an input unit which receives, from an image capturing apparatus, moving image data in which the shadow of a foreign substance adhered to the surface of an optical member is captured, an obtaining unit which obtains, from the moving image data, foreign substance information including information of the position and size of the foreign substance captured in the moving image data, a playback unit which can play back the moving image data while correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in the moving image data by using the foreign substance information, a display unit which displays an image played back by the playback unit, and a setting unit which sets, in accordance with the playback status of the moving image data, whether to perform processing of correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in each frame of the moving image data.
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1. an image processing apparatus comprising: an acquiring unit which acquires moving image data in which a shadow of a foreign substance adhered to a surface of an optical member of an image capturing apparatus is captured and foreign substance information including information of a position and size of the foreign substance; a correction unit which corrects the shadow of the foreign substance in each frame of the moving image data by using the foreign substance information acquired by said acquiring unit; a playback unit which plays back the moving image data; and a control unit which controls the acquiring unit, the correction unit and the playback unit, wherein the control unit controls the acquiring unit, the correction unit and the playback unit so as to correct the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is slow-motion playback, and wherein the control unit controls the acquiring unit, the correction unit and the playback unit so as not to correct the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is either of fast-forward playback and fast-reverse playback. 2. the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the acquiring unit, the correction unit and the playback unit so as to correct the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is pause. 3. the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the acquiring unit, the correction unit and the playback unit so as to correct the shadow of the foreign substance in an arbitrary playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is pause. 4. the image processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the arbitrary playback frame includes a playback frame which has already been played back. 5. the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the acquiring unit, the correction unit and the playback unit so as to correct the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is either of forward frame advance and reverse frame advance. 6. the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing apparatus is arranged in the image capturing apparatus. 7. a method of controlling an image processing apparatus which has a processing unit, the method comprising: acquiring moving image data in which a shadow of a foreign substance adhered to a surface of an optical member of an image capturing apparatus is captured and foreign substance information including information of a position and size of the foreign substance; correcting by said processing unit the shadow of the foreign substance in the moving image data by using the foreign substance information stored; and playing back the moving image data; wherein when the playback status of the moving image data is slow-motion playback, the correction of the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back is performed, and wherein when the playback status of the moving image data is either of fast-forward playback and fast-reverse playback, the correction of the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back is not performed. 8. the method according to claim 7 , wherein the correction of the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back is performed when the playback status of the moving image data is pause. 9. the method according to claim 7 , wherein the correction of the shadow of the foreign substance in an arbitrary playback frame to be played back is performed when the playback status of the moving image data is pause. 10. the method according to claim 9 , wherein the arbitrary playback frame includes a playback frame which has already been played back. 11. the method according to claim 7 , wherein the correction of the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back is performed when the playback status of the moving image data is either of forward frame advance and reverse frame advance. 12. an image processing apparatus comprising: a processing unit which performs (i) acquiring moving image data in which a shadow of a foreign substance adhered to a surface of an optical member of an image capturing apparatus is captured and foreign substance information including information of a position and size of the foreign substance, (ii) correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in each frame of the moving image data by using the foreign substance information acquired in said acquiring step and (iii) playing back the moving image data, wherein the processing unit performs correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is slow-motion playback, and wherein the processing unit does not perform correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is either of fast-forward playback and fast-reverse playback. 13. the image processing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processing unit performs correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is pause. 14. the image processing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processing unit performs correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in an arbitrary playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is pause. 15. the image processing apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the arbitrary playback frame includes a playback frame which has already been played back. 16. the image processing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processing unit performs correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in a playback frame to be played back when the playback status of the moving image data is either of forward frame advance and reverse frame advance. 17. the image processing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the image processing apparatus is arranged in the image capturing apparatus.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to a technique of playing back moving image data of an mpeg format using inter-frame encoding. 2. description of the related art recently, a demand has arisen for a technique of handling moving image information as digital data, and encoding it at high compression ratio with high quality for use in accumulation and transmission. for image information compression, methods such as mpeg for compression-encoding image information by orthogonal transform (e.g., discrete cosine transform), motion prediction, and motion compensation using redundancy unique to moving image information have been proposed and become popular. manufacturers have developed and commercialized image capturing apparatuses (e.g., a digital camera and digital video camera), dvd recorders, and the like capable of recording images using these encoding methods. users can easily view images using these apparatuses, personal computers, dvd players, and the like. these days, h.264 (mpeg4-part10 avc) is available as an encoding method aiming at higher compression ratios and higher image qualities. it is known that h.264 requires larger calculation amounts for encoding and decoding than those in conventional encoding methods such as mpeg-2 and mpeg-4, but can achieve higher encoding efficiencies (see iso/iec 14496-10, “advanced video coding”). fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image processing apparatus which compresses image data by h.264. in fig. 1 , input image data is divided into macroblocks, which are sent to a subtracter 1101 . the subtracter 1101 calculates the difference between image data and a predicted value, and outputs it to an integer dct (discrete cosine transform) transform unit 1102 . the integer dct transform unit 1102 executes integer dct transform for the input data, and outputs the transformed data to a quantization unit 1103 . the quantization unit 1103 quantizes the input data. the quantized data is sent as difference image data to an entropy encoder 1115 , while it is inversely quantized by an inverse quantization unit 1104 , and undergoes inverse integer dct transform by an inverse integer dct transform unit 1105 . an adder 1106 adds a predicted value to the inversely transformed data, reconstructing an image. the reconstructed image is sent to a frame memory 1107 for intra (intra-frame) prediction, while it undergoes deblocking filter processing by a deblocking filter 1109 , and then is sent to a frame memory 1110 for inter (inter-frame) prediction. the image in the intra prediction frame memory 1107 is used for intra prediction by an intra prediction unit 1108 . the intra prediction uses the value of a pixel adjacent to an encoded block as a predicted value. the image in the inter prediction frame memory 1110 is formed from a plurality of pictures, as will be described later. a plurality of pictures is classified into two lists “list 0 ” and “list 1 ”. a plurality of pictures classified into the two lists is used for inter prediction by an inter prediction unit 1111 . after the inter prediction, a memory controller 1113 updates internal images. in the inter prediction by the inter prediction unit 1111 , a predicted image is determined using an optimal motion vector based on the result of motion detection between image data of different frames by a motion detection unit 1112 . as a result of intra prediction and inter prediction, a selector 1114 selects an optimal prediction result. the motion vector is sent to the entropy encoder 1115 , and encoded together with the difference image data, forming an output bit stream. h.264 inter prediction will be explained in detail with reference to fig. 2 to fig. 5 . the h.264 inter prediction can use a plurality of pictures for prediction. hence, two lists (“list 0 ” and “list 1 ”) are prepared to specify a reference picture. a maximum of five reference pictures can be assigned to each list. p-pictures use only “list 0 ” to mainly perform forward prediction. b-pictures use “list 0 ” and “list 1 ” to perform bidirectional prediction (or only forward or backward prediction). that is, “list 0 ” holds pictures mainly for forward prediction, and “list 1 ” holds pictures mainly for backward prediction. fig. 2 shows an example of a reference list used in encoding. this example assumes that the ratio of i-, p-, and b-pictures is a standard one, that is, i-pictures are arranged at an interval of 15 frames, p-pictures are arranged at an interval of three frames, and b-pictures between i- and p-pictures are arranged at an interval of two frames. in fig. 2 , image data 1201 is obtained by arranging pictures in the display order. each square in the image data 1201 describes the type of picture and a number representing the display order. for example, a picture i 15 is an i-picture whose display order is 15, and is used for only intra prediction. a picture p 18 is a p-picture whose display order is 18, and is used for only forward prediction. a picture b 16 is a b-picture whose display order is 16, and is used for bidirectional prediction. the encoding order is different from the display order, and data are encoded in the prediction order. in fig. 2 , data are encoded in the order of “i 15 , p 18 , b 16 , b 17 , p 21 , b 19 , b 20 , . . . ”. in fig. 2 , a reference list (list 0 ) 1202 holds temporarily encoded/decoded pictures. for example, inter prediction using a picture p 21 (p-picture whose display order is 21) refers to pictures which have been encoded and decoded in the reference list (list 0 ) 1202 . in the example shown in fig. 2 , the reference list 1202 holds pictures p 06 , p 09 , p 12 , i 15 , and p 18 . in inter prediction, a motion vector having an optimal predicted value is obtained for each macroblock from reference pictures in the reference list (list 0 ) 1202 , and encoded. pictures in the reference list (list 0 ) 1202 are sequentially given reference picture numbers, and discriminated (separately from numbers shown in fig. 2 ). after the end of encoding the picture p 21 , the picture p 21 is newly decoded and added to the reference list (list 0 ) 1202 . the oldest reference picture (in this case, the picture p 06 ) is deleted from the reference list (list 0 ) 1202 . encoding proceeds in the order of pictures b 19 , b 20 , and p 24 . fig. 3 shows the state of the reference list (list 0 ) 1202 at this time. fig. 4 shows a change of the reference list for each picture. in fig. 4 , pictures are encoded sequentially from the top. fig. 4 shows a picture during encoding and the contents of the reference lists (list 0 and list 1 ) for it. when a p-picture (or i-picture) is encoded as shown in fig. 4 , the reference lists (list 0 and list 1 ) are updated to delete the oldest pictures from the reference lists (list 0 and list 1 ). in this example, the reference list (list 1 ) holds only one picture. this is because, if the number of pictures referred to for backward prediction increases, the buffer amount till decoding also increases. in other words, backward pictures excessively distant from a picture during encoding are not referred to. in this example, i- and p-pictures are referred to, and all i- and p-pictures are sequentially added to the reference lists (list 0 and list 1 ). only i-pictures are used in the reference list (list 1 ) for backward prediction because this picture arrangement is considered to be the most popular one. however, the picture arrangement in the reference list is merely an example of the most popular one, and h.264 itself has a high degree of freedom for the configuration of the reference list. for example, not all i- and p-pictures need be added to the reference list, and b-pictures can also be added to the reference list. also, h.264 defines a long-term reference list of pictures which stay in the reference list until an explicit instruction is received. fig. 5 shows a change of the reference list when adding b-pictures to the reference list. when adding b-pictures to the reference list, encoded pictures may be added to the reference list every time all b-pictures are encoded. a file format for recording moving image data compressed in this way will be explained. as described above, the mp4 (mpeg-4) film format is used as a general-purpose format for recording mpeg (mpeg-2 or mpeg-4 format) image data obtained by a digital video camera, digital still camera, or the like. the mp4 file format ensures compatibility with other digital devices to, for example, play back image data recorded as an mp4 file. as represented by a of fig. 6 , an mp4 file is basically formed from an mdat box which holds encoded stream image data, and a moov box which holds stream image data-related information. the mdat box is formed from a plurality of chunks (chunk cn), as represented by b of fig. 6 . each chunk is formed from a plurality of samples (sample sm), as represented by d of fig. 6 . for example, the respective samples sample s 1 , sample s 2 , sample s 3 , sample s 4 , . . . correspond to encoded mpeg image data i 0 , b −2 , b −1 , p 3 , . . . , as represented by e of fig. 6 . i 0 , i 1 , i 2 , . . . , i n represent intra-encoded (intra-frame-encoded) frame image data. b 0 , b 1 , b 2 , . . . , b n represent frame image data encoded (inter-frame-encoded) by referring to reference image data bidirectionally. p 0 , p 1 , p 2 , . . . , p n represent frame image data encoded (inter-frame-encoded) by referring to reference image data unidirectionally (forward direction). these frame image data are variable-length encoded data. as represented by c of fig. 6 , the moov box is formed from an mvhd box which holds header information recording the creation date and time, and the like, and a trak box which holds information on stream image data stored in the mdat box. information stored in the trak box includes an stco box which stores information of an offset value for each chunk of the mdat box, as represented by h of fig. 6 , an stsc box which stores information of the number of samples in each chunk, as represented by g of fig. 6 , and an stsz box which stores information of the size of each sample, as represented by f of fig. 6 . the amounts of data stored in the stco box, stsc box, and stsz box increase together with the recorded image data amount, that is, the recording time. for example, when an image of 30 frames per sec is recorded as an mp4 file by storing every 15 frames in one chunk, the data amount increases to 1 mbyte for 2 h, requiring a moov box having a capacity of 1 mbyte. when playing back this mp4 file, the moov box of the mp4 file is read out from the recording medium, the stco, stsc and stsz boxes are analyzed from the moov box, and then each chunk in the mdat box can be accessed. when recording an image in the mp4 file format, the stream data increases over time. since the size of stream data is very large, the stream data needs to be written in the file even during recording. however, the size of the moov box also increases in accordance with the recording time, as described above. the size of the mp4 header is not defined till the end of recording, so the write offset position of stream data in the file cannot be determined. for this reason, recording by a general moving image processing apparatus adopts the following measures using the flexibility of the mp4 file format. (1) the mdat box is arranged at the start of a file, and after recoding ends, the moov box is arranged next to the mdat box ( fig. 7a ). (2) as proposed in japanese patent laid-open no. 2003-289495, the size of the moov box is determined in advance to determine the offset position of the mdat box, and then recoding is done ( fig. 7b ). even when the recording time is short and the header area does not become full, the area remains as a free box. when recording data over the header size, the data is recorded by properly decimating frame number information of i-pictures, maintaining the header size at a predetermined size. (3) a pair of moov and mdat boxes is divided into a plurality of pairs to arrange them ( fig. 7c ). the second and subsequent header areas are called moof boxes. these are the structures of general mp4 files. a general playback method for the mp4 file will be described below. fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the basic arrangement of a moving image playback apparatus which plays back a moving image compression-encoded by h.264. in fig. 8 , the moving image playback apparatus includes a recording medium 801 , a playback circuit 802 which plays back data from a recording medium, a buffer circuit 803 , a variable-length decoding circuit 804 , an inverse quantization circuit 805 , an inverse dct circuit 806 , an addition circuit 807 , a memory 808 , a motion compensation circuit 809 , a switching circuit 810 , a rearrangement circuit 811 , an output terminal 812 , a header information analysis circuit 813 , a playback control circuit 814 , and a control signal input terminal 815 . the sequence of playback processing in the moving image playback apparatus in fig. 8 will be explained. upon receiving an instruction from the playback control circuit 814 , the playback circuit 802 plays back an mp4 file recorded on the recording medium 801 , and starts supplying it to the buffer circuit 803 . at the same time, the playback control circuit 814 controls the header information analysis circuit 813 to analyze an offset, chunk information, and sample information in the stco box, stsc box, and stsz box representing storage statuses in mdat in the moov box. the playback control circuit 814 controls the playback circuit 802 to start playing back stream image data in the mdat box from the recording medium 801 . the playback circuit 802 plays back, from the start address, the stream image data in the mdat box of the file recorded on the recording medium 801 , and supplies it to the buffer circuit 803 . read of the stream image data stored in the buffer circuit 803 starts in accordance with the occupancy of the buffer circuit 803 and the like, supplying the stream image data to the variable-length decoding circuit 804 . the variable-length decoding circuit 804 executes variable-length decoding for the played-back stream image data supplied from the buffer circuit 803 , and supplies the decoded stream image data to the inverse quantization circuit 805 . the inverse quantization circuit 805 inversely quantizes the stream image data which has undergone variable-length decoding and has been supplied from the variable-length decoding circuit 804 . the inverse quantization circuit 805 supplies the inversely quantized stream image data to the inverse dct circuit 806 . the inverse dct circuit 806 executes inverse dct for the inversely quantized data supplied from the inverse quantization circuit 805 , and supplies the inverse dct data to the addition circuit 807 . the addition circuit 807 adds the inverse dct data supplied from the inverse dct circuit 806 , and data supplied from the switching circuit 810 . of stream image data played back from the recording medium 801 , intra-frame-encoded data i 0 of gop 0 (group of picture) is played back first, as shown in fig. 9 . the playback control circuit 814 controls to select the terminal a of the switching circuit 810 , and the switching circuit 810 supplies data “ 0 ” to the addition circuit 807 . the addition circuit 807 adds data “ 0 ” supplied from the switching circuit 810 , and inverse dct data supplied from the inverse dct circuit 806 , and supplies the added data as a played-back frame f 0 to the memory 808 and rearrangement circuit 811 . the memory 808 stores the added data supplied from the addition circuit 807 . bidirectionally predictive-encoded picture data b −2 and b −1 are played back next to the intra-frame-encoded data i 0 of gop 0 . the playback sequence up to the inverse dct circuit 806 is the same as that described for the intra-frame-encoded data i 0 , and a description thereof will not be repeated. the inverse dct circuit 806 supplies bidirectionally predictive-encoded inverse dct image data to the addition circuit 807 . at this time, the playback control circuit 814 controls the switching circuit 810 so that the movable terminal c of the switching circuit 810 selects the fixed terminal b. data from the motion compensation circuit 809 is supplied to the addition circuit 807 . the motion compensation circuit 809 detects a motion vector which has been generated in encoding from played-back stream image data and recorded in the stream image data. the motion compensation circuit 809 reads out data of a reference block (in this case, only data from the played-back intra-frame-encoded data f 0 because recording has just started) from the memory 808 , and supplies it to the movable terminal c of the switching circuit 810 . the addition circuit 807 adds inverse dct data supplied from the inverse dct circuit 806 , and motion-compensated data supplied from the switching circuit 810 , supplying the added data as played-back frames f −2 and f −1 to the rearrangement circuit 811 . then, unidirectionally predictive-encoded picture data p 3 is played back. the playback sequence up to the inverse dct circuit 806 is the same as that described for the intra-frame-encoded data i 0 , and a description thereof will not be repeated. the inverse dct circuit 806 supplies inverse dct picture data to the addition circuit 807 . at this time, the playback control circuit 814 controls the switching circuit 810 so that the movable terminal c of the switching circuit 810 selects the fixed terminal b. data from the motion compensation circuit 809 is supplied to the addition circuit 807 . the motion compensation circuit 809 detects a motion vector which has been generated in encoding from played-back stream image data and recorded in the stream image data. the motion compensation circuit 809 reads out data of a reference block (in this case, data from the played-back intra-frame-encoded data f 0 ) from the memory 808 , and supplies it to the movable terminal c of the switching circuit 810 . the addition circuit 807 adds inverse dct data supplied from the inverse dct circuit 806 , and motion-compensated data supplied from the switching circuit 810 , supplying the added data as a played-back frame f 3 to the memory 808 and the rearrangement circuit 811 . the memory 808 stores the added data supplied from the addition circuit 807 . then, pictures b 1 and b 2 are played back. these pictures are not frames at the start of recoding, and thus are played back by the same sequence as that described for the above-mentioned pictures b −2 and b −1 except that they are played back from the frames f 0 and f 3 by bidirectional prediction. in the above-described way, p 6 , b 4 , b 5 , . . . are sequentially played back. the rearrangement circuit 811 rearranges the sequentially played-back frames f 0 , f −2 , f −1 , f 3 , f 1 , f 2 , f 6 , f 4 , f 5 , . . . into f −2 , f −1 , f 0 , f 1 , f 2 , f 3 , f 4 , f 5 , f 6 , . . . , and outputs the rearranged frames to the output terminal 812 . at the start of playing back the file, the header information analysis circuit 813 analyzes an offset, chunk information, and sample information from the stco box, stsc box, and stsz box representing storage statuses in mdat in the moov box of the mp4 file. the playback control circuit 814 operates to skip data till gop 1 , and start playing back data from gop 1 . in a lens-interchangeable digital camera, when the lens is detached from the camera body, mote floating in air may enter the camera body. the camera incorporates various mechanical units such as a shutter mechanism which mechanically operate. when these mechanical units operate, dust such as metal powder may be generated in the camera body. when a foreign substance such as dust or mote adheres to the surface of an image sensor which forms the image capturing unit of a digital camera, the shadow of the foreign substance is captured in a sensed image, degrading the quality of the sensed image. to solve this problem, there is proposed a method of correcting a pixel capturing the shadow of a foreign substance by using the signals of neighboring pixels or the like. as a technique of correcting the shadow of a foreign substance, for example, japanese patent laid-open no. 2003-289495 proposes an image defect correction method of correcting the pixel defect of an image sensor. japanese patent laid-open no. 6-105241 proposes a method for simplifying setting of position information of a pixel defect. more specifically, the extension of an image file recorded in the dust obtaining mode is changed from that of a normal image, and the pc automatically discriminates a dust information image. by using this information, a target image is corrected. some products record the dust information as photographing information in a recorded image file, and correct a target image using the information. japanese patent laid-open no. 2004-242158 discloses a related technique. however, when a moving image file like the above-described mp4 file is played back while correcting a target image on the basis of the dust information, the amount of used memory increases, and the quality of moving image playback degrades owing to a decrease in operating speed. in still image playback, a dust-corrected still image is played back, so it suffices to execute dust correction once per image. even if dust correction processing takes a long time under the limitation of the memory or the like, playback of a still image can wait until the completion of dust correction processing. however, in moving image playback, the motion of an image is expressed by continuously playing back a plurality of still images such as 15 or 30 frames per sec. in addition to general playback processing, dust correction processing needs to be executed 15 times for 15 frames per sec or 30 times for 30 frames. no natural moving image playback can be achieved unless the processing ends within the limited time. a moving image may be played back without performing dust correction when no natural moving image playback can be done. as a result, a poor image in which no dust is corrected may be displayed in still image display upon pause or frame advance in which the user views an image carefully for a long time during moving image playback. summary of the invention the present invention has been made to overcome the conventional drawbacks, and suppress degradation of the quality of a display image when performing an operation such as pause or frame advance during moving image playback. according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus which plays back moving image data output from an image capturing unit having an image sensor for capturing an object image and an optical member arranged in front of the image sensor, the apparatus including an input unit which receives, from the image capturing unit, moving image data in which the shadow of a foreign substance adhered to the surface of the optical member is captured, an obtaining unit which obtains, from the moving image data, foreign substance information including information of the position and size of the foreign substance captured in the moving image data by the image capturing unit, a playback unit which can play back the moving image data while correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in the moving image data by using the foreign substance information obtained by the obtaining unit, a display unit which displays an image played back by the playback unit, and a setting unit which sets, in accordance with the playback status of the moving image data, whether to perform processing of correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in each frame of the moving image data. according to the second aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a method of controlling an image processing apparatus which plays back moving image data output from an image capturing unit having an image sensor for capturing an object image and an optical member arranged in front of the image sensor, the method including an input step of receiving, from the image capturing unit, moving image data in which the shadow of a foreign substance adhered to the surface of the optical member is captured, an obtaining step of obtaining, from the moving image data, foreign substance information including information of the position and size of the foreign substance captured in the moving image data by the image capturing unit, a playback step of playing back the moving image data while correcting or not correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in the moving image data by using the foreign substance information obtained in the obtaining step, a display step of displaying an image played back in the playback step, and a setting step of setting, in accordance with the playback status of the moving image data, whether to perform processing of correcting the shadow of the foreign substance in each frame of the moving image data. further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a conventional image processing apparatus; fig. 2 is a view showing an example of a reference list when encoding a picture p 21 ; fig. 3 is a view showing an example of a reference list when encoding a picture p 24 ; fig. 4 is a view showing a change of the reference list for each picture; fig. 5 is a view showing a change of the reference list when adding b-pictures to the reference list; fig. 6 is a view for explaining the structure of an mp4 file; fig. 7a to fig. 7c are views showing examples of the structure of an mp4 file; fig. 8 is a block diagram for explaining a conventional playback apparatus; fig. 9 is a view for explaining the order of frames to be encoded; fig. 10 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image capturing apparatus common to embodiments of the present invention; fig. 11 is a flowchart showing processing in the image capturing apparatus when obtaining dust information; fig. 12 is a table showing a setting example of shooting-related parameters when obtaining dust information; fig. 13 is a view showing an outline of dust region size calculation executed in step s 1106 of fig. 11 ; fig. 14 is a view showing an example of the data format of dust correction data; fig. 15 is a block diagram showing the schematic system configuration of an image processing apparatus; fig. 16 is a view showing an example of a gui in the image processing apparatus; fig. 17 is a flowchart for explaining playback status determination dust correction processing in the first embodiment; fig. 18 is a flowchart for explaining details of dust correction processing; fig. 19 is a flowchart for explaining details of an interpolation routine; fig. 20 is a flowchart for explaining playback status determination dust correction processing in the second embodiment; fig. 21 is a flowchart for explaining playback status determination dust correction processing in the third embodiment; fig. 22 is a flowchart for explaining frame advance processing in the third embodiment; fig. 23 is a flowchart for explaining playback status determination dust correction processing in the fourth embodiment; and fig. 24 is a flowchart for explaining playback status determination dust correction processing in the fifth embodiment. description of the embodiments preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. first embodiment the arrangement of an image capturing apparatus common to embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to fig. 10 . in the embodiment, a lens-interchangeable single-lens reflex digital still camera will be exemplified as the image capturing apparatus. the present invention is also applicable to, for example, a lens-interchangeable digital video camera. as shown in fig. 10 , the image capturing apparatus according to the embodiment mainly includes a camera body 100 and an interchangeable-lens type lens unit 300 . the lens unit 300 includes an imaging lens 310 formed from a plurality of lenses, a stop 312 , and a lens mount 306 which mechanically connects the lens unit 300 to the camera body 100 . the lens mount 306 incorporates various functions for electrically connecting the lens unit 300 to the camera body 100 . in the lens mount 306 , an interface 320 connects the lens unit 300 to the camera body 100 . a connector 322 electrically connects the lens unit 300 to the camera body 100 . the connector 322 also has a function of exchanging control signals, state signals, and data signals between the camera body 100 and the lens unit 300 and also receiving currents of various voltages. the connector 322 may also communicate not only by telecommunication but also by optical communication or speech communication. a stop control unit 340 controls the stop 312 in cooperation with a shutter control unit 40 (to be described later) which controls a shutter 12 of the camera body 100 on the basis of photometry information from a photometry control unit 46 . a focus control unit 342 controls focusing of the imaging lens 310 . a zoom control unit 344 controls zooming of the imaging lens 310 . a lens system control circuit 350 controls the overall lens unit 300 . the lens system control circuit 350 has a memory for storing constants, variables, and programs for operations. the lens system control circuit 350 also has a nonvolatile memory for holding identification information such as a number unique to the lens unit 300 , management information, functional information such as the open and minimum aperture values and a focal length, and current and past set values. the arrangement of the camera body 100 will be described next. a lens mount 106 mechanically connects the camera body 100 to the lens unit 300 . mirrors 130 and 132 guide a light beam that has entered the imaging lens 310 to an optical viewfinder 104 by the single-lens reflex method. the mirror 130 can be either a quick return mirror or a half mirror. reference numeral 12 denotes a shutter. an image sensor 14 photoelectrically converts an object image. a light beam which has entered the imaging lens 310 is guided via the stop 312 serving as a light quantity restriction means, the lens mounts 306 and 106 , the mirror 130 , and the shutter 12 by the single-lens reflex method and forms an optical image on the image sensor 14 . an a/d converter 16 converts an analog signal output from the image sensor 14 into a digital signal. a timing generation circuit 18 supplies clock signals and control signals to the image sensor 14 , the a/d converter 16 , and a d/a converter 26 . the timing generation circuit 18 is controlled by a memory control circuit 22 and system control circuit 50 . an image processing circuit 20 executes predetermined pixel interpolation processing or color conversion processing for data from the a/d converter 16 or data from the memory control circuit 22 . if necessary, the image processing circuit 20 also performs predetermined arithmetic processing using image data output from the a/d converter 16 . based on the obtained arithmetic result, the system control circuit 50 executes auto-focus (af) processing, auto-exposure (ae) processing, and pre-electronic flash (ef) processing of ttl (through the lens) scheme to control the shutter control unit 40 and a focus adjusting unit 42 . the image processing unit 20 also executes predetermined arithmetic processing using image data output from the a/d converter 16 and also performs automatic white balance (awb) processing by ttl scheme based on the obtained arithmetic result. in the example shown in fig. 10 in the embodiment, the focus adjusting unit 42 and photometry control unit 46 are provided for exclusive use. hence, af processing, ae processing, and ef processing may also be performed using not the image processing circuit 20 but the focus adjusting unit 42 and photometry control unit 46 . alternatively, af processing, ae processing, and ef processing may also be performed first by using the focus adjusting unit 42 and photometry control unit 46 and then by using the image processing circuit 20 . the memory control circuit 22 controls the a/d converter 16 , the timing generation circuit 18 , the image processing circuit 20 , an image display memory 24 , the d/a converter 26 , a memory 30 , and a compression/decompression circuit 32 . image data output from the a/d converter 16 is written in the image display memory 24 or memory 30 via the image processing circuit 20 and memory control circuit 22 or via only the memory control circuit 22 . display image data written in the image display memory 24 is displayed on an image display unit 28 such as an lcd of ttl scheme via the d/a converter 26 . the image display unit 28 sequentially displays captured image data, thereby implementing an electronic viewfinder (evf) function. the image display unit 28 can arbitrarily turn on/off its display in accordance with an instruction from the system control circuit 50 . when display is off, the power consumption of the camera body 100 can greatly be reduced. the memory 30 is used to store sensed still images and has a memory capacity enough to store a predetermined number of still images. hence, even in continuous shooting or panoramic shooting for continuously shooting a plurality of still images, an enormous amount of image data can be written in the memory 30 at high speed. the memory 30 is also usable as the work area of the system control circuit 50 . the compression/decompression circuit 32 compresses/decompresses image data using a known compression method. the compression/decompression circuit 32 reads out an image from the memory 30 , compresses or decompresses it, and writes the processed data in the memory 30 again. the shutter control unit 40 controls the shutter 12 in cooperation with the stop control unit 340 that controls the stop 312 on the basis of photometry information from the photometry control unit 46 . the focus adjusting unit 42 executes af (auto focus) processing. a light beam that has entered the imaging lens 310 of the lens unit 300 is guided via the stop 312 , lens mounts 306 and 106 , mirror 130 , and a focus adjusting sub-mirror (not shown) by the single-lens reflex method, thereby detecting the focus state of an image formed as an optical image. the photometry control unit 46 executes ae (auto exposure) processing. a light beam that has entered the imaging lens 310 in the lens unit 300 is guided via the stop 312 , lens mounts 306 and 106 , mirror 130 , and a photometry sub-mirror (not shown) by the single-lens reflex method, thereby measuring the exposure state of an image formed as an optical image. an electronic flash 48 has an af auxiliary light projecting function and an electronic flash control function. the photometry control unit 46 also has an ef (electronic flash control) processing function in cooperation with the electronic flash 48 . af control may also be done using the measurement result of the focus adjusting unit 42 and the arithmetic result obtained by causing the image processing circuit 20 to arithmetically process image data from the a/d converter 16 . exposure control may also be done using the measurement result of the photometry control unit 46 and the arithmetic result obtained by causing the image processing circuit 20 to arithmetically process image data from the a/d converter 16 . the system control circuit 50 controls the overall camera body 100 and incorporates a known cpu. a memory 52 stores constants, variables, and programs for the operation of the system control circuit 50 . a notification unit 54 notifies the outside of operation states, messages, and the like using a text, image, and sound in accordance with a program executed by the system control circuit 50 . as the notification unit 54 , a display unit such as an lcd or led for visual display and a sound generation element for generating a notification by sound are used. the notification unit 54 includes one of them or a combination of at least two of them. in particular, a display unit is arranged at one or a plurality of visible positions near an operation unit 70 of the camera body 100 . some functions of the notification unit 54 are arranged in the optical viewfinder 104 . the display contents of the image display unit 28 such as an lcd among those of the notification unit 54 include display associated with shooting modes such as single shooting/continuous shooting and self timer, display associated with recording such as a compression ratio, number of recording pixels, number of recorded images, and number of recordable images, and display associated with shooting conditions such as the shutter speed, aperture value, exposure compensation, brightness compensation, external flash light emission amount, and red eye mitigation. the image display unit 28 also displays macro shooting, buzzer setting, battery level, error message, information by a plurality of digits, and the attached/detached states of a recording medium 200 and pc 210 . the image display unit 28 also displays the attached/detached state of the lens unit 300 , communication i/f operation, date and time, and the connection state of an external computer. some of the display contents of the notification unit 54 are displayed in the optical viewfinder 104 , including, for example, in-focus, ready for shooting, camera shake warning, flash charge, flash charge completion, shutter speed, aperture value, exposure compensation, and recording medium write operation. a nonvolatile memory 56 is an electrically erasable programmable memory such as an eeprom and stores programs (to be described later) and the like. reference numerals 60 , 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 , and 70 denote operation means for inputting various kinds of operation instructions of the system control circuit 50 . they include a single component or a combination of a plurality of switches, dials, touch panel, pointing by line-of-sight detection, and voice recognition device. these operation means will be described here in detail. the mode dial switch 60 can selectively set a shooting mode such as an automatic shooting mode, programmed shooting mode, shutter speed priority shooting mode, stop priority shooting mode, manual shooting mode, or focal depth priority (depth) shooting mode. the mode dial switch 60 can also selectively set a shooting mode such as a portrait shooting mode, landscape shooting mode, closeup shooting mode, sports shooting mode, nightscape shooting mode, and panoramic shooting mode. the mode dial switch 60 can also switch the mode to a moving image recording mode which is a feature of the embodiment. the shutter switch sw 1 62 is turned on by operating a shutter button (not shown) halfway (e.g., half stroke) to designate the start of an operation such as af processing, ae processing, awb processing, or ef processing. the shutter switch sw 2 64 is turned on by operating the shutter button (not shown) completely (e.g., full stroke) to designate the start of a series of processing operations including exposure processing, development processing, and recording processing. in the exposure processing, a signal read out from the image sensor 14 is written in the memory 30 via the a/d converter 16 and memory control circuit 22 . then, the development processing is done using calculation by the image processing circuit 20 or memory control circuit 22 . in the recording processing, image data is read out from the memory 30 , compressed by the compression/decompression circuit 32 , and written in or transmitted to the recording medium 200 or pc 210 . the playback switch 66 designates the start of a playback operation of reading out an image sensed in a shooting mode from the memory 30 , recording medium 200 , or pc 210 and displaying it on the image display unit 28 . the playback switch 66 can set another functional mode such as a playback mode, multiwindow playback/erase mode, or pc-connected mode. the single shooting/continuous shooting switch 68 can set a single shooting mode in which when the user presses the shutter switch sw 2 64 , the camera shoots one frame and then stands by, or a continuous shooting mode in which the camera keeps shooting while the user presses the shutter switch sw 2 64 . the operation unit 70 includes various buttons and a touch panel. examples of the buttons are a live view start/stop button, menu button, setting button, multiwindow playback/page break button, flash setting button, single shooting/continuous shooting/self timer switch button, menu move plus (+) button, and menu move minus (−) button. the operation unit 70 further includes a playback image move plus (+) button, playback image move minus (−) button, shooting image quality select button, exposure compensation button, brightness compensation button, external flash light emission amount setting button, and date/time setting button. the numerical values or functions of the plus and minus buttons can more easily be selected using a rotary dial switch. the operation unit 70 also has an image display on/off switch which turns on/off the image display unit 28 , and a quick review on/off switch which sets a quick review function of automatically playing back sensed image data immediately after shooting. the operation unit 70 also has a compression mode switch which selects a compression ratio for jpeg compression, or a raw mode for directly digitizing a signal from the image sensor and recording it on a recording medium. the operation unit 70 also has an af mode setting switch capable of setting a one-shot af mode or a servo af mode. in the one-shot af mode, the auto-focus operation starts when the user presses the shutter switch sw 1 62 . once an in-focus state is obtained, this state keeps held. in the servo af mode, the auto-focus operation keeps performed while the user presses the shutter switch sw 1 62 . the operation unit 70 also includes a setting switch capable of setting a dust information obtaining mode to sense a dust detection image and obtain dust information, as will be described later. a power switch 72 can selectively set the power on or power off mode of the camera body 100 . the power switch 72 can also selectively set the power on or power off mode of each of various accessories including the lens unit 300 , an external electronic flash 112 , the recording medium 200 , and the pc 210 connected to the camera body 100 . a power supply control unit 80 includes a battery detection circuit, a dc/dc converter, and a switching circuit for switching a block to be energized. the power supply control unit 80 detects the presence/absence of attachment of a battery, the type of battery, and the battery level, controls the dc/dc converter based on the detection result and an instruction from the system control circuit 50 , and supplies a necessary voltage to the units including a recording medium for a necessary period. reference numerals 82 and 84 denote connectors; and 86 , a power supply unit formed from a primary battery such as an alkaline battery or lithium battery, a secondary battery such as an nicd battery, nimh battery, li-ion battery, or li-polymer battery, or an ac adapter. reference numerals 90 and 94 denote interfaces with a pc or a recording medium such as a memory card or hard disk; and 92 and 96 , connectors to connect a pc or a recording medium such as a memory card or hard disk. a recording medium attachment detection circuit 98 detects whether the recording medium 200 or pc 210 is attached to the connectors 92 and/or 96 . in the embodiment, there are two systems of interfaces and connectors to connect a recording medium. the interfaces and connectors to connect a recording medium can have either one or a plurality of systems. interfaces and connectors of different standards may also be combined. interfaces and connectors complying with various storage medium standards are usable. examples are a pcmcia (personal computer memory card international association) card, cf (compactflash®) card, and sd card. when the interfaces 90 and 94 and the connectors 92 and 96 comply with the standard of the pcmcia card or cf® card, various kinds of communication cards are connectable. examples of the communication cards are a lan card, modem card, usb (universal serial bus) card, and ieee (institute of electrical and electronic engineers) 1394 card. a p1284 card, scsi (small computer system interface) card, and phs are also usable. it is possible to transfer image data and management information associated with it to another computer or a peripheral device such as a printer by connecting the various kinds of communication cards. the optical viewfinder 104 can display an optical image formed by a light beam which enters the imaging lens 310 and is guided via the stop 312 , lens mounts 306 and 106 , and mirrors 130 and 132 by the single-lens reflex method. it is therefore possible to perform shooting using not the electronic viewfinder function of the image display unit 28 but only the optical viewfinder. some of the functions of the notification unit 54 such as an in-focus state, camera shake warning, flash charge, shutter speed, aperture value, and exposure compensation are displayed in the optical viewfinder 104 . the external electronic flash 112 is attached via an accessory shoe 110 . an interface 120 connects the camera body 100 to the lens unit 300 in the lens mount 106 . the connector 122 electrically connects the camera body 100 to the lens unit 300 . a lens attachment detection unit (not shown) detects whether the lens unit 300 is attached to the lens mount 106 and connector 122 . the connector 122 also has a function of transmitting control signals, state signals, data signals, and the like between the camera body 100 and the lens unit 300 and also supplying currents of various voltages. the connector 122 may also communicate not only by telecommunication but also by optical communication or speech communication. the recording medium 200 is a memory card or hard disk. the recording medium 200 includes a recording unit 202 formed from a semiconductor memory or magnetic disk, an interface 204 with the camera body 100 , and a connector 206 to connect the camera body 100 . as the recording medium 200 , a memory card such as a pcmcia card or compact flash®, or a hard disk is usable. a micro dat, a magnetooptical disk, an optical disk such as a cd-r or cd-rw, or a phase-change optical disk such as a dvd may also be used. the pc 210 includes a recording unit 212 formed from a magnetic disk (hd), an interface 214 with the camera body 100 , and a connector 216 to connect the camera body 100 . the interface 214 can be a usb, interface, or the like, but is not particularly limited. processing of playing back an image while correcting the influence of dust on an optical member such as a low-pass filter or cover glass arranged in front of the image sensor of the image capturing apparatus having the above-described arrangement will be described next. the embodiment will describe a method of sensing a dust detection image (still image) for obtaining dust information (foreign substance information), extracting dust data, and adding it to a subsequently sensed normal image (moving image), thereby playing back the image while correcting the dust in a pc or the like. the dust detection image is preferably obtained by sensing a surface having a luminance as uniform as possible. however, the uniformity need not be strict because it is desirable to easily sense the image in a familiar place. for example, sensing a blue sky or white wall is assumed. to explain a feature of the embodiment, an operation in the mp4 file format mainly for a moving image file will be described. fig. 11 is a flowchart showing processing in the image capturing apparatus when obtaining dust information in the embodiment. first, in step s 1101 , it is determined whether the operation unit 70 selects a dust information obtaining mode. the determination in step s 1101 is repeated until the dust information obtaining mode is selected. when the dust information obtaining mode is selected, the process advances to step s 1102 to determine whether the user has turned on the shutter switch sw 1 62 . if the shutter switch sw 1 62 is off, the process returns to step s 1101 to repeat the above-described processing. if the user has turned on the shutter switch sw 1 62 , the aperture value, iso value, shutter speed, and other shooting-related parameters are set (step s 1103 ). fig. 12 shows the parameters set here. the aperture value is set to, for example, f 22 in a stopped-down-aperture state. shooting may also be done using the minimum aperture within a range settable in the lens unit 300 connected to the lens mount 106 . the aperture is stopped down because dust normally adheres not to the surface of the image sensor 14 but to the surface of a protective glass protecting the image sensor 14 or the surface of an optical filter placed not on the image sensor side but on the object side, and its imaging state changes depending on the aperture value of the lens unit 300 . if the aperture is close to the full aperture, the dust image blurs, and no appropriate dust detection image can be obtained. for this reason, shooting is preferably done using the minimum aperture. referring back to the flowchart in fig. 11 , at this time, the user points the image capturing apparatus to a uniform luminance surface such as a wall as white as possible and operates the shutter switch sw 2 64 . in step s 1104 , it is determined whether the user has turned on the shutter switch sw 2 64 . if the shutter switch sw 2 64 is off, the process returns to step s 1102 to determine whether the shutter switch sw 1 62 is on or off. if the user has turned on the shutter switch sw 2 64 , the process advances to step s 1105 . in step s 1105 , the dust detection image (uniform luminance surface) is sensed, and the image data is stored in the memory 30 . in step s 1106 , dust information is obtained from the image data stored in the memory 30 . the obtainment of dust information will be described. more specifically, the position (coordinates) and size of each dust region are obtained from the sensed dust detection image. first, the region of the sensed dust detection image is divided into a plurality of blocks. a maximum luminance lmax and average luminance lave in each block are calculated. a threshold value t 1 in each block is calculated by t 1 =l ave×0.6+ l max×0.4 a pixel less than the threshold value t 1 is determined as a dust pixel. each isolated region formed from dust pixels is defined as a dust region di (i=0, 1, . . . , n). fig. 13 is a view showing an outline of dust region size calculation. as shown in fig. 13 , a maximum value xmax and minimum value xmin of the horizontal coordinates and a maximum value ymax and a minimum value ymin of the vertical coordinates of pixels included in a dust region are obtained for each dust region. a radius ri representing the size of the dust region di is calculated by ri =[√{( x max− x min) 2 +( y max− y min) 2 }]/2 central coordinates (xdi,ydi) are obtained approximately by xdi =( x max+ x min)/2 ydi =( y max+ y min)/2 the obtained position (coordinates) and radius are recorded as a dust information profile. the dust information profile has a structure as shown in fig. 14 . as shown in fig. 14 , the dust information profile stores the lens information and the information of the position and size of dust upon sensing a dust detection image. more specifically, the actual aperture value (f-number) and the lens pupil position upon sensing a detection image are stored as the lens information upon sensing the detection image. next, the number of detected dust regions (integer value) is stored in the storage area. next to this value, the specific parameters of each dust region are stored repeatedly as many as the dust regions. the parameters of a dust region include a set of three numerical values: the radius of dust (e.g., 2 bytes), the x-coordinate of the center of an effective image area (e.g., 2 bytes), and the y-coordinate of the center (e.g., 2 bytes). the obtained dust information (dust information profile) is stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 in step s 1107 , and the processing to obtain dust information ends. the purpose of storing dust information in the nonvolatile memory 56 is to keep adding it to image data (moving image data) obtained by normal shooting executed until dust information is obtained next after the dust information is obtained. when the user is requested to obtain dust information every time the camera is turned on, no dust information need be stored in the nonvolatile memory. when the image capturing apparatus according to the embodiment records a moving image, a moving image file of the above-described mp4 file format is used. hence, the dust information profile temporarily stored in the nonvolatile memory 56 is stored in an mvhd box formed from header information in the moov box of moving image data or an mvhd box in the moof box. the dust information can be added to moving image data captured by the image capturing apparatus. the sequence of dust correction playback processing will be explained. in the following description, dust correction playback processing is executed not within the digital camera body but in a separately prepared image processing apparatus. fig. 15 is a block diagram showing the schematic system configuration of the image processing apparatus. a cpu 1501 controls the overall system, and, for example, executes a program stored in a primary storage 1502 . the primary storage 1502 is mainly a memory, and stores a program or the like read out from a secondary storage 1503 . the secondary storage 1503 is, for example, a hard disk. in general, the capacity of the primary storage is smaller than that of the secondary storage. programs, data, and the like which cannot be completely stored in the primary storage are stored in the secondary storage. data and the like which need to be stored for a long time are also stored in the secondary storage. in the embodiment, a program is stored in the secondary storage 1503 , and when executing the program, load to the primary storage 1502 and executed by the cpu 1501 . an input device 1504 includes, for example, a mouse and keyboard used to control the system, and a card reader, scanner, and film scanner necessary to input image data. an output device 1505 includes, for example, a monitor and printer. although the apparatus can take various arrangements, this is not a gist of the present invention and a description thereof will be omitted. the image processing apparatus incorporates an operating system capable of parallel-executing a plurality of programs, and the user can operate a program running on the apparatus using a gui (graphical user interface). fig. 16 is a view showing the gui of an image editing program in the image processing apparatus. the window includes a close button 1600 and title bar 1601 . when the user presses the close button, the program ends. an image to undergo correction playback processing is designated by dragging and dropping a file to an image display area 1602 . when the image to undergo correction playback processing is determined, the file name is displayed on the title bar 1601 , and the target image is displayed to be fitted in the image display area 1602 . the fit display can be handled as still image playback during moving image playback, so display may also be done by the fit display in playback status determination dust correction processing (to be described later). when the user presses a playback button 1603 , playback processing is executed to display a processed image in the image display area 1602 . when the user presses a pause button 1604 , a moving image during playback pauses. every time the user presses a forward frame advance button 1605 or reverse frame advance button 1606 in this state, the image is advanced forward or backward by one frame. when the user presses a slow-motion playback button 1607 , slow-motion playback processing is executed to display a processed image in the image display area 1602 . since slow-motion playback is a well-known technique, the playback method will not be described in detail. in slow-motion playback, a moving image is played back slower than normal playback by prolonging the display time of one frame. when the user presses a fast-forward playback button 1608 , fast-forward playback processing is executed to display a processed image in the image display area 1602 . since fast-forward playback is a well-known technique, the playback method will not be described in detail. in fast-forward playback, a moving image is played back more quickly than normal playback by decimating frames or shortening the display time. when the user presses a fast-reverse playback button 1609 , fast-reverse playback processing is executed to display a processed image in the image display area 1602 . since fast-reverse playback is a well-known technique, the playback method will not be described in detail. in fast-reverse playback, the flow of frames is reversed while decimating frames or shortening the display time, thereby playing back a moving image more quickly than normal playback while going back in time. fig. 17 shows the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing in the image processing apparatus. the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing upon pause will be explained with reference to fig. 17 . a moving image file including dust position correction data is input to the image processing apparatus from the digital camera or the recording medium 200 removed from the digital camera, and stored the primary storage 1502 or secondary storage 1503 (step s 1701 ). in step s 1702 , display frame obtaining processing (processing to decode an mp4 file and play back a frame) is executed in step s 1702 . this processing is a well-known technique disclosed in description of the related art, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. in step s 1703 , it is determined whether the user has pressed the pause button 1604 . if it is determined in step s 1703 that the user has not pressed the pause button 1604 , display processing is executed (step s 1704 ). in the display processing, a frame obtained in step s 1702 is displayed in the image display area 1602 . dust correction processing may also be executed before the display processing as far as the resource such as a memory and the processing time for dust correction permit. however, to more simply explain a feature of the embodiment, only display processing is done without performing dust correction processing. in step s 1705 , it is determined whether the current frame is a final one. if it is determined that the current frame is a final one, the playback status determination dust correction processing ends. if it is determined that the current frame is not a final one, a frame to be displayed next is obtained in step s 1702 . step s 1702 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. if it is determined in step s 1703 that the user has pressed the pause button 1604 , moving image playback is interrupted, and a frame played back upon pressing the pause button 1604 is displayed as a still image. before displaying the frame, the frame undergoes dust correction processing in step s 1706 . the dust correction processing will be explained with reference to fig. 18 . in step s 1707 , display processing is done. although the display processing in step s 1707 is the same as that in step s 1704 , a frame in which dust has been corrected by the dust correction processing in step s 1706 is displayed as a still image during the pause. if it is determined in step s 1708 that an instruction to end the pause has been issued, the process shifts to step s 1705 , and step s 1702 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. according to this sequence, the playback status determination dust correction processing is executed. fig. 18 shows the sequence of the dust correction processing in step s 1706 of fig. 17 . a frame to undergo dust correction processing is selected from video samples (frames) of a moving image displayed in the image display area 1602 (step s 1801 ). the frame to undergo dust correction processing is a display frame obtained in step s 1702 of fig. 17 . dust position correction data is extracted from moov or moof including the selected frame. dust correction data (dust information profile) is extracted from the extracted dust position correction data, obtaining a coordinate sequence di (i=1, 2, . . . , n), a radius sequence ri (i=1, 2, . . . , n), an aperture value f 1 , and a lens pupil position l 1 . further, an aperture value f 2 and lens pupil position l 2 upon shooting are obtained (step s 1802 ). ri represents the size of dust at the coordinates di calculated in step s 1106 of fig. 11 . in step s 1803 , di is converted by the following equation. converted coordinates di′ and a converted radius ri′ are defined by di ′( x,y )=( l 2×( l 1 −h )× d /(( l 2 −h )× l 1))× di ( x,y ) ri ′=( ri×f 1 /f 2+3) (1) where d is the distance from the image center to the coordinates di, and h is the distance from the surface of the image sensor 14 to dust. the unit is a pixel, and “+3” for ri′ means a margin. in step s 1804 , dust in a region defined by the coordinates di′ and radius ri′ is detected, and if necessary, interpolation processing is applied. details of the interpolation processing will be described later. in step s 1805 , it is determined whether dust removal processing has been applied to all coordinates. if the dust removal processing has ended at all coordinates, the process ends. if the dust removal processing has not ended at all coordinates, the process returns to step s 1804 . the sequence of the dust correction processing has been described. details of the dust region interpolation processing will be explained. fig. 19 is a flowchart showing the sequence of an interpolation routine. in step s 1901 , a dust region is determined. the dust region is defined as a region which satisfies all the following conditions: (1) a region which is darker than a threshold value t 2 obtained using an average luminance yave and maximum luminance ymax of pixels falling in a region defined by the center coordinates di′ and radius ri′ (ri′ and di′ calculated by equation (1)) calculated in step s 1803 of fig. 18 : t 2 =y ave×0.6 +y max×0.4 (2) a region which does not contact a circle having the radius ri′ from the center coordinates di′. (3) a region whose radius value calculated by the same method as step s 1106 in fig. 11 is equal to or larger than x1 pixels and smaller than x2 pixels with respect to an isolated region of low-luminance pixels selected in (1). (4) a region containing the center coordinates di of the circle. in the embodiment, x 1 represents three pixels, and x 2 represents 30 pixels. with this setting, only a small isolated region can be handled as a dust region. when no lens pupil position can be accurately obtained, condition (4) may also be eased. for example, when the region of interest contains the coordinates of a range of ±3 pixels from the coordinates di in both the x and y directions, it is determined as a dust region. if such a region exists in step s 1902 , the process advances to step s 1903 to perform dust region interpolation. if no such region exists, the process ends. the dust region interpolation processing executed in step s 1903 adopts a known defective region interpolation method. an example of the known defective region interpolation method is pattern replacement disclosed in japanese patent laid-open no. 2001-223894. in japanese patent laid-open no. 2001-223894, a defective region is specified using infrared light. in the embodiment, a dust region detected in step s 1901 is handled as a defective region, and interpolated by normal neighboring pixels by pattern replacement. for a pixel which cannot be interpolated by pattern replacement, p normal pixels are selected sequentially from one closest to the pixel to be interpolated in image data having undergone pattern correction, and the target pixel is interpolated using the average color of them. the sequence of the dust region interpolation processing has been described. as described above, the first embodiment can increase the operating speed and reduce the amount of resource such as memory used when playing back a moving image file such as an mp4 file while performing dust correction processing using dust information. at the same time, the first embodiment can provide the user with a high-quality image in which the shadow of dust or the like is corrected in still image display upon pause in which the user views an image carefully for a long time during moving image playback. second embodiment the arrangement of an image processing apparatus in the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as that shown in fig. 15 , but its operation is different. the operation in the second embodiment will be explained. fig. 20 is a flowchart showing playback status determination dust correction processing in the second embodiment. this processing is different from that in the first embodiment. similar to the first embodiment, the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing upon pause will be explained with reference to fig. 20 . a moving image file including dust position correction data is input to an image processing apparatus from a digital camera or a recording medium 200 removed from the digital camera, and stored in a primary storage 1502 or secondary storage 1503 (step s 2001 ). in step s 2002 , it is determined whether the user has pressed a pause button 1604 . if it is determined in step s 2002 that the user has not pressed the pause button 1604 , a display frame is obtained in step s 2003 to perform display processing (step s 2004 ). in step s 2005 , it is determined whether the current frame is a final one, similar to the first embodiment. if it is determined that the current frame is a final one, the playback status determination dust correction processing ends. if it is determined that the current frame is not a final one, a frame to be displayed next is obtained in step s 2003 . step s 2002 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. if it is determined in step s 2002 that the user has pressed the pause button 1604 , moving image playback is interrupted, and an arbitrary display frame is obtained in step s 2006 . in the embodiment, if a frame has been obtained in step s 2003 , it may also be used again as an arbitrary display frame obtained in step s 2006 , or a frame immediately preceding one obtained in step s 2003 may also be used. even if no frame has been obtained in step s 2003 , an arbitrary frame suffices to be obtained, so the first frame or an intermediate frame may also be used. before displaying the obtained arbitrary display frame, dust correction processing is done in step s 2007 . the dust correction processing has been described with reference to fig. 18 . in step s 2008 , display processing is performed. although the display processing in step s 2008 is the same as that in step s 2004 , a frame in which dust has been corrected by the dust correction processing in step s 2007 is displayed as a still image during the pause. if it is determined in step s 2009 that an instruction to end the pause has been issued, the process shifts to step s 2005 , and step s 2002 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. according to this sequence, the playback status determination dust correction processing is executed. reusing in step s 2006 a frame obtained in step s 2003 is effective for reducing the memory, and also effective for increasing the operating speed because the readout time and transfer time are shortened. as described above, the second embodiment can increase the operating speed and reduce the amount of resource such as memory used when playing back a moving image file such as an mp4 file while performing dust correction processing using dust information. in addition, the second embodiment can provide the user with a high-quality image in which the shadow of dust or the like is corrected when an arbitrary still image is displayed among still images and the user views the image carefully for a long time in a pause during moving image playback. third embodiment the arrangement of an image processing apparatus in the third embodiment of the present invention is the same as that shown in fig. 15 , but its operation is different. the operation in the third embodiment will be explained. playback status determination dust correction processing in forward or reverse frame advance in the third embodiment will be explained with reference to fig. 21 . in forward or reverse frame advance in the third embodiment, every time the user presses a forward frame advance button 1605 or reverse frame advance button 1606 during a pause, one frame is advanced forward or reversely. the sequence up to step s 2103 is the same as those in the first and second embodiments. if it is determined in step s 2103 that the user has not pressed a pause button 1604 , display processing is done (step s 2104 ), and it is determined in step s 2105 whether the current frame is a final one, similar to the first embodiment. also similar to the first embodiment, if it is determined that the current frame is a final one, the playback status determination dust correction processing ends. if it is determined that the current frame is not a final one, a frame to be displayed next is obtained in step s 2102 . step s 2102 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. if it is determined in step s 2103 that the user has pressed the pause button 1604 , frame advance processing is performed in step s 2106 . the frame advance processing will be described with reference to fig. 22 . it is determined in step s 2107 whether a display frame has been obtained in step s 2102 , or step s 2202 or s 2204 (to be described later). if it is determined that a display frame has been obtained, dust correction processing is executed in steps s 2108 and s 2109 to display the display frame, similar to steps s 1706 and s 1707 in the first embodiment. if it is determined that no display frame has been obtained, it is determined in step s 2110 whether an instruction to end the pause has been issued. if an instruction to end the pause has not been issued, the process returns to step s 2106 to repeat the frame advance processing. if it is determined in step s 2110 that an instruction to end the pause has been issued, the process shifts to step s 2105 to determine whether the current frame is a final one. if the current frame is not a final one, a frame to be displayed next is obtained in step s 2102 . step s 2102 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. the sequence of the frame advance processing will be explained with reference to fig. 22 . in step s 2201 , it is determined whether the user has pressed the forward frame advance button 1605 . if it is determined that the user has pressed the forward frame advance button 1605 , the process shifts to step s 2202 to obtain a frame immediately preceding one obtained in step s 2102 of fig. 21 . then, the process ends. if it is determined in step s 2201 that the user has not pressed the forward frame advance button 1605 , it is determined in step s 2203 whether he has pressed the reverse frame advance button 1606 . if it is determined that the user has pressed the reverse frame advance button 1606 , the process shifts to step s 2204 to obtain a frame immediately succeeding one obtained in step s 2102 of fig. 21 . then, the process ends. if it is determined in step s 2203 that the user has not pressed the reverse frame advance button 1606 , the process ends without doing anything. according to this sequence, the playback status determination dust correction processing upon forward frame advance and reverse frame advance is executed. as described above, the third embodiment can increase the operating speed and reduce the amount of a resource such as memory used when playing back a moving image file such as an mp4 file while performing dust correction processing using dust information. in addition, the third embodiment can provide the user with a high-quality image in which the shadow of dust or the like is corrected in still image display upon forward or reverse frame advance in which the user views an image carefully for a long time during moving image playback. fourth embodiment the arrangement of an image processing apparatus in the fourth embodiment of the present invention is the same as that shown in fig. 15 , but its operation is different. the operation in the fourth embodiment will be explained. fig. 23 shows the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing in the fourth embodiment. the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing in slow-motion playback will be explained with reference to fig. 23 . the sequence up to step s 2302 in fig. 23 is the same as that up to step s 1702 in fig. 17 . if it is determined in step s 2303 that the user has not pressed a slow-motion playback button 1607 , display processing is done (step s 2304 ), and it is determined in step s 2305 whether the current frame is a final one, similar to the first embodiment. also similar to the first embodiment, if it is determined that the current frame is a final one, the playback status determination dust correction processing ends. if it is determined that the current frame is not a final one, a frame to be displayed next is obtained in step s 2302 . step s 2302 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. if it is determined in step s 2303 that the user has pressed the slow-motion playback button 1607 , dust correction processing is done in step s 2306 in order to prevent dust from standing out because the user views a moving image carefully for a long time in slow-motion playback. although display processing in step s 2307 is the same as that in step s 2304 , a frame in which dust has been corrected by the dust correction processing in step s 2306 is displayed as a slow-motion playback image. then, the process shifts to step s 2305 , and step s 2302 and subsequent steps are repeated until all frames are processed. according to this sequence, the playback status determination dust correction processing is executed. as described above, the fourth embodiment can increase the operating speed and reduce the amount of a resource such as memory used when playing back a moving image file such as an mp4 file while performing dust correction processing using dust information. at the same time, the fourth embodiment can provide the user with a high-quality image in which the shadow of dust or the like is corrected in image display by slow-motion playback in which the user views an image carefully for a long time during moving image playback. fifth embodiment the arrangement of an image processing apparatus in the fifth embodiment of the present invention is the same as that shown in fig. 15 , but its operation is different. the operation in the fifth embodiment will be explained. fig. 24 shows the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing in the fifth embodiment. the sequence of playback status determination dust correction processing in fast-forward playback will be explained with reference to fig. 24 . the sequence up to step s 2402 in fig. 24 is the same as that up to step s 1702 in fig. 17 . if it is determined in step s 2403 that the user has pressed a fast-forward playback button 1608 , display processing is done (step s 2404 ). in step s 2405 , it is determined whether the current frame is a final one. if the current frame is a final one, the playback status determination dust correction processing ends. if the current frame is not a final one, the process returns to step s 2402 and is repeated. if it is determined in step s 2403 that the user has not pressed the fast-forward playback button 1608 , dust correction processing is performed in step s 2406 . in step s 2407 , the same display processing as that in step s 1707 in the first embodiment is executed. the first to fourth embodiments have mainly described a playback status in which dust correction is done. to the contrary, the fifth embodiment determines a playback status in which no dust correction is executed. a feature of the fifth embodiment is that when fast-forward playback is performed, no dust correction is executed because the user does not notice dust and no dust need be corrected. as for fast-reverse playback, almost the same processing as that for fast-forward playback is applied. if it is determined that the user has pressed a fast-reverse playback button 1609 , no dust correction is executed. as described above, the fifth embodiment can increase the operating speed and reduce the amount of a resource such as memory used by performing no dust correction in playback such as fast-forward playback or fast-reverse playback in which a moving image file such as an mp4 file is played back such that the user does not view an image carefully for a long time, that is, in a playback status in which no dust stands out. sixth embodiment in the first to fifth embodiments, a moving image is played back in a separately prepared image processing apparatus. it is also possible to incorporate a similar image processing apparatus in an image capturing apparatus, perform the same processing, and play back a moving image file such as an mp4 file in the image capturing apparatus while performing dust correction processing using dust information. even the sixth embodiment can increase the operating speed and reduce the amount of a resource such as memory used in moving image playback. also, the sixth embodiment can provide the user with a high-quality image in which the shadow of conspicuous dust or the like is corrected. other embodiments the objects of the embodiments are also achieved by the following method. a storage medium (or recording medium) which stores software program codes to implement the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus. the computer (or cpu or mpu) of the system or apparatus reads out and executes the program codes stored in the storage medium. in this case, the program codes read out from the storage medium implement the functions of the above-described embodiments. the storage medium that stores the program codes constitutes the present invention. the functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented not only by causing the computer to execute the readout program codes. the present invention also includes a case wherein the operating system (os) or the like running on the computer executes part or all of actual processing on the basis of the instructions of the program codes, thereby implementing the functions of the above-described embodiments. the present invention also incorporates the following case. more specifically, the program codes read out from the storage medium are written in the memory of a function expansion card inserted into the computer or the memory of a function expansion unit connected to the computer. the cpu of the function expansion card or function expansion unit executes part or all of actual processing on the basis of the instructions of the program codes, thereby implementing the functions of the above-described embodiments. the storage medium to which the present invention is applied stores program codes corresponding to the above-described procedures. while the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. the scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions. this application claims the benefit of japanese patent application no. 2008-110472, filed apr. 21, 2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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190-887-535-676-366
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A61F2/16,A61F9/00,A61B3/107,A61F2/14,A61L27/00,G02C7/02
| 2000-12-22T00:00:00 |
2000
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methods of obtaining ophtalmic lenses providing the eye with reduced aberrations
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an intraocular correction lens has at least one aspheric surface which when its aberrations are expressed as a linear combination of polynomial terms, is capable of, in combination with a lens in the capsular bag of an eye, reducing similar such aberration terms obtained in a wavefront having passed the cornea, thereby obtaining an eye sufficiently free from aberrations.
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1. a method of designing an intraocular correction lens capable of reducing aberrations of an eye after its implantation and adapted to be placed between the cornea and the capsular bag of the eye, comprising the steps of: (i) measuring the wavefront aberration of the uncorrected eye using a wavefront sensor; (ii) measuring the shape of at least one corneal surface in the eye using a corneal topographer; (iii) characterizing the at least one corneal surface and a lens located in the capsular bag of the eye comprising said cornea as mathematical models; (iv) calculating the resulting aberrations of said corneal surface(s) and the lens in said capsular bag by employing said mathematical models; (v) selecting an optical power of the intraocular correction lens; (vi) modeling the intraocular correction lens such that a wavefront arriving from an optical system comprising said intraocular correction lens and the mathematical models of said corneal and said lens in the capsular bag obtains reduced aberrations. 2. a method according to claim 1, wherein said corneal surface(s) and said lens in the capsular bag are characterized in terms of a conoid of rotation 3. a method according to claim 1 wherein said corneal surface(s) and said lens in the capsular bag are characterized in terms of polynomials. 4. a method according to claim 3, wherein said corneal surface(s) and said lens in the capsular bag are characterized in terms of linear combinations of polynomials. 5. a method according to claim 1, wherein the characterizing of the capsular bag lens as a mathematical model is accomplished by using values from measurements of the wavefront aberration of the whole eye and subtracting values from measurements of the wavefront aberration of only the cornea. 6. a method according to claim 5, wherein the wavefront aberration of the whole eye is measured using a wavefront sensor and the shape of the cornea is measured using topographical measurement methods. 7. a method according to claim 1, wherein said optical system further comprises complementary means for optical correction, such as spectacles or an ophthalmic correction lens. 8. a method according to claim 1, wherein estimations of the refractive powers of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag and axial eye lengths designate the selection of optical power of the correction lens. 9. a method according to claim 3, wherein an optical system comprising said model of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag and the modeled intraocular correction lens provides for a wavefront substantially reduced from aberrations as expressed by at least one of said polynomials. 10. a method according to claim 1, wherein modeling the intraocular correction lens includes selecting the anterior radius and surface shape of the lens, the posterior radius and surface shape of the lens, lens thickness and refractive index of the lens. 11. a method according to claim 10, wherein an aspheric component of the anterior surface is selected while the model lens has predetermined central radii, lens thickness and refractive index. 12. a method according to claim 1, wherein the intraocular correction lens is adapted to be implanted in the posterior chamber of the eye between iris and the capsular bag, the method further comprising the steps of: (i) estimating the anterior radius of the lens in the capsular bag in its non- accommodated state ; (ii) selecting a posterior central radius of the correction lens different to that of the lens in the capsular bag in its non-accommodated state; (iii) determining the total correction lens vault based on the data arriving from steps (i) and (ii); (iv) selecting a flawless curve free from points of inflection representing the intersection of the posterior surface and a plane containing the optical axis so as to provide an aspheric posterior correction lens surface. 13. a method according to claim 1, wherein the intraocular correction lens is adapted to be implanted in the anterior chamber of the eye and/or fixated to iris. 14. a method according to claim 1 including characterizing the front corneal surface of an individual by means of topographical measurements and expressing the corneal aberrations as a combination of polynomials. 15. a method according to claim 14 including characterizing the front and rear corneal surfaces of an individual by means of topographical measurements and expressing the total aberration of the cornea as a combination of polynomials. 16. a method according to claim 1, including characterizing corneal surfaces and natural lenses of a selected population and expressing average aberrations of cornea and natural lens of said population as combinations of polynomials. 17. a method according to claim 1, comprising the further steps of : (v) calculating the aberrations of a wavefront arriving from said optical system; (vi) determining if the modeled intraocular correction lens has provided sufficient reduction in aberrations in the wavefront arriving from said optical system; and optionally re-modeling the intraocular correction lens until a sufficient reduction is obtained. 18. a method according to claim 17, wherein said aberrations are expressed as linear combination of polynomials. 19. a method according to claim 18, wherein the re-modeling includes modifying one or several of the anterior surface and curvature, the posterior radius and surface, lens thickness and refractive index of the correction lens. 20. a method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said polynomials are seidel or zernike polynomials. 21. a method according to claim 20, comprising the steps of: (i) expressing the aberrations of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag as linear combinations of zernike polynomials; (ii) deteπnining the zernike coefficients that describe the shape of the cornea and the capsular bag lens; (iii) modeling the intraocular correction lens such that a wavefront passing an optical system comprising said modeled correction lens and the zernike polynomial models of the capsular bag lens and the cornea achieves a sufficient reduction of zernike coefficients of the resulting wavefront aberration of the system. 22. a method according to claim 21, further comprising the steps of : (iv) calculating the zernike coefficients of a wavefront resulting from the optical system; (v) determining if said intraocular correction lens has provided a sufficient reduction of zernike coefficients; and optionally re-modeling said lens until a sufficient reduction in said coefficients is obtained. 23. a method according to claim 22, comprising sufficiently reducing zernike coefficients referring to spherical aberration. 24. a method according to claim 22, comprising sufficiently reducing zernike coefficients referring to aberrations above the fourth order. 25. a method according to claim 23, comprising sufficiently reducing the 11th zernike coefficient of a wavefront from the optical system, so as to obtain an eye sufficiently free from spherical aberration. 26. a method according to claim 22, wherein the re-modeling includes modifying one or several of the anterior radius and surface shape, the posterior radius and surface shape, lens thickness and refractive index of the correction lens. 27. a method according to claim 26, comprising modifying the anterior surface shape of the correction lens until a sufficient reduction in aberrations is obtained. 28. a method according to claim 20, comprising modeling a correction lens such that the optical system provides reduction of spherical and cylindrical aberration terms as expressed in seidel or zernike polynomials in a wave front having passed through the system. 29. a method according to claim 28, obtaining a reduction in higher order aberration terms. 30. a method according to claim 9 comprising: (i) characterizing corneal surfaces and lenses located in the capsular bags of a selected population and expressing each cornea and each capsular bag lens as a linear combination of polynomials; (ii) comparing polynomial coefficients between different pairs of individual corneas and capsular bag lenses; (iii) selecting one nominal coefficient value from an individual cornea and capsular bag lens; (iv) modeling a correction lens such that a wavefront arriving from an optical system comprising said correction lens and the polynomial models of the lens in the capsular bag and the cornea sufficiently reduces said nominal coefficient value. 31. a method according to claim 30, wherein said polynomial coefficient refers to the zernike aberration term expressing spherical aberration. 32. a method according to claim 30, wherein said nominal coefficient value is the lowest within the selected population. 33. a method of selecting an intraocular correction lens that is capable of reducing aberrations of the eye after its implantation comprising the steps of: (i) characterizing at least one corneal surface and a lens located in the capsular bag of the eye comprising said cornea as mathematical models; (ii) calculating the resulting aberrations of said corneal surface(s) and the lens in said capsular bag by employing said mathematical models; (iii) selecting an intraocular correction lens having a suitable optical power from a plurality of lenses having same power, but different aberrations; (iv) determining if an optical system comprising said selected correction lens and said mathematical models of the lens in the capsular bag and the cornea sufficiently reduces the aberrations. 34. a method according to claim 33 further comprising the steps of: (v) calculating the aberrations of a wave front arriving from said optical system; (vi) determining if said selected intraocular correction lens has provided a sufficient reduction in aberrations in a wavefront arriving from said optical system; and optionally repeating steps (iii) and (iv) by selecting at least one new correction lens having the same optical power until finding a correction lens capable of sufficiently reducing the aberrations. 35. a method according to claim 33, wherein said corneal surface(s) and said lens in the capsular bag are characterized in terms of a conoid of rotation. 36. a method according to claim 33 wherein said corneal surface(s) and said lens in the capsular bag are characterized in terms of polynomials. 37. a method according to claim 36, wherein said corneal surface(s) and said lens in the capsular bag are characterized in terms of linear combinations of polynomials. 38. a method according to claim 33, wherein the total aberration of the eye is measured together with the aberration of only the cornea, these measurements giving the individual aberrations of the cornea and the capsular bag lens. 39. a method according to claim 38, wherein the total aberration of the eye is measured using a wavefront sensor and the aberration of the cornea is measured using topographical measurement methods. 40. a method according to claim 33 or 34, wherein said optical system further comprises complementary means for optical correction, such as spectacles or an ophthalmic correction lens. 41. a method according to claim 33, wherein estimations of the refractive powers of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag and axial eye lengths designate the selection of correction lens optical power. 42. a method according to claim 36 or 37, wherein an optical system comprising said models of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag and the selected intraocular correction lens provides for a wavefront substantially reduced from aberrations as expressed by at least one of said polynomials. 43. a method according to claim 33, wherein the intraocular correction lens is adapted to be implanted in the posterior chamber of the eye between iris and the capsular bag, the method further comprising the steps of: (v) estimating the anterior radius of the lens in the capsular bag in its non- accommodated state ; (vi) selecting a posterior central radius of the correction lens different to that of the lens in the capsular bag in its non-accommodated state; (vii) determining the total correction lens vault based on the data arriving from steps (i) and (ii); (viii) selecting a flawless curve free from points of inflection representing the intersection of the posterior surface and a plane containing the optical axis so as to provide an aspheric posterior correction lens surface. 44. a method according to claim 33, wherein the intraocular correction lens is adapted to be implanted in the anterior chamber of the eye and fixated to iris. 45. a method according to claim 33, including characterizing the front corneal surface of an individual by means of topographical measurements and expressing the corneal aberrations as a combination of polynomials. 46. a method according to claim 45, including characterizing the front and rear corneal surfaces of an individual by means of topographical measurements and expressing the total aberration of the corneal as a combination of polynomials. 47. a method according to claim 33, including characterizing corneal surfaces and lenses in capsular bags of a selected population and expressing average aberrations of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag of said population as combinations of polynomials. 48. a method according to claim 42, wherein said polynomials are seidel or zernike polynomials. 49. a method according to claim 48, comprising the steps of: (i) determining the wavefront aberration of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag; (ii) expressing the aberrations of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag as linear combinations of zernike polynomials; (iii) selecting the intraocular correction lens such that a wavefront passing an optical system comprising said correction lens and the zernike polynomial models of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag achieves a sufficient reduction in zernike coefficients. 50. a method according to claim 49, further comprising the steps of : (iv) calculating the zernike coefficients of a wavefront resulting from the optical system; (v) determining if said intraocular correction lens has provided a sufficient reduction of zernike coefficients; and optionally selecting a new lens until a sufficient reduction in said coefficients is obtained. 51. a method according to claim 49 or 50, comprising determining zernike polynomials up to the 4th order. 52. a method according to claim 51 comprising sufficiently reducing zernike coefficients referring to spherical aberration. 53. a method according to claim 52 comprising sufficiently reducing zernike coefficients above the fourth order. 54. a method according to claim 52 comprising sufficiently reducing the 11th zernike coefficient of a wavefront arriving from the optical system, so as to obtain an eye sufficiently free from spherical aberration. 55. a method according to claim 45 comprising selecting an intraocular correction lens such that the optical system provides reduction of spherical aberration terms as expressed in seidel or zernike polynomials in a wave front having passed through the system. 56. a method according to claim 45, wherein reduction in higher order aberration terms is accomplished. 57. a method according to claim 33 characterized by selecting an intraocular correction lens from a kit comprising lenses with a suitable power range and within each power range a plurality of lenses having different aberrations. 58. a method according to claim 57, wherein said aberrations are spherical aberrations. 59. a method according to claim 57, wherein said correction lenses within each power range have surfaces with different aspheric components. 60. a method according to claim 59, wherein said surfaces are the anterior surfaces. 61. an intraocular correction lens obtained in accordance with any of claims 1 to 60, capable of, in combination with a lens in the capsular bag of an eye, transferring a wavefront having passed through the cornea of the eye into a substantially spherical wavefront having its center in the retina of the eye. 62. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 61, capable of compensating for the aberrations of a model of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag designed from a suitable population, such that a wavefront arriving from an optical system comprising said correction lens and said model of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag obtains substantially reduced aberrations. 63. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 62, wherein said model of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag includes average aberration terms calculated from characterizing individual corneas and capsular bag lenses and expressing them in mathematical terms so as to obtain individual aberration terms. 64. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 63, wherein said aberration terms is a linear combination of zernike polynomials. 65. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 64 capable of reducing aberration terms expressed in zernike polynomials of said model of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag, such that a wavefront arriving from an optical system comprising said correction lens and said model of the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag obtains substantially reduced spherical aberration. 66. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 65 capable of reducing the 11 th zernike term of the 4 th order. 67. an intraocular correction lens having at least one aspheric surface which when its aberrations are expressed as a linear combination of polynomial terms, is capable of, in combination with a lens in the capsular bag of an eye, reducing similar such aberration terms obtained in a wavefront having passed the cornea, thereby obtaining an eye sufficiently free from aberrations. 68. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 67, wherein said aspheric surface is the anterior surface of the lens. 69. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 67, wherein said aspheric surface is the posterior surface of the lens. 70. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 69, wherein said polynomial terms are zernike polynomials. 71. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 70 capable of reducing polynomial terms representing spherical aberrations and astigmatism. 5 72. a lens according to claim 71, capable of reducing the 11 th zernike polynomial term of the 4 th order. 73. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 72 made from a soft biocompatible material. 10 74. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 73 made of silicone. 75. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 73 made of hydrogel. 15 76. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 72 made of a rigid biocompatible material. 77. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 67 adapted to be implanted in the posterior chamber of the eye between iris and the capsular bag comprising a centrally located optical part capable of providing an optical correction and a peripherally located supporting element 20 capable of maintaining said optical part in said central location, said optical part and said support element together having a concave posterior surface which is part of a non-spherical surface, the intersection between said non-spherical surface and any plane containing the optical axis representing a flawless curve free from discontinuities and points of inflection. 25 78. an intraocular correction lens according to claim 77 adapted to be implanted in the anterior chamber of the eye and fixated to iris. 79. a method for improving the visual quality of an eye, characterized by implanting an intraocular correction lens according to the claims 61-78. 3 _>0 80. a method according to claim 79, wherein spectacles or correction lenses are provided outside the eye to further improve the visual quality. 81. a method according to claim 79, wherein the cornea of the patient receiving the intraocular correction lens has been modified by means of a laser. 82. a method of improving the visual quality of an eye, characterized by the steps of: - conducting corneal surgery on the eye; allowing the cornea to recover; performing a wavefront analysis of the eye; and designing a correction lens according to any one of the claims 1-15, 17-29,33-46 and 48-60; and - implanting the correction lens in the eye.
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methods of obtaining ophthalmic lenses providing the eye with reduced aberrations field of invention the present invention relates to methods of designing and selecting ophthalmic lenses that provide the eye with reduced aberrations as well as lenses capable of providing such visual improvements. background of the invention beside first order defocus and astigmatism of the eye a number of other vision defects could be present. for example aberrations of different orders occur when a wavefront passes a refracting surface. the wavefront itself becomes aspheric when it passes an optical surface that has imperfections and vision defects occur when an aspheric wavefront falls on the retina. both the cornea and the lens in the capsular bag contribute thus to these types of vision defects if they deviate from being perfect or perfectly compensating optical elements. the term aspheric will in this text include both asphericity and asymmetry. an aspheric surface could be either a rotationally symmetric or a rotationally asymmetric surface and/or an irregular surface, i.e all surfaces not being spherical. it is presently discussed that the visual quality of eyes having an implanted intraocular lens (iol) is comparable with normal eyes in a population of the same age. consequently, a 70- year-old cataract patient can only expect to obtain the visual quality of a non-cataracteous person of the same age after surgical implantation of an intraocular lens, although such lenses objectively have been regarded as optically superior to the natural crystalline lens. this result can be explained by the fact that present iols are not adapted to compensate for age-related defects of the optical system of the human eye. age-related defects of the eye have also recently been investigated and it is found that contrast sensitivity significantly declines in subjects older than 50 years. these results seem to comply with the above-mentioned discussion, since the contrast sensitivity measurements indicate that individuals having undergone cataract surgery with lens implantation will not obtain a better contrast sensitivity than persons of an average age of about 60 to 70 years. even if intraocular lenses aimed to substitute the defective cataract lens and other ophthalmic lenses, such as conventional contact lenses or intraocular correction lenses, have been developed with excellent optical quality, it is obvious that they fail to correct for a number of aberration phenomena of the eye including age-related aberration defects. us patent no. 5,777,719 (williams et al) discloses a method and an apparatus for accurately measuring higher aberrations of the eye as an optical system with wavefront analysis. by using a hartmann-shack wavefront sensor, it is possible to measure higher order aberrations of the eye and using such data to find compensation for these aberrations and thereby obtain sufficient information for the design of an optical lens which can provide a highly improved optical correction. the hartmann-shack sensor provides means for obtaining light reflected from the retina of the eye of a subject. the wavefront in the plane of the pupil is recreated in the plane of the lenslet array of the hartmann-shack sensor. each lenslet in the array is used to form an aerial image of the retinal point source on a ccd camera located at the focal plane of the array. the wave aberration of the eye, in the form of a point source produced on the retina by a laser beam, displaces each spot by an amount proportional to the local slope of the wavefront at each of the lenslets. the output from the ccd camera is sent to a computer, which then performs calculations to fit slope data to the first derivatives of 65 zernike polynomials. from these calculations, coefficients for weighting the zernike polynomials are obtained. the sum of the weighted zernike polynomials represents a reconstructed wavefront distorted by the aberrations of the eye as an optical system. the individual zernike polynomial terms will then represent different modes of aberration. us patent no. 5,050,981 (roffman) discloses another method for designing a lens by calculating modulation transfer functions from tracing a large number of rays through the lens- eye system and evaluating the distribution density of the rays in the image position. this is repeatedly performed by varying at least one lens surface until a lens is found which results in a sharp focus and a minimum of image aberrations. the methods referred to above for designing are suitable for the design of contact lenses or other correction lenses for the phakic eye which can be perfected to compensate for the aberration of the whole eye system. however, to provide improved intraocular lenses adapted to be placed between the cornea and the capsular bag, in the anterior chamber or in the posterior chamber, it would be necessary to consider the aberrations of the individual parts of the eye. there has recently been a focus on studying the aberrations of the eye, including a number of studies of the development of these aberrations as a function of age. in one particular study, the development of the components of the eye were examined separately, leading to the conclusion that the optical aberrations of the individual components of younger eyes cancel each other out, see optical letters, 1998, vol. 23(21), pp.1713-1715. also the article of s. patel et al in refractive & corneal surgery, 1993, vol. 9, pages 173-181 discloses the asphericity of posterior corneal surfaces. it is suggested that the corneal data can be used together with other ocular parameters to predict the power and the asphericity of an intraocular lens with the purpose of maximizing the optical performances of the future pseudophakic eye. furthermore, it was also recently observed by antonio guirao and pablo artal in iovs, 1999, vol. 40(4), s535 that the shape of the cornea changes with age and becomes more spherical. these studies indicate that cornea in the subjects provides a positive spherical aberration which increases with the age. in vision research, 1998, 38(2), pp. 209-229, a glasser et al. investigated the spherical aberration of natural crystalline lenses from eyes obtained from an eye bank after that the corneas had been removed. according to the laser scanner optical method used herein it was found that the spherical aberration from an older lens (66 years) shows uncorrected (positive) spherical aberration, whereas a 10-year-old lens shows over-corrected (negative) spherical aberration. in view of the foregoing, it is apparent that there is a need for ophthalmic lenses that are better adapted to compensate the aberrations caused by the individual surfaces of eye, such as the corneal surfaces and the surfaces of the lens in the capsular bag, and capable of better correcting aberrations other than defocus and astigmatism, as is provided with conventional ophthalmic lenses. description of the invention it is an object of the invention to improve the visual quality of eyes. it is a further object of the invention to provide for methods that result in obtaining an ophthalmic lens, which provides the eye with reduced aberrations. it is another object of the invention to provide methods of obtaining an intraocular lens capable of reducing the aberration of the eye after its implantation into the eye. it is a further object to provide for methods of obtaining an intraocular lens capable of compensating for the aberrations resulting from optical irregularities in the corneal surfaces and the surfaces of the lens in the capsular bag. it is a still further object of the present invention to provide an intraocular lens which, together with a lens in the capsular bag, is capable of restoring a wavefront deviating from sphericity into a substantially more spherical wavefront. it is a further object of the invention to provide an intraocular lens, which improves the visual quality for patients who have undergone a corneal surgery or who have corneal defects or diseases. the present invention generally relates to methods of obtaining an ophthalmic lens that is capable of reducing the aberrations of the eye. by aberrations in this context is meant wavefront aberrations. this is based on the understanding that a converging wavefront must be perfectly spherical to form a point image, i.e. if a perfect image shall be formed on the retina of the eye, the wavefront having passed the optical surfaces of the eye, such as the cornea and the natural lens must be perfectly spherical. an aberrated image will be formed if the wavefront deviates from being spherical and this is the case when it has passed a non perfect lens system. the wavefront aberration can be expressed in mathematical terms in accordance with different approximate models as is explained in textbook references, such as m.r. freeman optics, tenth edition, 1990. in a first embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method of designing an intraocular lens capable of reducing aberrations of an eye after its implantation. the method comprises a first step of measuring the wavefront aberration of the uncorrected eye using a wavefront sensor. the shape of at least one corneal surface in the eye is also measured using a corneal topographer. the at least one corneal surface and a lens located in the capsular bag of the eye comprising said cornea are then characterized as a mathematical model and by employing this mathematical model the resulting aberrations of the corneal surface and the lens in the capsular bag are calculated. the lens in the capsular bag can be either the natural lens or an implanted lens of any kind. hereafter the lens in the capsular bag will be called the capsular bag lens. an expression of the aberrations of the cornea and the capsular bag lens is thereby obtained, i.e. the wavefront aberrations of a wavefront having passed such a corneal surface and such a lens. dependent on the selected mathematical model, different routes to calculate the aberrations can be taken. preferably, the corneal surface and the capsular bag lens are characterized as mathematical models in terms of a conicoid of rotation or in terms of polynomials or a combination thereof. more preferably, the corneal surface and the capsular bag lens are characterized in terms of linear combinations of polynomials. the second step of the method is to select the power of the intraocular correction lens, which is done according to conventional methods for the specific need of optical correction of the eye. from the information of steps one and two an intraocular correction lens is modeled, such that a wavefront from an optical system comprising said correction lens and the mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens obtains reduced aberrations. the optical system considered when modeling the lens typically includes the cornea, the capsular bag lens and said correction lens, but in the specific case it can also include other optical elements including the lenses of spectacles, or an artificial correction lens, such as a contact lens or an implantable correction lens depending on the individual situation. modeling the lens involves selection of one or several lens parameters in a system which contributes to the determination of the lens shape of a given, pre-selected refractive power. this typically involves the selection of the anterior radius and surface shape, posterior radius and surface shape, the lens thickness, the refractive index of the lens and the lens position in the eye. in practical terms, the lens modeling can be performed with data based on a correction lens described in the swedish patent application with application number se-0000611-4, which hereby is incorporated in this application by reference. in such a case it is preferred to deviate as little as possible from an already clinically approved model. for this reason, it may be preferred to maintain pre-determined values of the central radii of the lens, its thickness and refractive index, while selecting a different shape of the anterior or posterior surface, thus providing these surfaces to have an aspheric or asymmetric shape. according to an alternative of the inventive method, the spherical anterior surface of the conventional starting lens is modeled by selecting a suitable aspheric component. designing aspheric surfaces of lenses is a well-known technique and can be performed according to different principles. the construction of such surfaces is explained in more detail in our parallel swedish patent application 0000611-4 which is given as reference. as said before the term aspheric in this text is not restricted to symmetric surfaces. for example radially asymmetric lenses can be used to correct for coma. the inventive method can be further developed by comparing aberrations of an optical system comprised of the mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and the correction lens with the aberrations of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and evaluating if a sufficient reduction in aberrations is obtained. suitable variable parameters are found among the above-mentioned physical parameters of the lens, which can be altered so to find a lens model, which deviates sufficiently from being a spherical lens to compensate for the aberrations. the characterization of at least one corneal surface and the capsular bag lens as mathematical models and thereby establishing mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens expressing the aberrations is preferably performed by using a wavefront sensor for measuring the total aberration of the eye and direct corneal surface measurements according to well-known topographical measurement methods which serve to express the surface irregularities of the cornea into a quantifiable model that can be used with the inventive method. from these two measurements the aberration of the capsular bag lens could also be calculated and expressed in aberration terms, such as a linear combination of polynomials which represent the aberration of the capsular bag lens. the aberration of the capsular bag lens is determined either by using the wavefront aberration values of the whole eye and from these subtracting the wavefront aberration values of the cornea or alternatively by modeling the optical system in the following way - start with a model of the cornea based on corneal measurements and a "starting point " capsular bag lens, calculate the aberrations of this system, then modify the shape of the capsular bag lens until the calculated aberrations are sufficiently similar to the measured aberrations of the uncorrected eye. corneal measurements for this purpose can be performed by the orbscan® videokeratograph, as available from orbtek, l.l.c, or by corneal topography methods, such as but not limited to eyesys® or humphrey atlas® . preferably at least the front corneal surface is measured and more preferably both front and rear corneal surfaces are measured, characterized and expressed in aberration terms, such as a linear combination of polynomials which represent the total corneal aberrations. according to one important aspect of the present invention, characterization of corneas and capsular bag lenses is conducted on a selected population with the purpose of expressing an average of aberrations and designing a lens from such averaged aberrations. average aberration terms of the population can then be calculated, for example as an average linear combination of polynomials and used in the lens design method. this aspect includes selecting different relevant populations, for example in age groups, to generate suitable average corneal surfaces and capsular bag lenses to be used to comply with individual design methods. the patient will thereby obtain a lens that gives the eye substantially less aberrations when compared to a conventional lens having substantially spherical surfaces. preferably, the mentioned measurements also include the measurement of the refractive power of the eye. the powers of the cornea and the capsular bag lens as well as the axial eye length are typically considered for the selection of the lens power in the inventive design method. also preferably, the wavefront aberrations herein are expressed as a linear combination of polynomials and the optical system comprising the mathematical model of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and the modeled intraocular correction lens provides for a wavefront having obtained a substantial reduction in aberrations, as expressed by one or more such polynomial terms. in the art of optics, several types of polynomial terms are available to skilled persons for describing aberrations. suitably, the polynomials are seidel or zernike polynomials. according to the present invention zernike polynomials preferably are employed. the technique of employing zernike terms to describe wavefront aberrations originating from optical surfaces deviating from being aberration free is a state of the art technique and can be employed for example with a hartmann-shack sensor as outlined in j. opt. soc. am., 1994, vol. 11(7), pp. 1949-57. it is also well established among optical practitioners that the different zernike terms signify different aberration phenomena including defocus, astigmatism, coma and spherical aberration as well as higher order forms of these aberrations. in an embodiment of the present method, the corneal surface and capsular bag lens measurements results in that a corneal surface shape and a capsular bag lens shape can be expressed as linear combinations of zernike polynomials (as described in equation (1)), wherein z* is the i-th zernike term and a; is the weighting coefficient for this term. zernike polynomials are a set of complete orthogonal polynomials defined on a unit circle. below, table 1 shows the first 15 zernike terms up to the fourth order and the aberrations each term signifies. z(p,θ) = 2 j a i z i 0) i=\ in equation (1), p and θ represent the normalized radius and the azimuthal angle, respectively. table 1 conventional optical correction with intraocular lenses will only comply with the fourth term of an optical system comprising the eye with an implanted lens. glasses, contact lenses and intraocular lenses provided with correction for astigmatism can further comply with terms five and six and thus substantially reduce zernike polynomials referring to astigmatism. the inventive method further includes to calculate the aberrations resulting from an optical system comprising said modeled intraocular correction lens and said mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and expressing it in a linear combination of polynomials and to determine if the intraocular correction lens has provided sufficient reduction in aberrations. if the reduction in aberrations is found to be insufficient, the lens will be re-modeled until one or several of the polynomial terms are sufficiently reduced. remodeling the lens means that at least one of the conventional lens design parameters is changed. these include the anterior surface shape and/or central radius, the posterior surface shape and/or central radius, the thickness of the lens and its refractive index. typically, such remodeling includes changing the curvature of a lens surface so it deviates from being a perfect sphere. there are several tools available in lens design that are useful to employ with the design method, such as oslo version 5 see program reference, chapter 4, sinclair optics 1996. according to a preferred aspect of the first embodiment, the inventive method comprises expressing the shape of at least one corneal surface and a capsular bag lens as linear combinations of zernike polynomials and thereby determining the corneal and capsular bag lens wavefront zernike coefficients, i.e. the coefficient to each of the individual zernike polynomials that is selected for consideration. the correction lens is then modeled so that an optical system comprising said modeled correction lens and the mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens provides a wavefront having a sufficient reduction of selected zernike coefficients. the method can optionally be refined with the further steps of calculating the zernike coefficients of the zernike polynomials representing a wavefront resulting from an optical system comprising the modeled intraocular correction lens and the mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and determining if the lens has provided a sufficient reduction of the cornea and the capsular bag lens wavefront zernike coefficients; and optionally re-modeling said lens until a sufficient reduction in said coefficients is obtained. preferably, in this aspect the method considers zernike polynomials up to the 4th order and aims to sufficiently reduce zernike coefficients referring to spherical aberration and/or astigmatism terms. it is particularly preferable to sufficiently reduce the 1 lth zernike coefficient of a wavefront from an optical system comprising the mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and said modeled intraocular correction lens, so as to obtain an eye sufficiently free from spherical aberration. alternatively, the design method can also include reducing higher order aberrations and thereby aiming to reduce zernike coefficients of higher order aberration terms than the 4 ' order. when designing lenses based on corneal and capsular bag lens characterizations from a selected population, preferably the corneal surfaces and the capsular bag lens of each individual are expressed in zernike polynomials and the zernike coefficients are determined. from these results average zernike coefficients are calculated and employed in the design method, aiming at a sufficient reduction of selected such coefficients. it is to be understood that the resulting lenses arriving from a design method based on average values from a large population have the purpose of substantially improving visual quality for all users. a lens having a total elimination of an aberration term based on an average value may consequently be less desirable and leave certain individuals with an inferior vision than with a conventional lens. for this reason, it can be suitable to reduce the selected zernike coefficients only to a certain degree or to a predetermined fraction of the average value. according to another approach of the inventive design method, corneal and capsular bag lens characterizations of a selected population and the resulting linear combinations of polynomials, e.g. zernike polynomials, expressing each individual corneal and capsular bag lens aberrations can be compared in terms of coefficient values. from this result, a suitable value of the coefficients is selected and employed in the inventive design method for a suitable lens. in a selected population having aberrations of the same sign such a coefficient value can typically be the lowest value within the selected population and the lens designed from this value would thereby provide improved visual quality for all individuals in the group compared to a conventional lens. according to another embodiment, the present invention is directed to the selection of an intraocular lens of refractive power, suitable for the desired optical correction that the patient needs, from a plurality of lenses having the same power but different aberrations. the selection method is similarly conducted to what has been described with the design method and involves the characterization of at least one corneal surface and one capsular bag lens with mathematical models by means of which the aberrations of the corneal surface and the capsular bag lens is calculated. the optical system of the selected correction lens and the mathematical models of the corneal and the capsular bag lens is then evaluated so as to consider if sufficient reduction in aberrations is accomplished by calculating the aberrations of a wavefront arriving from such a system. if an insufficient correction is found a new lens is selected, having the same power, but different aberrations. the mathematical models employed herein are similar to those described above and the same characterization methods of the corneal surfaces and the capsular bag lens can be employed. preferably, the aberrations determined in the selection are expressed as linear combinations of zernike polynomials and the zernike coefficients of the resulting optical system comprising the mathematical models of the cornea and the capsular bag lens and the selected correction lens are calculated. from the coefficient values of the system, it can be determined if the intraocular correction lens has sufficiently balanced the corneal and capsular bag lens aberration terms, as described by the zernike coefficients of the optical system. if no sufficient reduction of the desired individual coefficients are found these steps can be iteratively repeated by selecting a new correction lens of the same power but with different aberrations, until a lens capable of sufficiently reducing the aberrations of the optical system is found. preferably at least 15 zernike polynomials up to the 4 th order are determined. if it is regarded as sufficient to correct for spherical aberration, only the spherical aberration terms of the zernike polynomials for the optical system of cornea and capsular bag lens and intraocular correction lens are corrected. it is to be understood that the intraocular correction lens shall be selected so a selection of these terms becomes sufficiently small for the optical system comprising correction lens and cornea and capsular bag lens. in accordance with the present invention, the 11 th zernike coefficient, an, can be substantially eliminated or sufficiently close to zero. this is a prerequisite to obtain an intraocular correction lens that sufficiently reduces the spherical aberration of the eye. the inventive method can be employed to correct for other types of aberrations than spherical aberration by considering other zernike coefficients in an identical manner, for example those signifying astigmatism, coma and higher order aberrations. also higher order aberrations can be corrected dependent on the number of zernike polynomials elected to be a part of the modeling, in which case a correction lens can be selected capable of correcting for higher order aberrations than the 4 th order. according to one important aspect, the selection method involves selecting correction lenses from a kit of correction lenses having lenses with a range of power and a plurality of lenses within each power having different aberrations. in one example the correction lenses within each power have anterior surfaces with different aspheric components. if a first correction lens does not exhibit sufficient reduction in aberration, as expressed in suitable zernike coefficients, then a new correction lens of the same power, but with a different surface is selected. the selection method can if necessary be iteratively repeated until the best correction lens is found or the studied aberration terms are reduced below a significant borderline value. in practical means, the zernike terms obtained from the corneal and capsular bag lens examination will be directly obtained by the ophthalmic surgeon and by means of an algorithm will be compared to known zernike terms of the correction lenses in the kit. from this comparison the most suitable correction lens in the kit can be found and implanted. the present invention further pertains to an intraocular correction lens having at least one aspheric surface capable of transferring a wavefront having passed through the cornea of the eye into a wavefront that when it after passing the correction lens passes the capsular bag lens is transferred into a substantially spherical wavefront with its center at the retina of the eye. preferably, the wavefront is substantially spherical with respect to aberration terms expressed in rotationally symmetric zernike terms up to the fourth order. in accordance with an especially preferred embodiment, the invention relates to an intraocular correction lens, which when the aberration is calculated and expressed as a linear combination of zernike polynomial terms, has an 11 th term of the fourth order with a zernike coefficient an , of a value that after implantation of the correction lens sufficiently reduces the spherical aberration of a wavefront passing the eye. in one aspect of this embodiment, zernike coefficient an of the correction lens is determined so as to compensate for an average value resulting from a sufficient number of estimations of the zernike coefficient a in corneas and capsular bag lenses. in another aspect, the zernike coefficient a u is determined to compensate for the individual corneal and capsular bag lens coefficient of one patient. the lens can accordingly be tailored for an individual with high precision. the lenses according to the present invention can be manufactured with conventional methods. in one embodiment they are made from soft, resilient material, such as silicone or hydrogels. examples of such materials are found in wo 98/17205. manufacturing of aspheric silicone lenses or similarly foldable lenses can be performed according to us patent no. 6,007,747. alternatively, the lenses according to the present invention can be made of a more rigid material, such as poly(methyl)methacrylate. the skilled person can readily identify alternative materials and manufacturing methods, which will be suitable to employ to produce the inventive aberration reducing lenses. in one preferred embodiment of the invention the intraocular correction lens is adapted to be implanted in the posterior chamber of the eye between the iris and the capsular bag. the correction lens according to this embodiment comprises preferably a centrally located optical part capable of providing an optical correction and a peripherally located supporting element capable of maintaining said optical part in said central location, said optical part and said support element together having a concave posterior surface which is part of a non-spherical surface, the intersection between said non-spherical surface and any plane containing the optical axis representing a flawless curve free from discontinuities and points of inflection. such an intraocular correction lens without the inventive aberration reduction is described in se-0000611- 4. this lens design is preferred since it is adapted to the anatomy of the eye and avoids stress to the crystalline lens. due to its design, contacts between the natural lens and the iris are avoided or minimized. the method of designing this preferred correction lens comprises suitably the steps of: estimating the anterior radius of the lens in the capsular bag in its non-accommodated state ; - selecting a posterior central radius of the correction lens different to that of the lens in the capsular bag in its non-accommodated state; determining the total correction lens vault based on the data arriving from steps (i) and (ii); selecting a flawless curve free from points of inflection representing the intersection of the posterior surface and a plane containing the optical axis so as to provide an aspheric posterior correction lens surface. in another embodiment of the invention the correction lens is adapted to be placed in the anterior chamber of the eye and fixated to iris. the advantage of this embodiment is that the correction lens is attached to iris and will not move around and has no ability to rotate thus making it more suitable for correcting non-symmetric aberrations the present invention also relates to a method of improving the vision of an eye. according to the invention an intraocular correction lens as described above is implanted in the eye. the vision can also be further improved by providing spectacles or correction lenses outside the eye or by modulating the cornea by for example laser. the ophthalmic lenses according to the invention can suitably be designed and produced especially for correcting for aberrations introduced by corneal surgery such as lasic (= laser in situ keratomilensis) and prk (= photorefractive keratectomy). the cornea and the whole eye are measured as described above on patients who have undergone corneal surgery and the correction lenses are designed from these measurements. the lenses according to the invention could also suitably be designed for patients having corneal defects or corneal diseases. the described lenses according to the invention could either be designed for each individual or they could be designed for a group of people. the invention also refers to a method of improving the visual quality of an eye, wherein a corneal surgery first is conducted on the eye. the cornea is then allowed to recover before a wavefront analysis of the eye is performed. if the aberrations of the eye have to be reduced a correction lens adapted for this individual is designed according to the description above. this correction lens is then implanted in the eye. different types of corneal surgery are possible. two common methods are lasik and prk, as described in survey of ophthalmology, 1998, vol. 43 (2), pi 47- 156 by jj rowsey et al. the presently invented method will find particular advantage the perfect visual quality for individuals who have undergone corneal surgery, but have outstanding visual impairments, which are considered as difficult to reach with conventional surgery.
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192-422-668-116-058
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US
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[
"US"
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H01J61/44,H01J61/48
| 1987-10-15T00:00:00 |
1987
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[
"H01"
] |
phosphor blend for broad spectrum fluorescent lamp
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a full spectrum fluorescent lamp having a phosphor coating for producing visible light having a high color rendering index and balanced amounts of ultraviolet energy at the same correlated color temperature in which the coating is formed of two groups of phosphors, the first producing the full spectrum when excited and the second narrow bands of visible light to improve the lumen output of the lamp.
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1. a fluorescent lamp for general illumination purposes operable from a source of voltage comprising an envelope capable of transmitting light in the visible, and middle and near ultraviolet ranges, a pair of electrodes for connection to said voltage source and an ionizable medium upon operation of the lamp producing an electrical arc stream discharge, first and second phosphor blend groups on the wall of said envelope, the phosphors of said first group excited by the radiant power of the electrical discharge for producing radiation having a spectrum in the visible light range with a c.i.e. color rendering index of at least 80, radiation in the near ultraviolet range, and radiation in the middle ultraviolet range, said visible and said ultraviolet radiation produced being transmitted through said envelope in the quantities of between about 6-50 microwatts of middle range ultraviolet radiation and between about 150-700 microwatts of near range ultraviolet radiation per lumen of visible light with the radiant power ratio of near ultraviolet/middle ultraviolet radiation being in the range from between 8 to 40, said ultraviolet radiation transmitted through said envelope being of a total quantity substantially the same per lumen of visible light transmitted through said envelope as found in natural daylight of the same correlated color temperature, phosphors of said second group when excited by said electrical discharge producing at least narrow bands of visible radiant energy in the range of from about 5 nm to about 60 nm for increasing the lumens per watt output of visible light from the lamp. 2. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the first group of phosphors are excited by the radiant power of the electrical discharge to produce respective quantities of radiation transmitted through said envelope in each of said middle and near ultraviolet ranges per lumen of visible light which are substantially the same as that found in the corresponding ranges of natural daylight for the same correlated color temperature. 3. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the color temperature of the visible light energy produced by said first and second groups of phosphors is substantially the same. 4. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 3 wherein said color temperature is substantially about 5500.degree. k. 5. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein said phosphors of said first and second groups are formed together in a single mix which is laid down on the envelope wall. 6. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the phosphors of said two blends are laid down in two separate coats with the first coat formed by the phosphor of said first group laid down on the envelope wall and the narrow band phosphors of said second group forming the second coat laid down over said first coat and closer to the electrical arc stream discharge. 7. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the narrow band phosphors of said second blend are rare earth phosphors. 8. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the phosphors of said second blend produces visible light in respective bands of wavelengths in the range of from about substantially 5 nm to greater than substantially about 60 nm wide within the visible light range. 9. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the phosphors of said first blend comprise substantially ______________________________________ % of blend phosphor ______________________________________ 63.3% strontonium magnesium orthophosphate:tin 25.8% magnesium tungstate: tungsten 3.9% zinc orthosilicate: maganese 7.0% barium mesosilicate: lead (similar to formula in patent, page 11 ______________________________________ 10. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein the phosphors of said second blend comprise substantially: ______________________________________ % of blend phosphor ______________________________________ 40.3 yttrium oxide: europium 16.7 strontium calcium barium chlorophosphate europium 35.0 lanthanum phosphate: cerium & terbium 8.0 cerium magnesium barium aluminate: cerium ______________________________________ 11. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 7 wherein one of the phosphors of said second blend produces energy in the ultraviolet range. 12. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 5 wherein the phosphor mix comprises substantially: table 4 ______________________________________ % of blend phosphor ______________________________________ 2.0 [i.] calcium halophosphate: tin and manganese 0.5 [j.] zinc orthosilicate: manganese 22.5 [k.] strontium magnesium or- thophosphate: tin 25.0 [l.] strontium borophosphate: europium 21.5 [e.] yttrim oxide: europium 8.4 [f.] strontium calcium barium chlorophosphate: europium 16.5 [g.] lanthanum phosphate: cerium and terbium 3.6 [h.] cerium magnesium barium aluminate: cerium 8.0 . . . 8% barium mesosilicate: lead [is.] ______________________________________ 13. a fluorescent lamp for general illumination purposes operable from a source of voltage comprising an envelope capable of transmitting light in the visible, and middle and near ultraviolet ranges, a pair of electrodes for connection to said voltage source and an ionizable medium within said envelop, said electrodes and said ionizable medium upon operation of the lamp producing an electric arm stream discharge a first phosphor blend group of relatively wide band phosphors, each of whose visible light components are in the range of from about 70 nm to about 200 nm wide selected such as when excited by the radiant power of the electrical discharge for producing radiation having a spectrum in the visible light range with a c.i.e. color rendering index of at least 80, radiation in the near ultraviolet range, and radiation in the middle ultraviolet range, said visible and said ultraviolet radiation produced being transmitted through said envelope in the quantities of between about 6-50 microwatts of middle range ultraviolet radiation and between about 150-700 microwatts of near range ultraviolet radiation per lumen of visible light with the radiant power ratio of near ultraviolet/middle ultraviolet radiation being in the range from between about 8 to 40, said ultraviolet radiation transmitted through said envelope being of a total quantity substantially the same per lumen of visible light transmitted through said envelope as found in natural daylight of the same correlated color temperature, and a second blend of a group of phosphors producing visible light in various narrow band ranges of from about 5 nm to about 60 nm when excited by the electrical discharge, the amount of the phosphors of said second group of phosphors relative to the phosphors of said first group for increasing the lumens per watt output of visible light from the lamp while decreasing the color rendering index. 14. a fluorescent lamp as in claim 1 wherein said second group of phosphors contain at least one rare earth phosphor for producing ultraviolet energy. 15. a florescent lamp as set forth in claim 1 wherein said envelope has a t 10 diameter. 16. a florescent lamp as set forth in claim 5 wherein said envelope has a t 10 diameter. 17. a florescent lamp as set forth in claim 6 wherein said envelope has a t 10 diameter.
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background of the invention in prior u.s. pat. no. 3,670,193, owned by the same assignee, a full spectrum lamp is disclosed which produces visible light at a given color temperature, 5500.degree. k. in the preferred embodiment, and has a high c.i.e. color rendering index (cri) typically greater than 80 and balanced amounts of near and mid ultraviolet energy (uva and uvb) with the total spectral output correlated to that which is found in natural daylight of the same color temperature. the present invention is directed toward an improved phosphor blend for a lamp of this general type for producing the broad spectrum visible light and ultraviolet energy output correlated to that of natural daylight at the same color temperature and which is capable of producing higher initial lumen output and has better maintenance in that more light is delivered over the life of the lamp. accordingly, the lamp of the present invention is directed to more efficient light production in a full spectrum fluorescent lamp with essentially equal quality as compared to prior art lamps, i.e., more lumens per watt, with the quality of the light output being maintained over the life of the lamp due to a reduction in color shift of the light output. brief summary of the invention accordingly, the present invention provides an improved phosphor blend for producing a full spectrum energy output with improved lumen output has two groups of phosphors. the first group comprises a blend, such as one of those disclosed in the aforesaid u.s. pat. no. 3,670,193, which produces the full spectrum energy output, of visible and ultraviolet energy correlated to natural daylight at a given color temperature. the second group of phosphors is composed of a blend of mostly rare earth phosphors that produce primarily visible light output over narrow ranges of wavelengths and are considered more efficient and stable because of their crystal structure. the two groups of phosphors can be deposited on the envelope of the lamp in one of either of two ways. the first is to mix the two groups together and lay them down as a single coat. the second is to use a two coat system in which the group for producing the full spectrum energy output is deposited on the inner wall of the envelope and the second group of the narrow band visible light emitting phosphors deposited thereover, closer to the arc stream discharge of the lamp. depending upon the percentage of phosphors used for each group in the total blend of the two groups, the color rendering index (cri) and the lumen output can be controlled, with the control depending upon the percentage of each phosphor group in the total blend. basically, the greater the percentage of the first group the higher will be the cri and the greater the percentage of the second group of narrow band phosphors, the higher will be the lumen output of the lamp. as another feature of the invention, the lamp envelope is preferably made of a reduced diameter. whereas conventional fluorescent lamp envelopes are of t12 diameters, (i.e., 12/8 inch diameter) the present invention preferably uses a t10 envelope (10/8 inch diameter). the use of the reduced diameter envelope permits more active and efficient interaction between the arc stream and the phosphors. this is advantageous since the narrow band phosphors of the second group, which are more expensive, are more efficiently excited when they are closer to the arc stream. where the phosphor groups are deposited in two separate layers, since the narrow band phosphors are more resistant to deterioration by the intense arc stream the lamp maintenance is also improved. objects of the invention it is therefore an object of the present invention is to provide an improved phosphor blend for fluorescent lamp capable of producing a full spectrum output. another object is to provide a phosphor blend for a fluorescent lamp comprised of two groups of phosphors, one group of phosphors for producing a desired full spectrum energy output at a desired color rendering index and the second group of phosphors being primarily those having narrow band outputs in the visible light range to enhance the lumen output of the lamp and the life of the composite blend. an additional object is to provide a phosphor coating for a fluorescent lamp having a full spectrum output with higher initial lumens and better lumen maintenance. yet another object is to provide a phosphor coating for a fluorescent lamp which is laid down in a two coat system, the first coat having a group of phosphors contributing substantially to a full spectrum energy output having a high color rendering index and the second coat having a group of phosphors to contribute to increased lumen output in the visible light energy range. an additional object is to provide a phosphor blend for a fluorescent lamp formed of two groups of phosphors, one for producing a full spectrum energy output with a high color rendering index correlated to natural daylight at a given color temperature and the second group of phosphors producing visible light over relatively narrow bands of energy, both groups balanced to the same color temperature with the two groups mixed and laid down in one coat or laid down in separate coats on the inner wall of an envelope of less than normal diameter (12/8 inches). brief description of the drawings other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification and annexed drawings in which: fig. 1 is a perspective view of a typical fluorescent lamp utilizing the phosphor blend of the present invention; fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the lamp envelope of fig. 1 showing the phosphor blend laid down in two separate coats; fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the lamp envelope of fig. 1 showing the phosphor blend laid down in a single coat; fig. 4 is a diagram showing the spectral power distribution of a phosphor blend in accordance with the invention; and fig. 5 is a diagram showing the spectral power distribution in terms of bands related to the color and ultraviolet energy. detailed description of the invention fig. 1 shows a representative fluorescent lamp 10 comprising an elongated envelope 12 of glass, such as soda-lime silicate glass, or envelope of other suitable glass, having a circular cross section. there is a low pressure mercury discharge assembly in the lamp including a conventional electrode structure 13 at each end connected to in-lead wires 14 and 15 which extend through a glass press seal 16 in a mount stem 17 to the electrical contacts of a base 18 fixed at both ends of the sealed glass envelope. the arc discharge-sustaining filling in the sealed glass envelope is an inert gas such as argon or a mixture of argon and other rare gases at a low pressure in combination with a small quantity of mercury to provide the low vapor pressure manner of lamp operation. in a preferred embodiment of the invention, as described in the aforesaid u.s. pat. no. 3,670,193, the glass of the envelope is preferably of the type which blocks the transmission of ultraviolet energy below the range of about 290 nm. also, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the envelope 12 is preferably of t10 size, rather than the more conventional t12 size, although the invention is applicable to all diameters of lamp envelopes. the inner surface of the glass bulb has a phosphor coating 19 thereon, which is described in greater detail below. considering the phosphor coating 19, in the aforesaid u.s. pat. no. 3,670,193 the various phosphor blends used to coat the lamp all have the capability of producing a full spectrum, i.e., a color rendering index in excess of 80, radiation in the near ultraviolet range, and radiation in the middle ultraviolet range, with the visible and ultraviolet radiation produced being transmitted through the lamp envelope in the quantities of between about 6-50 microwatts middle range ultraviolet radiation and between about 150-700 microwatts of near range ultraviolet radition per lumen of visible light with the radiant power ratio of near ultraviolet/middle ultraviolet radiation being in the range from between about 8 to 40. in the lamp of that patent the ultraviolet radiation transmitted through the envelope is of a total quantity substantially the same per lumen of visible light transmitted through the envelope as found in natural daylight of the same correlated color temperature. in a preferred embodiment of lamps of the aforesaid patent, the correlated color temperature of the lamp was about 5500.degree. k. correlated color temperature is defined as the absolute temperature of a blackbody whose color nearly resembles that of the light source. the phosphor blend of the lamp of the aforesaid patent was such that the c.i.e. color rendering index (cri) of the lamp was greater than 80. as is known, the color rendering index of a fluorescent lamp is defined in publication: cie 13.2 method of measuring and specifying color rendering properties of light sources. the industry generally uses only the first 8 color chips in determining the cri. the present invention provides improvements in the phosphor coatings for lamps of the type of the aforesaid patent from the point of view of providing higher initial lumen output and better light maintenance. the phosphor blends of the present invention improve light maintenance and deliver more visible light (measured in lumens) over the life of the lamp; there is more efficient production of visible light with essentially equal quality, i.e., there are more lumens per watt meaning increased efficiency of the lamp; and there is reduced color shift during the life of the lamp. all of this is within the context of a blend which produces a full spectrum. this color shift is reduced, in accordance with the subject lamp in approximate proportion of the increased amount of total light from the narrow band phosphors. in accordance with the invention the phosphor blend is formed of two different phosphor groups. the first group is a mixture of three or four or more phosphors which is used to produce the desired full spectrum energy output having the high color rendering index and the balanced amounts of uva and uvb, as discussed in the aforesaid u.s. pat. no. 3,670,193 and as previously referred to. that patent discloses several blends which can be used to achieve this result and any of such blends, as well as others, are useable in the subject lamp. the phosphors of this blend are generally wide band in visible light energy output. that is, they produce visible light over bands typically from about 70 nm to even out 200 nm wide. one or more of the phosphors and the mercury line spectrum from the arc discharge produce the desired amounts of uva and uvb energy so that the complete spectrum satisfies the full spectrum requirement. to better describe the invention and to illustrate its advantages, a phosphor blend similar to one described in the aforesaid patent is used. it has the following phosphors in the weight ratios given. the blend is: table 1 ______________________________________ (group 1 blend) 63.3% a. strontonium magnesium orthophosphate:tin 25.8% b. magnesium tungstate: tungstan 3.9% c. zinc orthosilicate: maganese 7.0% d. barium mesosilicate: lead (similar to formula in patent, page 11 ______________________________________ the above group of phosphors is basically blended to achieve full spectrum output (visible light and ultraviolet as defined above) from a fluorescent lamp at a color temperature of about 5500k.degree.. the color temperature can be raised by using more or less of the phosphors which produced different colors of the visible spectrum. the second group of phosphors is composed primarily of rare earth phosphors that are considered more efficient and stable. these phosphors typically have very narrow band widths, e.g., from about 5 nm to about 60 nm, in the visible light range. the phosphors in the second blend group are blended in a ratio to approximately achieve the same color temperature as the first blend. for a 5500.degree. k. phosphor blend, the following can be used: table 2 ______________________________________ (group 2 blend) 40.3 e. yttrium oxide: europium 16.7 f. strontium calcium barium chlorophosphate: europium 35.0 g. magnesium aluminate: cerium terbium 8.0 h. cerium magnesium barium aluminate: cerium ______________________________________ the above narrow band phosphors have the following spectral characteristics. ______________________________________ cie color wavelength coordinates approx. phosphor color at peak x y bandwidth ______________________________________ e. red 611 nm 0.641 0.349 10 nm f. blue 453 nm 0.151 0.640 60 nm g. green 541 nm 0.323 0.609 30 nm h. black 344 nm -- -- 40 nm light ______________________________________ as seen, phosphor h. of the second group does not produce visible light. it contributes to the ultraviolet energy part of the spectral power output. however, it is a rare earth phosphor which is stable and therefore also enhances the overall maintenance of the lamp. both phosphor groups preferably should radiate the same color temperature visible light to minimize the effects of any color shift during lamp life due to the degradation rate of the various phosphor components. depending upon the relative proportions of the two blends in the composite, there will be changes in the color rendering index and the lumen output of the visible light. basically, as the weight proportion of the second group of phosphors is increased as a percentage of the total weight of the two groups of phosphors, the lamp lumens and maintenance increases while cri decreases. the ranges of lumen maintenance and cri are set by the percentage of the phosphors selected for each group. in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the two phosphor group blends are applied to the inner face of the lamp envelope in a two coat system. that is, in a typical process, each of the blends of group 1 and group 2 are separately mixed. thereafter, the lamp envelope is first coated with the group 1 blend, dried and baked in the conventional manner. after this is completed, the group 2 phosphor blend is applied to the interior of the lamp envelope over the already deposited and adhered phosphor blend 1. fig. 2 shows a fragment of the lamp envelope 12 with the group 1 blend 23 shown being on the envelope wall and the group 2 blend 24 laid down over the group 1 blend and being closer to the arc stream discharge. the results of lumen output and cri using 100% of either the group 1 and group 2 blend as a single layer on a fluorescent lamp envelope are shown below, for 40 t12 lamps: ______________________________________ lumens cri ______________________________________ 100% layer group 1 blend 2180 91 100% layer group 2 blend 3080 78 ______________________________________ as can be seen, the group 1 blend when used along has higher cri and lower lumen output than the group 2 blend, and vice versa. table 3 below shows the effect of varying the percentages of the group 1 and group 2 blends over the complete range of 0%-100% in a two coat system. that is, going from left to right on table 3, the amount of group 1 blend (the blend for producing the balanced spectrum) decreases while that of the group 2 blend increases. the bottom two lines in the chart show the result of total lumen output and color rendering index. here the results are given for a 40t10 lamp. the letters identify the individual phosphors from tables 1 and 2. table 3 ______________________________________ (weight ratios of the combined phosphor of tables 1 and 2 for two coat application showing approximate lumen and cri lamp output (40 t10)). ______________________________________ % of group 1 100% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 0 % of group 2 0 65 70 75 80 85 100% phosphor group 1 a. 63.3 22.2 19.0 15.8 12.6 9.5 -- b. 25.8 9.0 7.7 6.5 5.2 3.9 -- c. 3.9 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 -- d. 8.0 2.4 2.1 1.7 1.4 1.0 -- group 2 e. -- 26.2 28.2 30.2 32.2 34.3 40.3 f. -- 10.9 11.7 12.5 13.4 14.2 16.7 g. -- 22.7 24.5 26.3 28.0 29.7 35.0 h. -- 5.2 5.6 6.0 6.4 6.8 8.0 lumens 2180 2660 2760 2800 2850 2910 3080 cri 91 82 81 80 70 79 78 ______________________________________ as can be seen, as the percentage of the group 1 blend decreases and that of the group 2 blend increases in the two coat system, the cri decreases and the lumen output increases. conversely, as the group 1 blend increases as a percentage of the total weight, the cri increases and the lumen output decreases. the two groups of phosphors forming the two blends can initially be mixed in one suspension and laid down as a single coat on the wall of the lamp envelope. the advantage of this is that only one coating application, drying and baking of the coating is needed, this being similar to conventional lamp making. the difference is an increase in phosphor costs over the two coat system described above. the reason for the difference in cost is that the phosphors used in the group 2 blend are more expensive than those used in the group 1 blend. when the group 2 blend is used as the inner coat of the two coat system, the phosphors are more highly activated since they are closer to the arc stream. when the phosphors of the group 2 blend are mixed with the less expensive phosphors of the group 1 blend, they become uniformly dispersed in the final composite blend. since they are less not exposed directly to the arc stream, and the activation of phosphors decreases rapidly through the coating, the group 2 phosphors are not as actively excited as they are when forming the inner coat of a two coat system. for this reason, more of the more expensive group 2 phosphors must be used than in the two coat system. thus, while the percentages of group 1 and 2 phosphors could be the same in the one and two coat systems, there will be more phosphor of both groups by weight for the reasons given. since it is desired to more highly activate the phosphors of the group 2 blend, then the use of the smaller diameter t10 envelope aids in achieving this goal. that is, since the envelope diameter is smaller than usual, there is a higher degree of activation of the phosphors which is more important as to those of the group 2 blend. the use of the smaller diameter envelope is advantageous in both one and two coat systems since in each case the narrow band group 2 phosphors are closer to the arc stream. for example, referring to table 3 above, to achieve a coating having a light output at a color temperature 5500.degree. k. with a cri of at least 80, about 25% by weight of the phosphors of blend 1 and 75% by weight of the phosphors of blend 2 are combined into one suspension and applied as a single coating. fig. 3 shows a fragment of a lamp envelope on which the mixture of the group 1 and 2 phosphor blends has been deposited as a single coating layer 40. fig. 4 shows the spectral power distribution of this blend when used in a t10 envelope, 4 feet long. the segments of the graph of fig. 4 are approximately 20 nm wide. fig. 5 shows the spectral power distribution from another point of view in that these are a number of wide bandwidth segments corresponding to different colors and ultraviolet energy. a similar range of lumens and cri with the same boundaries can be developed for the one coat system as in the case for the two coat system. the choice as to which system to use is one of economic decision. as previously explained, the two coat system requires additional capital expenditures in that two drying and baking systems are needed but has lower material costs, i.e., less of the more expensive group 2 phosphors are used. the one coat system is simpler more conventional to produce but with higher material costs. table 4 shows a blend for one coat system using an alternate blend of phosphors which produce higher cri's for similar lumen values of blends of groups 1 and 2 phosphors. table 4 ______________________________________ % of blend phosphor ______________________________________ 1.8 i. calcium halophosphate: tin and manganese 0.5 j. zinc orthosilicate: manganese 20.7 k. strontium magnesium orthophosphate: tin 23.0 l. strontium borophosphate: europium 19.8 e. yttrim oxide: europium 7.7 f. strontium calcium barium chlorophosphate: europium 15.2 g. lanthanum phosphate: cerium and terbium 3.3 h. cerium magnesium barium aluminate: cerium 8.0 m. barium mesosilicate: ______________________________________ phosphor m. is added to produce the balanced uv energy. in this blend, phosphor l. strontium borophosphate: europium is a rare earth phosphor which would more typically be of the group 2 type. however, it has a relatively wide band, of about 50 nm, in the blue-green range and is useful for increasing the cri.
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192-481-732-809-255
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US
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[
"US"
] |
G06Q10/0833,G06F16/29,G06Q10/083,G06Q10/0835,G06Q10/08
| 2020-07-09T00:00:00 |
2020
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[
"G06"
] |
supply chain visibility platform
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systems, methods, and non-transitory media are provided for dynamically predicting visibility of freights in a constrained environment. an example method can include determining attributes associated with a load transported by a carrier from a source to a destination, the attributes including an identity of the carrier, an identity of an industry associated with the load, an identity of a shipper of the load, load characteristics, and/or a pickup time of the load; based on the attributes, predicting a route the carrier will follow when transporting the load to the destination, at least a portion of the route being predicted without data indicating an actual presence of the carrier within the portion of the route, the data including location measurements from a device associated with the carrier and/or a location update from the carrier; and generating a tracking interface identifying the route the carrier is predicted to follow.
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1 . a method comprising: determining a communication error between a predictive visibility system and one or more devices associated with a load being transported by a carrier from a source location to a destination location; determining, by the predictive visibility system, one or more predicted locations of the load while the predictive visibility system is unable to communicate with the one or more devices or the carrier, wherein the one or more predicted locations of the load are determined at least partly based on one or more attributes associated with the load; and generating, by the predictive visibility system, tracking information that identifies the one or more predicted locations of the load and a trajectory of the load from a current location to the destination location, the trajectory of the load being based on the one or more predicted locations of the load and the destination location. 2 . the method of claim 1 , wherein the trajectory of the load is further based on the one or more attributes associated with the load. 3 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising: providing the tracking information to a computing device associated with a load tracking interface. 4 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising: providing, to a load tracking interface, a first indication that the current location of the load comprises an observed location and a second indication that the one or more predicted locations of the load are location predictions. 5 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining, by the predictive visibility system, a predicted route the carrier is predicted to follow when transporting the load to the destination location, wherein the tracking information further comprises the predicted route. 6 . the method of claim 5 , wherein the predicted route is determined during the communication error, and wherein the predicted route is determined based on the destination location and the one or more attributes associated with the load. 7 . the method of claim 5 , further comprising: providing, to a load tracking interface, an indication of the predicted route the carrier is predicted to follow. 8 . the method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of an identity of the carrier, a seasonality, an identity of an industry associated with the load, an identity of a shipper of the load, one or more load characteristics, and a pickup time associated with the load. 9 . the method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more load characteristics comprise at least one of a type of load, a load weight, and a transportation requirement associated with the load. 10 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating a load tracking interface that displays the tracking information and a map displaying the current location of the load at a first time and the one or more predicted locations of the load at one or more additional times. 11 . the method of claim 1 , further comprising: based on the one or more attributes, predicting a behavior of the carrier at one or more times while transporting the load to the destination location, wherein the predicted behavior of the carrier comprises at least one of stopping at one or more locations, traveling at a predicted speed, changing a traveling velocity and changing a traveling trajectory; and providing, to a load tracking interface, an indication of the predicted behavior of the carrier at the one or more times. 12 . a system comprising: one or more processors; and at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: determine a communication error between the system and one or more devices associated with a load being transported by a carrier from a source location to a destination location; determine one or more predicted locations of the load while the system is unable to communicate with the one or more devices or the carrier, wherein the one or more predicted locations of the load are determined at least partly based on one or more attributes associated with the load; and generate tracking information that identifies the one or more predicted locations of the load and a trajectory of the load from a current location to the destination location, the trajectory of the load being based on the one or more predicted locations of the load and the destination location. 13 . the system of claim 12 , wherein the trajectory of the load is further based on the one or more attributes associated with the load. 14 . the system of claim 12 , the at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: provide the tracking information to a computing device associated with a load tracking interface. 15 . the system of claim 12 , the at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: provide, to a load tracking interface, a first indication that the current location of the load comprises an observed location and a second indication that the one or more predicted locations of the load are location predictions. 16 . the system of claim 12 , the at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: determine a predicted route the carrier is predicted to follow when transporting the load to the destination location, wherein the tracking information further comprises the predicted route, and wherein the predicted route is determined during the communication error. 17 . the system of claim 16 , the at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: provide, to a load tracking interface, an indication of the predicted route the carrier is predicted to follow. 18 . the method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of an identity of the carrier, a seasonality, an identity of an industry associated with the load, an identity of a shipper of the load, one or more load characteristics, and a pickup time associated with the load, and wherein the one or more load characteristics comprise at least one of a type of load, a load weight, and a transportation requirement associated with the load. 19 . the system of claim 12 , the at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: generate a load tracking interface that displays the tracking information and a map displaying the current location of the load at a first time and the one or more predicted locations of the load at one or more additional times. 20 . a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising: instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: determine a communication error between a predictive visibility system and one or more devices tracking a location of a load being transported by a carrier from a source location to a destination location; determine one or more predicted locations of the load while the predictive visibility system is unable to communicate with the one or more devices or the carrier, wherein the one or more predicted locations of the load are determined at least partly based on one or more attributes associated with the load; and generate tracking information that identifies the one or more predicted locations of the load and a trajectory of the load from a current location to the destination location, the trajectory of the load being based on the one or more predicted locations of the load and the destination location.
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cross-reference to related applications this application is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 17/535,026, filed on nov. 24, 2021, which is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 17/235,744, filed on apr. 20, 2021, now u.s. pat. no. 11,195,139, which is a continuation of u.s. patent application ser. no. 16/925,306, filed on jul. 9, 2020, now u.s. pat. no. 11,017,347, issued on may 25, 2021, the contents of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety and for all purposes. technical field the present disclosure generally relates to freight tracking and predictive visibility data. background supply chain visibility information, such as freight/load tracking data, generally relies on real-time data provided by sensors and internet-of-things (iot) devices such as gps trackers as well as location updates received from various sources such as shippers or carriers. however, such data is often unavailable, which can cause gaps or inaccuracies in the supply chain visibility information. for example, such data can become unavailable, outdated/stale, or erroneous due to various factors such as system integration or failure events, operational issues, unfavorable weather conditions, incorrect/noisy data points, network connectivity issues, etc. unfortunately, these factors are generally not under the control of the provider of such visibility information and can affect the consistency of the loads that are being tracked and the accuracy or value of tracking information. brief description of the drawings in order to describe the manner in which the various advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the principles described herein will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. understanding that these drawings depict only example embodiments of the disclosure and are not to be considered to limit its scope, the principles herein are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the drawings in which: fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example predictive visibility system for calculating and providing supply chain visibility for freights or loads, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment for implementing a predictive supply chain platform including a predictive visibility system, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; fig. 3 illustrates an example use of a neural network for generating predicted visibility information for a load or freight, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; fig. 4 illustrates an example map depicting example routes estimated for loads by a predictive visibility system, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; fig. 5a illustrates an example map displaying objects corresponding to predicted visibility information calculated in a fully constrained environment, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; fig. 5b illustrates an example map displaying objects corresponding to predicted and actual visibility information calculated in a partially constrained environment, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; fig. 6 illustrates an example method for predicting and providing supply chain visibility, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure; and fig. 7 illustrates an example computing device architecture, in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure. detailed description certain aspects and embodiments of this disclosure are provided below. some of these aspects and embodiments may be applied independently and some of them may be applied in combination as would be apparent to those of skill in the art. in the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the application. however, it will be apparent that various embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. the figures and description are not intended to be restrictive. the ensuing description provides example embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. it should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the application as set forth in the appended claims. as previously explained, supply chain visibility information, such as freight/load tracking data, generally relies on real-time data provided by sensors and iot devices as well as location updates received from various sources such as shippers or carriers. however, such data is often unavailable, which can cause gaps or inaccuracies in the supply chain visibility information. such data can become unavailable, outdated/stale, or erroneous due to various factors such as system integration or failure events, operational issues, unfavorable weather conditions, incorrect/noisy data points, network connectivity issues, etc. unfortunately, these factors are generally not under the control of the provider of such visibility information and can affect the consistency of the loads being tracked and the accuracy or value of the tracking information. accordingly, there is a need in the art for an intelligent system that provides predictive, real-time visibility that improves the quality of freight, load, and/or supply chain tracking data and identifies milestone and other events throughout the journey. disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for predicting the visibility of freights or loads throughout the lane or journey in a constrained environment where tracking updates and/or location data is unavailable, outdated, and/or incorrect at one or more periods of the journey. in some examples, the approaches herein can provide a supply chain visibility platform that provides predictive visibility for freights or loads in a constrained environment where real-time data about a carrier and load is unavailable, such as gps data, electronic logging device data, and/or location updates. the supply chain visibility platform can thus provide predicted visibility information in scenarios where real or actual visibility information (e.g., location updates and device/sensor data) is not available or only partial visibility information is available. the supply chain visibility platform can include an ai (artificial intelligence) system that predicts the route a freight or load is going to travel from pickup to delivery and/or throughout a trip from pickup to delivery. the ai system can predict the route based on information about the load (e.g., load attributes such as the type of load, the weight of the load, load restrictions/constraints, transportation vehicle for the load (e.g., truck, trailer, etc.), appointment time, shipment priority, etc.), information about the carrier (e.g., who is transporting the load, what type of vehicle uses the carrier, etc.), the industry associated with the load (e.g., food, chemical, pharmaceutical, electronics, clothing, etc.), the shipper of the load, the day/time in which the load is being transported, information about the source/origin location and/or the destination (e.g., city, state, country, facility, business hours, distance from source/origin to destination, etc.), historical information (e.g., shipping or carrier patterns or histories, load patterns or histories, industry patterns or histories, source and/or destination patterns or histories, historic usage of different lanes, driver's resting and/or driving patterns, etc.), the day/time the load was picked up by the carrier, news information, weather information, traffic information, and/or any other relevant information. in addition to route prediction information, the predictive visibility provided by the supply chain visibility platform can also include driving patterns or behaviors predicted for the load and/or trip. driving patterns can include, for example and without limitation, possible rest positions during the trip/journey, a speed at which the load/carrier is going to travel, the location of the load/carrier at a future time, etc. in some cases, the predictive visibility can also include other predicted information such as, for example, information about potential conditions encountered by the load/carrier during the trip (e.g., traffic conditions, road conditions, path conditions, potential delays, rerouting conditions, weather conditions, hazards, carrier or vehicle conditions, load conditions, etc.), potential status information at a future time, etc. the supply chain visibility platform can include a presentation and/or notification element for presenting or providing predicted visibility information. for example, the supply chain visibility platform can include an interface, a website or webpage, an application, a messaging system, an application programming interface (api), a presentation service, etc., which can present, render, and/or otherwise provide or transmit predicted visibility information to requesting devices. in some cases, the supply chain visibility platform can present or render predicted visibility information in one or more formats and/or content items such as, for example, in a table, a chart, a map, a video, a text message, a web page, a file, a list, an email, a graphical rendering, etc. in some cases, the supply chain visibility platform can present/display and/or project actual visibility information obtained in addition to the predicted visibility information. for example, the supply chain visibility platform can present/display and/or project a difference between predicted visibility information calculated and actual visibility information obtained. fig. 1 illustrates an example predictive visibility system 100 for calculating and providing supply chain visibility for freights/loads. as further described herein, the predictive visibility system 100 can implement or represent a supply chain visibility platform and can provide various advantages such as tracking, predicting and providing real-time visibility information even in the absence of (or with limited) location updates/data from location providers or devices; providing estimated time of arrivals of shipments in the absence of (or with limited) location updates/data; improving a consistency and reliability of tracking information; providing estimated hours of service in the absence of location (or with limited) updates, providing estimated rest points in the absence of (or with limited) location updates/data, predicting points of interest in the absence of (or with limited) location updates/data, etc. in the example shown in fig. 1 , the predictive visibility system 100 includes a storage 108 , compute components 110 , a processing engine 120 , an ai/ml engine 122 , a mapping engine 124 , and a presentation engine 126 . however, it should be noted that the example components shown in fig. 1 are provided for illustration purposes and, in other examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can include more or less components (and/or different components) than those shown in fig. 1 . the predictive visibility system 100 can be part of a computing device or multiple computing devices. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can be part of an electronic device (or devices) such as a server, a content delivery system, a host machine in a network such as a cloud network, a computer in a vehicle, a computer, or any other suitable electronic device(s). in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can be or include a software service and/or virtual instance hosted on a datacenter or network environment. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 be implemented by, or as part of, one or more software containers hosted on a datacenter or cloud, virtual machines hosted on a datacenter or cloud, functions (e.g., function-as-a-service, virtualized function, etc.) hosted on one or more execution environments or hosts on a datacenter or cloud, etc. in some cases, the predictive visibility system 100 can be implemented in a distributed fashion across one or more networks or devices. for example, the predicted visibility system 100 can be a distributed system implemented by, or hosted on, one or more hosts and/or infrastructure components/devices on one or more clouds, datacenters, networks, and/or compute environments. in some implementations, the storage 108 , the compute components 110 , the processing engine 120 , the ai/ml engine 122 , the mapping engine 124 , and/or the presentation engine 126 can be part of the same computing device. for example, in some cases, the storage 108 , the compute components 110 , the processing engine 120 , the ai/ml engine 122 , the mapping engine 124 , and/or the presentation engine 126 can be implemented by a server computer. however, in some implementations, the storage 108 , the compute components 110 , the processing engine 120 , the ai/ml engine 122 , the mapping engine 124 , and/or the presentation engine 126 can be part of two or more separate computing devices. the storage 108 can be any storage device(s) for storing data, such as predicted visibility information (e.g., route or state estimates, driving/transportation behavior, temporal-spatial information, etc.), actual visibility information (e.g., status updates, sensor data, actual pings, etc.), historical information, reports, mapping data, information collected from one or more sources, statistics, files, data objects, profiles, carrier information, shipper information, industry information, load or freight information, requirements or constraints, preferences, etc. moreover, the storage 108 can store data from any of the components of the predictive visibility system 100 . for example, the storage 108 can store data or calculations (e.g., processing parameters, predictive outputs, processing results, generated content, algorithms, etc.) from the compute components 110 , the processing engine 120 , and/or the ai/ml engine 122 , data or content from the mapping engine 124 (e.g., maps, routes, previews, etc.), and/or data or content from the presentation engine 126 (e.g., outputs, renderings, interface content, web page content, message content, etc.). in some implementations, the compute components 110 can include a central processing unit (cpu) 112 , a graphics processing unit (gpu) 114 , a digital signal processor (dsp) 116 , an application-specific integrated controller (asic) 118 , and/or one or more other processing devices or controllers. it should be noted that the compute components 110 shown in fig. 1 are provided for illustration purposes and, in other examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can include more or less (and/or different) compute components than those shown in fig. 1 . the compute components 110 can perform various operations such machine learning and/or ai operations, predictive estimates or calculations, graphics rendering, content delivery, data processing, object or feature recognition, data mining, tracking, filtering, mapping operations, messaging operations, content generation, and/or any of the various operations described herein. in some examples, the compute components 110 can implement the processing engine 120 , the ai/ml engine 122 , the mapping engine 124 , and/or the presentation engine 126 . in other examples, the compute components 110 can also implement one or more other processing engines and/or software services. moreover, the operations performed by the processing engine 120 , the ai/ml engine 122 , the mapping engine 124 , and/or the presentation engine 126 can be implemented by one or more of the compute components 110 . in one illustrative example, the processing engine 120 , the one or more ai/ml engine 122 , and/or the mapping engine 124 (and associated operations) can be implemented by the cpu 112 , the dsp 116 , and/or the asic 118 , and the presentation engine 126 (and associated operations) can be implemented by the cpu 112 and/or the gpu 114 . in some cases, the compute components 110 can include other electronic circuits or hardware, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof, to perform any of the various operations described herein. in some cases, the compute components 110 can generate and/or provide a user interface (ui) or content item for presenting/displaying/rendering predicted visibility information calculated for freights/loads, as well as actual visibility information. the predicted visibility information can include, for example, estimated or predicted routes, driving patterns or behaviors (e.g., rest positions, speed of travel, stops, deviations, time of arrival, acceleration information, state information, status information, etc.), predicted locations (e.g., predicted location at one or more times), tracking visualizations, notifications, etc. in some examples, the ui can also present actual visibility information obtained at one or more periods during the journey. in some examples, the compute components 110 can provide such information via the presentation engine 126 . in some examples, the compute components 110 can provide predictive visibility for freights in a constrained environment where there is no real-time data about the carrier, such as gps (global position system) or eld (electronic logging device) data or location updates. in some examples, the processing engine 120 implemented by the compute components 110 can predict, in prior, the route a freight or load is going to travel from a pickup location to a delivery destination and/or the location of the freight or load at one or more times, based information obtained or collected by the processing engine 120 , such as any load information including one or more attributes of the load and/or trip. the attributes of the load and/or trip may include, for example, the carrier transporting the load, the industry to which the item being carried can be categorized to, the shipper of the load, the day/time at which the load is being carried, delivery preferences and/or constraints, load characteristics and/or requirements, the distance between the pickup location and the delivery destination, the geographic region(s) associated with the trip, seasonality characteristics (e.g., a season associated with the trip), etc. for example, the processing engine 120 can information about the vehicle (e.g., truck, airplane, ship, etc.) used by the carrier, which can suggest potential traveling speeds of the carrier or certain paths/regions the carrier may not be able/allowed to travel (e.g., a large truck may be prohibited from travel on certain roads or areas); previous transportation patterns of that carrier; the industry associated with the load, which may indicate certain paths or regions that the carrier may not be able or allowed to travel (e.g., because of regulations associated with the industry or requirements associated with products in that industry); information about a load, such as the weight of the load or constraints for transporting the load (e.g., climate or timing constraints for perishable goods, regulations for chemicals, etc.); statistics for similar loads (e.g., what routes those loads traveled, what patterns exist in previous trips with similar loads, etc.); a season associated with the trip, and so forth. the processing engine 120 can use this information to predict the route the load will travel even without real-time data about the carrier or load. for example, the processing engine 120 can predict that the load may or may not travel a certain path because of regulations or constraints affecting what path(s) or route(s) the carrier and/or load can travel and/or what path(s) or route(s) the carrier and load are likely to travel. the processing engine 120 can then predict a route for the load even without real-time data about the carrier and load. to illustrate, the processing engine 120 can determine that the carrier's vehicle is not allowed to travel in a number of possible roads or areas but is allowed to travel in a number of other possible other roads or areas. the processing engine 120 can also determine that the type of load carried cannot travel in some of the possible roads or areas that the vehicle of the carrier is allowed to travel. the processing engine 120 can also determine that the type of load has certain timing or climate requirements that would likely cause the carrier to travel the fastest route, the cheapest route, or a route having a certain climate, landscape or weather. moreover, the processing engine 120 may analyze a history of previous loads from the particular shipper to identify additional information, such as information about the carrier often used by that shipper and/or for that type of load (e.g., certain carriers having a temperature-controlled vehicle if the load has temperature requirements, certain carriers having a vehicle that can transport a certain type of chemical included in the load, certain carriers that can transport loads as large as the load being transported, etc.). the processing engine 120 may also review a history of previews trips by that carrier and/or for similar loads and identify certain route patterns. based on some or all of this information above (and/or any other relevant information), the processing engine 120 may identify a most-probable route that the carrier with the load will travel and/or a ranked list of possible routes that the carrier of the load will travel. the processing engine 120 can then generate a prediction output identifying the predicted route for the load. in some aspects, the processing engine 120 can generate predicted visibility information that not only includes the route a load is traveling (or is predicted to travel) but also predicted driving pattern(s) or behavior(s) such as possible rest positions, the speed at which the load is going to travel, the location at which the load will be at a specific time, a predicted time of arrival, etc. for example, the processing engine 120 may analyze timing requirements of the load, such as a required trip duration for the load; temperature requirements for the load; paths or areas in which the carrier's vehicle and/or the load is/are not allowed to travel; transportation requirements for the load; previous patterns of the carrier; previous patterns associated with similar loads; etc. the processing engine 120 can use such information to predict that the carrier will increase its speed of travel or take a different trajectory (e.g., to meet certain timing requirements), the carrier will stop at a specific rest point to avoid traveling through a certain path at certain hours prohibited for that type of load, stop at a nearby refueling station to accommodate for higher fuel consumption requirements associated with the vehicle used by that carrier, etc. moreover, the processing engine 120 can generate such information and operate on scenarios where there is no real/actual or accurate visibility information or there is only partial real/actual or accurate visibility information. for example, the processing engine 120 can generate such information and operate in scenarios where there are only limited real-time data updates (e.g., only at limited times and/or locations during the trip) about the carrier or load available. real/actual visibility information can be obtained from one or more sources such as, for example, one or more gps devices, eld devices, a shipper/carrier/third party (e.g., location updates from the shipper, carrier, or a third party), the internet, electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tracking devices, laptops, tablet computers, servers, etc.), device pings, data web scrapping, api endpoints, news reports, users, computers on vehicles, smart devices, and/or any other sources. in some cases, real/actual visibility information can be used, when available, to supplement any predicted visibility information calculated for a load and/or freight. moreover, in some cases, real/actual visibility information can be used, when available, to generate outputs differentiating predicted and real/actual visibility information. for example, in some aspects, the processing engine 120 can generate and the presentation engine 126 can surface (e.g., via a ui) and project a difference between predicted visibility information and real/actual visibility pings. moreover, the processing engine 120 can generate predicted visibility information relating to various use cases such as, for example, rest positions, tempo-spatial information (e.g., check calls), acceleration, detours, re-routes, route conditions, etc. in some examples, the processing engine 120 can implement the ai/ml engine 122 to predict, in prior, the route a freight or load is going to travel from a pickup location to a delivery destination and/or generate the predicted visibility information. in some cases, the ai/ml engine 122 can implement one or more neural networks, such as a recurrent neural network, to predict the route of the freight or load and/or generate the predicted visibility information. in other cases, the ai/ml engine 122 can implement other techniques to predict the route of the freight or load and/or generate the predicted visibility information. for example, the ai/ml engine 122 can use sequence modelling, learning, prediction (e.g., using ai), and/or other techniques to predict the route of the freight or load and/or generate the predicted visibility information. in some cases, the ai/ml engine 122 can use markov chains, tensor factorization, dynamic bayesian networks, conditional random fields, etc., to predict the route of the freight or load and/or generate the predicted visibility information. the mapping engine 124 can generate maps and/or mapping information to calculate and/or present visibility information (predicted and/or real/actual). for example, the mapping engine 124 can store maps and generate route previews and/or visibility information in specific maps associated with a trip. the mapping engine 124 can generate route previews and/or visibility information in maps based on data and calculations generated by the processing engine 120 . in some cases, the mapping engine 124 can maintain and/or manage mapping data such as possible routes, directions, landmarks, locations, geographic information, addresses, distance information, three-dimensional renderings, route previews, landscapes, road/street names, etc. while the predictive visibility system 100 is shown to include certain components, one of ordinary skill will appreciate that the predictive visibility system 100 can include more or fewer components than those shown in fig. 1 . for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can also include, in some instances, one or more memory devices (e.g., ram, rom, cache, and/or the like), one or more networking interfaces (e.g., wired and/or wireless communications interfaces and the like), one or more display devices, and/or other hardware or processing devices that are not shown in fig. 1 . an illustrative example of a computing device and hardware components that can be implemented with the predictive visibility system 100 is described below with respect to fig. 7 . fig. 2 illustrates an example environment 200 for implementing a predictive supply chain platform including a predictive visibility system 100 . in this example, the environment 200 includes the predictive visibility system 100 for calculating and providing predicted visibility information to client devices 222 - 226 . the predictive visibility system 100 can be hosted, implemented, and/or owned by a visibility data provider 210 . the visibility data provider 210 can include, for example, one or more entities that provide supply chain management and/or visibility services such as those described herein. moreover, the predictive visibility system 100 can communicate with the client devices 222 - 226 over a network 202 . the network 202 can include one or more private and/or public networks, such as one or more local area networks (lans), wide area networks (wans), cloud networks (private and/or public), on-premises datacenters, virtual private networks (vpns), and/or any other type(s) of network(s). the client devices 222 - 226 can include any electronic devices used by visibility data consumers 220 , such as users and/or customers of the visibility data provider 210 , to communicate with the predictive visibility system 100 and obtain associated data and services, as further described herein. for example, the client devices 222 - 226 can include a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a desktop computer, a server, an internet-of-thing (iot) device, a smart or autonomous vehicle (e.g., a computer on an autonomous vehicle), a mobile device, etc. in some examples, the client devices 222 - 226 can access information and services provided by the predictive visibility system 100 , such as predictive and/or real/actual visibility information, via the network 202 . in some cases, the client devices 222 - 226 and/or the visibility data consumers 220 can also provide information to the predictive visibility system 100 . for example, the client devices 222 - 226 can provide location and/or status updates to the predictive visibility system 100 when such location and/or status updates are available and/or when the client devices 222 - 226 have sufficient connectivity (e.g., via the network 202 and/or any other means) to provide such information to the predictive visibility system 100 . the predictive visibility system 100 can use such information to provide real/actual visibility information, calculate predicted visibility information, etc. in some cases, the predictive visibility system 100 can obtain information from one or more data sources 204 , which the predictive visibility system 100 can use to provide supply chain visibility information, such as predictive and/or real/actual visibility information. such information can include, for example and without limitation, information about a load (e.g., load attributes such as the type of load, the weight of the load, load restrictions/constraints; delivery parameters; carrier; shipper; industry; shipment priority; appointment time; etc.), information about a carrier (e.g., carrier identity, carrier history, carrier statistics, carrier preferences, carrier profile, type of transportation vehicle, etc.), information about an industry (e.g., industry profile, industry preferences, industry statistics, industry requirements, industry constraints, etc.), information about a shipper (e.g., shipper identity, shipper history, shipper statistics, shipper preferences, shipper profile, etc.), historical information (e.g., shipping or carrier patterns or histories, load patterns or histories, industry patterns or histories, source and/or destination patterns or histories, router patterns or histories, etc.), mapping data, traffic data, weather data, news information, agency reports, order information, regulations, location information, tracking parameters, notifications, cost information, supply chain information, potential delays or hazards, trip information, sensor data (e.g., gps data, eld data, image sensor data, acceleration measurements, velocity, radar data, etc.), distance between an origin and destination location, and/or any other relevant information. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can receive at least some of such information from the one or more sources 204 via the network 202 and/or a separate communication path such as a separate network, a direct connection (wired or wireless) connection, an out-of-band link/connection, and/or any other mechanism or path. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can receive some of such information from the client devices 222 - 226 and/or the visibility data consumers 220 . the one or more sources 204 can include, for example, the internet, a news source, a government agency, a sensor or electronic device (e.g., a gps device, an eld device, etc.), a database, a data portal, a data repository, an email system, an api endpoint, etc. while the example environment 200 is shown to include certain devices and entities, one of ordinary skill will appreciate that the example environment 200 is only one illustrative example and can include more or fewer devices and/or entities than those shown in fig. 2 . fig. 3 illustrates an example configuration 300 of a recurrent neural network (rnn) that can be implemented by the ai/ml engine 122 and/or the processing engine 120 . in some cases, the rnn can be implemented to calculate supply chain visibility information such as predicted visibility information. for example, the rnn can be implemented to predict routes, predict carrier or transportation patterns or behaviors (e.g., rest positions, acceleration, detours, stops, velocity, future locations, etc.), predict time of arrivals, predict supply chain or trip conditions, predict alternate routes, etc. in some examples, the rnn can perform such predictions in the absence of (or with limited or partial) actual/real updates and/or location or status information. for example, the rnn can make such predictions during and/or after system failures, operational issues, unfavorable weather conditions, incorrect or noisy data points, network or communication failures, etc. the rnn can be well-suited to deal with sequential data such as, for example, supply chain visibility information (e.g., predictive and/or real/actual visibility information) as described herein and/or any other spatially and/or temporally organized data. the rnn can process such data to generate predicted visibility information, as further described herein. in the example configuration 300 , the rnn can process input data 302 a, 302 b, and 302 c (collectively “ 302 ”) via one or more hidden layers 304 a, 304 b, 304 c, to generate outputs 306 a, 306 b, and 306 c. the input data 302 can include, for example, load information (e.g., load attributes), carrier information, shipper information, delivery constraints, trip details, time information, statistics, a pickup location, a delivery destination, a pickup time, map information, load industry information, customer preferences, shipper preferences, weather information, seasonal information, etc. in some examples, the input data 302 a, 302 b, and 302 c be temporally and/or spatially ordered. the hidden layers 304 a, 304 b, 304 c can apply specific activation functions to the input data 302 a, 302 b, 302 c to generate the outputs 306 a, 306 b, 306 c. the hidden layers 304 a, 304 b, 304 c can have specific weights and biases which can include a set of parameters derived from a training of the rnn. the weights or biases can include a numeric value (e.g., a numeric weight or bias) that can be tuned, allowing the rnn to be adaptive to inputs and able to learn as more data is processed. at time step t−1, input 302 a can be fed into hidden layer 304 a, which can generate an output 306 a based on the input 302 a. the hidden layer 304 a can calculate its current state at time step t−1 based on the input 302 a. at time step t, the hidden layer 304 b can calculate its current state (e.g., output 306 b) based on the input 302 b at time step t and the previous state at time step t−1 (e.g., output 306 a). at time step t+1, the hidden layer 304 c can calculate its current state (e.g., output 306 c) based on the input data 302 c at time step t+1 and the previous state at time step t (e.g., output 306 b). once all the time steps are completed, the rnn uses the final current state to calculate the final output. in this way, the rnn can process sequential data, memorizing each previous output and using the previous state when calculating a next current state. thus, the rnn structure can allow a current function and/or state to account for past data. in one illustrative example, the rnn can generate a final output that provides, based on the input data 302 , one or more predicted routes, predicted transportation or driving patterns, predicted carrier behaviors, predicted supply chain events or conditions, and/or any other predicted visibility information as described herein. while the example above describes a use of an rnn to generate predicted visibility information, it should be noted that this is just an illustrative example provided for explanation purposes and, in other examples, the rnn can also be used for other tasks. it should also be noted that, in other examples, the approaches can implement other techniques (either in addition to, or in lieu of, implementing an rnn) and/or network/modeling architectures to generate predicted visibility information. for example, as further described herein, in some examples, the disclosed approaches can use sequence modelling, learning, prediction (e.g., using ai), and/or other techniques to generate the predicted visibility information. in some cases, disclosed approaches can use markov chains, tensor factorization, dynamic bayesian networks, conditional random fields, and/or any other modelling, learning, and/or prediction techniques, to generate the predicted visibility information. moreover, in some cases, other types of neural networks can be implemented in addition to, or in lieu of, the rnn in fig. 3 such as, for example and without limitation, an autoencoder, deep belief nets (dbns), a convolutional neural network (cnn), etc. fig. 4 illustrates an example map 402 depicting example routes 410 - 418 estimated for loads by the predictive visibility system 100 . the predictive visibility system 100 can predict the routes 410 - 418 for the loads from a source location 404 (e.g., pickup location) of the loads to a delivery destination 406 for the loads. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can use the ai/ml engine 122 to predict the routes 410 - 418 . in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can predict (e.g., via the ai/ml engine 122 ) the routes 410 - 418 based on load attributes. the load attributes associated with a load can include, for example, a type of load, load characteristics (e.g., weight, size, delivery requirements, handling requirements, etc.), information about the carrier transporting the load (e.g., carrier profile, carrier statistics, carrier reports, carrier history, carrier characteristics, carrier patterns, etc.), information about the shipper of the load (e.g., shipper profile, shipper statistics, shipper reports, shipper history, shipper characteristics, shipper preferences, etc.), information about the industry associated with the load (e.g., the type of industry, industry requirements, industry regulations, industry patterns, industry characteristics, industry profile, industry reports, industry statistics, etc.), an indication of the pickup location 404 , an indication of the pickup date/time, an indication of the delivery destination 406 , trip preferences, etc. moreover, the predictive visibility system 100 can predict the routes 410 - 418 without actual or observed location or status information for the loads or with only partial location or status information for the loads. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can predict the routes 410 - 418 and future times of the loads without (or with limited) location information or updates for the loads, and can predict route segments before the load have reached any portion of such route segments. as shown in fig. 4 , the estimated routes 410 - 418 for the loads can vary based on different load attributes. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can predict route 410 for shipper 1 and carrier 1, route 412 for shipper 1 and carrier 2, route 414 for carrier 2 and the food industry, route 416 for carrier 1 and load type 1, and route 418 for carrier 2 and the fertilizer industry. here, the routes 410 - 418 vary based on differences between the carriers, shippers, industries, and load types associated with the loads corresponding to the routes 410 - 418 . the carriers, shippers, industries and load types can influence or impact the routes 410 - 418 for various reasons. for example, the specific industry and/or type of a load can have specific requirements, preferences, or regulations that can influence the route for that load, such as specific temperature, climate, lane, geographic, regional, timing, zoning (e.g., rural, urban, etc.), handling, and/or other requirements, preferences or regulations. as another example, the specific shipper and/or carrier of a load can have specific requirements, preferences, regulations, historical patterns, constraints, and/or other conditions or characteristics that may influence the route for a load. thus, these example factors can lead to different predicted routes for a load. such predicted routes can reflect the most likely/probable route or trajectory estimated for a respective load and/or the route or trajectory estimated to yield the best performance (e.g., best timing, best cost, best reliability, safest, etc.) for the respective load. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can estimate a single route for each load. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can estimate the most likely/probably and/or highest performing route for a load. in other examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can estimate multiple routes for each load. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can predict multiple alternative routes for a load estimated to have specific characteristics, such as specific performance characteristics, specific probabilities, specific preferences, etc. in some cases, the predictive visibility system 100 can rank or prioritize the multiple alternative routes and provide such rankings or priorities and/or use them to select a single route for the load. in some cases, the predictive visibility system 100 can present or make available additional information about the routes 410 - 418 . for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can provide statistics, probabilities, characteristics, descriptions, predictions, etc., for the routes 410 - 418 and/or one or more points/locations along the routes 410 - 418 . in some examples, the routes 410 - 418 presented on the map 402 can be interactive. for example, a user can select a route or a point in a route to access additional information about that route or point in the route, such as location information, path information, descriptions, landmarks, statistics, events, conditions (e.g., traffic, weather, temperature, lane closings, etc.), zoning information, landscape information, estimated times (e.g., time of arrival, duration, distance, etc.), map information, etc. the predictive visibility system 100 can then present or render such information. as another example, the user can select a route or point in a route to configure a specific action associated with that route or point in the route. to illustrate, the user can select a point along a route to configure a status check or ping when the load is predicted and/or observed at that point along the route. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can update or change a route after a trip has started even without additional location information for the load. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can recalculate a route prediction based on load attributes and/or events associated with a route and without location updates (e.g., gps or eld updates) or an indication from the carrier of the carrier's current location and/or intended route, to predict a different or updated route. fig. 5a illustrates an example map 502 displaying objects 510 corresponding to predicted visibility information calculated in a fully constrained environment. as used herein, a fully constrained environment can include an environment and/or scenario where actual visibility information for a load is unavailable. actual visibility information can include real, observed and/or real-time data about the carrier and/or load, such as location updates from a device (e.g., location updates from a gps and/or eld device), location updates from a carrier of the load, updates from a carrier of the load indicating an intended trajectory or behavior (e.g., stopping, resting, changing course, etc.) of the carrier. in some examples, actual visibility information can include real-time data about the carrier, such as real-time data about a location of the carrier, a status of the carrier, a behavior of the carrier, a trajectory of the carrier, an intended behavior and/or trajectory of the carrier, the load carried by the carrier, etc. such actual visibility information can be unavailable due to one or more reasons such as, for example, communication failures/issues, system failures/issues, incorrect/noisy data points, operational issues, unfavorable weather conditions, etc. the predicted visibility information can be calculated by the predictive visibility system 100 despite the lack of actual visibility information in the fully constrained environment. thus, the predictive visibility system 100 can calculate the predicted visibility information despite a lack of observed location data points and an indication from the carrier of the carrier's current and intended/future location and trajectory. the objects 510 displayed on the map 502 can represent, contain, and/or provide the predicted visibility information. in some cases, predicted visibility information associated with the objects 510 can be calculated for one or more points (e.g., locations, regions, landmarks, etc.) along a route from an origin location 504 of a load to a destination 506 of the load. for example, predicted visibility information can be calculated for or at various points on the map 502 and along the route from the origin location 504 to the destination location 506 . the objects 510 can be displayed at such points on the map 502 and can reflect and/or provide respective predicted visibility information calculated for the points on the map 502 where such objects 510 are presented. predicted visibility information associated with an object ( 510 ) and calculated for a point along a route or the route as a whole can include, for example, an indication of a predicted location of the load at a future time, an indication of a predicted behavior (e.g., stopping at a rest point, changing course, refueling, accelerating, decelerating, etc.) of the carrier at a future time, a predicted time of arrival of the load at the destination 506 and/or one or more future locations, a predicted event associated with the trip (e.g., a delay, a change of course, etc.), etc. as previously noted, predicted visibility information can be calculated for one or more points along a route and reflected or provided by objects 510 associated with those points and their corresponding predicted visibility information. in some examples, predicted visibility information can be calculated for or at specific time times and/or time intervals (e.g., every n number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc.), for or at specific future predicted locations along the path, for or at specific estimated distances traveled, for or at specific events (e.g., weather events, traffic events, local events, etc.), and/or at any other points or periods. an object 510 can then be displayed on the map 502 at each point associated with the predicted visibility information calculated. the object 510 can provide respective, predicted visibility information calculated for the point on the map 502 where the object 510 is displayed. for example, if predicted visibility information is calculated for every 15 minutes along a route, an object 510 containing and/or reflecting the predicted visibility information calculated at or for each of the 15 minute increments can be displayed on the map 502 . such object 510 can be displayed at a specific location along the map 502 corresponding to when the predicted visibility information associated with that object 510 was calculated or a predicted location (e.g., an estimated location at a future time) included in the predicted visibility information. the objects 510 can include any visual/graphical objects rendered on the map 502 , such as a pin, a tag, a cloud, a note, a frame or interface element, a thumbnail, a notification, a message, a link, a visual pattern, a shape, etc. in the example shown in fig. 5a , the objects 510 are illustrated as pins dropped on the map 502 . in some examples, the objects 510 can be interactive. for example, a user can select an object 510 to request, receive, access, and/or display additional predicted visibility information associated with that object 510 . to illustrate, a user can select an object 510 to trigger a presentation of a pop-up window 512 presenting the additional predicted visibility information associated with that object 510 . the additional predicted visibility information can include, for example, predicted state information (e.g., location details, trajectory details, carrier status, load status, logged events and/or activity, etc.), notifications, alerts, carrier information, load information, a timestamp, etc. with reference to fig. 5b , in addition to displaying objects 510 corresponding to predicted visibility information, in some cases involving a partially constrained environment, the map 502 can also display objects 530 corresponding to actual visibility information. as used herein, a partially constrained environment can include an environment and/or scenario where only partial (or limited) actual visibility information for a load is available. for example, in a partially constrained environment, the predictive visibility system 100 may obtain one or more updates from a device or carrier (e.g., location updates, indications of an actual or intended trajectory or behavior, etc.) but may not have sufficient updates to determine an actual and/or intended route, trajectory, and/or behavior of the load (or the carrier of the load) for (or during) one or more segments of a route to be able to track or observe an actual/real/observed route, trajectory, and/or behavior of the carrier of the load (and the load). as another example, in a partially constrained environment, the predictive visibility system 100 may only be able to obtain real-time data about the carrier at limited times during the trip. however, as described herein, despite the partial (or limited) availability of actual information in the partially constrained environment, the predictive visibility system 100 can nevertheless predict the route (or any portions thereof), trajectory (or any portions thereof), and/or behavior/pattern of a carrier and the load carried by the carrier for any portions of the route of the load lacking actual visibility information, any periods during the trip lacking visibility information, and/or the route or trip as a whole. in some examples, the predictive visibility system 100 can use the ai/ml engine 122 to make such predictions based on any of the various factors/attributes described herein. the predictive visibility system 100 can then provide the predicted visibility information calculated via a map ( 502 ) as shown in fig. 5b . as illustrated in fig. 5b , in addition to displaying objects 510 corresponding to predicted visibility information on the map 502 , the predictive visibility system 100 can also display objects 530 corresponding to actual visibility information. in some cases, actual visibility information associated with the objects 530 can be obtained (e.g., from one or more devices and/or the carrier) when the carrier of the load is at one or more points (e.g., locations, regions, landmarks, etc.) along a route. the objects 530 can be displayed at such points on the map 502 and can reflect and/or provide respective actual visibility information associated with those points on the map 502 . in some cases, actual visibility information associated with the objects 530 can alternatively or additionally be obtained at certain periods or intervals of time during the trip. the objects 530 can be displayed at points on the map 502 corresponding to the actual location of the carrier on the map 502 as identified in the actual visibility information associated with such objects 530 . actual visibility information associated with an object ( 530 ) can include real and/or observed measurements or state information such as gps measurements, eld data, updates reported by the carrier, etc. in some cases, actual visibility information can include, for example, an indication of an actual/observed location of a load at a specific time, an indication of an actual/observed behavior (e.g., stopping at a rest point, changing course, refueling, accelerating, decelerating, etc.) of the carrier at a specific time, an actual/observed real trajectory of the carrier/load, an actual/observed event that occurred during the trip (e.g., a delay, a change of course, a crash, etc.), etc. as previously noted, actual visibility information can be obtained when the carrier of the load is located at (or passing) one or more points along a route, at specific time times and/or time intervals (e.g., every n number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc.) during the trip, at specific events (e.g., weather events, traffic events, local events, etc.) during the trip, and/or at any other time when actual visibility information is available and/or accessible (e.g., when the carrier, a location sensor and/or a location device such as a gps or eld device can communicate with the predictive visibility system 100 ). an object 530 can then be displayed on the map 502 at each point associated with the actual visibility information. the object 530 can provide respective, actual visibility information at that point on the map 502 where the object 530 is displayed. for example, if actual visibility information is obtained from the carrier or a gps device of the carrier at locations a, b, and c along a route, an object 530 containing and/or reflecting the actual visibility information for locations a, b, and c can be displayed on the map 502 at points on the map 502 corresponding to locations a, b, and c. the objects 530 can include any visual/graphical objects rendered on the map 502 , such as a pin, a tag, a cloud, a note, a frame or interface element, a thumbnail, a notification, a message, a link, a visual pattern, a shape, etc. in the example shown in fig. 5b , the objects 530 are illustrated as pins dropped on the map 502 . in some examples, the objects 530 can be interactive. for example, a user can select an object 530 to request, receive, access, and/or display actual visibility information associated with that object 530 . to illustrate, a user can select an object 530 to trigger a presentation of a pop-up window 532 presenting the actual visibility information associated with that object 530 (and/or the location on the map 502 where the object 530 is displayed). the actual visibility information provided in pop-up window 532 can include, for example, an actual/observed state (e.g., location, trajectory, carrier status, load status, logged events and/or activity, etc.), notifications, alerts, carrier information, load information, a timestamp, etc. in some cases, the predictive visibility system 100 can provide information comparing and/or combining actual visibility information and predicted visibility information. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can provide an indication of one or more actual/observed locations of the carrier of the load and an indication of one or more predicted locations of the carrier of the load before and/or after the one or more actual/observed locations of the carrier of the load. having disclosed example systems and concepts, the disclosure now turns to the example method 600 for predicting and providing supply chain visibility shown in fig. 6 . the steps outlined herein are examples and can be implemented in any combination thereof, including combinations that exclude, add, or modify certain steps. at block 602 , the method 600 can include determining (e.g., via the predictive visibility system 100 ), one or more attributes associated with a load being transported by a carrier from a source location (e.g., 404 , 504 ) to a destination location (e.g., 406 , 506 ). in some examples, the one or more attributes can include an identity of the carrier, an identity of an industry (e.g., food, pharmaceutical, fertilizer, agriculture, aviation, etc.) associated with the load, an identity of a shipper of the load, one or more load characteristics (e.g., weight, size, shape, type of load, load restrictions, load delivery requirements, load handling requirements, load preferences, shipment priority, appointment time, etc.), and/or a pickup time associated with the load (e.g., a day/time when the carrier picked up the load). in some examples, the one or more attributes can include other information about the carrier, the shipper, and/or the industry such as preferences, a profile, statistics, descriptive details, contractual details, regulatory details, constraints, etc. in some cases, the one or more load characteristics can include a type of load, a load weight, and/or a transportation requirement associated with the load. for example, in some cases, the one or more attributes can include an appointment time, a transportation vehicle (e.g., a truck, a trailer, etc.), a shipment priority, a pallet weight and/or size, a type of good, origin and/or destination attributes (e.g., a city, state, country, facility, business hours, etc.), a weather and/or traffic pattern, a historic usage of different lanes, a driver's driving and/or resting pattern in those lanes, business hours at an origin and/or destination, business hours at a stop or rest location, a total distance of a lane from the source to destination location, etc. at block 604 , the method 600 can include predicting (e.g., via the predictive visibility system 100 ), based on the one or more attributes associated with the load, a route (e.g., 410 , 412 , 414 , 416 , 418 ) the carrier will follow when transporting the load to the destination location. in some cases, the route can be predicted using sequence modelling, learning, prediction (e.g., using ai), and/or other techniques. in some examples, the route can be predicted using markov chains, tensor factorization, dynamic bayesian networks, conditional random fields, etc. in other cases, the route can be predicted using one or more neural networks, such as a recurrent neural network. in some examples, at least a portion of the route is predicted without data indicating an actual presence (e.g., an observed location, a current location, a reported location, etc.) of the carrier and load within the portion of the route. the portion of the route can include one or more segments of the route, one or more points and/or locations within the route, one or more paths within the route, and/or any other part of the route. moreover, in some examples, the data indicating the actual presence of the carrier and load can include location measurements from a device (e.g., a gps device, an eld, a sensor, etc.) associated with the carrier and/or a location update from the carrier (and/or any other party having knowledge of, and/or observed, a location of the carrier. in some cases, the location measurements can include gps measurements, eld data, phone triangulation values, sensor measurements, and/or any other types of measurements derived from data associated with a device. in some examples, a location update from the carrier can be an electronic message provided by the carrier, a voice message provided by the carrier (e.g., via a call or a voice communication), a text message provided by the carrier, and/or any other location information reported by the carrier. in some cases, at least the portion of the route can be predicted without real-time (or substantially near real-time) data about the carrier, such as real-time data about a location of the carrier, a behavior of the carrier, a trajectory of the carrier, an intended behavior and/or trajectory of the carrier, the load, a status of a vehicle used by the carrier, etc. in some cases, the route and/or any portion of the route can include a fully-constrained or partially-constrained environment. for example, in some cases, the portion of the route can include a fully-constrained environment, which can include an area where observed location information for the carrier is lacking. the observed location information can include, for example, the data indicating the actual presence of the carrier and load, such as a real-time location information about the carrier. at block 606 , the method 600 can include generating (e.g., via the predictive visibility system 100 ) a load behavior predicted for one or more points during the route. for example, the method 600 can predict a future load behavior at one or more points (e.g., locations, periods of time, etc.) along the route. the load behavior can include predicted visibility information, as previously described. for example, in some cases, the load behavior can include one or more predicted locations of the load along the route at one or more times/periods during a trip of the load, an estimated time at which the load is predicted to arrive at the one or more locations along the route, an estimated time at which the load is predicted to arrive at the destination, etc. in some aspects, generating the load behavior predicted for one or more points during the route can include predicting, based on the one or more attributes, a behavior of the carrier at one or more future times while transporting the load to the destination location and providing, via a load tracking interface, an indication of the predicted behavior of the carrier at the one or more future times. for example, the predictive visibility system 100 can predict a behavior of the carrier and provide on the load tracking interface a rendering, preview, visualization and/or description of the predicted behavior. in some examples, the predicted behavior of the carrier at the one or more future times can include stopping at one or more locations (e.g., rest points, fueling stations, lodging facilities, eating facilities, intermediary stopping or load pickup points, etc.), traveling at a predicted speed, changing a traveling velocity, changing a traveling trajectory (e.g., performing a u-turn, egressing a highway, turning to a different road/street, rerouting to an alternate/different path, etc.), a location of the carrier (and the load) at one or more points (e.g., times, periods, intervals, etc.) along the route, and/or any other traveling behavior and/or load status. moreover, in some cases, the predicted behavior can be predicted using additional information such as, for example, news reports, actual/observed location and/or behavior updates previously obtained, route statistics, geographic information, weather information, traffic information, map information, etc. in some cases, the load behavior can be predicted using sequence modelling, learning, prediction (e.g., using ai), and/or other techniques. in some examples, the load behavior can be predicted using markov chains, tensor factorization, dynamic bayesian networks, conditional random fields, etc. in other cases, the load behavior can be predicted using one or more neural networks, such as a recurrent neural network. in some aspects, the method 600 can include predicting, based on the one or more attributes, a time of arrival of the load at the destination location and providing, via a load tracking interface, the time of arrival of the load predicted. in some cases, the time of arrival can be predicted using additional information such as, for example, news reports, actual/observed location updates previously obtained, route statistics, geographic information, weather information, traffic information, map information, etc. in some examples, predicting the route and/or the load behavior can be based at least partly on historical data. the historical data can be associated with the identity of the carrier, the identity of the industry associated with the load, the identity of the shipper of the load, the one or more load characteristics, etc. for example, the historical information can include statistics or logged histories for the carrier, the industry, the shipper, and/or the one or more load characteristics. in some cases, the method 600 can include generating a load tracking interface that identifies the route the carrier is predicted to follow when transporting the load to the destination location and/or the predicted load behavior. in some examples, the load tracking interface can include a map (e.g., map 402 , map 502 ) displaying the route the carrier is predicted to follow when transporting the load to the destination location and/or the predicted load behavior. in some cases, the load tracking interface can include a web page, a graphical user interface, a window, and/or any other content display. moreover, in some examples, the load tracking interface can display tables, charts, lists, messages, statistics, profile information, load information, trip information, alerts, route visualizations, visualization of actions or patterns, descriptions or depictions of events, descriptions or depictions of conditions, video content, files, and/or any other type of content or format. fig. 7 illustrates an example computing device architecture of an example computing device 700 which can implement the various techniques described herein. for example, the computing device 700 can implement the predictive visibility system 100 shown in fig. 1 and perform the supply chain visibility techniques described herein. the components of the computing device 700 are shown in electrical communication with each other using a connection 705 , such as a bus. the example computing device 700 includes a processing unit (cpu or processor) 710 and a computing device connection 705 that couples various computing device components including the computing device memory 715 , such as read only memory (rom) 720 and random access memory (ram) 725 , to the processor 710 . the computing device 700 can include a cache of high-speed memory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of the processor 710 . the computing device 700 can copy data from the memory 715 and/or the storage device 730 to the cache 712 for quick access by the processor 710 . in this way, the cache can provide a performance boost that avoids processor 710 delays while waiting for data. these and other modules can control or be configured to control the processor 710 to perform various actions. other computing device memory 715 may be available for use as well. the memory 715 can include multiple different types of memory with different performance characteristics. the processor 710 can include any general purpose processor and a hardware or software service, such as service 1 732 , service 2 734 , and service 3 736 stored in storage device 730 , configured to control the processor 710 as well as a special-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporated into the processor design. the processor 710 may be a self-contained system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. a multi-core processor may be symmetric or asymmetric. to enable user interaction with the computing device 700 , an input device 745 can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. an output device 735 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art, such as a display, projector, television, speaker device, etc. in some instances, multimodal computing devices can enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicate with the computing device 700 . the communications interface 740 can generally govern and manage the user input and computing device output. there is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed. storage device 730 is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk or other types of computer readable media which can store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (rams) 725 , read only memory (rom) 720 , and hybrids thereof. the storage device 730 can include services 732 , 734 , 736 for controlling the processor 710 . other hardware or software modules are contemplated. the storage device 730 can be connected to the computing device connection 705 . in one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function can include the software component stored in a computer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as the processor 710 , connection 705 , output device 735 , and so forth, to carry out the function. the term “computer-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to, portable or non-portable storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing, or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. a computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory medium in which data can be stored and that does not include carrier waves and/or transitory electronic signals propagating wirelessly or over wired connections. examples of a non-transitory medium may include, but are not limited to, a magnetic disk or tape, optical storage media such as compact disk (cd) or digital versatile disk (dvd), flash memory, memory or memory devices. a computer-readable medium may have stored thereon code and/or machine-executable instructions that may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. a code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, or the like. in some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, and memories can include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit stream and the like. however, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se. specific details are provided in the description above to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments and examples provided herein. however, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. for clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology may be presented as including individual functional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps or routines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardware and software. additional components may be used other than those shown in the figures and/or described herein. for example, circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. in other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. individual embodiments may be described above as a process or method which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. in addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. a process is terminated when its operations are completed, but could have additional steps not included in a figure. a process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. when a process corresponds to a function, its termination can correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function. processes and methods according to the above-described examples can be implemented using computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwise available from computer-readable media. such instructions can include, for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or a processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network. the computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, source code. examples of computer-readable media that may be used to store instructions, information used, and/or information created during methods according to described examples include magnetic or optical disks, flash memory, usb devices provided with non-volatile memory, networked storage devices, and so on. devices implementing processes and methods according to these disclosures can include hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof, and can take any of a variety of form factors. when implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks (e.g., a computer-program product) may be stored in a computer-readable or machine-readable medium. a processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks. typical examples of form factors include laptops, smart phones, mobile phones, tablet devices or other small form factor personal computers, personal digital assistants, rackmount devices, standalone devices, and so on. functionality described herein also can be embodied in peripherals or add-in cards. such functionality can also be implemented on a circuit board among different chips or different processes executing in a single device, by way of further example. the instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computing resources for executing them, and other structures for supporting such computing resources are example means for providing the functions described in the disclosure. in the foregoing description, aspects of the application are described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the application is not limited thereto. thus, while illustrative embodiments of the application have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations, except as limited by the prior art. various features and aspects of the above-described application may be used individually or jointly. further, embodiments can be utilized in any number of environments and applications beyond those described herein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the specification. the specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. for the purposes of illustration, methods were described in a particular order. it should be appreciated that in alternate embodiments, the methods may be performed in a different order than that described. one of ordinary skill will appreciate that the less than (“<”) and greater than (“>”) symbols or terminology used herein can be replaced with less than or equal to (“<”) and greater than or equal to (“ ”) symbols, respectively, without departing from the scope of this description. where components are described as being “configured to” perform certain operations, such configuration can be accomplished, for example, by designing electronic circuits or other hardware to perform the operation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (e.g., microprocessors, or other suitable electronic circuits) to perform the operation, or any combination thereof. the phrase “coupled to” refers to any component that is connected to another component either directly or indirectly, and/or any component that is in communication with another component (e.g., connected to the other component over a wired or wireless connection, and/or other suitable communication interface) either directly or indirectly. claim language or other language reciting “at least one of” a set or “one or more of a set” indicates that one member of the set or multiple members of the set (in any combination) satisfy the claim. for example, claim language reciting “at least one of a and b” means a, b, or a and b. in another example, claim language reciting “one or more of a and b” means a, b, or a and b. in another example, claim language reciting “one or more of a, b, and c” means a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or all of a, b, and c. the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, firmware, or combinations thereof. to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application. the techniques described herein may also be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof. such techniques may be implemented in any of a variety of devices such as general purposes computers, wireless communication device handsets, or integrated circuit devices having multiple uses including application in wireless communication device handsets and other devices. any features described as modules or components may be implemented together in an integrated logic device or separately as discrete but interoperable logic devices. if implemented in software, the techniques may be realized at least in part by a computer-readable data storage medium comprising program code including instructions that, when executed, performs one or more of the methods, algorithms, and/or operations described above. the computer-readable data storage medium may form part of a computer program product, which may include packaging materials. the computer-readable medium may comprise memory or data storage media, such as random access memory (ram) such as synchronous dynamic random access memory (sdram), read-only memory (rom), non-volatile random access memory (nvram), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (eeprom), flash memory, magnetic or optical data storage media, and the like. the techniques additionally, or alternatively, may be realized at least in part by a computer-readable communication medium that carries or communicates program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed, read, and/or executed by a computer, such as propagated signals or waves. the program code may be executed by a processor, which may include one or more processors, such as one or more digital signal processors (dsps), general purpose microprocessors, an application specific integrated circuits (asics), field programmable logic arrays (fpgas), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logic circuitry. such a processor may be configured to perform any of the techniques described in this disclosure. a general purpose processor may be a microprocessor; but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. a processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a dsp and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a dsp core, or any other such configuration. accordingly, the term “processor,” as used herein may refer to any of the foregoing structure, any combination of the foregoing structure, or any other structure or apparatus suitable for implementation of the techniques described herein.
|
195-572-419-541-080
|
US
|
[
"WO",
"CN",
"EP",
"JP",
"BR",
"US"
] |
B01J23/44,C07C35/08,C07C31/22,C07C29/60,C07D309/06,C07C29/154,C07C31/20,C07C35/14
| 2011-12-30T00:00:00 |
2011
|
[
"B01",
"C07"
] |
process for the production of hexanediols
|
disclosed are processes for preparing 1,2-cyclohexanediol, and mixtures of 1,2-cyclohexanediol and 1,6-hexanediol, by hydrogenating 1,2,6 hexanetriol.
|
claims what is claimed is: 1 . a process comprising contacting 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst at a temperature in the range of from about 120 °c to about 300 °c and at a pressure in the range of from about 200 psi to about 3000 psi to form a product mixture comprising 1 ,2- cyclohexanediol. 2. the process of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogenation catalyst comprises a transition metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, nickel, cobalt, rhodium, silver, copper, ruthenium, iron, palladium, and mixtures thereof. 3. the process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises copper. 4. the process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises cuo. 5. the process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises from 2 weight percent to 98 weight percent cuo, and further comprises from 98 weight percent to 2 weight percent of at least one oxide selected from the group consisting of zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, barium oxide, chromium oxide, silica, alumina, zirconium dioxide, nickel oxide, manganese oxide, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, cerium oxide, lanthanum oxide, iron oxide, silver oxide, and cobalt oxide, based on the total weight of the catalyst. 6. the process of claim 5, wherein the catalyst further comprises at least one oxide selected from the group consisting of zirconium dioxide, lanthanum oxide, cerium oxide, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, silica and alumina. 7. the process of claim 5, wherein the catalyst further comprises zinc oxide. 8. the process of claim 5, wherein the catalyst comprises bao/cuo/cr 2 o 3 /sio2, bao/cuo/cr 2 o 3 , bao/cuo/mno 2 /cr 2 o3, cuo/sio 2 , cuo/ai 2 o 3 , cuo/nio/ai 2 o 3 , cuo/cr 2 o 3 /mno 2 , cuo/cr 2 o 3 , cuo/mno 2 , cuo/cr 2 o 3 , cuo/sio 2 /cr 2 o 3 /mgo, cuo/nio, nio/cuo/k 2 o/cr 2 o 3 /caf 2 , cuo/zno, cuo/zno/ai 2 o 3 , or cuo/zno/ceo 2 /ai 2 o 3 /na 2 o/c. 9. the process of claim 5, wherein the catalyst comprises cuo/la 2 o 3 /zro 2 , cuo/la 2 o 3 /ai 2 o 3 , cuo/ceo 2 /zro 2 or cuo/mgo. 10. the process of claim 1 , wherein the product mixture further comprises 1 ,6-hexanediol. 1 1 . the process of claim 1 , wherein the product mixture further comprises one or more of 2-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyran, 1 ,5-hexanediol, and 1 ,5-pentanediol. 12. the process of claim 1 , wherein product mixture further comprises both 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and 1 ,6-hexanediol, and the molar ratio of 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol to 1 ,6-hexanediol is in the range of from about 0.1 to 20. 13. the process of claim 8, wherein the temperature is within the range of from about 200 °c to about 290 °c, and the pressure is within the range of from about 800 psi to about 1500 psi. 14. the process of claim 9, wherein the temperature is within the range of from about 200 °c to about 290 °c, and the pressure is within the range of from about 800 psi to about 1500 psi.
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title process for the production of hexanediols this application claims priority under 35 u.s.c. §1 19(e) from, and claims the benefit of, u.s. provisional application no. 61/582,069, filed december 30, 201 1 , which is by this reference incorporated in its entirety as a part hereof for all purposes. field of disclosure processes for preparing 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and mixtures of 1 ,2- cyclohexanediol and 1 ,6-hexanediol are provided. background industrial chemicals obtained from inexpensive sources are desirable for use in industrial processes, for example as raw materials, solvents, or starting materials. it has become increasingly desirable to obtain industrial chemicals or their precursors from materials that are not only inexpensive but also benign in the environment. of particular interest are materials which can be obtained from renewable sources, that is, materials that are produced by a biological activity such as planting, farming, or harvesting. as used herein, the terms "renewable" and "biosourced" can be used interchangeably. 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and related compounds such as 1 ,6-hexanediol are useful precursors in the synthesis of industrially useful chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, herbicides, stabilizers, and polymers. for example, 1 ,2- cyclohexanediol can be converted to adipic acid, o-phenylenediamine, catechol, phenol, benzoquinone, and hydroquinone. 1 ,6-hexanediol is used in the production of polyesters for polyurethane elastomers, coatings, adhesives and polymeric plasticizers. 1 ,6-hexanediol can also be converted to 1 ,6- hexamethylenediamine, a useful monomer in nylon production. partial oxidation of the petrochemicals cyclohexane and cyclohexene has been used to synthesize 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol. however, renewable sources for materials such as 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and 1 ,6-hexanediol are desired, in particular renewable sources which are economically attractive in comparison to petroleum-based sources. there is a need for processes to produce 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and other hexanediols from renewable biosources. there is a need for processes to produce 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and 1 ,6-hexanediol from biomass-derived starting materials, including 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol. summary in one embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, a process is provided comprising: contacting 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst at a temperature in the range of from about 120 °c to about 300 °c and at a pressure in the range of from about 200 psi to about 3000 psi to form a product mixture comprising 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol. in one embodiment, the product mixture further comprises 1 ,6-hexanediol. detailed description as used herein, where the indefinite article "a" or "an" is used with respect to a statement or description of the presence of a step in a process disclosed herein, unless the statement or description explicitly provides to the contrary, the use of such indefinite article does not limit the presence of the step in the process to one in number. as used herein, when an amount, concentration, or other value or parameter is given as either a range, preferred range, or a list of upper preferable values and lower preferable values, this is to be understood as specifically disclosing all ranges formed from any pair of any upper range limit or preferred value and any lower range limit or preferred value, regardless of whether ranges are separately disclosed. where a range of numerical values is recited herein, unless otherwise stated, the range is intended to include the endpoints thereof, and all integers and fractions within the range. it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited to the specific values recited when defining a range. as used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "having," "contains" or "containing," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. for example, a composition, a mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus. further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. for example, a condition a or b is satisfied by any one of the following: a is true (or present) and b is false (or not present), a is false (or not present) and b is true (or present), and both a and b are true (or present). as used herein, the term "about" modifying the quantity of an ingredient or reactant employed refers to variation in the numerical quantity that can occur, for example, through typical measuring and liquid handling procedures used for making concentrates or use solutions in the real world; through inadvertent error in these procedures; through differences in the manufacture, source, or purity of the ingredients employed to make the compositions or carry out the methods; and the like. the term "about" also encompasses amounts that differ due to different equilibrium conditions for a composition resulting from a particular initial mixture. whether or not modified by the term "about," the claims include equivalents to the quantities. the term "about" can mean within 10% of the reported numerical value, preferably within 5% of the reported numerical value. as used herein, the term "biomass" refers to any hemicellulosic or lignocellulosic material and includes materials comprising hemicellulose, and optionally further comprising cellulose, lignin, starch, oligosaccharides and/or monosaccharides. as used herein, the term "lignocellulosic" means comprising both lignin and cellulose. lignocellulosic material can also comprise hemicellulose. in some embodiments, lignocellulosic material contains glucan and xylan. hemicellulose is a non-cellulosic polysaccharide found in lignocellulosic biomass. hemicellulose is a branched heteropolymer consisting of different sugar monomers. it typically comprises from 500 to 3000 sugar monomeric units. lignin is a complex high molecular weight polymer and can comprise guaiacyl units as in softwood lignin, or a mixture of guaiacyl and syringyl units as in hardwood lignin. as used herein, the abbreviation "126ht" refers to 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol and includes a racemic mixture of isomers. the chemical structure of 1 ,2,6- hexanetriol is represented by formula (i). as used herein, the abbreviation "thpm" refers to tetrahydro-2h-pyran- 2-methanol, also known as 2-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyran, and includes a racemic mixture of isomers. the chemical structure of tetrahydro-2h-pyran-2- methanol is represented by formula (ii). h ii as used herein, the abbreviation "16hd" refers to 1 ,6-hexanediol. the chemical structure of 1 ,6-hexanediol is represented by formula (iii). as used herein, the abbreviation "12chd"refers to 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and includes a mixture of stereoisomers (cis and racemic trans isomers). as used herein, the abbreviation "c12chd" refers to cis-1 ,2-cyclohexanediol. as used herein, the abbreviation "t12chd" refers to trans-1 ,2-cyclohexanediol. the chemical structure of 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol is represented by formula (iv). iv as used herein, the abbreviation "15hd" refers to 1 ,5-hexanediol and includes a racemic mixture of isomers. the chemical structure of 1 ,5- hexanediol is represented by formula (v). oh ^^^^^oh v as used herein, the abbreviation "15pd" refers to 1 ,5-pentanediol. the chemical structure of 1 ,5-pentanediol is represented by formula (vi). ho^^^^^oh vi disclosed herein are processes for obtaining 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and mixtures of 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and 1 ,6-hexanediol from 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol, which in turn can be derived from a renewable biosource. as used herein, the term "renewable biosource" includes biomass and animal or vegetable fats or oils. a renewable biosource can be pyrolyzed under high temperature conditions in the presence of an acid catalyst to provide useful chemical intermediates. for example, pyrolysis of wood, starch, glucose or cellulose can produce levoglucosenone by known and conventional methods (see, for example, ponder (applied biochemistry and biotechnology, vol 24/25, 41 -47 (1990)) or shafizadeh (carbohydrate research, 71 , 169-191 (1979)). glycerol can be obtained from a renewable biosource, for example from hydrolysis of vegetable and animal fats and oils (that is, triacylglycerides comprising ester functionality resulting from the combination of glycerol with ci2 or greater fatty acids). 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol can be obtained from materials such as glucose, cellulose or glycerol which can be derived from a renewable biosource. for example, 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol can be obtained by a process comprising the steps of contacting glycerol with a catalyst to prepare acrolein, heating acrolein optionally in the presence of a catalyst to prepare 2-formyl-3,4-dihydro- 2h-pyran, contacting 2-formyl-3,4-dihydro-2h-pyran with water to prepare 2-hydroxyadipic aldehyde and contacting 2-hydroxyadipic aldehyde with hydrogen and a catalyst to produce a product mixture comprising 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol. see, for example, united states patent no. 2768213, german patent no. 4238493, and l. ott, et al. in green chem., 2006, 8, 214- 220. in the processes disclosed herein, 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol is contacted with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst comprising a transition metal under suitable temperature and temperature conditions to form a product mixture comprising 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol. in some embodiments, the product mixture further comprises 1 ,6-hexanediol. in some embodiments, the product mixture further comprises one or more of tetrahydro-2h-pyran- 2-methanol, 1 ,5-hexanediol, and 1 ,5-pentanediol. the hydrogenation catalyst comprises a transition metal selected from the group consisting of platinum, nickel, cobalt, silver, copper, ruthenium, rhodium, iron, palladium, and mixtures thereof. in some embodiments, the catalyst comprises a transition metal selected from platinum, palladium, copper, nickel, or mixtures thereof. in some embodiments, the catalyst comprises copper. in some embodiments, the hydrogenation catalyst comprises cuo. in some embodiments, the catalyst comprises from 2 wt% to 98 wt% cuo and further comprises from 98 wt% to 2 wt% of at least one oxide selected from the group consisting of zinc oxide (zno), magnesium oxide (mgo), barium oxide (bao), chromium oxide (cr 2 o3), silica (s1o2), alumina (ai2o3), zirconium dioxide (zro2), nickel oxide (nio), manganese oxide (mno2), sodium oxide (na 2 o), potassium oxide (k 2 o), cerium oxide (ceo 2 ), lanthanum oxide (la2o3), iron oxide (fe2os), silver oxide (ag 2 o) and cobalt oxide (c02o3), based on the total weight of the catalyst. in one embodiment, the catalyst further comprises zno. in one embodiment, the catalyst further comprises mgo. in some embodiments, the catalyst further comprises carbon. examples of suitable commercially available catalysts include but are not limited to the following: cuo/zno, bao/cuo/cr 2 o 3 /sio 2 , bao/cuo/cr 2 o 3 , bao/cuo/mno 2 /cr 2 o 3 , cuo/sio 2 , cuo/ai 2 o 3 , cuo/nio/ai 2 o 3 , cuo/cr 2 o 3 /mno2, cuo/cr 2 o 3 , cuo/mno 2 , cuo/cr 2 o 3 , cuo/zno/ai 2 o 3 , cuo/sio 2 /cr2o 3 /mgo, cuo/zno/ceo 2 /ai 2 o3/na2o/c, cuo/nio, or nio/cuo/k 2 o/cr 2 o3/caf 2 . in one embodiment, the catalyst comprises cuo/zno, cuo/zno/ai 2 o 3 , or cuo/zno/ceo 2 /ai 2 o3/na2o/c. in some embodiments, catalysts comprising cuo can further comprise a support. examples of suitable supports include aluminas, zeolites, ceo 2 , zro2, mgo, mgai 2 o 4 , and τίο2. in some embodiments, the supports are impregnated with promoters, such as ba, la, mg, ca, na, and k. examples of suitable supported copper catalysts include cuo la2os zro2, cuo/la 2 o3/ai 2 o3, cuo/ceo 2 /zro 2 , and cuo/mgo. specific examples of suitable catalysts include zro 2 15%la 7%cu, sasol alumina 10%la 3%cu, sasol alumina 10%la 7%cu, sasol alumina 10%la 15%cu, mel ce/zro 2 15%cu, mgo 3%cu, mgo 7%cu, and mgo 15%cu. catalysts comprising cuo and at least one oxide as described above can be prepared by forming a co-precipitated catalyst comprising compounds which are thermally decomposable to oxides or mixed oxides. the precipitated catalyst can be formed by admixing solutions of the elements and heating the resultant mixture to its precipitation temperature; separately heating a solution of a precipitant in water; and thereafter adding both solutions to preheated demineralized water with vigorous stirring and strict ph control, for example in a precipitation reactor. alternatively, the precipitate can be formed by admixing solutions of the elements and heating the resultant mixture to its precipitation temperature; then adding the preheated mixture or solution of elements rapidly to a predetermined volume of a preheated solution of a precipitant in water. in yet another method of forming a precipitated catalyst, the precipitate can be formed by admixing solutions of the elements and heating the resultant mixture to its precipitation temperature; then adding a preheated solution of precipitant in water (preheated to a predetermined precipitation temperature) to the hot solution or mixture of the elements with vigorous stirring, until the desired ph value of combined solutions is reached. in all methods, the precipitant can be a solution of sodium, potassium and/or ammonium carbonate or bicarbonate in water. the precipitation can be carried out at high temperature, for example between about 75 °c and 100 °c. lower temperatures, for example between about 50 °c and 60 ° c can also be used, but the crystallite size of the catalyst precursor so formed is larger, and the activity of such a catalyst may be lower. the precipitation can be effected at a ph in the range of 6.5-9.5. after maintaining the stirred solution at the precipitation temperature for a period of time between about 0.5 and 60 minutes, the precipitate can then be separated from the residual liquid. the separation can be effected by filtration. the precipitate can be re-suspended at least once, but typically a few times, in demineralized water, then separated from the water by filtration, and finally washed thoroughly on the filter. the washed precipitate comprising a homogeneous hydrated catalyst precursor can then be dried by any known drying process, for example in an oven at temperatures between 50 °c and 130 °c, under vacuum or at normal pressure. alternatively, spray drying can be employed. the dried precipitate, also referred to herein as a precursor, comprises an essentially homogeneous association of carbonates and hydroxycarbonates with a potential oxide content of between 65% and 80%. as described above herein, the elements may initially be in soluble nitrate form or optionally in the form of a thermally decomposable ammonium salt. the dried precipitate can be calcined to provide a catalyst. the calcination can comprise treating the dried precipitate at a temperature of between 200 °c and 450 °c, for example between 250 °c and 350 °c, for between 3 and 10 hours, to obtain a homogeneous catalyst. the homogeneous catalyst can be densified and pelletized after addition of 1 -3 wt%, for example about 2 wt%, graphite. it can also be made into extrudates using, for example, methyl cellulose as a binder. the homogeneous catalyst can also be sieved to a desired particle size distribution to be used in batch or continuous stirred tank reactors. the copper component of the active catalyst contains the copper in a dispersed form, and after activation acts primarily as the active constituent of the catalyst, while the additional oxide component(s) acts primarily but not exclusively as a structural support. an oxide of chromium, zinc, manganese, or barium when present, thus enhances the activity and/or selectivity of the catalyst and its resistance to poisons, while aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, and silica enhances the stability, abrasion or attrition resistance, mechanical strength, and thermal stability of the active catalyst. the active catalyst can be reduced by thermal activation to produce an active catalyst in which at least a portion of the copper, and other element(s) present in the catalyst, are in metallic form. the thermal activation can comprise reduction treatment of the calcined catalyst in a reactor, using a mixture of an inert gas, preferably nitrogen, and at least one reducing gas, such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide or a mixture thereof. the molar ratio between reducing gas and inert gas should be between 1 :30 and 1 :100. the reduction temperature can be between 100 °c to 280 °c, preferably between 130 °c and 240 °c, and the pressure can be 0.1 to 1 mpa. the catalyst is preferably first slowly heated at a rate of 30-50 °c/hour under the inert gas at a pressure between 0.6-0.9 mpa, until a temperature between 120 °c and 150 °c has been reached. thereafter the reduction takes place by adding the reducing gas to the inert gas in a molar ratio as described above, but preferably between 1 :50 and 1 :40. the temperature is then slowly further increased at a rate of 15-25 °c/h to reach a temperature between 190 °c and 210 °c. the thermal reductive activation is continued at this temperature for a time period of between 10 and 24 hours. thereafter, in a final step, the temperature can be increased to between 230 °c and 250 °c and the molar ratio of reducing gas to inert gas adjusted to between 1 :10 and 1 :6 for a time period of 1 -3 hours, in order to complete activation. the reduced catalyst can then be stabilized by passivating the catalyst in a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen to prevent complete oxidation of the catalyst when exposed to air. in another embodiment, a wide range of commercially available catalyst supports comprising metal oxides, mixed metal oxides or metal-incorporated metal oxides (such as gamma-alumina, la-doped alumina, ce-doped zirconia, magnesium oxide, and usy zeolite) can be used as supports with the cuo catalyst. the metals so incorporated in the metal oxide or mixed metal oxide support can be an alkali, an alkaline earth metal, a rare earth metal, or a mixture of one or more such metals. incorporation of the specified metal or metals onto the metal oxide or mixed metal oxide support can be accomplished by impregnating the support with an aqueous solution of water- soluble salt precursor(s) of metal(s) such as nitrates and acetates by known methods, drying the wetted support, and then calcining the combination of the metal salt(s) and metal oxide or mixed metal oxide support at a temperature of 350 °c up to 600 °c for about 2 to 16 hours to produce a metal-modified metal oxide or mixed metal oxide support(s). the calcining step at 250 °c to 600 °c prior to depositing the copper on the support is necessary. the time of calcining should be sufficient to decompose the metal salt(s) to the metal oxide(s). the total amount of added metal(s) in the support is in the range of 0.5% to 20% by weight based upon the weight of the support. after incorporation of the metal(s), copper, preferably as copper nitrate, is impregnated on the metal-modified metal oxide or mixed metal oxide support in any manner known to those skilled in the art. the amount of copper deposited will depend on the desired activity of the catalyst, and can be as little as 2% by weight to as much as 20% by weight. the final catalyst composition containing the copper catalyst on the modified support can be in the form of powder, granules, extrudates or tablets, but certain specific characteristics such as surface area and pore volume, for example, are modified by reason of the deposit of copper. in another embodiment, the catalyst comprising active metal(s) either in the co-precipitated form with other elements, or active metal(s) dispersed on a first oxide, mixed metal oxides or metal-modified metal oxide support, as described herein above can be either physically mixed and sieved to appropriate size, or intimately mixed and optionally co-extruded or pelletized with a second metal oxide, mixed metal oxides or metal-modified metal oxide support. the pelletized or co-extruded catalyst can be optionally crushed and sieved to appropriate size for use in slurry batch, continuous stirred tank, or fixed bed reactors. the 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol, catalyst, and hydrogen are contacted at a reaction temperature within the range from about 120 °c and 300 °c and at a pressure within the range from about 200 psi to about 3000 psi for a time sufficient to form a product mixture comprising 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol as a mixture of cis and trans isomers. in some embodiments, the product mixture can further comprise 1 ,6-hexanediol. in some embodiments, the 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol, catalyst, and hydrogen are contacted at a temperature between and optionally including any two of the following values: 120 °c, 130 °c, 140 °c, 150 °c, 160 °c, 170 °c, 180 °c, 190 °c, 200 °c, 210 °c, 220 °c, 230 °c, 240 °c, 250 °c, 260 °c, 270 °c, 280 °c, 290 °c, and 300 °c. in some embodiments, the temperature is within the range from about 200 °c to about 290 °c, for example between and optionally including any two of the following values: 200 °c, 210 °c, 220 °c, 230 °c, 240 °c, 250 °c, 260 °c, 270 °c, 280 °c, and 290 °c. the period of time for contacting is within the range of about 1 minute to about 10 hours. in one embodiment, the 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol, catalyst, and hydrogen are contacted at a pressure between 200 and 3000 psi. in some embodiments, the contacting is at a pressure between and optionally including any two of the following values: 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1 100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2400, 2500, 2600, 2700, 2800, 2900, and 3000 psi. in some embodiments, the contacting is within the range from about 800 to about 1500 psi, for example between and optionally including any two of the following values: 800, 900, 1000, 1 100, 1200, 1300, 1400, and 1500 psi. the reaction can be run in a batch or continuous mode, in liquid phase, gas phase, or biphasic conditions. the process can be carried out is standard reactors as are known in the art. in an embodiment of continuous operation, the reaction can be carried out in a trickle bed reactor, wherein the liquid hourly space velocity is between 0.05 and 10 h "1 (ml_ liquid feed/ml catalyst h), for example from 0.5 to about 5 h "1 (ml liquid feed/ml catalyst/h). in an embodiment of continuous operation, the reaction can be carried out in a trickle bed reactor, wherein the ratio of the gas volumetric flowrate to the liquid volumetric flowrate as measured at ambient conditions (gas to oil ratio) is between 100 and 5,000, for example from 1 ,000 to about 4,000. in a batch mode of operation, the amount of catalyst used will depend on the specific equipment configuration and reaction conditions. in some embodiments, the ratio of catalyst weight to 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol weight ranges from about 0.05 to 2. in some embodiments, this ratio is between and optionally includes any two of the following values: 0.05, 0.1 , 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1 .0, 1 .1 , 1 .2, 1 .3, 1 .4, 1 .5, 1 .6, 1 .7, 1 .8, 1 .9, and 2.0. the 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol feed in some embodiments is from about 2 wt% to about 50 wt% in water or another suitable solvent. it is anticipated that the reaction could be run at higher concentrations of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol in solvent or even with neat 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol. suitable solvents include water, a c1 -c20 alcohol, a c 2 -c 2 o ether, a c 2 -c 2 o ester, or mixtures thereof. examples of suitable alcohols which are commercially available include methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, and hexanol. examples of suitable ethers which are commercially available include dibutylether, dihexylether, methyl-f-butyl-ether, tetrahydrofuran, and dioxane. examples of suitable esters which are commercially available include ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, methyl butyrate, ethyl butyrate, butyl butyrate and hexyl acetate. at the end of the designated contacting time, the catalyst can be separated from the product mixture by methods known in the art, for example by filtration. after separation from the catalyst, the product mixture components, including 1 ,2 cyclohexanediol, 1 ,6-hexanediol and any unreacted 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol, can be separated from one another using any appropriate method known in the art, for example, distillation. in some embodiments, the product mixture comprises 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol. in some embodiments, the product mixture comprises 1 ,6-hexanediol. in some embodiments, the product mixture comprises 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol and 1 ,6-hexanediol. depending on the reaction conditions selected, the processes described herein can provide 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol (as the sum of cis and trans isomers) and 1 ,6-hexanediol in various relative amounts. in some embodiments, the molar ratio of 1 ,2-cyclohexanediol to 1 ,6-hexanediol is in the range of from about 0.1 to about 20. in some embodiments, the molar ratio of trans-1 ,2-cyclohexanediol to cis-1 ,2-cyclohexanediol is from 1 to 2.5. in some embodiments, the product mixture further comprises one or more of 2-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyran, 1 ,5-hexanediol, and 1 ,5-pentanediol, which can be useful as chemical intermediates. in one embodiment, the product mixture further comprises tetrahydropyran-2-methanol. in one embodiment, the product mixture further comprises 1 ,5-hexanediol. in one embodiment, the product mixture further comprises 1 ,5-pentanediol. examples the methods described herein are illustrated in the following examples. from the above discussion and these examples, one skilled in the art can ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various uses and conditions. the following abbreviations are used in the examples: "°c" means degrees celsius; "wt%" means weight percent; "g" means gram(s); "min" means minute(s); "h" means hour(s); "μι_" means microliter(s); "wt%" means weight percent; "rv(s)" means reaction vessel(s); "psi" means pounds per square inch; "mg/g" means milligram(s) per gram; "μηη" means micrometer(s); "ml_" means milliliter(s); "mm" means millimeter(s); "cm" means centimeter(s); "ml/min" means milliliter(s) per minute; "mpa" means megapascal(s); "gc" means gas chromatography; "ms" means "mass spectrometry"; "conv" means conversion; "lhsv" means liquid hourly space velocity, and "gto" means gas to oil ratio. materials all commercial materials were used as received unless stated otherwise. 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol(>=97 gc area % purity) was obtained from evonik degussa gmbh, marl, germany. commercial catalysts, catalyst supports and other materials used for catalyst preparation are described in the list below. table of commercially available materials used and their sources scfa-140/l10 10% lanthanum mel ce/zr0 2 mel xzo 1291 - ce0 2 15%, la 2 0 3 4.4% chemicals ce/zr0 2 mgo sigma-aldrich 34.279-3 chemie gmbh mel xzo 1250 15% w0 3 (on zr0 2 basis) chemicals la(n0 3 ) 3 x xh 2 0 sigma-aldrich 018545 - x = 3 - 5 chemie 238554 gmbh ba(n0 3 ) 2 sigma-aldrich 217581 99.1 % purity chemie gmbh cu(n0 3 ) 2 x sigma-aldrich 12837 98.2% purity 2.5h 2 0 chemie gmbh the commercial catalysts obtained as shaped materials (tablets, extrudates, spheres, etc.) were crushed and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm prior to loading into the continuous reactor. the commercial catalysts obtained in powder form were press-pelleted, crushed, and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm prior to loading in the continuous reactor. catalyst preparation method i catalyst samples referred to as "catalyst a intimately mixed with catalyst b" were prepared using the following procedure. if either catalyst a or catalyst b was originally a shaped material (tablets, extrudates, spheres, etc.), it was first crushed to powder form (<125 μιτι). four ml of each catalyst were combined and mixed together in a 25 ml glass vial by shaking for a minimum of 30 seconds. the mixture was then screened using a 250 μιτι sieve. the sieved material was press-pelleted, crushed, and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm prior to loading into the continuous reactor. catalyst preparation method ii catalyst samples referred to as "catalyst a separately mixed with catalyst b" were prepared using the following procedure. if either catalyst a or catalyst b was originally a shaped material (tablets, extrudates, spheres, etc.), it was first crushed and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm. if either catalyst a or catalyst b was originally in powder form, it was first press-pelleted, crushed, and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm. four ml_ of each catalyst were combined and mixed together in a 25 ml_ glass vial by shaking for minimum of 30 seconds. catalyst preparation method iii catalyst samples referred to as "supported copper catalysts" were prepared using the following procedure. supports used in this catalyst preparation method include: sasol alumina 3%la, sasol alumina 10%la, mel ce/zro 2 mgo, and hy cbv780. if the support was originally a shaped material (tablets, extrudates, spheres, etc.), it was crushed and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm. if the support was originally in powder form it was press- pelleted, crushed, and sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm. the support was optionally impregnated with la or ba at ambient conditions, in a porcelain dish mixed in a lab-shaker with the appropriate concentration of la(no 3 ) 3 x xh 2 o or ba(nos)2 solution using incipient wetness technique. the mixture was dried at 80 °c in a vented oven. the dried catalyst was calcined in a muffle furnace at 300 °c for 4h, ramp rate 1 °c /min, in air. the support, or the la/ba impregnated support, was subsequently impregnated with cu at ambient conditions, in a porcelain dish mixed in a lab- shaker with the appropriate concentration of cu(nos)2 x 2.5h 2 o solution using incipient wetness technique. the mixture was dried at 80 °c in a vented oven. the dried catalyst was calcined in a muffle furnace at 300 °c for 4 h at a ramp rate of 1 °c /min in air. the calcined cu impregnated catalyst was sieved to 0.125-0.160 mm. the catalyst was reduced using 5% h 2 in n 2 at temperatures determined by differential scanning calorimetry (dsc) analysis (1 -2 dwells at 180-330 °c, dwell time = 2 h, cooling to ambient temperature under n 2 .) continuous reactor operation procedure unless otherwise specified, the reactions described in examples 2-6 were carried out in a stainless steel (ss316) continuous trickle bed reactor (id = 0.4 cm) using the following procedure. the reactor was packed with approximately 1 ml_ of catalyst. if the catalyst was not pre-reduced, the following procedure was used for in situ reduction: the reactor was heated at a rate of 1 °c /min under forming gas (5% h 2 in n 2 ) to the desired reduction temperature (see examples), where it was held for the desired hold-up time, typically 2-3 hours. the pre-reduced or in-situ reduced catalyst was used for running multiple reactions under varying reaction conditions (temperature, pressure, feed concentrations). the reactor temperature was adjusted to the target first reaction condition temperature and held overnight under forming gas and either water or aqueous substrate solution. subsequently the first reaction condition started by changing the gas feed to 100% h 2 and the liquid feed to the desired aqueous substrate concentration. the liquid volumetric feed rate was adjusted to correspond to a target liquid hourly space velocity (lhsv), which was measured in units of ml_ liquid feed/ml catalyst/h. unless otherwise specified, the ratio of the gas volumetric flowrate to the liquid volumetric flowrate as measured at ambient conditions (gas to oil ratio, gto) was adjusted to a value of 4,000. liquid effluent samples at each reaction condition were taken after continuous operation for a minimum of 24 hours. the liquid samples were analyzed by quantitative gc analysis. analytical methods reactor feeds and reaction products were analyzed by gas chromatography using standard gc and gc/ms equipment: agilent 5975c, hp5890, stabilwax column restek company bellefonte, pa (30 m x 0.25 mm, 0.5 micron film thickness). chemical components of reaction product mixtures were identified by matching their retention times and mass spectra to those of authentic samples. example 1 in a stainless steel (ss316) pressure reactor 1 g of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol was dissolved in 9 ml_ of water and combined with 1 g of catalyst (cuo/zno/ai 2 o3, actisorb® 301 ). the reactor was connected to a high pressure gas manifold and the content was purged with nitrogen gas (1800 psi) 3 times before hydrogen was added. the approximate target amount of hydrogen was added and the reactor was heated to 250 °c and final adjustments to the pressure were made by adding more nitrogen (for 1000 psi target pressure) or hydrogen (for 1800 psi target pressure) to reach the target pressure. after the intended reaction time, the reactor was allowed to cool to room temperature within 2 h and the reaction solutions were filtered through a standard 5 μιτι disposable filter, diluted with n-propanol and analyzed by gc and gc/ms. products were identified by matching retention times and mass spectra using known samples. results for the reactor effluent are given in table 1 . the product distribution at different partial pressures of h 2 and the 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol conversions are given in table 2. table 1 . hydrogen pressure and composition of main components in the volatile reactor effluent (gc area 400 1000 17 7 1 2 3 66 1200 1800 17 8 1 2 5 54 table 2. product distribution of main components in the volatile reactor effluent (gc area %) example 2 the continuous reactor was charged with cuo/zno (suedchemie t- 2130) catalyst. the catalyst was reduced in situ at 250 °c for 3 h. aqueous solutions of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol (2.5 wt%, 10 wt% and 50 wt%) were used as the liquid feed. the liquid volumetric feed rate corresponded to a liquid hourly space velocity (lhsv) equal to 0.5 ml_ liquid feed/ml catalyst/h. product yields are given in table 3 for 240-280 °c under 100 bar h 2 pressure. table 3. results for example 2 example 3 the continuous reactor was charged with cuo/zno/ai 2 o3 (suedchemie actisorb ® 301 ) catalyst. the catalyst was reduced in situ at 250 °c for 3 h. aqueous solutions of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol (2.5 wt%, 10 wt% and 50 wt%) were used as the liquid feed. the liquid volumetric feed rate corresponded to a liquid hourly space velocity (lhsv) equal to 0.5 ml liquid feed/ml catalyst/h. product yields are given in table 4 for 240-280 °c under 100 bar h 2 pressure. table 4. results for example 3 example 4 several continuous reactor runs were perfornned with the following commercial copper catalysts: (bao/cuo/cr 2 o 3 /sio 2 (suedchemie g-22/2), bao/cuo/cr 2 o 3 (suedchemie g-22), bao/cuo/mno 2 /cr 2 o 3 (suedchemie g- 99b-0), cuo/cr 2 o 3 (suedchemie t-4466), cuo/mno 2 (suedchemie t-4489), cuo/cr 2 o 3 /mno 2 (basf cu-1950p), cuo/sio 2 (basf cu-0860), cuo/sio 2 (evonik cpcat 9/1593), cuo/nio/ai 2 o 3 (evonik cpcat 9/1596), cuo/ai 2 o 3 (evonik cpcat 9/1597), cuo/zno/ceo 2 /ai 2 o 3 /na 2 o/c (johnson matthey pricat cz 30/18 t 6 * 5 mm), cuo/sio 2 /cr 2 o 3 /mgo (johnson matthey pricat cu 60/35 p) and cuo/nio (shepherd chemical lb 3307). the catalysts were reduced in situ at 250 °c for 3 h. aqueous solutions of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol (2.5 wt%, 10 wt% and 50 wt%) were used as the liquid feed. the liquid volumetric feed rate corresponded to a liquid hourly space velocity (lhsv) equal to 0.5 ml liquid feed/ml catalyst/h. product yields are given in table 5 for 240-280 °c under 100 bar h 2 pressure. table 5. results for example 4 ( * ) reaction was run under 150 bar h 2 pressure ( ** ) reaction was run at lhsv = 2h ~1 and gto = example 5 several reactor runs were performed with the following cuo/s1o2 catalysts and mixtures of cuo/s1o2 and heterogeneous acidic catalysts: cuo/sio 2 (basf cu-0860), cuo/sio 2 (basf cu-0860) intimately mixed with hy cbv780, cuo/sio 2 (basf cu-0860) separately mixed with hy cbv780, cuo/sio 2 (basf cu-0860) intimately mixed with zro 2 and cuo/sio 2 (basf cu-0860) intimately mixed with zro^o?,. the mixed catalysts were prepared using the catalyst preparation method i and catalyst preparation method ii. the catalysts were reduced in situ at 300 °c for 2 h. a 2.5 wt% aqueous solution of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol was used as the liquid feed for all the runs. the liquid feed volumetric feed rate corresponded to a liquid hourly space velocity (lhsv) equal to 0.5 ml_ liquid feed/ml catalyst/h. product yields at different temperatures are given in table 6 for 240-280 °c under 100 bar h 2 pressure. table 6. results for example 5 example 6 the following supported copper catalysts were prepared using the catalyst preparation method iii: zro 2 15%la 7%cu, sasol alumina 10%la 3%cu, sasol alumina 10%la 7%cu, sasol alumina 10%la 15%cu, mel ce/zro 2 15%cu, mgo 3%cu, mgo 7%cu, mgo 15%cu, hy cbv780 6%la 7%cu and hy cbv780 6%ba 7%cu. a 2.5 wt% aqueous solution of 1 ,2,6-hexanetriol was used as the liquid feed for all the runs. the liquid feed volumetric feed rate corresponded to a liquid hourly space velocity (lhsv) equal to 0.5 ml liquid feed/ml catalyst/h. product yields are given in table 7 for 260-280 °c under 100 bar h 2 pressure. table 7. results for example 6 ( * ) done at 69 bar h 2 pressure
|
195-649-137-237-438
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
C01B31/02,C01D3/02,C01F7/04,C25C3/08
| 1975-10-02T00:00:00 |
1975
|
[
"C01",
"C25"
] |
recovery of sodium fluoride and other chemicals from spent carbon liners
|
floride and aluminum values, as well as carbon, are recovered from waste cathode liner material from aluminum electrolytic cells by leaching of the liner at ambient temperature with a caustic solution, followed by precipitation of sodium fluoride by saturating the leach liquor with a compound which suppresses the solubility of sodium fluoride in the leach liquor. ammonia is a preferred compound. aluminum compounds, as well as the carbon values, are also recovered. treating chemicals used in the process are recycled. the process is essentially a closed-cycle process with substantially no discharge of effluent.
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1. a method for recovering the fluoride and aluminum contained in used cathode carbon liner from electrolytic cells used in the refining of aluminum, comprising: extracting crushed liner material containing fluoride and aluminum with a caustic solution in an extraction zone to yield an extraction solution containing solubilized sodium aluminate and sodium fluoride, adding a solubility suppressant to the extraction solution containing the sodium fluoride which suppresses the solubility of the fluoride and causes precipitation of sodium fluoride, recovering the sodium fluoride from the extraction solution, contacting the remaining extraction solution containing the sodium aluminate with carbon dioxide to precipitate the aluminum as aluminum hydrates, leaving a residual solution containing sodium carbonate, and regenerating the caustic solution from the residual solution for recycle to the extraction zone by adding calcium hydroxide to the residual solution. 2. the method of claim 1 wherein the solubility suppressant is ammonia. 3. the method of claim 1 wherein the solubility suppressant is one selected from the group consisting of monohydric or polyhydric alcohols having from one to four carbon atoms, primary and secondary amines, sodium salts and acetone. 4. the method of claim 1 wherein the solubility suppressant is ammonia and the extraction solution is saturated with ammonia in an absorption zone to precipitate sodium fluoride from the extraction solution and wherein the extraction solution containing ammonia is heated to drive off the ammonia for recovery utilizing heat generated by absorption of ammonia in the extraction solution. 5. a method for recovering the fluoride and aluminum contained in used cathode carbon liner from electrolytic cells used in the refining of aluminum, comprising: extracting crushed liner material with an aqueous caustic solution in an extraction zone to yield an extraction solution containing solubilized sodium aluminate and sodium fluoride, saturating the extraction solution with ammonia in an absorption zone to precipitate sodium fluoride, recovering the sodium fluoride from the extraction solution, contacting the extracting solution containing sodium aluminate with carbon dioxide to precipitate the aluminum as aluminum hydrates, recovering the ammonia from the extraction solution for recycle to the absorption zone, and recovering the caustic in the extraction solution for recycle to the extraction zone. 6. the method of claim 5 wherein the aqueous extraction solution contains 1-5% by weight sodium hydroxide. 7. a method for recovering the fluoride and aluminum contained in spent cathode carbon liner from electrolytic cells used in the refining of aluminum, comprising: extracting the fluoride contained in crushed carbon liner by subjecting the crushed liner to continuous, multistage, countercurrent extraction with a caustic solution at ambient temperature, to yield an extraction solution containing solubilized sodium aluminate and sodium fluoride, saturating the extraction solution with ammonia in an absorption zone to precipitate sodium fluoride, recovering the sodium fluoride from the extraction solution, contacting the extraction solution containing sodium aluminate with carbon dioxide to precipitate the aluminum as aluminum hydrates, recovering the ammonia from the extraction solution for recycle to the absorption zone, and recovering the caustic in the extraction solution for recycle to the extraction zone.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention this invention relates to the recovery of fluoride, aluminum and carbon values from waste cathode liner material used to line aluminum electrolytic cells. 2. prior art relating to the disclosure cathode pots of electrolytic furnaces used in the production of aluminum are lined with side carbon and bottom carbon compositions which are electrically conductive. the bottom carbon is generally of graded anthracite coal and coke bonded together with pitch. during electrolytic operation, the cryolite components, rich in sodium and fluoride values, are slowly absorbed into the lining. eventually the cathode liners foul to the point where they must be replaced. the spent cathode liners contain substantial amounts of fluoride values, aluminum in the form of aluminates, sodium fluoride, and absorbed sodium metal which, on exposure to atmospheric moisture, is converted to a caustic. other materials, such as the anthracite carbon contained in the monolith spent liner, are valuable. the monolith liner is composed of sidewalls and a bottom wall, with the bottom wall containing the anthracite carbon and constituting about two-thirds of the total weight of the cathode lining. disposal of the spent potliner has posed a problem due to the leaching of fluorides and other contaminants into ground water. methods for recovering cryolite from spent cathode liners are known. such methods have generally employed (1) caustic (sodium hydroxide), (2) sodium carbonate, or (3) water to extract the fluoride values from used cathode liners. by the first process, crushed carbon cell lining is treated with an aqueous caustic solution to yield water-soluble sodium fluoride and water-soluble sodium aluminate. this solution is processed to precipitate cryolite. such methods are described in u.s. pat. nos. 1,871,723 and 2,732,283. by the second process, crushed carbon liners are treated at elevated temperature with a water-soluble carbonate to effect reaction between the fluoride values in the spent liner and the added carbonate. the fluorides in the spent liner are converted to water-soluble sodium fluoride and precipitated with carbon dioxide to form a cryolite. such a method is disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 3,106,448. by the third method, water is used to leach the fluoride values from the spent cathode liner. u.s. application ser. no. 520,304, filed nov. 4, 1974, assigned to the assignee of this application and now abandoned, describes a system for extraction and recovery of the aluminum and fluoride values from spent cathode liners by extracting crushed liner material at ambient temperature with a dilute ammonia solution. sodium fluoride and cryolite are recovered by evaporation of the ammonium hydroxide leach liquor. alternatively, the sodium fluoride in the leach liquor is precipitated as calcium fluoride. the principal disadvantage of this process is the energy requirement required to concentrate the dilute solution concentrations. removal of soluble fluoride from cathode liner minimizes the subsequent leaching of toxic fluorides into ground water in the vicinity of liner disposal sites. in addition, the recovered fluoride is of value and the recovered liner material may be recycled. summary of the invention it is a primary object of this invention to provide a process for the recovery of fluoride values from used cathode liners as sodium fluoride. it is a further object of this invention to provide a process for the isolation of fluoride values from spent cathode liners and the recovery of aluminum values as aluminum hydrates, with the water, caustic and other treating chemicals used in the process recycled to give an essentially effluent-free system. it is a further object of this invention to provide a process for the isolation of fluoride values from spent cathode liners as sodium fluoride by extracting the fluoride values from the liner with a dilute caustic solution and suppressing the solubility of sodium fluoride in the caustic solution in the presence of sodium aluminates and other substances with ammonia or other solubility suppressant. it is a further object of this invention to provide a system for the recovery of sodium fluoride from the caustic extract of spent cathode liner by the addition of ammonia or other solubility suppressant for sodium fluoride, followed by precipitation of aluminum hydrates with carbon dioxide, with recovery and recycle of caustic and the solubility suppressant. it is a further object of this invention to recover fluoride values from spent potliner under ambient temperature conditions, thereby minimizing energy costs. these and other objects are carried out by extracting crushed cathode liner material to yield an extractant solution containing soluble aluminum and fluoride values, adding a solubility suppressant to the extractant solution in amounts sufficient to precipitate the fluoride values, and recovering the fluoride values. aluminum values are recovered by the addition of carbon dioxide to the extractant solution in an amount sufficient to precipitate the aluminum values as aluminum hydrates. caustic and solvent added to suppress solubility of the sodium fluoride in the process are recovered for recycle and reuse. description of the preferred embodiments spent cathode liner from aluminum electrolytic cells is crushed to particulate form for removal of the fluoride and aluminum values contained therein. the smaller the particle size, the more complete the removal of the fluoride and aluminum values. particle sizes ranging from one-eighth inch to one-half inch may be used, preferably about one-quarter inch. extraction of the fluoride values from the crushed cathode liner may be accomplished by a number of extraction systems: alkaline aqueous solution, water plus the caustic present in the liner; pressurized steam; or caustic or sodium carbonate roast followed by water extraction. preferably the extraction is accomplished using a dilute aqueous caustic solution. the caustic extraction may be carried out at temperatures ranging up to about 100.degree. c. where sodium fluoride is the preferred product to be recovered, ambient temperature leaching of the fluoride values from the crushed cathode liner is preferred to minimize energy costs and the amount of sodium aluminate in the leach liquor. removal of fluorides appears to be only slightly reduced by extraction at ambient temperature. the concentration of the caustic in the extract solution may range from one to ten percent by weight, preferably about two percent by weight. sodium aluminate and sodium fluoride are the major reaction products of the leaching step. typical reactions which occur as a result of extraction with caustic are as follows: na.sub.3 alf.sub.6 + 4naoh .fwdarw. 6naf + naalo.sub.2 + 2h.sub.2 o aln + naoh + h.sub.2 o .fwdarw. naalo.sub.2 + nh.sub.3 al.sub.4 c.sub.3 + 4naoh + 4h.sub.2 o .fwdarw. 4naalo.sub.2 + 3ch.sub.4 2al + 2naoh + 2h.sub.2 o .fwdarw. 2naalo.sub.2 + 3h.sub.2 the solubility of sodium fluoride in water is about 41 g/l and is reduced by the presence of caustic. the quantity of leach solution required to extract the fluoride values from the spent cathode liner depends on the fluoride concentration of the liner and the concentration of sodium hydroxide in the extractor solution. with a two percent by weight caustic solution, between four to ten pounds extractor solution per pound of cathode liner material are generally adequate. to obtain an adequate concentration of fluoride values in the extractor solution, countercurrent extraction of the crushed cathode liner is preferred. referring to fig. 1, the caustic extractor solution is passed upward through the crushed liner material contained in one or more extraction zones 10. the leach liquor from the extraction zone or zones contains, principally, sodium aluminate and sodium fluoride. the sodium fluoride contained in the leach liquor is recovered by the addition of a solubility suppressant for sodium fluoride to the leach liquor. anhydrous ammonia is a preferred solubility suppressant because it is inexpensive, alkaline, well known, stable and easily recovered from water. it also precipitates large crystals of sodium fluoride. the use of ammonia as a solubility suppressant to precipitate sodium fluoride from the leach solution of spent cathode liner is a unique way of recovering sodium fluoride. although it is known that ammonia depresses the solubility of sodium fluoride in water, this fact has never been made use of in a recovery system as described. u.s. pat. no. 3,000,702 utilizes the discovery that the presence of ammonium hydroxide in aqueous solutions depresses the solubility of sodium fluoride in water. this is used in the manufacture of sodium fluoride from fluosilic acid, a waste product from the manufacture of superphosphate, phosphoric acid and the purification of graphite. sufficient ammonia is added to the leach liquor to saturate it. about ninety percent or more of the fluoride values present in the leach liquor is precipitated by the addition of ammonia with little or no precipitation of contaminants, such as cryolite, ammonium cryolite, alumina or other chemicals. other solubility suppressants for sodium fluoride contained in the leach liquor may be used; however, these other solvents do not appear to have the advantages of ammonia. other solvent solubility suppressants which may be used include primary and secondary amines, acetone, monohydric or polyhydric alcohols having from one to four carbon atoms, and sodium salts, such as sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium phosphate and sodium sulfate. specific solvents showing solubility suppression effects when added to an aqueous solution saturated with sodium fluoride include: ethanol, mono-isopropanol amine, pyridine, morpholine, dimethylformamide, ethylenediamine, ethylene glycol, methanol, acetone, isopropanol and n-butyl alcohol. referring to fig. 1, ammonia added to the leach solution contained in the absorption zone 20 precipitates sodium fluoride from the solution, which is removed for drying. the leach solution saturated with ammonia (about twenty-six percent by weight) is then removed to a stripping zone 30 where heat is applied to the solution to drive off the ammonia, which is recycled to the absorption zone 20 for treatment of incoming leach solution. the absorption zone may be operated at atmospheric pressure or at a higher pressure if desired. operating at an increased pressure favors absorption. the heat of solution evolved during absorption by the solution of ammonia is available for use for stripping the ammonia from the solution in the stripping zone. the stripping zone, when operated at reduced pressure, favors ammonia removal from the leach solution at lower temperatures. much of the heat of vaporization needed in the stripping zone can be provided by the absorption zone. following precipitation and removal of the fluoride as sodium fluoride from the leach solution, the aluminum values can be removed from the leach solution by precipitation as aluminum hydrates using carbon dioxide from stack gases or other source. the leach solution containing sodium aluminate is saturated with carbon dioxide at a temperature of from 50.degree.-100.degree. c. to produce filterable aluminum hydrates. the reactions are as follows: 2naalo.sub.2 + co.sub.2 .fwdarw. na.sub.2 co.sub.3 + al.sub.2 o.sub.3 2naoh + co.sub.2 .fwdarw. na.sub.2 co.sub.3 + h.sub.2 o the solution remaining after removal of the aluminum values contains principally sodium carbonate. caustic can be manufactured from the sodium carbonate solution by the well-known soda/lime reaction, as per the following equation: na.sub.2 co.sub.3 + ca(oh).sub.2 .fwdarw. 2naoh + caco.sub.3 this reaction is well known and runs almost to completion with dilute sodium carbonate solutions. the calcium carbonate produced may be burned to regenerate lime for reuse in the process or washed and dried for sale. the sodium hydroxide recovered is recycled to the extraction zone for treating additional crushed cathode liner. the system is essentially effluent-free. some caustic makeup is required as the sodium/fluorine ratio in the overall cathode liner is less than 1.21 while the sodium/fluorine ratio of sodium fluoride is 1.21. thus, a small amount of caustic must be added to the extraction system if one hundred percent of the sodium and fluoride values are to be extracted from the cathode liner. example i ______________________________________ cryolite 16.6% by weight sodium fluoride 11.0% by weight sodium carbonate 7.0% by weight sodium hydroxide 3.0% by weight caustic soluble alumina 11.0% by weight inert alumina 26.6% by weight carbon or similar carbonaceous material 20.0% by weight ______________________________________ a leach liquor was prepared by extracting side carbon with a boiling solution of 2% sodium hydroxide for two hours. analysis of the solution indicated the following: 15.1 g/l fluoride, 27.9 g/l sodium, 7.75 g/l aluminum as aluminum oxide (al.sub.2 o.sub.3). the solution was then saturated with ammonia. 90% of the fluoride was recovered as sodium fluoride and 96.3% of the aluminum found by analysis in the saturated ammonia solution. example ii solubility suppressants for sodium fluoride other than ammonia were used to precipitate sodium fluoride from a liquor obtained by saturating a 2% naoh solution with naf. the following data indicates the percent sodium fluoride precipitated on addition of the various solubility suppressants to the leach liquor. the solubility suppressants employed included methyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, n-butyl alcohol and acetone. the results are also shown graphically in fig. 2. ______________________________________ methyl alcohol/2% aq. naoh g. meoh added to 100 g. g. %naf ml. leach solution meoh/100 ml. naf/100 ml. ppt. ______________________________________ 0.0 0.00 3.29 0.0 1.99 1.95 3.14 2.9 3.97 3.80 2.70 14.2 7.94 7.36 2.20 27.9 39.6 27.0 0.670 70.1 79.3 40.8 0.237 86.0 isopropyl alcohol/2% aq. naoh g. ipa added to 100 %naf ml. leach solution g. ipa/100 ml. g. naf/100 ml. ppt. ______________________________________ 0.0 0.00 3.29 0.0 1.96 1.92 3.14 2.2 3.93 3.77 2.61 17.5 7.85 7.22 2.07 31.5 19.6 16.1 1.08 60.0 39.3 28.1 0.544 76.9 78.5 40.7 0.170 90.0 n-butyl alcohol/2% aq. naoh g. n-buoh added to 100 g. n-buoh %naf ml. leach solution 100 ml. g. naf/100 ml. ppt. ______________________________________ 0.0 0.0 3.29 0.0 1.01 1.00 3.25 0.0 2.02 1.98 3.21 0.0 3.04 2.93 3.18 0.0 4.05 3.86 2.87 8.4 5.06 4.42 (sat.) 2.69 13.6 acetone/2% aq. naoh g. acetone added to 100 g. acetone/ % naf ml. leach solution 100 ml. g. naf/100 ml. ppt. ______________________________________ 0.0 0.0 3.29 0.0 1.96 1.93 2.94 9.2 3.92 3.75 2.65 15.8 7.85 7.14 2.10 30.2 19.6 16.1 1.11 58.9 39.2 27.1 0.477 79.0 78.5 41.2 0.105 93.9 ______________________________________ example iii 1,000 g. of crushed sidewall carbon were mixed with 6,000 ml. water and slowly agitated for eighteen hours. 5,676 ml. of leach liquor were recovered from the sidewall carbon by filtration in a buchner funnel. the leach liquor contained 17.5 g/l sodium and 13.1 g/l fluoride. the initial sidewall carbon contained 20.9% sodium and 19.6% fluoride. 3,000 ml. of the leach liquor were then concentrated by evaporation in a beaker to a concentration of 25.5 g/l sodium and 20.0 g/l f. ammonia gas was then bubbled into the solution until the solution became saturated in ammonia (15.0 n). the resulting precipitate was removed by filtration and dried at 110.degree. c. 69.6 g. of sodium fluoride were recovered, averaging 54.5% sodium and 45.3% fluoride. 2,173 ml. of ammonia solution were recovered and contained 3.75 g/l sodium and 1.52 g/l fluoride.
|
196-913-934-450-334
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
H05K7/20
| 2021-09-14T00:00:00 |
2021
|
[
"H05"
] |
cooling in conductors for chips
|
a system for cooling a power component includes a first metal layer. a cooling layer having a first surface is in contact with a surface of the first metal layer. a second metal layer is included having a surface in contact with a second surface of the cooling layer opposite the first metal layer. the cooling layer is of a material different from that of the first metal layer and that of the second metal layer. a plurality of cooling features are embedded in the material of the cooling layer. the cooling channels are spaced apart from both the first metal layer and the second metal layer by the material of the cooling layer. an electrically conductive path connects the first metal plate to the second metal plate.
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1 . a system for cooling a power component comprising: a first metal layer; a cooling layer having a first surface in contact with a surface of the first metal layer; and a second metal layer having a surface in contact with a second surface of the cooling layer opposite the first metal layer, wherein a plurality of cooling channels are embedded in the material of the cooling layer, wherein the cooling channels are spaced apart from both the first metal layer and the second metal layer by the material of the cooling layer, wherein an electrically conductive path connects the first metal plate to the second metal plate. 2 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the material of the cooling layer is metallic. 3 . the system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the cooling layer is an assembly of two separate layers, wherein the cooling channels are defined only part way through one or both of the separate layers. 4 . the system as recited in claim 3 , wherein each of the cooling channels includes an epoxy encased heat pipe electrically insulated from the material of the cooling layer. 5 . the system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the material of the cooling layer is molybdenum. 6 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer are a direct bonded copper (dbc) wherein the cooling layer is of a ceramic material. 7 . the system as recited in claim 6 , wherein a via is formed through the cooling layer to electrically connect the first metal layer to the second metal layer, wherein the via is spaced apart from the cooling channels by the material of the cooling layer. 8 . the system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising an assembly of power components bonded to a surface of the first metal layer opposite the cooling layer. 9 . the system as recited in claim 8 , wherein the assembly of power components include dies integrated into a substrate with copper plating on one side of the substrate in electrical communication with the dies, wherein the copper plating is in contact with the first metal layer. 10 . the system as recited in claim 8 , wherein at least one of vertical interconnects, lateral interconnects, and/or inductors is/are on a side of the substrate and dies opposite the copper plating. 11 . the system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer form a first conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels and further comprising: a second conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels including a first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer as in the first conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels, wherein the second metal layer of the second conductor substrate is in electrical contact with the at least one of vertical interconnects, lateral interconnects, and/or inductors on the side of the substrate and dies opposite the copper plating. 12 . the system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the assembly of power components is a first assembly of power components and further comprising: a second assembly of power components including dies integrated into a substrate with copper plating on one side of the substrate in electrical communication with the dies as in the first assembly of power components, wherein the copper plating of the second assembly of power components is in contact with the first metal layer of the second conductor substrate; and a third conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels including a first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer as in the first conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels, wherein the second metal layer of the third conductor substrate is in electrical contact with the at least one of vertical interconnects, lateral interconnects, and/or inductors formed on a side of the substrate and dies opposite the copper plating of the second assembly of power components. 13 . the system as recited in claim 12 , wherein for the first assembly of power components each of the dies includes a respective source, a respective drain, and a respective gate, wherein the drains are on a side of the dies electrically connected to the copper plating, and wherein the gates and sources of the dies are on a side of the dies opposite the copper plating electrically connected to the second metal layer of the second conductor substrate, and wherein for the second assembly of power components each of the dies includes a respective source, a respective drain, and a respective gate, wherein the drains are on a side of the dies electrically connected to the copper plating, and wherein the gates and sources of the dies are on a side of the dies opposite the copper plating electrically connected to the second metal layer of the third conductor substrate. 14 . the system as recited in claim 13 , wherein the dies of the first and second assemblies of power components are electrically connected to form a boost converter circuit, wherein the dies of the first assembly of power components form a first switching component (si) of the boost converter circuit, and wherein the dies of the second assembly of power components form a second switching component (su) of the boost converter circuit. 15 . the system as recited in claim 14 , further comprising: a dvr contact electrically connected to the gates of the first assembly of power components; a ground reference contact electrically connected to provide a reference to a gate driver; and a gate driver power supply contact electrically connected to supply voltage to the gate driver chip, wherein the first conductor substrate is connected as a voltage out contact for the boost converter circuit, wherein the second conductor substrate is connected as a voltage in contact for the boost converter circuit, wherein the third conductor substrate is connected as a ground contact for the boost converter circuit.
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background 1. field the present disclosure relates to cooling electrical conductors of chips, and more particularly to cooling in conductors for chip on chip 3-dimensional power packages and the like. 2. description of related art power module packaging contains power semiconductor dies and their substrate which is the thermo-mechanical interface with the rest of the power converter. as the packaging is reduced in size under continuous design pressure, the thermal management of both the semiconductors and the conductors becomes challenging. requirements for high power dissipation, high reliability and the need to be able to reject heat to high temperatures are the reasons for the challenge. the conventional techniques have been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. however, there is an ever present need for improved systems and methods for cooling in chips such as power semiconductor dies. this disclosure provides a solution for this need. summary a system for cooling a power component includes a first metal layer. a cooling layer having a first surface is in contact with a surface of the first metal layer. a second metal layer is included having a surface in contact with a second surface of the cooling layer opposite the first metal layer. the cooling layer can be of a material different from that of the first metal layer and that of the second metal layer. a plurality of cooling channels are embedded in the material of the cooling layer. the cooling channels are spaced apart from both the first metal layer and the second metal layer by the material of the cooling layer. an electrically conductive path connects the first metal plate to the second metal plate. the material of the cooling layer can be metallic. the material of the cooling layer can be molybdenum or its composites or alloys with other metals. the cooling layer can be an assembly of two separate layers, wherein the cooling channels are defined only part way through one or both of the separate layers. each of the cooling channels can include an epoxy encased heat pipe electrically insulated from the material of the cooling layer. the first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer can be a direct bonded copper (dbc) wherein the cooling layer is of a ceramic material. a via can be formed through the cooling layer to electrically connect the first metal layer to the second metal layer, wherein the via is spaced apart from the cooling channels by the material of the cooling layer. an assembly of power components can be bonded to a surface of the first metal layer opposite the cooling layer. the power components can include dies integrated into a substrate with copper plating on one side of the substrate in electrical communication with the dies, wherein the copper plating is in contact with the first metal layer. at least one of vertical interconnects, lateral interconnects, and/or inductors can be formed on a side of the substrate and dies opposite the copper plating. a second conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels can include a first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer as in the first conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels. the second metal layer of the second conductor substrate can be in electrical contact with the at least one of vertical interconnects, lateral interconnects, and/or inductors that are formed on a side of the substrate and dies opposite the copper plating. a second assembly of power components can include dies integrated into a substrate with copper plating on one side of the substrate in electrical communication with the dies as in the first assembly of power components. the copper plating of the second assembly of power components can be in contact with the first metal layer of the second conductor substrate. a third conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels can include a first metal layer, second metal layer, and cooling layer as in the first conductor substrate with embedded cooling channels. the second metal layer of the third conductor substrate can be in electrical contact with the at least one of vertical interconnects, lateral interconnects, and/or inductors on a side of the substrate and dies opposite the copper plating of the second assembly of power components. for the first assembly of power components each of the dies can include a respective source, a respective drain, and a respective gate. the drains can be on a side of the dies electrically connected to the copper plating. the gates and sources of the dies can be on a side of the dies opposite the copper plating electrically connected to the second metal layer of the second conductor substrate. for the second assembly of power components each of the dies can include a respective source, a respective drain, and a respective gate. the drains can be on a side of the dies electrically connected to the copper plating. the gates and sources of the dies can be on a side of the dies opposite the copper plating electrically connected to the second metal layer of the third conductor substrate. the dies of the first and second assemblies of power components can be electrically connected to form a boost converter circuit. the dies of the first assembly of power components can form a first switching component (si) of the boost converter circuit. the dies of the second assembly of power components can form a second switching component (su) of the boost converter circuit. a gate driver input contact can be electrically connected to the gates of the first assembly of power components. a ground reference contact can be electrically connected to provide a gate driver a reference at the same potential as the mosfet of the die. a gate driver power supply contact can be electrically connected to supply voltage to a gate driver chip. the first conductor substrate can be connected as a voltage out contact for the boost converter circuit. the second conductor substrate can be connected as a voltage in contact for the boost converter circuit. the third conductor substrate can be connected as a ground contact for the boost converter circuit. these and other features of the systems and methods of the subject disclosure will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings. brief description of the drawings so that those skilled in the art to which the subject disclosure appertains will readily understand how to make and use the devices and methods of the subject disclosure without undue experimentation, preferred embodiments thereof will be described in detail herein below with reference to certain figures, wherein: fig. 1 is a schematic exploded cross-sectional side elevation view of a portion of an embodiment of a system constructed in accordance with the present disclosure, the two components of the cooling layer before they are joined together, and showing the assembly of power components before joining to the conductor substrate; fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side elevation view of the conductor substrate of fig. 1 , showing the two components of the cooling layer assembled together to form embedded cooling channels; fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional side elevation view of another example of a conductor substrate in accordance with the present disclosure, showing embedded heat pipes; fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional side elevation view of another example of a conductor substrate in accordance with the present disclosure, showing cooling channels embedded in a ceramic material; fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional side-elevation view the system of fig. 1 , showing a plurality of the conductive substrates and assemblies of power components of fig. 1 stacked together to form a circuit; fig. 6 is a schematic view of the circuit of fig. 5 ; and fig. 7 is a schematic plan view of the stack of fig. 5 , showing the connections of four of the dies. detailed description of the preferred embodiments reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like reference numerals identify similar structural features or aspects of the subject disclosure. for purposes of explanation and illustration, and not limitation, a partial view of an embodiment of a system in accordance with the disclosure is shown in fig. 1 and is designated generally by reference character 100 . other embodiments of systems in accordance with the disclosure, or aspects thereof, are provided in figs. 2-7 , as will be described. the systems and methods described herein can be used to provide embedded cooling in circuit components. the system 100 for cooling a power component includes a first metal layer 102 . a cooling layer 104 having a first surface 106 is in contact with a surface of the first metal layer 102 . a second metal layer 108 is included having a surface in contact with a second surface 110 of the cooling layer 104 opposite the first metal layer 102 . referring now to fig. 2 , a plurality of cooling features, namely cooling channels 112 are embedded in the material of the cooling layer 104 . the cooling channels 112 are spaced apart from both the first metal layer 102 and the second metal layer 108 by the material of the cooling layer 104 , so a cooling fluid flowing through the coolant channels 112 will not contact either of the metal layers 102 , 108 . the cooling layer 104 is of a material different from that of the first metal layer 102 and that of the second metal layer 108 . an electrically conductive path connects the first metal plate 102 to the second metal plate 108 . in figs. 1-2 , the embodiment shown has a molybdenum cooling layer 104 , and the first and second metal layers 102 , 108 are both of copper. molybdenum or its composites or alloys with other metals can be used, as can any suitable metallic material, for the cooling layer 104 . the electrical path from the first metal layer 102 to the second metal layer 108 is through the electrically conductive cooling layer 104 of molybdenum. since the three layers 102 , 104 , 108 are to serve as a conductor substrate 114 , a dielectric cooling fluid should be used in the coolant channels 112 to avoid short circuiting the system 100 . as shown in the exploded view of fig. 1 , the cooling layer 104 is an assembly of two separate layers 116 , 118 . the cooling channels 112 can be etched or otherwise formed only part way through one or both of the separate layers 116 , 118 , leaving lands 120 . the lands 120 form separators between the respective channels 112 when the two separate layers 116 , 118 are joined together as shown in fig. 2 . with reference now to fig. 3 , if a metallic material is used for the cooling layer 104 , it is possible to use heat pipes encased in epoxy in lieu of dielectric coolant. in the conductor substrate 214 , there are copper first and second layers 102 , 108 , and a metallic cooling layer much as described above with reference to fig. 2 . however, in lieu of cooling channels that are open for flow of coolant, each channel 212 includes a heat pipe 211 embedded in epoxy 213 . the epoxy 213 maintains electrical isolation of the heat pipes 211 from the coolant layer 104 , while maintaining thermal contact of the heat pipes 211 through the epoxy to cool the conductor substrate 214 . while a heat pipe 211 is shown embedded in the epoxy 213 , it is also contemplated that the heat pipe 211 can be a heat pipe channel embedded in the epoxy 213 . this can accommodate u-shaped heat pipes that are intertwined in the layer, or oscillating heat pipes (ohps) in the heat pipe channels 211 . the ohp can also be configured as its own metal layer with a separate insulating layer above and below the ohp, for example, where the ohp and its insulating layers replace the cooling layer 304 , which is described below. hermetically sealed heat pipes could be planar ohp or conventional capillary-wick vapor chambers in a low-coefficient of thermal expansion material such as molybdenum. coolant layers 104 in case of heat pipes can be located away from the package electrical connections in the lateral directions. the coolant may be outside of the package in this case. with reference now to fig. 4 , another embodiment of a conductor substrate 314 includes a first metal layer 302 , a ceramic cooling layer 304 , and a second metal layer 308 stacked together. the cooling channels 312 are electrically insulated from the first and second metal layers 302 , 308 so it is not necessary to use a dielectric cooling fluid to cool the conductor substrate 314 —any suitable coolant fluid can be used. coolants for this disclosure can be single-phase or two-phase coolants. the first metal layer 302 , second metal layer 308 , and cooling layer 304 are a direct bonded copper (dbc). one or more vias 303 are formed through the cooling layer 304 , electrically connecting the first metal layer 302 to the second metal layer 308 . the vias 303 are all spaced apart, i.e. laterally as oriented in fig. 4 , from the cooling channels 312 by the material of the cooling layer 304 . so if the ceramic material of the cooling layer 304 is sufficiently electrically insulative, it is not necessary to use a dielectric coolant fluid in the cooling channels 312 . referring again to fig. 1 , which shows a portion of the system of fig. 5 , the power components of the assembly 122 include dies 126 that are integrated into a substrate 128 with copper plating 130 on one side of the substrate 128 in electrical communication with the dies 126 . the copper plating 130 is added as part of the process of attaching the dies 126 within the substrate 128 . the electrical connections 133 are fabricated onto the substrate 128 . then the assembly 122 of power components is bonded to a surface 124 of the first metal layer 102 opposite the cooling layer 114 . the copper plating 130 is in contact with the first metal layer 102 . the components 132 of are formed on a side of the substrate 102 and dies 126 opposite from the copper plating 130 . the components 132 can include electrical connections 133 such as vertical interconnects and lateral interconnects, as well as other components such as inductors, and/or the like. with reference now to fig. 5 , a second conductor substrate 134 constructed in the same manner as the first conductor substrate 113 can be included in the stack of system 100 . the second metal layer 108 of the second conductor substrate 134 is in electrical contact with the components 132 . a second assembly 136 of power components similar to the first assembly 122 of power components. the copper plating 130 of the second assembly 136 of power components is in contact with the first metal layer 102 of the second conductor substrate 134 . a third conductor substrate 138 with embedded cooling channels is constructed in the same manner as the first and second conductor substrates 114 , 134 . the second metal layer 108 of the third conductor substrate 138 is in electrical contact with the components 132 of the second assembly 136 of power components. it is also contemplated that the third conductor substrate 138 does not necessarily need cooling features. it can be fully metal, for example. referring to figs. 5 and 7 together, the dies 126 of the first and second assemblies 122 , 136 of power components are electrically connected to form a boost converter circuit 140 . the dies 126 of the first assembly 122 of power components form a first switching component (si) of the boost converter circuit 140 . the dies 126 of the second assembly 136 of power components form a second switching component (su) of the boost converter circuit 140 . referring again to figs. 5-6 , the first conductor substrate 114 is connected as voltage out contact for the boost converter circuit 140 . the second conductor substrate 134 is connected as a voltage in (v in ) contact for the boost converter circuit 140 . the third conductor substrate 138 is connected as a ground contact for the boost converter circuit 140 . with reference now to fig. 7 , for the first assembly 122 of power components each of the dies 126 includes a respective source 142 , a respective drain 144 (labeled in fig. 1 ), and a respective gate 146 . the drains 144 are on a side of the dies 126 electrically connected to the copper plating 130 as shown in fig. 1 and are electrically connected to the ground node as indicated in fig. 6 , which is the first conductor contact 114 . the gates 146 and sources 142 of the dies 126 are on a side of the dies 126 opposite the copper plating 130 (labeled in fig. 1 ) and electrically connected to the second metal layer 108 of the second conductor substrate 102 , which serves as a v in node for the circuit 140 of fig. 6 . while not shown in its own figures, the respective dies 126 of the second assembly 136 have gates, drains, and sources similar to those in the first assembly 122 as shown in fig. 7 , but are respectively connected to the second and third conductor substrates 134 and 138 instead of to the first and second conductor substrates 114 , 134 , respectively. with continued reference to fig. 7 , a gate driver input contact 148 (dvr) is electrically connected to the gates 146 of the first assembly 122 of power components. a ground reference contact 150 (gnd) is electrically connected to the die 126 and circuit 140 (of fig. 6 ) to provide a reference to the gate driver chip (labeled gate driver (soic8) in fig. 7 ) that is at the same potential as the source of the mosfet of the dies 124 . a gate driver power supply contact 152 (pwr) is electrically connected to supply voltage, e.g. 15 volts, to a gate driver chip, labeled gate diver (soic8) in fig. 7 . it is contemplated that any or all of the conductor substrates 114 , 134 , 138 can be replaced by either of the conductor substrates 214 , 314 of figs. 3-4 in the stack of system 100 of fig. 5 . it is also contemplated that cooling conductors such as disclosed herein can be used for cooling in any suitable stack of components for any suitable circuit configuration. for embodiments using cooling fluids, the cooling can be provided by connecting the coolant channels, e.g. coolant channels 112 of fig. 2 , in fluid communication with any suitable heat exchanger, heat sink, pump, or the like. similarly, the heat pipes 211 of fig. 3 can be connected in thermal communication with any suitable heat sink to provide cooling. the systems and method disclosed herein employ a stacked power chip on chip concept with near die cooling. the cooling channels are embedded within the conductor near to the power semiconductor so as to achieve the merits of active cooling for both the power devices and the conductors within the power module package. the high thermal dissipation capability enables the package to be vertically integrated, and the cooling channels are formed in such a way to reduce or minimize the thermomechanical stress in the power module package. further, electrical isolation can be achieved with either dielectric coolant, ceramic based substrate (isolated channels) with copper vias and/or epoxy coated heat pipe channels. the vertical integration can minimize parasitic inductance, which can enable better efficiency. the vertical integration can minimize the parasitic inductance, and capacitance to ground. higher efficiency is enabled thanks to the faster possible switching speeds (due to the lower parasitic impedances) from the semiconductor chips, thereby reducing the switching losses. true 3-dimensional stacking of vertical power semiconductors is enabled without derating of their power processing capability. the copper thicknesses required to handle the current conduction within the power module is reduced or minimized due to the direct cooling, thereby increasing or maximizing the current density with the power module. the lower thermal constraints allow designers to reduce or minimize the material cost, or increase/maximize the lifetime of the power module. the methods and systems of the present disclosure, as described above and shown in the drawings, provide embedded cooling in circuit components. while the apparatus and methods of the subject disclosure have been shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that changes and/or modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the subject disclosure.
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197-263-925-545-723
|
JP
|
[
"US",
"JP",
"KR"
] |
F04B27/08,F04B39/02,F04B25/04,F04B1/12,F04B1/20,F04B27/12,F04B27/10,F04B53/18
| 2009-01-14T00:00:00 |
2009
|
[
"F04"
] |
piston compressor
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a compressor includes a rotary shaft, a cam, a cylinder block, pistons, a thrust bearing, a rotary valve, and an oil passage. the rotary shaft has an in-shaft passage formed therein. the cam rotates integrally with the rotary shaft. the pistons are coupled to the rotary shaft through the cam. the thrust bearing is provided between the cam and the cylinder block. the thrust bearing includes a first race in contact with the cam, a second race in contact with the cylinder block, and rolling elements retained between the first and second races to form a gap therebetween. the oil passage extends from the gap to the in-shaft passage and includes an oil retaining space formed in at least one of the cam and the cylinder block.
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1 . a piston compressor, comprising: a rotary shaft having an in-shaft passage formed therein; a cam rotating integrally with the rotary shaft and accommodated in a cam chamber; a cylinder block having a plurality of cylinder bores located around the rotary shaft; pistons accommodated in the respective cylinder bores to form therein compression chambers, the pistons being coupled to the rotary shaft through the cam so that rotating motion of the rotary shaft is transmitted to the pistons; a thrust bearing provided between the cam and the cylinder block, the thrust bearing including a first race in contact with the cam, a second race in contact with the cylinder block, and rolling elements retained between the first and second races to form a gap therebetween; a rotary valve for introducing refrigerant into the compression chambers, the rotary valve including the in-shaft passage of the rotary shaft, the refrigerant being introduced into the compressor and then delivered through the in-shaft passage to the compression chambers without passing through the cam chamber; and an oil passage extending from the gap to the in-shaft passage, wherein the oil passage includes an oil retaining space formed in at least one of the cam and the cylinder block. 2 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of the oil retaining space is the outermost portion in the oil passage as seen in the radial direction of the rotary shaft. 3 . the piston compressor according to claim 2 , wherein part of the oil retaining space is defined by the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft. 4 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the oil passage includes a groove passage and a hole passage, the groove passage is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft so as to connect from the gap to the oil retaining space, the hole passage is formed in the rotary shaft so as to connect from the oil retaining space to the in-shaft passage. 5 . the piston compressor according to claim 4 , wherein the groove passage extends in the axial direction of the rotary shaft, and the hole passage extends in the radial direction of the rotary shaft. 6 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the oil passage includes a groove passage and a hole passage, the groove passage is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft so as to connect from the gap to the oil retaining space, the hole passage is formed in the rotary shaft so as to directly connect from the groove passage to the in-shaft passage. 7 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the oil passage includes a race groove and a hole passage, the race groove is formed in the first race of the thrust bearing so as to extend therethrough, the hole passage is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft so as to extend to the in-shaft passage, the race groove is connected to the hole passage through the oil retaining space. 8 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the oil passage includes a race hole and a hole passage, the race hole is formed in the first race of the thrust bearing so as to extend therethrough, the hole passage is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft so as to extend to the in-shaft passage, the race hole is connected to the hole passage through the oil retaining space. 9 . the piston compressor according to claim 7 , wherein the oil retaining space extends around the rotary shaft thereby to form a ring shape. 10 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the oil retaining space is formed in the end surface of the cam in contact with the first race of the thrust bearing. 11 . the piston compressor according to claim 1 , wherein the piston is of a double-headed type and accommodated in the cylinder bore to form therein a first compression chamber and a second compression chamber, the rotary valve is provided by a first rotary valve for introducing refrigerant into the first compression chamber and a second rotary valve for introducing refrigerant into the second compression chamber, the first and second rotary valves include the in-shaft passage of the rotary shaft, the refrigerant being introduced into the compressor and then delivered through the in-shaft passage to the first and second compression chambers without passing through the cam chamber, two thrust bearings are provided on opposite sides of the cam as seen in the axial direction of the rotary shaft, and two oil passages each including the oil retaining space are provided for the respective thrust bearings.
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cross reference to related application this application claims priority to japanese application number 2009-006027 filed jan. 14, 2009. background of the invention the present invention relates to a piston compressor with a lubrication mechanism, which includes a rotary valve rotated integrally with a rotary shaft and having a supply passage for introducing refrigerant from suction-pressure region of the compressor into a compression chamber defined in a cylinder bore by a piston. a conventional piston type compressor using a rotary valve is disclosed in japanese unexamined patent application publication no. 2003-247488. the compressor has a double-headed piston accommodated in paired front and rear cylinder bores of front and rear cylinder blocks, respectively. the piston forms compression chambers in the respective front and rear cylinder bores. the piston is reciprocated in the paired cylinder bores with the rotation of a swash plate rotating integrally with a rotary shaft of the compressor. the rotary shaft is formed integrally with front and rear rotary valves. the rotary shaft has an in-shaft passage formed therein. the in-shaft passage has two outlets that form a part of the respective front and rear rotary valves. each of the front and rear cylinder blocks is formed with suction ports that communicate with the respective compression chambers. the outlets of the in-shaft passage are intermittently communicable with the associated suction ports, with the rotation of the rotary shaft, that is, the rotation of the rotary valve. when the outlet of the in-shaft passage communicates with the suction port, refrigerant in the in-shaft passage is introduced into the compression chamber. the in-shaft passage communicates with a suction chamber that is formed in a rear housing of the compressor. refrigerant in the suction chamber is introduced through the in-shaft passage into the compression chambers in the respective front and rear cylinder bores. refrigerant in the compression chamber of the front cylinder bore is discharged into a discharge chamber formed in a front housing of the compressor while pushing open a discharge valve. refrigerant in the compression chamber of the rear cylinder bore is discharged into a discharge chamber formed in the rear housing while pushing open a discharge valve. the compressor has a front thrust bearing interposed between the swash plate and the front cylinder block, and a rear thrust bearing interposed between the swash plate and the rear cylinder block. the position of the swash plate is restricted between the front and rear cylinder blocks by the front and rear thrust bearings. the rotary shaft has an oil hole and a pressure-relief hole formed therein, and these holes extend between the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft and the in-shaft passage. the in-shaft passage includes a small-diameter portion and a large-diameter portion on the front and rear sides thereof, respectively. the in-shaft passage further includes a step located at the boundary between the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion and facing the rear thrust bearing. the oil hole is located upstream of the step as viewed in refrigerant flowing direction, in facing relation to the rear thrust bearing. the pressure relief-hole is located at a position facing the front thrust bearing. part of refrigerant flowing into the in-shaft passage from the suction chamber impinges on the step, so that lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant is separated. part of such lubricating oil is delivered through the oil hole into the rear thrust bearing by centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the rotary shaft, so that the rear thrust bearing is lubricated. when the pressure of the crank chamber accommodating therein the swash plate is increased, refrigerant existing in the crank chamber is delivered through the pressure-relief hole into the in-shaft passage, so that the front thrust bearing is lubricated by lubricating oil contained in such refrigerant. in the above-described compressor, however, since flow path extending through the front thrust bearing and the pressure-relief hole is straight, lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant flowing in such flow path is not separated sufficiently. therefore, the lubrication of the front thrust bearing located adjacent to the pressure-relief hole may not be sufficient. the present invention is directed to an improved lubrication of a thrust bearing in a piston compressor. summary of the invention in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a piston compressor includes a rotary shaft, a cam, a cylinder block, pistons, a thrust bearing, a rotary valve, and an oil passage. the rotary shaft has an in-shaft passage formed therein. the cam rotates integrally with the rotary shaft and is accommodated in a cam chamber. the cylinder block has a plurality of cylinder bores located around the rotary shaft. the pistons are accommodated in the respective cylinder bores to form therein compression chambers. the pistons are coupled to the rotary shaft through the cam so that rotating motion of the rotary shaft is transmitted to the pistons. the thrust bearing is provided between the cam and the cylinder block. the thrust bearing includes a first race in contact with the cam, a second race in contact with the cylinder block, and rolling elements retained between the first and second races to form a gap therebetween. the rotary valve is provided for introducing refrigerant into the compression chambers. the rotary valve includes the in-shaft passage of the rotary shaft. the refrigerant is introduced into the compressor and then delivered through the in-shaft passage to the compression chambers without passing through the cam chamber. the oil passage extends from the gap to the in-shaft passage. the oil passage includes an oil retaining space formed in at least one of the cam and the cylinder block. other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a compressor according to a first embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2a is an enlarged fragmentary view of the compressor of fig. 1 ; fig. 2b is a cross-sectional view taken along the line iib-iib of fig. 2a ; fig. 2c is a cross-sectional view taken along the line iic-iic of fig. 2 a; fig. 3a is a cross-sectional view taken along the line iiia-iiia of fig. 1 ; fig. 3b is a cross-sectional view taken along the line iiib-iiib of fig. 1 ; fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a compressor according to a second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a compressor according to a third embodiment of the present invention; fig. 6a is a fragmentary sectional view of a compressor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; fig. 6b is a cross-sectional view taken along the line vib-vib of fig. 6a ; fig. 6c is a cross-sectional view taken along the line vic-vic of fig. 6a ; fig. 7a is a fragmentary sectional view of a compressor according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention; fig. 7b is a cross-sectional view taken along the line viib-viib of fig. 7a ; fig. 7c is a cross-sectional view taken along the line viic-viic of fig. 7a ; fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view of a compressor according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention; and fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view of a compressor according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiments fig. 1 shows a double-headed piston type compressor 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. it is noted that the left-hand side and the right-hand side as viewed in fig. 1 are the front side and the rear side of the compressor 10 , respectively. the compressor 10 has a pair of first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 that are connected to front and rear housings 13 and 14 , respectively. the first cylinder block 11 , the second cylinder block 12 , the front housing 13 and the rear housing 14 cooperate to form a housing assembly of the compressor 10 . the compressor 10 has discharge chambers 131 and 141 formed in the front and rear housings 13 and 14 , respectively, and a suction chamber 142 formed in the rear housing 14 . the suction chamber 142 serves as a suction-pressure region in the compressor 10 . the compressor 10 has a valve port plate 15 , a valve plate 16 and a retainer plate 17 interposed between the first cylinder block 11 and the front housing 13 . the compressor 10 further has a valve port plate 18 , a valve plate 19 and a retainer plate 20 interposed between the second cylinder block 12 and the rear housing 14 . the valve port plates 15 and 18 are formed with discharge ports 151 and 181 , respectively. the valve plates 16 and 19 are formed with discharge valves 161 and 191 that normally close the discharge ports 151 and 181 , respectively. the retainer plates 17 and 20 are formed with retainers 171 and 201 that regulate the opening of the discharge valves 161 and 191 , respectively. the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 are formed therethrough with shaft holes 111 and 121 , respectively, and a rotary shaft 21 is inserted through the shaft holes 111 and 121 and supported by the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 21 is in contact with the inner peripheral surfaces of the shaft holes 111 and 121 . the rotary shaft 21 is supported directly on the inner peripheral surfaces of the shaft holes 111 and 121 of the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 21 has a sealing surface 211 that is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the shaft hole 111 and a sealing surface 212 that is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the shaft hole 121 . the compressor 10 has a swash plate 23 fixed to the rotary shaft 21 for rotation therewith and serving as a cam. the swash plate 23 is accommodated in a crank chamber 24 (cam chamber) that is formed by and between the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . leakage of refrigerant through the clearance between the front housing 13 and the rotary shaft 21 is prevented by a lip-type seal member 22 that is interposed between the front housing 13 and the rotary shaft 21 . the front end of the rotary shaft 21 protruding out of the front housing 13 receives driving force from an external drive source such as a vehicle engine (not shown). referring to figs. 3a and 3b , the first cylinder block 11 is formed with a plurality of first cylinder bores 27 arranged around the rotary shaft 21 , and the second cylinder block 12 is formed similarly with a plurality of second cylinder bores 28 arranged around the rotary shaft 21 . each first cylinder bore 27 is paired with its opposite second cylinder bore 28 to accommodate therein a double-headed piston 29 . the rotating motion of the swash plate 23 rotating integrally with the rotary shaft 21 is transmitted to the double-headed piston 29 through a pair of shoes 30 , so that the double-headed piston 29 reciprocates in its associated first and second cylinder bores 27 and 28 . the double-headed piston 29 has cylindrical heads 291 and 292 on opposite ends thereof. the head 291 defines a first compression chamber 271 in the first cylinder bore 27 , and the head 292 defines a second compression chamber 281 in the second cylinder bore 28 . the rotary shaft 21 is formed with an in-shaft passage 31 that extends along the rotational axis 210 of the rotary shaft 21 . the in-shaft passage 31 has an inlet 311 , a first outlet 312 and a second outlet 313 . the in-shaft passage 31 is opened at the inlet 311 to the suction chamber 142 in the rear housing 14 . the in-shaft passage 31 is opened at the first outlet 312 to the sealing surface 211 of the rotary shaft 21 in the shaft hole 111 . the in-shaft passage 31 is opened at the second outlet 313 to sealing surface 212 of the rotary shaft 21 in the shaft hole 121 . as shown in figs. 2a and 3a , the first cylinder block 11 is formed with a plurality of first communication passages 32 that communicates with their associated first cylinder bores 27 and the shaft hole 111 . as shown in figs. 2a and 3b , the second cylinder block 12 is formed with a plurality of second communication passages 33 that communicates with their associated second cylinder bore 28 and the shaft hole 121 . as the rotary shaft 21 rotates, the first and second outlets 312 and 313 of the in-shaft passage 31 intermittently communicate with the first and second communication passages 32 and 33 , respectively. when the double-headed piston 29 is in the suction stroke for the first cylinder bore 27 , that is, when the double-headed piston 29 is moving rightward in fig. 1 , the first outlet 312 is connected to the first communication passage 32 . refrigerant in the suction chamber 142 is introduced through the in-shaft passage 31 , the first outlet 312 and the first communication passage 32 into the first compression chamber 271 in the first cylinder bore 27 . when the double-headed piston 29 is in the discharge stroke for the first cylinder bore 27 , that is, when the double-headed piston 29 is moving leftward in fig. 1 , the first outlet 312 is disconnected from the first communication passage 32 . refrigerant in the first compression chamber 271 is discharged into the discharge chamber 131 thorough the discharge port 151 while pushing open the discharge valve 161 . the refrigerant discharged into the discharge chamber 131 then flows into an external refrigerant circuit 34 through a passage 341 . when the double-headed piston 29 is in the suction stroke for the second cylinder bore 28 , that is, when the double-headed piston 29 is moving leftward in fig. 1 , the second outlet 313 is connected to the second communication passage 33 . refrigerant in the suction chamber 142 is introduced through the in-shaft passage 31 , the second outlet 313 and the second communication passage 33 into the second compression chamber 281 in the second cylinder bore 28 . when the double-headed piston 29 is in the discharge stroke for the second cylinder bore 28 , that is, when the double-headed piston 29 is moving rightward in fig. 1 , the second outlet 313 is disconnected from the second communication passage 33 . refrigerant in the second compression chamber 281 is discharged into the discharge chamber 141 through the discharge port 181 while pushing open the discharge valve 191 . the refrigerant discharged into the discharge chamber 141 then flows into the external refrigerant circuit 34 through a passage 342 . the external refrigerant circuit 34 includes a heat exchanger 37 for removing heat from refrigerant, an expansion valve 38 , and a heat exchanger 39 for absorbing ambient heat. the expansion valve 38 controls the flow rate of refrigerant depending on the change of refrigerant temperature at the outlet of the heat exchanger 39 . the refrigerant flowed through the external refrigerant circuit 34 then returns to the suction chamber 142 of the compressor 10 . lubricating oil is contained in and flows with refrigerant circulating through the compressor 10 and the external refrigerant circuit 34 . the sealing surface 211 of the rotary shaft 21 forms a first rotary valve 35 , and the sealing surface 212 of the rotary shaft 21 forms a second rotary valve 36 . the in-shaft passage 31 and the first outlet 312 form a first supply passage 40 for the first rotary valve 35 , and the in-shaft passage 31 and the second outlet 313 form a second supply passage 41 for the second rotary valve 36 . as shown in fig. 2a , a first thrust bearing 25 is disposed between a base 231 of the swash plate 23 and the first cylinder block 11 and a second thrust bearing 26 is disposed between the base 231 and the second cylinder block 12 , respectively. the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 are provided on opposite sides of the base 231 of the swash plate 23 as seen in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 . the first thrust bearing 25 has a ring-shaped race 251 (first race) in contact with the front end surface 232 of the base 231 of the swash plate 23 , a ring-shaped race 252 (second race) in contact with the end surface 112 of the first cylinder block 11 , and a plurality of rollers 253 (rolling elements) provided between the races 251 and 252 . the rollers 253 are retained between the races 251 and 252 to form a gap 46 therebetween. as the swash plate 23 rotates, the rollers 253 roll while engaging with the races 251 and 252 . the second thrust bearing 26 has a ring-shaped race 261 (first race) in contact with the rear end surface 233 of the base 231 of the swash plate 23 , a ring-shaped race 262 (second race) in contact with the end surface 122 of the second cylinder block 12 , and a plurality of rollers 263 (rolling elements) provided between the races 261 and 262 . the rollers 263 are retained between the races 261 and 262 to form a gap 50 therebetween. as the swash plate 23 rotates, the rollers 263 roll while engaging with the races 261 and 262 . the position of the swash plate 23 is restricted between the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 by the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 . the swash plate 23 has oil storage spaces 42 and 43 (oil retaining space) formed in the front and rear end surfaces 232 and 233 of the base 231 , respectively. as shown in figs. 2a , 2 b and 2 c, the oil storage space 42 extend around the rotary shaft 21 thereby to form a ring shape, and part of the oil storage space 42 is formed by the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 . similarly, the oil storage space 43 extends around the rotary shaft 21 to form a ring shape, and part of the oil storage space 43 is formed by the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 . the rotary shaft 21 has a hole 44 (hole passage) formed in the part of the outer peripheral surface 213 that is adjacent to the oil storage space 42 and extending radially between the oil storage space 42 and the in-shaft passage 31 for fluid communication therebetween. the rotary shaft 21 has a groove 45 (groove passage) formed in the outer peripheral surface 213 for fluid communication between the oil storage space 42 and the gap 46 that is formed between the races 251 and 252 by the rollers 253 . the gap 46 communicates with the in-shaft passage 31 through the groove 45 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 . the groove 45 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 cooperate to form an oil passage 47 that extends from the gap 46 in the first thrust bearing 25 to the in-shaft passage 31 . in the oil passage 47 , the oil storage space 42 is the outermost portion as seen in radial direction of the rotary shaft 21 , which is located radially outward of the groove 45 and the hole 44 . the rotary shaft 21 has a hole 48 (hole passage) formed in the part of the outer peripheral surface 213 that is adjacent to the oil storage space 43 and extending radially between the oil storage space 43 and the in-shaft passage 31 for fluid communication therebetween. the rotary shaft 21 has a groove 49 (groove passage) formed in the outer peripheral surface 213 for fluid communication between the oil storage space 43 and the gap 50 that is formed between the races 261 and 262 by the rollers 263 . the gap 50 communicates with the in-shaft passage 31 through the groove 49 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 . the groove 49 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 cooperate to form an oil passage 51 that extends from the gap 50 in the second thrust bearing 26 to the in-shaft passage 31 . in the oil passage 51 , the oil storage space 43 is the outermost portion as seen in radial direction of the rotary shaft 21 , which is located radially outward of the groove 49 and the hole 48 . when the double-headed piston 29 is in the discharge stroke for the first cylinder bore 27 , the pressure in the first compression chamber 271 defined by the head 291 is larger than suction pressure. similarly, when the double-headed piston 29 is in the discharge stroke for the second cylinder bore 28 , the pressure in the second compression chamber 281 defined by the head 292 is larger than suction pressure. part of the refrigerant existing in the first and second compression chambers 271 and 281 flows into the crank chamber 24 through the clearance between the outer peripheral surfaces of the heads 291 and 292 of the double-headed piston 29 and the inner peripheral surfaces of the first and second cylinder bores 27 and 28 . therefore, the pressure in the crank chamber 24 is larger than that in the in-shaft passage 31 where the pressure is substantially the same as the suction pressure. such pressure difference causes refrigerant in the crank chamber 24 to flow into the in-shaft passage 31 through the gap 46 , the groove 45 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 and also through the gap 50 , the groove 49 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 . the first thrust bearing 45 is lubricated by lubricating oil contained in refrigerant flowing through the gap 46 , the groove 45 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 . the second thrust bearing 46 is lubricated by lubricating oil contained in refrigerant flowing through the gap 50 , the groove 49 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 . the groove 45 extends in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 , and the hole 44 extends in the radial direction of the rotary shaft 21 . the oil passage 47 formed by the groove 45 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 has bends, and part of the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant flowing in such oil passage 47 is separated by virtue of such bends. part of the lubricating oil separated in the oil passage 47 is stored in the oil storage space 42 by centrifugal force. part of the lubricating oil stored in the oil storage space 42 is delivered through the groove 45 to the gap 46 in the first thrust bearing 25 thereby to lubricate the rollers 253 . the groove 49 extends in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 21 , and the hole 48 extends in the radial direction of the rotary shaft 21 . the oil passage 51 formed by the groove 49 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 has bends, and part of the lubricating oil contained in the refrigerant flowing in such oil passage 48 is separated. part of the lubricating oil separated in the oil passage 51 is stored in the oil storage space 43 by centrifugal force. part of the lubricating oil stored in the oil storage space 43 is delivered through the groove 49 to the gap 50 in the second thrust bearing 26 thereby to lubricate the rollers 263 . the compressor 10 according to the first embodiment offers the following advantages: (1) lubricating oil separated in the oil passages 47 and 51 is stored in the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 and used for lubricating the rollers 253 and 263 of the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 , which allows efficient lubrication of the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 . (2) the whole part of the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 is the radially outermost portion in the oil passages 47 and 51 , respectively. therefore, lubricating oil separated in the oil passages 47 and 51 is delivered easily into the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 by centrifugal force. (3) the provision of the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 , part of which is formed by the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 , minimize the distances between the oil storage spaces 42 , 43 and the grooves 45 , 49 , as well as the distances between the oil storage spaces 42 , 43 and the holes 44 , 48 , respectively. in this case, the compressor 10 requires no additional passage for connecting the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 to the grooves 45 and 49 and for connecting the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 and the holes 44 and 48 . thus, it is advantageous that part of the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 is formed by the outer peripheral surface 231 of the rotary shaft 21 . (4) the oil passage 47 including the axially extending groove 45 and the radially extending hole 44 has bends, and the oil passage 51 including the axially extending groove 49 and the radially extending hole 48 has bends. the bends in the oil passages 47 and 51 help to separate lubricating oil efficiently from refrigerant. (5) when the races 251 and 261 of the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 are rotated with the rotation of the swash plate 23 , the races 251 and 261 may be rotated relative to the front and rear end surfaces 232 and 233 of the base 231 of the swash plate 23 . in this case, the races 251 and 261 should slide smoothly on their associated front and rear end surfaces 232 and 233 of the swash plate 23 in order to prevent abrasion. in the first embodiment wherein the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 are formed in the front and rear end surfaces 232 and 233 of the base 231 of the swash plate 23 , respectively, the sliding surfaces between the race 251 and the front end surface 232 and between the race 261 and the rear end surfaces 233 are efficiently lubricated. this allows the races 251 and 261 to slide smoothly on their associated front and rear end surfaces 232 and 233 of the base 231 of the swash plate 23 . (6) the oil passages 47 and 51 are provided for the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 , respectively, so that the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 are evenly lubricated. fig. 4 shows the second embodiment of the present invention. in fig. 4 , same reference numerals are used for the common elements or components in the first and second embodiments, and the description of such elements or components for the second embodiment will be omitted. in the second embodiment, the groove 45 a extends axially beyond the first thrust bearing 25 to the clearance between the race 252 and the end surface 112 of the first cylinder block 11 , and the groove 49 a extends axially beyond the second thrust bearing 26 to the clearance between the race 262 and the end surface 122 of the second cylinder block 12 . when the swash plate 23 is rotated, the races 252 and 262 of the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 may be rotated relative to the end surfaces 112 and 122 of the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . in this case, the races 252 and 262 should slide smoothly on their associated end surfaces 112 and 122 to prevent abrasion. in the second embodiment, since the groove 45 a and 49 a are formed so as to extend to the clearance between the race 252 and the end surface 112 and between the race 262 and the end surface 122 , the sliding surfaces between the race 252 and the end surface 112 and between the race 262 and the end surface 122 are efficiently lubricated. this allows the races 252 and 262 to slide smoothly on their associated end surfaces 112 and 122 of the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . fig. 5 shows the third embodiment of the present invention. in fig. 5 , same reference numerals are used for the common elements or components in the first and third embodiments, and the description of such elements or components for the third embodiment will be omitted. in the third embodiment, the groove 45 b directly communicates with the hole 44 b, and the groove 49 b directly communicates with the hole 48 b. the third embodiment offers the advantages similar to those of the first embodiment. figs. 6a , 6 b and 6 c show the fourth embodiment of the present invention. in the drawings, same reference numerals are used for the common elements or components in the first and fourth embodiments, and the description of such elements or components for the fourth embodiment will be omitted. in the fourth embodiment, the ring-shaped race 251 of the first thrust bearing 25 has a race groove 52 formed in the inner peripheral surface thereof, and the ring-shaped race 261 of the second thrust bearing 26 has a race groove 53 formed in the inner peripheral surface thereof. the race grooves 52 and 53 extend through the races 251 and 261 , respectively, along the rotational axis 210 of the rotary shaft 21 . the race groove 52 connects the gap 46 to the oil storage space 42 , and the race groove 53 connects the gap 50 to the oil storage space 43 . the race groove 52 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 form an oil passage 47 c. the race groove 53 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 form an oil passage 51 c. forming the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 in a ring shape, fluid communication between the race groove 52 of the race 251 and the oil storage space 42 and also between the race groove 53 of the race 261 and the oil storage space 43 is maintained while the races 251 and 261 are rotated relative to the base 231 of the swash plate 23 . the race grooves 52 and 53 may be formed easily in the races 251 and 261 simply by die forming, as compared to the case where the groove is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 21 by machining figs. 7a , 7 b and 7 c show the fifth embodiment of the present invention. in these drawings, same reference numerals are used for the common elements or components in the first and fifth embodiments, and the description of such elements or components for the fifth embodiment will be omitted. in the fifth embodiment, the ring-shaped race 251 has a race hole 54 formed therethrough for connecting the gap 46 to the oil storage space 42 , and the ring-shaped race 261 has a race hole 55 formed therethrough for connecting the gap 50 to the oil storage space 43 . the race hole 54 , the oil storage space 42 and the hole 44 form an oil passage 47 d. the race hole 55 , the oil storage space 43 and the hole 48 form an oil passage 51 d. forming the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 in a ring shape, fluid communication between the race hole 54 of the race 251 and the oil storage space 42 and also between the race hole 55 of the race 261 and the oil storage space 43 is maintained while the races 251 and 261 are rotated relative to the base 231 of the swash plate 23 . the race holes 54 and 55 may be formed easily in the races 251 and 261 simply by die forming, as compared to the case where the groove is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 21 by machining the parts of the oil storages spaces 42 and 43 which are located radially outward of the race holes 54 and 55 are the radially outermost portions in the oil passages 47 d and 51 d, respectively. therefore, lubricating oil existing in the oil passages 47 d and 51 d is delivered into the oil storage spaces 42 and 43 by centrifugal force. fig. 8 shows the sixth embodiment of the present invention. in fig. 8 , same reference numerals are used for the common elements or components in the first and sixth embodiments, and the description of such elements or components for the sixth embodiment will be omitted. in the sixth embodiment, the rotary shaft 21 has plural grooves 45 , plural holes 44 , plural grooves 49 and plural holes 48 formed in the outer peripheral surface thereof. each of the grooves 45 and holes 44 communicates with the oil storage space 42 . each of the grooves 49 and holes 48 communicates with the oil storage space 43 . fig. 9 shows the seventh embodiment of the present invention. in fig. 9 , same reference numerals are used for the common elements or components in the first and seventh embodiments, and the description of such elements or components for the seventh embodiment will be omitted. in the seventh embodiment, the first cylinder block 11 has an oil storage space 42 e formed in the end surface 112 thereof, and the second cylinder block 12 has an oil storage space 43 e formed in the end surface 122 thereof the oil storage space 42 e extends around the rotary shaft 21 to form a ring shape, so that part of the oil storage space 42 e is formed by the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 . similarly, the oil storage space 43 e extends around the rotary shaft 21 to form a ring shape, so that part of the oil storage space 43 e is formed by the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 . the rotary shaft 21 has a hole 44 e formed in the part of the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 adjacent to the oil storage space 42 e and extending to the in-shaft passage 31 for fluid communication between the oil storage space 42 e and the in-shaft passage 31 . the rotary shaft 21 has a groove 45 e formed in the outer peripheral surface 213 for fluid communication between the oil storage space 42 e and the gap 46 that is formed between the races 251 and 252 of the first thrust bearing 25 . the groove 45 e, the oil storage space 42 e and the hole 44 e form an oil passage 47 e that extends from the gap 46 to the in-shaft passage 31 . the rotary shaft 21 has a hole 48 e formed in the part of the outer peripheral surface 213 of the rotary shaft 21 adjacent to the oil storage space 43 e and extending to the in-shaft passage 31 for fluid communication between the oil storage space 43 e and the in-shaft passage 31 . the rotary shaft 21 has a groove 49 e formed in the outer peripheral surface 213 for fluid communication between the oil storage space 43 e and the gap 50 that is formed between the races 261 and 262 of the second thrust bearing 26 . the groove 49 e, the oil storage space 43 e and the hole 48 e form an oil passage 51 e that extends from the gap 50 to the in-shaft passage 31 . when the swash plate 23 is rotated, the races 252 and 262 of the first and second thrust bearings 25 and 26 may be rotated relative to the end surfaces 112 and 122 of the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . in this case, the races 252 and 262 should slide smoothly on their associated end surfaces 112 and 122 in order to prevent abrasion. in the seventh embodiment, the provision of the oil storage spaces 42 e and 43 e which are formed in the end surfaces 112 and 122 of the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 permit efficient lubrication of the sliding surfaces between the race 252 and the end surface 112 and also between the race 262 and the end surface 122 . this allows the races 252 and 262 to slide smoothly on their associated end surfaces 112 and 122 of the first and second cylinder blocks 11 and 12 . additionally, the seventh embodiment offers the advantages similar to those of the first embodiment. the above embodiments may be modified in various ways as exemplified below. the front housing 13 may be formed with a suction chamber from which refrigerant is introduced into the in-shaft passage 31 . the present invention may be applied to a piston type compressor using a single-headed piston. the first and second rotary valves 35 and 36 may be provided separately from the rotary shaft 21 .
|
198-036-861-440-530
|
US
|
[
"US",
"EP"
] |
F01N3/00,F01N3/035,F01N3/10,F01N3/20,F02D35/00,F02D41/02,F02D41/14
| 2016-01-20T00:00:00 |
2016
|
[
"F01",
"F02"
] |
method for managing temperatures in aftertreatment system
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a method for managing temperatures in an aftertreatment system positioned downstream of an engine. the method includes (1) combusting a rich air/diesel mixture in a cylinder of the engine, and then (2) combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, in the next combustion event in the cylinder, after combusting the rich air/diesel mixture therein. the method further includes repeating steps (1) and (2) in the cylinder and basing a frequency thereof on a desired aftertreatment system temperature.
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1. a method for managing energy in an aftertreatment system positioned downstream of an engine, the aftertreatment system comprising a diesel oxidation catalyst, the method comprising: (a) combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in a cylinder of the engine; (b) determining whether an aftertreatment system temperature is above a threshold temperature; (c) combusting a rich air/diesel mixture in the cylinder following the determination that the aftertreatment system temperature is above the threshold temperature; (d) repeating transitions back-and-forth between (a) and (c) and basing a frequency of (c) on a cylinder temperature relative to a cylinder limit temperature; and (e) substantially always combusting an additional lean air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, in a next combustion event in the cylinder, after combusting the rich air/diesel mixture therein. 2. the method of claim 1 , wherein the aftertreatment system temperature is a diesel oxidation catalyst temperature. 3. the method of claim 1 , wherein the combusting of the rich air/diesel mixture comprises injecting diesel fuel into the cylinder between 5° before a piston positioned therein is at top dead center and 10° after the piston is at top dead center. 4. the method of claim 1 , further comprising combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in a next cylinder immediately and sequentially after combusting the rich air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, the next cylinder being in a firing order that is immediately and sequentially after the cylinder. 5. the method of claim 1 , further comprising substantially-always combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in a next cylinder sequentially after combusting the rich air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, the next cylinder being in a firing order that is sequentially after the cylinder. 6. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining a desired aftertreatment system temperature; and basing the frequency of (c) on the desired aftertreatment system temperature relative to a current aftertreatment system temperature. 7. the method of claim 1 , wherein when the aftertreatment system temperature is above a threshold aftertreatment temperature but below a desired aftertreatment temperature, the combusting of the rich air/diesel mixture occurs in between 2% and 45% of the combustion events in the cylinder. 8. a method for managing energy in an aftertreatment system positioned downstream of an engine, the method comprising: (a) combusting a rich air/diesel mixture in a cylinder of the engine; (b) combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, in a next combustion event in the cylinder, after combusting the rich air/diesel mixture therein; (c) repeating transitions back-and-forth between (a) and (b) in the cylinder and basing a frequency of (a) on a desired aftertreatment system temperature rate increase; and (d) substantially always combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in a next cylinder immediately and sequentially after combusting the rich air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, the next cylinder being in a firing order that is immediately and sequentially after the cylinder. 9. the method of claim 8 , wherein the aftertreatment system comprises a diesel oxidation catalyst (“doc”), and the method further comprises: determining whether a doc temperature is above a threshold doc temperature; and combusting the rich air/diesel mixture in the cylinder only when the doc temperature is above the threshold doc temperature. 10. the method of claim 8 , wherein the combusting of the rich air/diesel mixture comprises injecting diesel fuel into the cylinder between 5° before a piston positioned therein is at top dead center and 10° after the piston is at top dead center. 11. the method of claim 8 , wherein when the aftertreatment system temperature is above a threshold aftertreatment temperature but below a desired aftertreatment temperature, the combusting of the rich air/diesel mixture occurs in between 2% and 45% of the combustion events in the cylinder. 12. a method for managing energy in an aftertreatment system positioned downstream of an engine, the aftertreatment system comprising a diesel oxidation catalyst, the method comprising: (a) combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in a cylinder of the engine; (b) combusting a rich air/diesel mixture in the cylinder; and (c) repeating transitions back-and-forth between (a) and (b), and when an aftertreatment system temperature is above a threshold aftertreatment temperature but below a desired aftertreatment temperature, (a) occurs in between 2% and 45% of the combustion events in the cylinder.
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field of the disclosure the present disclosure relates to a method for managing exhaust temperatures in an aftertreatment system of an engine. background of the disclosure diesel engines generate nitrogen oxides emissions, which include nitrogen oxide (“no”) and nitrogen dioxide (“no 2 )”, known collectively as “no x .” to comply with stringent government mandates regarding no x emissions, engine manufacturers have developed several no x reduction approaches. one such approach is exhaust gas recirculation (“egr”), in which a percentage of the exhaust gas is drawn or forced back into the intake and mixed with the fresh intake gas and fuel that enters the combustion chamber. another approach is selective catalytic reduction (“scr”). the scr process reduces no x to diatomic nitrogen (“n 2 ”) and water (“h 2 o”), using a catalyst and anhydrous ammonia (“nh 3 ”) or aqueous nh 3 , or a precursor that is convertible to nh 3 , such as urea. in addition to no x emissions, diesel engines also produce particulate matter (“pm”), or soot. pm is a complex emission that includes elemental carbon, heavy hydrocarbons derived from the fuel, lubricating oil, and hydrated sulfuric acid derived from the fuel sulfur. one approach for reducing or removing pm in diesel exhaust is a diesel particle filter (“dpf”). the dpf is designed to collect pm, while simultaneously allowing exhaust gases to pass therethrough. a diesel oxidation catalyst (“doc”) may be positioned upstream of the dpf. among other things, the doc oxidizes hydrocarbons (“hc”) and converts no to no 2 . organic constituents that are trapped in the dpf, such as carbon, are oxidized therein, using the no 2 generated by the doc, so as to form co 2 and h 2 o, both of which exit into the atmosphere. proper operation of the doc, dpf, and scr catalyst, which are core components of what is referred to as an aftertreatment system, require operating conditions that are within important temperature parameters. for example, one temperature parameter is the doc's “light off” temperature. when below the light off temperature, the doc's energy level is too low to oxidize hc. the light off temperature is typically around 200-250° c. another temperature parameter is related to the conversion of no to no 2 . this no conversion temperature spans a range of temperatures having both lower and upper bounds, which are defined as the minimum and maximum temperatures at which 40% or greater no conversion is achieved. the conversion temperature range defined by those two bounds and extends from approximately 200-250° c. to approximately 450° c. yet another temperature parameter is related to dpf regeneration. regeneration involves the presence of conditions that will burn off trapped particulates whose unchecked accumulation would damage the dpf. there are two main forms of regeneration: passive and active. passive regeneration is a regeneration that can occur anytime that the engine is operating under conditions that burn off pm without initiating a specific regeneration strategy embodied by algorithms in an electronic control system. passive regeneration occurs when the doc inlet temperature is greater than 200-250° c., and conversion becomes greater at higher temperatures with more no 2 . in contrast, active regeneration is a regeneration that is initiated and maintained intentionally by, for example, an electronic control system. the active regeneration raises the temperature of the exhaust gases entering the dpf to a range suitable for initiating and maintaining burning of trapped particulates. the creation of conditions for initiating and continuing active regeneration involves elevating the temperature of exhaust gas entering the dpf to a suitably high temperature. and still another temperature parameter is related to sulfur removal processes. the presence of sulfur decreases the efficiency of various components in the exhaust aftertreatment system, including the scr catalyst. presently known sulfur removal processes require exposing the scr catalyst to very high temperatures. there are significant challenges associated with working within these various temperature parameters, particularly when the engine is initially started or operating at low to medium loads. in some aftertreatment systems and during some operating conditions, hc is injected into the exhaust stream, sometimes via a fuel dosing injector positioned upstream of the doc, or via in-cylinder dosing. while these injections can be useful for raising temperatures in the aftertreatment system, they cannot be used at lower temperatures, as a result of hc having a relatively high oxidation temperature (e.g., 200-250° c.) before it can generate heat via an exothermic reaction in the doc. summary of the disclosure disclosed is a method for managing temperatures in an aftertreatment system positioned downstream of an engine. the method includes (1) combusting a rich air/diesel mixture in a cylinder of the engine, and then (2) combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in the cylinder, in the next combustion event in the cylinder, after combusting the rich mixture therein. the method further includes repeating steps (1) and (2) in the cylinder and basing a frequency thereof on a desired aftertreatment system temperature. this method provides a technical effect of combusting a rich mixture and outputting exhaust gases with increased levels of combustible materials, such as co and hydrogen. the co has a low oxidation temperature of approximately 150° c.—in contrast to 200-250° c. for hc—and is capable of generating exothermic reactions in the doc much sooner than an hc injection. these exothermic reactions raise temperatures in the aftertreatment system, so it may operate within the temperature parameters discussed above, in some cases even a short time after the engine is initially started and/or when operating at low to medium loads. by repeating steps (1) and (2), the cylinder provides relatively constant power levels, and does not get too hot. and also by repeating these steps—instead of continuously combusting rich mixtures—the exhaust gas has enough oxygen for the co to be oxidized to co 2 , and raise the temperature levels in the aftertreatment system, as a result of this highly exothermic reaction. brief description of the drawings the detailed description of the drawings refers to the accompanying figures in which: fig. 1 is a simplified schematic illustration of an example power system, the power system includes an example of an engine, part of which is shown in cutaway so as to illustrate the cylinders therein; and fig. 2 is a flow chart of an example method for managing temperatures in an aftertreatment system of the engine. detailed description of the drawings referring to fig. 1 , there is shown a schematic illustration of a power system 100 for providing power to a variety of machines, including on-highway trucks, construction vehicles, marine vessels, stationary generators, automobiles, agricultural vehicles, and recreational vehicles. the engine 106 may be any kind that produces an exhaust gas, as indicated by directional arrow 192 . for example, engine 106 may be an internal combustion engine, such as a gasoline engine, a diesel engine, a gaseous fuel burning engine (e.g., natural gas), or any other exhaust gas producing engine. the illustrated example of the engine 106 is shown as having six inline cylinders with a first cylinder 201 , a second cylinder 202 , a third cylinder 203 , a fourth cylinder 204 , a fifth cylinder 205 , and a sixth cylinder 206 . other examples of the engine 106 may have other kinds of configurations (e.g., “v,” inline, and radial), and may have any number of cylinders. the power system 100 may include an intake system 107 that includes components for introducing a fresh intake gas, as indicated by directional arrow 189 , into the engine 106 . among other things, the intake system 107 may include an intake manifold, a compressor 112 , a charge air cooler 116 , and an air throttle actuator 134 . the compressor 112 may be a fixed geometry compressor, a variable geometry compressor, or any other type of compressor that is capable of receiving the fresh intake gas from upstream of the compressor 112 . the compressor 112 compresses the fresh intake gas to an elevated pressure level. as shown, the charge air cooler 116 is positioned downstream of the compressor 112 , and cools the fresh intake gas. further, the power system 100 includes an exhaust system 140 , which has components for directing exhaust gas from the engine 106 to the atmosphere. the pressure and volume of the exhaust gas drives the turbine 111 , allowing it to drive the compressor 112 via a shaft. the combination of the compressor 112 , the shaft, and the turbine 111 is known as a turbocharger 108 . some embodiments of the power system 100 may also include a second turbocharger 109 that cooperates with the turbocharger 108 (i.e., series turbocharging). the second turbocharger 109 includes a second compressor 114 , a second shaft, and a second turbine 113 . the second compressor 114 may be a fixed geometry compressor, a variable geometry compressor, or any other type of compressor capable of receiving fresh intake gas, from upstream of the second compressor 114 , and compressing the fresh intake gas to an elevated pressure level before it enters the engine 106 . the power system 100 may also have an egr system 132 for receiving a recirculated portion of the exhaust gas, as indicated by directional arrow 194 . the intake gas is indicated by directional arrow 190 , and it is a combination of the fresh intake gas and the recirculated portion of the exhaust gas. the egr system 132 may have an egr valve 122 and an egr mixer. the egr valve 122 may allow a specific amount of the recirculated portion of the exhaust gas back into the intake manifold. as further shown, the exhaust system 140 may include an aftertreatment system 102 , and at least a portion of the exhaust gas passes therethrough. the aftertreatment system 102 removes various chemical compounds and particulate emissions present in the exhaust gas received from the engine 106 . the aftertreatment system 102 is shown having a doc 163 , a dpf 164 , and an scr system 152 , though the need for such components depends on the particular size and application of the power system 100 . the scr system 152 has a reductant delivery system 135 , an scr catalyst 170 , and an ammonia oxidation catalyst (“aoc”) 174 . the exhaust gas may flow through the doc 163 , the dpf 164 , the scr catalyst 170 , and the aoc 174 , and is then, as just mentioned, be expelled into the atmosphere. exhaust gas that is treated in the aftertreatment system 102 and released into the atmosphere contains significantly fewer pollutants—such as pm, no x , and hydrocarbons—than an untreated exhaust gas. the doc 163 may be configured in a variety of ways and contain catalyst materials useful in collecting, absorbing, and/or converting hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and/or oxides of nitrogen contained in the exhaust gas. among other things, the doc 163 typically oxidizes no contained in the exhaust gas, and converts it to no 2 . the dpf 164 may be any of various particulate filters known in the art that are capable of reducing pm concentrations (e.g., soot and ash) in the exhaust gas, so as to meet requisite emission standards. if the dpf 164 were used alone, it would initially help in meeting the emission requirements, but would quickly fill up with soot and need to be replaced. therefore, the dpf 164 is combined with the doc 163 , which helps extend the life of the dpf 164 through the process of regeneration. the ecu 142 may measure the pm build up, also known as filter loading, in the dpf 164 , using a combination of algorithms and sensors. when filter loading occurs, the ecu 142 manages the initiation and duration of the regeneration process. the reductant delivery system 135 may include a reductant tank 101 for storing the reductant for the scr system 152 . one example of a reductant is a solution having 32.5% high purity urea and 67.5% deionized water (e.g., def), which decomposes as it travels through a decomposition tube 191 to produce nh 3 . the reductant delivery system 135 may include a reductant header 136 mounted to the reductant tank 101 . the power system 100 may include a cooling system 103 having a reductant coolant supply passage 187 and a reductant coolant return passage 193 . the cooling system 103 may be an opened system or a closed system, depending on the specific application, while the coolant may be any form of engine coolant, including fresh water, sea water, an antifreeze mixture, and the like. a first segment 196 of the reductant coolant supply passage 187 is positioned fluidly, between the engine 106 and the tank heating element 130 , for supplying coolant to the tank heating element 130 . a second segment 197 of the reductant coolant supply passage 187 is positioned fluidly between the tank heating element 130 and a reductant delivery mechanism 183 for supplying coolant thereto. the decomposition tube 191 may be positioned downstream of the reductant delivery mechanism 183 but upstream of the scr catalyst 170 . as shown, the scr system 152 may include a reductant mixer 172 that is positioned upstream of the scr catalyst 170 and downstream of the reductant delivery mechanism 183 . the reductant delivery system 135 may additionally include a reductant pressure source and a reductant extraction passage 184 . the reductant delivery system 135 may further include a reductant supply module 110 . the reductant delivery system 135 may also include a reductant dosing passage 185 and a reductant return passage 195 . the aoc 174 may be any of various flowthrough catalysts for reacting with nh 3 and thereby produce nitrogen. as shown, the aoc 174 and the scr catalyst 170 may be positioned within the same housing, but in other embodiments, they may be separate from one another. an electronic control system 138 of the engine 106 may include an electronic control unit (“ecu”) 142 for monitoring and controlling the operation of the engine 106 . as shown in fig. 1 , the ecu 142 may include a processor 144 and a memory 143 in communication therewith. the processor 144 may be implemented using, for example, a microprocessor or other suitable processor. the memory 143 may be implemented using any suitable computer-readable media, and may include ram and/or rom. the memory 143 may store software, such as algorithms and/or data, for configuring the processor 144 to perform one or more functions of the ecu 142 . alternatively, the ecu 142 may include discrete electronic circuits configured to perform such functions. the electronic control system 138 may also include one or more temperature sensors for sensing temperatures of the aftertreatment system 102 . for example, the electronic control system 138 may include a first temperature sensor 117 , a second temperature sensor 118 , a third temperature sensor 119 , and a fourth temperature sensor 120 . the first temperature sensor 117 may be upstream of the doc 163 . the second temperature sensor 118 may be downstream of the dpf 164 , but upstream of the scr catalyst 170 . the third temperature sensor 119 may be downstream of the second temperature sensor 118 , but upstream of the scr catalyst 170 . and the fourth temperature sensor 120 may be downstream of the aoc 174 . these are just four of the many possible locations for the temperature sensors 117 - 120 in the aftertreatment system 102 . referring to fig. 2 , there is shown an example of a method 300 for managing energy levels (i.e., temperatures) in the aftertreatment system 102 . at step 302 , the method 300 may include combusting a lean air/diesel mixture in a cylinder of the engine 106 (i.e., any of the cylinders 201 - 206 ). upon the opening of the exhaust valve associated with the respective cylinder, excess air (n 2 and o 2 ) and combustion products are exhausted. as a result of the excess o 2 , combusted lean mixtures are oxidizing in nature. at step 304 , the method 300 may include determining whether a higher temperature is needed somewhere in the aftertreatment system 102 . the higher temperature may be needed at the dpf 164 for regeneration purposes, at the scr catalyst 170 for sulfur removal purposes, or at the scr catalyst 170 for improving conversion efficiencies, just to name a few examples. if a higher temperature is needed, then the method 300 may proceed to step 306 . otherwise, it may proceed back to step 302 and continue combusting a lean mixture in the cylinder. at step 306 , the method 300 may include determining whether the aftertreatment temperature is above a threshold temperature. exemplarily, the aftertreatment temperature may be a temperature of the doc 163 . and also exemplarily, the threshold temperature may be a temperature that the doc 163 can begin oxidizing the co, which may be approximately 150° c. and even down to 70° c. or lower in a doc 163 that is optimized for such reactions. in such an example, if the doc temperature is above the threshold temperature, then the method 300 may proceed to step 308 . in contrast, if the temperature is below the threshold, it may repeat step 302 and combust a lean mixture, instead of a rich air/diesel mixture. below the threshold temperature, the rich mixture would result in high co levels, but the doc 163 would not be warm enough to oxidize the co to co 2 and, thus, would not raise temperatures in the aftertreatment system 102 based on this exothermic reaction. further, as compared to the rich mixture, the lean mixture provides consistent power levels, lower combustion temperatures, and lower pm levels. at step 308 , the method 300 may begin periodically (1) combusting a rich mixture in the cylinder based on the aftertreatment temperature being above the threshold temperature, and then (2) combusting an additional lean mixture in the cylinder in a next combustion event therein. in some embodiments of step 308 , the method 300 may always combust an additional lean mixture in the cylinder in the next combustion event therein. the combusting of the rich mixture may include injecting diesel fuel into the cylinder between 15° before a piston positioned therein is at top dead center, and 20° after the piston is at top dead center. in some embodiments, the combusting of the rich mixture may include injecting between 5° before top dead center, and 10° after top dead center. injecting in this range may lower the chance that the cylinder will become over pressurized or overheated. step 308 provides a technical effect of combusting a rich mixture and outputting exhaust gases with increased levels of combustible materials, such as co and hydrogen. the co has a low oxidation temperature of approximately 150° c. or lower, in contrast to 200-250° c. for hc, and is capable of generating exothermic reactions in the doc 163 at lower temperatures than an hc injection (and in less time after a cold start, for example). these exothermic reactions raise temperatures in the aftertreatment system 102 , so it may operate within its temperature parameters, in some cases even a short time after the engine 106 is initially started and/or when operating at low to medium loads. by repeating (1) and (2) of step 308 —instead of continuously combusting rich mixtures—the cylinder provides relatively constant power levels, and cylinder temperatures do not get too high. and also by repeating these steps—instead of continuously combusting rich mixtures—the exhaust gas has enough oxygen for the co to exothermically react with (and become co 2 ), and thus raise the temperature levels in the aftertreatment system 102 . or stated slightly differently, continuously combusting a rich mixture will result in there being too little, if any, oxygen in the exhaust gas to exothermically combine with co, so as to form co 2 . some embodiments of the method 300 may include repeating step 308 , but in different cylinders of the engine 106 . at step 308 , the method 300 may include combusting an additional lean mixture in a next cylinder immediately and sequentially after combusting the rich mixture in the cylinder. the next cylinder is in a firing order that is immediately and sequentially after the cylinder. in some embodiments of step 308 , the method 300 may always (i.e., 100% of the time), or substantially always (i.e., 70-99.9% of the time), include combusting a lean mixture immediately following each combusting of a rich mixture. by repeating (1) and (2) of step 308 in different cylinders—instead of periodically in just one cylinder—there is a lower chance that a given cylinder will become over pressurized or overheated. the combusting of the rich mixture may occur in between 2% and 45% of the combustion events during operating conditions that require higher energy levels in the aftertreatment system 102 . combusting the rich mixture in even just 2% of the combustion events provides useful energy for raising temperatures in the aftertreatment system 102 . and limiting it to 45% of the combustion events (1) ensures that adequate oxygen is available in the exhaust gas, so as to oxidize co in the exhaust gas to co 2 , and (2) prevents the cylinders 201 - 206 from overheating. the rich mixture may be combusted in different cylinders of the engine 106 in various ways. but as just one example, in the illustrated engine 106 , the rich mixture may be combusted as follows: 153624153624153624153624,153624153624153624153624. the number 1 represents a combustion event in the first cylinder 201 , the number 2 represents a combustion event in second cylinder 202 , and so on. the bold numbers represent the combustion of a rich mixture, and the non-bold numbers represent the combustion of a lean mixture. in this example, there are 10 rich combustion events out of 24 total, meaning that 42% of the combustion events combust a rich mixture. as another example, in a four cylinder engine, the rich mixture may be combusted as follows: 1342134213421342134213421342134213421342. in this example, there are 8 rich combustion events out of 20 total, meaning that 40% of the combustion events combust a rich mixture. at step 310 , the method 300 may include determining whether the desired aftertreatment temperature has been reached. if it has, then the method 300 may repeat step 302 and, in some cases, continuously combust a lean mixture. consistently combusting a lean mixture provides consistent power levels, manageable cylinder temperatures, and manageable pm emissions levels. however, if the desired aftertreatment temperature has not been reached, then it may proceed to step 312 . at step 312 , the method 300 may include determining whether an estimated cylinder temperature is below a limit temperature. if the estimated cylinder temperature is below the limit temperature, then the method 300 may proceed to step 314 . but if the estimated cylinder temperature is above the limit temperature, then it may proceed to step 318 . this prevents the cylinders 201 - 206 and engine 106 from getting too hot and being damaged. at step 314 , the method 300 may include determining whether a desired aftertreatment temperature trajectory is too low. if the desired aftertreatment temperature trajectory is too low, then to raise it, the method 300 may proceed to step 316 . otherwise, if the trajectory is too high, then to lower it, the method 300 may proceed to step 318 . at step 316 , the method 300 may increase a frequency of combusting the rich mixture in the cylinder(s) followed by the lean mixture respectively therein. after increasing the frequency, the method 300 may proceed back to step 310 . increasing the frequency of combusting the rich mixture may be limited by a limit frequency. the limit frequency may be based on the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas, or more specifically on ensuring that there is enough oxygen to oxidize the co in the exhaust gas to co 2 effectively. at step 318 , the method 300 may include decreasing a frequency of combusting the rich mixture in the cylinder(s) followed by the lean mixture respectively therein. after decreasing the frequency, then the method 300 may proceed to step 310 . at step 310 , if the desired temperature has been reached, then the method 300 may proceed back to step 302 and combust only lean mixtures in the cylinder. while the disclosure has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description is to be considered as exemplary and not restrictive in character, it being understood that illustrative embodiments have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the disclosure are desired to be protected. it will be noted that alternative embodiments of the present disclosure may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations that incorporate one or more of the features of the present disclosure and fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
|
199-708-861-045-43X
|
US
|
[
"AU",
"DE",
"NZ",
"US",
"EP",
"WO"
] |
H05B37/02
| 1993-11-12T00:00:00 |
1993
|
[
"H05"
] |
theatrical lighting control network
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a theatrical lighting control network which incorporates a local area network for communication among a number of node controllers and control consoles or devices employed in establising lighting or other effects levels in a theater, film production stage or other performance environment. use of the network eliminates the requirements for the majority of hardwiring for interconnection of consoles and other contoller or monitoring devices to effects controller racks and provides great flexibility in location and relocation of various components of the system.
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1. a theatrical lighting control network consisting of: a single local area network (lan) having a plurality of connection points for a structure of control devices, peripheral devices and effect control elements, said structure comprising: a control console having input controls for operation to define desired settings of a plurality of effect control elements, the console further having an interface means connected to the lan for transmitting the settings to the lan; at least two node controllers connected to the lan including at least one first node controller connected as a peripheral node controller, said peripheral node controller having an interface for connection of a peripheral device remote from the control console, and, at least one second node controller connected as a node protocol converter having a means for receiving settings transmitted through the lan, at least one means for translating the settings to a control protocol, and means for transmitting the control protocol on an output; and at least one rack of a plurality of effect control elements connected to the output of the at least one node protocol converter and receiving the control protocol for operation of the effect control elements. 2. a theatrical lighting and control network as defined in claim 1 wherein the node protocol converter further includes: a means for receiving non-networked effect settings; and a means for controlling pile-on of effect settings received over the network and the non-networked effect settings. 3. a theatrical lighting and control network as defined in claim 1 wherein the peripheral node controller is a video peripheral controller and the peripheral device comprises a remote video display. 4. a theatrical lighting and control network as defined in claim 3 wherein the video peripheral controller further has a second interface for connection of a remote control device having means for defining desired effect settings, said second interface including means for transmitting said desired effect settings to the lan and means for transmitting a predetermined priority for the remote control device to the lan, and wherein the at least one second node controller includes means for interpreting said predetermined priority for pile-on of effects settings. 5. a theatrical lighting control network consisting of: a single local area network (lan) having a plurality of connection points for a structure of control devices, peripheral devices and effect control elements, said structure comprising: a control console having input controls for operation to define desired settings of a plurality of effect control elements, the console further having an interface means connected to the lan for transmitting the settings to the lan; a plurality of node controllers connected to the lan including a first plurality of node controllers connected as peripheral node controllers, said peripheral node controllers each having an interface for connection of a peripheral device remote from the control console and means for transmitting effect settings and a predetermined priority level, and, a second plurality of node controllers connected as node protocol converters having a means for receiving settings transmitted through the lan, means for determining priority of the settings received based on said predetermined priorities transmitted on the lan, at least one means for translating the settings to a control protocol, and a means for transmitting the control protocol on an output; and a plurality of racks, each containing a plurality of effect control elements, each connected to the output of one of said second plurality of node protocol converters and receiving the control protocol for operation of the effect control elements. 6. a theatrical lighting control network as defined in claim 5 wherein each of the node protocol converters further includes: a means for receiving effect settings from a controller connected directly to the node protocol converter; and a means for controlling pile-on of effect settings received over the network based on transmitted priority and the effect settings from the directly connected controller. 7. a node protocol converter, for use in theatrical lighting and control employing a single local area network (lan) for common communication between a plurality of node protocol converters and multiple control consoles and peripheral controllers, comprising: a communications interface connected to the lan; memory means for storing parameters and protocol information for operation of a rack of a plurality of effect control elements; a controller connected to the communications interface and receiving effect settings from said multiple control consoles and peripheral controllers connected to the lan, said controller connected to the memory means and having means for receiving a predetermined priority from said consoles and peripheral controllers, and means for operating on said effect settings based on said priority with said parameters and protocol information to establish an output protocol; a means for receiving non-networked effect settings, said controller further including means for controlling pile-on of effect settings received over the lan and the non-networked effect settings; and an output interface connected between the controller and the rack for providing the output protocol to the effect control elements of the rack. 8. an integrated effects rack and node protocol converter, for use in theatrical lighting and control employing a single local area network for common communication between a plurality of node protocal converters and multiple control consoles and peripheral controllers, comprising: a communications interface connected to the local area network; memory means for storing parameters and protocol information for operation of a rack of a plurality of effect control elements; a controller connected to the communications interface and receiving effect settings from said multiple control consoles and peripheral controllers connected to the network, said controller connected to the memory means and having means for receiving a predetermined priority from said consoles and peripheral controllers, and means for operating on said effect settings based on said priority with said parameters and protocol information to establish effect control levels; and a plurality of effect control elements connected to the controller and receiving the effect control levels. 9. a theatrical lighting control network consisting of: a single local area network (lan) having a plurality of connection points for a structure of control devices, peripheral devices and effect control elements, said structure comprising: at least two node controllers connected to the lan, at least a first one of said node controllers having means for connection of a standard protocol control console having input controls for operation to define desired settings of a plurality of effect control elements and means for transmitting the desired settings to the lan with a predetermined priority, at least a second one of said node controllers having a means for receiving settings transmitted through the lan, means for determining priority of the received settings, at least one means for translating the settings to a control protocol, and means for transmitting the control protocol as an output; and at least one rack of a plurality of effect control elements connected to the output of the at least a second one of said node protocol converters and receiving the control protocol for operation of the effect control elements.
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background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates generally to the operation and control of theatrical lighting systems for lighting design and performance. more particularly, the invention employs a local area network receiving control information from master consoles and other input devices and distributing that information through node controllers connected to the network with interfaces to lighting and effects control devices, such as dimmer racks, and remote monitoring and input stations. 2. prior art theatrical lighting for live performances and movie and television production continues to increase in complexity. a typical theater employs hundreds of separate lights and lighting systems for house lights, stage lights, scenery lighting, spotlights and various special effects. typically, individual lights or groups of lights are controlled through dimmers, which are located at remote locations from the lights for environmental considerations such as noise and temperature control. individual dimmers are mounted in racks, which contain power and signal distribution to the individual dimmers. control of dimmer racks has been provided through lighting consoles, which allow adjustment of individual dimmers. recent advances in lighting consoles have allowed flexibility in the number and use of individual controls allowing ganging of slide controls for simultaneous operation, sequencing of controls for multiple light settings and memory of various setting requirements. master control panels have previously been wired directly to dimmers being controlled or, as a minimum, to dimmer racks, which provide signal distribution to individual dimmers. industry standards for communication between control consoles and dimmer racks has been established by the united states institute for theater technology, inc. ("usitt"). multiplexed data transmission of information to dimmers from controllers using analog technology has been established by the usitt in a standard designated amx192. similarly, digital data transmission between controllers and dimmers has been established by the usitt in a standard identified as dmx512. slight modifications and additions to the dmx protocols and capabilities have been made by various industry members. colortran, inc., for example, employs a modified dmx protocol identified as cmx. the amx192 and dmx512 standards provide flexibility over direct hardwired systems for individual dimmer control, however, significant limitations on the number of dimmers which may be controlled and the flexibility and timing of the control signals are present in these industry standards. while wiring requirements have been significantly reduced, amx and dmx systems still require direct hard wiring from controllers to dimmer racks, with consequent limitation as to physical location and severe limitations on flexibility of rearrangement of dimmer rack locations and controller locations, depending on changing theater needs. the amx and dmx dimmer and controller standards further do not provide the capability for interactive control with feedback from the dimmer systems to controller consoles at a level necessary for enhanced lighting design and real-time control. the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by allowing control of a significantly expanded number of dimmers, while providing the capability for feedback control from the dimmers. further, the system allows flexible placement of control consoles, monitoring devices and dimmer racks themselves, with minimal wiring requirements. the system remains downward compatible, allowing continued use of dmx and amx hardware systems as elements of the network. summary of the invention the theatrical lighting control network of the present invention is integrated in a local area network (lan). the embodiments disclosed in this specification employ thin ethernet technology, however, other standard lan technologies are applicable. a master control console and associated display and peripheral devices provide overall control for the system. standard dmx outputs are provided by the control console for use in hardwired dimmer racks, and communication with the lan is provided through an integral network controller or network interface card (nic). individual node controllers are placed on the network at medium attachment units (mau), available at desired locations on the coaxial cable net. the coaxial cable provides the only necessary hardwired portion of the system. remote display and control devices are operable through node controllers configured as peripheral node controllers (pnc). dimmer racks are attached to node controllers configured as network protocol converters (npc). npcs additionally employ inputs which receive standard dmx/amx control data, allowing interfacing of existing equipment consoles for secondary or supplemental control. npcs provide standard outputs with dmx/amx capability for connection to existing equipment dimmer racks. a microprocessor and memory storage capability within the npc provide the capability to control the lan interface, dmx/amx hardwired inputs and dmx/amx outputs. the internal intelligence in the npc allows control input through the lan, with priority determination and "pile-on" of multiple control signals received on the lan and direct dmx/amx control inputs. memory is provided in the node controller for storage of multiple "looks", which define individual dimmer settings for an entire dimmer rack for each "look". stored "looks" may be recalled to achieve desired lighting effects without the requirement for a master console operating on the lan. the microprocessor in the npc automatically institutes one or more prestored "looks" upon loss of signal from the master console through the lan. supplemental analog inputs and outputs and hardwired configuration switching enhances flexibility of the npc for monitoring and control functionality. system configuration is accomplished through a standard personal computer (pc) or the master console attached to the lan for upload and download of configuration data to the node controllers. brief description of the drawings the features of the invention will be better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description: fig. 1 is a block diagram of the overall theatrical lighting control network showing various components of a first embodiment of the system; fig. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary master console interfacing to the network; fig. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the video peripheral controller configuration for a node controller; fig. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment for the protocol converter configuration for a node controller; fig. 5 is a block diagram of a standard dimmer rack interface; fig. 6 is a software flow diagram for the elements of a protocol converter; and fig. 7 is a block diagram of a networked dimmer rack with an integral protocol converter. detailed description of the invention the elements of the theatrical lighting control network for a representative embodiment are shown fig. 1. the local area network for the embodiment shown in the drawings comprises a thin ethernet system employing coaxial cable 100, which is installed in the theater, sound stage or other application location. medium attachment units (mau) 102 are located throughout the cable network at desired locations to allow interfacing to the network. in the embodiment shown, the maus comprise standard bnc t-connectors. the lan cable network employs standard terminators 104 to define the extent of the network. a master console 106 is provided in the system for operator control of the various lighting systems. standard panel operator devices, such as level slide controls 108, ganged slide controls 110 and dedicated function keys 112, are provided for control. in the embodiment shown, a standard configuration of 96 slides for individual dimmer control are provided. status display for the operator is provided on two text displays 114, with programming and operator system information provided on graphics display 116. additional control input devices, such as a hand-held remote 118, submaster outrigger slide panels 120 and magic sheet 122, a lighting designer control tablet produced by colortran, inc., supplement the primary panel operator controls for the master console. programming control and computer functions interface in the master console is provided through standard keyboard 124 and track ball 126 inputs. a printer 128 is provided for hard copy of lighting designs and other output information from the master console. an integral lan interface in the master console connects to the coaxial cable for data communication through the lan. dmx/cmx outputs 130 are provided from the master console for direct hardwired connection to dmx/cmx dimmer racks 132, which are not on the network. additional master consoles can be incorporated into the network at desired locations for duplicate control of common dimmers or additional control of separate dimmers, as will be discussed in greater detail subsequently. fig. 2 discloses, in block diagram form, the internal configuration of an exemplary master controller. overall operation of the master controller is accomplished through a master single-board computer (sbc) 210 incorporating a processor and integral memory. current 486-based sbcs provide adequate capability for system requirements. operator device interfaces 212 connect directly with the sbc for communication with programming devices, such as the standard keyboard and track ball, and supplemental external controllers and peripherals, such as the handheld remotes, magic sheet, and hard copy printer. a processor communications bus connects the sbc to a multiple display controller 216 for the text and graphics displays and to a calculation coprocessor 218 and device control processor 220 to supplement the processing capability of the sbc. a calculation coprocessor allows rapid computation of light levels for dimmers controlled by the master console based on the various control inputs. the device control processor provides an interface for the panel operator devices, generally designated 222, which include the slide controllers and designated function keypad inputs. in addition, direct output of dmx/cmx data is provided through the device control processor to a dmx/cmx interface 224. a network controller 226 communicates to the sbc through the processor bus and attaches the master console to the lan through network interface 228. referring again to fig. 1, the other elements of the system are attached to the network through node controllers connected at desired locations through the bnc t-connectors. remote monitoring and control input to the system is accomplished through peripheral node controllers (pncs). a first pnc type specifically configured for attachment of video monitors and control devices is demonstrated in the embodiment shown in the drawings as the video peripheral controller (vpc) 134. vpcs are located on the network for use by designers, stage managers and others to monitor, control or design lighting remote from the master console. devices supported by a vpc include remote text displays 136, remote graphic displays 138, dedicated function key input devices, such as remote keypads, 140, designer remotes 142 and magic sheets 144, remote submaster outriggers 146 and hand-held remotes 148. exemplary use of the vpc would be a stage manager's booth backstage in a theater, allowing the stage manager to view lighting cues on the text display to coordinate scene cues, actor entrances, etc. a second npc configuration identified in the embodiment shown in the drawings constitutes an rf device interface 150, which provides communications through a radio frequency link 152 to roving design and control devices, such as magic sheets, designer remotes and hand-held remotes incorporating rf transceivers. the internal configuration of an exemplary vpc is shown in fig. 3. the vpc is connected to the lan through a network interface 300, which communicates through network controller 302 to a microprocessor 304 on the microprocessor bus 306. the microprocessor controls the vpc, providing output to displays through a multiple display controller interface 308 connected to the processor bus, and providing direct connection to the hand-held remote and other operator devices, generally designated 310. other pncs, such as the rf device interface, employ a similar structure to that disclosed in fig. 3, with appropriate interface modifications, such as the addition of an rf link between the microprocessor and operator devices. flexibility obtained through the use of a network in the present invention allows pncs to be developed with single or plural interfaces which may be attached at any t-connector on the lan. control of lighting dimmer racks in the system via the lan is accomplished through node controllers configured as network protocol converters (npc) 154 in fig. 1. npcs incorporate an integral lan interface and provide direct dmx/cmx/amx controller inputs. devices such as non-networked control consoles are connected to these inputs for direct control of dimmers attached to the npc. outputs from the npc are provided to drive amx dimmer racks 156 and cmx/dmx dimmer racks 158. the flexibility of the present system allows the use of dimmer racks of any size including standard dimmer racks having 12, 24 or 48 single or dual dimmer modules (96 dimmers per rack). the present configuration of the embodiments shown in the drawings allows designation of up to 8,192 dimmers for control on the lan, with up to 4,096 dimmers controlled through an individual master console. fig. 4 demonstrates a present embodiment of the npc. a master microprocessor 400 provides overall control of the npc. the master microprocessor communicates through a processor bus 402 with a slave mode microprocessor controller 404. an erasable programmable read-only memory (eprom) 406 and random access memory (ram) 408 provide control software and operating data storage capability for the npc. a network controller 410, connected to the bus, provides communications to the lan through a network interface 412. communications with the dimmers is provided through dmx/cmx/amx input/output interfaces 414. additional interfaces for alternate control devices, such as a hand-held remote 415, can be incorporated in the npc for additional local control flexibility. as previously described, direct connection of dmx/cmx/amx control devices to these interfaces allows non-networked control inputs into the npc. in addition, an analog input interface 416, in combination with an analog to digital converter 418 and an analog output interface 420, in combination with a digital to analog converter 422, provide direct analog input and output capability for the npc for functional monitoring and control of the dimmer rack. in the embodiment shown in the drawings, between 8 and 24 analog inputs and outputs are provided. the internal intelligence in the npc provided by the master microprocessor and data storage capability allows the npc to control complete configuration of the racks and dimmers connected to the npc. a node name specifically identifying each npc allows specified communication on the network and network source identification numbers of consoles or other input devices providing dimmer data input to the npc are stored in memory. in the embodiment shown in the drawings, up to 16 controllers may be present on the network, providing 16 i.d.'s for controller definition to the npc. availability of the dimmer data inputs for access by a controller and enabled/busy status for the inputs allows control of data received over the lan by the npc. protocol types for the various control inputs are established, and source i.d.'s and priorities for "pile-on" of control data for the dimmers is provided. in the embodiment shown in the drawings, up to 7 dmx/cmx controllers, including both lan and direct input to the npc, can be piled-on with priority. each controller in the system is given a priority of 5-to-1, or 0, with 5 being highest priority. controllers with the same priority pile-on and ignore contributors of a lower priority. priority 0 always piles-on for control selection. multiple profile definitions for dimmers in the rack are stored and identified in memory for selection for individual dimmers. rack level control parameters are provided through the analog input interface to the npc with control outputs, such as fan activation, through the analog output interface. individual dimmer parameters such as dimmer capacity and confituration are stored in memory in the npc and individual dimmers may be named per dimmer circuit. a remap table for logical-to-physical definition of the dimmers in the rack is stored. individual dimmer parameters, such as target load, line regulation, cable resistance, response time, minimum and maximum values, phase control parameters, dimmer profile and dimmer alarm settings (over-temperature and load sensing) are stored for each dimmer. the npc incorporates an external data storage interface 424 connected to the microprocessor bus for uploading and downloading npc configuration to non-volatile storage, such as a memory card or magnetic disk system. a serial interface 426 is provided in the npc for direct connection of a personal computer or other device for configuration definition, as will be described in greater detail subsequently. the data contained in the npc may be monitored and/or updated through the lan. this allows operators, designers, stage managers and others to receive direct feedback regarding operation of dimmers in the system. the flexibility afforded by the lan in distribution of dimmer control data is also equally applicable to system feedback, which can be obtained at any lan-connected console or vpc. exemplary feedback parameters provided through the lan for monitoring in the system include individual dimmer name, control level (0-100%), output voltage, low load condition, overtemp condition and dimmer type. memory capability in the npc allows storage of a plurality of "looks" as previously described. settings for the full compliment of dimmers controlled through the npc are stored. in the present embodiment shown in the drawings, storage capacity for 99 "looks" is provided. the master microprocessor in the npc monitors control data provided by the lan and/or local controllers. upon loss of signal from the controllers, the microprocessor automatically institutes a preprogrammed "look." access to other "looks" stored in the memory can then be accomplished through a local controller, such as the hand-held remote. changes between "looks" are automatically formatted by the npc based on the dimmer parameters previously described. an exemplary embodiment for the dimmer racks used in the system is shown in fig. 5. dimmer data input to the rack is received on a dmx/cmx/amx interface 500 connected to a microprocessor 502. the microprocessor decodes the dimmer data received and provides output to the dimmers through a digital-to-analog converter 504, providing direct pulse width modulation (pwm) output for "dumb" dimmers or through a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (uart) 506 for data transmission to "smart" dimmers. an analog interface 508, with associated a-to-d converter 510, is provided for input of analog configuration or control parameters to the rack. program and data storage for the microprocessor is provided in eprom 512 and ram 514. the configuration of the node controllers of the system is accomplished through the use of a personal computer 162 attached to the network as shown in fig. 1. definition of all parameters and settings for each npc are determined and entered into the pc prior to operation of the networked lighting system. the node configurations are then downloaded either through the lan to the various nodes or the pc is individually attached to each node through the serial port and the node is preconfigured prior to attachment to the lan. in the embodiment disclosed herein, the necessary configuration settings of an npc are the network name, dimmer source ids of node input ports and master console dimmer data, pile-on assignments of output ports, remap assignments of source id dimmers to output dimmers, dmx/cmx/amx input protocol timing and enabling, and dmx/cmx/amx output protocol timing and enabling. the only necessary configuration setting of a vpc is the network name. fig. 7 discloses, in block diagram form, an integration of the npc into the dimmer rack. dimmer racks with integrated nodes 160 for direct connection to the lan as shown on fig. 1 employ the architecture of the embodiment shown in fig. 7. the functions of the master microprocessor and slave mode controller of the npc of fig. 6 are duplicated by the master microprocessor 700 and slave mode controller 702, with the master microprocessor controller additionally assuming the functions of the microprocessor 500 of the rack in fig. 5. a device interface 704 for hand-held remote or rack monitor provides direct communication to and from the integrated rack, with control level inputs received through dmx/cmx input interfaces 706 or through the lan via the network interface 708 and network controller 710, which is attached to the microcontroller bus for direct communication to the master microprocessor. an analog interface 712 and associated a-to-d converter 714 provide analog input to the slave mode controller for control functions. multiple hardwired configuration switches located internal or external to the rack connect to signal lines 716 feeding direct configuration data to the slave mode controller. presence of the npc integral with the rack precludes the need for intermediate communications from the npc to the rack via dmx/cmx protocols. the master microprocessor provides direct output to a dimmer firing engine 718 with associated memory 720 for output of pwm data to "dumb" dimmers. similarly the master microprocessor provides data directly to uart 722 for control of "smart" dimmers which, in turn, provide return communications through the uart to the master microprocessor. the memories 724 and 726, serial interface 728 and external data storage interface 730 have similar functions to the npc components described with regard to fig. 4. the slave mode controller and master microprocessor of the integrated rack provide sensing of power, temperatures and fan condition through a/d converter 732 and can provide that status data to the network. finally, the integrated rack provides a control output as a npc for a companion standard dmx/cmx rack through dmx/cmx output interface 734. a functional diagram of software for an npc of the embodiments in the drawings providing control to dimmer racks 160 of fig. 1 and illustrated in fig. 7, is shown in fig. 6. the bubbles in fig. 6 identify the processes of the software, while arrows in the figure show data flow and hash-lined descriptions designate data storage. the initial process identified as level calculation, pile-0n and remap 610 receives inputs from the dmx direct connection consoles, network control levels from the master console on the lan and other analog inputs. the level calculation calculates the desired level for each controllable element in the system from the inputs and, based on the pile-on, remap, min./max. and other data contained in the dimmer configuration data. the output of defined levels is provided to the dimmer firing process, including line regulation subroutine 612, which applies the dimmer profile provided from the dimmer configuration data based on the current line status identified by voltage a/d and zero cross data about the line. the calculated values are then output (out) to the rack for implementation. the calculated voltages are also stored as dimmer status, and levels provided from the level calculation are placed in memory as stored levels for operation by the configure feedback and alarm subroutine 614, which provides data to the network for configuration and feedback and to the serial output for communication to the configuration pc. a dimmer communication subroutine 616 receives additional dimmer status communications (dimmer comm) from the rack and provides interactive communications to "smart" dimmers for information other than level data. the configure feedback and alarms subroutine also receives input from the lan or serial port for defining configuration of the npc (node), mode of operation (mode) or "look" data (look no.), which may be employed by the level calculation, pile-on and remap subroutine for generation of stored "looks". analog inputs to the level calculation, pile-on and remap subroutine may also be employed for "look" selection or back-up from look backup data in memory, based on failure of dmx direct or network control level input. while the embodiments herein disclose lighting controls such as dimmers, controllers for other stage effects such as wind machines, movable light carriages and active stage props are operable with the network as defined in the present invention. having now described the invention in detail as required by the patent statutes, those skilled in the art will recognize substitutions and modifications to the embodiments disclosed herein for specific applications of the invention. such substitutions and modifications are within the scope and intent of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
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000-683-743-855-938
|
JP
|
[
"JP",
"US"
] |
B60R21/207,B60N2/42,B60R21/233,B60R22/12,B60R21/231
| 2020-12-22T00:00:00 |
2020
|
[
"B60"
] |
airbag apparatus
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an airbag apparatus is configured to be used for a vehicle seat including an accommodation portion. the airbag apparatus includes an airbag. the airbag is configured such that a portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position rearward of the seat back, and is inflated and deployed away from the accommodation portion in the width direction in a position rearward of the headrest, and that another portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position forward of the seat back, and is deployed and inflated in a position forward of a head of an occupant seated in the vehicle seat and away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, so as to wrap around the head.
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1. an airbag apparatus configured to be used for a vehicle seat including an accommodation portion in a side portion in a width direction of a seat back or in a headrest, the airbag apparatus comprising: an airbag configured to be accommodated in the accommodation portion, wherein the airbag is configured such that when an impact force is applied to or is predicted to be applied to a vehicle from ahead of the vehicle seat, the airbag is inflated by being supplied with an inflation gas to be ejected from the accommodation portion while partially remaining in the accommodation portion to a position beside the headrest in the width direction, a portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position rearward of the seat back, and is inflated and deployed away from the accommodation portion in the width direction in a position rearward of the headrest, and another portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position forward of the seat back, and is deployed and inflated in a position forward of a head of an occupant seated in the vehicle seat and away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, so as to wrap around the head, wherein a part of the airbag that is ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest includes: a passage portion that is continuous with the portion remaining in the accommodation portion and is configured to be deployed and inflated forward and rearward of the vehicle seat; a rear inflation portion that is configured to be deployed and inflated from a rear end of the passage portion, away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, and at a position rearward of the headrest; and a front inflation portion that is configured to be deployed and inflated from a front end of the passage portion, away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, and at a position forward of the head, the vehicle includes a seat belt device that is configured to restrain the occupant to the vehicle seat with a seat belt, the seat belt includes a shoulder belt portion that is extracted forward and diagonally downward on the seat back from an upper end of a side portion of the seat back in the width direction, an upper portion of the shoulder belt portion is defined as a restrained portion, the airbag includes a projecting inflation portion that is configured to project downward to push the restrained portion downward or to project downward into a gap between the restrained portion and a neck of the occupant, the accommodation portion is provided in one of side portions of the seat back in the width direction that is on a same side as the restrained portion, and the projecting inflation portion is provided in the passage portion. 2. the airbag apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an imaginary line that extends in a front-rear direction and includes a center of gravity of the head is defined as a center line, and the front inflation portion is configured to wrap around the head by being deployed and inflated in the width direction in a region from the front end of the passage portion to the center line and in a region beyond the center line. 3. an airbag apparatus configured to be used for a vehicle seat including an accommodation portion in a side portion in a width direction of a seat back or in a headrest, the airbag apparatus comprising: an airbag configured to be accommodated in the accommodation portion, wherein the airbag is configured such that when an impact force is applied to or is predicted to be applied to a vehicle from ahead of the vehicle seat, the airbag is inflated by being supplied with an inflation gas to be ejected from the accommodation portion while partially remaining in the accommodation portion to a position beside the headrest in the width direction, a portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position rearward of the seat back, and is inflated and deployed away from the accommodation portion in the width direction in a position rearward of the headrest, and another portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position forward of the seat back, and is deployed and inflated in a position forward of a head of an occupant seated in the vehicle seat and away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, so as to wrap around the head, wherein a part of the airbag that is ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest includes: a passage portion that is continuous with the portion remaining in the accommodation portion and is configured to be deployed and inflated forward and rearward of the vehicle seat; a rear inflation portion that is configured to be deployed and inflated from a rear end of the passage portion, away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, and at a position rearward of the headrest; and a front inflation portion that is configured to be deployed and inflated from a front end of the passage portion, away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, and at a position forward of the head, the vehicle includes a seat belt device that is configured to restrain the occupant to the vehicle seat with a seat belt, the seat belt includes a shoulder belt portion that is extracted forward and diagonally downward on the seat back from an upper end of a side portion of the seat back in the width direction, an upper portion of the shoulder belt portion is defined as a restrained portion, the airbag includes a projecting inflation portion that is configured to project downward to push the restrained portion downward or to project downward into a gap between the restrained portion and a neck of the occupant, the accommodation portion is provided in one of side portions of the seat back in the width direction that is farther from the restrained portion, the airbag further includes an auxiliary inflation portion that is configured to be deployed and inflated from the passage portion toward the restrained portion through a gap between the head and the headrest, and the projecting inflation portion is provided in the auxiliary inflation portion. 4. the airbag apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein an imaginary line that extends in a front-rear direction and includes a center of gravity of the head is defined as a center line, and the front inflation portion is configured to wrap around the head by being deployed and inflated in the width direction in a region from the front end of the passage portion to the center line and in a region beyond the center line.
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background 1. field the present disclosure relates to an airbag apparatus that includes an airbag and is configured to protect an occupant from an impact by deploying and inflating the airbag when the impact force is applied to or is predicted to be applied to the vehicle from ahead of the vehicle seat. 2. description of related art an airbag apparatus is known as an apparatus that protects an occupant from an impact when the impact force is applied to or predicted to be applied to the vehicle from ahead of the vehicle seat. a typical vehicle seat includes an accommodation portion inside the seat back at a center in the width direction or inside the headrest. the airbag apparatus includes an airbag accommodated in the accommodation portion. the airbag includes two inflation portions each provided with a tear seam. in an airbag apparatus having the above-described configuration, when inflation gas is supplied to the airbag, the airbag is ejected from the accommodation portion while partially remaining in the accommodation portion. since the inflation portions of the airbag are restrained by the tear seams, the inflation portions are deployed and inflated toward the opposite sides in the width direction of the seat back at the beginning of inflation. subsequently, when the tear seams rupture, the inflation portions are deployed and inflated into shapes curved along the neck of an occupant on the opposite sides of the neck in the width direction of the seat back. thus, the neck is restrained by the inflation portions, so as to be protected from the impact. however, in the typical airbag apparatus described above, when the inflation portions are curved along the neck, the front ends of the inflation portions are spaced apart in the width direction from each other in a position forward of the neck. a gap exists between the front ends of the inflation portions. thus, when an impact force is applied to the land vehicle from ahead of the land vehicle seat, causing the occupant to start moving forward due to inertia, the neck may slip through the gap between the front ends of the inflation portions. therefore, there is room for improvement in protection of the occupant from an impact by restricting forward movement of the head. summary this summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. this summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. in a general aspect, an airbag apparatus is provided that is configured to be used for a vehicle seat including an accommodation portion in a side portion in a width direction of a seat back or in a headrest. the airbag apparatus includes an airbag configured to be accommodated in the accommodation portion. the airbag is configured such that when an impact force is applied to or is predicted to be applied to a vehicle from ahead of the vehicle seat, the airbag is inflated by being supplied with an inflation gas to be ejected from the accommodation portion while partially remaining in the accommodation portion to a position beside the headrest in the width direction. also, the airbag is configured such that a portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position rearward of the seat back, and is inflated and deployed away from the accommodation portion in the width direction in a position rearward of the headrest. further, the airbag is configured such that another portion of the airbag ejected from the accommodation portion to the position beside the headrest is deployed and inflated in a position forward of the seat back, and is deployed and inflated in a position forward of a head of an occupant seated in the vehicle seat and away from the accommodation portion in the width direction, so as to wrap around the head. other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a partial side view illustrating an airbag apparatus according to a first embodiment, together with a land vehicle seat, an occupant, and a seat belt device. fig. 2 is a partial plan view illustrating the airbag apparatus according to the first embodiment, together with the land vehicle seat, the occupant, and the seat belt device. fig. 3 is a partial perspective view illustrating a state in which the seat belt device restrains the occupant to the land vehicle seat in the first embodiment. fig. 4 is a partial plan view corresponding to fig. 2 , illustrating an airbag apparatus according to a second embodiment, together with a land vehicle seat, an occupant, and a seat belt device. fig. 5 is a partial plan view corresponding to fig. 2 , illustrating an airbag apparatus according to a modification of the second embodiment, together with a land vehicle seat, an occupant, and a seat belt device. throughout the drawings and the detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements. the drawings may not be to scale, and the relative size, proportions, and depiction of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience. detailed description this description provides a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described. modifications and equivalents of the methods, apparatuses, and/or systems described are apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. sequences of operations are exemplary, and may be changed as apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, with the exception of operations necessarily occurring in a certain order. descriptions of functions and constructions that are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art may be omitted. exemplary embodiments may have different forms, and are not limited to the examples described. however, the examples described are thorough and complete, and convey the full scope of the disclosure to one of ordinary skill in the art. in this specification, “at least one of a and b” should be understood to mean “only a, only b, or both a and b.” first embodiment an airbag apparatus 40 for a front seat of a land vehicle 10 according to a first embodiment will now be described with reference to figs. 1 to 3 . in the first embodiment, the land vehicle 10 , on which the airbag apparatus 40 is mounted, has an autonomous driving feature. in the following description, the up-down direction refers to the up-down direction of the land vehicle 10 (see, for example, direction description shown in fig. 1 ). it is now assumed that an occupant having a size equivalent to a crash test dummy is seated in a normal posture in a land vehicle seat 11 . as shown in figs. 1 and 2 , the land vehicle seat 11 , which is a front seat, is disposed in the passenger compartment of the land vehicle 10 . the land vehicle seat 11 includes a seat cushion 12 , a seat back 13 , and a headrest 16 . the seat cushion 12 is attached to rails (not shown) installed on the floor of the vehicle body, so as to be adjustable in the front-rear direction of the land vehicle seat 11 . the seat back 13 extends upward from the rear part of the seat cushion 12 and is inclined rearward. the inclination angle of the seat back 13 is adjustable. the land vehicle seat 11 is rotatable about a rotation axis (not shown) that extends in the up-down direction. the orientation of the seat back 13 is adjustable through such rotation. in figs. 1 and 2 , the seat back 13 is oriented in the forward direction of the land vehicle 10 . in this case, the front-rear direction of the land vehicle 10 agrees with the front-rear direction of the land vehicle seat 11 . also, the width direction of the land vehicle seat 11 agrees with the vehicle width direction. if the land vehicle seat 11 is rotated from the state in which the seat back 13 is oriented in the forward direction of the land vehicle 10 , the front-rear direction of the land vehicle seat 11 will be diagonal with respect to both the front-rear direction and the vehicle width direction of the land vehicle 10 . thus, in the following description, the front-rear direction is defined with reference to the front-rear direction of the land vehicle seat 11 unless otherwise specified. also, the width direction is defined with reference to the width direction of the land vehicle seat 11 . accordingly, the “front-rear direction” refers to the front-rear direction of the land vehicle seat 11 . the “width direction” refers to the width direction of the land vehicle seat 11 . in the passenger compartment of the land vehicle 10 , a rear land vehicle seat (not shown) is disposed rearward of the land vehicle seat 11 . the land vehicle 10 includes a seat belt device 20 , which is configured to restrain an occupant p 1 seated in the land vehicle seat 11 to the land vehicle seat 11 . the seat belt device 20 includes a seat belt 21 , a winder (also referred to as retractor) 24 , a tongue 31 , and a buckle 32 . fig. 1 shows only part of the buckle 32 . the seat belt 21 is a component that directly restrains the occupant p 1 , and is also referred to as webbing. an anchor plate 23 is attached to an end 22 of the seat belt 21 . the anchor plate 23 is disposed beside the seat cushion 12 , and is fixed to a member of the land vehicle seat 11 that has a high strength. the winder 24 is disposed in the seat back 13 , more specifically, in a side portion 15 in the width direction, such that, if the land vehicle seat 11 is rotated or if the seat back 13 is reclined during autonomous driving of the land vehicle 10 , the positional relationship with a belt guide 25 , which will be discussed below, remains the same. the other end of the seat belt 21 is coupled to the winder 24 . when a tensile force applied to the seat belt 21 exceeds an urging force of the winder 24 that acts to wind up the seat belt 21 , the seat belt 21 is extracted from the winder 24 . conversely, when the urging force exceeds the tensile force, the winder 24 winds up the seat belt 21 . as shown in figs. 1 to 3 , the belt guide 25 is arranged at the upper end of one of the side portions 14 , 15 in the width direction of the seat back 13 . in the first embodiment, the belt guide 25 is disposed on top of the side portion 15 . the belt guide 25 is attached to a member having a high stiffness in the seat back 13 , for example, to the seat frame (not shown). part of the seat belt 21 extracted from the winder 24 is slidably passed through the belt guide 25 and is disposed in a position forward of the seat back 13 . the tongue 31 is attached to the seat belt 21 to be movable in the longitudinal direction. the buckle 32 is disposed on a side of the seat cushion 12 that is opposite to the anchor plate 23 in the width direction. the buckle 32 is fixed to a member of the land vehicle seat 11 that has a high strength. the tongue 31 is detachably engaged with the buckle 32 . in the seat belt device 20 , the tongue 31 is slid on the seat belt 21 to change the lengths of a lap belt portion 26 and a shoulder belt portion 27 . the lap belt portion 26 is a portion of the seat belt 21 that extends from the tongue 31 to the end 22 of the seat belt 21 at the anchor plate 23 . the lap belt portion 26 extends from one side in the width direction of the lumbar region pp of the seated occupant p 1 to the other side across the front of the lumbar region pp. the shoulder belt portion 27 is a portion of the seat belt 21 that is extracted forward and diagonally downward from the belt guide 25 , which is located at the upper end of the side portion 15 of the seat back 13 . in other words, the shoulder belt portion 27 is a portion of the seat belt 21 that is located between the belt guide 25 and the tongue 31 . the shoulder belt portion 27 extends diagonally from a shoulder ps of the seated occupant p 1 at the side portion 15 to a part of the lumbar region pp on the side portion 14 across the front of the thorax pt. an upper part of the shoulder belt portion 27 is close to and beside the neck pn of the occupant p 1 . this part of the shoulder belt portion 27 will be referred to as a restrained portion 28 to be distinguished from the remainder. the seat back 13 includes an accommodation portion 35 in an upper portion of a side portion in the width direction. in the first embodiment, the accommodation portion 35 is provided in the side portion 15 . the side portion 15 , which is one of the opposite side portions 14 , 15 in the width direction, is located on the same side as the restrained portion 28 . the accommodation portion 35 accommodates an airbag module abm, which is a main part of the airbag apparatus 40 . the airbag module abm includes an airbag 41 and a gas generator 50 , which generates inflation gas and supplies it to the airbag 41 through a gas outlet. there are various types of gas generators that are different in the manner in which inflation gas is generated. in the present embodiment, a pyrotechnic type inflator is employed as the gas generator 50 . the gas generator 50 of a pyrotechnic type incorporates a gas generating agent (not shown) that generates inflation gas. in place of the pyrotechnic type gas generator 50 , it is possible to use a stored gas type, which discharges inflation gas by breaking a partition wall of a high-pressure gas cylinder filled with high-pressure gas with a low explosive. alternatively, a hybrid type in which the pyrotechnic type and stored gas type are combined may be used as the gas generator 50 . the airbag 41 is formed of a woven fabric base of a material having high strength and flexibility to be easily folded. for example, the fabric base is made of polyester threads or polyamide threads. specifically, the airbag 41 is formed by sewing peripheral parts of the fabric base together using sewing threads. the airbag 41 is inflated when supplied with inflation gas and is ejected to a position beside the headrest 16 from the accommodation portion 35 while partially remaining in the accommodation portion 35 . the long-dash double-short-dash lines in figs. 1 and 2 schematically show a part of the airbag 41 that has been ejected from the accommodation portion 35 and is deployed and inflated beside the headrest 16 . this part of the airbag 41 includes a passage portion 42 , a front inflation portion 44 , and a rear inflation portion 45 . the passage portion 42 is continuous with the part of the airbag 41 that remains in the accommodation portion 35 . the passage portion 42 is deployed and inflated in the front-rear direction of the land vehicle seat 11 . the rear inflation portion 45 is deployed and inflated from a rear end 42 r of the passage portion 42 and away from the accommodation portion 35 in the width direction, at a position rearward of the headrest 16 . the front inflation portion 44 is deployed and inflated from a front end 42 f of the passage portion 42 and away from the accommodation portion 35 in the width direction to a position forward of the head ph. as shown in fig. 2 , an imaginary line that extends in the front-rear direction and includes the center of gravity of the head ph is defined as a center line cl. the front inflation portion 44 wraps around the head ph by being deployed and inflated in the width direction in a region from the front end 42 f of the passage portion 42 to the center line cl and in a region beyond the center line cl. the end of the front inflation portion 44 on the side opposite to the front end 42 f is defined as a distal end. the distal end is closer to the side portion 14 than the center line cl. as shown in figs. 1 and 2 , a part of the passage portion 42 is located above the restrained portion 28 of the shoulder belt portion 27 . this part of the passage portion 42 includes a projecting inflation portion 43 , which projects downward to push the restrained portion 28 downward. at least the gas outlet of the gas generator 50 is located inside the airbag 41 . in the first embodiment, the gas generator 50 is entirely accommodated in the airbag 41 . although not illustrated, the airbag 41 is made compact by folding parts different from the part accommodating the gas generator 50 . the airbag 41 is folded in this manner in order that it be suitable for being accommodated in the accommodation portion 35 , which has a limited size in the seat back 13 . the gas generator 50 is disposed in the accommodation portion 35 together with the airbag 41 and is fastened to the seat frame (not shown) inside the seat back 13 . the airbag apparatus 40 further includes an impact sensor 51 and a controller 52 shown in fig. 1 . the impact sensor 51 includes an acceleration sensor and detects an impact force applied to the land vehicle 10 from ahead of the land vehicle seat 11 . the controller 52 controls operation of the gas generator 50 based on a detection signal from the impact sensor 51 . the land vehicle 10 is equipped with an autonomous driving controller (not shown), which drives the land vehicle 10 on behalf of the driver by automatically performing driving operations such as acceleration/deceleration, braking, and steering. the autonomous driving as used in this description includes not only operation of fully automatically driving the land vehicle 10 to a designated destination, but also drive assist that performs part of the operation related to the driving of the land vehicle 10 , such as a lane departure prevention function, an inter-vehicle gap keeping function, and a lane control function. operation of the first embodiment, which is configured as described above, will now be described. advantages that accompany the operation will also be described. as a precondition, the occupant p 1 seated in the land vehicle seat 11 is assumed to be restrained to the land vehicle seat 11 with the seat belt device 20 . when the airbag apparatus 40 is not activated when the impact sensor 51 is not detecting any impact on the land vehicle 10 from ahead of the land vehicle seat 11 , the controller 52 does not output to the gas generator 50 an activation signal for activating the gas generator 50 . the gas generator 50 thus does not discharge inflation gas. the airbag 41 continues to be accommodated in the accommodation portion 35 in a folded state. when the airbag apparatus 40 is activated when an impact force is applied to the land vehicle 10 from ahead of the land vehicle seat 11 due to a collision while the land vehicle 10 is traveling, the body of the occupant p 1 starts to move forward due to inertia. in a land vehicle that does not have the autonomous driving feature, an airbag apparatus is used that includes an airbag incorporated in the steering wheel or the instrument panel in order to protect an occupant in a front seat from the above-described impact. this type of airbag apparatus is configured on the assumption that the seat back extends upward while being oriented in the forward direction of the land vehicle. the airbag is deployed and inflated rearward from the steering wheel or the instrument panel, so as to receive and protect the occupant seated in the front seat. however, in a land vehicle having the autonomous driving feature, the autonomous driving may be performed with the seat back oriented in the forward direction and reclined. in such a case, the occupant is farther away in the rearward direction from the steering wheel and the instrument panel as the reclining angle increases, as compared to the case of the above-described assumption. the airbag is deployed and inflated at a position away in the forward direction from the occupant in the front seat. further, the steering wheel and the instrument panel restrict forward movement of the airbag, allowing the airbag to restrict forward movement of the occupant. accordingly, the reclined seat back delays the time at which the airbag starts protecting the occupant from the impact. in the first embodiment, the impact sensor 51 detects that an impact of a magnitude greater than or equal to a specific value has been applied to the land vehicle 10 from ahead of the land vehicle seat 11 , for example, due to a collision while the land vehicle 10 is traveling. based on the detection signal of the impact sensor 51 , the controller 52 outputs an activation signal to the gas generator 50 . in response to the activation signal, the gas generator 50 generates inflation gas. when supplied with the inflation gas, the airbag 41 is inflated while being unfolded (deployed). the upper part of the side portion 15 of the seat back 13 is pushed by the inflated airbag 41 and is broken. the airbag 41 is ejected from the seat back 13 to the outside of the accommodation portion 35 through the broken portion while partially remaining in the accommodation portion 35 . in the first embodiment, the airbag 41 is ejected to a position above the side portion 15 and beside the headrest 16 . the passage portion 42 of the airbag 41 is deployed and inflated forward and rearward. when reaching the front end 42 f of the passage portion 42 , the inflation gas that flows forward within the passage portion 42 is supplied to the front inflation portion 44 . the front inflation portion 44 is deployed and inflated at a position forward of the head ph from the front end 42 f and away from the accommodation portion 35 in the width direction. the front inflation portion 44 wraps around the head ph by being deployed and inflated in the width direction in the region from the front end 42 f to the center line cl and in the region beyond the center line cl. the front inflation portion 44 restrains the head ph, restricting forward movement of the head ph. since the distal end of the front inflation portion 44 is located at a position closer to the side portion 14 than the center line cl, the first embodiment restricts forward movement of the head ph more effectively than that described in the prior art. thus, even if the occupant p 1 starts moving forward due to inertia of the impact force applied to the land vehicle 10 , that movement is properly restricted by the front inflation portion 44 restraining the head ph. in the first embodiment, the airbag module abm is accommodated in the accommodation portion 35 as described above. the passage portion 42 and the front inflation portion 44 of the airbag 41 are deployed and inflated at positions close to the head ph of the occupant p 1 sitting in the front seat. thus, the forward movement of the head ph is prevented, so as to improve the occupant protection at an early stage regardless of the inclination angle of the seat back 13 . the above-described advantages are achieved shortly after an impact force is applied to the land vehicle 10 regardless of whether the seat back 13 is in an upright state or in a reclined state. in the first embodiment, the land vehicle seat 11 is the front seat. a rear land vehicle seat is disposed rearward of the land vehicle seat 11 . if another occupant is seated in the rear land vehicle seat, the above-described impact causes the head of the occupant in the rear land vehicle seat to start moving forward due to inertia. in this regard, in the first embodiment, when reaching the rear end 42 r of the passage portion 42 , the inflation gas that flows rearward within the passage portion 42 is supplied to the rear inflation portion 45 . the rear inflation portion 45 is deployed and inflated from a rear end 42 r of the passage portion 42 and away from the accommodation portion 35 in the width direction, at a position rearward of the headrest 16 . the headrest 16 is located forward of the rear inflation portion 45 , and the rear inflation portion 45 is restricted from moving forward by the headrest 16 . accordingly, the head of the occupant in the rear land vehicle seat is received from the front by the rear inflation portion 45 , so that the occupant is protected from the impact. also, the portion of the airbag 41 that is ejected from the accommodation portion 35 and is deployed and inflated in a position rearward of the seat back 13 prevents the portion that is ejected from the accommodation portion 35 and is deployed and inflated in a position in front of the seat back 13 from rotating about the accommodation portion 35 in a direction in which the front inflation portion 44 moves away from the headrest 16 (the clockwise direction as viewed in fig. 2 ). this is because the headrest 16 , which is located forward of the rear inflation portion 45 , prevents the portion of the airbag 41 that is ejected from the accommodation portion 35 and is deployed and inflated in a position rearward of the seat back 13 from rotating about the accommodation portion 35 toward the headrest 16 (the clockwise direction as viewed in fig. 2 ). as described above, the rear inflation portion 45 not only protects the head of the occupant in the rear land vehicle seat, but also contributes to the restraint of the head ph of the occupant p 1 in the front seat by the front inflation portion 44 . in a state in which the occupant p 1 is restrained to the land vehicle seat 11 by the seat belt device 20 , the restrained portion 28 of the shoulder belt portion 27 is located in the vicinity of the neck pn of the occupant p 1 . during the autonomous driving of the land vehicle 10 , the land vehicle seat 11 may be slightly rotated about the rotation axis, so that the seat back 13 is oriented diagonally forward of the land vehicle 10 . further, in a case in which the seat back 13 is oriented forward of the land vehicle 10 , the land vehicle 10 may receive an impact from a position diagonally forward. in either of these cases, the impact force may cause the restrained portion 28 to push the neck pn or to bite into the neck pn. in this regard, the airbag 41 of the first embodiment includes the projecting inflation portion 43 . when the airbag 41 is deployed and inflated, the projecting inflation portion 43 projects downward, pushing the restrained portion 28 downward. this pushing action generates friction between the restrained portion 28 and the projecting inflation portion 43 , thereby preventing the restrained portion 28 from approaching the neck pn. thus, as compared to a case in which the projecting inflation portion 43 is not provided, the restrained portion 28 is less likely to bite into the neck pn. particularly, in the first embodiment, the accommodation portion 35 is provided in the side portion 15 , which is one of the side portions 14 , 15 in the width direction and located on the same side as the restrained portion 28 , and the passage portion 42 is partially located above the restrained portion 28 . the projecting inflation portion 43 projects downward from the passage portion 42 , thereby pushing the restrained portion 28 downward as indicated by the arrow in fig. 3 . in this manner, the inflation gas is guided to the projecting inflation portion 43 via the passage portion 42 to cause the projecting inflation portion 43 to project downward. this eliminates the necessity for a structure for guiding the inflation gas to the projecting inflation portion 43 in the airbag 41 . second embodiment an airbag apparatus 40 according to a second embodiment will now be described with reference to fig. 4 . in the second embodiment, the accommodation portion 35 of the airbag module abm is provided in the side portion 14 , which is one of the side portions 14 , 15 of the seat back 13 in the width direction and is farther from the restrained portion 28 of the shoulder belt portion 27 . the long-dash double-short-dash line in fig. 4 schematically illustrates an airbag 41 , which has been ejected from the accommodation portion 35 and is deployed and inflated in a position beside the headrest 16 , while partially remaining in the accommodation portion 35 . the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment in that the airbag 41 includes a passage portion 42 , a front inflation portion 44 , and a rear inflation portion 45 . however, the passage portion 42 is continuous with a part of the airbag 41 that remains in the accommodation portion 35 , the position of which is different from the first embodiment. the passage portion 42 is deployed and inflated both forward and rearward on a side in the width direction opposite to that in the first embodiment, that is, in a position beside the headrest 16 that corresponds to the side portion 14 . accordingly, the rear inflation portion 45 and the front inflation portion 44 are deployed and inflated in directions opposite to those in the first embodiment. that is, the rear inflation portion 45 is deployed and inflated from the rear end 42 r of the passage portion 42 and away from the accommodation portion 35 in the width direction to a position rearward of the headrest 16 . also, the front inflation portion 44 is deployed and inflated from the front end 42 f of the passage portion 42 and away from the accommodation portion 35 in the width direction to a position forward of the head ph. the front inflation portion 44 wraps around the head ph by being deployed and inflated in the width direction in a region from the front end 42 f of the passage portion 42 to the center line cl and in a region beyond the center line cl. further, the airbag 41 includes an auxiliary inflation portion 46 located between the front inflation portion 44 and the rear inflation portion 45 . the auxiliary inflation portion 46 is deployed and inflated from an intermediate section in the front-rear direction of the passage portion 42 toward the restrained portion 28 through a gap between the head ph and the headrest 16 . the end of the auxiliary inflation portion 46 on the side opposite to the passage portion 42 is defined as a distal end. the distal end is located above the restrained portion 28 . the auxiliary inflation portion 46 includes a projecting inflation portion 43 , which projects downward from the distal end, thereby pushing the restrained portion 28 downward. the airbag 41 includes a delaying portion, which is configured to delay the deployment and the inflation of the auxiliary inflation portion 46 . the delaying portion includes, for example, a partition wall (not shown) with a vent hole. specifically, the auxiliary inflation portion 46 incorporates a partition wall (not shown), which has a vent hole, between the passage portion 42 and the distal end, and the partition wall divides the auxiliary inflation portion 46 into two or more chambers. when flowing from a chamber on the upstream side to a chamber on the downstream side, the inflation gas flows through the vent hole, so that its flow rate is regulated. the configuration, other than the above, is the same as the first embodiment. thus, in the second embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and detailed explanations are omitted. although the accommodation portion 35 is provided in the side portion 14 , which is one of the side portions 14 , 15 in the width direction and farther from the restrained portion 28 , the second embodiment achieves the same operations and advantages as the first embodiment. that is, as in the first embodiment, the passage portion 42 of the second embodiment is ejected from the accommodation portion 35 and is deployed and inflated forward and rearward in a position beside the headrest 16 . from the passage portion 42 , the auxiliary inflation portion 46 is deployed and inflated toward the restrained portion 28 through the gap between the head ph of the occupant p 1 and the headrest 16 . the inflation gas flows through the vent hole of the delaying portion, so that its flow rate is regulated. this delays the deployment and the inflation of the auxiliary inflation portion 46 . thus, the following advantages are achieved if an impact force is applied to the land vehicle 10 from ahead of the land vehicle seat 11 when the occupant p 1 is leaning the head ph against the headrest 16 . that is, when the occupant p 1 moves forward due to inertia so that the head ph moves forward and is spaced apart from the headrest 16 , the auxiliary inflation portion 46 can be deployed and inflated between the head ph and the headrest 16 . this reduces the force applied to the head ph due to the deployment and the inflation of the auxiliary inflation portion 46 as compared to a case in which the auxiliary inflation portion 46 is deployed and inflated without delay with the head ph leaning against the headrest 16 . also, the inflation gas in the passage portion 42 flows in the auxiliary inflation portion 46 , so as to be guided to the projecting inflation portion 43 at the distal end of the auxiliary inflation portion 46 . this inflation gas causes the projecting inflation portion 43 to project downward from the auxiliary inflation portion 46 and push the restrained portion 28 downward. this pushing action generates friction between the projecting inflation portion 43 and the restrained portion 28 , thereby preventing the restrained portion 28 from approaching the neck pn. this prevents the restrained portion 28 from biting into the neck pn. further, the head ph is held by the front inflation portion 44 and the auxiliary inflation portion 46 from the front and rear. the head ph is thus restrained from the front and rear. the forward and rearward movements of the head ph are restricted more effectively than in a case in which the auxiliary inflation portion 46 is not provided. this further reduces the load on the neck pn of the occupant p 1 . the above-described embodiments may be modified as follows. the above-described embodiments and the following modifications can be combined as long as the combined modifications remain technically consistent with each other. modifications related to seat belt device 20 the winder 24 may be provided in a portion of the seat back 13 that is different from the side portion 15 . also, the winder 24 may be provided in a portion of the land vehicle seat 11 that is different from the seat back 13 . modification related to accommodation portion 35 the accommodation portion 35 does not necessarily need to be located in the side portions 14 or 15 of the seat back 13 , but may be located in the headrest 16 . in this case, the airbag 41 is ejected to a position beside the headrest 16 from the accommodation portion 35 while partially remaining in the accommodation portion 35 . modification related to gas generator 50 the gas generator 50 may be disposed in any manner different from that in the first and second embodiments as long as at least the gas outlet is disposed inside the airbag 41 . for example, only a part of the gas generator 50 that includes the gas outlet may be accommodated in the airbag 41 . modifications related to airbag 41 the region in which the front inflation portion 44 is deployed and inflated may be changed as long as it extends in the width direction and includes a region from the front end 42 f of the passage portion 42 to the center line cl and a region beyond the center line cl. when the distal end of the front inflation portion 44 is located at a position close to the center line cl in the region beyond the center line cl, the front inflation portion 44 is shortest. the distance of the distal end of the front inflation portion 44 from the center line cl may be increased on the side corresponding to the side portion 14 in the first embodiment. also, the distance of the distal end of the front inflation portion 44 from the center line cl may be increased on the side corresponding to the side portion 15 in the second embodiment. in these cases, as the length of the front inflation portion 44 is increased, the following advantage is expected. even if the land vehicle seat 11 is rotated about a rotation axis extending in the up-down direction, or even if an impact force is applied to the land vehicle 10 from a position diagonally forward of the land vehicle seat 11 , the head ph is reliably received by the front inflation portion 44 . this restricts movement of the head ph in the direction of the impact force. the front inflation portion 44 may include a portion that is deployed and inflated rearward from the distal end. in this case, the added portion of the front inflation portion 44 and the passage portion 42 hold the head ph in the width direction of the seat back 13 , so that movement in the width direction of the head ph is restricted more effectively. also, when the land vehicle seat 11 is rotated about a rotation axis extending in the up-down direction, or when an impact force is applied to the land vehicle 10 from a position diagonally forward of the land vehicle seat 11 , the head ph is protected from the impact more effectively. the length in the width direction of the rear inflation portion 45 may be equal to or different from the length in the width direction of the front inflation portion 44 . substantially the entire airbag 41 may be configured to be inflated as in the first and second embodiments, but may also partially include a non-inflation portion, which is neither supplied with inflation gas nor inflated. the airbag 41 may be configured such that the inside of the passage portion 42 is divided into two or more chambers (inflation chambers). the same modification can be applied to the front inflation portion 44 or to the rear inflation portion 45 . the position of the projecting inflation portion 43 in the airbag 41 may be changed from the region above the restrained portion 28 to a region between the restrained portion 28 and the neck pn. fig. 5 illustrates a modification in which the projecting inflation portion 43 is provided at the corresponding position in the auxiliary inflation portion 46 of the second embodiment. in this modification, the projecting inflation portion 43 projects downward into the gap between the restrained portion 28 and the neck pn. the part of the projecting inflation portion 43 in the gap functions as a barrier. the restrained portion 28 contacts the projecting inflation portion 43 so as to be prevented from approaching the neck pn. thus, in this case also, the restrained portion 28 is prevented from biting into the neck pn as in the second embodiment. although not illustrated, the position of the projecting inflation portion 43 may be changed to the region between the restrained portion 28 and the neck pn in fig. 2 , which illustrates the first embodiment. in this case also, the restrained portion 28 is prevented from biting into the neck pn. the projecting inflation portion 43 may be omitted from the first embodiment if the restrained portion 28 biting into the neck pn is not an issue or can be prevented by other means. the same modification can be applied to the second embodiment. applicability the airbag apparatus 40 may be used for a land vehicle seat in which the headrest 16 and the seat back 13 are integrated. the above-described airbag apparatus 40 can be employed not only in the land vehicle seat 11 , which includes a front seat of the land vehicle 10 , but also in a rear land vehicle seat. vehicles in which the above-described airbag apparatus 40 can be employed include various industrial vehicles in addition to private cars. the above-described airbag apparatus 40 may also be applied to an airbag apparatus installed in seats in vehicles other than the land vehicle 10 , including aircraft and ships. other modifications the controller 52 may be changed to have a configuration that outputs an activation signal to the gas generator 50 when the controller 52 predicts that an impact force will be applied to the land vehicle 10 from ahead of the land vehicle seat 11 . the airbag apparatus 40 is particularly advantageous when employed in the land vehicle 10 , which has the autonomous driving feature, but may be employed in a manually operated normal land vehicle. even in this case, the forward movement of the head ph is prevented, so that the occupant protection is improved. in a case in which the airbag apparatus 40 is employed in a land vehicle that does not have the autonomous driving feature, the winder 24 may be located outside the land vehicle seat. also, in a land vehicle like a two-seater coupe, in which the anchor of a seat belt device is located above and diagonally rearward of the seat back, a belt guide may be provided at a position above the side portion corresponding to the anchor. the above-described airbag apparatus can be employed in this land vehicle seat. in this case, the seat belt of the seat belt device is extracted from a winder located outside the land vehicle seat. the seat belt is passed through the belt guide from behind via the anchor and is guided to a position in front of the seat back. therefore, the same operation and advantages as those in the first and second embodiments are achieved. various changes in form and details may be made to the examples above without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents. the examples are for the sake of description only, and not for purposes of limitation. descriptions of features in each example are to be considered as being applicable to similar features or aspects in other examples. suitable results may be achieved if sequences are performed in a different order, and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined differently, and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents. the scope of the disclosure is not defined by the detailed description, but by the claims and their equivalents. all variations within the scope of the claims and their equivalents are included in the disclosure.
|
002-791-564-841-697
|
JP
|
[
"US",
"JP",
"CN",
"EP",
"WO"
] |
H04N5/378,A61B1/00,G02B23/24,H04L7/04,A61B1/04,H04L7/00,H04N7/18,G02B23/26,H04L25/14
| 2012-05-24T00:00:00 |
2012
|
[
"H04",
"A61",
"G02"
] |
image data receiving apparatus and image data transmission system
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an image data receiving apparatus includes: a first receiving section that receives a first signal including serial data according to image data; a second receiving section that receives a second signal including serial data that is different from the serial data included in the first signal; a first conversion section that converts the serial data included in the first signal into parallel data and outputs the parallel data; a second conversion section that converts the serial data included in the second signal into parallel data and outputs the parallel data; a bit drift amount detecting section that obtains information indicating a degree of drift of the parallel data outputted from the second conversion section from a predetermined bit pattern; and a bit shifting section that shifts the parallel data outputted from the first conversion section according to the information obtained by the bit drift amount detecting section.
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1. an image data receiving apparatus comprising: a first receiving section that receives a first signal from an image pickup apparatus, the first signal including serial data that is converted from image data obtained as a result of an image of an object being picked up by the image pickup apparatus, based on an operation clock according to a predetermined clock signal; a second receiving section that receives a second signal from the image pickup apparatus, the second signal including second serial data that is different from the serial data included in the first signal, the second serial data being converted from a second clock signal generated according to the clock signal; a first serial/parallel conversion section that converts the serial data included in the first signal received by the first receiving section into first parallel data and outputs the first parallel data; a second serial/parallel conversion section that converts the second serial data included in the second signal received by the second receiving section into second parallel data and outputs the second parallel data; a bit drift amount detecting section that obtains information indicating a degree of drift of each bit value included in the second parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section from each corresponding bit value in a predetermined bit pattern, based on the second parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section and the predetermined bit pattern; and a bit shifting section that performs bit shifting of the first parallel data outputted from the first serial/parallel conversion section according to the information obtained from the bit drift amount detecting section. 2. the image data receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a control section that, based on the serial data included in the first signal received by the first receiving section, performs control for adjusting an amount of emphasis added to the first signal to be transmitted to the first receiving section and a receiving timing for the first receiving section to receive the first signal, respectively, so that a period in which the first receiving section can normally receive a predetermined data string has a value equal to or exceeding a predetermined threshold value. 3. the image data receiving apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, upon receipt of a differential transmission signal including a predetermined data string from the image pickup apparatus, the first receiving section adjusts a bias voltage applied to the received differential transmission signal so that a period in which the predetermined data string can normally be received becomes maximum. 4. an image data transmission system comprising: an image data sending apparatus including an image pickup section that picks up an image of an object to obtain image data, a first sending section that sends a first signal including serial data that is converted from the image data based on an operation clock according to a predetermined clock signal, and a second sending section that sends a second signal including second serial data that is different from the serial data included in the first signal, the second serial data being converted from a second clock signal generated according to the clock signal; and an image data receiving apparatus including a first receiving section that receives the first signal sent from the first sending section, a second receiving section that receives the second signal sent from the second sending section, a first serial/parallel conversion section that converts the serial data included in the first signal received by the first receiving section into first parallel data and outputs the first parallel data, a second serial/parallel conversion section that converts the second serial data included in the second signal received by the second receiving section into second parallel data and outputs the second parallel data, a bit drift amount detecting section that obtains information indicating a degree of drift of each bit value included in the second parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section from each corresponding bit value in a predetermined bit pattern, based on the second parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section and the predetermined bit pattern, and a bit shifting section that performs bit shifting of the first parallel data outputted from the first serial/parallel conversion section according to the information obtained by the bit drift amount detecting section. 5. the image data transmission system according to claim 4 , wherein the image data receiving apparatus further includes a control section that, based on the serial data included in the first signal received by the first receiving section, performs control for adjusting an amount of emphasis added to the first signal sent from the first sending section and a receiving timing for the first receiving section to receive the first signal, respectively, so that a period in which the first receiving section can normally receive a predetermined data string has a value equal to or exceeding a predetermined threshold value. 6. the image data transmission system according to claim 4 , wherein upon receipt of a differential transmission signal including a predetermined data string from the image data sending apparatus, the first receiving section adjusts a bias voltage applied to the received differential transmission signal so that a period in which the predetermined data string can normally be received becomes maximum. 7. the image data transmission system according to claim 4 , wherein if data for one pixel included in the image data has n bits, the image data sending apparatus sets a transmission rate of the second signal sent from the second sending section to be 1/n of a transmission rate of the first signal sent from the first sending section. 8. the image data transmission system according to claim 4 , wherein when respective electrical connection sections provided in the image data sending apparatus and the image data receiving apparatus are connected, whether or not an abnormality exists in any of the electrical connection sections is detected and if an abnormality in any of the electrical connection sections is detected, a notification of occurrence of the abnormality in electrical connection between the image data sending apparatus and the image data receiving apparatus is provided.
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cross reference to related application this application is a continuation application of pct/jp2013/063803 filed on may 17, 2013 and claims benefit of japanese application no. 2012-118777 filed in japan on may 24, 2012, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference. background of the invention 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to an image data receiving apparatus and an image data transmission system, and specifically relates to an image data receiving apparatus and an image data transmission system for transmission of image data obtained as a result of an image of an object being picked up. 2. description of the related art endoscope systems including, as a main part thereof, an endoscope that picks up an image of an object in a subject to obtain an image and an endoscope signal processing apparatus that performs various types of signal processing on the image obtained by the endoscope have conventionally been used. also for endoscope systems such as described above, for example, a configuration such as disclosed in japanese patent application laid-open publication no. 2009-233178 in which a/d conversion processing for an analog image obtained as a result of an image of an object being picked up is performed inside the endoscope and digital data (image data) obtained as a result of the a/d conversion processing is transmitted to the endoscope signal processing apparatus is increasingly employed in recent years. more specifically, japanese patent application laid-open publication no. 2009-233178 discloses a configuration in which a/d conversion processing for an analog picked-up image signal obtained as a result of an image of an object being picked up is performed inside an endoscope and a digital signal obtained as a result of the a/d conversion processing is transmitted to an endoscope signal processing apparatus as a digital transmission signal. summary of the invention an image data receiving apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a first receiving section that receives a first signal from an image pickup apparatus, the first signal including serial data generated according to image data obtained as a result of an image of an object being picked up by the image pickup apparatus; a second receiving section that receives a second signal from the image pickup apparatus, the second signal including other serial data that is different from the serial data included in the first signal; a first serial/parallel conversion section that converts the serial data included in the first signal received by the first receiving section into parallel data and outputs the parallel data; a second serial/parallel conversion section that converts the serial data included in the second signal received by the second receiving section into parallel data and outputs the parallel data; a bit drift amount detecting section that obtains information indicating a degree of drift of each bit value included in the parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section from each corresponding bit value in a predetermined bit pattern, based on the parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section and the predetermined bit pattern; and a bit shifting section that performs bit shifting of the parallel data outputted from the first serial/parallel conversion section according to the information obtained from the bit drift amount detecting section. an image data transmission system according to an aspect of the present invention includes: an image data sending apparatus including an image pickup section that picks up an image of an object to obtain image data, a first sending section that sends a first signal including serial data generated according to the image data, and a second sending section that sends a second signal including other serial data that is different from the serial data included in the first signal; and an image data receiving apparatus including a first receiving section that receives the first signal sent from the first sending section, a second receiving section that receives the second signal sent from the second sending section, a first serial/parallel conversion section that converts the serial data included in the first signal received by the first receiving section into parallel data and outputs the parallel data, a second serial/parallel conversion section that converts the serial data included in the second signal received by the second receiving section into parallel data and outputs the parallel data, a bit drift amount detecting section that obtains information indicating a degree of drift of each bit value included in the parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section from each corresponding bit value in a predetermined bit pattern, based on the parallel data outputted from the second serial/parallel conversion section and the predetermined bit pattern, and a bit shifting section that performs bit shifting of the parallel data outputted from the first serial/parallel conversion section according to the information obtained by the bit drift amount detecting section. brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of an image data transmission system including an image data receiving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; fig. 2 is a flowchart for describing an example of control performed by a sending/receiving control section according to the present embodiment; fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration that can be incorporated into a receiving circuit according to the present embodiment; and fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a connection interface that can be employed in the image data transmission system according to the present embodiment. detailed description of the preferred embodiments an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. figs. 1 and 2 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of an image data transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention. as illustrated in fig. 1 , an image pickup system 101 is configured as an image data transmission system including an image pickup apparatus 1 including, e.g., a camera head of a videoscope or a rigid endoscope, and a camera control unit (hereinafter referred to as “ccu”) 2 that sends/receives various types of signals and data to/from the image pickup apparatus 1 . the image pickup apparatus 1 having a function as an image data sending apparatus includes an image pickup section 11 , a timing generator 12 , a frequency multiplying section 13 , a frequency dividing circuit 14 , p/s (parallel/serial) conversion sections 15 a and 15 b, sending circuits 16 a and 16 b, and an emphasis adjusting section 17 . the image pickup section 11 includes an image pickup device 11 a that includes, e.g., a ccd, and an a/d (analog/digital) conversion section 11 b. the image pickup device 11 a is configured so that the image pickup device 11 a is driven in response to an hd (horizontal drive) signal and a vd (vertical drive) signal outputted from the timing generator 12 , photoelectrically converts (picks up) an image of an object formed on a light receiving surface via a non-illustrated optical system and outputs an analog picked-up image signal (obtain an image). the a/d conversion section 11 b is configured so as to sample the picked-up image signal outputted from the image pickup device 11 a every predetermined period of time to convert a signal level of each pixel in the picked-up image signal into digital data including a predetermined number of bits each having a bit value of 0 or 1 and output the digital data. in other words, the image pickup section 11 is configured so that the image pickup section 11 can pick up an image of an object to obtain an image and obtain digital data (image data) of the image. the timing generator 12 generates an hd signal and a vd signal for determining a timing for driving the image pickup device 11 a , based on a clock signal and a synchronization signal outputted from the ccu 2 , and outputs the hd signal and the vd signal. the frequency multiplying section 13 has an error detection function that can detect an error in the clock signal outputted from the ccu 2 . the frequency multiplying section 13 is configured so as to reset the clock signal based on a result of error detection by the error detection function, multiply a frequency of the reset clock signal by a predetermined magnification, and output the multiplied clock signal to each of the frequency dividing circuit 14 , the p/s conversion section 15 a and the sending circuit 16 a. the frequency dividing circuit 14 is configured so as to divide the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 according to the number of bits for one pixel in the digital data outputted from the image pickup section 11 to generate a frequency-divided clock signal and output the frequency-divided clock signal to the p/s conversion section 15 b. more specifically, the frequency dividing circuit 14 is configured so as to, for example, where n-bit data is outputted from the image pickup section 11 as data for one pixel, output a frequency-divided clock signal generated as a result of the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 being divided by n to the p/s conversion section 15 b. the p/s conversion section 15 a includes, e.g., a serializer and is configured so as to convert respective bit values in the digital data outputted (in parallel) from the image pickup section 11 into serial data based on an operation clock according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 and output the serial data to the sending circuit 16 a. the p/s conversion section 15 b includes, e.g., a serializer, and is configured so as to convert the frequency-divided clock signal outputted from the frequency dividing circuit 14 into serial data and output the serial data to the sending circuit 16 b. the sending circuit 16 a includes, e.g., a buffer and a driver, and is configured so as to convert the digital data outputted (serially) from the p/s conversion section 15 a into a differential transmission signal of a predetermined format such as an lvds format. also, the sending circuit 16 a includes an emphasis adjusting section 17 that can adjust an amount of emphasis for a differential transmission signal to be sent to a receiving circuit 24 a (which will be described later) in the ccu 2 , based on a control signal outputted from a sending/receiving control section 28 (which will be described later) in the ccu 2 . according to the above-described configuration of the sending circuit 16 a, it is possible that: digital data outputted (serially) from the p/s conversion section 15 a is converted into a differential transmission signal of a predetermined format; the differential transmission signal resulting from the conversion is subjected to a modulation to add an amount of emphasis set in advance by control performed by the sending/receiving control section 28 (which will be described later) to the differential transmission signal; and furthermore, the differential transmission signal subjected to the modulation is sent to the ccu 2 at a transmission rate according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 . the sending circuit 16 b includes, e.g., a buffer and a driver, and is configured so as to convert the frequency-divided clock signal (that has been converted into serial data) outputted from the p/s conversion section 15 b into a differential transmission signal of a predetermined format such as the lvds format and send the differential transmission signal to the ccu 2 . according to the above-described configurations of the frequency dividing circuit 14 , the sending circuit 16 a and the sending circuit 16 b, a transmission rate of the differential transmission signal outputted from the sending circuit 16 b is set to be a 1/n of a transmission rate of the differential transmission signal outputted from the sending circuit 16 a. on the other hand, the ccu 2 having a function as an image data receiving apparatus includes a clock generating section 21 , a synchronization signal generating section 22 , a frequency multiplying section 23 , receiving circuits 24 a and 24 b, s/p (serial/parallel) conversion sections 25 a and 25 b, a bit drift amount detecting section 26 , a bit shifting section 27 , the sending/receiving control section 28 and a clock phase adjusting section 29 . the clock generating section 21 generates a clock signal having a predetermined frequency, which is used for operation of respective components of the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 , and outputs the clock signal to the image pickup apparatus 1 and the synchronization signal generating section 22 . the synchronization signal generating section 22 generates a synchronization signal used for generation of an hd signal and a vd signal, based on the clock signal outputted from the clock generating section 21 , and outputs the synchronization signal to the image pickup apparatus 1 . the frequency multiplying section 23 is configured so as to multiply a frequency of the clock signal outputted from the clock generating section 21 by a predetermined magnification (equal to the magnification in the frequency multiplying section 13 ) and output the multiplied clock signal to the receiving circuit 24 a and the s/p conversion section 25 a. the receiving circuit 24 a includes, e.g., a pulse transformer, and is configured so as to receive the differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a in the image pickup apparatus 1 , based on an operation clock according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 23 . also, the receiving circuit 24 a is configured so as to convert the differential transmission signal that has been modulated as described above into (serial) digital data and output the digital data resulting from the conversion to the s/p conversion section 25 a and the sending/receiving control section 28 . furthermore, the receiving circuit 24 a includes a clock phase adjusting section 29 that can adjust a phase of an operation clock that determines a timing for receiving the differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a, based on a control signal outputted from the sending/receiving control section 28 . according to the above-described configuration of the receiving circuit 24 a, it is possible that a differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a in the image pickup apparatus 1 is received based on an operation clock according to a frequency of a clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 23 at a timing corresponding to a phase of the clock signal, the phase being set in advance by the control performed by the sending/receiving control section 28 . the receiving circuit 24 b includes, e.g., a pulse transformer, and is configured so as to receive the differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 b in the image pickup apparatus 1 , and restore a frequency-divided clock signal according to the received differential transmission signal as serial data and output the frequency-divided clock signal to the s/p conversion section 25 b. the s/p conversion section 25 a includes, e.g., a deserializer, and is configured so as to convert respective bit values in the digital data outputted (serially) from the receiving circuit 24 a into parallel data at an operation rate according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 23 and output the parallel data to the bit shifting section 27 . the s/p conversion section 25 b includes, e.g., a deserializer, and is configured to as to convert the frequency-divided clock signal (that has been converted into serial data) outputted from the receiving circuit 24 b into parallel data and output the parallel data to the bit drift amount detecting section 26 . the bit drift amount detecting section 26 holds a predetermined bit pattern including a number of bits, the number being equal to that of the frequency-divided clock signal (that has been converted into parallel data) outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 b. then, the bit drift amount detecting section 26 compares the aforementioned predetermined bit pattern and the frequency-divided clock signal outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 b to detect a bit drift amount indicating a degree of drift of the respective bit values included in the frequency-divided clock signal (that has been converted into parallel data) outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 b from the respective bit values included in the predetermined bit pattern and output information on the detected bit drift amount to the bit shifting section 27 . the bit shifting section 27 is configured so that the bit shifting section 27 can perform correction processing for shifting the respective bit values included in the parallel data outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 a according to the bit drift amount information outputted from the bit drift amount detecting section 26 , and output the parallel data subjected to the correction processing to an image processing circuit (not illustrated) positioned downstream of the ccu 2 . also, the bit shifting section 27 is configured so as not to, based on the bit drift amount information outputted from the bit drift amount detecting section 26 , if it is detected that the bit drift amount is zero, perform correction processing on the parallel data outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 a but output the parallel data outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 a directly to the image processing circuit (not illustrated). the sending/receiving control section 28 is configured to generate a control signal for controlling the sending circuit 16 a and the receiving circuit 24 a based on the digital data (serially) outputted from the receiving circuit 24 a and output the control signal. note that details of the control performed by the sending/receiving control section 28 for the sending circuit 16 a and the receiving circuit 24 a will be described later. next, operation, etc., of the image pickup system 101 according to the present embodiment will be described below. note that hereinafter, except where specifically noted, the description will be provided taking a case where eight-bit data is generated as data for one pixel as an example. fig. 2 is a flowchart for describing an example of control performed by a sending/receiving control section according to the present embodiment. first, substantially immediately after application of power to the respective components in the image pickup system 101 , a clock signal generated by the clock generating section 21 is sent to the frequency multiplying sections 13 and 23 , the clock signal multiplied by the frequency multiplying section 13 is outputted to the sending circuit 16 a, and the clock signal multiplied by the frequency multiplying section 23 is outputted to the receiving circuit 24 a. subsequently, the sending/receiving control section 28 sends a control signal for starting sending of a predetermined data string including predetermined bit values to the sending circuit 16 a (step s 1 in fig. 2 ), and also sends a control signal for sequentially varying a phase of an operation clock that determines a timing for receiving a differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a (by means of operation of the clock phase adjusting section 29 ) to the receiving circuit 24 a (step s 2 in fig. 2 ). the sending/receiving control section 28 compares digital data sequentially outputted from the receiving circuit 24 a along with the variation of the operation clock phase by the clock phase adjusting section 29 , and the predetermined data string sent by means of control of the sending circuit 16 a to measure a phase margin as a phase range in which the predetermined data string can normally be received by the receiving circuit 24 a, and determines whether or not the measured phase margin is equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold value (step s 3 in fig. 2 ). then, if a result of the determination in step s 3 in fig. 2 is that the phase margin is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the sending/receiving control section 28 sends a control signal for increasing an amount of emphasis to be added to the differential transmission signal (by means of operation of the emphasis adjusting section 17 ) by a predetermined amount to the sending circuit 16 a (step s 4 in fig. 2 ) and then returns to step s 2 in fig. 2 and performs the processing, etc. also, if a result of the determination in step s 3 in fig. 2 is that the phase margin is equal to or exceeds the predetermined threshold value, the sending/receiving control section 28 sends a control signal for setting the phase of the operation clock (timing for receiving the differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a) so that the phase becomes a center value in a range of phase margin measured immediately before obtainment of the determination result, to the receiving circuit 24 a (step s 5 in fig. 2 ), and sends a control signal for adding the emphasis amount immediately before obtainment of the determination result, to the differential transmission signal to the sending circuit 16 a and then sends a control signal for stopping the sending of the predetermined data string, to the sending circuit 16 a (step s 6 in fig. 2 ). then, as a result of a series of control indicated in fig. 2 being performed, a signal level of the differential transmission signal outputted from the sending circuit 16 a can be set to a proper signal level according to a transmission distance from the image pickup apparatus 1 to the ccu 2 , and as a result, power consumption for differential transmission signal transmission can be optimized for each of various combinations of an image pickup apparatus 1 and a ccu 2 . on the other hand, after the series of control indicated in fig. 2 being performed, a clock signal generated by the clock generating section 21 and a synchronization signal generated by the synchronization signal generating section 22 are outputted to the timing generator 12 . the timing generator 12 generates an hd signal and a vd signal for determining a timing for driving the image pickup device 11 a , based on the clock signal and the synchronization signal outputted from the ccu 2 , and outputs the hd signal and the vd signal. the image pickup device 11 a is driven in response to the hd signal and the vd signal supplied from the timing generator 12 to pick up an image of an object and outputs an analog picked-up image signal. the a/d conversion section 11 b samples the picked-up image signal outputted from the image pickup device 11 a every predetermined period of time to convert a signal level of each pixel in the picked-up image signal into eight-bit digital data and output the eight-bit digital data. the frequency dividing circuit 14 outputs a frequency-divided clock signal generated by dividing a frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 by eight, to the p/s conversion section 15 b. the p/s conversion section 15 a serializes respective bit values in the eight-bit digital data outputted (in parallel) from the image pickup section 11 , based on an operation clock according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 , and outputs the serialized bit values to the sending circuit 16 a. the p/s conversion section 15 b converts the frequency-divided clock signal outputted from the frequency dividing circuit 14 into serial data and outputs the serial data to the sending circuit 16 b. the sending circuit 16 a converts the digital data (serially) outputted from the p/s conversion section 15 a into a differential transmission signal of a predetermined format, and performs a modulation to add the amount of emphasis set through the series of control indicated in fig. 2 to the differential transmission signal resulting from the conversion, and sends the differential transmission signal subjected to the modulation to the receiving circuit 24 a at a transmission rate according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 13 . the sending circuit 16 b converts the frequency-divided clock signal (that has been converted into serial data) outputted from the p/s conversion section 15 b into a differential transmission signal of a predetermined format such as the lvds format and sends the differential transmission signal to the receiving circuit 24 b. the receiving circuit 24 a receives the differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a in the image pickup apparatus 1 at a receiving timing corresponding to an operation clock according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 23 , the receiving timing being set through the series of control indicated in fig. 2 , converts the received differential transmission signal into (serial) digital data, and outputs the digital data resulting from the conversion to the s/p conversion section 25 a. the receiving circuit 24 b receives the differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 b in the image pickup apparatus 1 , and restores a frequency-divided clock signal according to the received differential transmission signal as serial data and outputs the serial data to the s/p conversion section 25 b. the s/p conversion section 25 a converts the respective bit values in the digital data outputted (serially) from the receiving circuit 24 a into parallel data at an operation speed according to the frequency of the clock signal outputted from the frequency multiplying section 23 and outputs the parallel data to the bit shifting section 27 . the s/p conversion section 25 b converts the frequency-divided clock signal (that has been converted into serial data) outputted from the receiving circuit 24 a into parallel data and outputs the parallel data to the bit drift amount detecting section 26 . the bit drift amount detecting section 26 compares the eight-bit predetermined bit pattern, and the frequency-divided clock signal outputted by eight bits by the s/p conversion section 25 b to detect a bit drift amount indicating a degree of drift of the respective bit values included in the frequency-divided clock signal outputted from the s/p conversion section 25 b from the respective bit values included in the predetermined bit pattern, and outputs information on the detected bit drift amount to the bit shifting section 27 . the bit shifting section 27 performs correction processing for shifting the respective bit values included in the parallel data outputted by eight bits from the s/p conversion section 25 a, according to the bit drift amount information outputted from the bit drift amount detecting section 26 , and outputs the parallel data subjected to the correction processing to the image processing circuit (not illustrated). more specifically, based on the bit drift amount information outputted from the bit drift amount detecting section 26 , for example, if it is detected that a one-bit drift occurs, the bit shifting section 27 performs correction processing for shifting, by one bit, the respective bit values in the eight-bit parallel data inputted at the timing when the occurrence of the drift was detected, and outputs the parallel data subjected to the correction processing to the image processing circuit (not illustrated). then, the processing and operation described above are performed in, e.g., the bit shifting section 27 , enabling parallel data subjected to correction processing (parallel data with the bits shifted) for proper synchronization between the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 to be outputted to the image processing circuit (not illustrated) positioned downstream of the ccu 2 . as described above, according to the present embodiment, when a differential transmission signal is sent from the sending circuit 16 a to the receiving circuit 24 a, data such as a synchronization pattern used for synchronization between the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 is not superimposed on the differential transmission signal. as a result, the present embodiment enables enhancement of signal quality when a signal including image data is received compared to the conventional techniques. also, as described above, the present embodiment enables the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 to be properly synchronized without superimposing data such as a synchronization pattern on a differential transmission signal to be sent from the sending circuit 16 a to the receiving circuit 24 a. also, as described above, according to the present embodiment, correction processing (bit shifting) for properly synchronizing the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 is performed in the bit shifting section 27 at every timing of bit drift amount information being outputted from the bit drift amount detecting section 26 . as a result, according to the present embodiment, even if a sudden bit drift occurs due to, e.g., a disturbance, the bit drift can immediately be corrected, enabling a period in which the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 are not properly synchronized to be minimized. note that the receiving circuit 24 a in the present embodiment may include, for example, the components such as illustrated in fig. 3 so that the receiving circuit 24 a can receive digital data (image data) with duty cycle distortion occurring in a differential transmission signal suppressed while a transition time period restriction on the differential transmission signal is eased. fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration that can be incorporated into a receiving circuit according to the present embodiment. more specifically, for example, as illustrated in fig. 3 , the receiving circuit 24 a in the present embodiment may include an isolation circuit 241 to which a differential transmission signal sent from the sending circuit 16 a is inputted, a biasing circuit 242 connected downstream of the isolation circuit 241 , a terminal circuit 243 connected downstream of the biasing circuit 242 , a d/s (differential/single-end) conversion circuit 244 that converts the differential transmission signal that has passed through the terminal circuit 243 into a single-end signal, a data receiving section 245 that receives digital data according to the single-end signal outputted from the d/s conversion circuit 244 , and a receiving control section 246 , and a d/a conversion circuit 247 . the biasing circuit 242 includes a resistance r 1 connected so as to apply a bias voltage corresponding to a power supply voltage vcc to one signal wire (hereinafter also referred to as “first signal wire”) of two signal wires for differential transmission signal transmission, a resistance r 2 connected between the first signal wire and a ground voltage gnd, a resistance r 3 connected so as to apply a bias voltage according to an output voltage of the d/a conversion circuit 247 to the other signal wire (hereinafter also referred to as “second signal wire”) of the two signal wires, and a resistance r 4 connected between the second signal wire and the ground voltage gnd. the terminal circuit 243 includes a terminal resistance r 5 connected between the first signal wire and the ground voltage gnd, and a terminal resistance r 6 connected between the second signal wire and the ground voltage gnd. the receiving control section 246 is configured so that the receiving control section 246 can output a control signal for changing the bias voltage applied to the second signal wire by the biasing circuit 242 , to the d/a conversion circuit 247 . along with a change in output voltage of the d/a conversion circuit 247 in response to the control signal outputted from the receiving control section 246 , the bias voltage applied to the second signal wire via the resistance r 3 in the biasing circuit 242 is changed. also, the receiving control section 246 is configured so that the receiving control section 246 can measure a phase margin for the data receiving section 245 where an arbitrary bias voltage is applied to the second signal wire in the biasing circuit 242 , for example, by performing operation to determine whether or not the data receiving section 245 can normally receive digital data while a phase of an operation clock in the data receiving section 245 is sequentially varied each time the aforementioned control signal is outputted to the d/a conversion circuit 247 . furthermore, the receiving control section 246 is configured so that the receiving control section 246 can, based on a result of the measurement of the phase margin described above, output a control signal for applying a bias voltage for maximizing the phase margin to the second signal wire in the biasing circuit 242 , to the d/a conversion circuit 247 . it is desirable that the operation of the receiving control section 246 for phase margin measurement and bias voltage change be performed, for example, as in the series of processing indicated in fig. 2 , using a predetermined data string sent from the sending circuit 16 a substantially immediately after application of power to the respective components of the image pickup system 101 . accordingly, the receiving circuit 24 a includes a configuration such as described above, enabling digital data (image data) to be received with duty cycle distortion, which occurs due to variations in the d/s conversion circuit 244 , suppressed while the transition time period restriction on a differential transmission signal is eased. according to the present embodiment, a connection interface configuration such as illustrated in fig. 4 may be employed to enable a user to be notified of occurrence of an abnormality in electrical connection between the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 before operation for, e.g., pickup of an image of an object. fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a connection interface configuration that can be employed in an image data transmission system according to the present embodiment. more specifically, according to the present embodiment, for example, a connection interface configuration in which an electrical connection section 301 such as illustrated in fig. 4 is provided around a connector (not illustrated) of an end portion of a cable extending out from the image pickup apparatus 1 and an electrical connection section 302 such as illustrated in fig. 4 is provided around an entry point (not illustrated) for the connector in the ccu 2 may be employed. the electrical connection section 301 includes a contact section 301 a including a plurality of electrical contacts, a relay switch section 301 b including a number of switches, the number being equal to the number of electrical contacts in the contact section 301 a, a connection control section 301 c that performs control for turning-on/off of the respective switches in the relay switch section 301 b, and a resistance r 11 connected to a node n 11 and the ground voltage gnd. the relay switch section 301 b is configured so that the relay switch section 301 b can make the respective switches operate to provide either a conductive state in which the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 301 a are connected to respective normal connection destinations or a non-conductive state in which the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 301 a are connected to respective other connection destinations that are different from the normal connection destinations, based on the control performed by the connection control section 301 c. also, the relay switch section 301 b is configured so as to maintain a non-conductive state if the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are not connected. the connection control section 301 c includes, e.g., a timer that starts operating according to a voltage applied to the node n 11 , and is configured to, if it is detected that a predetermined period of time has elapsed from a start of operation of the timer, perform control for changing the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 301 b from a non-conductive state to a conductive state. the electrical connection section 302 includes a contact section 302 a including a plurality of electrical contacts, a relay switch section 302 b including a number of switches, the number being equal to the number of electrical contacts in the contact section 302 a, a connection control section 302 c that performs control for turning-on/off of the respective switches in the relay switch section 302 b, and a resistance r 12 connected between a node n 12 and the power supply voltage vcc. the relay switch section 302 b is configured so that the relay switch section 302 b can make the respective switches operate to provide either a conductive state in which the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 302 a are connected to respective normal connection destinations or a non-conductive state in which the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 302 a are connected to respective other connection destinations that are different from the normal connection destinations, based on the control performed by the connection control section 302 c. also, the relay switch section 302 b is configured so as to maintain a non-conductive state, if the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are not connected. the connection control section 302 c is configured so as to perform control to, if it is detected that a voltage of the node n 12 is larger than a predetermined value th (<vcc) as a result of the voltage of the node n 12 being monitored, bring the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 302 b into a non-conductive state, and if it is detected that the voltage of the node n 12 is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value th, bring the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 302 b into a conductive state. on the other hand, as illustrated in fig. 4 , in the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 , wirings are provided so that if the contact sections 301 a and 302 a are connected with the relay switch sections 301 b and 302 b remained in a non-conductive state, the respective components existing at respective positions partway from the node n 11 to the node n 12 (the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 301 a, the respective switches in the relay switch section 301 b, the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 302 a and the respective switches in the relay switch section 302 b) are connected in series. therefore, when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected, voltages resulting from division according to a difference in potential between the power supply voltage vcc in the electrical connection section 302 and the ground voltage gnd in the electrical connection section 301 , respective resistance values of the resistances r 11 and r 12 , respective resistance values of the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 301 a, respective resistance values of the respective switches in the relay switch section 301 b, respective resistance values of the respective electrical contacts in the contact section 302 a, and respective resistance values of the respective switches in the relay switch section 302 b are respectively applied to the node n 11 and the node n 12 . here, the voltage applied to the node n 11 when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected decreases (becomes close to the voltage value of the ground potential) as the number of electrical contacts each having a resistance value increased by, e.g., formation of an oxide film from among the respective electrical contacts included in the contact sections 301 a and 302 a increases. therefore, if it is detected, as a result of the voltage of the node n 11 being monitored using the above-described timer, that the voltage applied to the node n 11 when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected is smaller than an operating voltage of the timer, the connection control section 301 c estimates that the number of electrical contacts each having a resistance value increased by, e.g., formation of an oxide film is equal to or exceeds a predetermined number, and performs control to maintain the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 301 b in a non-conductive state. also, if it is detected, as a result of the voltage of the node n 11 being monitored using the above-described timer, that a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the voltage applied to the node n 11 when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected becomes equal to or exceeds an operating voltage of the timer, the connection control section 301 c estimates that the number of electrical contacts each having a resistance values increased by, e.g., formation of an oxide film is smaller than the predetermined number, and performs control to switch the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 301 b from a non-conductive state to a conductive state. on the other hand, the voltage applied to the node n 12 when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected increases (becomes close to the voltage value of the power supply voltage vcc) as the number of electrical contacts each having a resistance value increased by, e.g., formation of an oxide film from among the respective electrical contacts included in the contact sections 301 a and 302 a increases. therefore, if it is detected, as a result of the voltage of the node n 12 being monitored, that the voltage applied to the node n 12 when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected is larger than the predetermined value th, the connection control section 302 c estimates that the number of electrical contacts each having a resistance value increased by, e.g., formation of an oxide film is equal to or exceeds the predetermined number, and performs control to bring the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 302 b into a non-conductive state, and generates a signal including information that can provide a notification that an abnormality occurs in electrical connection between the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 , and outputs the signal to the image processing circuit (not illustrated) (positioned downstream of the ccu 2 ). then, the signal including such information is subjected to image processing by the image processing circuit (not illustrated) and the signal resulting from the image processing is outputted to a display apparatus (not illustrated) such as a monitor, enabling a user to be notified of occurrence of the abnormality in the electrical connection between the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 . also, it is detected, as a result of the voltage of the node n 12 being monitored, that the voltage applied to the node n 12 when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value th, the connection control section 302 c estimates that the number of electrical contacts each having a resistance value increased by, e.g., formation of an oxide film is smaller than the predetermined number, and performs control to bring the state of (the respective switches in) the relay switch section 302 b to a conductive state. note that according to the above-described connection interface configuration, for example, it is possible that the voltage value of the power supply voltage vcc is adjusted according to, e.g., the total number of electrical contacts included in the contact sections 301 a and 302 a so that the oxide film can be broken when the electrical connection sections 301 and 302 are connected. according to the above-described connection interface configuration, a user can be notified of occurrence of an abnormality in the electrical connection between the image pickup apparatus 1 and the ccu 2 before operation for, e.g., pickup of an image of an object is performed, enabling suppression of use of the image pickup system 101 a number of time exceeding a durable number of times set in advance. the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it should be understood that various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention.
|
004-316-893-256-819
|
CN
|
[
"US",
"EP",
"WO"
] |
A47L15/42,A47L15/14
| 2018-01-17T00:00:00 |
2018
|
[
"A47"
] |
diverter valve assembly, dishwasher, and household appliance
|
a diverter valve assembly, a dishwasher, and a household appliance are disclosed. the diverter valve assembly has a housing and a diverter valve. a water diversion chamber is formed in the housing. the housing is provided with a water inlet, a water return port, a first water outlet, and a second water outlet. the diverter valve partitions the water diversion chamber into a first chamber and a second chamber. the first chamber is communicated with the water inlet. the diverter valve is rotatable in the water diversion chamber to selectively communicate the first chamber with the water inlet and the first water outlet and communicate the second chamber with the second water outlet and the water return port, or block the water inlet from the first water outlet and communicate the first chamber with the water inlet and the second water outlet.
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1 . a diverter valve assembly comprising: a housing defining a water diversion chamber in the housing, and provided with a water inlet, a water return port, a first water outlet, and a second water outlet; and a diverter valve provided in the water diversion chamber and capable of partitioning the water diversion chamber into a first water diversion chamber and a second water diversion chamber, wherein the first water diversion chamber is in communication with the water inlet, wherein the diverter valve is rotatable in the water diversion chamber to provide a first operational configuration of the diverter valve and a second operational configuration of the diverter valve, and wherein at the first the operational configuration, the first water diversion chamber is in communication with the water inlet and the first water outlet and the second water diversion chamber is in communication with the second water outlet and the water return port; and at the second operational configuration, the water inlet is blocked from the first water outlet and the first water diversion chamber is in communication with the water inlet and the second water outlet. 2 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the diverter valve comprises a first baffle, and the first baffle is capable of opening or closing the first water outlet when the diverter valve rotates. 3 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the first baffle is provided with a water through hole, and when the diverter valve rotates, the first baffle is capable of communicating the first water outlet with the first water diversion chamber by means of the water through hole. 4 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the diverter valve has a partition baffle, the partition baffle partitions the water diversion chamber into the first water diversion chamber and the second water diversion chamber, and the partition baffle is capable of rotating in the water diversion chamber to communicate the water inlet with the first water outlet or block the water inlet from the first water outlet. 5 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 4 , wherein the partition baffle comprises a baffle body and two baffle connecting pieces connected to both sides of the baffle body, and the two baffle connecting pieces are each attached to an inner wall of the water diversion chamber. 6 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 5 , wherein the baffle connecting pieces are arcuately connected to the inner wall of the water diversion chamber. 7 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the diverter valve comprises a second baffle, and the second baffle is capable of opening or closing the second water outlet when the diverter valve rotates. 8 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 7 , wherein a plurality of second water outlets are provided, a plurality of second baffles are provided, and the number of the second baffles is identical to the number of the second water outlets. 9 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 8 , wherein two second water outlets are provided, and two second baffles are provided; the two second water outlets are spaced apart from each other, and the two second baffles are spaced apart from each other. 10 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 7 , wherein the diverter valve comprises a fixing portion, and the second baffle is detachably mounted to the fixing portion. 11 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 10 , wherein: the housing is provided with a channel, and the channel is communicated with the second water outlet; the second baffle comprises a bottom plate and a first fitting portion extending upwards from the bottom plate; the fixing portion is formed with a second fitting portion fitted with the first fitting portion; and when the diverter valve rotates, the second baffle is capable of opening or closing an entrance of the channel through the bottom plate to open or close the second water outlet. 12 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the diverter valve comprises a third baffle, and the third baffle is capable of opening or closing the water return port when the diverter valve rotates. 13 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the diverter valve assembly comprises a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is connected to the diverter valve and configured to drive the diverter valve to rotate. 14 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 13 , wherein: the diverter valve assembly comprises a sensor; the driving mechanism comprises a driving portion and a transmission portion; the transmission portion is configured to connect the driving portion to the diverter valve and comprises a transmission member; and the sensor is configured to detect a position of the transmission member. 15 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 14 , wherein: the driving portion comprises an electric motor; the diverter valve comprises a driving rod, and the driving rod extends downwards from a top of the diverter valve; and the diverter valve is connected to the transmission member through the driving rod. 16 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a lower housing and an upper housing, and the lower housing is connected to the upper housing. 17 . the diverter valve assembly according to claim 16 , wherein: the lower housing is provided with the water inlet, the water return port, and the second water outlet; and the upper housing is provided with the first water outlet. 18 . a household appliance comprising: a diverter valve assembly according to claim 1 ; a chamber body defining a chamber therein; a spray arm at least partially provided in the chamber, the second water outlet being connected to the spray arm; and a heating device connected to the first water outlet and the water return port. 19 . a dishwasher comprising: a washing inner container provided with a washing outlet; at least one spray arm disposed in the washing inner container and provided with a spray inlet; a heating device configured to heat washing water, and having a to-be-heated water inlet and a heated water outlet; and a diverter valve provided with a water inlet, a first water outlet, a second water outlet, and a water return port, wherein the water inlet is connected to the washing outlet, the second water outlet is connected to the spray inlet, the first water outlet is connected to the to-be-heated water inlet, and the water return port is connected to the heated water outlet, wherein the dishwasher comprises at least two working modes: in a first mode, the water inlet of the diverter valve is communicated with the second water outlet; in a second mode, the water inlet of the diverter valve is communicated with the first water outlet, and the water return port is communicated with the second water outlet. 20 . the dishwasher according to claim 19 , wherein a plurality of spray arms are provided, and the spray inlet of each spray arm is communicated with the second water outlet. 21 . the dishwasher according to claim 19 , wherein a plurality of spray arms are provided, a plurality of second water outlets are provided, and each second water outlet is communicated with the spray inlet of at least one spray arm. 22 . the dishwasher according to claim 19 , wherein: a plurality of second water outlets are provided; in the first mode, the water inlet is selectively communicated with at least one second water outlet; and in the second mode, the water return port is selectively communicated with at least one second water outlet. 23 . the dishwasher according to claim 19 , wherein: two second water outlets are provided; in the first mode, the water inlet is communicated with one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets; and in the second mode, the water return port is communicated with one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets. 24 . the dishwasher according to claim 19 , wherein the spray arm comprises: a lower spray arm provided at a lower part inside the washing inner container; an upper spray arm provided at an upper part inside the washing inner container; and a middle spray arm provided at a middle part inside the washing inner container. 25 . the dishwasher according to claim 24 , wherein: two second water outlets are provided; a spray inlet of the lower spray arm is communicated with one of the second water outlets; and a spray inlet of the upper spray arm and a spray inlet of the middle spray arm are communicated with the other one of the second water outlets. 26 . the dishwasher according to claim 24 , wherein three second water outlets are provided, and the three second water outlets are connected to a spray inlet of the lower spray arm, a spray inlet of the upper spray arm, and a spray inlet of the middle spray arm, respectively. 27 . the dishwasher according to claim 19 , wherein the heating device comprises a compressor, a condenser, a throttling device, and an evaporator that are sequentially connected end to end to constitute a refrigerant cycle. 28 . the dishwasher according to claim 27 , wherein: the condenser defines a first liquid flow channel and a second liquid flow channel in the condenser; two ends of the first liquid flow channel are provided with the to-be-heated water inlet and the heated water outlet, respectively; and two ends of the second liquid flow channel are communicated with the compressor and the throttling device, respectively.
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cross-reference to related application this application claims priority to and benefits of chinese application no. 201811602422.0, filed with the cnipa on dec. 26, 2018, chinese application no. 201822224151.1, filed with the cnipa on dec. 26, 2018, chinese application no. 201820080881.6, filed with the cnipa on jan. 17, 2018, and chinese application no. 201810043908.9, filed with the cnipa on jan. 17, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. no new matter has been introduced. field the present disclosure relates to a technical field of household appliances, and more particularly to a diverter valve assembly, a dishwasher, and a household appliance. background generally, in order to improve a cleaning effect on tableware, a dishwasher may be usually provided with a heating device that heats washing water, so that high-temperature washing water can wash away contaminants on the tableware and supply heat to the tableware. therefore, the dishwasher system can obtain a high cleaning and drying rate in a short washing time. however, due to the structural limitation of the system, when the washing water passes through the heating device, the flow resistance in the water channel is large, which may cause spray pressure of a spray arm of the dishwasher to drop or cause power consumption of a washing pump to increase. only a part of the total washing time of the dishwasher involves the heating process. if the heating system is directly connected to the washing water circulation flow path, during a non-heating period, the loss due to the resistance when the water flows through the heating device may cause the spray pressure of the spray arm to decrease and the washing water flow to decrease, resulting in a poor washing effect. summary the present disclosure provides a diverter valve assembly, a dishwasher, and a household appliance. the diverter valve assembly according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes a housing and a diverter valve. the housing defines a water diversion chamber therein, and is provided with a water inlet, a water return port, a first water outlet, and a second water outlet. the diverter valve is disposed in the water diversion chamber and configured to partition the water diversion chamber into a first water diversion chamber and a second water diversion chamber. the first water diversion chamber is communicated with the water inlet. the diverter valve is rotatable in the water diversion chamber to communicate the first water diversion chamber with the water inlet and the first water outlet and communicate the second water diversion chamber with the second water outlet and the water return port, or to block the water inlet from the first water outlet and communicate the first water diversion chamber with the water inlet and the second water outlet. for the above diverter valve assembly, when the diverter valve assembly is applied to a household appliance, a heating device may be connected in a pipeline connecting the first water outlet and the water return port, and a spray arm of the household appliance may be connected to the second water outlet through a pipeline. therefore, when water needs to be heated, the diverter valve can rotate, so that the first water diversion chamber is communicated with the water inlet and the first water outlet. in such a case, water entering through the water inlet can flow out from the first water outlet via the first water diversion chamber and be heated by the heating device, and the water heated by the heating device can flow into the second water diversion chamber from the water return port and flow to the spray arm from the second water outlet to be sprayed. when water does not need to be heated, the diverter valve can rotate, so that the water inlet is blocked from the first water outlet. in such a case, water entering through the water inlet can flow directly from the second water outlet to the spray arm via the first water diversion chamber and be sprayed. that is, the water does not pass through the heating device, which can reduce the resistance in a water flow system during a non-heating period, solve problems of huge power consumption of a washing pump and long washing time, and hence improve the system washing performance of the household appliance. in some embodiments, the diverter valve has a first baffle, and the first baffle can open or close the first water outlet when the diverter valve rotates. in some embodiments, the first baffle is provided with a water through hole, and when the diverter valve rotates, the first baffle can communicate the first water outlet with the first water diversion chamber by means of the water through hole. in some embodiments, the diverter valve has a partition baffle, the partition baffle partitions the water diversion chamber into a first water diversion chamber and a second water diversion chamber, and the partition baffle can rotate in the water diversion chamber to communicate the water inlet with the first water outlet or block the water inlet from the first water outlet. in some embodiments, the partition baffle includes a baffle body and two baffle connecting pieces connected to both sides of the baffle body, and the two baffle connecting pieces are each attached to an inner wall of the water diversion chamber. in some embodiments, the baffle connecting pieces are arcuately connected to the inner wall of the water diversion chamber. in some embodiments, the diverter valve has a second baffle, and the second baffle can open or close the second water outlet when the diverter valve rotates. in some embodiments, a plurality of second water outlets are provided, a plurality of second baffles are provided, and the number of the second baffles is identical to the number of the second water outlets. in some embodiments, two second water outlets are provided, and two second baffles are provided; the two second water outlets are spaced apart from each other, and the two second baffles are spaced apart from each other. in some embodiments, the diverter valve includes a fixing portion, and the second baffle is detachably mounted to the fixing portion. in some embodiments, the housing is provided with a channel, and the channel is communicated with the second water outlet; the second baffle includes a bottom plate and a first fitting portion extending upwards from the bottom plate; the fixing portion is formed with a second fitting portion fitted with the first fitting portion; when the diverter valve rotates, the second baffle can open or close an entrance of the channel through the bottom plate to open or close the second water outlet. in some embodiments, the diverter valve has a third baffle, and the third baffle can open or close the water return port when the diverter valve rotates. in some embodiments, the diverter valve assembly includes a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is connected to the diverter valve and configured to drive the diverter valve to rotate. in some embodiments, the diverter valve assembly includes a sensor; the driving mechanism includes a driving portion and a transmission portion; the transmission portion connects the driving portion to the diverter valve and includes a transmission member; and the sensor is used to detect a position of the transmission member. in some embodiments, the driving portion includes an electric motor; the diverter valve includes a driving rod, and the driving rod extends downwards from a top of the diverter valve; the diverter valve is connected to the transmission member through the driving rod. in some embodiments, the housing includes a lower housing and an upper housing, and the lower housing is connected to the upper housing. in some embodiments, the lower housing is provided with the water inlet, the water return port, and the second water outlet; the upper housing is provided with the first water outlet. the household appliance according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes: a chamber body, a spray arm, a heating device, and the diverter valve assembly according to any one of the above embodiments. the chamber body defines a chamber therein. the spray arm is at least partially disposed in the chamber. the second water outlet is connected to the spray arm. the heating device is connected to the first water outlet and the water return port. in the above household appliance, when the diverter valve assembly is applied to the household appliance, the heating device may be connected in a pipeline connecting the first water outlet and the water return port, and the spray arm of the household appliance may be connected to the second water outlet through a pipeline. therefore, when water needs to be heated, the diverter valve can rotate, so that the first water diversion chamber is communicated with the water inlet and the first water outlet. in such a case, water entering through the water inlet can flow out from the first water outlet via the first water diversion chamber and be heated by the heating device, and the water heated by the heating device can flow into the second water diversion chamber from the water return port and flow to the spray arm from the second water outlet to be sprayed. when water does not need to be heated, the diverter valve can rotate, so that the water inlet is blocked from the first water outlet. in such a case, water entering through the water inlet can flow directly from the second water outlet to the spray arm via the first water diversion chamber and be sprayed. that is, the water does not pass through the heating device, which can reduce the resistance in a water flow system during a non-heating period, solve problems of huge power consumption of a washing pump and long washing time, and hence improve the system washing performance of the household appliance. the dishwasher according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes: a washing inner container, a spray arm, a heating device, and a diverter valve. the washing inner container is provided with a washing outlet. the spray arm is disposed in the washing inner container and provided with a spray inlet. the heating device is configured to heat washing water, and has a to-be-heated water inlet and a heated water outlet. the diverter valve is provided with a water inlet, a second water outlet, a first water outlet, and a water return port. the water inlet is connected to the washing outlet, the second water outlet is connected to the spray inlet, the first water outlet is connected to the to-be-heated water inlet, and the water return port is connected to the heated water outlet. the dishwasher includes at least two working modes. in a first mode, the water inlet of the diverter valve is communicated with the second water outlet. in a second mode, the water inlet of the diverter valve is communicated with the first water outlet, and the water return port is communicated with the second water outlet. in the above dishwasher, by providing the diverter valve, the washing water does not flow through the heating device during a non-heating period, such that the water flow resistance can be reduced, the washing performance can be improved, and the system piping is simple and compact. in some embodiments, a plurality of spray arms are provided, and the spray inlet of each spray arm is communicated with the second water outlet. in some embodiments, a plurality of spray arms are provided, a plurality of second water outlets are provided, and each second water outlet is communicated with the spray inlet of at least one spray arm. in some embodiments, a plurality of second water outlets are provided; in the first mode, the water inlet is selectively communicated with at least one second water outlet; in the second mode, the water return port is selectively communicated with at least one second water outlet. in some embodiments, two second water outlets are provided. in the first mode, the water inlet is communicated with one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets. in the second mode, the water return port is communicated with one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets. in some embodiments, the spray arm includes: a lower spray arm provided at a lower part inside the washing inner container; an upper spray arm provided at an upper part inside the washing inner container; and a middle spray arm provided at a middle part inside the washing inner container. in some embodiments, two second water outlets are provided; a spray inlet of the lower spray arm is communicated with one of the second water outlets; a spray inlet of the upper spray arm and a spray inlet of the middle spray arm are communicated with the other one of the second water outlets. in some embodiments, three second water outlets are provided, and the three second water outlets are connected to a spray inlet of the lower spray arm, a spray inlet of the upper spray arm, and a spray inlet of the middle spray arm, respectively. in some embodiments, the heating device includes a compressor, a condenser, a throttling device, and an evaporator, which are sequentially connected end to end to constitute a refrigerant cycle. in some embodiments, the condenser defines a first liquid flow channel and a second liquid flow channel therein; two ends of the first liquid flow channel are provided with the to-be-heated water inlet and the heated water outlet, respectively; two ends of the second liquid flow channel are communicated with the compressor and the throttling device, respectively. additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be given in part in the following descriptions, become apparent in part from the following descriptions, or be learned from the practice of the embodiments of the present disclosure. brief description of the drawings the above and/or additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following descriptions made with reference to the drawings, in which: fig. 1 is a structural diagram of a dishwasher according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a diverter valve assembly in a first mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a diverter valve assembly in a second mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a diverter valve assembly in a third mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a diverter valve assembly in a fourth mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a diverter valve assembly in a fifth mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a diverter valve assembly in a sixth mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 8 is a perspective view of a diverter valve assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 9 is an exploded view of a diverter valve assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 10 is a sectional view of a diverter valve assembly in a first mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 11 is another sectional view of the diverter valve assembly in the first mode according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 12 is a sectional view of a diverter valve assembly in a second mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 13 is another sectional view of the diverter valve assembly in the second mode according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 14 is a sectional view of a diverter valve assembly in a third mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 15 is another sectional view of the diverter valve assembly in the third mode according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 16 is a sectional view of a diverter valve assembly in a fourth mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 17 is another sectional view of the diverter valve assembly in the fourth mode according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 18 is a sectional view of a diverter valve assembly in a fifth mode according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 19 is another sectional view of the diverter valve assembly in the fifth mode according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 20 is a perspective view of a housing of a diverter valve assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 21 is a perspective view of a diverter valve of a diverter valve assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 22 is a partial perspective view of the diverter valve of the diverter valve assembly according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; fig. 23 is a systematic schematic diagram of a dishwasher in a first spray cleaning mode according to the present disclosure; fig. 24 is a systematic schematic diagram of a dishwasher in a second spray cleaning mode according to the present disclosure; fig. 25 is a systematic schematic diagram of a dishwasher in a third spray cleaning mode according to the present disclosure; fig. 26 is a systematic schematic diagram of a dishwasher in a fourth spray cleaning mode according to the present disclosure; fig. 27 is a systematic schematic diagram of a dishwasher in a fifth spray cleaning mode according to the present disclosure; fig. 28 is a systematic schematic diagram of a dishwasher in a sixth spray cleaning mode according to the present disclosure. reference numerals household appliance 200 ; diverter valve assembly 10 , housing 11 , water diversion chamber 111 , inner wall 1110 , first water diversion chamber 1111 , second water diversion chamber 1112 , water inlet 112 , water return port 113 , first water outlet 114 , second water outlet 115 , diverter valve 12 , first baffle 121 , water through hole 1211 , partition baffle 122 , baffle body 1221 , baffle connecting piece 1222 , second baffle 123 , bottom plate 1231 , first fitting portion 1232 , sealing surface 1233 , fixing portion 124 , second fitting portion 1241 , driving rod 125 , third baffle 126 , channel 13 , entrance 131 , driving mechanism 14 , driving portion 141 , electric motor 142 , transmission portion 15 , transmission member 151 , sensor 16 , lower housing 17 , water inlet pipe 171 , water return pipe 172 , first water outlet pipe 173 , second water outlet pipe 174 , upper housing 18 , fixing cover plate 19 , chamber body 20 , washing outlet 201 , chamber 21 , spray arm 30 , first spray arm 31 , second spray arm 32 , third spray arm 33 , heating device 40 , compressor 41 , condenser 42 , throttling device 43 , evaporator 44 , water sump 50 , washing pump 60 ; dishwasher 100 ; washing inner container 1 , water sump 11 , washing outlet 111 ; upper spray arm 21 , spray inlet 211 of upper spray arm 21 ; middle spray arm 22 , spray inlet 221 of middle spray arm 22 ; lower spray arm 23 , spray inlet 231 of lower spray arm 23 ; heating device 3 , compressor 31 , condenser 32 , to-be-heated water inlet 321 , heated water outlet 322 , throttling device 33 , evaporator 34 ; diverter valve 4 , first interface 41 , second interface 42 a on the left, second interface 42 b on the right, third interface 43 , fourth interface 44 ; washing pump 5 . detailed description of embodiments embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments will be illustrated in drawings. the same or similar elements and the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by like reference numerals throughout the descriptions. the embodiments described herein with reference to the drawings are explanatory and are merely used to generally understand the present disclosure. the embodiments shall not be construed to limit the present disclosure. in the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that terms such as “central,” “longitudinal,” “transverse,” “length,” “width,” “thickness,” “upper,” “lower,” “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “top,” “bottom,” “inner,” “outer,” “clockwise,” and “counterclockwise” should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. these relative terms are for convenience of description and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation or be constructed and operated in a particular orientation. thus, these terms shall not be construed to limit the present disclosure. in addition, terms such as “first” and “second” are used herein for purposes of description and are not intended to indicate or imply relative importance or significance or to imply the number of indicated technical features. thus, the feature defined with “first” and “second” may explicitly or implicitly comprise one or more this feature. in the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more than two, unless specified otherwise. in the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that, unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “coupled,” and the like are used broadly, and may be, for example, fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; may also be mechanical or electrical connections; may also be direct connections or indirect connections via intervening structures; may also be inner communications or mutual interaction of two elements, which can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations. referring to figs. 1, 8 and 9 , a diverter valve assembly 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied to a household appliance 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. in one example, the household appliance 200 may be a dishwasher or other household cleaning apparatuses that require the use of liquids (such as water). the household appliance 200 includes the diverter valve assembly 10 , a chamber body 20 , a spray arm 30 , and a heating device 40 . as shown in fig. 1 , the chamber body 20 defines a chamber 21 therein. the spray arm 30 is at least partially disposed in the chamber 21 . the spray arm 30 is provided with a plurality of spray holes (not shown). a washing solution can be sprayed into the chamber 21 through the plurality of spray holes, to wash items (e.g., tableware) in the chamber 21 . in the example shown in fig. 1 , the spray arm 30 includes a first spray arm 31 , a second spray arm 32 , and a third spray arm 33 spaced apart from one another. the first spray arm 31 , the second spray arm 32 , and the third spray arm 33 may be an upper spray arm, a middle spray arm, and a lower spray arm in sequence, respectively. the first spray arm 31 , the second spray arm 32 , and the third spray arm 33 can be used to clean items located at different positions in the chamber 21 , respectively. the heating device 40 is used to heat washing water, and the heated washing water can be sprayed through the spray holes of the spray arm 30 . as shown in figs. 8 and 9 , the diverter valve assembly 10 includes a housing 11 and a diverter valve 12 . the housing 11 defines a water diversion chamber 111 therein. the housing 11 is provided with a water inlet 112 , a water return port 113 , a first water outlet 114 , and a second water outlet 115 . the first water outlet 114 can be communicated with (i.e., in fluid communication with) the water return port 113 through an external pipeline of the housing 11 . the diverter valve 12 is disposed in the water diversion chamber 111 and can partition the water diversion chamber 111 into a first water diversion chamber 1111 and a second water diversion chamber 1112 , which are spaced apart from each other. the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 . in operation, the diverter valve 12 can rotate in the water diversion chamber 111 to selectively provide a first operational configuration of the diverter valve 12 or a second operational configuration of the diverter valve 12 . when the diverter valve 12 is in the first operational configuration, the first water diversion chamber 1111 is enabled to communicate with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 and the second water diversion chamber 1112 is enabled to communicate with the second water outlet 115 and the water return port 113 , as shown in figs. 10 and 11 . when the diverter valve 12 is in the second operational configuration, the water inlet 112 is blocked from the first water outlet 114 and the first water diversion chamber 1111 is enabled to communicate with the water inlet 112 and the second water outlet 115 , as shown in figs. 12 and 13 . thus, when the diverter valve 12 rotates in the water diversion chamber 111 , the diverter valve assembly 10 can achieve a first state and a second state. the first state and the second state are not simultaneous. for example, when the diverter valve 12 rotates to communicate the first water diversion chamber 1111 with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 , the second water diversion chamber 1112 can be communicated with the second water outlet 115 and the water return port 113 , thereby realizing the first state of the water valve assembly 10 . in such a case, water passing through the water inlet 112 can flow out from the first water outlet 114 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , and the water flowing out from the first water outlet 114 can flow into the second water diversion chamber 1112 via the water return port 113 and flow out from the second water outlet 115 via the second water diversion chamber 1112 . when the household appliance 200 needs to use the heating device 40 for heating, the diverter valve assembly 10 can be set in the first state, and at this time the household appliance 200 can be considered to be in a heating mode. when the diverter valve 12 rotates to block the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the second water outlet 115 , thereby realizing the second state of the water valve assembly 10 . in such a case, water passing through the water inlet 112 can directly flow out from the second water outlet 115 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 . when the household appliance 200 does not need to use the heating device 40 , the diverter valve assembly 10 can be set in the second state, and at this time the household appliance 200 can be considered to be in a non-heating mode. in the present embodiment, the household appliance 200 further includes a water sump 50 and a washing pump 60 , as shown in fig. 1 . the washing solution sprayed onto the washing items can be collected in the water sump 50 at the bottom of the chamber 21 . a washing outlet 201 is provided in the bottom of the water sump 50 . the washing solution flows out from the washing outlet 201 . an inlet of the washing pump 60 is communicated with the washing outlet 201 , and an outlet of the washing pump 60 is communicated with the water inlet 112 , so that the washing pump 60 offers power to the circulation of the washing solution. the heating device 40 is connected to the first water outlet 114 and the water return port 113 through pipelines. therefore, when the diverter valve assembly 10 is applied to the household appliance 200 , the spray arm 30 can be connected to the second water outlet 115 through a pipeline, so that when the water needs to be heated, the diverter valve 12 can be rotated to communicate the first water diversion chamber 1111 with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 . at this time, the water entering through the water inlet 112 can flow out from the first water outlet 114 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 and be heated by the heating device 40 ; the water heated by the heating device 40 can flow from the water return port 113 into the second water diversion chamber 1112 and flow from the second water outlet 115 to the spray arm 30 for spraying. when the water does not need to be heated, the diverter valve 12 can be rotated to block the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 . at this time, the water entering through the water inlet 112 can directly flow from the second water outlet 115 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 to the spray arm 30 for spraying (that is, the water does not flow through the heating device 40 ), such that the resistance in a water flow system during a non-heating period can be reduced, problems of huge power consumption of the washing pump 60 and long washing time can be solved, and hence the system washing performance of the household appliance 200 can be improved. certainly, it could be understood that the external pipeline connecting the first water outlet 114 and the water return port 113 may also be provided with other apparatuses (for example, a plurality of heating devices), which can be set according to specific circumstances. in the example shown in fig. 1 , the heating device 40 employs a heat pump system, which includes a compressor 41 , a condenser 42 , a throttling device 43 , and an evaporator 44 . further, the compressor 41 , the condenser 42 , the throttling device 43 , and the evaporator 44 are connected in sequence through pipelines and constitute a closed circulation system, and a refrigerant circulates in the closed circulation system. it could be understood that when the diverter valve 12 blocks the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , the diverter valve 12 may also close the water return port 113 to block the second water outlet 115 from the water return port 113 . it should be noted that when the diverter valve 12 rotates in the water diversion chamber 111 , a space corresponding to the first water diversion chamber 1111 and a space corresponding to the second water diversion chamber 1112 are both variable. a pressure of a liquid entering the first water diversion chamber 1111 from the water inlet 112 is greater than a pressure of a liquid entering the second water diversion chamber 1112 from the water return port 113 (a pressure drop loss due to liquid flow). therefore, the first water diversion chamber 1111 can be considered as a high pressure chamber, and the second water diversion chamber 1112 can be considered as a low pressure chamber. referring to figs. 2 and 7 , in some embodiments, the diverter valve 12 has a first baffle 121 . the first baffle 121 can open or close the first water outlet 114 when the diverter valve 12 rotates. for example, in an example shown in fig. 2 , the first baffle 121 is offset or distanced from the first water outlet 114 as the diverter valve 12 rotates, thereby communicating the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 . for another example, in an example shown in fig. 7 , the first baffle 121 closes the first water outlet 114 to prevent the liquid from entering the heating device 40 through the first water outlet 114 . it could be understood that the shape of the first baffle 121 may be set according to specific situations. for example, the first baffle 121 may be in a circular shape or an elliptical shape, or the like. referring to figs. 10-21 , in some embodiments, the first baffle 121 is provided with a water through hole 1211 (referring particularly to fig. 21 ). when the diverter valve 12 rotates, the first baffle 121 can communicate the first water outlet 114 with the first water diversion chamber 1111 by means of the water through hole 1211 . in this way, when the water through hole 1211 is not in communication with the first water outlet 114 , the first baffle 121 blocks the first water outlet 114 from the first water diversion chamber 1111 . it could be understood that the water through hole 1211 can be set according to specific situations. a plurality of water through holes 1211 may be provided. for example, in an example shown in fig. 18 , the water through hole 1211 of the first baffle 121 is not in communication with the first water outlet 114 , and the first water outlet 114 is closed. in some embodiments, the diverter valve 12 has a partition baffle 122 . the partition baffle 122 partitions the water diversion chamber 111 into the first water diversion chamber 1111 and the second water diversion chamber 1112 . the partition baffle 122 can rotate in the water diversion chamber 111 to communicate the water inlet 112 with the first water outlet 114 or block the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , selectively. for example, when the partition baffle 122 rotates in the water diversion chamber 111 and communicates the water inlet 112 with the first water outlet 114 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the previously-described first state or first operational configuration. when the partition baffle 122 rotates in the water diversion chamber 111 and blocks the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the previously-described second state or second operational configuration. it could be understood that the shape of the partition baffle 122 may be set according to specific situations. in some embodiments, the partition baffle 122 includes a baffle body 1221 and two baffle connecting pieces 1222 connected to both sides of the baffle body 1221 (see figs. 14 and 15 ). the two baffle connecting pieces 1222 are each attached to an inner wall 1110 of the water diversion chamber 111 . the baffle connecting pieces 1222 are attached to the inner wall 1110 of the water diversion chamber 111 to seal gaps between the baffle connecting pieces 1222 and the inner wall 1110 of the water diversion chamber 111 , so as to ensure a water diversion effect of the diverter valve assembly 10 . it could be understood that the baffle body 1221 and the two baffle connecting pieces 1222 may adopt an integral structure or a split structure. in some embodiments, the baffle connecting piece 1222 is arcuately connected to the inner wall 1110 of the water diversion chamber 111 . as a result, a better sealing effect can be achieved. for example, a first arc surface formed by the baffle connecting piece 1222 is attached to a second arc surface formed by the inner wall 1110 of the water diversion chamber 111 . in some embodiments, the diverter valve 12 has a second baffle 123 , as shown in figs. 16 and 17 . the second baffle 123 can open or close the second water outlet 115 when the diverter valve 12 rotates. in this way, the opening or closure of the second water outlet 115 is implemented by the position change of the second baffle 123 along with the rotation of the diverter valve 12 . for example, when the diverter valve 12 rotates and the second baffle 123 opens the second water outlet 115 , the liquid in the water diversion chamber 111 can flow out from the second water outlet 115 . when the diverter valve 12 rotates and the second baffle 123 closes the second water outlet 115 , the liquid in the water diversion chamber 111 is prevented from flowing out from the second water outlet 115 . in some embodiments, a plurality of second water outlets 115 are provided, a plurality of second baffles 123 are provided, and the number of the second baffles 123 is identical to the number of the second water outlets 115 . in this way, different second water outlets 115 can be opened or closed by rotating the positions of the second baffles 123 . in some examples (referring to fig. 2 , figs. 4-7 and 9-18 ), two second water outlets 115 are provided, and two second baffles 123 are provided; the two second water outlets 115 are spaced apart from each other, and the two second baffles 123 are also spaced apart from each other. in some examples, three second water outlets are provided, and three second baffles are provided. the three second water outlets are spaced apart from one another. the three second baffles are spaced apart from one another. in such a case, the number of the second water outlets of the diverter valve assembly 10 is consistent with the number of the spray arms 30 of the household appliance 200 . the three second water outlets can be correspondingly connected to the first spray arm 31 , the second spray arm 32 , and the third spray arm 33 , to realize different application modes. certainly, it could be understood that the number of the second water outlets may also be four, five, or etc., and the number of the second baffles may also be four, five, or etc., which are not limited herein. referring to figs. 2-7 , in some embodiments, the diverter valve 12 has a third baffle 126 . the third baffle 126 can open or close the water return port 113 when the diverter valve 12 rotates. for example, in the example shown in fig. 2 , the third baffle 126 opens the water return port 113 to communicate the water return port 113 with the two second water outlets 115 . for another example, in an example shown in fig. 5 , the third baffle 126 closes the water return port 113 to achieve a better sealing effect on the water return port 113 . referring to figs. 2-7 , the diverter valve 12 has one first baffle 121 , two second baffles 123 , and one third baffle 126 . these baffles (one first baffle 121 , two second baffles 123 , and one third baffle 126 ) are distributed along a circumferential direction of the water diversion chamber 111 and spaced apart from one another. the partition baffle 122 partitions the water diversion chamber 111 into the first water diversion chamber 1111 and the second water diversion chamber 1112 . referring to figs. 8 to 22 , the diverter valve 12 has one first baffle 121 and two second baffles 123 . a top of the diverter valve 12 forms the first baffle 121 . the first baffle 121 has a water through hole 1211 . the two second baffles 123 are detachably mounted to a bottom (i.e., a fixing portion 124 ) of the diverter valve 12 . the two second baffles 123 are spaced apart from each other. the partition baffle 122 connects the first baffle 121 and the fixing portion 124 . the partition baffle 122 partitions the water diversion chamber 111 into the first water diversion chamber 1111 and the second water diversion chamber 1112 . in the example shown in fig. 2 , when the diverter valve 12 rotates to a position shown in fig. 2 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a first mode. the first baffle 121 opens the first water outlet 114 as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the two second baffles 123 spaced apart from each other are offset from the two second water outlets (i.e., a second water outlet 115 a and a second water outlet 115 b ) as the diverter valve 12 rotates, so that the second water outlet 115 a and the second water outlet 115 b are in an open state. the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 are located on a side where the first water diversion chamber 1111 is located, while the water return port 113 and the two second water outlets are located on a side where the second water diversion chamber 1112 is located. the third baffle 126 is offset from the water return port 113 as the diverter valve 12 rotates, so as to open the water return port 113 . the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 , the first water outlet 114 is communicated with the heating device 40 , and the second water diversion chamber 1112 is communicated with the two second water outlets and the water return port 113 simultaneously. in such a case, after entering through the water inlet 112 , the liquid can flow out from the first water outlet 114 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , subsequently flow back to the second water diversion chamber 1112 through the water return port 113 after being heated by the heating device 40 , and flow out from the two second water outlets. the flow direction of the liquid is shown by arrows in fig. 2 . in this way, the diverter valve assembly 10 can supply water through the two second water outlets simultaneously. for example, when the diverter valve assembly 10 is applied to the household appliance 200 , one second water outlet 115 a of the two second water outlets may be communicated with the third spray arm 33 , and the other second water outlet 115 b may be communicated with the first spray arm 31 and second spray arm 32 . as a result, when the two second water outlets are opened simultaneously, the three spray arms of the household appliance 200 can spray heated water at the same time. in examples shown in figs. 10 and 11 (in combination with figs. 21 and 22 ), the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the above first mode. the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 through the water through hole 1211 in the first baffle 121 , and the first water outlet 114 can be communicated with the heating device 40 . the two second baffles 123 spaced apart from each other correspondingly open the two second water outlets 115 spaced apart from each other, as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the second water diversion chamber 1112 is communicated with the two second water outlets 115 and the water return port 113 simultaneously. the flow direction of the liquid in the diverter valve assembly 10 is shown by dotted arrows in figs. 10 and 11 . referring to fig. 3 , in an example shown in fig. 3 , when the diverter valve 12 rotates to a position shown in fig. 3 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a second mode. the first baffle 121 opens the first water outlet 114 as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 , and the first water outlet 114 is communicated with the heating device 40 . the third baffle 126 is offset from the water return port 113 as the diverter valve 12 rotates, and blocks the second water outlet 115 b of the two second water outlets. the two second baffles 123 are both offset from the second water outlet 115 a of the two second water outlets. the second water outlet 115 a is communicated with the water return port 113 , and the second water outlet 115 b is blocked from the water return port 113 . the second water diversion chamber 1112 is communicated with the second water outlet 115 a and the water return port 113 . the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 are located on a side where the first water diversion chamber 1111 is located, while the water return port 113 and the two second water outlets are located on a side where the second water diversion chamber 1112 is located. at this time, after entering through the water inlet 112 , the liquid can flow out from the first water outlet 114 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , subsequently flow back to the second water diversion chamber 1112 through the water return port 113 after being heated by the heating device 40 , and flow out from the second water outlet 115 a . the flow direction of the liquid is shown by arrows in fig. 3 . in this way, the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a mode of supplying water through one second water outlet 115 a alone. when the diverter valve assembly 10 is applied to the household appliance 200 , the second water outlet 115 a may be communicated with the third spray arm 33 , and the second water outlet 115 b may be communicated with the first spray arm 31 and the second spray arm 32 . by switching the opening or closing states of the two second water outlets, the first spray arm 31 , the second spray arm 32 , and the third spray arm 33 of the household appliance 200 can spray alternately. in examples shown in figs. 12 and 13 (in combination with figs. 21 and 22 ), the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the above second mode. the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 by means of the water through hole 1211 in the first baffle 121 , and the first water outlet 114 can be communicated with the heating device 40 . a second baffle 123 a of the two second baffles spaced apart from each other opens the second water outlet 115 a as the diverter valve 12 rotates, and a second baffle 123 b of the two second baffle spaced apart from each other closes the second water outlet 115 b as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the second water outlet 115 b is blocked from the water return port 113 . the second water diversion chamber 1112 is communicated with the second water outlet 115 a and the water return port 113 . the flow direction of liquid in the diverter valve assembly 10 is shown by dotted arrows in figs. 12 and 13 . in an example shown in fig. 4 , when the diverter valve 12 rotates to a position shown in fig. 4 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a third mode. the first baffle 121 opens the first water outlet 114 as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 , and the first water outlet 114 is communicated with the heating device 40 . the third baffle 126 rotates to be offset from the water return port 113 , so as to open the water return port 113 . the second baffle 123 b of the two second baffles blocks the second water outlet 115 a of the two second water outlets, as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the second water outlet 115 a is blocked from the water return port 113 . the second baffle 123 a and the second baffle 123 b are both offset from the second water outlet 115 b , so as to open the second water outlet 115 b . the second water outlet 115 b is communicated with the water return port 113 . the second water diversion chamber 1112 is communicated with the second water outlet 115 b and the water return port 113 . the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 are located on a side where the first water diversion chamber 1111 is located, while the water return port 113 and the two second water outlets are located on a side where the second water diversion chamber 1112 is located. at this time, after entering through the water inlet 112 , the liquid can flow out from the first water outlet 114 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , subsequently flow back to the second water diversion chamber 1112 through the water return port 113 after being heated by the heating device 40 , and flow out from the second water outlet 115 b . the flow direction of the liquid is shown by arrows in fig. 4 . in this way, the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a mode of supplying water through one second water outlet 115 b alone. in examples shown in figs. 14 to 15 (in combination with figs. 21 and 22 ), the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the above third mode. the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 by means of the water through hole 1211 in the first baffle 121 , and the first water outlet 114 can be communicated with the heating device 40 . the second baffle 123 a of the two second baffles spaced apart from each other closes the second water outlet 115 a as the diverter valve 12 rotates, and the second baffle 123 b of the two second baffle spaced apart from each other opens the second water outlet 115 b as the diverter valve 12 rotates. the second water outlet 115 a is blocked from the water return port 113 , and the second water outlet 115 b is in communication with the water return port 113 . the second water diversion chamber 1112 is communicated with the second water outlet 115 b and the water return port 113 . the flow direction of liquid in the diverter valve assembly 10 is shown by dotted arrows in figs. 14 and 15 . in an example shown in fig. 5 , when the diverter valve 12 rotates to a position shown in fig. 5 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a fourth mode. the diverter valve assembly 10 rotates so that the third baffle 126 blocks the water return port 113 , and the partition baffle 122 blocks the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 . the first water outlet 114 and the water return port 113 are both blocked by the partition baffle 122 from the water inlet 112 , such that a flow path between the water inlet 112 with the first water outlet 114 and the heating device 40 is blocked. moreover, the two second baffles 123 are offset from the two second water outlets 115 , to communicate the first water diversion chamber 1111 with the water inlet 112 and the two second water outlets 115 . the water inlet 112 and the two second water outlets 115 are located on a side where the first water diversion chamber 1111 is located, and the water return port 113 and the first water outlet 114 are located on a side where the second water diversion chamber 1112 is located. at this time, after entering through the water inlet 112 , the liquid may directly flow out from the two second water outlets 115 via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , and will not be heated by the heating device 40 . the flow direction of the liquid is shown by arrows in fig. 5 . in such a case, the diverter valve assembly 10 can also supply water through the two second water outlets 115 simultaneously. when the diverter valve assembly 10 is applied to the household appliance 200 , one of the two second water outlets 115 can be communicated with the third spray arm 33 , and the other one of the two second water outlets 115 can be communicated with the first spray arm 31 and the second spray arm 32 ; the heating device 40 is bypassed; and the water entering from the water inlet 112 can be directly discharged from the second water outlets 115 without passing through the water return port 113 . as a result, when the two second water outlets 115 are opened at the same time, the three spray arms of the household appliance 200 can simultaneously spray water that is not heated by the heating device 40 , effectively reducing the flow resistance in the dishwasher during the non-heating period, so as to further reduce the energy consumption of the dishwasher. in examples shown in figs. 16 to 17 (in combination with figs. 21 and 22 ), the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the fourth mode. the diverter valve 12 rotates, so that the water through hole 1211 in the first baffle 121 is not in communication with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 , the partition baffle 122 blocks the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , and the first water outlet 114 and the water return port 113 are both blocked by the partition baffle 122 from the water inlet 112 . the two second baffles 123 spaced apart from each other are offset from the two second water outlets 115 , so that the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the two second water outlets 115 . the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the two second water outlets 115 . the flow of the liquid in the diverter valve assembly 10 is shown by dotted arrows in figs. 16 to 17 . when the diverter valve 12 rotates to a position shown in fig. 6 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a fifth mode. the diverter valve assembly 10 rotates, so that the first baffle 121 closes the first water outlet 114 , and the partition baffle 122 blocks the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , thereby blocking the flow path between the water inlet 112 with the first water outlet 114 and the heating device 40 . in addition, the second baffle 123 b of the two second baffles blocks the second water outlet 115 b of the two second water outlets, and the first baffle 123 a and the second baffle 123 b are both offset from the second water outlet 115 a of the two second water outlets, such that the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the second water outlet 115 a . the second water outlet 115 b is blocked by the second baffle 123 b from the water inlet 112 . due to the partition baffle 122 , the first water outlet 114 and the water return port 113 are located on a side of the low-pressure second water diversion chamber 1112 , and the water inlet 112 and the two second water outlets are located on a side of the high-pressure first water diversion chamber 1111 . in this way, the flow path between the water inlet 112 with the first water outlet 114 and the heating device 40 can be completely blocked. at this time, after entering through the water inlet 112 , the liquid can directly flow out from the second water outlet 115 b via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , and will not be heated by the heating device 40 . the flow direction of the liquid is shown by arrows in fig. 6 . in such a case, the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a mode of supplying water through one second water outlet 115 b alone. when the diverter valve assembly 10 is applied to the household appliance 200 , the second water outlet 115 a can be communicated with the third spray arm 33 , and the second water outlet 115 b can be communicated with the first spray arm 31 and the second spray arm 32 ; the heating device 40 is bypassed; the water entering from the water inlet 112 can be directly discharged from the second water outlet 115 a without passing through the water return port 113 . by switching the opening or closing states of the two second water outlets, the first spray arm 31 , the second spray arm 32 , and the third spray arm 33 of the household appliance 200 can alternately spray water that is not heated by the heating device 40 , effectively reducing the flow resistance in the dishwasher during the non-heating period, so as to further reduce the energy consumption of the dishwasher. in examples shown in figs. 18 to 19 (in combination with figs. 21 and 22 ), the diverter valve assembly 10 is in the above fifth mode. the diverter valve 12 rotates, so that the water through hole 1211 in the first baffle 121 is not in communication with the water inlet 112 and the first water outlet 114 , the partition baffle 122 blocks the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , and the first water outlet 114 and the water return port 113 are both blocked by the partition baffle 122 from the water inlet 112 . the second baffle 123 b of the two second baffles spaced apart from each other closes the second water outlet 115 b of the two second water outlets, to block the second water outlet 115 b from the first water diversion chamber 1111 ; the second baffle 123 a of the two second baffles opens the second water outlet 115 a of the two second water outlets, to communicate the second water outlet 115 a with the first water diversion chamber 1111 and the water inlet 112 . the flow of the liquid in the diverter valve assembly 10 is shown by dotted arrows in figs. 18 to 19 . when the diverter valve 12 rotates to a position shown in fig. 7 , the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a sixth mode. the diverter valve assembly 10 rotates, so that the first baffle 121 closes the first water outlet 114 , the partition baffle 122 blocks the water inlet 112 from the first water outlet 114 , and hence the flow path between the water inlet 112 with the first water outlet 114 and the heating device 40 is blocked. in addition, the second baffle 123 a of the two second baffles blocks the second water outlet 115 a of the two second water outlets. the first baffle 123 a and the second baffle 123 b are both offset from the second water outlet 115 b of the two second water outlets, such that the first water diversion chamber 1111 is communicated with the water inlet 112 and the second water outlet 115 b . the second water outlet 115 a is blocked by the second baffle 123 a from the water inlet 112 . since the first baffle 121 blocks the first water outlet 114 , even if the water return port 113 is on the side of the high-pressure first water diversion chamber 111 , the liquid flowing out from the water inlet 112 will not pass through the heating device 40 . at this time, after entering through the water inlet 112 , the liquid can directly flow out from the second water outlet 115 a via the first water diversion chamber 1111 , and will not be heated by the heating device 40 . the flow direction of the liquid is shown by arrows in fig. 7 . in this way, the diverter valve assembly 10 is in a mode of supplying water through one second water outlet 115 a alone. it could be understood that in a case of three second water outlets and three second baffles, when the household appliance 200 needs to use the heating device 40 (that is, a heating mode), it is possible to communicate one of the three second water outlets of the diverter valve assembly 10 with one corresponding spray arm of the household appliance 200 , or communicate two of the three second water outlets with two corresponding spray arms of the household appliance 200 , or communicate the three second water outlets with three corresponding spray arms of the household appliance 200 . that is, in the heating mode, the diverter valve assembly 10 can realize the switching of seven different modes. when the household appliance 200 does not need to use the heating device 40 (that is, in a non-heating mode), it is possible to communicate one of the three second water outlets of the diverter valve assembly 10 with one corresponding spray arm of the household appliance 200 , or communicate two of the three second water outlets with two corresponding spray arms of the household appliance 200 , or communicate the three second water outlets with three corresponding spray arms of the household appliance 200 . that is, in the non-heating mode, the diverter valve assembly 10 can also realize the switching of seven different modes. in some embodiments, the diverter valve 12 includes the fixing portion 124 . the second baffle 123 is detachably mounted to the fixing portion 124 , which facilitates the mounting and detachment of the second baffle 123 . in this embodiment, the partition baffle 122 is fixedly connected to the fixing portion 124 . for example, the partition baffle 122 and the fixing portion 124 are of an integral structure. the partition baffle 122 and the second baffle 123 are located on both sides of the fixing portion 124 . when the diverter valve 12 rotates, the partition baffle 122 and the fixing portion 124 rotate along the circumferential direction of the water diversion chamber 111 , and the first water diversion chamber 1111 and the second water diversion chamber 1112 vary as the partition baffle 122 rotates. the second baffle 123 rotates along with the fixing portion 124 to open or close the second water outlet 115 . in an example shown in fig. 12 , under the action of water pressure, the second baffle 123 can be pressurized to seal the second water outlet 115 . certainly, it could be understood that in other examples, the second baffle plate can seal the second water outlet under the action of gravity, and can be pressurized to open the second water outlet. in some embodiments, the housing 11 is provided with a channel 13 (see fig. 11 ). the channel 13 is communicated with the second water outlet 115 . the second baffle 123 includes a bottom plate 1231 and a first fitting portion 1232 extending upwards from the bottom plate 1231 (see fig. 21 ). the fixing portion 124 is formed with a second fitting portion 1241 that is fitted with the first fitting portion 1232 . the second baffle 123 can open or close an entrance 131 of the channel 13 through the bottom plate 1231 when the diverter valve 12 rotates, so as to open or close the second water outlet 115 . in an example shown in fig. 20 , the first fitting portion 1232 can be a tab extending upwards from the bottom plate 1231 . the second fitting portion 1241 is a through slot formed in a side portion of the fixing portion 124 . the tab can pass through the through slot, so that the first fitting portion 1232 is detachably mounted to the second fitting portion 1241 . moreover, the tab can move up and down in the through slot. in examples shown in figs. 20 and 21 , the diverter valve 12 has a substantially cylindrical shape overall. the fixing portion 124 exhibits a ring shape. two second baffles 123 are provided. the two second baffles 123 are mounted to the fixing portion 124 and spaced apart from each other, and can move in the circumferential direction of the water diversion chamber 111 along with the fixing portion 124 . in addition, the bottom plate 1231 has a substantially fan shape. a sealing surface 1233 is formed on a side of the bottom plate 1231 away from the first fitting portion 1232 . under the action of water pressure, the bottom plate 1231 is pressurized, and the entrance 131 of the channel 13 can be sealed by the sealing surface 1233 , such that the second water outlet 115 is sealed. in some embodiments, the diverter valve assembly 10 includes a driving mechanism 14 . the driving mechanism 14 is connected to the diverter valve 12 . the driving mechanism is used to drive the diverter valve 12 to rotate. for example, the driving mechanism 14 includes a driving portion 141 and a transmission portion 15 . the transmission portion 15 connects the driving portion 141 and the diverter valve 12 . the driving portion 141 is used to drive the transmission portion 15 to rotate, so as to drive the diverter valve 12 to rotate. the transmission portion 15 can be configured according to specific situations, and for example, a gear meshing transmission manner, a belt transmission manner, or a coupler transmission manner may be adopted. in some embodiments, the diverter valve assembly 10 includes a sensor 16 . the transmission portion 15 includes a transmission member 151 , and the sensor 16 is used to detect a position of the transmission member 151 . in this way, a rotation state of the diverter valve 12 can be determined according to the position of the transmission member 151 detected by the sensor 16 , and then the rotation of the diverter valve 12 can be controlled by means of the transmission member 151 , so that the switching among different communication states of the diverter valve assembly 10 can be realized accurately by controlling the rotation of the diverter valve 12 . the transmission member 151 may be a transmission gear, for example. in some embodiments, the driving portion 141 includes an electric motor 142 . the diverter valve 12 includes a driving rod 125 . the driving rod 125 extends downwards from the top of the diverter valve 12 . the diverter valve 12 is connected to the transmission member 151 through the driving rod 125 . in this embodiment, the driving rod 125 extends downwards from the partition baffle 122 . the fixing portion 124 surrounds the driving rod 125 . the diverter valve 12 is connected to the transmission member 151 through the driving rod 125 . the driving rod 125 may be connected to the transmission member 151 in a snapping manner. the electric motor 142 is used to drive the transmission member 151 to rotate, so as to drive the driving rod 125 to rotate. in this embodiment, the first baffle 121 , the driving rod 125 , the partition baffle 122 , and the fixing portion 124 are of an integral structure, which is convenient for processing and enhances the overall stability of the diverter valve 12 . it could be understood that, to improve the operational stability of the driving portion 141 and the transmission portion 15 , a fixing cover plate 19 may be provided, the electric motor 142 and the transmission member 151 are disposed on opposite sides of the fixing cover plate 19 , and a rotating shaft of the electric motor 142 passes through the fixing cover plate 19 and is connected to the transmission member 151 . in some embodiments, the housing 11 includes a lower housing 17 and an upper housing 18 . the lower housing 17 is connected to the upper housing 18 . the connection manner of the lower housing 17 and the upper housing 18 can be set according to specific situations. in some embodiments, the lower housing 17 is provided with the water inlet 112 , the water return port 113 and the second water outlet 115 ; the upper housing 18 is provided with the first water outlet 114 . in this embodiment, the lower housing 17 defines the water diversion chamber 111 therein. an upper end of the water diversion chamber 111 is open. the lower housing 17 is provided with the water inlet 112 , the water return port 113 , and the second water outlet 115 . the upper housing 18 is disposed on an upper end of the lower housing 17 and closes the water diversion chamber 111 . the upper housing 18 is provided with the first water outlet 114 . the upper housing 18 can be detachably mounted on the upper end of the lower housing 17 , and the water inlet 112 , the water return port 113 and the second water outlet 115 can be provided in a side wall or a bottom wall or a top wall of the lower housing 11 , which can be set according to specific situations. in examples shown in figs. 8 and 19 , the lower housing 17 is substantially columnar. the side wall of the lower housing 17 is formed with a water inlet pipe 171 and a water return pipe 172 . the top wall of the lower housing 17 is formed with a first water outlet pipe 173 . the bottom wall of the lower housing 17 is formed with a second water outlet pipe 174 . the water inlet pipe 171 and the water return pipe 172 extend outwards from the side wall of the lower housing 17 . the first water outlet pipe 173 extends outwards from the top wall of the lower housing 17 . the second water outlet pipe 174 extends outwards from the bottom wall of the lower housing 17 . the water inlet pipe 171 is provided with the water inlet 112 . the water return pipe 172 is provided with the water return port 113 . the first water outlet pipe 173 is provided with the first water outlet 114 . the second water outlet pipe 174 is provided with the second water outlet 115 . a dishwasher 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to figs. 23-28 . as shown in figs. 23-28 , the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure includes: a washing inner container 1 , a spray arm, a heating device 3 , and a diverter valve 4 . the washing inner container 1 is provided with a washing outlet 111 . the spray arm is disposed in the washing inner container 1 , and the spray arm is provided with a spray inlet. the heating device 3 has a to-be-heated water inlet 321 and a heated water outlet 322 , and the heating device 3 is used to heat washing water. the diverter valve 4 is provided with a water inlet 41 , a second water outlet, a first water outlet 43 , and a water return port 44 . the water inlet 41 is connected to the washing outlet 111 . the second water outlet is connected to the spray inlet. the first water outlet 43 is connected to the to-be-heated water inlet 321 . the water return port 44 is connected to the heated water outlet 322 . for example, the washing inner container 1 defines a washing chamber therein. a bracket may be provided in the washing chamber and used to support tableware. the spray arm is disposed in the washing inner container 1 and is provided with the spray inlet. the washing water enters the spray arm through the spray inlet, and subsequently is sprayed to the tableware through a nozzle provided in the spray arm, thereby cleaning the tableware. optionally, the washing water sprayed on the tableware may be collected in a water sump 11 disposed at the bottom of the washing inner container 1 , and the washing outlet 111 is formed in the bottom of the water sump 11 , such that the washing water flows out from the washing outlet 111 . a washing water circulation system further includes a washing pump 5 . the washing pump 5 has an inlet in communication with the washing outlet 111 and an outlet in communication with the spray inlet, and the washing pump 5 offers power to the circulation of the washing water. in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the dishwasher 100 includes at least two working modes. in a first mode, the water inlet 41 of the diverter valve 4 is communicated with the second water outlet. in a second mode, the water inlet 41 of the diverter valve 4 is communicated with the first water outlet 43 , and the water return port 44 is communicated with the second water outlet. in other words, when the water inlet 41 of the diverter valve 4 is communicated with the second water outlet, under the drive of the washing pump 5 , the washing water flows out from the washing outlet 111 , subsequently flows towards the spray inlet via the water inlet 41 and the second water outlet in sequence, and flows into the spray arm from the spray inlet to be sprayed. thus, in the first mode, the washing water does not flow through the heating device 3 , and the washing water will not be heated. hence, the first mode may be called a non-heating mode. in the first mode, the heating device 3 can be turned off, thereby saving energy. certainly, the heating device may also be turned on as needed, and be used to heat other apparatuses, spaces, or the like. for example, the heating device can be turned on to dry the inner space of the washing inner container 1 . in addition, when the water inlet 41 of the diverter valve 4 is communicated with the first water outlet 43 , and the water return port 44 is communicated with the second water outlet, under the drive of the washing pump 5 , the washing water flows out from the washing outlet 111 , subsequently flows towards the to-be-heated water inlet 321 of the heating device 3 via the water inlet 41 and the first water outlet 43 in sequence, and flows into the heating device 3 from the to-be-heated water inlet 321 . the washing water is heated to high-temperature washing water, subsequently flows out from the heated water outlet 322 , and flows towards the spray inlet via the water return port 44 and the second water outlet in sequence. the high-temperature washing water flows into the spray arm from the spray inlet to be sprayed. thus, in the second mode, the washing water flows through the heating device 3 , and at this time, the heating device 3 can be started to heat the washing water to increase the temperature of the washing water, so that the dishwasher 100 operates in a high-temperature washing mode, which can improve the washing effect. the second mode may be called a heating mode. for the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, by providing the diverter valve 4 , the washing water can be diverted in different washing modes. in the non-heating mode, the washing water does not flow through the heating device 3 , which can reduce the flow resistance in the water flow system during the non-heating period to a certain extent, speed up the water flow, improve the cleaning speed and cleanliness, and upgrade the system washing performance moreover, in the non-heating mode, the turn-on or turn-off of the heating device 3 and the flow path of the washing water can be independently controlled, so that the use of the dishwasher 100 becomes more convenient. in addition, the water diversion function is integrated in one diverter valve 4 , so that the water diversion structure is compact, the pipeline is shortened, and the control method is simple. in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the heating device 3 includes a compressor 31 , a condenser 32 , a throttling device 33 , and an evaporator 34 that are sequentially connected end to end, so as to constitute a refrigerant cycle. that is to say, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the dishwasher 100 is a heat pump dishwasher, and a refrigerant undergoes processes of compression, condensation and heat release, throttling expansion, evaporation and heat absorption in a heat pump system. after converting low-grade energy into high-grade thermal energy, the refrigerant is released into the washing water to achieve a purpose of efficient heating with low energy consumption. compared with the traditional electric heating, the performance coefficient of the heating system using the heat pump is three to four times or even more times higher than the conventional electric heating systems. the dishwasher 100 adopting the heat pump heating technology has a significant energy-saving effect and can greatly reduce the energy consumption, which is an effective means to reduce the energy consumption of the dishwasher 100 . further, the condenser 32 defines a first liquid flow channel and a second liquid flow channel therein. two ends of the first liquid flow channel are provided with the to-be-heated water inlet 321 and the heated water outlet 322 , respectively. two ends of the second liquid flow channel are communicated with the compressor 31 and the throttling device 33 , respectively. in other words, the condenser 32 is a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger, thereby improving the heating efficiency of condensate water. moreover, in order to improve the heat exchange efficiency of the washing water and the refrigerant, the first liquid flow channel and the second liquid flow channel may be designed complicatedly, to increase the flow resistance in the first liquid flow channel thus, if the condenser 32 is directly connected to the original washing system flow path, there may be problems that the spray pressure of the spray arm of the dishwasher 100 drops or the power consumption of the washing pump 5 increases, especially during the non-heating period. for this reason, in the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, by providing the diverter valve 4 , the problem of large flow resistance caused by the washing water flowing through the condenser 32 during the non-heating period can be solved. it should be noted that in the heating mode, the above heat pump system is turned on, and the washing water flowing out of the washing inner container 1 can be heated by the condenser, and the high-temperature washing water enters the spray arm to wash the tableware in the washing inner container 1 at high temperature, thereby improving the washing effect. in the non-heating mode, the above heat pump system can be turned off, which can save energy. certainly, the above heat pump system can also be turned on as needed and be used to heat or cool other apparatuses, spaces, or the like. for example, the heat pump system can be turned on, to utilize the condenser 32 to heat and dry the inner space of the washing inner container 1 or utilize the evaporator 34 to cool and dehumidify the inner space of the washing inner container 1 . certainly, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. the heating device 3 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may also adopt electric heating. for example, electric heating wires or the thick film heating technology may be used to heat the circulating water. electric heating is used to heat the washing water, the structure is simple, and the control is simple. the heating device 3 will be exemplified as a heat pump system below for detailed description. in some embodiments of the present disclosure, there may be a plurality of spray arms and one second water outlet. the spray inlet of each spray arm is communicated with the second water outlet, so that the washing water can be dispersed into the plurality of spray arms to be sprayed, after flowing out from the second water outlet, and hence the cleaning effect is better. in other embodiments of the present disclosure, there may be a plurality of spray arms and a plurality of second water outlets. each second water outlet is communicated with the spray inlet of at least one spray arm. thus, the plurality of second water outlets and the plurality of spray arms can be combined in various ways, thereby realizing connection structures for different requirements, and achieving alternate cleaning of the spray arms. for example, there are the plurality of spray arms and the plurality of second water outlets. each second water outlet is communicated with the spray inlet of at least one spray arm. in the first mode, the water inlet 41 is selectively communicated with at least one second water outlet, so that in the non-heating mode, the washing water can flow into one or more spray arms as needed, thereby achieving the alternate cleaning mode. similarly, there are the plurality of spray arms and the plurality of second water outlets. each second water outlet is communicated with the spray inlet of at least one spray arm. in the second mode, the water return port 44 is selectively communicated with at least one second water outlet, so that in the heating mode, the washing water can flow into one or more spray arms as needed, thereby achieving the alternate cleaning mode. it should be noted that the number of spray arms and the number of second water outlets may be equal or unequal, so that the spray arms and second water outlets can be combined as needed. therefore, in different modes, the washing water can enter a corresponding spray arm through the second water outlet for spray cleaning. the cleaning mode is diversified, and the use of the dishwasher 100 becomes more convenient. the connection manner of the spray arm and the second water outlet, as well as the control of the diverter valve in the case of the corresponding connection manner of the spray arm and the second water outlet will be described below with reference to figs. 23-28 . for example, the dishwasher 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to figs. 23-28 . the spray arm includes: a lower spray arm 23 , an upper spray arm 21 , and a middle spray arm 22 . the lower spray arm 23 is disposed at a lower part inside the washing inner container 1 , the upper spray arm 21 is disposed at an upper part inside the washing inner container 1 , and the middle spray arm 22 is disposed at a middle part inside the washing inner container 1 . thus, by providing the spray arms in the upper, middle, and lower parts of the washing inner container 1 , communication among the upper, middle, and lower parts of the washing inner container 1 can be achieved. in this way, during the cleaning process, the lower spray arm 23 can spray water alone; the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 can spray water simultaneously; or the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 and the lower spray arm 23 can spray water simultaneously, thereby achieving an alternate spraying effect. two second water outlets are provided, and each second water outlet is connected to at least one spray arm. for example, one of the second water outlets is connected to the lower spray arm 23 , and the other one thereof is connected to the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 at the same time. further, in the first mode, the water inlet 41 is communicated with one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet 41 is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet 41 is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets. therefore, in the first mode, when the water inlet 41 is communicated with one of the second water outlets, the washing water can enter the corresponding spray arm through this second water outlet; when the water inlet 41 is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, the washing water can enter the other corresponding spray arm through the other second water outlet; when the water inlet 41 is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets, the washing water can enter all the spray arms. therefore, according to different needs, by communicating the water inlet 41 with different second water outlets, alternate cleaning in the non-heating mode can be realized. that is, in the non-heating mode, the washing water does not flow through the heating device 3 (the condenser 32 ), and the alternate cleaning sequence is solved in the diverter valve 4 , and three non-heating modes are realized: the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 work; the lower spray arm 23 works; the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 work simultaneously. therefore, in the non-heating mode, the loss due to the flow resistance caused by flowing through the heating device 3 (the condenser 32 ) in the washing cycle can be avoided, and hence the pressure of the spray arms and the washing effect will not be affected. in the second mode, the water return port 44 is communicated with one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet 41 is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, or the water inlet 41 is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets. therefore, in the second mode, when the water return port 44 is communicated with one of the second water outlets, the high-temperature washing water can enter the corresponding spray arm through this second water outlet; when the water return port 44 is communicated with the other one of the second water outlets, the high-temperature washing water can enter the other corresponding spray arm through the other second water outlet; when the water return port 44 is simultaneously communicated with both of the second water outlets, the high-temperature washing water can enter all the spray arms. therefore, according to different needs, by communicating the water return port 44 with different second water outlets, alternate cleaning in the heating mode can be realized. that is, in the heating mode, the washing water flows through the heating device 3 (the condenser 32 ), and the flow path is switched in the diverter valve 4 . the circulating washing water flows back to the diverter valve 4 after being heated by the heating device 3 (the condenser 32 ), and three heating modes are realized: the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 work; the lower spray arm 23 works; the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 work simultaneously. therefore, it is possible to achieve alternate washing during the entire time sequence in the heating process. the embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to different examples of figs. 23-28 . as shown in figs. 23-28 , the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a washing inner container 1 , a washing pump 5 , an upper spray arm 21 , a middle spray arm 22 , a lower spray arm 23 , a heating device 3 , and a diverter valve 4 . a water sump 11 is provided in a bottom wall of the washing inner container 1 . the heating device 3 includes a compressor 31 , a throttling device 33 , a condenser 32 , and an evaporator 34 . further, the compressor 31 , the condenser 32 , the throttling device 33 , and the evaporator 34 are sequentially connected through pipelines and constitute a closed circulation system, and a refrigerant circulates in the closed pipeline system. the diverter valve 4 may include a valve body casing, a valve sheet, an electric motor, and a valve sheet transmission mechanism. the valve body casing is provided with a water inlet 41 , a second water outlet, a first water outlet 43 , and a water return port 44 . two second water outlets are provided, that is, a second water outlet 42 a located on the left and a second water outlet 42 b located on the right in figs. 23-28 . further, the washing pump 5 is connected by a pipeline, and the washing pump 5 has an inlet in communication with the water sump 11 and an outlet in communication with the water inlet 41 of the diverter valve 4 . further, the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 are disposed in the inner container, and spray inlets of the two spray arms converge into one path. a spray inlet 211 of the upper spray arm 21 and a spray inlet 221 of the middle spray arm 22 are connected by a pipeline, and subsequently communicated with the second water outlet of the diverter valve 4 (for example, the second water outlet 42 b on the right in figs. 23-28 ). further, the lower spray arm 23 is disposed in the inner container, and a spray inlet 231 of the lower spray arm 23 is communicated with the other second water outlet (for example, the second water outlet 42 a on the left in figs. 23-28 ) of the diverter valve 4 through pipeline connection. further, a to-be-heated water inlet 321 of the condenser 32 of the heating device 3 is communicated with the first water outlet 43 of the diverter valve 4 through a pipeline, and a heated water outlet 322 is communicated with the water return port 44 of the diverter valve 4 through a pipeline. in the above flow path connection situation, the washing pump 5 can continuously circulate the washing water in the water sump 11 to the condenser 32 and various spray arms, so as to achieve the purpose of washing the tableware. through a control program, a rotation angle of the valve sheet of the diverter valve 4 can be controlled to realize the following six modes. as shown in fig. 23 , when the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the second water outlet 42 a on the left, and blocks the first water outlet 43 , the water return port 44 , and the second water outlet 42 b on the right, clean water delivered by the washing pump 5 is directly sent to the lower spray arm 23 , so that the dishwasher 100 realizes a spray cleaning mode of the lower spray arm 23 in a non-heating situation. as shown in fig. 24 , when the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the second water outlet 42 b on the right, and blocks the first water outlet 43 , the water return port 44 , and the second water outlet 42 a on the left, clean water delivered by the washing pump 5 is sent to the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 simultaneously, so that the dishwasher 100 realizes a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 in a non-heating situation. as shown in fig. 25 , when the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the second water outlet 42 a on the left and the second water outlet 42 b on the right, and blocks the first water outlet 43 and the water return port 44 , clean water delivered by the washing pump 5 is sent to the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 simultaneously, so that the dishwasher 100 realizes a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 in a non-heating situation. further, when the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the water return port 44 , the dishwasher 100 enters a heating mode of the condenser 32 . in such a case, communication channels of the water inlet 41 and the water return port 44 are blocked from communication channels of other interfaces. as shown in fig. 26 , in a heating mode, the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the first water outlet 43 and communicates the water return port 44 with the second water outlet 42 a on the left, and blocks the second water outlet 42 b on the right, so that the dishwasher 100 can realize a spray cleaning mode of the lower spray arm 23 in the heating situation. as shown in fig. 27 , in a heating mode, the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the first water outlet 43 and communicates the water return port 44 with the second water outlet 42 b on the right, and blocks the second water outlet 42 a on the left, so that the dishwasher 100 can realize a spray cleaning mode of the lower spray arm 23 , the upper spray arm 21 , and the middle spray arm 22 in the heating situation. as shown in fig. 28 , in a heating mode, the valve sheet communicates the water inlet 41 with the first water outlet 43 , and communicates the water return port 44 with the second water outlet 42 a on the left and the second water outlet 42 b on the right, so that the dishwasher 100 can realize a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 in the heating situation. in conclusion, for the dishwasher 100 according to the present disclosure, during the non-heating period, the water does not flow through the heating device 3 (the condenser 32 ), which can reduce the resistance pressure drop in the water flow system during the non-heating period and improve the washing performance of the system. during the heating period, the dishwasher 100 can still adopt the cleaning mode that different spray arms spray alternately, which can reduce the water consumption of the system effectively. in addition, the water diversion function is completely integrated in one diverter valve 4 in the system, such that the structure is compact, the pipeline is shortened, and the control method is simple. a second embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described below. the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes an upper spray arm 21 , a middle spray arm 22 , and a lower spray arm 23 . a spray inlet 211 of the upper spray arm 21 and a spray inlet 221 of the middle spray arm 22 do not merge. three second water outlets are provided and connected to a spray inlet 231 of the lower spray arm 23 , the spray inlet 211 of the upper spray arm 21 , and the spray inlet 221 of the middle spray arm 22 , respectively. therefore, the diverter valve 4 can realize a six-way six-path mode, and achieve seven alternate cleaning modes in the non-heating mode: a spray cleaning mode of the lower spray arm 23 ; a spray cleaning mode of the middle spray arm 22 ; a spray cleaning mode of the lower spray arm 23 ; a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 ; a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 and the lower spray arm 23 ; a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the lower spray arm 23 and the middle spray arm 22 ; a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 and the lower spray arm 23 . similarly, in the heating mode, the above seven alternate cleaning modes can also be realized. as a result, in this embodiment, there are fourteen alternate cleaning modes in total. the structure of the diverter valve 4 in this embodiment is more complicated, but the above technical effects can still be achieved. that is, during the non-heating period, the water does not flow through the heating device 3 (the condenser 32 ), which can reduce the resistance pressure drop in the water flow system during the non-heating period and improve the washing performance of the system. during the heating period, the dishwasher 100 can still adopt the cleaning mode that different spray arms spray alternately, which can reduce the water consumption of the system effectively. in addition, the water diversion function is completely integrated in one diverter valve 4 in the system, such that the structure is compact, the pipeline is shortened, and the control method is simple. a third embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described below. the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes an upper spray arm 21 , a middle spray arm 22 , and a lower spray arm 23 . the diverter valve 4 is provided with one second water outlet. a spray inlet 211 of the upper spray arm 21 , a spray inlet 221 of the middle spray arm 22 , and a spray inlet 231 of the lower spray arm 23 merge into the second water outlet of the diverter valve 4 . the diverter valve 4 adopts a six-way six-path form, so that a cleaning mode that the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 simultaneously spray in the heating situation can be achieved, and a cleaning mode that the upper spray arm 21 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the lower spray arm 23 simultaneously spray in the non-heating situation can be achieved. in such a case, the design of the diverter valve 4 will be further simplified, which can achieve the purpose of reducing the resistance pressure drop in the water flow system during the non-heating period. a fourth embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described below. the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes any two of an upper spray arm 21 , a middle spray arm 22 , and a lower spray arm 23 . there are two second water outlets, and the two second water outlets are connected to two spray arms correspondingly. hence, a cleaning mode that the two spray arms alternately spray in heating and non-heating modes can be realized. by way of example, the washing inner container 1 of the dishwasher 100 may be provided with the lower spray arm 23 and the middle spray arm 22 , and the upper spray arm 21 is not provided. two second water outlets are provided, one of the two second water outlets is connected to a spray inlet 231 of the lower spray arm 23 , and the other one thereof is connected to a spray inlet 221 of the middle spray arm 22 . hence, three alternate cleaning modes in the non-heating mode can be realized: a spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 ; a spray cleaning mode of the middle spray arm 22 ; a simultaneous spray cleaning mode of the upper spray arm 21 and the middle spray arm 22 . similarly, in the heating mode, the above three alternate cleaning modes can also be realized. as a result, in this embodiment, there are six alternate cleaning modes in total. a fifth embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described below. the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes any two of an upper spray arm 21 , a middle spray arm 22 , and a lower spray arm 23 . there is one second water outlet, and the two spray arms are both connected to the second water outlet, so that a spray cleaning mode of double spray arms in the heating mode and the non-heating mode can be realized. as a result, in this embodiment, there are two washing modes in total, namely a heating double spray arm washing mode, and a non-heating double spray arm washing mode. a sixth embodiment according to the present disclosure will be described below. in the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the washing inner container 1 may be provided with only one of a lower spray arm 23 , a middle spray arm 22 , and an upper spray arm 21 . there may be one second water outlet, and the second water outlet is connected to the one of the lower spray arm 23 , the middle spray arm 22 , and the upper spray arm 21 , so that a spray cleaning mode of single spray arm in the heating mode and the non-heating mode can be realized. as a result, in this embodiment, there are two washing modes in total, namely a heating single spray arm washing mode, and a non-heating single spray arm washing mode. therefore, for the dishwasher 100 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, by providing the diverter valve 4 , the washing water can be diverted in different washing modes. in the non-heating mode, the washing water does not flow through the heating device 3 , which can reduce the flow resistance in the water flow system during the non-heating period to a certain extent, speed up the water flow, improve the cleaning speed and cleanliness, and upgrade the system washing performance moreover, in the non-heating mode, the turn-on or turn-off of the heating device 3 and the flow path of the washing water can be independently controlled, so that the use of the dishwasher 100 becomes more convenient. in addition, the water diversion function is integrated in one diverter valve 4 , so that the water diversion structure is compact, the pipeline is shortened, and the control method is simple. in the present disclosure, unless specified or limited otherwise, a structure in which a first feature is “on” or “below” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is in direct contact with the second feature, and may also include an embodiment in which the first feature and the second feature are not in direct contact with each other, but are contacted via an additional feature formed therebetween. furthermore, a first feature “on,” “above,” or “on top of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “on,” “above,” or “on top of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height higher than that of the second feature; while a first feature “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” a second feature may include an embodiment in which the first feature is right or obliquely “below,” “under,” or “on bottom of” the second feature, or just means that the first feature is at a height lower than that of the second feature. various embodiments and examples are provided in the following description to implement different structures of the present disclosure. in order to simplify the present disclosure, elements and settings of certain examples are described in the above. certainly, these elements and settings are only by way of example and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. in addition, reference numerals and/or letters may be repeated in different examples in the present disclosure. this repetition is for the purpose of simplification and clarity and does not indicate relations between different embodiments and/or settings. furthermore, examples of different processes and materials are provided in the present disclosure. however, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other processes and/or materials may be also applied. reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “an exemplary embodiment,” “an example,” “a specific example,” or “some examples,” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. thus, the appearances of these phrases in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment or example of the present disclosure. furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples. although explanatory embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, alternatives and variations can be made in the embodiments without departing from principles and purposes of the present disclosure. the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the claims and their equivalents.
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005-800-382-201-219
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US
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[
"US",
"WO",
"JP",
"AU",
"EP"
] |
H01L21/84,H01L21/28,H01L21/336,H01L21/8238,H01L29/10,H01L29/49,H01L29/786,H01L21/265,H01L29/423,H01L29/78,H01L21/00,H01L27/01
| 2002-10-22T00:00:00 |
2002
|
[
"H01"
] |
gate material for semiconductor device fabrication
|
in forming an electronic device, a semiconductor layer is pre-doped and a dopant distribution anneal is performed prior to gate definition. alternatively, the gate is formed from a metal. subsequently formed shallow sources and drains, therefore, are not affected by the gate annealing step.
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1 - 63 . (canceled) 64 . a method for forming a structure, the method comprising: forming a gate of a transistor over a substrate, the gate defining a channel therebelow; introducing a plurality of dopants into the substrate proximate the channel to define a source and drain; and heating the substrate to a temperature for a time to activate the plurality of dopants, wherein the gate includes a depletion region having a thickness less than approximately 20 angstroms, and at least one of the temperature and the time is sufficiently low so that diffusion of the plurality of dopants beyond the source and the drain is sufficiently low such that an off current of the transistor is low. 65 . the method of claim 64 , wherein the channel comprises a strained semiconductor. 66 . the method of claim 64 , wherein forming the gate comprises depositing a semiconductor layer over the substrate, forming a metal layer over the semiconductor layer, and heating the substrate such that at least a portion of the semiconductor layer reacts with the metal layer to form a metal-semiconductor alloy. 67 . the method of claim 66 , further comprising introducing a plurality of dopants into the gate. 68 . the method of claim 66 , wherein substantially all of the semiconductor layer reacts with the metal to form the metal-semiconductor alloy. 69 . the method of claim 66 , wherein the metal comprises ni. 70 . the method of claim 69 , wherein the substrate is heated by at least one of flash annealing and laser annealing and the time is less than 1 second. 71 . the method of claim 70 , wherein the temperature is chosen from a range of 900° c.-1350° c. 72 . the method of claim 64 , wherein after heating the substrate, an abruptness of a dopant concentration in at least one of the source and the drain is greater than approximately 2 nanometers per decade. 73 . the method of claim 72 , wherein the abruptness is greater than approximately 4 nanometers per decade. 74 . the method of claim 64 , wherein the gate consists essentially of metal. 75 . the method of claim 74 , wherein the metal consists essentially of a single metallic element. 76 . the method of claim 74 , wherein the metal consists essentially of at least two metallic elements. 77 . the method of claim 64 , wherein at least one of the source and drain comprises an element other than si. 78 . the method of claim 77 , wherein the element comprises ge. 79 . the method of claim 64 , wherein at least one of the source and the drain comprises a strained semiconductor material. 80 . the method of claim 79 , wherein the strained semiconductor material is compressively strained. 81 . the method of claim 79 , wherein the strained semiconductor material comprises at least one of sige and ge. 82 . the method of claim 64 , wherein the off current is less than 10 −6 amperes per micrometer. 83 . the method of claim 82 , wherein the off current is less than 10 −9 amperes per micrometer. 84 . a structure comprising: a substrate; an n-type metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor disposed over the substrate including: a first source and a first drain, defining a first channel therebetween and each of the first source and first drain comprising n-type dopants, a first gate disposed above the first channel, the first gate having a first workfunction and comprising a first metal, and a first gate dielectric layer disposed between the first gate and the first channel; and a p-type metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor disposed over the substrate including: a second source and a second drain, defining a second channel therebetween and each of the second source and second drain comprising p-type dopants; a second gate disposed above the second channel, the second gate having a second workfunction and comprising a second metal; and a second gate dielectric layer disposed between the second gate and the second channel, wherein the first workfunction is substantially different from the second work function, and at least one of the first channel and the second channel comprises a strained semiconductor. 85 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein the first channel and the second channel each comprises a strained semiconductor. 86 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein at least one of the first metal and the second metal comprises at least one of molybdenum, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, iridium, cobalt, and platinum. 87 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein at least one of the first metal and the second metal comprises nickel. 88 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein at least one of the first gate and the second gate consists essentially of a metal-semiconductor alloy. 89 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein an abruptness of a dopant concentration in at least one of the first source, the first drain, the second source, and the second drain is greater than approximately 2 nanometers per decade. 90 . the structure of claim 89 , wherein the abruptness is greater than approximately 4 nanometers per decade. 91 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein at least one of the first source, the first drain, the second source, and the second drain comprises a second strained semiconductor. 92 . the structure of claim 91 , wherein the second strained semiconductor is compressively strained. 93 . the structure of claim 91 , wherein the second strained semiconductor comprises at least one of sige and ge. 94 . the structure of claim 84 , wherein the strained semiconductor comprises tensilely strained si.
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related applications this application claims the benefit of u.s. provisional application 60/420,227 filed oct. 22, 2002, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. field of the invention this application relates generally to semiconductor devices and particularly to semiconductor structures made on semiconductor substrates with strained layers. background formation of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (mosfets) requires the introduction of dopants into, e.g., a silicon (si) substrate to define source and drain regions. dopants are also introduced into a gate material, such as polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon), to achieve a desired conductivity. dopants disposed in source, drain, and gate (s/dig) regions are activated by a heat treatment to provide the needed electrical characteristics. for good-quality n-type mos (nmos) devices, dopant activation is typically performed at a high temperature, e.g., at least 1000° c. for 5 seconds, to avoid polysilicon depletion effects. a gate in which the polysilicon is depleted has a non-uniform distribution of dopants, with a relatively low concentration of dopants near an interface with a gate dielectric. this depletion region can result in reduced gate capacitance during device operation, resulting in a lower transistor drive current. activation of dopants in regions defined on substrates with strained layers, such as strained si, presents a challenge. strained si substrates include a thin strained si layer having a thickness of, e.g., 40-400 å. the strained si layer is disposed over a second material, e.g., a relaxed sige layer. a compressively strained sige layer may be disposed above or below the strained si layer. these layer structures may make it difficult to maintain shallow source/drain junctions in, for example, complementary mos (cmos) devices, especially when the strained si/sige substrate is subjected to high temperatures. this difficulty arises from the different diffusion rates of dopants in sige and in si. for example, arsenic (as) may diffuse much more rapidly in sige than in si at temperatures significantly above 900° c. and/or times significantly above 30 seconds. this rapid diffusion leads to deeper source/drain junctions in nmos transistors fabricated on strained-si/sige substrates and/or excessive lateral diffusion of dopants beneath the gate, i.e., into the channel region. because of the diffusion of as into a channel of the nmos transistor, the transistor has a high off current (i off ) and it becomes more difficult to turn off. in alternative structures, the second material over which the strained layer is disposed may be e.g., a bulk semiconductor substrate, or an insulating material. here, too, it may be difficult to maintain shallow source/drain junctions or prevent excessive lateral diffusion of dopants, especially when the strained structures are subjected to high temperatures. this difficulty arises from the different diffusion rates of dopants in strained layers in comparison to bulk, non-strained materials. for example, boron diffuses faster through strained si than through bulk si. a possible solution is to perform the s/d/g dopant activation at a restricted time and temperature (e.g., 900° c. for 30 sec). however, these restricted parameters may lead to unacceptable polysilicon depletion effects. summary a semiconductor layer is pre-doped and a dopant distribution anneal is performed prior to gate definition. subsequently formed shallow sources and drains, therefore, are not affected by the gate annealing step. in an aspect, the invention features a method for forming a structure, the method including forming a layer over a substrate, the layer having a depletion region with a thickness less than approximately 20 angstroms. a portion of the layer is removed to define a gate of a transistor, the gate defining a channel length. a plurality of dopants are introduced into the substrate proximate the gate to define a source and a drain, and the substrate is heated to a temperature to activate the plurality of dopants. the temperature is sufficiently low to prevent at least a portion of the plurality of dopants from diffusing enough to induce a high off current. one or more of the following features may be included. the substrate may include an insulating layer. a strained layer may be disposed over the insulating layer. the substrate may include a strained layer. the strained layer may be tensilely strained or compressively strained. the substrate may include a relaxed layer. the substrate may include germanium. the depletion region thickness may be less than 10 angstroms. the induced off current may be less than 10 −6 amperes per micrometer, and preferably may be less than 10 −9 amperes per micrometer. after the plurality of dopants are introduced, a portion of the plurality of dopants disposed in a region of the source may define a source extent proximate the channel, and after heating the substrate, the source extent may diffuses under the gate a distance extending less than 12.5% of the channel length. a concentration of the portion of dopants at the source extent may be at least approximately 10 18 atoms/cubic centimeter. after the plurality of dopants are introduced, a portion of the plurality of dopants disposed in a region of the drain may define a drain extent proximate the channel, and after heating the substrate, the drain extent may diffuse under the gate a distance extending less than 12.5% of the channel length. a concentration of the portion of dopants at the drain extent may be at least approximately 10 18 atoms/cubic centimeter. the layer may include a semiconductor and the step of forming the layer may include introducing a plurality of gate dopants into the layer, and heating the layer to a first temperature to alter a distribution of the gate dopants in the layer. the semiconductor may include silicon and/or germanium. the layer may include a metallic element, such as at least one of molybdenum, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, iridium, nickel, cobalt, and platinum. in another aspect, the invention features a method for forming a structure, the method including introducing a first plurality of dopants into a gate electrode layer disposed over a substrate. the gate electrode layer is heated to a first temperature to alter a distribution of the first plurality of dopants in the gate electrode layer. a portion of the gate electrode layer is removed to define a gate of a transistor. a second plurality of dopants is introduced into the substrate proximate the gate to define a source and a drain. the substrate is heated to a second temperature to activate the second plurality of dopants, with second temperature being less than the first temperature. one or more of the following features may be included. the substrate may include an insulating layer. the substrate may include a strained layer disposed over the insulating layer. the substrate may include a strained layer. the strained layer may be tensilely strained or compressively strained. the substrate may include a relaxed layer. the substrate may include germanium. the first temperature may be greater than 1000° c. the second temperature may be less than 1000° c. the gate electrode layer may include a semiconductor layer, such as silicon and/or germanium. the first plurality and the second plurality of dopants may include n-type dopants and/or or p-type dopants. in another aspect, the invention features a method for forming a structure, the method including introducing a first plurality of dopants into a gate electrode layer disposed over a substrate. the semiconductor layer is heated for a first time period to alter a distribution of the first plurality of dopants in the gate electrode layer. a portion of the gate electrode layer is removed to define a gate of a transistor. a second plurality of dopants is introduced into the substrate proximate the gate to define a source and a drain. the substrate is heated for a second time period to activate the second plurality of dopants, with the second time period having a shorter duration than a duration of the first time period. one or more of the following features may be included. the substrate may include an insulating layer. the substrate may include a strained layer disposed over the insulating layer. the substrate may include a strained layer. the strained layer may be tensilely strained or compressively strained. the substrate may include a relaxed layer. the substrate may include at least one of silicon and germanium. the first time period may be greater than 5 seconds. in some embodiments, the first time period may be greater than 30 seconds. the gate electrode layer may include a semiconductor layer. the semiconductor layer may include silicon and/or germanium. the first and the second plurality of dopants may include n-type dopants and/or p-type dopants. in another aspect, the invention features a structure including a strained layer disposed over a substrate. a first transistor includes a first source and a first drain, with at least a portion of the first source and the first drain disposed in a first portion of the strained layer. the first gate is disposed above the strained layer and between the source and drain regions, the first gate including a first metal. a first gate dielectric layer is disposed between the first gate and the strained layer. one or more of the following features may be included. the substrate may include dielectric material and the strained layer may be disposed in contact with the dielectric material. the first metal may be selected from the group consisting of titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, nickel, cobalt, and platinum. the strained layer may include silicon and/or germanium. the gate may include a metal-semiconductor alloy. in some embodiments, the gate may include only metal silicide. a channel may be disposed under the gate. the source may include a source extent proximate the channel, the source extent extending under the gate a distance less than 12.5% of a channel length. a concentration of dopants in the source extent may be at least approximately 10 18 atoms/cubic centimeter. the drain may include a drain extent proximate the channel, the drain extent extending under the gate a distance less than 12.5% of a channel length. a concentration of dopants in the drain extent may be at least approximately 10 18 atoms/cubic centimeter. the structure may have a second transistor that includes a second source and a second drain, with at least a portion of the first source and the first drain disposed in a second portion of the strained layer. a second gate may be disposed above the strained layer and between the second source and second drain regions, the second gate including a second metal. a second gate dielectric layer may be disposed between the second gate and the strained layer. the first transistor may be an n-type metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor, the first source and the first drain may include n-type dopants, the second transistor may be a p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, and the second source and second drain may include p-type dopants. the first gate may have a first workfunction, the second gate may have a second workfunction, and the first workfunction may be substantially equal to or substantially different from the second workfunction. brief description of the drawings figs. 1-4 illustrate several substrates amenable for use fabrication of semiconductor structures; figs. 5-8a are a series of schematic cross-sectional views of a semiconductor substrate illustrating a process for fabricating a semiconductor structure on the substrate; fig. 8b graphically depicts a distribution of dopants in the semiconductor structure illustrated in fig. 8a ; fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a semiconductor structure fabricated on the substrate; and fig. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a semiconductor structure fabricated on another substrate. like-referenced features represent common features in corresponding drawings. detailed description referring to fig. 1 , which illustrates an epitaxial wafer 100 amenable to use with the present invention, several layers collectively indicated at 101 , including a strained layer 102 and a relaxed layer 104 , are disposed over a substrate 106 . the ensuing discussion focuses on a strained layer 102 that is tensilely strained, but it is understood that strained layer 102 may be tensilely or compressively strained. strained layer 102 has a lattice constant other than the equilibrium lattice constant of the material from which it is formed, and it may be tensilely or compressively strained; relaxed layer 104 has a lattice constant equal to the equilibrium lattice constant of the material from which it is formed. tensilely strained layer 102 shares an interface 108 with relaxed layer 104 . substrate 106 and relaxed layer 104 may be formed from various materials systems, including various combinations of group ii, group iii, group iv, group v, and group vi elements. for example, each of substrate 106 and relaxed layer 104 may include a iii-v compound. substrate 106 may include gallium arsenide (gaas), and relaxed layer 104 may include indium gallium arsenide (ingaas) or aluminum gallium arsenide (algaas). these examples are merely illustrative, and many other material systems are suitable. in an embodiment, relaxed layer 104 may include si 1-x ge x with a uniform composition, containing, for example, ge in the range 0.1≦x≦0.9 and having a thickness t 1 of, e.g., 0.2-2 μm. in an embodiment, t 1 is 1.5 μm. strained layer 102 may include a semiconductor such as at least one of a group ii, a group iii, a group iv, a group v, and a group vi element. strained semiconductor layer 102 may include, for example, si, ge, sige, gaas, indium phosphide (inp), and/or zinc selenide (znse). in some embodiments, strained semiconductor layer 102 may include approximately 100% ge, and may be compressively strained. a strained semiconductor layer 102 comprising 100% ge may be formed over, e.g., relaxed layer 104 containing uniform si 1-x ge x having a ge content of, for example, 50-90% (i.e., x=0.5-0.9), preferably 70% (i.e., x=0.7). in an embodiment, tensilely strained layer 102 is formed of silicon. tensilely strained layer 102 has a thickness t 2 of, for example, 50-1000 å. in an embodiment, thickness t 2 is less than 200 å. relaxed layer 104 and strained layer 102 may be formed by epitaxy, such as by atmospheric-pressure cvd (apcvd), low- (or reduced-) pressure cvd (lpcvd), ultra-high-vacuum cvd (uhvcvd), by molecular beam epitaxy (mbe), or by atomic layer deposition (ald). strained layer 102 containing si may be formed by cvd with precursors such as silane, disilane, or trisilane. strained layer 102 containing ge may be formed by cvd with precursors such as germane or digermane. the epitaxial growth system may be a single-wafer or multiple-wafer batch reactor. the growth system may also utilize a low-energy plasma to enhance layer growth kinetics. in an embodiment in which strained layer 102 contains substantially 100% si, strained layer 102 may be formed in a dedicated chamber of a deposition tool that is not exposed to ge source gases, thereby avoiding cross-contamination and improving the quality of interface 108 between strained layer 102 and relaxed layer 104 . furthermore, strained layer 102 may be formed from an isotopically pure silicon precursor(s). isotopically pure si has better thermal conductivity than conventional si. higher thermal conductivity may help dissipate heat from devices subsequently formed on strained layer 102 , thereby maintaining the enhanced carrier mobilities provided by strained layer 102 . in some embodiments, relaxed layer 104 and/or strained layer 102 may be planarized by, e.g., cmp, to improve the quality of subsequent wafer bonding. strained layer 102 may have a low surface roughness, e.g., less than 0.5 nanometer (nm) root mean square (rms). referring to fig. 2 , an alternative epitaxial wafer 100 amenable for use with the present invention may include layers in addition to those indicated in fig. 1 . for example, a substrate 200 formed from a semiconductor, such as silicon, may have several layers collectively indicated at 202 formed upon it. layers 202 may be grown, for example, by apcvd, lpcvd, or uhvcvd. layers 202 include a graded layer 204 disposed over substrate 200 . graded layer 204 may include si and ge with a grading rate of, for example, 10% ge per μm of thickness, and a thickness t 3 of, for example, 2-9 μm. graded layer 204 may be grown, for example, at 600-1200° c. see, e.g., u.s. pat. no. 5,221,413, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. relaxed layer 104 is disposed over graded layer 204 . a virtual substrate 206 includes relaxed layer 104 and graded layer 204 . a compressively strained layer 208 including a semiconductor material is disposed over relaxed layer 104 . in an embodiment, compressively strained layer 208 includes group iv elements, such as si 1-y ge y , with a ge content (y) higher than the ge content (x) of relaxed si 1-x ge x layer 104 . compressively strained layer 208 contains, for example, ge in the range 0.25≦y≦1 and has a thickness t 4 of, e.g., 10-500 angstroms (å). in some embodiments, compressively strained layer 208 has a thickness t 4 of less than 500 å. in certain embodiments, t 4 is less than 200 å. tensilely strained layer 102 is disposed over compressively strained layer 208 , sharing an interface 210 with compressively strained layer 208 . in some embodiments, compressively strained layer 208 may be disposed not under, but over tensilely strained layer 102 . substrate 200 with layers 202 typically has a threading dislocation density of 10 4 -10 5 /cm 2 . referring to fig. 3 , yet another alternative epitaxial wafer amenable for use with the present invention is a strained-semiconductor-on-semiconductor ssos substrate 300 , having a strained layer 102 disposed in contact with a crystalline semiconductor handle wafer 310 . handle wafer 310 may include a bulk semiconductor material, such as silicon. the strain of strained layer 102 is not induced by underlying handle wafer 310 , and is independent of any lattice mismatch between strained layer 102 and handle wafer 310 . in an embodiment, strained layer 102 and handle wafer 310 include the same semiconductor material, e.g., silicon. handle wafer 310 may have a lattice constant equal to a lattice constant of strained layer 102 in the absence of strain. strained layer 102 may have a strain greater than approximately 10 −3 . strained layer 102 may have been formed by epitaxy, and may have a thickness t 2 ranging from approximately 20 å to approximately 1000 å, with a thickness uniformity of better than approximately ±10%. in an embodiment, strained layer 102 may have a thickness uniformity of better than approximately ±5%. strained layer 102 may have a surface roughness of less than 20 å. the ssos substrate 300 may be formed, as described in u.s. ser. nos. 10/456,708, 10/456,103, 10/264,935, and 10/629,498, the entire disclosures of each of the four applications being incorporated herein by reference. the ssos substrate formation process may include the formation of strained layer 102 over substrate 106 as described above with reference to fig. 1 . a cleave plane may be defined in, e.g., relaxed layer 104 . strained layer 102 may be bonded to the handle wafer 310 , and a split may be induced at the cleave plane. portions of the relaxed layer 104 remaining on strained layer 102 may be removed by, e.g., oxidation and/or wet etching. yet another epitaxial wafer amenable for use with the present invention is a strained-semiconductor-on-insulator (ssoi) wafer 400 . referring to fig. 4 , a ssoi wafer 400 has strained layer 102 disposed over an insulator, such as a dielectric layer 410 formed on a semiconductor substrate 420 . ssoi substrate 400 may be formed by methods analogous to the methods described above in the formation of ssos substrate 300 . dielectric layer 410 may include, for example, sio 2 . in an embodiment, dielectric layer 410 includes a material having a melting point (t m ) higher than a t m of pure sio 2 , i.e., higher than 1700° c. examples of such materials are silicon nitride (si 3 n 4 ), aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, etc. in another embodiment, dielectric layer 410 includes a high-k material with a dielectric constant higher than that of sio 2 , such as aluminum oxide (al 2 o 3 ), hafnium oxide (hfo 2 ) or hafnium silicate (hfsion or hfsio 4 ). semiconductor substrate 420 includes a semiconductor material such as, for example, si, ge, or sige. strained layer 102 has a thickness t 4 selected from a range of, for example, 50-1000 å, with a thickness uniformity of better than approximately +5% and a surface roughness of less than approximately 20 å. dielectric layer 410 has a thickness t 5 selected from a range of, for example, 500-3000 å. in an embodiment, strained layer 102 includes approximately 100% si or 100% ge having one or more of the following material characteristics: misfit dislocation density of, e.g., 0-10 5 cm/cm 2 ; a threading dislocation density of about 10 1 -10 7 dislocations/cm 2 ; a surface roughness of approximately 0.01-1 nm rms; and a thickness uniformity across ssoi substrate 400 of better than approximately ±10% of a mean desired thickness; and a thickness t 4 of less than approximately 200 å. in an embodiment, ssoi substrate 400 has a thickness uniformity of better than approximately ±5% of a mean desired thickness. in an embodiment, dielectric layer 410 has a t m greater than that of sio 2 . during subsequent processing, e.g., mosfet formation, ssoi substrate 400 may be subjected to high temperatures, i.e., up to 1100° c. high temperatures may result in the relaxation of strained layer 102 at an interface 430 between strained layer 102 and dielectric layer 410 . the use of dielectric layer with a t m greater than 1700° c. may help keep strained layer 102 from relaxing at the interface 430 between strained layer 102 and dielectric layer 410 when ssoi substrate is subjected to high temperatures. in an embodiment, the misfit dislocation density of strained layer 102 may be lower than its initial dislocation density. the initial dislocation density may be lowered by, for example, performing an etch of a top surface 440 of strained layer 102 . this etch may be a wet etch, such as a standard microelectronics clean step such as an rca sc1, i.e., hydrogen peroxide, ammonium hydroxide, and water (h 2 o 2 +nh 4 oh+h 2 o), which at, e.g., 80° c. may remove silicon. in an embodiment, substrate 210 with layers 202 is processed through various cmos front-end steps such as well definition and isolation formation (not shown). referring to fig. 5 , a gate dielectric layer 500 is formed on a top surface 510 of strained layer 102 . gate dielectric layer 500 is, for example, a thermally grown gate oxide such as silicon dioxide (sio 2 ). alternatively, gate dielectric layer 500 may include a high-k material with a dielectric constant higher than that of sio 2 , such as aluminum oxide (al 2 o 3 ), hafnium oxide (hfo 2 ) or hafnium silicate (hfsion or hfsio 4 ). in some embodiments, gate dielectric layer 500 may be a stacked structure, e.g., a thin sio 2 layer capped with a high-k material. a gate electrode layer 520 is formed over gate dielectric layer 500 . gate electrode layer 520 may include, for example, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, ge, or sige gate material. referring to fig. 6 , an implantation mask 600 is formed over gate electrode layer 520 . implantation mask 600 may be made of a masking material such as photoresist. implantation mask 600 defines an opening 610 , with opening 610 exposing a portion 620 of gate electrode layer 520 (defined for purposes of illustration by the dashed lines). gate electrode layer portion 620 is disposed over a portion of region 630 of substrate 200 and layers 202 in which nmos devices will be formed. implantation mask 600 protects portions of the top surface 640 of gate electrode layer 520 disposed over regions of substrate 200 and layers 202 in which nmos devices will not be formed. in the illustrated embodiment, implantation mask exposes only an area 620 in which an nmos gate will be defined (see below). in some other embodiments, implantation mask 600 exposes entire regions of gate electrode layer 520 disposed over regions of substrate 200 and layers 202 in which nmos devices will be formed, including regions in which n-type sources and drains will be formed (see below). subsequent to the formation of implantation mask 600 , a plurality of n-type dopants 650 are introduced into gate electrode layer portion 620 through opening 610 . n-type dopants 650 may be, for example, as or phosphorus (p) ions introduced by ion implantation. after the implantation of n-type dopants, implantation mask 600 is removed by a stripping process such as a dry strip in an oxygen plasma. a diffusion anneal is performed to diffuse n-type dopants 650 uniformly in a vertical direction throughout portion 620 of gate electrode layer 520 . this diffusion anneal is performed at a relatively high temperature, e.g., over 1000° c., such as 1025° c., for a sufficiently long time to uniformly diffuse dopants 650 , e.g., 5 seconds or more. the diffusion anneal results in the formation of a depletion region 660 in portion 620 of gate electrode layer 520 having a thickness t 6 of, e.g., less than 20 angstroms, preferably less than 10 angstroms. referring to fig. 7 , as well as to fig. 6 , a gate 700 formed from gate electrode layer 520 is defined as follows. a gate photoresist mask (not shown) is deposited and patterned to protect at least part of portion 620 of gate electrode layer 520 . regions of gate electrode layer 520 , as well as regions of portion 620 , exposed by the gate photoresist mask are removed by a removal process such as reactive ion etching (rie). subsequently, portions of dielectric layer 500 exposed by the rie of portions of gate electrode layer 520 are also removed by a removal step, such as rie with an etch chemistry selective to the material comprising strained layer 102 , such as si. removal of portions of dielectric layer 500 exposes top surface 510 of strained layer 102 , and defines a gate dielectric 710 disposed under gate 700 . the gate photoresist mask is removed by, for example, a stripping process such as a dry strip in an oxygen plasma. gate 700 includes a uniform distribution of n-type dopants, and defines an initial channel length l 1 . referring to fig. 8a , a shallow implantation of n-type dopants, such as as, is performed to define a source extension 800 and a drain extension 810 in strained layer 102 . a first sidewall spacer 820 and a second sidewall spacer 830 are defined proximate gate 700 . first and second sidewall spacers 820 , 830 are formed from a dielectric, such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. a source 840 and a drain 850 may be defined in portions of strained layer 102 , compressively strained layer 208 , and relaxed layer 104 , proximate first and second sidewall spacers 820 , 830 . in some embodiments, source 840 and drain 850 may be defined in strained layer 102 . source 840 and drain 850 are defined by the introduction of a plurality of dopants, such as by an implantation of n-type dopants, e.g., as, into layers 202 disposed over substrate 200 . these dopants are substantially prevented from reaching regions of compressively strained layer 208 and strained layer 102 disposed below gate dielectric 710 by the presence of sidewall spacers 820 , 830 . after the introduction of dopants to define source 840 , drain 850 , source extension 800 , and drain extension 810 , an activation anneal is performed to activate these dopants. the activation anneal is performed at a relatively low temperature, e.g., less than 1000° c. for example, an activation anneal may be done at 900° c. for 30 seconds. alternatively, the activation anneal may be done for a very short duration at a higher temperature, e.g., 1 second at 1100° c. in an alternative embodiment, an activation anneal of extremely short duration (e.g., less than 1 second) may be performed by techniques such as flash lamp annealing or laser annealing at temperatures between 900° c. and 1350° c. this temperature and time are sufficient to activate the dopants in the source 840 and drain 850 , without inducing excessive diffusion of n-type dopants into a channel 860 under gate 700 . as a result of this procedure, good dopant activation is achieved and polysilicon depletion avoided due to the high-temperature diffusion anneal. at the same time, dopants in the vicinity of strained layer 102 and/or compressively strained layer 208 do not experience high temperatures for long durations (high thermal budgets) and, hence, do not significantly invade these layers beyond the boundaries of source 840 , drain 850 , source extension 800 , and drain extension 810 . dopants do not diffuse into channel 860 enough to induce a high off current. the off current may be less than 10 −6 amperes per micrometer. in some embodiments, the off current is less than 10 −9 amperes per micrometer. referring to fig. 8b as well as to fig. 8a , a concentration of dopants in layers 202 may be graphically depicted with a graph 865 , with an x-axis representing positions within strained layer 102 and a y-axis representing a logarithm of dopant concentration. a concentration [n] 870 of dopants in source 840 and source extension 800 and a concentration [n] 875 of dopants in drain 850 and drain extension 810 may have a maximum level of approximately 10 21 atoms/cubic centimeter at a level 880 disposed below a surface of strained layer 102 . dopants disposed in an outer region of source 840 may define a source extent 890 , and dopants disposed in an outer region of drain 850 may define a drain extent 895 . the concentration of dopants at source extent 76 and drain extent 78 may be approximately 10 18 atoms/cubic centimeter. after heating of substrate 200 , portions of source extent 890 and drain extent 895 disposed proximate channel 860 may diffuse a distance extending less than 12.5% of gate length l 1 , thereby decreasing channel length l 1 by no more than 25%. the abruptness of the dopant concentration in the source and drain region may also be greater than 2 nm per decade (i.e., per order of magnitude in concentration). in some embodiments, this abruptness may be better than 4 nm/decade. in an alternative embodiment, pmos devices are formed with pre-doped gates. here, the semiconductor material from which the pmos gate will be defined is doped with p-type dopants (e.g. boron or indium) prior to pmos gate definition. in some embodiments, source and drain extensions may extend into an underlying layer that may include an element other than si, such as ge. in an alternative embodiment, no mask, e.g., no implantation mask 600 , is formed before gate electrode layer 520 is implanted with n-type dopants. in some applications, however, implantation of n-type dopants into gate electrode layer 520 material which will be used for pmos gates (or vice versa) may adversely affect threshold voltages. in some embodiments, gate 700 is formed from a conductive material that does not require doping, such as a metal. gate 700 can be formed from metals such as titanium (ti), tungsten (w), molybdenum (mo), or tantalum (ta), as well as other materials, e.g., titanium nitride (tin), titanium silicon nitride (tisin), tungsten nitride (wn), tantalum nitride (tan), tantalum silicide (tasi), iridium (ir), iridium oxide (iro 2 ), etc., that provide an appropriate workfunction, i.e., a workfunction of approximately 4-5.5 electron volts (ev), without doping. metal gates may have a depletion region of 20 angstroms or less, preferably less than 10 angstroms. referring to fig. 9 , a first transistor 910 and a second transistor 920 may be formed over strained layer 102 . at least a portion 922 of first source 840 and at least a portion 924 of first drain 850 may be disposed in a first portion 930 of the strained layer 102 . first source 840 and first drain 924 may extend into compressively strained layer 208 and relaxed layer 104 . first gate 700 may be disposed above strained layer 102 and between first source 840 and first drain 850 . first gate 700 may include a metal, such as titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, nickel, cobalt, or platinum. in some embodiments, gate 700 may contain a metal-semiconductor alloy, such as metal silicide, metal germanocide, or metal germanosilicide. in some embodiments, the gate 700 may include only a metal-semiconductor alloy. channel 860 may be disposed under gate 700 . source 840 may include source extent 890 and drain 850 may include a drain extent 895 . each or both of the drain source extent 890 and drain extent 895 may extend under gate 700 a distance less than 12.5% of channel length l 1 (see fig. 8a ). a concentration of dopants in the source extent 890 and/or the drain extent 895 may be at least 10 18 atoms/cubic centimeter. the second transistor 920 may include a second source 940 and a second drain 950 disposed in a second portion 960 of the strained layer 102 . a second gate 965 may be disposed above the strained layer 102 and between the second source 940 and second drain 950 . the second gate 965 may include a second metal, such as titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, nickel, cobalt, or platinum. in some embodiments, gate 965 may contain a metal-semiconductor alloy. in some embodiments, the gate 965 may include only a metal-semiconductor alloy. a second gate dielectric layer 970 may be disposed between the second gate 965 and the strained layer 102 . the first transistor 910 may be an n-type metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (n-mosfet), the first source 840 and the first drain 850 may include n-type dopants. the second transistor 920 may be a p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (p-mosfet), and the second source 940 and second drain 950 may include p-type dopants. cmos device 900 , therefore, includes both n-mosfet 910 and p-mosfet 920 . in some embodiments, gates 700 and 965 may be formed from semiconductor layers or from metal-semiconductor alloys, such as silicides. in a cmos device, a single gate having a mid-band gap workfunction (approximately 4.4-4.6 ev) may be used for both nmos and pmos devices such as, for example, fully depleted semiconductor-on-insulator devices built on ssoi substrates. alternatively, two different materials having workfunctions closer to the respective band edges, e.g., approximately 0.2-0.4 ev below the conduction band edge (˜4 ev) or approximately 0-0.2 ev above the valence band edge (˜5 ev), may be used for nmos and pmos devices, respectively, formed with strained semiconductors such as strained silicon. by using a gate material that provides an appropriate workfunction without doping, gate depletion effects are avoided because dopants are unnecessary. further, adverse short channel effects due to dopant diffusion from source and drain extensions 800 , 810 are also avoided by the elimination of high thermal budget activation steps. in some embodiments, gate electrode layer 520 may be formed from a gate semiconductor material such as polycrystalline si, ge, or sige that is reacted with a subsequently deposited metal, e.g., nickel, cobalt, titanium, or platinum, either before or after the definition of gate 700 . the gate semiconductor material may be deposited as a layer by cvd and may have a thickness of approximately 500-2000 å, e.g., 1000 å. the subsequently deposited metal may be deposited by, e.g., sputter deposition, and may have a thickness of, for example, 2-15 nm. the gate semiconductor material and the metal may be reacted in a reaction process such as a silicidation process that includes, e.g., rapid thermal processing at, for example, 10-120 seconds at 400-850° c. the reaction process can also include a second rapid thermal processing step after a wet chemical strip that removes any unreacted metal from the structure. in these embodiments, the reaction conditions and the thicknesses of the gate semiconductor material and the metal are selected such that the gate semiconductor material and the metal substantially completely react with each other to form a metal-semiconductor alloy, such as a metal silicide. gate 700 , thus, substantially comprises a silicide material such as nickel silicide, cobalt silicide, titanium silicide, or platinum silicide, or a germanocide material such as nickel germanocide, cobalt germanocide, titanium germanocide, or platinum germanocide. gate electrode layer 520 may be doped by the introduction of a plurality of n-type or p-type dopants prior to the reaction process, e.g., the silicidation reaction. such doping may alter the post-reaction process gate workfunction, facilitating the fabrication of devices with a desired threshold voltage. the reaction process may be performed before or after the definition of gate 700 . because the full reaction of the semiconductor gate electrode layer 520 (and hence gate 700 ) results in gate 700 being a metal gate, polysilicon depletion effects are eliminated. referring to fig. 10 as well as to figs. 4 and 9 , transistor 910 may be formed over ssoi substrate 410 , in which strained layer 102 is disposed in contact with dielectric layer 410 . in this embodiment, source 840 and drain 850 are disposed entirely within strained layer 102 . the methods and structures described above with reference to figs. 5-10 may be formed on other epitaxial wafers, such as the wafers illustrated in figs. 1 and 3 . the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. the foregoing embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects illustrative rather than limiting on the invention described herein. scope of invention is thus indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
|
008-034-193-614-160
|
CN
|
[
"ES",
"EP",
"US",
"CN"
] |
H05K1/02,H01L23/10,H01L23/552,H05K1/18,H05K9/00,H05K7/10,H05K7/12,H01L23/00
| 2014-04-16T00:00:00 |
2014
|
[
"H05",
"H01"
] |
electronic component package structure and electronic device
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an electronic component package structure and an electronic device are provided. the electronic component package structure includes at least: a substrate having a set attachment area for attaching an electronic component; a conductive lid having a top and a sidewall that extends toward the substrate, where one side of the sidewall close to the substrate has a bonding end, where the bonding end bonds the conductive lid to the substrate by using a non-conductive adhesive, and the conductive lid bonded to the substrate encloses the attachment area and forms a shielding space over the attachment area; and the non-conductive adhesive is located between the substrate and the bonding end, and has a dielectric constant not less than 7 and a coating thickness not greater than 0.07 millimeters (mm). with the present invention, an electromagnetic interference (emi) shielding effect of the shielding space can be improved.
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an electronic component package structure, wherein the electronic component package structure comprises at least a substrate (4), a conductive lid (5), and a non-conductive adhesive (6), wherein: the substrate (4) has a set attachment area for attaching an electronic component; the conductive lid (5) has a top (501) and a sidewall (502) that extends toward the substrate (4), wherein one side of the sidewall (502) close to the substrate (4) has a bonding end (5020), wherein the bonding end (5020) bonds the conductive lid (5) to the substrate (4) by using the non-conductive adhesive (6), and the conductive lid (5) bonded to the substrate (4) encloses the attachment area and forms a shielding space over the attachment area; and the non-conductive adhesive (6) is located between the substrate (4) and the bonding end (5020); the electronic component package structure is characterized in that : the non-conductive adhesive (6) has a dielectric constant not less than 7 and a coating thickness not greater than 0.07 mm. the electronic component package structure according to claim 1, wherein the bonding end (5020) occupies all areas except the attachment area on a surface of one side of the substrate (4) facing the conductive lid (5), and all the areas occupied by the bonding end (5020) on the substrate (4) are coated with the non-conductive adhesive (6). the electronic component package structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: the electronic component package structure further comprises a solder mask (3) disposed on the surface of the one side of the substrate (4) facing the conductive lid (5); and in the solder mask (3), an open window is disposed in a position in which the non-conductive adhesive (6) is disposed. the electronic component package structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the non-conductive adhesive (6) has a closed non-conductive adhesive pattern. the electronic component package structure according to claim 4, wherein a circular, quasi-circular, or polygonal air hole (8) is disposed in the sidewall (502) of the conductive lid (5). the electronic component package structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: an air hole (8) is disposed in the non-conductive adhesive (6); and a width of the air hole (8) along a planar direction of the substrate (4) is not greater than 3 mm. the electronic component package structure according to claim 6, wherein the solder mask (3) is disposed on the surface of the one side of the substrate (4) facing the conductive lid (5), and in the solder mask (3), an open window is disposed in a position in which the air hole (8) is disposed. the electronic component package structure according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein in addition to the non-conductive adhesive (6), a dielectric structure forming a filter structure is further disposed between the bonding end (5020) and the substrate (4), wherein the dielectric structure comprises an electromagnetic band gap ebg and an embedded capacitor. the electronic component package structure according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein in addition to the non-conductive adhesive (6), a dielectric structure forming a planar capacitance structure is further disposed between the bonding end (5020) and the substrate (4), wherein the dielectric structure comprises an electromagnetic band gap ebg and an embedded capacitor. the electronic component package structure according to claim 1, wherein the electronic component is a chip or a discrete component. the electronic component package structure according to claim 1, wherein the electronic component comprises a chip and a discrete component. an electronic device, comprising a circuit board, an electronic component package structure, and an electronic component, wherein: the circuit board has an electronic circuit; the electronic component package structure is the electronic component package structure according to any one of claims 1 to 11, and the electronic component package structure is electrically connected to the circuit board by using a substrate (4); the electronic component is attached to a set attachment area in the electronic package structure, and electrically connected to the electronic circuit of the circuit board by using the substrate (4) of the electronic package structure; and a conductive lid (5) bonded to the substrate (4) by using a non-conductive adhesive (6) in the electronic package structure performs electromagnetic interference shielding for the electronic component. the electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the electronic component is a chip or a discrete component. the electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the electronic component comprises a chip and a discrete component.
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technical field the present invention relates to the field of chip package technologies, and in particular, to an electronic component package structure and an electronic device. background as a speed and an integration level of a chip increase year by year, high-frequency emi (electromagnetic interference, electromagnetic interference) generated by the chip easily causes various problems that system interference and product re (radiation emission, radiation emission) exceed limits in tests. currently, a chip is packaged mainly by using a lid (plate metal package cover) electronic component package structure. fig. 1 shows a top view of a chip lid electronic component package structure. fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of the chip lid electronic component package structure shown in fig. 1 along a direction of a-a'. as can be known from fig. 1 and fig. 2 , by opening a window in a solder mask 3, circuit pins 2 of a chip (die) 1 are connected to a substrate 4, so that the chip 1 is attached to the substrate 4. a conductive lid 5 is bonded to an edge of the substrate 4 by using a non-conductive adhesive 6 having a low dk (dielectric constant, dielectric constant), so that a shielding space is formed between the conductive lid 5 and the substrate to implement stress protection for the chip 1. fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a coating pattern of the non-conductive adhesive 6 on the substrate. as can be known from fig. 3 , the non-conductive adhesive 6 is applied at the edge of the substrate, and an air hole 8 is disposed, where the air hole 8 is used for ventilation of the shielding space. further, a top of the conductive lid (lid) 5 is bonded to the chip 1 by using a thermally conductive adhesive 7 to implement heat conduction for the chip 1. according to the foregoing used lid electronic component package structure, the low-dk non-conductive adhesive disposed between the conductive lid 5 and the substrate, causes the conductive lid to present high impedance relative to the substrate. the high impedance causes a non-conductive adhesive slot between the conductive lid and the substrate to become a radiation structure having a great slot antenna effect. due to the radiation structure having a slot antenna effect, the indirectly electrically connected shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate does not have a good shielding effect on the high-frequency emi generated by the chip, although the shielding space can have a good heat conduction effect and provide stress protection for the chip in the shielding space. document us 20020113306 a1 discloses a semiconductor package which includes: a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface; an integrated circuit chip having bond pads; a lid attached on the upper surface of the substrate so as to cover the chip; and one or more projections that electrically connect the lid to a plurality of ground patterns. the substrate has substrate pads formed on the upper surface, and one or more of the substrate pads extend to form the ground patterns. the chip is bonded on the upper surface of the substrate. one or more of the bond pads are ground bond pads, and the bond pads are electrically connected to the corresponding substrate pads. an electrically nonconductive adhesive is used for the attachment of the lid to the substrate, and the projections are connected to the ground patterns by an electrically conductive adhesive. the ground projections are positioned at four corners of a cavity that is formed between the substrate and the lid. document us 20100096711 a1 discloses an mems microphone package which includes a substrate, a cover, a plurality of conductive members, and an insulative adhesive. the cover is mounted to the substrate. the conductive members are disposed between the substrate and the cover. each of the conductive members can be a golden wire, a conductive bump, or a conductive metal. upper ends of the conductive members are connected with the cover and the lower ends of the conductive members are connected with the substrate to enable a conductive loop. the insulative adhesive encapsulates the conductive members. in this way, the substrate, the conductive members, and the cover jointly construct a shielding against emi. summary embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic component package structure comprising all the features of claim 1 and an electronic device comprising all the features of claim 12 to improve an emi shielding effect. according to a first aspect, an electronic component package structure according to claim 1 is provided, and includes a substrate, a conductive lid, and a non-conductive adhesive, where: the substrate has a set attachment area for attaching an electronic component; the conductive lid has a top and a sidewall that extends toward the substrate, where one side of the sidewall close to the substrate has a bonding end, where the bonding end bonds the conductive lid to the substrate by using the non-conductive adhesive, and the conductive lid bonded to the substrate encloses the attachment area and forms a shielding space over the attachment area; and the non-conductive adhesive is located between the substrate and the bonding end, and has a dielectric constant not less than 7 and a coating thickness not greater than 0.07 mm. with reference to the first aspect, in a first implementation manner, the bonding end occupies all areas except the attachment area on a surface of one side of the substrate facing the conductive lid, and all the areas occupied by the bonding end on the substrate are coated with the non-conductive adhesive. with reference to the first aspect or the first implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second implementation manner, the electronic component package structure further includes a solder mask disposed on the surface of the one side of the substrate facing the conductive lid; and in the solder mask, an open window is disposed in a position in which the non-conductive adhesive is disposed. with reference to the first aspect, the first implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third implementation manner, the non-conductive adhesive has a closed non-conductive adhesive pattern. with reference to the third implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth implementation manner, a circular, quasi-circular, or polygonal air hole is disposed in the sidewall of the conductive lid. with reference to the first aspect, the first implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth implementation manner, an air hole is disposed in the non-conductive adhesive; and a width of the air hole along a planar direction of the substrate is not greater than 3 mm. with reference to the fifth implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth implementation manner, the solder mask is disposed on the surface of the one side of the substrate facing the conductive lid, and in the solder mask, an open window is disposed in a position in which the air hole is disposed. with reference to any implementation manner of the foregoing various implementation manners provided by the first aspect, in a seventh implementation manner, in addition to the non-conductive adhesive, a dielectric structure forming a filter structure is further disposed between the bonding end and the substrate, where the dielectric structure includes an electromagnetic band gap ebg and an embedded capacitor. with reference to any implementation manner of the foregoing various implementation manners provided by the first aspect, in an eighth implementation manner, in addition to the non-conductive adhesive, a dielectric structure forming a planar capacitance structure is further disposed between the conductive lid and the substrate, where the dielectric structure includes an electromagnetic band gap ebg and an embedded capacitor. with reference to the first aspect, in a ninth implementation manner, the electronic component is a chip or a discrete component. with reference to the first aspect, in a tenth implementation manner, the electronic component is a chip and a discrete component. according to a second aspect, an electronic device according to claim 12 is provided, and the electronic device includes a circuit board, an electronic component package structure, and an electronic component, where: the circuit board has an electronic circuit; the electronic package structure is any electronic component package structure provided by the first aspect, and the electronic component package structure is electrically connected to the circuit board by using a substrate; the electronic component is attached to a set attachment area in the electronic package structure, and electrically connected to the electronic circuit of the circuit board by using the electronic package structure; and a conductive lid bonded to the substrate by using a non-conductive adhesive in the electronic package structure performs electromagnetic interference shielding for the electronic component. according to the electronic component package structure and the electronic device provided by the embodiments of the present invention, a non-conductive adhesive for bonding a conductive lid to a substrate has a dielectric constant not less than 7 and a coating thickness not greater than 0.07 mm. therefore, planar capacitance intensity of a planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate is increased, and further, planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate can be increased. therefore, emi radiated due to a slot antenna effect at the non-conductive adhesive can be reduced effectively, and an emi shielding effect of a shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate can be improved. brief description of drawings fig. 1 is a top view of an electronic component package structure in the prior art; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of an electronic component package structure in the prior art; fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive in the prior art; fig. 4 is a top view of an electronic component package structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention; fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of an electronic component package structure according to the first embodiment of the present invention; fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive according to the first embodiment of the present invention; fig. 7 is a top view of an electronic component package structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of an electronic component package structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive according to the second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 10 is a top view of an electronic component package structure according to a third embodiment of the present invention; fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of an electronic component package structure according to the third embodiment of the present invention; fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive according to the third embodiment of the present invention; fig. 13 is a top view of an electronic component package structure according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of an electronic component package structure according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention; and fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. description of embodiments the embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic component package structure having an emi shielding effect. by increasing planar capacitance intensity of a planar capacitance structure formed by a conductive lid, a non-conductive adhesive, and a substrate, and increasing planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate, emi radiated due to a slot antenna effect at the non-conductive adhesive can be reduced effectively, and an emi shielding effect of a shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate can be improved. the following clearly and completely describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. embodiment 1 fig. 4 shows a top view of an electronic component package structure having an emi shielding effect according to this embodiment of the present invention; fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of the electronic component package structure shown in fig. 4 along a direction of a-a'. as can be known from fig. 4 and fig. 5 , the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention includes an electronic component (a chip or a discrete component) 1, circuit pins 2, a solder mask 3, a substrate 4, a conductive lid 5, a non-conductive adhesive 6 disposed between the substrate 4 and the conductive lid 5, and a thermally conductive adhesive 7. the substrate 4 has a set attachment area s for attaching an electronic component, where a size and a shape of the attachment area s may be set according to a size and a shape of an actually packaged electronic component. certainly, to avoid contact between the attached electronic component and the non-conductive adhesive 6, the attachment area s may be set to be slightly greater than the size of the electronic component, so that a gap exists between the electronic component and the non-conductive adhesive, where the gap should be as small as possible. the conductive lid 5 has a top 501 and a sidewall 502 that extends toward the substrate, where one side of the sidewall close to the substrate has a bonding end 5020, where the bonding end 5020 bonds the conductive lid 5 to the substrate 4 by using the non-conductive adhesive 6, and the conductive lid 5 bonded to the substrate 4 encloses the attachment area s set on the substrate 4 and forms a shielding space over the attachment area s to implement stress protection for the electronic component 1 attached to the substrate. the non-conductive adhesive 6 is disposed between the substrate and the bonding end and configured to bond the conductive lid 5 to the substrate 4, and has a dielectric constant not less than 7 and a coating thickness not greater than 0.07 mm. in the present invention, the dielectric constant of the non-conductive adhesive 6 is not less than 7. therefore, in comparison with a conventional low-dk non-conductive adhesive, the non-conductive adhesive 6 in this embodiment of the present invention is a high-dk non-conductive adhesive. in this embodiment of the present invention, a high-dk non-conductive adhesive, instead of a low-dk non-conductive adhesive in a conventional electronic component package structure, is used, which can increase planar capacitance intensity of a planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid 5, the non-conductive adhesive 6, and the substrate 4. the present invention can increase planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate, and help to improve an emi shielding effect of the shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate. in this embodiment of the present invention, preferably, the dielectric constant of the non-conductive adhesive is not less than 7. for example, the dielectric constant of the non-conductive adhesive in this embodiment of the present invention may be 8 or 10. it should be noted that shapes of the conductive lid 5 shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5 in this embodiment of the present invention are used only for exemplary description, and are not limited. for example, the shapes may also be shapes shown in fig. 7 and fig. 8 . further, it should be noted that in fig. 4 and fig. 5 in this embodiment of the present invention, an example in which the electronic component is a chip is used for description. certainly, the electronic component may also be another electronic component, for example, a discrete component such as a capacitor. according to the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention, the high-dk non-conductive adhesive that can increase the planar capacitance intensity of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate is disposed to bond the conductive lid to the substrate. as can be known according to a capacitance calculation formula c = εs/4πkd, where d represents a distance between battery lead plates, s represents an overlap area of the battery lead plates, and ε represents a dielectric constant, the high-dk non-conductive adhesive for bonding the conductive lid to the substrate in this embodiment of the present invention is equivalent to increasing ε, and therefore, the planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate can be increased. in addition, in the present invention, the coating thickness of the non-conductive adhesive is not greater than 0.07, so that parasitic inductance of the conductive lid relative to the substrate is reduced. further, emi radiated due to a slot antenna effect at the non-conductive adhesive can be reduced effectively, and the emi shielding effect of the shielding space formed by the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate can be improved. further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the bonding end occupies all areas except the attachment area on a surface of one side of the substrate facing the conductive lid, and all the areas occupied by the bonding end on the substrate are coated with the non-conductive adhesive. in other words, in comparison with the conventional electronic component package structure, in this embodiment of the present invention, an overlap area between the bonding end of the sidewall of the conductive lid 5 and the substrate 4 is increased, and all the areas occupied by the bonding end on the substrate 4 are coated with the high-dk non-conductive adhesive for bonding the conductive lid 5 to the substrate 4. as shown in fig. 6 , in comparison with the conventional non-conductive adhesive coating manner (as shown in fig. 3 ), the high-dk non-conductive adhesive coating manner shown in fig. 6 can increase a coating area of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive. likewise, as can be known according to the capacitance calculation formula c = εs/4πkd, in this embodiment of the present invention, all areas except the set attachment area s are coated with the high-dk non-conductive adhesive, and therefore, the coating area of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is increased, and further the planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate can be increased. further, the shielding effect of the shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate is improved. still further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the electronic component package structure further includes the solder mask 3 disposed on the surface of the one side of the substrate facing the conductive lid. in comparison with the conventional electronic component package structure, in this embodiment of the present invention, in the solder mask 3, an open window is disposed in an area coated with the non-conductive adhesive, that is, the solder mask in a position coated with the high-dk non-conductive adhesive on the substrate is removed. the solder mask 3 is generally a low-dk green solder mask. the low-dk solder mask 3 is disposed at the high-dk non-conductive adhesive, which can reduce the planar capacitance intensity of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate, and further increase a distance between the bonding end of the conductive lid and the substrate. as can be known according to the capacitance calculation formula c = εs/4πkd, the solder mask disposed at the high-dk non-conductive adhesive can reduce planar coupling capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate. therefore, in this embodiment of the present invention, in the solder mask, the open window is disposed in the area coated with the non-conductive adhesive, which can further increase the planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate. therefore, emi radiated due to a slot antenna effect at the non-conductive adhesive can be reduced effectively, and the emi shielding effect of the shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate can be improved. in the present invention, to increase the planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate, a coating thickness set for the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is required to be not greater than 0.07 mm. a smaller thickness of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive indicates larger planar capacitance intensity of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate is greater. for example, in this embodiment of the present invention, if the dielectric constant of the non-conductive adhesive 6 is 10 and the coating thickness is 0.07 mm, the capacitance intensity of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate may exceed 75 pf/cm 2 (75 pf per square centimeter); if the dielectric constant of the non-conductive adhesive is 8 and the coating thickness is 0.06 mm, the capacitance intensity of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate may also exceed 75 pf/cm 2 . it should be noted that in the present invention, the coating thickness of the non-conductive adhesive 6 is set to be not greater than 0.07 mm, which can reduce the parasitic inductance of the conductive lid relative to the substrate, reduce emi radiated due to a slot antenna effect at the non-conductive adhesive more effectively, and improve the emi shielding effect of the shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate. further, in this embodiment of the present invention, a closed conductive adhesive pattern is preferably used as a coating pattern of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive on the substrate. reference may be made to fig. 6 again. in comparison with a coating pattern of the conventional low-dk non-conductive adhesive (as shown in fig. 3 ), in the coating pattern of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive shown in fig. 6 of this embodiment of the present invention, an air hole is not disposed in the non-conductive adhesive in this embodiment of the present invention, which can further avoid slot field leakage, and further improve the emi shielding effect of the shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate. preferably, to implement ventilation of the shielding space, in this embodiment of the present invention, a circular air hole 8 is disposed in the conductive lid 5. certainly, a shape of the air hole is not limited to a circle, for example, may also be a quasi-circular air hole (an air hole similar to a circle), or a polygonal air hole such as a rectangle. specifically, in this embodiment of the present invention, the air hole 8 is disposed in the sidewall of the conductive lid 5, as shown in fig. 4, fig. 5 , fig. 7 , and fig. 8 . in this embodiment of the present invention, the air hole 8 is disposed on the sidewall of the conductive lid 5 that extends toward the substrate, but is not disposed on a top of the conductive lid 5, which can avoid an impact of a radiator disposed on the top of the conductive lid, on disposing the air hole. further, in this embodiment of the present invention, the air hole disposed in the sidewall of the conductive lid 5 is preferably a circular air hole or a quasi-circular air hole. in comparison with a bar air hole disposed in the conventional non-conductive adhesive, a cross-sectional area is larger and ventilation is better. in addition, in comparison with an original air hole that has a larger width and is disposed in the non-conductive adhesive, the circular air hole has smaller slot field leakage. embodiment 2 in this embodiment of the present invention, a chip may be attached to an attachment area set on a substrate 4, and another discrete component, for example, an electronic component such as a capacitor, a resistor, or a transistor, may also be disposed in the attachment area. with respect to an electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention, an electronic component package structure in which a chip, a discrete component, or a chip and a discrete component are attached to the attachment area set on the substrate 4 is basically the same as that in the foregoing embodiment. that is, a non-conductive adhesive has a high dk value, and a coating area of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive on the substrate is as large as possible. the coating in all areas except the attachment area on a surface of one side of the substrate facing a conductive lid is required to be thin, and a solder mask is removed in a position in which the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is applied, that is, in the solder mask, an open window is disposed in the position in which the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is applied. in addition, a small-size air hole is disposed in the conductive lid. for details, refer to fig. 7 and fig. 8 . fig. 7 is a top view of an electronic component package structure in which a chip and a discrete component are disposed in an attachment area of a substrate according to this embodiment of the present invention; fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of the electronic component package structure shown in fig. 7 along a direction of a-a' according to this embodiment of the present invention. the following briefly describes the electronic component package structure in which a chip and a discrete component are attached to the attachment area set on the substrate 4 according to this embodiment of the present invention. fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a cross section of the electronic component package structure in which another discrete component in addition to a chip is disposed in the attachment area according to this embodiment of the present invention. in fig. 8 , an air hole 8 is disposed in a conductive lid 5, and a reference number 9 represents a disposed discrete component. in comparison with an electronic component package structure in which no discrete component is disposed, in the electronic component package structure in which the discrete component 9 is disposed in the attachment area in this embodiment of the present invention, a shielding space formed between the conductive lid 5 and the substrate 4 becomes larger, and a coating pattern of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is also changed from a regular geometric pattern to an irregular geometric pattern shown in fig. 9 . for details, refer to fig. 9. fig. 9 shows a coating pattern of a high-dk non-conductive adhesive when another discrete component is disposed in the attachment area according to this embodiment of the present invention. the electronic component package structure having an emi shielding effect according to this embodiment of the present invention not only is applicable to packaging of a discrete chip, but also is applicable to mixed packaging of discrete components and multiple chips. therefore, it is applicable in a wide scope. still further, in addition to the non-conductive adhesive, another dielectric structure forming a filter structure may be further disposed between a bonding end of the conductive lid 5 and the substrate 4, where the dielectric structure forming the filter structure may be an ebg (electromagnetic band gap, electromagnetic band gap), an embedded capacitor, or the like. certainly, the dielectric structure forming the filter structure in this embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the ebg or the embedded capacitor. certainly, in this embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the non-conductive adhesive, another dielectric structure forming a planar capacitance structure may be further disposed between the bonding end of the conductive lid and the substrate, where the dielectric structure may be an ebg (electromagnetic band gap, electromagnetic band gap), an embedded capacitor, or the like. certainly, the dielectric structure forming the planar capacitance structure in this embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the ebg or the embedded capacitor. embodiment 3 in this embodiment of the present invention, to ensure process reliability, an air hole 8 may be reserved in a high-dk non-conductive adhesive, that is, an air hole is disposed in the high-dk non-conductive adhesive. reference may be made to fig. 10 and fig. 11. fig. 10 shows a top view of an electronic component package structure in which an air hole is disposed in a high-dk non-conductive adhesive according to this embodiment of the present invention; fig. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of the electronic component package structure shown in fig. 10 along a direction of a-a'. specifically, a difference between the electronic component package structure involved in this embodiment of the present invention and that in the foregoing embodiment lies in a position in which the air hole is disposed. the following describes only the difference in this embodiment of the present invention, and other same or similar aspects are not described herein again. reference may be made to the description of the electronic component package structure shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5 . in this embodiment of the present invention, a width of the air hole 8 disposed in the high-dk non-conductive adhesive along a planar direction of a substrate is preferably not greater than 3 mm, to reduce slot field leakage on a basis of ensuring process reliability. further, to increase ventilation of the air hole 8 in this embodiment of the present invention, in a solder mask 3 disposed on the substrate, an open window is disposed in a position in which the air hole is disposed, as shown in fig. 12. fig. 12 is a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive when a small air hole is disposed in the high-dk non-conductive adhesive according to this embodiment of the present invention. a small air hole is disposed in the non-conductive adhesive; therefore, the coating pattern of the non-conductive adhesive is an unclosed pattern. according to the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention, the small air hole 8 is disposed in the high-dk non-conductive adhesive, and a small air hole may be disposed on a basis of an original manufacturing process. therefore, process modification is small and process reliability can be improved. embodiment 4 in this embodiment of the present invention, a chip may be attached in an attachment area set on a substrate 4, and another discrete component, for example, an electronic component such as a capacitor, a resistor, or a transistor, may also be disposed in the attachment area, and further, a chip and a discrete component may be attached in the attachment area. with respect to an electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention, an electronic component package structure in which a chip, a discrete component, or a chip and a discrete component are attached is basically the same as that in the foregoing embodiment. that is, a non-conductive adhesive has a high dk value, and a coating area of the high-dk non-conductive adhesive on the substrate is as large as possible. the coating in all areas except the attachment area is required to be thin, and a solder mask is removed in a position in which the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is applied, that is, in the solder mask, an open window is disposed in the position in which the high-dk non-conductive adhesive is applied. in addition, a small-size air hole is disposed in the non-conductive adhesive. reference may be made to fig. 13 and fig. 14 . fig. 13 is a top view of an electronic component package structure in which a chip and a discrete component are disposed in an attachment area of a substrate according to this embodiment of the present invention. fig. 14 shows a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional structure of the electronic component package structure shown in fig. 13 along a direction of a-a' according to this embodiment of the present invention. specifically, the following briefly describes the electronic component package structure in which a chip and a discrete component are attached to the attachment area set on the substrate 4 according to this embodiment of the present invention. fig. 14 shows a schematic diagram of a cross section of an electronic component package structure in which a discrete component in addition to a chip is disposed in an attachment area according to this embodiment of the present invention. in fig. 14 , a reference number 1 represents the disposed chip, and a reference number 9 represents the disposed discrete component, and an air hole 8 is disposed in a non-conductive adhesive 6. in comparison with an electronic component package structure in which only one electronic component is disposed, in the electronic component package structure in which the chip and the discrete component 9 are disposed in the attachment area in this embodiment of the present invention, a coating pattern of a high-dk non-conductive adhesive is changed from a regular geometric pattern shown in fig. 12 into an irregular geometric pattern shown in fig. 15 . for details, refer to fig. 15 , and details are not described again in this embodiment of the present invention. fig. 15 is a coating pattern of a non-conductive adhesive when a via hole is disposed in the non-conductive adhesive and a discrete component and a chip are attached to an attachment area according to this embodiment of the present invention. the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention is applicable to packaging of an electronic component package structure in which only a chip is attached, and is also applicable, and is further applicable to mixed packaging of discrete components and multiple chips. still further, in addition to the non-conductive adhesive, another dielectric structure forming a filter structure may be further disposed between a conductive lid 5 and the substrate 4, where the dielectric structure forming the filter structure may be an ebg (electromagnetic band gap, electromagnetic band gap), an embedded capacitor, or the like. certainly, the dielectric structure forming the filter structure in this embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the ebg or the embedded capacitor. certainly, in this embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the non-conductive adhesive, another dielectric structure forming a planar capacitance structure may be further disposed between a bonding end of the conductive lid and the substrate, where the dielectric structure may be an ebg (electromagnetic band gap, electromagnetic band gap), an embedded capacitor, or the like. certainly, the dielectric structure forming the planar capacitance structure in this embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the ebg or the embedded capacitor. the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention uses a high-dk non-conductive adhesive, which cost less in comparison with a conductive adhesive formed by a mixture of conductive materials. further, during an assembly process of an electronic component package structure, an interior of a conductive adhesive is prone to breaking and delamination, resulting in severe deterioration of a shielding effect of a shielding space and finally causing an increase of a ratio of defective products. however, with respect to the non-conductive adhesive used by the present invention, even if breaking and delamination occur in the non-conductive adhesive, there is no impact on the emi shielding effect of the shielding space, and a ratio of good products is increased. embodiment 5 based on the electronic component package structure provided by the foregoing embodiments, this embodiment of the present invention further provides an electronic device. the electronic device includes a circuit board having an electronic circuit, an electronic component package structure, and an electronic component. the electronic package structure in this embodiment of the present invention is any one electronic component package structure involved in the embodiments. the electronic component package structure is electrically connected to the circuit board by using a substrate. the electronic component is attached to a set attachment area in the electronic package structure, and electrically connected to the electronic circuit of the circuit board by using the electronic package structure. specifically, the electronic component package structure in the electronic device provided by this embodiment of the present invention is any one electronic component package structure involved in the foregoing embodiments of the present invention. by using the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention, the electronic component to be packaged is packaged on the circuit board, and therefore, a connection between the electronic component and the electronic circuit is implemented, and stress protection and proper emi shielding can be implemented for the electronic component by using a conductive lid of the electronic component package structure. it should be noted that a difference between the electronic device provided by this embodiment of the present invention and an electronic device in the prior art lies in a difference in the electronic component package structure. for other structures, particular structures thereof are available with reference to specific application environments. such structures are the same as structures of corresponding electronic devices in the prior art, and are not described herein again. further, by using the electronic component package structure provided by this embodiment of the present invention, multiple types of electronic components may be packaged. the electronic component in this embodiment of the present invention may be a chip, and certainly may also be another discrete component such as a capacitor, a resistor, a transistor, or the like, and certainly, a chip and a discrete component may be packaged in combination. the electronic component package structure having an emi shielding effect according to this embodiment of the present invention not only is applicable to packaging of a discrete chip, but also is applicable to mixed packaging of discrete components and multiple chips. a high-dk non-conductive adhesive is used in the electronic component package structure in the electronic device provided by this embodiment of the present invention. therefore, planar capacitance intensity of a planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate is increased, and further, planar capacitance of the planar capacitance structure formed by the conductive lid, the non-conductive adhesive, and the substrate can be increased. therefore, emi radiated due to a slot antenna effect at the non-conductive adhesive can be reduced effectively, and an emi shielding effect of a shielding space formed between the conductive lid and the substrate can be improved. further, a high-dk non-conductive adhesive is used in this embodiment of the present invention, which cost less in comparison with a conductive adhesive formed by a mixture of conductive materials. still further, during an assembly process of an electronic component package structure, an interior of a conductive adhesive is prone to breaking and delamination, resulting in severe deterioration of a shielding effect of a shielding space and finally causing an increase of a ratio of defective products. however, with respect to the non-conductive adhesive used by the present invention, even if breaking and delamination occur in the non-conductive adhesive, there is no impact on the emi shielding effect of the shielding space, and a ratio of good products is increased.
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008-361-507-174-443
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US
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[
"US"
] |
A01H6/54,A01H5/10,C12Q1/6895,C12N15/82,A01H1/02
| 2017-06-26T00:00:00 |
2017
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[
"A01",
"C12"
] |
soybean variety 01063944
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the invention relates to the soybean variety designated 01063944. provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety 01063944. also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety 01063944 and the plants regenerated therefrom. still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety 01063944 with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
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1. a plant of soybean variety 01063944, wherein representative seed of said soybean variety have been deposited under atcc accession no. pta-124734. 2. a plant part of the plant of claim 1 , wherein the plant part comprises at least one cell of said plant. 3. a seed of soybean variety 01063944, wherein representative seed of said soybean variety have been deposited under atcc accession no. pta-124734. 4. a method of producing soybean seed, the method comprising crossing the plant of claim 1 with itself or a second soybean plant to produce said soybean seed. 5. the method of claim 4 , the method further comprising crossing the plant of soybean variety 01063944 with a second, nonisogenic soybean plant to produce said soybean seed. 6. an f 1 soybean seed produced by the method of claim 5 . 7. an f 1 soybean plant produced by growing the f 1 soybean seed of claim 6 . 8. a composition comprising the seed of claim 3 comprised in plant seed growth media. 9. the composition of claim 8 , wherein the plant seed growth media is soil or a synthetic cultivation medium. 10. a plant of soybean variety 01063944 further comprising a single locus conversion, wherein said plant otherwise comprises all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of said soybean variety when grown under the same environmental conditions, and wherein representative seed of said soybean variety have been deposited under atcc accession no. pta-124734. 11. the plant of claim 10 , wherein the single locus conversion comprises a transgene. 12. a seed that produces the plant of claim 10 . 13. the seed of claim 12 , wherein the single locus comprises a nucleic acid sequence that enables site-specific genetic recombination or confers a trait selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, pest resistance, disease resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism, abiotic stress resistance, altered seed amino acid composition, and modified carbohydrate metabolism. 14. the seed of claim 13 , wherein the single locus that confers herbicide tolerance confers tolerance to benzonitrile herbicides, cyclohexanedione herbicides, imidazolinone herbicides, phenoxy herbicides, sulfonylurea herbicides, triazine herbicides, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase-inhibiting herbicides, 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibiting herbicides, acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-d), bromoxynil, dicamba, glufosinate, glyphosate, nicosulfuron, or quizalofop-p-ethyl. 15. the seed of claim 12 , wherein the single locus conversion comprises a transgene. 16. the method of claim 5 , the method further comprising: (a) crossing a plant grown from said soybean seed with itself or a different soybean plant to produce seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (b) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant to produce seed of a progeny plant of a further subsequent generation; and (c) repeating step (b) with sufficient inbreeding to produce seed of an inbred soybean plant that is derived from soybean variety 01063944. 17. the method of claim 16 , the method further comprising crossing a plant grown from said seed of an inbred soybean plant that is derived from soybean variety 01063944 with a nonisogenic plant to produce seed of a hybrid soybean plant that is derived from soybean variety 01063944. 18. a method of producing a commodity plant product, the method comprising producing the commodity plant product from the plant of claim 1 . 19. the method of claim 18 , wherein the commodity plant product is selected from a group comprising protein concentrate, protein isolate, grain, soybean hulls, meal, flour, and oil. 20. a commodity plant product that is produced by the method of claim 18 , wherein the commodity plant product comprises at least one cell of soybean variety 01063944.
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background of the invention field of the invention the present invention relates generally to the field of soybean breeding. in particular, the invention relates to the novel soybean variety 01063944. description of related art there are numerous steps in the development of any novel plant germplasm. plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. the next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. the goal is to combine in a single variety an improved combination of traits from the parental germplasm. these important traits may include higher seed yield, resistance to diseases and insects, better stems and roots, tolerance to drought and heat, better agronomic quality, resistance to herbicides, and improvements in compositional traits. soybean, glycine max (l.), is a valuable field crop. thus, a goal of plant breeders is to develop stable, high-yielding soybean varieties that are agronomically sound. the reasons for this goal are to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and to supply food for both animals and humans. to accomplish this goal, the soybean breeder must select and develop soybean plants that have the traits that result in superior varieties. the oil extracted from soybeans is widely used in food products, such as margarine, cooking oil, and salad dressings. soybean oil is composed of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with a typical composition of 11% palmitic, 4% stearic, 25% oleic, 50% linoleic, and 9% linolenic fatty acid content (“economic implications of modified soybean traits: summary report,” iowa soybean promotion board, soybean trait modification task force, and american soybean association special report 92s, may 1990). summary of the invention one aspect of the present invention relates to seed of the soybean variety 01063944. the invention also relates to plants produced by growing the seed of the soybean variety 01063944, as well as the derivatives of such plants. further provided are plant parts, including cells, plant protoplasts, plant cells of a tissue culture from which soybean plants can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or plant parts, such as pollen, flowers, seeds, pods, leaves, stems, and the like. in a further aspect, the invention provides a composition comprising a seed of soybean variety 01063944 comprised in plant seed growth media. in certain embodiments, the plant seed growth media is a soil or synthetic cultivation medium. in specific embodiments, the growth medium may be comprised in a container or may, for example, be soil in a field. plant seed growth media are well known to those of skill in the art and include, but are in no way limited to, soil or synthetic cultivation medium. plant seed growth media can provide adequate physical support for seeds and can retain moisture and/or nutritional components. examples of characteristics for soils that may be desirable in certain embodiments can be found, for instance, in u.s. pat. nos. 3,932,166 and 4,707,176. synthetic plant cultivation media are also well known in the art and may, in certain embodiments, comprise polymers or hydrogels. examples of such compositions are described, for example, in u.s. pat. no. 4,241,537. another aspect of the invention relates to a tissue culture of regenerable cells of the soybean variety 01063944, as well as plants regenerated therefrom, wherein the regenerated soybean plant is capable of expressing all the morphological and physiological characteristics of a plant grown from the soybean seed designated 01063944. yet another aspect of the current invention is a soybean plant further comprising a single locus conversion. in one embodiment, the soybean plant is defined as further comprising the single locus conversion and otherwise capable of expressing all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of the soybean variety 01063944. in particular embodiments of the invention, the single locus conversion may comprise a transgenic gene which has been introduced by genetic transformation into the soybean variety 01063944 or a progenitor thereof. in still other embodiments of the invention, the single locus conversion may comprise a dominant or recessive allele. the locus conversion may confer potentially any trait upon the single locus converted plant, including herbicide resistance, insect resistance, resistance to bacterial, fungal, or viral disease, male fertility or sterility, and improved nutritional quality. in certain embodiments, a potential locus conversion that confers herbicide resistance may confer resistance to herbicides such as, for example, imidazolinone herbicides, sulfonylurea herbicides, triazine herbicides, phenoxy herbicides, cyclohexanedione herbicides, benzonitrile herbicides, 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-inhibiting herbicides, protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicides, acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase-inhibiting herbicides, bromoxynil, nicosulfuron, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-d), dicamba, quizalofop-p-ethyl, glyphosate, or glufosinate. still yet another aspect of the invention relates to a first generation (f 1 ) hybrid soybean seed produced by crossing a plant of the soybean variety 01063944 to a second soybean plant. also included in the invention are the f 1 hybrid soybean plants grown from the hybrid seed produced by crossing the soybean variety 01063944 to a second soybean plant. still yet another aspect of the invention is a method of producing soybean seeds comprising crossing a plant of the soybean variety 01063944 to any second soybean plant, including itself or another plant of the variety 01063944. in particular embodiments of the invention, the method of crossing comprises the steps of a) planting seeds of the soybean variety 01063944; b) cultivating soybean plants resulting from said seeds until said plants bear flowers; c) allowing fertilization of the flowers of said plants; and d) harvesting seeds produced from said plants. still yet another aspect of the invention is a method of producing hybrid soybean seeds comprising crossing the soybean variety 01063944 to a second, distinct soybean plant that is nonisogenic to the soybean variety 01063944. in particular embodiments of the invention, the crossing comprises the steps of a) planting seeds of soybean variety 01063944 and a second, distinct soybean plant, b) cultivating the soybean plants grown from the seeds until the plants bear flowers; c) cross-pollinating a flower on one of the two plants with the pollen of the other plant, and d) harvesting the seeds resulting from the cross-pollinating. still yet another aspect of the invention is a method for developing a soybean plant in a soybean breeding program comprising: obtaining a soybean plant, or its parts, of the variety 01063944; and b) employing said plant or parts as a source of breeding material using plant breeding techniques. in the method, the plant breeding techniques may be selected from the group consisting of recurrent selection, mass selection, bulk selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, genetic marker-assisted selection and genetic transformation. in certain embodiments of the invention, the soybean plant of variety 01063944 is used as the male or female parent. still yet another aspect of the invention is a method of producing a soybean plant derived from the soybean variety 01063944, the method comprising the steps of: (a) crossing a plant of the soybean variety 01063944 with a second soybean plant to produce a progeny plant that is derived from soybean variety 01063944; and (b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a progeny plant of a subsequent generation that is derived from a plant of the soybean variety 01063944. in one embodiment of the invention, the method further comprises: (c) crossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a second plant to produce a progeny plant of a further subsequent generation that is derived from a plant of the soybean variety 01063944; and (d) repeating step (c), in some embodiments, at least 2, 3, 4 or more additional generations to produce an inbred soybean plant that is derived from the soybean variety 01063944. the invention still further provides a soybean plant produced by this and the foregoing methods. in another embodiment of the invention, the method of producing a soybean plant derived from the soybean variety 01063944 further comprises: (a) crossing the soybean variety 01063944-derived soybean plant with itself or another soybean plant to yield additional soybean variety 01063944-derived progeny soybean seed; (b) growing the progeny soybean seed of step (a) under plant growth conditions to yield additional soybean variety 01063944-derived soybean plants; and (c) repeating the crossing and growing steps of (a) and (b) to generate further soybean variety 01063944-derived soybean plants. in specific embodiments, steps (a) and (b) may be repeated at least 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 or more times as desired. the invention still further provides a soybean plant produced by this and the foregoing methods. detailed description of the invention the instant invention provides methods and composition relating to plants, seeds and derivatives of the soybean variety 01063944. soybean variety 01063944 is adapted to early group iii. soybean variety 01063944 was developed from an initial cross of cr3222n/(ak2311f4-b0bah:0001.@.@.). the breeding history of the variety can be summarized as follows: generationyeardescriptioncross2012the cross was made near isabela, pr.f 12012plants were grown near isabela, pr andadvanced using bulk.f 22012plants were grown near kunia, hi andadvanced using single plant selection.f 32013plants were grown near huxley, ia andadvanced using single plant selection.f 42013plants were grown near graneros, chile inprogeny rows and the variety 01063944was selected based on the agronomiccharacteristics, general phenotypicappearance, and traits of interest based onmolecular marker information.yield testinggenerationyearno. of locationsrankno. of entriesf 520146350f 6201524150f 7201645560 the soybean variety 01063944 has been judged to be uniform for breeding purposes and testing. the variety 01063944 can be reproduced by planting and growing seeds of the variety under self-pollinating or sib-pollinating conditions, as is known to those of skill in the agricultural arts. variety 01063944 shows no variants other than what would normally be expected due to environment or that would occur for almost any characteristic during the course of repeated sexual reproduction. the results of an objective evaluation of the variety are presented below, in table 1. those of skill in the art will recognize that these are typical values that may vary due to environment and that other values that are substantially equivalent are within the scope of the invention. an ‘*’ denotes classifications/scores generated based on greenhouse assays. table 1phenotypic description of variety 01063944traitphenotypemorphologyrelative maturity3.2flower colorpurplepubescence colorgrayhilum colorimperfect blackpod colorbrownseed coat coloryellowseed coat lusterdullseed shapespherical flattenedcotyledon coloryellowleaf shapeovateleaf colorgreencanopyintermediategrowth habitindeterminatedisease reactionsphytophthora allele*rps1k and rps3aphytophthora tolerance*tolerant to race 20soybean cyst nematode race 1*susceptiblesoybean cyst nematode race 3*resistantbrown stem rot*moderately resistantfrog eye leaf spot (race 3)*moderately resistantchloride sensitivity*includerherbicide reactionsglyphosateresistant, mon89788sulfonylureasusceptibledicambaresistant, mon87708fatty acidfatty acid compositionnormal as disclosed herein above, soybean variety 01063944 contains events mon89788 and mon87708. event mon89788, also known as event gm_a19788, confers glyphosate tolerance and is the subject of u.s. pat. no. 7,632,985, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. event mon89788 is also covered by one or more of the following patents: u.s. pat. nos. 6,051,753; 6,660,911; 6,949,696; 7,141,722; 7,608,761; 8,053,184; and 9,017,947. event mon87708 confers dicamba tolerance and is the subject of u.s. pat. no. 8,501,407, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. event mon87708 is also covered by one or more of the following patents: u.s. pat. nos. 5,850,019; 7,812,224; 7,838,729; 7,884,262; 7,939,721; 8,119,380; 8,207,092; 8,629,323; 8,754,011; and re45,048. the performance characteristics of soybean variety 01063944 were also analyzed and comparisons were made with selected varieties. the results of the analysis are presented below, in table 2. table 2exemplary agronomic traits of variety 01063944 and selected varietiesentries comparedyld_bematphtldgemergprooilswtsdv0106394468.7325.5039.264.381.4237.8522.902635.97ag273360.2519.3036.163.551.5939.1022.672926.77deviation8.486.203.100.82−0.18−1.250.23−290.80significance*******+# obs67712246222years33332111win percent86.60.016.717.6100.00.0100.00.0test mean63.7421.3239.314.271.6839.6921.702736.340106394468.2723.9638.353.261.7337.6823.182699.243.00ag293361.0219.8938.513.251.8539.5921.292853.263.75deviation7.254.07−0.150.02−0.12−1.911.89−154.02−0.75significance*******# obs6313617135542years333322222win percent84.10.050.050.066.70.0100.025.0100.0test mean62.9421.5340.693.231.8339.8121.682757.643.530106394469.1425.5540.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00ag323166.7424.5943.552.851.7539.5121.092608.263.28deviation2.400.96−2.871.73−0.02−1.842.2489.52−0.28significance**+********# obs108201851157765years333322222win percent66.726.377.86.550.00.0100.080.0100.0test mean64.9424.7443.204.151.8939.9421.672781.193.310106394469.1725.5540.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00ag333468.9725.5943.933.041.8740.6221.472606.713.27deviation0.20−0.04−3.261.54−0.13−2.951.8691.06−0.27significance*********# obs109201851157765years333322222win percent51.457.988.910.475.00.0100.0100.0100.0test mean65.1425.3843.274.121.8739.9121.672753.073.250106394468.2924.4438.353.171.7137.7823.202677.653.00ag353364.0726.8642.853.081.8040.1821.532733.863.26deviation4.22−2.43−4.500.09−0.08−2.401.67−56.21−0.26significance**********# obs6316615146654years333322222win percent73.086.7100.050.066.70.0100.040.0100.0test mean63.9226.1342.173.161.8339.8021.692743.803.360106394469.2225.7940.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00ag303467.6023.4943.273.731.6840.5920.982563.203.00deviation1.622.30−2.600.850.05−2.922.35134.570.00significance************# obs106191851157765years333322222win percent53.811.193.316.750.00.0100.083.350.0test mean64.8424.1742.884.121.8740.0321.652750.343.190106394470.4625.4439.364.541.7537.6823.182699.243.00cr22823n64.2721.0839.834.121.7241.2721.052801.413.20deviation6.194.36−0.470.420.03−3.592.13−102.17−0.20significance****+*****# obs94171341145545years333322222win percent83.00.063.640.566.70.0100.00.050.0test mean65.4721.8039.774.231.8639.8321.742711.693.180106394468.3125.9837.384.091.8038.0023.202713.183.56ag32x764.7124.1739.454.412.1440.3021.962878.773.74deviation3.601.81−2.08−0.32−0.34−2.301.24−165.59−0.19significance******++***+# obs1072127612255415years333322221win percent69.24.877.865.076.90.0100.025.080.0test mean64.1123.0039.573.821.9840.2821.612691.993.750106394469.0526.6340.674.631.7937.7823.282674.532.75cx2912n64.3322.4540.864.351.8139.3021.612629.642.88deviation4.724.18−0.190.28−0.02−1.521.6744.89−0.13significance********# obs101161850126654years333322221win percent78.20.047.136.850.00.0100.066.7100.0test mean64.9023.4942.164.201.9940.1621.662699.113.000106394469.1225.7940.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00cr3102n65.5223.1742.833.961.9640.0521.452795.582.80deviation3.602.62−2.160.61−0.22−2.381.88−97.800.20significance************# obs106191851157765years333322222win percent67.010.583.334.172.70.0100.016.70.0test mean65.3924.6743.124.221.8639.9521.662738.483.030106394469.2126.1540.674.631.7337.6723.332697.783.00cx3002n67.5523.4944.774.151.8440.7721.652781.543.16deviation1.662.65−4.090.48−0.11−3.091.68−83.76−0.16significance**********+# obs103171850137765years333322222win percent56.30.093.836.471.40.0100.00.0100.0test mean65.0523.6442.914.211.9439.8821.792754.523.310106394468.9426.6340.674.631.7937.7823.282674.532.75cb3007rxn64.2424.2543.244.132.4240.1821.572904.072.88deviation4.712.38−2.570.50−0.63−2.401.72−229.54−0.13significance***************# obs100161850126654years333322221win percent79.012.583.315.687.50.0100.00.0100.0test mean64.8624.4642.864.262.0340.1521.622701.832.840106394468.6025.2437.894.111.7337.6723.332697.783.58ag30x664.9522.3440.533.651.7839.9921.712767.343.78deviation3.652.90−2.640.46−0.05−2.321.62−69.56−0.20significance************# obs1172527612677616years333322222win percent76.14.088.031.050.00.0100.033.371.4test mean64.2822.9940.023.751.8540.0521.662745.773.790106394469.1826.0640.674.581.7337.7523.482700.243.00cx3322n66.2825.9742.903.261.8839.5621.472690.943.10deviation2.900.09−2.231.32−0.15−1.812.019.30−0.10significance**********# obs107171851154435years333321112win percent65.456.382.47.062.50.0100.066.7100.0test mean65.5825.5143.324.161.8740.0421.762738.993.130106394469.1225.7940.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00cr3222n66.2926.2243.514.871.8239.2522.372616.643.10deviation2.83−0.43−2.84−0.29−0.08−1.580.9681.14−0.10significance*********# obs106191851157765years333322222win percent67.963.288.963.270.00.0100.083.350.0test mean65.4325.0743.144.151.8640.0121.622758.203.190106394469.1626.4740.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00cx3102n64.4824.7043.803.841.9341.5321.102679.793.15deviation4.681.78−3.120.74−0.20−3.862.2317.99−0.15significance************# obs105181851157765years333322222win percent75.211.894.117.970.00.0100.066.7100.0test mean64.9724.8343.034.211.9039.9321.692739.683.090106394469.1226.4740.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00ag31x667.1524.4643.323.221.8240.2521.112815.673.30deviation1.972.01−2.651.36−0.09−2.582.22−117.90−0.30significance*************# obs106181851157765years333322222win percent60.45.683.39.155.60.0100.016.7100.0test mean65.3725.2843.054.131.8739.9921.602751.363.170106394469.0926.4740.674.581.7337.6723.332697.783.00ag32x666.8625.0542.004.321.7640.2722.282753.032.83deviation2.231.42−1.330.26−0.02−2.601.05−55.260.17significance****+****# obs105181851157765years333322222win percent61.917.666.736.662.50.0100.016.750.0test mean65.4325.5843.084.131.8640.1021.642722.373.180106394469.1226.0640.674.581.7337.7523.482674.533.00cbrb3141rxn66.4524.1444.483.761.7240.6421.022640.223.13deviation2.671.92−3.800.820.02−2.892.4534.31−0.13significance************# obs106171851154455years333321122win percent67.012.5100.015.450.00.0100.075.0100.0test mean65.4425.1343.234.121.8740.3121.592735.453.170106394469.1226.0640.674.581.7337.7523.482700.243.00cbrb3321r2n65.9925.1244.454.061.6540.6621.602705.323.08deviation3.130.94−3.780.520.08−2.911.87−5.08−0.07significance*********# obs106171851154435years333321112win percent65.128.6100.038.133.30.0100.033.3100.0test mean65.7425.7243.514.181.8740.1521.632705.883.120106394468.2625.2538.353.211.7137.7823.202677.653.00cr3482n65.4725.0243.932.901.7339.9521.612711.903.08deviation2.790.23−5.580.31−0.01−2.171.59−34.25−0.08significance********# obs6516619146654years333322222win percent69.242.9100.046.762.50.0100.040.050.0test mean65.1626.3742.723.091.7939.8621.632721.893.100106394467.5024.9638.353.631.7937.6723.332697.783.00cr3142n62.3222.7840.332.641.9740.2621.372886.863.29deviation5.192.18−1.980.99−0.18−2.591.96−189.09−0.29significance***********# obs6413619127762years333322222win percent82.87.783.318.875.00.0100.00.050.0test mean63.7323.6041.753.301.8340.0421.642753.383.490106394469.1725.7540.674.581.7337.7523.482700.243.00cx3302n68.0225.9143.353.741.7541.5020.652785.253.23deviation1.15−0.16−2.680.84−0.02−3.752.82−85.01−0.23significance+********# obs106161851154435years323321112win percent55.756.388.915.060.00.0100.00.0100.0test mean65.6125.0343.214.161.8740.0421.762738.993.130106394469.1825.7540.674.581.7337.7523.482700.243.00cx3112n66.2623.4441.423.431.7839.6321.522609.433.05deviation2.922.31−0.751.15−0.05−1.881.9590.80−0.05significance*********# obs107161851154435years323321112win percent68.26.356.311.650.00.0100.0100.050.0test mean65.3624.3343.084.181.8840.2021.682730.883.140106394469.2026.0640.674.581.7337.7523.482700.243.00cbrb3351rxn67.0526.2042.243.181.9039.4521.302607.533.00deviation2.16−0.14−1.571.40−0.17−1.702.1892.710.00significance**********# obs106171851154435years333321112win percent64.246.766.72.575.00.0100.0100.0−0.0test mean65.2725.0743.294.211.8940.1921.642730.883.030106394469.2026.0640.674.581.7337.7523.482700.243.00cx3312n67.3725.7542.143.461.7740.8620.912670.942.97deviation1.840.31−1.461.11−0.04−3.112.5729.300.03significance*********# obs106171851154435years333321112win percent57.535.781.37.737.50.0100.066.750.0test mean65.6925.7643.354.171.8740.0421.762738.993.130106394468.2925.2538.353.381.7137.6723.332697.783.00cr23422n66.5626.2843.592.361.7040.9221.172531.783.16deviation1.73−1.03−5.231.020.02−3.252.16166.00−0.16significance**********# obs6416621147764years333322222win percent60.975.0100.018.842.90.0100.083.350.0test mean65.2526.5942.813.101.7739.9021.642726.263.190106394469.1125.5041.184.651.7337.6723.332697.783.00cr3333n65.9624.1843.005.011.9139.8822.072717.393.07deviation3.151.32−1.82−0.36−0.18−2.211.26−19.61−0.07significance*****+****# obs101181750157765years322222222win percent66.323.580.069.260.00.0100.050.050.0test mean65.0124.2743.444.261.8839.9421.632749.533.030106394469.3325.5040.554.641.7537.6723.332697.783.00ag293564.9522.7640.364.281.9040.9721.252754.753.23deviation4.382.740.180.37−0.15−3.302.08−56.97−0.23significance****+****# obs103181345147765years322222222win percent78.66.338.542.154.50.0100.033.350.0test mean64.9722.6040.964.141.8539.9221.712755.593.200106394469.1126.3341.184.701.7937.7823.282674.532.75cbrb3041r2n65.1024.3244.653.832.2539.4122.002631.633.06deviation4.002.02−3.460.87−0.46−1.631.2842.90−0.31significance********+****# obs98151749126654years322222221win percent70.414.381.317.190.00.0100.040.0100.0test mean64.8923.4743.254.292.0140.0221.692733.062.920106394469.0726.2141.184.651.7337.7823.282674.533.00cr3152n61.7422.9745.175.201.9739.8322.192528.172.90deviation7.333.24−3.98−0.55−0.23−2.041.09146.360.10significance************+# obs101171750156655years322222222win percent87.10.0100.076.266.70.0100.080.050.0test mean65.1624.0743.364.271.8940.1421.642701.833.030106394469.1525.8241.184.701.7937.7823.282674.532.75cr3012n64.5023.5042.143.832.1741.7421.012928.982.88deviation4.652.32−0.960.87−0.38−3.962.27−254.45−0.13significance************# obs97141749126654years322222221win percent72.27.750.010.866.70.0100.00.0100.0test mean64.8623.6443.164.322.0240.1421.642701.832.840106394469.1326.3341.184.701.7937.7823.282674.532.75cx3012n63.4322.2341.944.361.9939.8022.162470.803.00deviation5.704.10−0.760.34−0.20−2.021.12203.74−0.25significance****+****# obs97151749126654years222222221win percent83.50.060.040.566.70.0100.080.0100.0test mean64.9923.1242.444.261.9940.1621.662699.113.000106394469.1426.3341.184.701.7937.7823.282674.532.75rb3021r2n63.6724.2743.515.061.8338.6822.053009.113.00deviation5.472.07−2.32−0.36−0.04−0.901.23−334.58−0.25significance******+****# obs96151749126654years222222221win percent74.020.081.362.557.133.3100.00.0100.0test mean64.8323.8843.174.312.0340.1521.622701.832.840106394469.0427.1442.104.922.0637.7523.482700.242.75cr3352n67.8026.8645.884.861.8039.9721.592701.282.88deviation1.230.27−3.780.060.26−2.221.88−1.04−0.13significance******# obs7711154584434years111111111win percent62.354.5100.048.620.00.0100.066.7100.0test mean65.8926.0644.394.372.2540.0821.752738.993.00**, *, + significant at p ≤ 0.01, 0.05, or 0.10, respectively. breeding soybean variety 01063944 one aspect of the current invention concerns methods for crossing the soybean variety 01063944 with itself or a second plant and the seeds and plants produced by such methods. these methods can be used for propagation of the soybean variety 01063944, or can be used to produce hybrid soybean seeds and the plants grown therefrom. hybrid soybean plants can be used by farmers in the commercial production of soy products or may be advanced in certain breeding protocols for the production of novel soybean varieties. a hybrid plant can also be used as a recurrent parent at any given stage in a backcrossing protocol during the production of a single locus conversion of the soybean variety 01063944. soybean variety 01063944 is well suited to the development of new varieties based on the elite nature of the genetic background of the variety. in selecting a second plant to cross with 01063944 for the purpose of developing novel soybean varieties, it will typically be desired to choose those plants that either themselves exhibit one or more selected characteristics or that exhibit the characteristic(s) when in hybrid combination. examples of potentially selected characteristics include seed yield, lodging resistance, emergence, seedling vigor, disease tolerance, maturity, plant height, high oil content, high protein content and shattering resistance. choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plant reproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of variety used commercially (e.g., f 1 hybrid variety, pureline variety, etc.). for highly heritable traits, a choice of superior individual plants evaluated at a single location will be effective; whereas, for traits with low heritability, selection should be based on mean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of related plants. popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, mass selection, recurrent selection and backcrossing. the complexity of inheritance influences the choice of the breeding method. backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few genes for a highly heritable trait into a desirable variety. this approach has been used extensively for breeding disease-resistant varieties (bowers et al., crop sci., 32(1):67-72, 1992; nickell and bernard, crop sci., 32(3):835, 1992). various recurrent selection techniques are used to improve quantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes. the use of recurrent selection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease of pollination, the frequency of successful hybrids from each pollination, and the number of hybrid offspring from each successful cross. each breeding program should include a periodic, objective evaluation of the efficiency of the breeding procedure. evaluation criteria vary depending on the goal and objectives, but should include gain from selection per year based on comparisons to an appropriate standard, overall value of the advanced breeding lines, and number of successful varieties produced per unit of input, e.g., per year, per dollar expended, etc. promising advanced breeding lines are thoroughly tested and compared to appropriate standards in environments that are representative of the commercial target area(s) for generally three or more years. the best lines are candidates for new commercial varieties. those still deficient in a few traits may be used as parents to produce new populations for further selection. these processes, which lead to the final step of marketing and distribution, may take as much as eight to 12 years from the time the first cross is made. therefore, development of new varieties is a time-consuming process that requires precise forward planning, efficient resource utilization, and minimal direction changes. identifying individuals that are genetically superior is a difficult task because the true genotypic value for most traits can be masked by other confounding traits or environmental factors. one method of identifying a superior plant is observing its performance relative to other experimental plants and one or more widely grown standard varieties. single observations are generally inconclusive, while replicated observations provide a better estimate of genetic worth. the goal of plant breeding is to develop new, unique, and superior soybean varieties and hybrids. the breeder initially selects and crosses two or more parental lines. this is generally followed by repeated selfing and selection, which produces many new genetic combinations. each year, the plant breeder selects the germplasm to advance to the next generation. this germplasm is grown under unique and different geographical, climatic, and soil conditions, and further selections are then made during and at the end of the growing season. the varieties which are developed are unpredictable. this unpredictability is because the breeder's selection occurs in unique environments, with no control at the dna level (using conventional breeding procedures), and with millions of different possible genetic combinations being generated. a breeder of ordinary skill in the art cannot predict the final resulting lines he develops, except possibly in a gross and general fashion. the same breeder cannot produce the same variety twice by using the exact same original parents and the same selection techniques. this unpredictability results in the expenditure of large amounts of research monies to develop superior new soybean varieties. pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used to develop varieties from breeding populations. breeding programs combine traits from two or more varieties or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from which varieties are developed by selfing and selection of phenotypes. the new varieties are evaluated to determine which have commercial potential. pedigree breeding is commonly used for the improvement of self-pollinating crops. two parents which possess favorable, complementary traits are crossed to produce f 1 progeny. an f 2 population is then produced by selfing one or several f 1 plants. selection of the best individuals may begin in the f 2 population or later depending upon the breeder's objectives; then, beginning in the f 3 generation, the best individuals in the best families can be selected. replicated testing of families can begin in the f 3 or f 4 generations to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits of low heritability. at an advanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., the f 6 and f 7 generations), the best lines or mixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potential release as new varieties. mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations of either self- or cross-pollinating crops. a genetically variable population of heterozygous individuals is either identified or created by intercrossing several different parents. the best plants are selected based on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellent combining ability. the selected plants are intercrossed to produce a new population from which further cycles of selection are continued. backcross breeding has been used to transfer genetic loci for simply inherited or highly heritable traits into a homozygous variety that is used as the recurrent parent. the source of the trait to be transferred is called the donor or nonrecurrent parent. the resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent and the trait transferred from the donor parent. after the initial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype of the donor parent are selected and repeatedly crossed, i.e., backcrossed, to the recurrent parent. the resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (i.e., variety) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent. the single-seed descent procedure in the strict sense refers to planting a segregating population, harvesting a sample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plant the next generation. when the population has been advanced from the f 2 to the desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which the lines are derived will each trace to different f 2 individuals. the number of plants in a population declines each generation due to failure of some seeds to germinate or some plants to produce at least one seed. as a result, not all of the f 2 plants originally sampled in the population will be represented by a progeny when generation advance is completed. in a multiple-seed procedure, soybean breeders commonly harvest one or more pods from each plant in a population and thresh them together to form a bulk. part of the bulk is used to plant the next generation and part is put in reserve. this procedure is also referred to as modified single-seed descent or the pod-bulk technique. the multiple-seed procedure has been used to save labor at harvest. it is considerably faster to thresh pods with a machine than to remove one seed from each by hand as is required for the single-seed procedure. the multiple-seed procedure also makes it possible to plant the same number of seeds of a population each generation of inbreeding. enough seeds are harvested to make up for those plants that did not germinate or produce seed. descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used for different traits and crops can be found in one of several reference books (e.g., allard, “principles of plant breeding,” john wiley & sons, ny, university of california, davis, calif., 50-98, 1960; simmonds, “principles of crop improvement,” longman, inc., ny, 369-399, 1979; sneep et al., “plant breeding perspectives,” wageningen (ed), centre for agricultural publishing and documentation, 1979; fehr, in: “ soybeans: improvement, production and uses,” 2d ed., monograph 16:249, 1987; fehr, “principles of cultivar development,” theory and technique (vol 1) and crop species soybean (vol 2), iowa state univ., macmillian pub. co., ny, 360-376, 1987; poehlman and sleper, “breeding field crops”, 4th ed., iowa state university press, ames, 1995; sprague and dudley, eds., corn and improvement, 5th ed., 2006). proper testing should detect any major faults and establish the level of superiority or improvement over current varieties. in addition to showing superior performance, there must be a demand for a new variety that is compatible with industry standards or which creates a new market. the introduction of a new variety will incur additional costs to the seed producer, the grower, processor, and consumer due in part to special advertising and marketing, altered seed and commercial production practices, and new product utilization. the testing preceding release of a new variety should take into consideration research and development costs as well as the technical superiority of the final variety. for seed-propagated varieties, it must be feasible to produce seed easily and economically. in addition to phenotypic observations, a plant can also be identified by its genotype. the genotype of a plant can be characterized through a molecular marker profile, which can identify plants of the same variety or a related variety, can identify plants and plant parts which are genetically superior as a result of an event comprising a backcross conversion, transgene, or genetic sterility factor, or can be used to determine or validate a pedigree. such molecular marker profiling can be accomplished using a variety of techniques including, but not limited to, restriction fragment length polymorphism (rflp), amplified fragment length polymorphism (aflp), sequence-tagged sites (sts), randomly amplified polymorphic dna (rapd), arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (ap-pcr), dna amplification fingerprinting (daf), sequence characterized amplified regions (scars), variable number tandem repeat (vntr), short tandem repeat (str), single feature polymorphism (sfp), simple sequence length polymorphism (sslp), restriction site associated dna, allozymes, isozyme markers, single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps), or simple sequence repeat (ssr) markers, also known as microsatellites (gupta et al., 1999; korzun et al., 2001). various types of these markers, for example, can be used to identify individual varieties developed from specific parent varieties, as well as cells or other plant parts thereof. for example, see cregan et al. (1999) “an integrated genetic linkage map of the soybean genome” crop science 39:1464-1490, and berry et al. (2003) “assessing probability of ancestry using simple sequence repeat profiles: applications to maize inbred lines and soybean varieties” genetics 165(1):331-342, each of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. in some examples, one or more markers may be used to characterize and/or evaluate a soybean variety. particular markers used for these purposes are not limited to any particular set of markers, but are envisioned to include any type of marker and marker profile that provides a means for distinguishing varieties. one method of comparison may be to use only homozygous loci for soybean variety 01063944. primers and pcr protocols for assaying these and other markers are disclosed in, for example, soybase (sponsored by the usda agricultural research service and iowa state university) located on the world wide web at 129.186.26/94/ssr.html. in addition to being used for identification of soybean variety 01063944, as well as plant parts and plant cells of soybean variety 01063944, a genetic profile may be used to identify a soybean plant produced through the use of soybean variety 01063944 or to verify a pedigree for progeny plants produced through the use of soybean variety 01063944. a genetic marker profile may also be useful in breeding and developing backcross conversions. in an embodiment, the present invention provides a soybean plant characterized by molecular and physiological data obtained from a representative sample of said variety deposited with the american type culture collection (atcc). thus, plants, seeds, or parts thereof, having all or essentially all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of soybean variety 01063944 are provided. further provided is a soybean plant formed by the combination of the disclosed soybean plant or plant cell with another soybean plant or cell and comprising the homozygous alleles of the variety. in some examples, a plant, a plant part, or a seed of soybean variety 01063944 may be characterized by producing a molecular profile. a molecular profile may include, but is not limited to, one or more genotypic and/or phenotypic profile(s). a genotypic profile may include, but is not limited to, a marker profile, such as a genetic map, a linkage map, a trait maker profile, a snp profile, an ssr profile, a genome-wide marker profile, a haplotype, and the like. a molecular profile may also be a nucleic acid sequence profile, and/or a physical map. a phenotypic profile may include, but is not limited to, a protein expression profile, a metabolic profile, an mrna expression profile, and the like. one means of performing genetic marker profiles is using ssr polymorphisms that are well known in the art. a marker system based on ssrs can be highly informative in linkage analysis relative to other marker systems, in that multiple alleles may be present. another advantage of this type of marker is that through use of flanking primers, detection of ssrs can be achieved, for example, by using the polymerase chain reaction (pcr), thereby eliminating the need for labor-intensive southern hybridization. pcr detection may be performed using two oligonucleotide primers flanking the polymorphic segment of repetitive dna to amplify the ssr region. following amplification, markers can be scored by electrophoresis of the amplification products. scoring of marker genotype is based on the size of the amplified fragment, which correlates to the number of base pairs of the fragment. while variation in the primer used or in the laboratory procedures can affect the reported fragment size, relative values should remain constant regardless of specific primer or laboratory used. when comparing varieties, it may be beneficial to have all profiles performed in the same lab. primers that can be used are publically available and may be found in, for example, soybase or cregan et al. ( crop science 39:1464-1490, 1999). a genotypic profile of soybean variety 01063944 can be used to identify a plant comprising variety 01063944 as a parent, since such plants will comprise the same homozygous alleles as variety 01063944. because the soybean variety is essentially homozygous at all relevant loci, most loci should have only one type of allele present. in contrast, a genetic marker profile of an f 1 progeny should be the sum of those parents, e.g., if one parent was homozygous for allele x at a particular locus, and the other parent homozygous for allele y at that locus, then the f 1 progeny will be xy (heterozygous) at that locus. subsequent generations of progeny produced by selection and breeding are expected to be of genotype xx (homozygous), yy (homozygous), or xy (heterozygous) for that locus position. when the f 1 plant is selfed or sibbed for successive filial generations, the locus should be either x or y for that position. in addition, plants and plant parts substantially benefiting from the use of variety 01063944 in their development, such as variety 01063944 comprising a backcross conversion, transgene, or genetic sterility factor, may be identified by having a molecular marker profile with a high percent identity to soybean variety 01063944. such a percent identity might be 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 99.5% or 99.9% identical to soybean variety 01063944. a genotypic profile of variety 01063944 also can be used to identify essentially derived varieties and other progeny varieties developed from the use of variety 01063944, as well as cells and other plant parts thereof. plants of the invention include any plant having at least 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 99.5%, or 99.9% of the markers in the genotypic profile, and that retain 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 99.5%, or 99.9% of the morphological and physiological characteristics of variety 01063944 when grown under the same conditions. such plants may be developed using markers well known in the art. progeny plants and plant parts produced using variety 01063944 may be identified, for example, by having a molecular marker profile of at least 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 76%, 77%, 78%, 79%, 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or 99.5% genetic contribution from soybean variety 01063944, as measured by either percent identity or percent similarity. such progeny may be further characterized as being within a pedigree distance of variety 01063944, such as within 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 or less cross pollinations to a soybean plant other than variety 01063944, or a plant that has variety 01063944 as a progenitor. unique molecular profiles may be identified with other molecular tools, such as snps and rflps. any time the soybean variety 01063944 is crossed with another, different, variety, first generation (f 1 ) soybean progeny are produced. the hybrid progeny are produced regardless of characteristics of the two varieties produced. as such, an f 1 hybrid soybean plant may be produced by crossing 01063944 with any second soybean plant. the second soybean plant may be genetically homogeneous (e.g., inbred) or may itself be a hybrid. therefore, any f 1 hybrid soybean plant produced by crossing soybean variety 01063944 with a second soybean plant is a part of the present invention. soybean plants ( glycine max l.) can be crossed by either natural or mechanical techniques (see, e.g., fehr, “soybean,” in: hybridization of crop plants , fehr and hadley (eds), am. soc. agron . and crop sci. soc. am ., madison, wis., 590-599, 1980). natural pollination occurs in soybeans either by self-pollination or natural cross-pollination, which typically is aided by pollinating organisms. in either natural or artificial crosses, flowering and flowering time are an important consideration. soybean is a short-day plant, but there is considerable genetic variation for sensitivity to photoperiod (hamner, “ glycine max (l.) merrill,” in: the induction of flowering: some case histories , evans (ed), cornell univ. press, ithaca, n.y., 62-89, 1969; criswell and hume, crop sci., 12:657-660, 1972). the critical day length for flowering ranges from about 13 h for genotypes adapted to tropical latitudes to 24 h for photoperiod-insensitive genotypes grown at higher latitudes (shibles et al., “soybean,” in: crop physiology: some case histories , evans (ed), cambridge univ. press, cambridge, england, 51-189, 1975). soybeans seem to be insensitive to day length for 9 days after emergence. photoperiods shorter than the critical day length are required for 7 to 26 days to complete flower induction (borthwick and parker, bot. gaz., 100:374-387, 1938; shanmugasundaram and tsou, crop sci., 18:598-601, 1978). sensitivity to day length is an important consideration when genotypes are grown outside of their area of adaptation. when genotypes adapted to tropical latitudes are grown in the field at higher latitudes, they may not mature before frost occurs. plants can be induced to flower and mature earlier by creating artificially short days or by grafting (fehr, “soybean,” in: hybridization of crop plants , fehr and hadley (eds), am. soc. agron . and crop sci. soc. am ., madison, wis., 590-599, 1980). soybeans frequently are grown in winter nurseries located at sea level in tropical latitudes where day lengths are much shorter than their critical photoperiod. the short day lengths and warm temperatures encourage early flowering and seed maturation, and genotypes can produce a seed crop in 90 days or fewer after planting. early flowering is useful for generation advance when only a few self-pollinated seeds per plant are needed, but not for artificial hybridization because the flowers self-pollinate before they are large enough to manipulate for hybridization. artificial lighting can be used to extend the natural day length to about 14.5 h to obtain flowers suitable for hybridization and to increase yields of self-pollinated seed. the effect of a short photoperiod on flowering and seed yield can be partly offset by altitude, probably due to the effects of cool temperature (major et al., crop sci., 15:174-179, 1975). at tropical latitudes, varieties adapted to the northern u.s. perform more like those adapted to the southern u.s. at high altitudes than they do at sea level. the light level required to delay flowering is dependent on the quality of light emitted from the source and the genotype being grown. blue light with a wavelength of about 480 nm requires more than 30 times the energy to inhibit flowering as red light with a wavelength of about 640 nm (parker et al., bot. gaz., 108:1-26, 1946). temperature can also play a significant role in the flowering and development of soybean plants (major et al., crop sci., 15:174-179, 1975). it can influence the time of flowering and suitability of flowers for hybridization. temperatures below 21° c. or above 32° c. can reduce floral initiation or seed set (hamner, “ glycine max (l.) merrill,” in: the induction of flowering: some case histories , evans (ed), cornell univ. press, ithaca, n.y., 62-89, 1969; van schaik and probst, agron. j., 50:192-197, 1958). artificial hybridization is most successful between 26° c. and 32° c. because cooler temperatures reduce pollen shed and result in flowers that self-pollinate before they are large enough to manipulate. warmer temperatures frequently are associated with increased flower abortion caused by moisture stress; however, successful crosses are possible at about 35° c. if soil moisture is adequate. soybeans have been classified as indeterminate, semi-determinate, and determinate based on the abruptness of stem termination after flowering begins (bernard and weiss, “qualitative genetics,” in: soybeans: improvement, production, and uses , caldwell (ed), am. soc. of agron ., madison, wis., 117-154, 1973). when grown at their latitude of adaptation, indeterminate genotypes flower when about one-half of the nodes on the main stem have developed. they have short racemes with few flowers, and their terminal node has only a few flowers. semi-determinate genotypes also flower when about one-half of the nodes on the main stem have developed, but node development and flowering on the main stem stops more abruptly than on indeterminate genotypes. their racemes are short and have few flowers, except for the terminal one, which may have several times more flowers than those lower on the plant. determinate varieties begin flowering when all or most of the nodes on the main stem have developed. they usually have elongated racemes that may be several centimeters in length and may have a large number of flowers. stem termination and flowering habit are reported to be controlled by two major genes (bernard and weiss, “qualitative genetics,” in: soybeans: improvement, production, and uses , caldwell (ed), am. soc. of agron ., madison, wis., 117-154, 1973). soybean flowers typically are self-pollinated on the day the corolla opens. the amount of natural crossing, which is typically associated with insect vectors such as honeybees, is approximately 1% for adjacent plants within a row and 0.5% between plants in adjacent rows (boerma and moradshahi, crop sci., 15:858-861, 1975). the structure of soybean flowers is similar to that of other legume species and consists of a calyx with five sepals, a corolla with five petals, 10 stamens, and a pistil (carlson, “morphology”, in: soybeans: improvement, production, and uses , caldwell (ed), am. soc. of agron ., madison, wis., 17-95, 1973). the calyx encloses the corolla until the day before anthesis. the corolla emerges and unfolds to expose a standard, two wing petals, and two keel petals. an open flower is about 7 mm long from the base of the calyx to the tip of the standard and 6 mm wide across the standard. the pistil consists of a single ovary that contains one to five ovules, a style that curves toward the standard, and a club-shaped stigma. the stigma is receptive to pollen about 1 day before anthesis and remains receptive for 2 days after anthesis, if the flower petals are not removed. filaments of nine stamens are fused, and the one nearest the standard is free. the stamens form a ring below the stigma until about 1 day before anthesis, then their filaments begin to elongate rapidly and elevate the anthers around the stigma. the anthers dehisce on the day of anthesis, pollen grains fall on the stigma, and within 10 h the pollen tubes reach the ovary and fertilization is completed (johnson and bernard, “soybean genetics and breeding,” in: the soybean , norman (ed), academic press, ny, 1-73, 1963). self-pollination occurs naturally in soybean with no manipulation of the flowers. for the crossing of two soybean plants, it is often beneficial, although not required, to utilize artificial hybridization. in artificial hybridization, the flower used as a female in a cross is manually cross pollinated prior to maturation of pollen from the flower, thereby preventing self-fertilization, or alternatively, the male parts of the flower are emasculated using a technique known in the art. techniques for emasculating the male parts of a soybean flower include, for example, physical removal of the male parts, use of a genetic factor conferring male sterility, and application of a chemical gametocide to the male parts. for artificial hybridization employing emasculation, flowers that are expected to open the following day are selected on the female parent. the buds are swollen and the corolla is just visible through the calyx or has begun to emerge. the selected buds on a parent plant are prepared and all of the self-pollinated flowers or immature buds are removed. special care is required to remove immature buds that are hidden under the stipules at the leaf axil, which could develop into flowers at a later date. to remove a flower, the flower is grasped and the location of the stigma is determined by examining the sepals. a long, curvy sepal covers the keel, and the stigma is on the opposite side of the flower. the calyx is removed by pulling each sepal down and around the flower. the exposed corolla is then removed just above the calyx scar, taking care to remove the keel petals without injuring the stigma. the ring of anthers is visible after the corolla is removed, unless the anthers were removed with the petals. cross-pollination can then be carried out using, for example, petri dishes or envelopes in which male flowers have been collected. desiccators containing calcium chloride crystals are used in some environments to dry male flowers to obtain adequate pollen shed. it has been demonstrated that emasculation is unnecessary to prevent self-pollination (walker et al., crop sci., 19:285-286, 1979). when emasculation is not used, the anthers near the stigma frequently are removed to make it clearly visible for pollination. the female flower usually is hand-pollinated immediately after it is prepared; although a delay of several hours does not seem to reduce seed set. pollen shed typically begins in the morning and may end when temperatures are above 30° c., or may begin later and continue throughout much of the day with more moderate temperatures. pollen is available from a flower with a recently opened corolla, but the degree of corolla opening associated with pollen shed may vary during the day. in many environments, it is possible to collect male flowers and use them immediately without storage. in the southern u.s. and other humid climates, pollen shed occurs in the morning when female flowers are more immature and difficult to manipulate than in the afternoon, and the flowers may be damp from heavy dew. in those circumstances, male flowers may be collected into envelopes or petri dishes in the morning and the open container placed in a desiccator for about 4 h at a temperature of about 25° c. the desiccator may be taken to the field in the afternoon and kept in the shade to prevent excessive temperatures from developing within it. pollen viability can be maintained in flowers for up to 2 days when stored at about 5° c. in a desiccator at 3° c., flowers can be stored successfully for several weeks; however, varieties may differ in the percentage of pollen that germinates after long-term storage (kuehl, “pollen viability and stigma receptivity of glycine max (l.) merrill,” thesis, north carolina state college, raleigh, n.c., 1961). either with or without emasculation of the female flower, hand pollination can be carried out by removing the stamens and pistil with a forceps from a flower of the male parent and gently brushing the anthers against the stigma of the female flower. access to the stamens can be achieved by removing the front sepal and keel petals or piercing the keel with closed forceps and allowing them to open to push the petals away. brushing the anthers on the stigma causes them to rupture, and the highest percentage of successful crosses is obtained when pollen is clearly visible on the stigma. pollen shed can be checked by tapping the anthers before brushing the stigma. several male flowers may have to be used to obtain suitable pollen shed when conditions are unfavorable or the same male with good pollen shed may be used to pollinate several flowers. when male flowers do not have to be collected and dried in a desiccator, it may be desired to plant the parents of a cross adjacent to each other. plants usually are grown in rows 65 to 100 cm apart to facilitate movement of personnel within the field nursery. yield of self-pollinated seed from an individual plant may range from a few seeds to more than 1,000 as a function of plant density. a density of 30 plants/m of row can be used when 30 or fewer seeds per plant is adequate, 10 plants/m can be used to obtain about 100 seeds/plant, and 3 plants/m usually results in maximum seed production per plant. densities of 12 plants/m or less commonly are used for artificial hybridization. multiple planting dates about 7 to 14 days apart usually are used to match parents of different flowering dates. when differences in flowering dates are extreme between parents, flowering of the later parent can be hastened by creating an artificially short day or flowering of the earlier parent can be delayed by use of artificially long days or delayed planting. for example, crosses with genotypes adapted to the southern u.s. are made in northern u.s. locations by covering the late genotype with a box, large can, or similar container to create an artificially short photoperiod of about 12 h for about 15 days beginning when there are three nodes with trifoliate leaves on the main stem. plants induced to flower early tend to have flowers that self-pollinate when they are small and can be difficult to prepare for hybridization. grafting can be used to hasten the flowering of late flowering genotypes. a scion from a late genotype grafted on a stock that has begun to flower will begin to bloom up to 42 days earlier than normal (kiihl et al., crop sci., 17:181-182, 1977). first flowers on the scion appear from 21 to 50 days after the graft. observing pod development 7 days after pollination generally is adequate to identify a successful cross. abortion of pods and seeds can occur several weeks after pollination, but the percentage of abortion usually is low if plant stress is minimized (shibles et al., “soybean,” in: crop physiology: some case histories , evans (ed), cambridge univ. press, cambridge, england, 51-189, 1975). pods that develop from artificial hybridization can be distinguished from self-pollinated pods by the presence of the calyx scar, caused by removal of the sepals. the sepals begin to fall off as the pods mature; therefore, harvest should be completed at or immediately before the time the pods reach their mature color. harvesting pods early also avoids any loss by shattering. once harvested, pods are typically air-dried at not more than 38° c. until the seeds contain 13% moisture or less, then the seeds are removed by hand. seed can be stored satisfactorily at about 25° c. for up to a year if relative humidity is 50% or less. in humid climates, germination percentage declines rapidly unless the seed is dried to 7% moisture and stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. long-term storage in any climate is best accomplished by drying seed to 7% moisture and storing it at 10° c. or less in a room maintained at 50% relative humidity or in an air-tight container. further embodiments of the invention in certain aspects of the invention, plants of soybean variety 01063944 are modified to include at least a first heritable trait. such plants may, in one embodiment, be developed by a plant breeding technique called backcrossing, wherein essentially all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of a variety are recovered in addition to a genetic locus transferred into the plant via the backcrossing technique. by essentially all of the morphological and physiological characteristics, it is meant that the characteristics of a plant are recovered that are otherwise present when compared in the same environment, other than occasional variant traits that might arise during backcrossing or direct introduction of a transgene. it is understood that a locus introduced by backcrossing may or may not be transgenic in origin, and thus the term backcrossing specifically includes backcrossing to introduce loci that were created by genetic transformation. in a typical backcross protocol, the original variety of interest (recurrent parent) is crossed to a second variety (nonrecurrent parent) that carries the single locus of interest to be transferred. the resulting progeny from this cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parent and the process is repeated until a soybean plant is obtained wherein essentially all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of the recurrent parent are recovered in the converted plant, in addition to the transferred locus from the nonrecurrent parent. the selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for a successful backcrossing procedure. the goal of a backcross protocol is to alter or substitute a trait or characteristic in the original variety. to accomplish this, a locus of the recurrent variety is modified or substituted with the desired locus from the nonrecurrent parent, while retaining essentially all of the rest of the genome of the original variety, and therefore the morphological and physiological constitution of the original variety. the choice of the particular nonrecurrent parent will depend on the purpose of the backcross; one of the major purposes is to add some commercially or agronomically important trait to the plant. the exact backcrossing protocol will depend on the characteristic or trait being altered to determine an appropriate testing protocol. although backcrossing methods are simplified when the characteristic being transferred is a dominant allele, a recessive allele may also be transferred. in this instance, it may be necessary to introduce a test of the progeny to determine if the desired characteristic has been successfully transferred. soybean varieties can also be developed from more than two parents (fehr, in: “ soybeans: improvement, production and uses,” 2nd ed., manograph 16:249, 1987). the technique, known as modified backcrossing, uses different recurrent parents during the backcrossing. modified backcrossing may be used to replace the original recurrent parent with a variety having certain more desirable characteristics or multiple parents may be used to obtain different desirable characteristics from each. many traits have been identified that are not regularly selected for in the development of a new inbred but that can be improved by backcrossing techniques. traits may or may not be transgenic; examples of these traits include, but are not limited to, male sterility, herbicide resistance, resistance to bacterial, fungal, or viral disease, insect and pest resistance, restoration of male fertility, enhanced nutritional quality, yield stability, and yield enhancement. these comprise genes generally inherited through the nucleus. direct selection may be applied when the locus acts as a dominant trait. an example of a dominant trait is the herbicide resistance trait. for this selection process, the progeny of the initial cross are sprayed with the herbicide prior to the backcrossing. the spraying eliminates any plants which do not have the desired herbicide resistance characteristic, and only those plants that have the herbicide resistance gene are used in the subsequent backcross. this process is then repeated for all additional backcross generations. selection of soybean plants for breeding is not necessarily dependent on the phenotype of a plant and instead can be based on genetic investigations. for example, one may utilize a suitable genetic marker that is closely associated with a trait of interest. one of these markers may therefore be used to identify the presence or absence of a trait in the offspring of a particular cross, and hence may be used in selection of progeny for continued breeding. this technique may commonly be referred to as marker assisted selection. any other type of genetic marker or other assay that is able to identify the relative presence or absence of a trait of interest in a plant may also be useful for breeding purposes. procedures for marker assisted selection applicable to the breeding of soybeans are well known in the art. such methods will be of particular utility in the case of recessive traits and variable phenotypes, or when conventional assays may be more expensive, time consuming or otherwise disadvantageous. genetic markers that could be used in accordance with the invention include, but are not necessarily limited to, simple sequence length polymorphisms (sslps) (williams et al., nucleic acids res., 18:6531-6535, 1990), randomly amplified polymorphic dnas (rapds), dna amplification fingerprinting (daf), sequence characterized amplified regions (scars), arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction (ap-pcr), amplified fragment length polymorphisms (aflps) (european patent application publication no. ep0534858, specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), and single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) (wang et al., science, 280:1077-1082, 1998). many qualitative characters also have a potential use as phenotype-based genetic markers in soybeans; however, some or many may not differ among varieties commonly used as parents (bernard and weiss, “qualitative genetics,” in: soybeans: improvement, production, and uses , caldwell (ed), am. soc. of agron ., madison, wis., 117-154, 1973). the most widely used genetic markers are flower color (purple dominant to white), pubescence color (brown dominant to gray), and pod color (brown dominant to tan). the association of purple hypocotyl color with purple flowers and green hypocotyl color with white flowers is commonly used to identify hybrids in the seedling stage. differences in maturity, height, hilum color, and pest resistance between parents can also be used to verify hybrid plants. many useful traits that can be introduced by backcrossing, as well as directly into a plant, are those that are introduced by genetic transformation techniques. genetic transformation may therefore be used to insert a selected transgene into the soybean variety of the invention or may, alternatively, be used for the preparation of transgenes which can be introduced by backcrossing. methods for the transformation of many economically important plants, including soybeans, are well known to those of skill in the art. techniques which may be employed to genetically transform soybeans include, but are not limited to, electroporation, microprojectile bombardment, agrobacterium -mediated transformation and direct dna uptake by protoplasts. to effect transformation by electroporation, one may employ either friable tissues, such as a suspension culture of cells or embryogenic callus or alternatively one may transform immature embryos or other organized tissue directly. in this technique, one would partially degrade the cell walls of the chosen cells by exposing them to pectin-degrading enzymes (pectolyases) or mechanically wound tissues in a controlled manner. protoplasts may also be employed for electroporation transformation of plants (bates, mol. biotechnol., 2(2):135-145, 1994; lazzeri, methods mol. biol., 49:95-106, 1995). for example, the generation of transgenic soybean plants by electroporation of cotyledon-derived protoplasts was described by dhir and widholm in international patent application publication no. wo 92/17598, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. an efficient method for delivering transforming dna segments to plant cells is microprojectile bombardment. in this method, particles are coated with nucleic acids and delivered into cells by a propelling force. exemplary particles include those comprised of tungsten, platinum, or gold. for the bombardment, cells in suspension are concentrated on filters or solid culture medium. alternatively, immature embryos or other target cells may be arranged on solid culture medium. the cells to be bombarded are positioned at an appropriate distance below the macroprojectile stopping plate. an illustrative embodiment of a method for delivering dna into plant cells by acceleration is the biolistics particle delivery system, which can be used to propel particles coated with dna or cells through a screen, such as a stainless steel or nytex screen, onto a surface covered with target soybean cells. the screen disperses the particles so that they are not delivered to the recipient cells in large aggregates. it is believed that a screen intervening between the projectile apparatus and the cells to be bombarded reduces the size of the projectile aggregate and may contribute to a higher frequency of transformation by reducing the damage inflicted on the recipient cells by projectiles that are too large. microprojectile bombardment techniques are widely applicable, and may be used to transform virtually any plant species. the application of microprojectile bombardment for the transformation of soybeans is described, for example, in u.s. pat. no. 5,322,783, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. agrobacterium -mediated transfer is another widely applicable system for introducing gene loci into plant cells. an advantage of the technique is that dna can be introduced into whole plant tissues, thereby bypassing the need for regeneration of an intact plant from a protoplast. modern agrobacterium transformation vectors are capable of replication in e. coli as well as agrobacterium , allowing for convenient manipulations (klee et al., bio. tech., 3(7):637-642, 1985). moreover, recent technological advances in vectors for agrobacterium -mediated gene transfer have improved the arrangement of genes and cloning sites in the vectors to facilitate the construction of vectors capable of expressing various polypeptide coding genes. vectors can have convenient multiple-cloning sites (mcs) flanked by a promoter and a polyadenylation site for direct expression of inserted polypeptide coding genes. other vectors can comprise site-specific recombination sequences, enabling insertion of a desired dna sequence without the use of restriction enzymes (curtis et al., plant physiology 133:462-469, 2003). additionally, agrobacterium containing both armed and disarmed ti genes can be used for transformation. in those plant strains in which agrobacterium -mediated transformation is efficient, it is the method of choice because of the facile and defined nature of the gene locus transfer. the use of agrobacterium -mediated plant integrating vectors to introduce dna into plant cells is well known in the art (fraley et al., bio. tech., 3(7):629-635, 1985; u.s. pat. no. 5,563,055). use of agrobacterium in the context of soybean transformation has been described, for example, by chee and slightom ( methods mol. biol., 44:101-119, 1995) and in u.s. pat. no. 5,569,834, the disclosures of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. transformation of plant protoplasts also can be achieved using methods based on calcium phosphate precipitation, polyethylene glycol treatment, electroporation, and combinations of these treatments (see, e.g., potrykus et al., mol. gen. genet., 199(2):169-177, 1985; omirulleh et al., plant mol. biol., 21(3):415-428, 1993; fromm et al., nature, 319(6056):791-793, 1986; uchimiya et al., mol. gen. genet., 204(2):204-207, 1986; marcotte et al., nature, 335(6189):454-457, 1988). the demonstrated ability to regenerate soybean plants from protoplasts makes each of these techniques applicable to soybean (dhir et al., plant cell rep., 10(2):97-101, 1991). included among various plant transformation techniques are methods permitting the site-specific modification of a plant genome. these modifications can include, but are not limited to, site-specific mutations, deletions, insertions, and replacements of nucleotides. these modifications can be made anywhere within the genome of a plant, for example, in genomic elements, including, among others, coding sequences, regulatory elements, and non-coding dna sequences. any number of such modifications can be made and that number of modifications may be made in any order or combination, for example, simultaneously all together or one after another. such methods may lead to changes in phenotype. the techniques for such modifications are well known in the art and include, for example, use of crispr-cas systems, zinc-finger nucleases (zfns), and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (talens), among others. many hundreds if not thousands of different genes are known and could potentially be introduced into a soybean plant according to the invention. non-limiting examples of particular genes and corresponding phenotypes one may choose to introduce into a soybean plant are presented below. a. herbicide resistance numerous herbicide resistance genes are known and may be employed with the invention. a non-limiting example is a gene conferring resistance to a herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem such as imidazolinone or sulfonylurea herbicides. as imidazolinone and sulfonylurea herbicides are acetolactate synthase (als)-inhibiting herbicides that prevent the formation of branched chain amino acids, exemplary genes in this category code for als and ahas enzymes as described, for example, by lee et al., embo j., 7:1241, 1988; gleen et al., plant molec. biology, 18:1185, 1992; and miki et al., theor. appl. genet., 80:449, 1990. as a non-limiting example, a gene may be employed to confer resistance to the exemplary sulfonylurea herbicide nicosulfuron. resistance genes for glyphosate (resistance conferred by mutant 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (epsps) and aroa genes, respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (pat) and streptomyces hygroscopicus phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (bar) genes) may also be used. see, for example, u.s. pat. no. 4,940,835 to shah et al., which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a form of epsps that can confer glyphosate resistance. non-limiting examples of epsps transformation events conferring glyphosate resistance are provided by u.s. pat. nos. 6,040,497 and 7,632,985. the mon89788 event disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 7,632,985 in particular is beneficial in conferring glyphosate tolerance in combination with an increase in average yield relative to prior events. a dna molecule encoding a mutant aroa gene can be obtained under atcc accession no. 39256, and the nucleotide sequence of the mutant gene is disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 4,769,061 to comai. a hygromycin b phosphotransferase gene from e. coli that confers resistance to glyphosate in tobacco callus and plants is described in penaloza-vazquez et al., plant cell reports, 14:482, 1995. european patent application publication no. ep0333033 to kumada et al., and u.s. pat. no. 4,975,374 to goodman et al., disclose nucleotide sequences of glutamine synthetase genes that confer resistance to herbicides such as l-phosphinothricin. the nucleotide sequence of a phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene is provided in european patent application publication no. ep0242246 to leemans et al. degreef et al. ( biotechnology, 7:61, 1989) describe the production of transgenic plants that express chimeric bar genes coding for phosphinothricin acetyl transferase activity. exemplary genes conferring resistance to a phenoxy class herbicide haloxyfop and a cyclohexanedione class herbicide sethoxydim are the acct-s1, acct-s2 and acct-s3 genes described by marshall et al., ( theor. appl. genet., 83:435, 1992). as a non-limiting example, a gene may confer resistance to other exemplary phenoxy class herbicides that include, but are not limited to, quizalofop-p-ethyl and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-d). genes are also known that confer resistance to herbicides that inhibit photosynthesis such as, for example, triazine herbicides (psba and gs+ genes) and benzonitrile herbicides (nitrilase gene). as a non-limiting example, a gene may confer resistance to the exemplary benzonitrile herbicide bromoxynil. przibila et al. ( plant cell, 3:169, 1991) describe the transformation of chlamydomonas with plasmids encoding mutant psba genes. nucleotide sequences for nitrilase genes are disclosed in u.s. pat. no. 4,810,648 to stalker, and dna molecules containing these genes are available under atcc accession nos. 53435, 67441, and 67442. cloning and expression of dna coding for a glutathione s-transferase is described by hayes et al. ( biochem. j., 285:173, 1992). 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (hppd) is a target of the hppd-inhibiting herbicides, which deplete plant plastoquinone and vitamin e pools. rippert et al. ( plant physiol., 134:92, 2004) describes an hppd-inhibitor resistant tobacco plant that was transformed with a yeast-derived prephenate dehydrogenase (pdh) gene. protoporphyrinogen oxidase (ppo) is the target of the ppo-inhibitor class of herbicides; a ppo-inhibitor resistant ppo gene was recently identified in amaranthus tuberculatus (patzoldt et al., pnas, 103(33):12329, 2006). the herbicide methyl viologen inhibits co 2 assimilation. foyer et al. ( plant physiol., 109:1047, 1995) describe a plant overexpressing glutathione reductase (gr) that is resistant to methyl viologen treatment. siminszky ( phytochemistry reviews, 5:445, 2006) describes plant cytochrome p450-mediated detoxification of multiple, chemically unrelated classes of herbicides. modified bacterial genes have been successfully demonstrated to confer resistance to atrazine, a herbicide that binds to the plastoquinone-binding membrane protein q b in photosystem ii to inhibit electron transport. see, for example, studies by cheung et al. ( pnas, 85:391, 1988), describing tobacco plants expressing the chloroplast psba gene from an atrazine-resistant biotype of amaranthus hybridus fused to the regulatory sequences of a nuclear gene, and wang et al. ( plant biotech. j., 3:475, 2005), describing transgenic alfalfa, arabidopsis , and tobacco plants expressing the atza gene from pseudomonas sp. that were able to detoxify atrazine. bayley et al. ( theor. appl. genet., 83:645, 1992) describe the creation of 2,4-d-resistant transgenic tobacco and cotton plants using the 2,4-d monooxygenase gene oa from alcaligenes eutrophus plasmid pjp5. u.s. patent application publication no. 20030135879 describes the isolation of a gene for dicamba monooxygenase (dmo) from pseudomonas maltophilia that is involved in the conversion of dicamba to a non-toxic 3,6-dichlorosalicylic acid and thus may be used for producing plants tolerant to this herbicide. other examples of herbicide resistance have been described, for instance, in u.s. pat. nos. 6,803,501; 6,448,476; 6,248,876; 6,225,114; 6,107,549; 5,866,775; 5,804,425; 5,633,435; 5,463,175. b. disease and pest resistance plant defenses are often activated by specific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene (r) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (avr) gene in the pathogen. a plant line can be transformed with a cloned resistance gene to engineer plants that are resistant to specific pathogen strains. see, for example jones et al. ( science, 266:789-793, 1994) (cloning of the tomato cf-9 gene for resistance to cladosporium falvum ); martin et al. ( science, 262:1432-1436, 1993) (tomato pto gene for resistance to pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato); and mindrinos et al. ( cell, 78(6):1089-1099, 1994) ( arabidopsis rps2 gene for resistance to pseudomonas syringae ). a viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom may also be used for viral disease resistance. for example, the accumulation of viral coat proteins in transformed plant cells imparts resistance to viral infection and/or disease development effected by the virus from which the coat protein gene is derived and related viruses. see beachy et al. ( ann. rev. phytopathol., 28:451, 1990). coat protein-mediated resistance has been conferred upon transformed plants against alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco streak virus, potato virus x, potato virus y, tobacco etch virus, tobacco rattle virus, and tobacco mosaic virus. a virus-specific antibody may also be used. see, for example, tavladoraki et al. ( nature, 366:469-472, 1993), who show that transgenic plants expressing recombinant antibody genes are protected from virus attack. virus resistance has also been described in, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 6,617,496; 6,608,241; 6,015,940; 6,013,864; 5,850,023 and 5,304,730. additional means of inducing whole-plant resistance to a pathogen include modulation of the systemic acquired resistance (sar) or pathogenesis related (pr) genes, for example genes homologous to the arabidopsis thaliana nim1/npr1/sai1, and/or by increasing salicylic acid production (ryals et al., plant cell, 8:1809-1819, 1996). logemann et al. ( biotechnology, 10:305-308, 1992), for example, disclose transgenic plants expressing a barley ribosome-inactivating gene that have an increased resistance to fungal disease. plant defensins may be used to provide resistance to fungal pathogens (thomma et al., planta, 216:193-202, 2002). other examples of fungal disease resistance are provided in u.s. pat. nos. 6,653,280; 6,573,361; 6,506,962; 6,316,407; 6,215,048; 5,516,671; 5,773,696; 6,121,436; and 6,316,407. nematode resistance has been described in, for example, u.s. pat. no. 6,228,992, and bacterial disease resistance has been described in, for example, u.s. pat. no. 5,516,671. the use of the herbicide glyphosate for disease control in soybean plants containing event mon89788, which confers glyphosate tolerance, has also been described in u.s. pat. no. 7,608,761. c. insect resistance one example of an insect resistance gene includes a bacillus thuringiensis protein, a derivative thereof, or a synthetic polypeptide modeled thereon. see, for example, geiser et al. ( gene, 48(1):109-118, 1986), who disclose the cloning and nucleotide sequence of a bacillus thuringiensis δ-endotoxin gene. moreover, dna molecules encoding δ-endotoxin genes can be purchased from the american type culture collection, manassas, va., for example, under atcc accession nos. 40098, 67136, 31995 and 31998. another example is a lectin. see, for example, van damme et al., ( plant molec. biol., 24:825-830, 1994), who disclose the nucleotide sequences of several clivia miniata mannose-binding lectin genes. a vitamin-binding protein may also be used, such as, for example, avidin. see pct application no. us93/06487, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. this application teaches the use of avidin and avidin homologues as larvicides against insect pests. yet another insect resistance gene is an enzyme inhibitor, for example, protease, proteinase, or amylase inhibitors. see, for example, abe et al. ( j. biol. chem., 262:16793-16797, 1987) describing the nucleotide sequence of a rice cysteine proteinase inhibitor; linthorst et al. ( plant molec. biol., 21:985-992, 1993) describing the nucleotide sequence of a cdna encoding tobacco proteinase inhibitor i; and sumitani et al. ( biosci. biotech. biochem., 57:1243-1248, 1993) describing the nucleotide sequence of a streptomyces nitrosporeus α-amylase inhibitor. an insect-specific hormone or pheromone may also be used. see, for example, the disclosure by hammock et al. ( nature, 344:458-461, 1990) of baculovirus expression of cloned juvenile hormone esterase, an inactivator of juvenile hormone; gade and goldsworthy ( eds. physiological system in insects , elsevier academic press, burlington, mass., 2007), describing allostatins and their potential use in pest control; and palli et al. ( vitam. horm., 73:59-100, 2005), disclosing use of ecdysteroid and ecdysteroid receptor in agriculture. the diuretic hormone receptor (dhr) was identified in price et al. ( insect mol. biol., 13:469-480, 2004) as another potential candidate target of insecticides. still other examples include an insect-specific antibody or an immunotoxin derived therefrom and a developmental-arrestive protein. see taylor et al. (seventh int'l symposium on molecular plant-microbe interactions, edinburgh, scotland, abstract w97, 1994), who described enzymatic inactivation in transgenic tobacco via production of single-chain antibody fragments. numerous other examples of insect resistance have been described. see, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 6,809,078; 6,713,063; 6,686,452; 6,657,046; 6,645,497; 6,642,030; 6,639,054; 6,620,988; 6,593,293; 6,555,655; 6,538,109; 6,537,756; 6,521,442; 6,501,009; 6,468,523; 6,326,351; 6,313,378; 6,284,949; 6,281,016; 6,248,536; 6,242,241; 6,221,649; 6,177,615; 6,156,573; 6,153,814; 6,110,464; 6,093,695; 6,063,756; 6,063,597; 6,023,013; 5,959,091; 5,942,664; 5,942,658, 5,880,275; 5,763,245 and 5,763,241. d. male sterility genetic male sterility is available in soybeans and, although not required for crossing soybean plants, can increase the efficiency with which hybrids are made, as it eliminates the need to physically emasculate the soybean plant used as a female in a given cross. (brim and stuber, crop sci., 13:528-530, 1973). herbicide-inducible male sterility systems have also been described in, for example, u.s. pat. no. 6,762,344. when one desires to employ male-sterility systems, it may be beneficial to also utilize one or more male-fertility restorer genes. for example, when cytoplasmic male sterility (cms) is used, hybrid seed production requires three inbred lines: (1) a cytoplasmically male-sterile line having a cms cytoplasm; (2) a fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm, which is isogenic with the cms line for nuclear genes (“maintainer line”); and (3) a distinct, fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm, carrying a fertility restoring gene (“restorer” line). the cms line is propagated by pollination with the maintainer line, and all of the progeny are male sterile, as the cms cytoplasm is derived from the female parent. these male sterile plants can then be efficiently employed as the female parent in hybrid crosses with the restorer line, without the need for physical emasculation of the male reproductive parts of the female parent. the presence of a male-fertility restorer gene results in the production of fully fertile f 1 hybrid progeny. if no restorer gene is present in the male parent, male-sterile hybrids are obtained. such hybrids are useful where the vegetative tissue of the soybean plant is utilized, but in many cases the seeds will be deemed the most valuable portion of the crop, so fertility of the hybrids in these crops must be restored. therefore, one aspect of the current invention concerns plants of the soybean variety 01063944 comprising a genetic locus capable of restoring male fertility in an otherwise male-sterile plant. examples of male-sterility genes and corresponding restorers which could be employed with the plants of the invention are well known to those of skill in the art of plant breeding, see, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 5,530,191 and 5,684,242, the disclosures of which are each specifically incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. e. modified fatty acid, phytate, and carbohydrate metabolism genes may be used conferring modified fatty acid metabolism. for example, stearyl-acp desaturase genes may be used, see knutzon et al. ( proc. natl. acad. sci. usa, 89:2624-2628, 1992). various fatty acid desaturases have also been described. mcdonough et al. describe a saccharomyces cerevisiae ole1 gene encoding δ9-fatty acid desaturase, an enzyme which forms the monounsaturated palmitoleic (16:1) and oleic (18:1) fatty acids from palmitoyl (16:0) or stearoyl (18:0) coa ( j. biol. chem., 267(9):5931-5936, 1992). fox et al. describe a gene encoding a stearoyl-acyl carrier protein delta-9 desaturase from castor ( proc. natl. acad. sci. usa, 90(6):2486-2490, 1993). reddy et al. describe δ6- and δ12-desaturases from the cyanobacteria synechocystis responsible for the conversion of linoleic acid (18:2) to gamma-linolenic acid (18:3 gamma) ( plant mol. biol., 22(2):293-300, 1993). arondel et al. describe a gene from arabidopsis thaliana that encodes an omega-3 desaturase has been identified ( science, 258(5086):1353-1355, 1992). plant δ9-desaturases as well as soybean and brassica δ 15-desaturases have also been described, see pct application publication no. wo 91/13972 and european patent application publication no. ep0616644, respectively. u.s. pat. no. 7,622,632 describes fungal δ15-desaturases and their use in plants. european patent application publication no. ep1656449 describes δ6-desaturases from primula as well as soybean plants having increased stearidonic acid (sda, 18:4) content. u.s. pat. no. 8,378,186 describes expression of transgenic desaturase enzymes in corn plants, and improved fatty acid profiles resulting therefrom. modified oil production is disclosed in, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 6,444,876; 6,426,447; and 6,380,462. high oil production is disclosed in, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 6,495,739; 5,608,149; 6,483,008; and 6,476,295. modified fatty acid content is disclosed in, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 6,828,475; 6,822,141; 6,770,465; 6,706,950; 6,660,849; 6,596,538; 6,589,767; 6,537,750; 6,489,461 and 6,459,018. phytate metabolism may also be modified by introduction of a phytase-encoding gene to enhance breakdown of phytate, adding more free phosphate to the transformed plant. for example, see van hartingsveldt et al. ( gene, 127:87-94, 1993), for a disclosure of the nucleotide sequence of an aspergillus niger phytase gene. for example, this could be accomplished in soybean plants by cloning and then reintroducing dna associated with the single allele that is responsible for soybean mutants characterized by low levels of phytic acid. see raboy et al. ( plant physiol., 124(1):355-368, 2000). a number of genes are known that may be used to alter carbohydrate metabolism. for example, plants may be transformed with a gene coding for an enzyme that alters the branching pattern of starch. for example, shiroza et al. ( j. bacteriol., 170:810-816, 1988) describe a nucleotide sequence of the streptococcus mutans fructosyltransferase gene; steinmetz et al. ( mol. gen. genet., 20:220-228, 1985) describe a nucleotide sequence of the bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene; pen et al. ( biotechnology, 10:292-296, 1992) describe production of transgenic plants that express bacillus licheniformis α-amylase; elliot et al. ( plant molec. biol., 21:515-524, 1993) describe nucleotide sequences of tomato invertase genes; sergaard et al. ( j. biol. chem., 268:22480, 1993) describe site-directed mutagenesis of a barley α-amylase gene; and fisher et al. ( plant physiol., 102:1045-1046, 1993) describe maize endosperm starch branching enzyme ii. the z10 gene encoding a 10 kd zein storage protein from maize may also be used to alter the quantities of 10 kd zein in the cells relative to other components (kirihara et al., gene, 71(2):359-370, 1988). f. resistance to abiotic stress abiotic stress includes dehydration or other osmotic stress, salinity, high or low light intensity, high or low temperatures, submergence, exposure to heavy metals, and oxidative stress. delta-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (p5cs) from mothbean has been used to provide protection against general osmotic stress. mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase (mt1d) from e. coli has been used to provide protection against drought and salinity. choline oxidase (coda from arthrobactor globiformis ) can protect against cold and salt. e. coli choline dehydrogenase (beta) provides protection against salt. additional protection from cold can be provided by omega-3-fatty acid desaturase (fad7) from arabidopsis thaliana . trehalose-6-phosphate synthase and levan sucrase (sacb) from yeast and bacillus subtilis , respectively, can provide protection against drought (summarized from annex ii genetic engineering for abiotic stress tolerance in plants, consultative group on international agricultural research technical advisory committee). overexpression of superoxide dismutase can be used to protect against superoxides, see u.s. pat. no. 5,538,878. g. additional traits additional traits can be introduced into the soybean variety of the present invention. a non-limiting example of such a trait is a coding sequence which decreases rna and/or protein levels. the decreased rna and/or protein levels may be achieved through rnai methods, such as those described in u.s. pat. no. 6,506,559. another trait that may find use with the soybean variety of the invention is a sequence which allows for site-specific recombination. examples of such sequences include the frt sequence used with the flp recombinase (zhu and sadowski, j. biol. chem., 270:23044-23054, 1995) and the lox sequence used with cre recombinase (sauer, mol. cell. biol., 7:2087-2096, 1987). the recombinase genes can be encoded at any location within the genome of the soybean plant and are active in the hemizygous state. in certain embodiments soybean plants may be made more tolerant to or more easily transformed with agrobacterium tumefaciens . for example, expression of p53 and iap, two baculovirus cell-death suppressor genes, inhibited tissue necrosis and dna cleavage. additional targets may include plant-encoded proteins that interact with the agrobacterium vir genes; enzymes involved in plant cell wall formation; and histones, histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (reviewed in gelvin, microbiology & mol. biol. reviews, 67:16-37, 2003). in addition to the modification of oil, fatty acid, or phytate content described above, certain embodiments may modify the amounts or levels of other compounds. for example, the amount or composition of antioxidants can be altered. see, for example, u.s. pat. nos. 6,787,618 and 7,154,029 and international patent application publication no. wo 00/68393, which disclose the manipulation of antioxidant levels, and international patent application publication no. wo 03/082899, which discloses the manipulation of an antioxidant biosynthetic pathway. additionally, seed amino acid content may be manipulated. u.s. pat. no. 5,850,016 and international patent application publication no. wo 99/40209 disclose the alteration of the amino acid compositions of seeds. u.s. pat. nos. 6,080,913 and 6,127,600 disclose methods of increasing accumulation of essential amino acids in seeds. u.s. pat. no. 5,559,223 describes synthetic storage proteins of which the levels of essential amino acids can be manipulated. international patent application publication no. wo 99/29882 discloses methods for altering amino acid content of proteins. international patent application publication no. wo 98/20133 describes proteins with enhanced levels of essential amino acids. international patent application publication no. wo 98/56935 and u.s. pat. nos. 6,346,403; 6,441,274; and 6,664,445 disclose plant amino acid biosynthetic enzymes. international patent application publication no. wo 98/45458 describes synthetic seed proteins having a higher percentage of essential amino acids than wild-type. u.s. pat. no. 5,633,436 discloses plants comprising a higher content of sulfur-containing amino acids; u.s. pat. no. 5,885,801 discloses plants comprising a high threonine content; u.s. pat. nos. 5,885,802 and 5,912,414 disclose plants comprising a high methionine content; u.s. pat. no. 5,990,389 discloses plants comprising a high lysine content; u.s. pat. no. 6,459,019 discloses plants comprising an increased lysine and threonine content; international patent application publication no. wo 98/42831 discloses plants comprising a high lysine content; international patent application publication no. wo 96/01905 discloses plants comprising a high threonine content; and international patent application publication no. wo 95/15392 discloses plants comprising a high lysine content. origin and breeding history of an exemplary single locus converted plant it is known to those of skill in the art that, by way of the technique of backcrossing, one or more traits may be introduced into a given variety while otherwise retaining essentially all of the traits of that variety. an example of such backcrossing to introduce a trait into a starting variety is described in u.s. pat. no. 6,140,556, the entire disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. the procedure described in u.s. pat. no. 6,140,556 can be summarized as follows: the soybean variety known as williams '82 [ glycine max l. merr.] (reg. no. 222, pi 518671) was developed using backcrossing techniques to transfer a locus comprising the rps 1 gene to the variety williams (bernard and cremeens, crop sci., 28:1027-1028, 1988). williams '82 is a composite of four resistant lines from the bc 6 f 3 generation, which were selected from 12 field-tested resistant lines from williams×kingwa. the variety williams was used as the recurrent parent in the backcross and the variety kingwa was used as the source of the rps 1 locus. this gene locus confers resistance to 19 of the 24 races of the fungal agent phytophthora root rot. the f 1 or f 2 seedlings from each backcross round were tested for resistance to the fungus by hypocotyl inoculation using the inoculum of race 5. the final generation was tested using inoculum of races 1 to 9. in a backcross such as this, in which the desired characteristic being transferred to the recurrent parent is controlled by a major gene which can be readily evaluated during the backcrossing, it is common to conduct enough backcrosses to avoid testing individual progeny for specific traits such as yield in extensive replicated tests. in general, four or more backcrosses are used when there is no evaluation of the progeny for specific traits. as in this example, lines with the phenotype of the recurrent parent may be composited without the usual replicated tests for traits, such as yield, protein, or oil percentage, in the individual lines. the variety williams '82 is comparable to the recurrent parent variety williams in its traits except resistance to phytophthora rot. for example, both varieties have a relative maturity of 38, indeterminate stems, white flowers, brown pubescence, tan pods at maturity, and shiny yellow seeds with black to light black hila. tissue cultures and in vitro regeneration of soybean plants a further aspect of the invention relates to tissue cultures of the soybean variety designated 01063944. as used herein, the term “tissue culture” indicates a composition comprising isolated cells of the same or a different type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of a plant. exemplary types of tissue cultures are protoplasts, calli, and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such as embryos, pollen, flowers, leaves, roots, root tips, anthers, and the like. in one embodiment, the tissue culture comprises embryos, protoplasts, meristematic cells, pollen, leaves, or anthers. exemplary procedures for preparing tissue cultures of regenerable soybean cells and regenerating soybean plants therefrom are disclosed in u.s. pat. nos. 4,992,375; 5,015,580; 5,024,944; and 5,416,011, each of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. an important ability of a tissue culture is the capability to regenerate fertile plants. this allows, for example, transformation of the tissue culture cells followed by regeneration of transgenic plants. for transformation to be efficient and successful, dna must be introduced into cells that give rise to plants or germ-line tissue. soybeans typically are regenerated via two distinct processes: shoot morphogenesis and somatic embryogenesis (finer, cheng, verma, “soybean transformation: technologies and progress,” in: soybean: genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology , cab intl, verma and shoemaker (ed), wallingford, oxon, uk, 250-251, 1996). shoot morphogenesis is the process of shoot meristem organization and development. shoots grow out from a source tissue and are excised and rooted to obtain an intact plant. during somatic embryogenesis, an embryo (similar to the zygotic embryo), containing both shoot and root axes, is formed from somatic plant tissue. an intact plant rather than a rooted shoot results from the germination of the somatic embryo. shoot morphogenesis and somatic embryogenesis are different processes and the specific route of regeneration is primarily dependent on the explant source and media used for tissue culture manipulations. while the systems are different, both systems show variety-specific responses in which some lines are more responsive to tissue culture manipulations than others. a line that is highly responsive in shoot morphogenesis may not generate many somatic embryos. lines that produce large numbers of embryos during an ‘induction’ step may not give rise to rapidly-growing proliferative cultures. therefore, it may be desired to optimize tissue culture conditions for each soybean line. these optimizations may readily be carried out by one of skill in the art of tissue culture through small-scale culture studies. in addition to line-specific responses, proliferative cultures can be observed with both shoot morphogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. proliferation is beneficial for both systems as it allows a single, transformed cell to multiply to the point that it will contribute to germ-line tissue. shoot morphogenesis was first reported by wright et al. ( plant cell reports, 5:150-154, 1986) as a system from which shoots were obtained de novo from cotyledonary nodes of soybean seedlings. the shoot meristems were formed subepidermally and morphogenic tissue could proliferate on a medium containing benzyl adenine (ba). this system can be used for transformation if the subepidermal, multicellular origin of the shoots is recognized and proliferative cultures are utilized. the idea is to target tissue that will give rise to new shoots and proliferate those cells within the meristematic tissue to lessen problems associated with chimerism. formation of chimeras, as a result of transforming only a single cell in a meristem, is problematic if the transformed cell is not adequately proliferated and does not does not give rise to germ-line tissue. once the system is well understood and reproduced satisfactorily, it can be used as one target tissue for soybean transformation. somatic embryogenesis in soybean was first reported by christianson et al. ( science, 222:632-634, 1983) as a system in which embryogenic tissue was initially obtained from the zygotic embryo axis. these embryogenic cultures were proliferative but the repeatability of the system was low and the origin of the embryos was not reported. later histological studies of a different proliferative embryogenic soybean culture showed that proliferative embryos were of apical or surface origin with a small number of cells contributing to embryo formation. the origin of primary embryos, the first embryos derived from the initial explant, is dependent on the explant tissue and the auxin levels in the induction medium (hartweck et al., in vitro cell. develop. bio., 24:821-828, 1988). with proliferative embryonic cultures, single cells or small groups of surface cells of the ‘older’ somatic embryos form the ‘newer’ embryos. embryogenic cultures can also be used successfully for regeneration, including regeneration of transgenic plants, if the origin of the embryos is recognized and the biological limitations of proliferative embryogenic cultures are understood. biological limitations include the difficulty in developing proliferative embryogenic cultures and reduced fertility problems (culture-induced variation) associated with plants regenerated from long-term proliferative embryogenic cultures. some of these problems are accentuated in prolonged cultures. the use of more recently cultured cells may decrease or eliminate such problems. definitions in the description and tables, a number of terms are used. in order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of the specification and claims, the following definitions are provided: a: when used in conjunction with the word “comprising” or other open language in the claims, the words “a” and “an” denote “one or more.” about: refers to embodiments or values that include the standard deviation of the mean for a given item being measured. allele: any of one or more alternative forms of a locus. in a diploid cell or organism, the two alleles of a given locus occupy corresponding loci on a pair of homologous chromosomes. aphids: aphid resistance in greenhouse screening is scored based on foliar symptoms and number of aphids using a 1 to 9 scale. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating between “1” and “3.9,” inclusive. “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between “4.0” and “5.9,” inclusive. “moderately susceptible to moderately resistant” (ms-mr) corresponds to a rating between “6.0” and “6.9,” inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating between “7.0” and “9.0,” inclusive. asian soybean rust (asr): asr may be visually scored based on a 1 to 5 scale. a score of “1” indicates “immune.” a score of “2” indicates that the leaves exhibit red/brown lesions over less than 50% of surface. a score of “3” indicates that the leaves exhibit red/brown lesions over greater than 50% of surface. a score of “4” indicates that the leaves exhibit tan lesions over less than 50% of surface. a score of “5” indicates that the leaves exhibit tan lesions over greater than 50% of surface. resistance to asr may be characterized phenotypically as well as genetically. soybean plants phenotypically characterized as resistant to asr typically exhibit red/brown lesions covering less than 25% of the leaf. genetic characterization of asr resistance may be carried out, for example, by identifying the presence in a soybean plant of one or more genetic markers linked to the asr resistance. backcrossing: a process in which a breeder repeatedly crosses hybrid progeny, for example a first generation hybrid (f 1 ), back to one of the parents of the hybrid progeny. backcrossing can be used to introduce one or more single locus conversions from one genetic background into another. brown stem rot (bsr): the greenhouse score is based on the incidence and severity of pith discoloration and scores are converted to a 1 to 9 scale. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating less than “3.1.” “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between “3.1” and “5.0,” inclusive. “moderately susceptible” (ms) corresponds to a rating between “5.1” and “6.9,” inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating between “7.0” and “7.9,” inclusive. “highly susceptible” (hs) corresponds to a rating greater than “7.9.” chloride sensitivity: plants may be categorized as “includers” or “excluders” with respect to chloride sensitivity. excluders tend to partition chloride in the root systems and reduce the amount of chloride transported to more sensitive, aboveground tissues. therefore excluders may display increased tolerance to elevated soil chloride levels when compared against includers. greenhouse screening of chloride tolerance is scored on a 1 to 9 scale. a rating less than “3” is considered an excluder. a rating between “4” and “9,” inclusive, is considered an includer. chromatography: a technique in which a mixture of dissolved substances are bound to a solid support followed by passing a column of fluid across the solid support and varying the composition of the fluid. the components of the mixture are separated by selective elution. crossing: the mating of two parent plants. cross-pollination: fertilization by the union of two gametes from different plants. emasculate: the removal of plant male sex organs or the inactivation of the organs with a cytoplasmic or nuclear genetic factor or a chemical agent conferring male sterility. emergence (emr): emr describes the ability of a seed to emerge from the soil after planting. each genotype is scored based on its percent of emergence using a 1 to 9 scale. scoring a “1” indicates an excellent rate and percent of emergence. scoring an intermediate score, such as “5,” indicates an average rate and percent of emergence. scoring a “9” indicates a very poor rate and percent of emergence. enzymes: molecules which can act as catalysts in biological reactions. f 1 hybrid: the first generation progeny of the cross of two nonisogenic plants. fatty acids: are measured and reported as a percent of the total oil content. in addition to the typical composition of fatty acids in commodity soybeans, some soybean varieties have modified profiles. low linolenic acid soybean oil as defined herein contains 3% or less linolenic acid. mid oleic acid soybean oil as defined herein typically contains 50-60% oleic acid. high oleic soybean oil as defined herein typically contains 75% or greater oleic acid. stearidonic acid levels are typically 0% in commodity soybeans. frog eye leaf spot (fels): greenhouse assay reaction scores are based on foliar symptom severity and are measured using a 1-9 scale. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating less than “3.” “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between “3.0” and “4.9,” inclusive. “moderately susceptible” (ms) corresponds to a rating between “5.0” and “6.9,” inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating greater than 6.9. genotype: the genetic constitution of a cell or organism. haploid: a cell or organism having one set of the two sets of chromosomes in a diploid. iron-deficiency chlorosis (ide=early; idl=late): iron-deficiency chlorosis is scored based on visual observations using 1 to 9 scale. a score of “1” indicates that no stunting of the plants or yellowing of the leaves was observed. a score of “9” indicates that the plants are dead or dying as a result of iron-deficiency chlorosis. a score of “5” means that plants display intermediate health and some observable leaf yellowing. linkage: a phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosome tend to segregate together more often than expected by chance if their transmission was independent. linolenic acid content (lln): low-linolenic acid soybean oil contains 3% or less linolenic acid. traditional soybean oil contains approximately 8% linolenic acid. lodging resistance (ldg): ldg is rated on a scale of 1 to 9. a score of “1” indicates that the plants are erect. a score of “5” indicates that the plants are leaning at a 45 degree angle in relation to the ground. a score of “9” indicates that the plants are lying on the ground. marker: a readily detectable phenotype, preferably inherited in co-dominant fashion (both alleles at a locus in a diploid heterozygote are readily detectable), with no environmental variance component, i.e., heritability of 1. maturity date (mat): plants are considered mature when 95% of the pods have reached their mature color. the maturity date is typically described in measured days after august 31 in the northern hemisphere. moisture (mst): the average percentage moisture in the seeds of a variety. oil or oil percent: seed oil content is measured and reported on a percentage basis. or: as used herein is meant to mean “and/or” and be interchangeable therewith unless explicitly indicated to refer to the alternative only. phenotype: the detectable characteristics of a cell or organism, which are the manifestation of gene expression. phenotypic score (psc): the phenotypic score is a visual rating of the general appearance of the variety. all visual traits are considered in the score, including healthiness, standability, appearance, and freedom from disease. ratings are scored as 1 being poor to 9 being excellent. phytophthora allele: susceptibility or resistance to phytophthora root rot races is affected by alleles such as rps1a (denotes resistance to races 1, 2, 10, 11, 13-18, 24, 26, 27, 31, 32, and 36); rps1c (denotes resistance to races 1-3, 6-11, 13, 15, 17, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28-30, 32, 34 and 36); rps1k (denotes resistance to races 1-11, 13-15, 17, 18, 21-24, 26, 36 and 37); rps2 (denotes resistance to races 1-5, 9-29, 33, 34 and 36-39); rps3a (denotes resistance to races 1-5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 23, 25, 28, 29, 31-35); rps6 (denotes resistance to races 1-4, 10, 12, 14-16, 18-21 and 25); and rps7 (denotes resistance to races 2, 12, 16, 18, 19, 33, 35 and 36). phytophthora root rot (prr): disorder of which the most recognizable symptom is stem rot. brown discoloration ranges below the soil line and up to several inches above the soil line. the leaves often turn yellow, dull green and/or gray and may become brown and wilted, but remain attached to the plant. phytophthora tolerance: tolerance to phytophthora root rot is rated in the greenhouse assay based on a 1 to 9 scale. a rating less than “3.5” indicates “tolerant.” a rating between “3.5” and “6,” inclusive, indicates “moderately tolerant.” a rating greater than “6” indicates “sensitive.” note that a score between “1” and “2” may indicate resistance to phytophthora and therefore not be a true reflection of high tolerance to phytophthora. plant height (pht): plant height is taken from the top of soil to the top node of the plant and is measured in inches. predicted relative maturity (prm): the maturity grouping designated by the soybean industry over a given growing area. this figure is generally divided into tenths of a relative maturity group. within narrow comparisons, the difference of a tenth of a relative maturity group equates very roughly to a day difference in maturity at harvest. protein (pro), or protein percent: seed protein content is measured and reported on a percentage basis. regeneration: the development of a plant from tissue culture. relative maturity: the maturity grouping designated by the soybean industry over a given growing area. this figure is generally divided into tenths of a relative maturity group. within narrow comparisons, the difference of a tenth of a relative maturity group equates very roughly to a day difference in maturity at harvest. seed protein peroxidase activity: seed protein peroxidase activity is defined as a chemical taxonomic technique to separate varieties based on the presence or absence of the peroxidase enzyme in the seed coat. there are two types of soybean varieties, those having high peroxidase activity (dark red color) and those having low peroxidase activity (no color). seed weight (swt): soybean seeds vary in size; therefore, the number of seeds required to make up one pound also varies. this affects the pounds of seed required to plant a given area and can also impact end uses. “sw100” equals the weight in grams of 100 seeds. seed yield (bushels/acre): the yield in bushels/acre is the actual yield of the grain at harvest. seedling vigor rating (sdv): general health of the seedling that is measured on a 1 to 9 scale in which “1” is “best” and “9” is “worst.” seeds per pound: soybean seeds vary in size; therefore, the number of seeds required to make up one pound also varies. this affects the pounds of seed required to plant a given area and can also impact end uses. selection index (selin): the percentage of the test mean. self-pollination: the transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of the same plant. shattering: the amount of pod dehiscence prior to harvest. pod dehiscence involves seeds falling from the pods to the soil. this is a visual score from 1 to 9 comparing all genotypes within a given test. a score of “1” indicates that the pods have not opened and no seeds have fallen out. a score of “5” indicates that approximately 50% of the pods have opened, with seeds falling to the ground. a score of “9” indicates that 100% of the pods are opened. single locus converted (conversion) plant: plants that are developed by a plant breeding technique called backcrossing and/or by genetic transformation to introduce a given locus that is transgenic in origin, in which essentially all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of a soybean variety are recovered in addition to the characteristics of the locus transferred into the variety via the backcrossing technique or by genetic transformation. it is understood that once introduced into any soybean plant genome, a locus that is transgenic in origin (transgene), can be introduced by backcrossing as with any other locus. southern root knot nematode (srkn): greenhouse assay reaction scores are based on severity and measured using a 1 to 9 scale. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating less than “6.1.” “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between “6.1” and “6.6,” inclusive. “moderately resistant to moderately susceptible” (mr-ms) corresponds to a rating between “6.6” and “7.4,” inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating great than “7.4.” southern stem canker (stc): greenhouse assay scoring is based on percentage of dead plants (dp). this percentage is converted to a 1 to 9 scale: “1” corresponds to no dp. “2” corresponds to less than 10% dp. “3” corresponds to between 10% and 30%, inclusive, dp. “4” corresponds to between 31% and 40%, inclusive, dp. “5” corresponds to between 41% and 50%, inclusive, dp. “6” corresponds to between 51% and 60%, inclusive, dp. “7” corresponds to between 61%-70%, inclusive, dp. “8” corresponds to between 71% and 90%, inclusive, dp. “9” corresponds to between 91% and 100%, inclusive, dp. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating less than “3.9.” “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between “4” and “5.9,” inclusive. “moderately susceptible” (ms) corresponds to a rating between “6” and “7.9,” inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating between “8” and “8.9,” inclusive. “highly susceptible” (hs) corresponds to a rating greater than “8.9.” soybean cyst nematode (scn): greenhouse screening scores are based on a female index % of lee 74. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating less than 10%. “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between 10% and 21.9%, inclusive. “moderately resistant to moderately susceptible” (mr-ms) corresponds to a rating between 22% and 39.9%, inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating greater than 39.9%. stearate: a fatty acid in soybean seeds measured and reported as a percent of the total oil content. substantially equivalent: a characteristic that, when compared, does not show a statistically significant difference from the mean, e.g., p=0.05. sudden death syndrome: leaf symptoms first appear as bright yellow chlorotic spots with progressive development of brown necrotic areas and eventual leaflet drop. greenhouse screening plants are scored based on foliar symptom severity using a 1 to 9 scale. “resistant” (r) corresponds to a rating less than “3.” “moderately resistant” (mr) corresponds to a rating between “3.0” and “4.9,” inclusive. “moderately susceptible” (ms) corresponds to a rating between “5.0” and “6.9,” inclusive. “susceptible” (s) corresponds to a rating between “7.0” and “8.0,” inclusive. “highly susceptible” (hs) corresponds to a rating greater than “8.” tissue culture: a composition comprising isolated cells of the same or a different type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of a plant. transgene: a genetic locus comprising a sequence which has been introduced into the genome of a soybean plant by transformation or site-specific recombination. yield best estimate (yld_be): the adjusted yield of a plot in bushels/acre. plot yields are adjusted using the nearest neighbor spatial covariate method first described by papadakis (méthode statistique pour des experiences sur champ, thessaloniki plant breeding institute bulletin no. 23, thessaloniki, london, 1937). yield count (yld count): the number of evaluated plots. deposit information a deposit of the soybean variety 01063944, which is disclosed herein above and referenced in the claims, was made with the american type culture collection (atcc), 10801 university blvd., manassas, va. 20110-2209. the date of deposit is jan. 19, 2018 and the accession number for those deposited seeds of soybean variety 01063944 is atcc accession no. pta-124734. all restrictions upon the deposit have been removed, and the deposit is intended to meet all of the requirements of the budapest treaty and 37 c.f.r. § 1.801-1.809. the deposit will be maintained in the depository for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the last request, or for the effective life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if necessary during that period. all of the compositions and methods disclosed and claimed herein can be made and executed without undue experimentation in light of the present disclosure. while the compositions and methods of this invention have been described in terms of the foregoing illustrative embodiments, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations, changes, modifications, and alterations may be applied to the composition, methods, and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the methods described herein, without departing from the true concept, spirit, and scope of the invention. more specifically, it will be apparent that certain agents that are both chemically and physiologically related may be substituted for the agents described herein while the same or similar results would be achieved. all such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the spirit, scope, and concept of the invention as defined by the appended claims. the references cited herein, to the extent that they provide exemplary procedural or other details supplementary to those set forth herein, are specifically incorporated herein by reference.
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010-222-299-426-395
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EP
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[
"EP"
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H01Q13/02
| 2013-03-13T00:00:00 |
2013
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[
"H01"
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compact corrugated feedhorn
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a feedhorn comprising a first section for coupling radiation from a waveguide into the feedhorn, and a second section for coupling radiation from the feedhorn into free space. the second section defines the feedhorn aperture. the first section is configured to allow excitation of he 11 and he 12 modes and suppress excitation of other higher order he modes. the second section is configured to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase at the feedhorn aperture.
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a feedhorn comprising: a first section for coupling radiation from a waveguide into the feedhorn, and a second section for coupling radiation from the feedhorn into free space, the second section defining the feedhorn aperture, wherein the first section is configured to allow excitation of he 11 and he 12 modes and suppress excitation of other higher order he modes, and the second section is configured to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase at the feedhorn aperture. a feedhorn as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first section has a profile that is such that the other higher order modes are below cut off. a feedhorn as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the relative amplitude of the he 12 mode in the first section is in the range 0.1 to 0.5, preferably in the range 0.15 and 0.3, for example 0.22. a feedhorn as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the relative amplitude of the he 11 mode is in the range 0.99 to 0.86. a feedhorn as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the first section has a profile that increases from the input end of the feedhorn towards the second section, the increase being sufficient to excite the he 12 mode. a feedhorn as claimed in claim 5 wherein the first section has a profile that increases continuously until the he 12 mode is excited. a feedhorn as claimed in claim 5 wherein the first section has a profile that increases discontinuously to allow excitation of the he 12 mode. a feedhorn as claimed in any of claims 5 to 7, wherein the first section has a tanh profile. a feedhorn as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the first section transitions smoothly into the second section. a feedhorn as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the second section has a linear taper profile. a feedhorn as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the second section has a linear taper profile and the first section profile transitions to a taper that has the same slope as that of the taper of the second section. a feedhorn as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the second section has a cylindrical cross section. a feedhorn as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the feedhorn is corrugated. a method of designing a feedhorn comprising defining a first section for coupling radiation from a waveguide into the feedhorn, such that the first section is configured to allow excitation of he 11 and he 12 modes and suppress excitation of other higher order he modes, and defining a second section for coupling radiation from the feedhorn into free space, such that the second section is configured to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase at the feedhorn aperture.
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field of the invention the present invention relates to a compact corrugated feedhorn for millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave systems. background many applications in the millimeter and sub-millimeter wave spectrum involve high performance imaging or exploit quasi-optics (qo) for beam transport and control and use corrugated horn antennas to efficiently couple from waveguide to free space modes. these applications include security imaging, high-field electron paramagnetic resonance (epr) spectroscopy, radiometric remote sensing, radar and radio astronomy. typically, such applications require high gain antennas with low insertion loss, wide bandwidth, high return loss, high polarization purity and low sidelobe levels. for space based cosmology experiments, there is a particular desire for compact antennas with very low sidelobe levels. corrugated feedhorns are high performance antennas that have been used successfully from a few ghz to thz frequencies. extremely precise machining and high quality electroforming are required for the highest frequencies. accurate analysis of such structures became possible with the introduction of modal matching software, which calculates the multi-mode scattering matrix for every single corrugation. this allows accurate co-polar and cross-polar beam patterns to be calculated in both the near field and the far field. it also allows new design strategies to be evaluated rapidly. in particular, it allows detailed evaluation of the subtle effects of changing the width and depth of the corrugations in the critical throat region. these largely determine the input match to the horn and how well the balanced hybrid mode conditions are maintained over large bandwidths. in general, the first corrugation is chosen to be approximately half a wavelength deep and then tapers down to quarter wavelength deep corrugations over a period of several wavelengths. the exact depth of the first approximate half-wavelength corrugation largely determines the return loss at a given frequency. early designs of corrugated feedhorns often used a linearly tapered internal profile, as shown in figure 1 , to couple efficiently from a fundamental circular waveguide te 11 mode to the he 11 mode, which in turn couples to the fundamental gaussian free space mode with efficiencies of approximately 98%. many quasi-optical system designs effectively assume fundamental mode gaussian beam propagation. in general, such designs are relatively simple to model and have provided very good performance. however, when designing very low loss, low aberration quasi-optical systems or very high performance antenna systems, the higher order he 1n modes and higher order gaussian modes need to be taken into account and can have very significant effects. the energy in these higher order modes is usually responsible for the sidelobe and cross-polar levels of the far-field pattern of the horn antenna, as can be seen in figure 2 . they can also cause modal resonances in the frequency response of low loss quasi-optical systems that seek to efficiently transmit power from one (transmit) feedhorn to a (receive) feedhorn. typically, the conventional linearly tapered design achieves sidelobe and cross-polar levels around -27 db and -30 db, respectively, which is insufficient for some high performance applications. to improve on the single profile linearly tapered design, a number of dual profile horns have previously been proposed. figure 3 shows an example of a dual profile horn that has a first section that has a sine-squared profile and a second section that has a parallel profile. the parallel profile section is designed to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase at the feedhorn aperture. this offers improved sidelobe performance and a frequency independent phase centre, but for large antenna apertures, performance is still non-optimal because of excitation of unwanted higher order modes in the first section, i.e. he 13 and above. summary of the invention according to the present invention, there is provided a feedhorn comprising: a first section for coupling radiation from a waveguide into the feedhorn, and a second section for coupling radiation from the feedhorn into free space, the second section defining the feedhorn aperture, wherein the first section is configured to allow excitation of he 11 and he 12 modes and suppress excitation of other higher order he modes, for example, by making the diameter of this section below cut-off for the he 13 mode, and the second section is configured to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase at the feedhorn aperture, whilst not exciting higher order modes. preferably, the first section has a profile that is such that the other higher order modes are below cut off. an advantage of the invention is that it can lead to compact horns that can provide extremely low side-lobe levels (approximating -50db) over wide instantaneous bandwidths (>10%). the invention can be applied to a corrugated horn (or any horn with high impedance walls) of any cross-sectional structure, (such as rectangular) albeit with different dominant mode-sets. the relative amplitude of the he 12 mode in the first section may be in the range 0.1 to 0.5, preferably in the range 0.15 and 0.3, for example 0.22. the relative amplitude of the he 11 mode may be in the range 0.99 to 0.86. the first section may have a profile that increases from the input end of the feedhorn towards the second section, the increase being sufficient to excite the he 12 mode. the first section may have a profile that increases continuously until the he 12 mode is excited. the first section may have a profile that increases discontinuously to allow excitation of the he 12 mode. the first section may be shaped to transition smoothly into the second section. the second section may have a linear taper profile. the second section may have a linear taper profile and the first section may have a profile that transitions to a taper that has the same slope as that of the taper of the second section. the first section may have a tanh profile and the second section may have a linearly tapered profile to the desired horn aperture. this design allows the possibility of even better sidelobe performance, with predicted sidelobes below -50 db for horns that are significantly shorter than alternative designs. the second section may be cylindrical. preferably, the feedhorn is corrugated. however, the invention could equally be applied to a non-corrugated antenna that has a high impedance inner surface that is sufficient to substantially suppress current flow along the antenna wall. according to another aspect of the invention, there is provided method of designing a feedhorn comprising defining a first section for coupling radiation from a waveguide into the feedhorn, such that the first section is configured to allow excitation of he 11 and he 12 modes and suppress excitation of other higher order he modes, and defining a second section for coupling radiation from the feedhorn into free space, such that the second section is configured to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase at the feedhorn aperture. brief description of the drawings various aspects of the invention will now be described by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: figure 4 is plot of power coupling efficiency versus normalised guassian beam parameter for the lowest he 1n modes; figure 5 is a plot of the relative amplitudes of the he 11 , he 12 and he 13 modes required for optimum gaussian power coupling, assuming that the modes are in phase at the aperture; figure 6 is a cross-section of a dual profile corrugated feedhorn that has a first section that has a tanh profile and a second section that has a linearly tapered profile - the associated gaussian beam is also shown; figure 7 is a plot of predicted far field patterns at 94 ghz from corrug simulations for 22 dbi feedhorns for the feedhorn of figure 6 , and a conventional linearly tapered corrugated design, and figure 8 is a plot of predicted peak first sidelobe level versus frequency from corrug simulations, for the feedhorn of figure 6 . detailed description of the drawings the corrugated horn antenna is a well known high frequency microwave antenna structure that produces high polarization purity antenna patterns with low sidelobe levels. it is usually excited from a single-mode rectangular waveguide. the natural mode set for describing a propagating (approximately linearly polarized) electromagnetic beam pattern within a circular corrugated horn, is the he 1n mode set containing the he 11 mode, he 12 mode, he 13 mode and so on. in general, these modes propagate with different phase velocities. any output beam from a corrugated horn can be characterized by an appropriate orthogonal laguerre-gaussian beam set, i.e. the sum of a set of laguerre-gaussian modes. to optimize performance of a corrugated feedhorn in terms of side-lobe level performance, it is desirable to primarily excite an output beam that has similar characteristics to just a single fundamental laguerre-gaussian beam (which has no side-lobes), and avoid excitation of higher order gaussian modes. an output fundamental gaussian beam can almost be perfectly excited by just the he 11 and he 12 modes as long as they have optimal amplitudes and are brought together in phase at, or very near to, the aperture. the present invention achieves this by using a corrugated feedhorn that has two distinct sections; a first waveguide coupling section, and a second free space coupling section. the first section of the feedhorn is near the throat of the horn and is configured to allow excitation of he 11 and he 12 modes and suppress excitation of other higher order he modes. a wide range of smooth profiles will achieve this, without exciting higher order he 1n modes significantly. one method of limiting higher order mode excitation is to excite the he 12 mode whilst the he 13 and other higher order modes are below cut-off. this can be achieved by varying the radial profile as a function of horn length to excite the optimal amplitudes of the he 11 and he 12 modes, whilst not exciting higher order modes (in this context, the radial profile of the horn as a function of length is the internal profile of the horn before slots are manufactured to create the corrugations). the desired amplitude ratio of the he 11 and he 12 modes is governed by the desired aperture efficiency and sidelobe level performance. the second section of the feedhorn is configured to ensure that the he 11 and he 12 modes are in-phase at the feedhorn aperture and to avoid extra excitation of higher order he modes. this can be done, for example, by using a parallel phasing section or straight linear taper. in principle, any taper that is slowly varying in aperture radius and limits is possible, but a preferred embodiment is a straight linear taper from the first section of the feedhorn to the desired aperture radius. the exact angle of the taper and the length of the horn for the desired aperture must be calculated numerically so that the he 11 and he 12 modes arrive in phase at the aperture. by setting as design constraints suppression of third and higher order he modes in the first section of the feedhorn, and in-phase transmission of the he 11 and he 12 modes at the feedhorn aperture in the second section, the feedhorn design process is greatly simplified and improved. in the first section of the feedhorn, it is important to transition to a radial horn profile whose radius changes linearly (or slowly) with horn length, and continues to change linearly (or slowly) into the second section to the desired horn aperture, to minimise excitation of higher order modes. the exact slope and length of horn required is determined by the constraint that the he 11 and he 12 modes need to arrive in phase at or near the aperture, and the desired horn aperture. this can be calculated, for example, using mode-matching software. the exact proportions of he 11 and he 12 modes excited within first section of the horn can be easily and accurately calculated using known mode-matching software for a given change in cross-sectional profile. almost any change in slope in this region will cause some excitation of the he 12 mode. thus, there are many profiles that could be chosen, although it is usually helpful to make transitions smooth to reduce reflections of the he 11 mode. in general, the faster the change the change in slope in the first section, the shorter the excitation region needs to be. in principle, any rapid change in horn profile is possible provided it excites the desired he 12 amplitude, whilst the he 13 mode is below cut-off. in a preferred embodiment the first section has a tanh profile. this will be described in more detail later. in the first section, the relative amplitude of the he 12 mode is chosen to be between 0.1 to 0.5, but more usually lies between 0.15 and 0.3. a typical value is 0.22. the relative amplitude level of the he 11 mode therefore varies from approximately 0.99 to approximately 0.86. (normalisation requires that the sum of the relative amplitudes of the modes squared must equal one). in general, if a small relative amplitude of the he 12 mode is excited it will lead to a larger antenna aperture efficiency (when combined appropriately with the he 11 mode). in contrast, if a high relative amplitude of he 12 mode is excited it will lead to a reduction in the antenna aperture efficiency. coupling efficiency to a fundamental gaussian mode is optimized when the relative excitation of the he 12 mode is approximately 0.3. as high coupling efficiencies and high aperture efficiencies are commonly desired this often puts the desired he 12 relative amplitude between 0.15 and 0.3. before describing the invention in more detail, some background information on mode propagation in a feedhorn will be reviewed. when analyzing the propagation from an input circular waveguide through corrugated horn to free space, three mode sets are required, where it is assumed any transition from rectangular to circular waveguide is out of the extent of the feedhorn. the te mn and tm mn modes are the natural mode sets to consider for smooth circular waveguide, and are used in the modal matching software corrug to calculate the scattered modes from each individual, circular corrugation element. however, the he mn and eh mn hybrid modes are often the more natural mode set to describe propagation in a corrugated circular waveguide, as usually fewer modes need be considered compared to the te and tm modes. similarly the laguerre-gaussian lg 0p mode set is particularly appropriate for analyzing the free space beams with cylindrical symmetry that are typically produced by corrugated feedhorns. from symmetry considerations, if a single dominant polarisation is excited in the horn, only the te 1n , tm 1n , or he 1n , eh 1n mode sets will propagate within the horn and are given by: where ( r, φ, z ) refer to the cylindrical coordinate system, k 0 is the wave number, a is the waveguide radius, p mn are the m th root of the equation j n (x) = 0, p' mn is the first derivative of p mn , b mn is the propagation constant, x is the normalized reactance of the corrugations and z 0 is the impedance of free space. at the aperture of the horn, it becomes more natural to consider the propagation of the beam as a gaussian mode set where the te 1n , tm 1n , or he 1n , eh 1n modes will naturally couple to the laguerre-gaussian lg 0p and lg 2p mode sets given by: where l mp is the laguerre polynomial, u is the normalized gaussian beam parameter, r 0 is the radius of curvature of the phase front at the aperture and z r is the rayleigh range (πω 2 /λ 0 where ω 0 is the beam waist radius and λ 0 is the free space wavelength). it is relatively simple to transform from the te, tm mode set to the he, eh mode set (or the laguerre-gaussian mode set at the aperture) by calculating appropriate coupling integrals. these were calculated using mathematica from the output te and tm mode sets provided by the mode-matching software corrug. using this approach, the power coupling efficiency to the fundamental gaussian mode was calculated for combinations of the three lowest order he 1n modes, as a function of the normalized gaussian beam parameter u = ω / a 0 where ω is the beam waist radius at the aperture and a 0 is the horn aperture radius. figure 4 shows that the maximum fundamental mode gaussian power coupling efficiency increases from 98.1% for he 11 only, to 99.8% for he 11 + he 12 , and virtually 100% for he 11 + he 12 + he 13 . therefore, most of the power is contained in just these first three modes. power coupling is maximized in these three cases for u values of 0.64, 0.50 and 0.43 respectively, indicating a progressive reduction in aperture efficiency as the mode set better approximates a gaussian. the coupling of the he 1n mode set to the fundamental gaussian free space mode requires that the individual modes have specific amplitude and phase relationships. optimum coupling occurs when the modes are in phase at the aperture and have relative amplitudes given by the curves in figure 5 . the above analysis presents the desirable he 1n modal content at the aperture of the horn to achieve given levels of coupling efficiency to a fundamental gaussian beam. the challenge for the designer is to generate that specific desired mode set with the correct amplitude and phase relationships. in general, higher order he 1n modes are not excited in straight sections of parallel corrugated pipe, and their excitation is relatively small for narrow angle linear tapers. however, they can be excited strongly whenever there is a change in slope of the corrugated guide profile. in practice, modal matching software needs to be used to calculate exact values of he 1n excitation over extended lengths. for the examples described herein horns were designed using the corrug mode matching software, which has previously been shown to given excellent agreement with experiment, for example down to -60 db sidelobe levels at 600 ghz. figure 6 shows a feedhorn that has two sections, one designed specifically to suppress the he 13 mode by exciting the desired he 12 mode amplitude in a region in the horn where the he 13 mode is still below cut-off, and another designed to bring the he 11 and he 12 modes into phase at the aperture. the region in which the he 12 mode is excited corresponds to a region where the radius is <1.377 λ 0 . the transition to the desired horn aperture, where the he 11 and he 12 modes are in phase, can be effected by a straight linear corrugated taper. the angle of the taper must be carefully chosen to reach the desired aperture, whilst ensuring the he 11 and he 12 modes are still in phase at the aperture. after investigating a number of profiles, the following function was derived to generate the desired profiles: where a and b are adjustable parameters, rth is the throat radius, and a 0 is the aperture radius. both a and b are adjusted to excite the correct he 12 amplitude and phase at the aperture, whilst minimizing the excitation of the he 13 and higher order modes. simulated beam patterns are shown in figure 7 for the tanh/linear dual profiled horn of figure 6 . for comparison, simulated beam patterns are also shown for the sine-squared/parallel profiled horn of figure 3 and a straight linearly tapered horn of the type shown in figure 1 at a nominal centre frequency of 94 ghz. in each case, the aperture radii have been chosen to provide an approximate gain of 22 dbi. the tanh/linear dual-profiled horn has predicted sidelobes at the -50 db level with 99.5% of the power in the fundamental mode gaussian beam. in this design, u = ω / a 0 = 0.54, and the length is 2/3 that of the other horns. in terms of its overall length and predicted sidelobe performance, this represents state-of-the-art performance for a short corrugated horn. table 1 gives the key simulated parameters for the tanh/linear dual profile horn in comparison to the sine-squared/ parallel profiled horn of figure 3 , and the linearly tapered horn of figure 1 . the very low level of excitation of the he 13 mode should be noted for the tanh/linear dual profile horn. table-tabl0001 table i a comparison of three feedhorns whose dimensions have been chosen to provide a consistent gain and low sidelobe levels. linear taper horn sine-squared/ parallel profile horn tanh/linear dual profile horn radius, α 0 7.66 mm 8.30 mm 8.65 mm length, l hor n 102 mm 101 mm 66.3 mm gain 22 dbi 22 dbi 22 dbi u = ω / α 0 0.64 0.57 0.545 first sidelobe -27 db -37 db -50 db he 11 amplitude 0.997 0.982 0.974 he 12 amplitude 0.075 0.184 0.222 he 13 amplitude 0.009 0.035 0.003 computer simulations of designs in accordance with the invention have shown that excellent performance is maintained over wide bandwidths in terms of both cross polarization and far-field beam patterns. figure 8 shows the calculated sidelobe levels for the tanh/linear designs. they are expected to work well over large bandwidths, comparable to standard corrugated horns and be scalable to almost any frequency. the tanh/linear dual profiled design significantly shortens the length of the horn and improves sidelobe level performance at a very modest cost in aperture efficiency. this design is appropriate for any antenna system where weight, size and performance are at a premium. in summary, the feedhorn of the present invention transitions from a conventional corrugated guide supporting the he 11 mode to a section in which the horn diameter increases (usually smoothly to reduce reflections of the he 11 mode) to an extent where the he 11 and he 12 modes can propagate, but the he 13 mode is below waveguide cut-off. the curvature of the horn profile then varies to excite the desired relative amplitude of he 12 mode (e.g. between 0.1 to 0.5 and typically 0.22). the excitation can be calculated using mode-matching software. as part of the radial variation there is a transition to a linear taper, which continues to the desired horn aperture. the exact profile of the transition to the horn aperture is designed to minimize the excitation of higher order modes. an example would be a linear taper of slope less than 30 degrees. the overall length of the horn and the slope of the linear taper are determined via mode-matching software or otherwise by the condition that the he 11 and he 12 modes should be in phase at (or near) to the aperture. usually the smallest length is chosen. the present invention provides short, ultra-low sidelobe scalar corrugated feedhorns that maintain relatively high aperture efficiencies. the horns are relatively easy to design and manufacture, and present clear advantages over previous designs for many radar and quasioptical applications in the millimeter and sub-millimeter wave regimes. it is possible to achieve - 50 db sidelobe levels, over wide bandwidths with short horns. a skilled person will appreciate that variations of the disclosed arrangements are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. for example, although in the examples described, the first section of the feedhorn has a profile that varies smoothly and continously over its length to allow the he 12 mode to be excited, whilst maintaining a below cut off condition for higher order modes, in fact a discontinuous or step profile could equally be used. accordingly the above description of the specific embodiment is made by way of example only and not for the purposes of limitations. it will be clear to the skilled person that minor modifications may be made without significant changes to the operation described.
|
011-798-976-328-951
|
FI
|
[
"DE",
"FI",
"EP",
"JP",
"US"
] |
G01L9/12,G01L9/00,H01L29/84
| 1993-07-07T00:00:00 |
1993
|
[
"G01",
"H01"
] |
capacitive pressure transducer structure and method for manufacturing the same.
|
the invention concerns a capacitive pressure transducer structure and a method for manufacturing the same. the transducer structure comprises a contiguous diaphragm structure (2), which at least in some parts is conducting to the end of forming a first electrode (4) of a transducing capacitor, a substrate (3) which is permanently bonded to a first surface of said diaphragm structure (2) and comprises a second electrode (5) of said transducing capacitor, spaced at a distance from and aligned essentially at said first electrode (4), and a silicon structure (1), which is permanently bonded to a second surface of said diaphragm structure (2), incorporating a space (21) suited to accommodate the deflection of said first electrode (4). according to the invention, the angle α formed between vertical walls (11) of said space (21) and said first electrode (4) is smaller than or equal to 90°, and the material surrounding said space (21) is silicon or doped silicon.
|
a capacitive pressure transducer structure comprising - a contiguous diaphragm structure (2), which at least in some part is conducting so as to form a first electrode (4) of a transducing capacitor, - a substrate (3), which is permanently bonded to a first surface of said diaphragm structure (2), comprising - a second electrode (5) of said transducing capacitor, spaced at a distance from and aligned substantially at said first electrode (4), and - a silicon structure (1), which is permanently bonded to a second surface of said diaphragm structure (2), and which defines a space (21) suited to accommodate a deflection of said first electrode (4), characterised in that - the angle α formed between side walls (11) defining said space (21) and said first electrode (4) is smaller than or equal to 90°, and - the material surrounding said space (21) is silicon or doped silicon. a capacitive pressure transducer structure as defined in claim 1, characterised in that a projection (17) arranged to limit the deflection of said first electrode (4) is provided in the interior of said space (21). a capacitive pressure transducer structure as defined in claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that said space (21) is a vacuum chamber. a capacitive pressure transducer structure as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that said space (21) is provided with a channel (19) for communication with an external pressure. a method for manufacturing a capacitive pressure transducer structure, in which method is formed a transducer structure comprising - a contiguous diaphragm structure (2), which at least in some part is conducting so as to form a first electrode (4) of a transducing capacitor, - a substrate (3), which is permanently bonded to a first surface of said diaphragm structure (2), comprising - a second electrode (5) of said transducing capacitor, spaced at a distance from and aligned substantially at said first electrode (4), and - a silicon structure (1), which is permanently bonded to a second surface of said diaphragm structure (2), and which defines a space (21) suited to accommodate a deflection of said first electrode (4), characterised in that - over said space (21) formed in said silicon structure (1) is attached a diaphragm structure (2) in substantially vacuum conditions using fusion bonding techniques, - said diaphragm structure (2) is thinned by micromechanical methods so as to form said first electrode (4), and - said silicon structure (1) now incorporating said first electrode (4) is attached to a substrate (3) incorporating said second electrode (5). a method as defined in claim 5, characterised in that in the interior of said space (21) is formed a projection (17) adapted to limit the deflection of said first electrode (4). a method as defined in claim 5 or claim 6, characterised in that said space (21) is adapted to be a vacuum chamber. a method as defined in claim 5, 6 or 7, characterised in that said space (21) is adapted to communicate via a channel (19) with an external pressure.
|
the present invention relates to a capacitive pressure transducer structure according to the preamble of claim 1. the invention also concerns a method for manufacturing said capacitive pressure transducer structure. with regard to the prior art, reference is made to the following publications: us patents [1] u.s. pat. no. 4,386,453 (gianchino et al.) [2] u.s. pat. no. 4,257,274 (shimada et al.) [3] u.s. pat. no. 4,332,000 (petersen) [4] u.s. pat. no. 4,390,925 (freud) [5] u.s. pat. no. 3,397,278 (pomeranz) [6] u.s. pat. no. 4,589,054 (kuisma) [7] u.s. pat. no. 4,628,403 (kuisma) [8] u.s. pat. no. 4,594,639 (kuisma) [9] u.s. pat. no. 3,288,656 (nakamura) cited publications [1]-[5] are related to a capacitive pressure transducer structure in which a silicon diaphragm acting as a moving first electrode flexes toward a second, fixed metal electrode so as to permit the electrodes approach to each other with increasing pressure. the distance between the electrodes is a function of the imposed pressure. cited publications [6], [7] and [8] disclose a capacitive pressure transducer structure in which the silicon diaphragm acting as the first electrode flexes away from the fixed metal electrode with increasing pressure. cited publication [9] describes first time in the art a method for interbonding two silicon wafers using a technique called fusion bonding. prior-art capacitive pressure transducer structures based on arranging the electrodes to be closest to each other at the lowest pressure are disclosed in cited publications [6], [7] and [8]. such a pressure transducer structure has a very wide operating pressure range. the capacitance rate-of-change with respect to pressure in the transducer structure is highest at low pressures when the electrodes are very close to each other, thus making the pressure measurement extremely accurate also at low pressures. owing to the use of a vacuum chamber in the structure, no via holes for the conductors are required which helps attaining a stable vacuum. the vacuum chamber is sealed by a glass plate or silicon wafer coated with a glass layer. the first electrode of the transducer capacitor is thus formed by the smaller-area end of the conical vacuum chamber. consequently, the conical vacuum chamber widens outward from the transducer diaphragm. disadvantages of the prior-art technology structures are: 1. owing to the different coefficients of thermal expansion in silicon and glass, the flexible diaphragm is subjected to stresses which result in a substantial temperature dependence of the transducer. 2. residual gases in the vacuum chamber cause long-term instability. 3. transducer size has been excessively large for a low-cost volume product. the number of transducers per processed wafer has been too small. 4. the transducer structures have been excessively complicated requiring the use of several lithography processes. to improve the yield in the manufacturing process of the transducer, its structure and manufacturing process should be the simplest possible. 5. as the diaphragm acting as the active transducer member is the smaller end of the conical vacuum chamber, the other end, the larger-area end has been the crucial factor increasing the area of the transducer element. in other words, when a certain design area has been selected for the transducer diaphragm, due to the limitations of the transducer technology employed, the size of the larger-area end of the vacuum chamber has caused a drastic reduction in the number of transducers fitting on a wafer. it is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the above-described prior-art technology and to achieve an entirely novel type of capacitive pressure transducer structure and a method for manufacturing the same. the invention is based on: 1) sealing the vacuum chamber of the transducer structure by fusion bonding two silicon wafers together, and 2) thinning the silicon wafer intended to form the flexible silicon diaphragm subsequent to the sealing of the vacuum chamber. more specifically, the capacitive pressure transducer according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 1. furthermore, the method according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 5. the invention offers significant benefits. the manufacturing process and structure of the transducer are extremely uncomplicated. the transducer structure has a very small size and low manufacturing cost. the transducer provides a wide operating range. minimization of the transducer size achieves the lowest possible cost of the transducer structure. owing to the simple manufacturing process, a high yield and minimized manufacturing costs are attained. the benefits of the invention include the possibility of maximizing the vacuum chamber volume, while the transducer area is simultaneously retained the smallest possible. as known, residual gases in the vacuum chamber cause temperature dependence of the transducer zero point, which may be decreased by maximizing the vacuum chamber volume. this invention discloses the first time in the art a transducer structure with a vacuum chamber construction made from no other materials except silicon. as known, structures having the vacuum chamber sealed by glass are hampered by the fact that glass easily absorbs gases which may then be released into the vacuum chamber thus causing long-term instability of the transducer. the footprint of the present transducer structure is minimized, because the manufacturing process of the vacuum chamber wastes no wafer area in the slanted chamber walls as is the case with the prior-art structures [6],[7]. a further benefit of the present invention is that a hermetic bond is attained in the silicon-silicon interface, whereby hermeticity can easily be assured using prior-art surface treatments in a conventional manner [9]. the anodic bonding of the glass-silicon interface in the present structure is not subject to the hermeticity requirement. the invention is next examined in greater detail with the help of exemplifying embodiments illustrated in the appended drawings, in which figure 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the capacitive pressure transducer according to the invention; figure 2 is a side view of a second embodiment of the capacitive pressure transducer according to the invention; figure 3 is a side view of a third embodiment of the capacitive pressure transducer according to the invention; figure 4 is a side view of a fourth embodiment of the capacitive pressure transducer according to the invention; figure 5 is a top view of the silicon-glass interface in the structure illustrated in the diagram of fig. 4; figures 6a - 6g are side views of the different steps of the manufacturing method according to the invention; figure 7 is a side view of a capacitive pressure transducer according to the invention provided with overpressure protection; and figure 8 is a side view of a capacitive differential pressure transducer according to the invention. with reference to figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, exemplifying embodiments of pressure transducer structures according to the present invention are illustrated having a design in which the silicon diaphragm is flexed away from the fixed metal electrode with increasing pressure and having the vacuum chamber sealed with a silicon wafer. the manufactured transducer structures are illustrated as separate transducers. in the actual manufacturing process, however, the transducers are made as an array on circular wafers from which the individual transducers are separated by sawing. in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the vacuum chamber is made into silicon using conventional micromechanical techniques starting from a thicker silicon wafer and then sealing the chamber by a thinner silicon wafer which is subjected to further thinning after the silicon wafers are bonded. such a manufacturing method according to the invention is illustrated in figs. 6a - 6g. with reference to fig. 1, the transducer embodiment shown herein is made by first using conventional micromechanical techniques to work into a thick silicon wafer 1 a vacuum chamber 21 having slanted walls 11 which, however, do not consume extra silicon footprint which would be detrimental to the goal of attaining a small physical size of the transducer. in accordance with the invention, the angle α formed between the wall 11 and a diaphragm 4 formed into the thin silicon wafer 2 so as to act as the moving electrode of the transducing capacitor is smaller than or equal to 90°. the angle α is defined as the angle formed when the diaphragm 4 is not subjected to external pressure. the width of the vacuum chamber 21 determines the width of the flexible diaphragm 4 which is one of the transducer's key dimensions in a given application. to the thicker wafer 2 into which the vacuum chamber 21 is formed is hermetically attached a thin silicon wafer 2 by fusion bonding. prior to bonding, the flat silicon surfaces are treated by conventional silicon surface wash processes, after which the wafers are superimposed in a vacuum and the bond is sealed by a heat treatment. in fig. 1 the thinned silicon wafer 2 forms both the flexible diaphragm 4 and the air gap 23 which determines the zero-point capacitance. the depth of the vacuum chamber 21 is limited by the thickness of the thicker silicon wafer which typically ranges from 500 µm to 1500 µm. the diaphragm 4 or at least its lower surface is doped conducting. to this end, the typical bulk doping level is 10¹⁸ impurity atoms/cm³. the thin flexed diaphragm 4 remains adhered to the thicker silicon wafer 1 during the entire thinning process of the diaphragm area, which is essential for attaining a high yield through keeping the diaphragm intact during the thinning process. while the thickness of the flexible diaphragm 4 must be known to determine the pressure sensitivity of the transducer, the measurement of the diaphragm thickness is impossible by conventional methods as the diaphragm 4 is an integral part of the thicker wafer. however, the deflection profile of the diaphragm 4 can be measured optically and then the diaphragm thickness can be computed from the measured deflection. the thinned, flat silicon surface is next furnished with a metal electrode 5 and a bonding pad 3 thereof by, e.g., anodic bonding, whereby a glass layer deposited on the silicon wafer provides isolation. with reference to fig. 2, a transducer structure similar to that described above is illustrated with, however, the air gap 23 located differently from that shown in fig. 1. the air gap 23 is here made in the glass layer 3, while in the structure shown in fig. 1 it was made in the silicon of the wafer 2. the most critical dimension of the transducer is the depth of the air gap, and consequently, its processing in a homogenous glass layer is easier to control than for silicon in which the etching rate of silicon is influenced by, i.a., the resistivity of the silicon wafer. with reference to fig. 3, a transducer structure is shown in which the substrate for the metal electrode 5 is formed by a silicon wafer 3 having a thin glass layer 6 deposited on it in the manner described in cited reference [6]. the air gap 23 is formed by etching in the silicon of the wafer 2. with reference to fig. 4, a transducer structure is shown in which the air gap and the dielectric isolation of the wafer 2 from the metal electrode 5 is provided by the thin glass layer 6. the section plane of the diagram is coincident with the communication channel of the external pressure. with reference to fig. 5, a transducer structure is shown in a top view illustrating the interface between the silicon wafer providing the substrate for the metal electrode 5 and the thinned silicon wafer. the silicon-glass interface is denoted by reference numeral 15. the communication channel 13 of the external pressure is formed at the metallization 5 of the other capacitor electrode. with reference to figs. 6a - 6g, the transducer is manufactured comprising: a) processing a typically 500-1500 µm thick silicon wafer 1 by conventional lithography methods to comprise a vacuum chamber 21 of thickness 100-1000 µm. silicon is etched by, e.g., 3-50 % potassium hydroxide solution giving an etching rate of 0.5-1 µm/min typical. in a wafer of normal silicon, the walls of the chamber 23 are etched slanted so as to shape the chamber 23 into a truncated cone. b-c) attaching to the silicon wafer 1 with the vacuum chambers by fusion bonding another silicon wafer 2 of 200-400 µm thickness typical. prior to the fusion bonding step, the silicon surfaces are treated by, e.g., hot nitric acid, rca wash or h₂so₄/h₂o₂ wash. d-e) thinning the silicon wafer 2 to an extremely thin thickness of 1-100 µm, typically 20 µm. the thinned wafer 2 remains during the entire thinning process attached to the thicker wafer. when desired, the wafer 2 can further be thinned at the vacuum chamber 21 to the end of forming an air gap under the transducing diaphragm 4 relative to the other electrode of the transducing capacitor. f-g) bonding both interbonded silicon wafers with the ready-processed flexible diaphragm 4 to a substrate 3 incorporating an isolated metal electrode 5 of the transducing capacitor. with reference to fig. 7, a transducer structure similar to that shown in fig. 1 is illustrated with an overpressure protection 17. such an overpressure protection 17 is formed by etching a part of the vacuum chamber bottom to a depth corresponding to the desired maximum permissible deflection of the diaphragm 4. thus, the transducer can be made to stand also high overpressures during which the diaphragm is deflected against the overpressure protection 17 without rupturing. with reference to fig. 8, a differential pressure transducer structure is shown having the chamber provided with a drilled or etched hole 19 to the end of permitting the chamber 23 to communicate with the external pressure. contacts to the transducing capacitor electrodes can also be furnished by virtue of contacts made through the glass substrate layer 3. via holes for the contacts can be implemented either by mechanical or chemical processing steps. the via holes are made conducting by sputter deposition of a suitable metal in them to the end of forming the electrical contacts. such an arrangement can be used to pack more transducers on a wafer.
|
011-890-755-481-508
|
US
|
[
"US"
] |
B05B13/02,B05B15/04
| 1975-09-17T00:00:00 |
1975
|
[
"B05"
] |
work holding device
|
a work holder comprising a fixed frame, a movable supported frame supported on upwardly movable columns urged upwardly by springs and a work holder frame hinged to the movable support and hydraulic cylinder connected to the fixed frame and to the work support frame so that when the hydraulic cylinder extends, the springs first move the work support and the work holder frame up together away from the fixed frame and then the hydraulic cylinder causes the work holder frame to swing upwardly away from the support frame.
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1. a work support comprising a fixed frame comprising, a horizontal frame member and vertically extending frame members fixed to said horizontal frame member extending upwardly therefrom, horizontally-spaced, vertically extending movable columns, vertically-spaced lugs attached to said vertically-extending frame members and bearing means on said lugs slidably receiving said movable columns, a movable work support frame attached to said columns and movable upwardly and downwardly therewith, and means supported on said fixed frame urging said movable columns upwardly, a mask holder hinged to said work support frame at one edge and swingable upwardly and downwardly relative thereto, spaced hydraulic cylinders supported on said vertically extending frame members, said cylinders each having a piston rod connected to said mask holder whereby said movable work support frame and said mask holder are moved upwardly a first distance away from said work, and then said mask support frame is swung from said movable frame. 2. the fixture recited in claim 1 wherein a rack is fixed to the lower end of each vertically movable column and a shaft is rotatably supported on said fixed frame, bearing means suppporting said shaft on said fixed frame, a spur gear on each end of said shaft, said spur gears engaging said racks, a helical spring on said shaft urging said spur gears to rotate urging said vertically extending frame members upward and stop means limiting upward movement of said vertically extending columns. 3. the work support recited in claim 1 wherein said work support frame supports a painting mask, and means is provided on said fixed frame for supporting an article to be painted. 4. the workholder recited in claim 1 wherein a space is provided between said vertically extending frame members, said horizontally extending members and said mask support frame, said space being adapted to receive an article to be painted, a mask supported on said mask support, said mask having openings adapted to allow paint to pass therethrough, said mask being adapted to overlie said article whereby paint can be sprayed on said mask and deposited on selected areas on said article.
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object of the invention it is an object of the invention to provide an improved work holder and support. another object of the invention is to provide a work holder and support that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simple and efficient to use. with the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention. general description of the drawings fig. 1 shows a side view of the work holder according to the invention. fig. 2 shows an end view of the work holder support. fig. 3 shows a cross sectional view taken on line 3-- 3 of fig. 2. fig. 4 shows a partial end view of the spur gear and rack arrangement. fig. 5 shows a front view of the spur gear and arrangement. detailed description of the drawings now with more particular reference to the drawing. the machine shown shows a fixed frame 10 having a horizontal frame member 11 and two spaced vertically extending members 12 and 13 fixed to the ends of horizontal frame member 11. the horizontally spaced vertically extending movable columns 14 and 15 are received in lugs 16 and 17 and slide upwardly and downwardly therein. the lugs 16 and 17 are welded to the vertical frame members 12 and 13. the movable work holder support frame 20 is attached to the movable columns 14 and 15 and moves upwardly and downwardly thereon urged by the piston rods 25 and 26 in cylinders 23 and 24. the mask support frame 20 is supported on the upper ends of the columns 14 and 15. the mask holder frame 21 is hinged at 22 to mask support frame and can swing upwardly and downwardly relative to it. the spaced hydraulic cylinders 23 and 24 are fixed to the fixed frame members 12 and 13 and the cylinders have piston rods 25 and 26 that are pivoted to the lugs 40 on the work holder frame 21. column 14 has a collar 39 attached thereto by pin 41 and a helical compression spring 42 is received on column 14 between collar 40 and lug 16. spring 42 urges columns 14 and 15 and frame 21 to move upwardly when no air under compression is forced into the cylinders 23 and 24. the frame 21 is thus moved away from frame 20 and away from the article 35 when pistons in cylinder 23 and 24 first move upward. racks 27 and 28 are fixed to the lower ends of columns 14 and 15 and move upwardly and downwardly thereon. these racks, engage the spur gears 32 and 33 on the ends of the shaft 29. the shaft 29 is supported in bearing means 30 on its end. bearings 30 are fixed to the fixed frame. a helical spring 34 is pinned to the shaft 29 at its midpoint and the ends are pivoted to the spur gears 32 and 33 urging spur gears to rotate to move the columns 14 and 15 up against the force of piston rods 25 and 26 which hold the frame down. thus, when it is desired to open frame 21, the piston rods 25 and 26 are extended from cylinders 23 and 24. as rods 25 and 26 first move they allow the columns 14 and 15 to move upwardly thereby moving the mask 36 away from frame 30 and away from the article 35 as the piston rods 25 and 26 continue to move upward and the columns 14 and 15 move upward to bring a stop against lug 16 on the mask support frame 10. the fixed frame can then move no further upward and the swingable frame 21 then swings upwardly to the position shown in full lines of fig. 2. thus, an article to be spray painted indicated at 35, can be placed into the fixture, for example, from the fixture's open front. a paint mask 36 having suitable openings to allow the paint to pass through onto the article indicated at 35 will be supported on mask support frame 20. when the article 35 is in place, the cylinders can be energized to move the piston rods 25, and 26 downward thereby swinging the frame 21 into engagement with the work holder 20 and then pulling both frame 20 and 21 straight downward in a linear path beginning the mask 36 into engagement with the article 35. with the the foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with appended claims.
|
013-915-596-064-125
|
US
|
[
"US",
"WO"
] |
H01L41/316,H01L41/18,H01L41/29,H01L41/04,H01L41/35
| 2021-04-01T00:00:00 |
2021
|
[
"H01"
] |
method of manufacturing aluminum nitride films
|
doped-aluminum nitride (doped-aln) films and methods of manufacturing doped-aln films are disclosed. some methods comprise forming alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. some methods include forming a conducting layer including a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 . some methods include forming a thermal oxide layer having silicon oxide on a silicon substrate. piezoelectric devices comprising the doped-aln film are also disclosed.
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1 . a film on a substrate, the film comprising: alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. 2 . the film of claim 1 , wherein the pinning layers comprise aln. 3 . the film of claim 1 , wherein the pinning layers have a thickness and the doped-aln layers have a thickness, and the thickness of the pinning layers is less than the thickness of the doped-aln layers. 4 . the film of claim 3 , wherein the thickness of the pinning layers is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm. 5 . the film of claim 3 , wherein the thickness of the doped-aln layers is in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. 6 . the film of claim 1 , wherein the c-axis orientation has a value of fwhm of rocking curve that is less than 2 degrees. 7 . a piezoelectric device comprising the film on the substrate of claim 1 . 8 . a method of manufacturing a film, the method comprising: forming on a substrate alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. 9 . the method of claim 8 , wherein the pinning layers comprise aln. 10 . the method of claim 8 , wherein a thickness of the pinning layers is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm. 11 . the method of claim 8 , wherein forming the doped-aln layers includes a process selected from the group consisting of pvd, mbe, cvd, pecvd, mocvd, pld, ald and peald. 12 . the method of claim 8 , wherein the doped-aln layers have a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. 13 . the method of claim 8 , further comprising a process of sem or tem to locate cone defects in the doped-aln layers. 14 . the method of claim 13 , further comprising discarding the film if the cone defects include more than 20 cone defects, wherein each of the more than 20 cone defects has a size of greater than about 2 μm in a 10×10 μm 2 area. 15 . the method of claim 8 , wherein the pinning layers and the doped-aln layers have lattice parameters that are identical. 16 . a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric device, the method comprising: forming a conducting layer including a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 ; and forming alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. 17 . the method of claim 16 , wherein the conducting layer has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. 18 . the method of claim 16 , further comprising forming a thermal oxide layer having silicon oxide on a silicon substrate. 19 . the method of claim 18 , wherein forming the thermal oxide layer includes a process of thermal oxidation or pecvd. 20 . the method of claim 18 , wherein the thermal oxide layer has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 1000 nm.
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technical field embodiments of the disclosure generally relate to films and methods of manufacturing films (e.g., aluminum nitride films) and piezoelectric devices comprising such films. in particular, embodiments of the disclosure relate to films comprising alternating pinning layers and doped aluminum nitride (doped-aln) layers and methods of manufacturing films and piezoelectric devices comprising forming alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers. background films such as aluminum nitride films, in particular, doped aluminum nitride films, have a tendency to develop conical defects, for example as such films are grown to greater thicknesses. conical defects have a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation. thus, a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation may result in a film or piezoelectric device with a higher concentration of conical defects. such conical defects may also be referred to as exhibiting misoriented or abnormally oriented grains, referring to the fact that the grains have a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation. conical defects in films can have problematic implications in radio frequency (rf) filters, actuators and microphones and may negatively impact 5g technologies and communications. conventional techniques used to address the formation of conical defects exhibiting abnormally oriented grains (aogs) involve process-tuning such as tuning gas ratios, temperature and rf bias during deposition of the films. however, these techniques are not completely effective in significantly reducing the occurrence of conical defects. specific limitations of the conventional techniques include process drift, deposition tool-to-deposition tool non-uniformity, and reproducibility challenges. as the thickness of such films is increased, the ability of a bottom electrode lattice to pin doped-aln layers to the same orientation becomes limited. the inability of a bottom electrode lattice to pin doped-aln layers may result in relaxation of stress by forming dislocations. relaxation of stress is also potentially problematic as this may cause the doped-aln layers and grains on the doped-aln layers to have a crystalline orientation other than c-axis orientation. conical defects, including aogs grow at a faster rate than c-axis oriented grains, and thus, the size of aogs and number of aogs increase. thus, a crystalline orientation other than c-axis orientation may result in a film with a higher concentration of conical defects, including aogs. conical defects may be responsible for degradation of piezoelectric performance and greater dielectric loss. accordingly, there is a need for films including aluminum nitride and methods of manufacturing such films and piezoelectric devices in which conical defects exhibiting aogs are minimized. summary one or more embodiments of the disclosure are directed to a film on a substrate, the film comprising alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. additional embodiments of the disclosure are directed to a piezoelectric device comprising a film on a substrate, the film comprising alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. further embodiments of the disclosure are directed to a method of manufacturing a film, the method comprising forming on a substrate alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. one or more embodiments of the disclosure are directed to a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric device comprising forming a conducting layer including a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 , and forming alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. brief description of the drawings so that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. it is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments. fig. 1 schematically illustrates alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers according to one or more embodiments; fig. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of manufacturing a film according to one or more embodiments; fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric device according to one or more embodiments; fig. 4 illustrates a first embodiment of a piezoelectric device; fig. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of a piezoelectric device; and fig. 6 illustrates a third embodiment of a piezoelectric device. detailed description before describing several exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the details of construction or process steps set forth in the following description. the disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. as used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “substrate” refers to a surface, or portion of a surface, upon which a process acts. it will also be understood by those skilled in the art that reference to a substrate can also refer to only a portion of the substrate, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. additionally, reference to depositing on a substrate can mean both a bare substrate and a substrate with one or more films or features deposited or formed thereon. a “substrate” as used herein, refers to any substrate or material surface formed on a substrate upon which film processing is performed during a fabrication process. for example, a substrate surface on which processing can be performed include materials such as silicon, silicon oxide, strained silicon, silicon on insulator (soi), carbon doped silicon oxides, amorphous silicon, doped silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, glass, sapphire, and any other materials such as metals, metal nitrides, metal alloys, and other conductive materials, depending on the application. substrates include, without limitation, semiconductor wafers. substrates may be exposed to a pretreatment process to polish, etch, reduce, oxidize, hydroxylate, anneal, uv cure, e-beam cure and/or bake the substrate surface. in addition to film processing directly on the surface of the substrate itself, in the present disclosure, any of the film processing steps disclosed may also be performed on an underlayer formed on the substrate as disclosed in more detail below, and the term “substrate surface” is intended to include such underlayer as the context indicates. thus, for example, where a film/layer or partial film/layer has been deposited onto a substrate surface, the exposed surface of the newly deposited film/layer becomes the substrate surface. as used in this specification and appended claims, the terms “cone defects” or “conical defects” refer to defects including misoriented grains or abnormally oriented grains (aogs) with a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation. all crystalline materials are classified into one of seven crystal systems, based on their symmetry. in crystal drawings, by convention, the c-axis usually is orientated vertically, in the plane of the paper. all crystalline material and crystals except those in the cubic (or isometric) crystal system have a c-axis. wurtzite aln comprises two hexagonal close-packed lattices, one with al and another with n atoms that displaced from each other vertically. each al atom is bonded tetrahedrally to four n atoms and vice versa. the structure can be described by the lattice constant c, which is the height of the cell, the lattice constant a, which is the edge length of the base, and u, which is the bond length between the al and n atoms expressed in units of c. according to one or more embodiments, aluminum nitride films are provided that have a reduced incidence of misoriented or abnormally oriented grains that have a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation. advantageously, in one or more embodiments, aluminum nitride films are provided that exhibit a high number of grains exhibiting a c-axis orientation. in one or more embodiments, a film is formed by deposition techniques, such as but not limited to physical vapor deposition (pvd), chemical vapor deposition (cvd), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (pecvd), metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (mocvd), molecular beam epitaxy (mbe), atomic layer deposition (ald), plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (peald), spin-on, or other deposition techniques known to one of ordinary skill in the art of microelectronic device manufacturing. in one or more embodiments, the film is formed by pvd. in one or more embodiments, a film is formed in a processing chamber. the processing chamber can be any suitable processing chamber known to the skilled artisan including, but not limited to, a pvd chamber, a cvd chamber, a pecvd chamber, a mocvd chamber, an mbe chamber, an ald chamber, or a peald chamber. in one or more embodiments, the film is formed in the pvd chamber. referring now to fig. 1 , an embodiment of a film 102 on a substrate 104 is illustrated. the film 102 comprises alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 106 including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers 114 pin the doped-aln layers 112 to a c-axis orientation. the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 106 include a pinning layer 112 on a substrate 104 and a doped-aln layer 114 on the pinning layer 112 which continue to alternate and may include up to 1000 alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 106 . in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 114 comprise aln. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 114 have a thickness and the doped-aln layers 112 have a thickness, and the thickness of the pinning layers 114 is less than the thickness of the doped-aln layers 112 . in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the pinning layers 114 is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm, from about 5 nm to about 12 nm and from about 8 nm to about 10 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the doped-aln layers 112 is in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm, from about 40 nm to about 150 nm and from about 70 nm to about 120 nm. films 102 typically develop conical defects, in particular aln films that have a relatively large thickness. conical defects have a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation. thus, a crystalline orientation other than a c-axis orientation may result in a film 102 with a higher concentration of conical defects. for example, conical defects may develop once a film 102 is in a range from about 60 nm to about 150 nm thick or thicker. in one or more embodiments, a c-axis orientation of grains of a crystalline film is determined by x-ray diffraction (xrd) or transmission electron microscopy (tem). xrd is an analytical technique primarily used for phase identification of a crystalline material. tem is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. the value of full width at half maximum (fwhm) is a parameter used to describe the width of a “bump” on a curve or function. specifically, the value of fwhm describes the degree of crystallinity. the value of fwhm of a rocking curve peak or the value of fwhm of rocking curve is a relative measure of c-axis orientation. as an example, the smaller the value of fwhm of rocking curve, the better the c-axis orientation and degree of crystallinity. in one or more embodiments, the c-axis orientation of film 102 has a value of fwhm of rocking curve that is less than 2 degrees, less than 1.5 degrees or less than 1 degrees. referring now to fig. 2 , a flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method of manufacturing a film is shown. the method 200 comprises at operation 210 forming on a substrate alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. in one or more embodiments, the method 200 optionally includes at operation 220 forming the doped-aln layers by a chemical process selected from the group consisting of pvd, mbe, cvd, pecvd, mocvd, pld, ald and peald. in one or more embodiments, the method 200 optionally includes at operation 230 locating cone defects in the doped-aln layers by scanning electron microscopy (sem) or tem. sem is a microscopy technique which uses a focused beam of high-energy electrons to generate a variety of signals at the surface of a solid specimen. films typically develop cone defects including aogs, if at all, as the film is grown thicker. for example, aogs may develop once a film is in a range from about 60 nm to about 150 nm thick or thicker. in one or more embodiments, the method 200 optionally includes at operation 240 discarding the film if the cone defects include more than 20 cone defects, wherein each of the more than 20 cone defects has a size of greater than about 2 μm in a 10×10 μm 2 area. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers and the doped-aln layers have lattice parameters that are identical. referring to fig. 3 , a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric device is shown. the method 300 comprises at operation 310 forming a conducting layer including a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 . in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer is formed on a substrate. the conducting layer may also be referred to as an electrode, a top electrode or bottom electrode. in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. the method 300 comprises at operation 320 forming alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers pin the doped-aln layers to a c-axis orientation. in one or more embodiments, the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers include a pinning layer on a substrate and a doped-aln layer on the pinning layer which continue to alternate and may include up to 1000 alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers. in one or more embodiments, a first conducting layer is formed on a substrate and a second conducting layer is formed on the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers comprise aln. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers have a thickness and the doped-aln layers have a thickness, and the thickness of the pinning layers is less than the thickness of the doped-aln layers. in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the pinning layers is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm, from about 5 nm to about 12 nm and from about 8 nm to about 10 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the doped-aln layers is in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm, from about 40 nm to about 150 nm and from about 70 nm to about 120 nm. the method 300 optionally includes at operation 330 forming a thermal oxide layer having silicon oxide on a silicon substrate. in one or more embodiments, forming 330 the thermal oxide layer includes a process of thermal evaporation or pecvd. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 1000 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer is formed on the silicon substrate. in one or more embodiments, a first conducting layer is formed on a silicon substrate and a second conducting layer is formed on the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer is formed on the first conducting layer. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer is formed on the second conducting layer. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer is formed on the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer. in one or more embodiments, the method 300 optionally includes at operation 340 locating cone defects in the doped-aln layers by sem or tem. films typically develop cone defects including aogs, if at all, as the film is grown thicker. for example, aogs may develop once a film is in a range from about 60 nm to about 150 nm thick or thicker. in some embodiments, c-axis elongation of aln unit cells by doping permits greater electromechanical response in doped-aln lattice for the same magnitude of electric field applied. in some embodiments, for the initial few 10s of nm of doped-aln layers grown on a conducting layer (bottom electrode) including a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 , the doped-aln layers in-plane lattice parameters are matched closely with that of the bottom electrode in order to minimize interfacial energy by attaining (hetero)epitaxy. matching the doped-aln layers in-plane lattice parameters helps in in-plane compression of doped-aln lattice, leading to c-axis elongation. the resultant grains have dominant c-axis orientation and compressive strain, both of which are favorable to achieve high piezoelectric performance. in one or more embodiments, the method 300 optionally includes at operation 350 discarding the film if the cone defects include more than 20 cone defects, wherein each of the more than 20 cone defects has a size of greater than about 2 μm in a 10×10 μm 2 area. referring to fig. 4 , a first embodiment of a piezoelectric device 402 is shown. the piezoelectric device 402 comprises alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 406 including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers 414 pin the doped-aln layers 412 to a c-axis orientation. the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 406 include a pinning layer 414 on a substrate 404 and a doped-aln layer 412 on the pinning layer 414 which continue to alternate and may include up to 1000 alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 406 . in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 414 comprise aln. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 414 have a thickness and the doped-aln layers 412 have a thickness, and the thickness of the pinning layers 414 is less than the thickness of the doped-aln layers 412 . in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the pinning layers 414 is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm, from about 5 nm to about 12 nm and from about 8 nm to about 10 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the doped-aln layers 412 is in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm, from about 40 nm to about 150 nm and from about 70 nm to about 120 nm. in one or more embodiments, the c-axis orientation of the piezoelectric device 402 has a value of fwhm of rocking curve that is less than 2 degrees, less than 1.5 degrees or less than 1 degrees. referring to fig. 5 , a second embodiment of a piezoelectric device 502 is shown. the piezoelectric device 502 comprises alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 506 including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers 514 pin the doped-aln layers 512 to a c-axis orientation. the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 506 include a pinning layer 514 on a substrate 504 and a doped-aln layer 512 on the pinning layer 514 which continue to alternate and may include up to 1000 alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 506 . in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 514 comprise aln. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 514 have a thickness and the doped-aln layers 512 have a thickness, and the thickness of the pinning layers 514 is less than the thickness of the doped-aln layers 512 . in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the pinning layers 514 is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm, from about 5 nm to about 12 nm and from about 8 nm to about 10 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the doped-aln layers 512 is in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm, from about 40 nm to about 150 nm and from about 70 nm to about 120 nm. the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 506 include a pinning layer 512 on a substrate 504 and a doped-aln layer 512 on the pinning layer 514 which continue to alternate and may include up to 1000 alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 506 . referring still to fig. 5 , the second embodiment of the piezoelectric device 502 may include a conducting layer 508 . in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 508 includes a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 . in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 508 is formed on a substrate 504 . the conducting layer 508 may also be referred to as an electrode, a top electrode or bottom electrode. in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 508 has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. in one or more embodiments, a first conducting layer 508 is formed on a substrate 504 and a second conducting layer 508 is formed on the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 506 . in some embodiments, for the initial few 10s of nm of doped-aln layers 512 grown on a conducting layer 508 (bottom electrode) including a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 , the doped-aln layers 512 in-plane lattice parameters are matched closely with that of the bottom electrode in order to minimize interfacial energy by attaining (hetero)epitaxy. matching the doped-aln layers 512 in-plane lattice parameters helps in in-plane compression of doped-aln lattice, leading to c-axis elongation. the resultant grains have dominant c-axis orientation and compressive strain, both of which are favorable to achieve high piezoelectric performance. referring to fig. 6 , a third embodiment of a piezoelectric device 600 is shown. the piezoelectric device 600 comprises alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 606 including a dopant selected from the group consisting of sc, y, hf, mg, zr and cr, wherein the pinning layers 614 pin the doped-aln layers 612 to a c-axis orientation. the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 606 include a pinning layer 614 on a substrate 604 and a doped-aln layer 612 on the pinning layer 614 which continue to alternate and may include up to 1000 alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 606 . in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 614 comprise aln. in one or more embodiments, the pinning layers 614 have a thickness and the doped-aln layers 612 have a thickness, and the thickness of the pinning layers 614 is less than the thickness of the doped-aln layers 612 . in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the pinning layers 614 is in a range of from about 2 nm to about 20 nm, from about 5 nm to about 12 nm and from about 8 nm to about 10 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thickness of the doped-aln layers 612 is in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm, from about 40 nm to about 150 nm and from about 70 nm to about 120 nm. referring still to fig. 6 , the third embodiment of the piezoelectric device 600 may include a conducting layer 608 . in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 608 includes a material selected from the group consisting of mo, pt, ta, ru, lanio 3 and srruo 3 . in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 608 is formed on a substrate 604 . in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 608 is formed on the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 606 . the conducting layer 608 may also be referred to as an electrode, a top electrode or bottom electrode. in one or more embodiments, the conducting layer 608 has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 200 nm. in one or more embodiments, a first conducting layer 608 is formed on a substrate 604 and a second conducting layer 608 is formed on the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 606 . referring still to fig. 6 , the third embodiment of the piezoelectric device may include a thermal oxide layer 610 having silicon oxide on a silicon substrate. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer 610 is formed by a process of thermal evaporation or pecvd. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer 610 has a thickness in a range from about 10 nm to about 1000 nm. in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer 610 is formed on the substrate 604 . in one or more embodiments, a first conducting layer 608 is formed on a substrate 604 and a second conducting layer 604 is formed on the alternating pinning layers and doped-aln layers 606 . in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer 610 is formed on the first conducting layer 608 . in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer 610 is formed on the second conducting layer 608 . in one or more embodiments, the thermal oxide layer 610 is formed on the first conducting layer 608 and the second conducting layer 608 . reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “certain embodiments,” “one or more embodiments” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. thus, the appearances of the phrases such as “in one or more embodiments,” “in certain embodiments,” “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment of the disclosure. furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. although the disclosure herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that the embodiments described are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present disclosure. it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the method and apparatus of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. thus, the present disclosure can include modifications and variations that are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
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014-771-390-001-811
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US
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[
"US"
] |
A41B13/00,A41B13/10
| 1996-04-04T00:00:00 |
1996
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[
"A41"
] |
harness/combination vest
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a vest and harness combination garment wherein a a child can be securely fastened to a chair when the garment is worn. the vest/harness also includes an insulated bottle holder wherein a child's bottle is placed so that the bottle is available for the child when he/she is hungry or thirsty. a pacifier is attached by a strap to the front of the vest/harness so that the pacifier is readily available to the child as desired. a musical device which plays music when the device is squeezed is attached to the front of the vest for entertaining the child.
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1. a harness/vest combination garment used to secure a wearer to a chair and aid in feeding comprising, in combination: 2. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein said front and rear panels are constructed of a soft material and including a bias binding around said neck opening for added comfort to the wearer. 3. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein said rear elastically extendable strap is formed by encasing an elastic strap within the same material that the front and rear panels are constructed of. 4. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein said elastically extendable strap fastening means includes a safety latch hook attached to each end of said strap and u-shaped hooks attached to said rear panels wherein said each safety latch hook is attached to each u-shaped hook when attaching said vest to said chair as desired. 5. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein said bottle pouch includes a waterproof lining. 6. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said bottle pouch has an upper end with an elastic periphery to securely hold a bottle in said pouch. 7. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said vest includes a musical device attached thereto that plays music when said device is activated by squeezing said device. 8. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said elastically extendable strap includes on a side thereof multiple spaced apart hooks and loops attached along the length of the strap. 9. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said front and rear panels are lined with waterproof material. 10. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said front panel has an insulated pouch attached thereto which is sized and constructed for holding a baby bottle and for keeping said bottle contents insulated. 11. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein an elongated strap with a pacifier attached at one end is sewn to said front panel at the other end of said elongated strap. 12. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 1 wherein said elongated strap is of a length to allow said pacifier to be placed in said wearer's mouth while still being attached to said vest by said elongated strap. 13. a harness/vest combination garment used to secure a wearer and aid in handling accessories comprising, in combination: 14. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 13 wherein said front and rear panels are constructed of a soft material and including a bias binding around said head opening for added comfort to the wearer. 15. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 13 wherein said rear strap is formed by encasing an elastic strap within soft material. 16. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 13 wherein said means of attaching said rear strap includes a safety latch hook attached to each end of said rear strap and u- shaped hooks attached to said rear panels wherein said each safety latch hook is attached to each u - shaped hook when attaching said vest to said chair as desired. 17. a harness/vest combination garment as claimed in claim 13 wherein said insulated pouch includes a waterproof lining. 18. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 17 wherein said insulated pouch has an upper end with an elastic periphery to securely hold a bottle in said pouch. 19. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 13 wherein said vest includes a musical device attached thereto that plays music when said device is activated by squeezing said device. 20. a harness/vest combination as clamed in claim 13 wherein said rear strap includes on a side thereof multiple spaced apart hooks and loops attached along the length of said rear strap. 21. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 13 wherein said front and rear panels are lined with waterproof material. 22. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 13 wherein said front panel has an insulated pouch attached thereto which is sized and constructed for holding a baby bottle and for keeping said bottle contents insulated. 23. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 13 wherein an elongated strap with a pacifier attached at one end is sewn to said front panel at said elongated strap's other end. 24. a harness/vest combination as claimed in claim 23 wherein said elongated strap is of a length to allow said pacifier to be placed in said wearer's mouth while still being attached to said vest by said elongated strap.
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background of the invention the invention is a vest used to support and/or attach a toddler to a chair and to also have a feeding bottle and pacifier attached to the garment for availability to the toddler as desired. the combination vest/harness allows the child to be tightly secured to a chair when necessary. the combination harness/vest includes a waterproof lining which protects the wearer from liquid or food spillage while eating or drinking. toddlers are hyperactive and investigative. seating a toddler in a chair is a situation in which a toddler may injure themselves. toddlers may also need assistance in holding a bottle or may need a bottle in a proximal location so that they may access a bottle as desired. toddlers may also need an amusement device nearby to provide entertainment and distraction. brief summary of the invention this invention is directed to a harness/combination vest used for securing a toddler to a chair and to have feeding readly avaiable. the harness/vest comprises, a strap to secure the toddler to a chair during feeding or when necessary. the straps can also be used to stop the child from straying by holding one end of the strap with other end still secured to the harness. besides having a bottle readily available, a small circular devide that plays music when touched is sewed into the left side of the vest next to the bottle pouch. when the child holds the bottle the hands will squeeze the device thus playing music to entertain the toddler. the vest is also equipped with a water proof lining. brief description of the several views of the drawing fig. 1 is a perspective view of the harness/combination vest (frontal view) fig. 2 is a rear view of the harness/combination vest. fig. 3 is a right sided view of the harness/combination vest. fig. 4 is a left sided view of the harness/combination vest. fig. 5 is a view of the lining of the harness/combination vest. fig. 6 is a rear view of the harness/combination vest with the strap attached. fig. 7 is a view of the bottle pouch of the harness/combination vest. fig. 8 is a view of the strap used to secure the pacifier to the harness/combination vest. fig. 9 is a view of the elastic that is used inside the strap of the harness/combiantion vest. fig. 10 is a strap used to secure the toddler to a chair. detailed description of the invention fig. 1 shows a front panel of the harness/vest combination garment of the present invention. the vest 10 , is used to secure a child to a chair and to aid in feeding and entertaining a child. the vest 10 includes a front panel 8 and a rear panel 9 . each front panel 8 and rear panel 9 has side edges. the side edges of the front and rear panels are attached together to form the vest. the vest has shoulder straps at the top of each panel which are attached together with fasteners, such as snaps 4 and 4 a. the vest includes a head opening between the shoulder straps. the head opening includes a bias binding to provide comfort and durability around the head opening. an elongated strap 2 is secured to the front panel 8 of the vest. the elongated strap 2 has one end sewn to a small patch of fabric 31 which is the same material used to construct the vest. the patch 31 is sewn to the front panel of the vest. strap 2 is put through the loop of a pacifier and is then sewn to the fabric 31 and then to the vest front panel. a pouch, 3 is attached to the vest front panel and is used to secure a baby bottle to the front panel of the vest. the pouch is lined with insulating material and may also be lined with a waterproof material. the material constructing the vest front and rear panels may also be constructed of a waterproof material. a musical device 35 is also attached to the front panel of the vest. the device plays musical sounds when squeezed. fig. 2 shows a rear panel of the harness/vest combination garment. in fig. 2 , u-shaped hooks 14 and 14 a are attached to the vest. these hooks will allow a rear strap to be fastened thereto. figs. 3 and 4 show the right and left sides of the vest, respectively showing the components as discussed above in figs. 1 and 2 . fig. 5 shows the waterproof material used in the vest to protect the wearer from food or drink spillage. the waterproof material lining also adds comfort to the wearer. fig. 6 shows the back panel 9 of the vest with the u-shaped hooks attached thereto ( 14 and 14 a). an elastically extendable strap 18 with coupon hooks 16 and 16 a attached at each end is attached to the rear panel of the vest by attaching the u-shaped and coupon hooks together. to secure a child in a chair, the strap 18 is placed behind the back of the chair. the ends of the strap with the coupon hooks 16 and 16 a are attached to the u-shaped hooks on the vest 14 and 14 a. the strap also includes hooks 22 and loops 23 permanently attached to an inside surface of the extendable strap. in use, the hooks and loops are attached together in a right to left or left to right motion causing the strap to fold and overlap around the chair or components of a chair to tighten the strap and thereby secure the child to the chair. fig. 7 shows the bottle pouch configuration ( 3 ). fig. 8 shows the pacifier ( 11 ) with the strap ( 2 ) attaching the pacifier and fabric attachment ( 31 ) together and with the fabric attachment attaching the pacifier and strap to the front panel. fig. 9 shows the elastic ( 12 ) that is within the extendable rear strap ( 18 ) that is constructed of the same material as the front and rear panels. fig. 10 shows an inside of the rear strap with the hooks ( 22 ) and loops ( 23 ) attached thereto along the length of the strap ( 18 ) and spaced there between. the ends of the strap ( 18 ) also include the safety hooks ( 16 and 16 a).
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017-405-375-150-797
|
GB
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[
"GB",
"KR",
"US",
"TW",
"WO",
"EP",
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C07F5/00,C23C16/40,C07C43/13,C23C16/06,C23C16/448,H01L21/316,H01L21/02,C07C215/08,C01F17/00
| 2003-03-17T00:00:00 |
2003
|
[
"C07",
"C23",
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"C01"
] |
aminoalkoxide- or alkoxyalkoxide-containing rare earth metal precursors for use in mocvd techniques
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rare earth metal precursors for use in metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (mocvd) techniques having a ligand of general formula ocr<1>(r<2>)ch2x wherein r<1> is h or an alkyl group, r<2> is an optionally substituted alkyl group and x is or or nr2 wherein r is an alkyl group or substituted alkyl group and precursors of general formula m[ocr<1>(r<2>)(ch2)nx]3 wherein m is a rare earth metal, r<1>, r<2> and x are as previously defined and n is 1 to 4. in particular, the ligand is 1-methoxy-2-methyl-2-propanolate (mmp). the precursors may be prepared by reacting a ligand hocr<1>(r<2>)(ch2)nx with a rare earth metal alkylamide m(nr2)3 or silylamide precursor m(n(sir3)2)3 wherein r is alkyl or by salt exchange of m(no3)3(tetraglyme) an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal salt of the ligand. a method of depositing single or mixed oxide layers or films by mocvd, ald (atomic layer deposition) or a non-vapour phase deposition technique such as sol-gel deposition or metal-organic decomposition uses the rare earth metal precursors. the rare earth metal may be selected from la, ce, gd, nd, pm, sm, eu, tb, dy, ho, er, tm, yb and lu and group iiib elements including sc and y. in particular, the rare earth metal is pr, la, gd or nd.
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1. a method of depositing a single or mixed metal oxide layer or film by liquid injection mocvd, the method comprising using a rare earth metal precursor corresponding in structure to the formula m[ocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 )x] 3 wherein m is a rare earth metal, r 1 is h or an alkyl group, r 2 is an alkyl group optionally substituted with an alkoxy group, x is selected from the group consisting of or and nr 2 , wherein r is an alkyl group optionally substituted with an alkoxy group, wherein the rare earth metal precursor is dissolved in an appropriate inert organic solvent containing an additive different from the solvent and selected from the group consisting of one or more polydentate ether and donor functionalized alcohol. 2. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the inert organic solvent comprises a solvent selected from the group consisting of an aliphatic hydrocarbon, an aromatic hydrocarbon, an aliphatic ether, and a cyclic ether. 3. the method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the inert organic solvent comprises an aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent selected from the group consisting of hexane, heptane and nonane. 4. the method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the aromatic hydrocarbon solvent is toluene. 5. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the polydentate ether is selected from the group consisting of ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 2 ch 3 , ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 3 ch 3 , and ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 . 6. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the additive is 1-methoxy-2-methyl-2-propanol. 7. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the amount of additive in the solvent is at least 3 mol. equiv.: 1 mol. equiv. of precursor. 8. the method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the amount of additive in the solvent is about 3 mol. equiv. 9. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein m is praseodymium or lanthanum. 10. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein [ocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 )x] is [ocme 2 ch 2 ome]. 11. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein [ocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 )x] is selected from the group consisting of och(me)ch 2 ome, ocet 2 ch 2 ome, och(et)ch 2 ome, oc(pr i ) 2 ch 2 ome, och(pr i )ch 2 ome, oc(bu t ) 2 ch 2 ome, och(bu t )ch 2 ome, och(bu t )ch 2 oet, oc(bu t ) 2 ch 2 oet, oc(pr i ) 2 ch 2 oet and och(bu t )ch 2 net 2 . 12. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precursor is pr(ocme 2 ch 2 ome) 3 . 13. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precursor is la(ocme 2 ch 2 ome) 3 . 14. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precursor is gd(ocme 2 ch 2 ome) 3 . 15. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precursor is nd(ocme 2 ch 2 ome) 3 . 16. the method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein m is selected from the group consisting of la, ce, gd, nd, pm, sm, eu, tb, dy, ho, er, tm, yb, lu, and group iiib elements. 17. the method as claimed in claim 1 , carried out with an appropriate co-precursor, for the mocvd of a mixed metal oxide layer or film. 18. a method of depositing a single or mixed metal oxide layer or film by atomic layer deposition, the method comprising using a rare earth metal precursor corresponding in structure to m[ocr 1 (r 2 )ch 2 x] 3 , wherein m is a rare earth metal, r 1 is h or an alkyl group, r 2 is an alkyl group optionally substituted with an alkoxy group, x is selected from the group consisting of or and nr 2 , wherein r is an alkyl group optionally substituted with an alkoxy group. 19. the method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein m is praseodymium or lanthanum. 20. a method of depositing a single or mixed metal oxide layer or film by a non-vapor phase deposition technique, the method comprising using a rare earth metal precursor corresponding in structure to m[ocr 1 (r 2 )ch 2 x] 3 , wherein m is a rare earth metal, r 1 is h or an alkyl group, r 2 is an alkyl group optionally substituted with an alkoxy group, x is selected from the group consisting of or and nr 2 , wherein r is an alkyl group optionally substituted with an alkoxy group. 21. the method as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the non-vapor technique is selected from the group consisting of sol-gel deposition and metal-organic decomposition.
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this invention concerns precursors for deposition of metal oxide layers or films, methods of making such precursors and methods of depositing metal oxide layers or films using such precursors. this invention is particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with precursors for the growth of praseodymium oxide and other lanthanide (rare earth) metal oxides by chemical vapour deposition. rare-earth oxides m 2 o 3 (m=pr, la, gd, nd) are good insulators due to their large band-gaps (eg. 3.9 ev for pr 2 o 3 , 5.6 ev for gd 2 o 3 ), they have high dielectric constants (gd 2 o 3 κ=16, la 2 o 3 κ=27, pr 2 o 3 κ=26-30) and higher thermodynamic stability on silicon than zro 2 and hfo 2 , making them very attractive materials for high-κ dielectric applications. another attractive feature of some rare earth oxides (eg. pr 2 o 3 , gd 2 o 3 ) is their relatively close lattice match to silicon, offering the possibility of epitaxial growth, eliminating problems related to grain boundaries in polycrystalline films. metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (mocvd) is an attractive technique for the deposition of these materials, offering the potential for large area growth, good composition control and film uniformity, and excellent conformal step coverage at device dimensions less than 2 μm, which is particularly important in microelectronics applications. an essential requirement for a successful mocvd process is the availability of precursors with the appropriate physical properties for vapour phase transport and a suitable reactivity for deposition. there must be an adequate temperature window between evaporation and decomposition, and for most electronics applications oxide deposition is restricted to temperatures in the region of 500° c., to prevent degradation of the underlying silicon circuitry and metal interconnects. pr 2 o 3 thin films have previously been deposited by physical vapour deposition techniques such as mbe and pulsed laser deposition. metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (mocvd) has a number of potential advantages over these techniques, such as large area growth capability, good composition control, high film densities and excellent conformal step coverage, but there have been very few reports on the mocvd of praseodymium oxide, due largely to a lack of suitable precursors. recently the mocvd of a range of praseodymium-oxides (pro 2 , pr 6 o 11 , pr 2 o 3 ) has been reported using pr(thd) 3 (thd=2,2,6,6,-tetramethylheptane-3,5-dionate) (r. lo nigro, r. g. toro, g. malandrino, v. raineri, i. l. fragala, proceedings of euro cvd 14, apr. 27-may 2, 2003, paris france (eds. m. d. allendorf, f. maury, f. teyssandier), electrochem. soc. proc. 2003, 2003-08, 915). however, the deposition temperature used (750° c.) is incompatible with the low deposition temperature generally required for microelectronics applications, where high growth temperatures can lead to problems such as increased dopant diffusion the use of [pr(thd) 3 ] may also lead to the presence in the pr-oxide film of residual carbon, a common contaminant in oxide films grown using metal β-diketonates [pr(hfa) 3 (diglyme)] pr(hfa) 3 diglyme (hfa=1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionate, diglyme=ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 2 ch 3 ) was also investigated by these researchers, but led only to the unwanted oxyfluoride phase, prof. metal allcoxides have been widely used in the mocvd of metal oxides, and generally allow lower growth temperatures than the more thermally stable metal β-diketonate precursors. there are no reports in the literature into the use of rare-earth alkoxide precursors in mocvd. this is because the large ionic radius of the highly positively charged lanthanide(iii) ions leads to the formation of bridging intermolecular metal-oxygen bonds, resulting in the majority of the simple alkoxide complexes being polymeric or oligomeric, with a corresponding low volatility which makes them unsuitable for mocvd applications. an object of this invention is to provide stable volatile rare earth metal oxide precursors suitable for use in chemical vapour deposition techniques. it has been surprisingly found that the donor functionalised alkoxy ligand 1-methoxy-2-methyl-2-propanolate [ocme 2 ch 2 ome, mmp] is effective in inhibiting oligomerisation in praseodymium alkoxide complexes, as well as increasing the ambient stability of the complexes. accordingly the present invention provides rare earth metal precursors for use in mocvd techniques having a ligand of the general formula ocr 1 (r 2 )ch 2 x wherein r 1 is h or an alkyl group, r 2 is an optionally substituted alkyl group and x is selected from or and nr 2 , wherein r is an alkyl group or a substituted alkyl group. preferred precursors according to the invention have the following general formula: m[ocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 ) n x] 3 wherein m is a rare earth metal, especially praseodymium, r 1 is h or an alkyl group, r 2 is an optionally substituted alkyl group and x is selected from or and nr 2 , wherein r is an alkyl group or a substituted alkyl group, n=1 to 4. the preferred ligand of the formula ocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 ) n x (n=1) is 1-methoxy-2-methyl-2-propanolate (mmp) [ocme 2 ch 2 ome], but other donor functionalised alkoxide ligands may be used. these may include but are not limited to och(me)ch 2 ome, ocet 2 ch 2 ome, och(et)ch 2 ome, oc(pr i ) 2 ch 2 ome, och(pr i )ch 2 ome, oc(bu t ) 2 ch 2 ome, och(bu t )ch 2 ome, och(bu t )ch 2 oet, oc(bu t ) 2 ch 2 oet, oc(pr i ) 2 ch 2 oet, och(bu t )ch 2 net 2 , oc(pr i ) 2 ch 2 oc 2 h 4 ome and oc(bu t )(ch 2 opr i ) 2 . the invention further provides a first method of making rare earth metal oxide precursors for use in mocvd techniques comprising reacting hocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 ) n x wherein r 1 , r 2 and x are as defined above, such as mmph, with the corresponding rare earth metal alkylamide m(nr 2 ) 3 or silylamide precursor m(n(sir 3 ) 2 ) 3 , especially praseodymium silylamide precursor, pr{n(sie 3 ) 2 } 3 , in appropriate molar proportions, wherein r=alkyl, such as, for example, me, et and pr 1 . according to the invention an alternative method of general synthesis of lanthanide and rare earth element complexes of the formula m[ocr 1 (r 2 )ch 2 x] 3 as defined above, such as, ln(mmp) 3 , involves the salt exchange reaction of ln(no 3 ) 3 (tetraglyme) with appropriate molar equivalents of na(m[ocr 1 (r 2 )ch 2 x] 3 , such as na(mmp), in tetrahydrofuran solvent. a similar method may be used for the preparation of sc(mmp) 3 and y(mmp) 3 . precursors according to the invention may be used in depositing single or mixed oxide layers or films by conventional mocvd, in which the precursor is contained in a metalorganic bubbler, or by liquid injection mocvd, in which the precursor is dissolved in an appropriate inert organic solvent and then evaporated into the vapour phase using a heated evaporator. appropriate solvents include aliphatic hydrocarbons, such as hexane, heptane and nonane, aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene, and aliphatic and cyclic ethers. additives such as polydentate ethers including diglyme, ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 2 ch 3 , triglyme, ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 3 ch 3 , tetraglyme, ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 , and donor functionalised alcohols such as 1 methoxy-2-methyl-2-propanol hocme 2 ch 2 ome (mmph) may also be added to the solvent, as these may render the precursors of the invention, especially ln(mmp) 3 (ln=lanthanide such as la, pr, gd, nd etc.), less reactive to air and moisture and may improve the evaporation characteristics of the precursor solution. the amount of additive added to the solvent will typically be in the region of 3 mol. equiv.: 1 mol. equiv. precursor. lower amounts of additive are less effective but amounts of more than 3 mol. equiv. may be used. the precursors may also be suitable for use in the deposition of praseodymium oxide films by other chemical vapour deposition techniques, such as atomic layer deposition (ald). the m[ocr 1 (r 2 )(ch 2 ) n x] 3 precursor may also be suitable for the deposition of rare-earth oxide films using non-vapour phase deposition techniques, such as sol-gel deposition and metal-organic decomposition, where the new complexes may undergo a more controlled hydrolysis reactions than simple m(or) 3 complexes. other volatile rare earth precursors for use in mocvd, ald or sol-gel processes according to the invention may include lanthanide (rare-earth) elements, such as la, ce, gd, nd, pm, sm, eu, th, dy, ho, er, tm, yb and lu as well as group iiib elements including sc and y. the precursors according to the invention can also be used, in combination with an appropriate silicon precursor for the mocvd of lanthanide silicates, lnsi x o y , and with appropriate co-precursors for the mocvd of multi-component oxides, such as pr x m y o z containing praseodymium, or other rare earth metals with metals (m) from other groups of the periodic table. the invention will now be further described by means of the following examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: fig. 1 shows the x-ray crystal structure of [lipr(mmp) 3 cl] 2 ; fig. 2 shows xrd spectra of pr-oxide films deposited at 400° c. and 600° c. from [pr(mmp) 3 ]. * denotes the dominant (101) reflection of the secondary θ-pr 2 o 3 phase; fig. 3 is an sem image of a pr-oxide film deposited at 400° c. from [pr(mmp) 3 ]; fig. 4 is an x-ray diffraction pattern of a film of lanthanum oxide deposited at 450° c. from la(mmp) 3 ; fig. 5 is a scanning electron micrograph (sem) of a fracture sample of the lanthanum oxide film of example 4; fig. 6 is a 1 h nmr spectrum of a solution of la(mmp) 3 in toluene; fig. 7 is a 1 nmr spectrum of a solution of pr(mmp) 3 in toluene; fig. 8 is a 1 h nmr spectrum of a solution of la(mmp) 3 in toluene with 3 mol. equiv. of added tetraglyme; fig. 9 is a 1 h nmr spectrum of a solution of pr(mmp) 3 in toluene with 3 mol. equiv. of added tetraglyme; fig. 10 shows 1 h nmr data of a solution of la(mmp) 3 in toluene with 3 mol. equiv. of added mmph; and fig. 11 shows 1 h nmr data of a solution of pr(mmp) 3 in toluene with 3 mol. equiv. of added mmph. example 1 preparation of pr(mmp)3 mmph (0.487 cm 3 , 4.23 mmol) was added to a solution of [pr{n(sime 3 ) 2 } 3 ] (0.878 g, 1.41 mmol) in toluene (80 cm 3 ). the solution was stirred at room temperature for 10 min and then solvent and hn(sime 3 ) 2 was removed in vacuo to give a green oil. microanalysis: found. c, 38.0; h, 6.60%. calculated. for c 15 h 33 o 6 pr c, 40.01; h, 7.39%. ir (ν cm −1 , neat liquid, nacl plates): 2960 vs; 1496 m; 1458 s; 1383 m; 1357 s; 1274 s, 1229 vs, 1205 s; 1171 vs; 1113 vs; 1086 vs; 997 vs; 967 vs; 943 vs; 915 m; 828 w; 786 m; 730 s; 695 m. nmr spectroscopy (cdcl 3 ; 400 mhz): (all resonances are broadened due to the paramagnetic pr 3+ (4f 2 ). integrals of these broad resonances are note reported due to the lack of precision): 100.5, 72.5, 69.7, 67.0, 64.0, 63.7, 62.4, 60.7, 58.4, 57.0, 56.0, 54.0, 53.5, 50.5, 48.2, 47.2, 42.2, 40.7, 19.1, 18.6, 18.0, 17.7, 15.3, 13.9, 12.7, 11.2, 3.1, 1.2, −4.7, −10.5, −11.8, −12.5, −13.0, −15.5, −19.0, −20.5, −24.4, −30.2, −40.1, −43.6, −45.3, −46.2, −54.0 the liquid nature of pr(mmp) 3 precludes structural characterisation by single crystal x-ray diffraction, but in the presence of licl a crystalline complex with the formula [lipr(mmp) 3 cl] 2 was isolated, providing further good evidence that the stoichiometry of the oil was [pr(mmp) 3 ]. this complex was characterized by single crystal x-ray diffraction and its structure is shown in fig. 1 of the drawings. example 2 pr(mmp) 3 was found to be a suitable precursor for the deposition of praseodymium oxide thin films by mocvd. the praseodymium oxide films were deposited by liquid injection mocvd using a 0.1m solution of pr(mmp) 3 in toluene (14 cm 3 ) to give a 0.1 m solution. the addition of tetraglyme ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 was found to stabilise the pr(mmp) 3 solution by making it less reactive to air and moisture and improving the transport properties of the precursor. the growth conditions used to deposit pr-oxide thin films by liquid injection mocvd using a toluene solution of pr(mmp) 3 are summarised in table 1. table 1reactor pressure1 mbarevaporator temperature170° c.substrate temperature350-600° c.precursor solution concentration0.1 m in toluene with 3 mol equiv. ofadded tetraglymeprecursor solution injection rate8 cm 3 hr −1argon flow rate400 cm 3 min −1oxygen flow rate100 cm 3 min −1substratessi(100)typical oxide growth rates0.2 μm hr −1 the identity of the films was confirmed as praseodymium oxide by as x-ray diffraction analysis (see fig. 2 of the drawings), which indicated that the films comprise a major β-pr 6 o 11 phase with a minor component of the hexagonal θ-pr 2 o 3 phase. reports elsewhere (r. lo nigro, r. g. toro, g. malandrino, v. raineri, i. l. fragala, proceedings of euro cvd 14, apr. 27-may 2, 2003, paris france (eds. m. d. allendorf, f. maury, f. teyssandier), electrochem. soc. proc. 2003, 2003-08, 915) indicate that the proportions of the β-pr 6 o 11 phase and the θ-pr 2 o 3 can be controlled via the partial pressure of oxygen used during mocvd growth. analysis of the films by scanning electron microscopy (sem) showed that all the as-grown films exhibited smooth surfaces and uniform cross sectional thicknesses. the cross section of a film grown at 400° c. is shown in fig. 3 of the drawings and shows no evidence of features such as columnar growth, which has been observed in other high-k dielectric films such as hfo 2 and zro 2 . point energy dispersive x-ray analyses of the films indicates only pr from the thin film and silicon from the underlying substrate material. further analysis by auger electron spectroscopy (aes) analysis of pr-oxide films deposited from [pr(mmp) 3 ] (see table 2) showed that the films are pure pr-oxide, with no detectable carbon. table 2depositiontemperaturecomposition(at. %)pr/osample(° c.)procratio135030.369.7nd2.3460032.967.1nd2.0 example 3 preparation of la(mmp)3 mmph (3 mol. equiv.) was added to a solution of [la{n(sime 3 ) 2 } 3 ] (1 mol equiv.) in toluene. the solution was stirred at room temperature for 10 min and then solvent and hn(sime 3 ) 2 was removed in vacuo to give the product. microanalysis: found. c, 40.0; h, 7.4%. calcd. for c 15 h 33 o 6 la c, 40.2; h, 7.4%. ir (ν cm −1 , neat liquid, nacl): 2960 vs; 1496 m; 1457 s; 1384 m; 1357 s; 1261 s; 1229 vs; 1172 vs; 1090 vs; 1084 vs; 1001 s; 965 vs; 944 s; 914 m; 841 m; 821 m; 794 s; 730 s; 695 m. nmr spectroscopy c 6 d 6 (400 mhz) main resonances: δ (ppm): 3.16 br singlet; 3.08 br singlet (total 5h); 2.65 singlet; 1.27 singlet (6h). other resonances 3.2-4 ppm, complex pattern (total approx 2h); 1.2-1.8 ppm, complex pattern (total approx 4h). the same general preparative method can be used for the synthesis of other m(mmp) 3 complexes where m=group iiib element such as sc and y, or a lanthanide (rare earth) element such as, ce, gd or nd. example 4 la(mmp) 3 was found to be a suitable precursor for the deposition of lanthanum oxide thin films by mocvd. growth conditions used to deposit la-oxide thin films by liquid injection mocvd using a toluene solution of la(mmp) 3 are summarised in table 3. table 3substrate temperature300-600° c.evaporator temperature170° c.pressure1 mbarinjection rate8 cm 3 h −1solventtoluene + 3 mol. eq.tetraglymeconcentration0.1 margon flow rate400 cm 3 min −1oxygen flow rate100 cm 3 min −1run time1 h the x-ray diffraction pattern (see fig. 4 of the drawings) of a film deposited at 450° c. exhibits three dominant diffraction peaks attributed to the (100), (002) and (101) reflections measured at 2θ values of 25.1°, 27.9° and 29.7° respectively. the approximate ratio of intensities of these peaks is consistent with the random powder diffraction pattern of la 2 o 3 with a hexagonal structure. the width of the observed reflections is notable and consistent with either very small grain size or the transformation of the oxide to the monoclinic lao(oh) arising from exposure of the film to the ambient environment. the atomic composition of the lao x films was determined using auger electron spectroscopy (aes), and the results are summarized in table 4. table 4aes analysis of la-oxide films grown by mocvdargonflowdepositionrateoxygen(atomfilmtemperature(cm 3flow ratecomposition%)no.(° c.)min −1 )(cm 3 min −1 )laoo/la31730040010029.071.02.431435040010035.065.01.831840040010033.866.21.930945040010031.368.72.231650040010033.067.02.031355040010033.766.32.031560040010031.868.22.1319450500034.465.61.932045025025032.367.72.1 the o:la ratios of 1.8-2.4 are consistent with the films being la 2 o 3 containing excess oxygen (expected o:la ratio in la 2 o 3 =1.5). carbon was not detected in any of the films at the estimated detection limit of <0.5 at.-% and carbon-free la-oxide films were obtained, even in the absence of oxygen, so that [la(mmp) 3 ] is effectively acting as a “single-source” oxide precursor. a scanning electron micrograph (sem) of a fracture sample from that lanthanum oxide film deposited at 450° c. is shown in fig. 5 of the drawings. a columnar growth habit is discernable which has associated ‘hillock’ features on the free growth surface causing a fine surface roughening effect. example 5 preparation of nd(mmp)3 mm ph (3 mol. equiv.) was added to a solution of [nd{n(sime 3 ) 2 } 3 ] (1 mol.) equiv.) in toluene. the solution was stirred at room temperature for 10 min. and then solvent and hn(sime 3 ) 2 was removed in vacuo to give the product. microanalysis: found: c, 38.8; h, 6.9%. calcd. for c 15 h 33 o 6 nd, c, 39.7; h, 7.33%. infrared data: recorded as thin film between nacl plates (cm −1 ) 2963 s; 1496 m; 1457 s; 1384 m; 1357 s; 1275 s; 1231 vs; 1173 vs; 1117 vs; 1086 vs; 1010 s; 968 vs; 915 m; 823 m; 793 a; 730 s; 695 m 1 h nmr (cdcl 3 ) [resonances are broadened due to paramagnetism of nd 3+ (4f 3 )]: 35.1, 31.7, 30.9, 18.8, 17.4, 15.8, 12.6, 11.5, 8.2, 5.6, 1.2, −9.0, −9.6, −18.2, −24.5, −25.6, −26.0, −55.8, −57.5 example 6 use of additives to stabilise precursor solutions the 1 h nmr spectra of [la(mmp) 3 ] and [pr(mmp) 3 ] in toluene solution are shown in figs. 6 and 7 , respectively. the complexity of the 1 h nmr data indicates that the structure of both these compounds are extremely complex, and particularly in the case of la, the complexity of the spectrum increases with time. this indicates that there is a significant amount of irreversible molecular aggregation in solution. this process is probably due to condensation reactions to form oxo-bridged oligomers; such reactions are well documented in lanthanide alkoxide chemistry. the resonances are also broadened, possibly due to inter-molecular ligand exchange reactions, commonly observed in solutions of metal alkoxide complexes. significantly, the addition of 3 mol. equivalents of the polydentate oxygen donor ligand tetraglyme, (ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 ), to the precursor solutions results in much simpler 1 h nmr spectra ( figs. 8 and 9 ). this strongly suggests that the presence of (ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 ) inhibits molecular aggregation. the observation that the tetraglyme resonances are not subject to paramagnetic shifting in [pr(mmp) 3 ][tetraglyme] indicates that the tetraglyme is not bonded directly to pr, and we, therefore, conclude that stable adducts of the type [ln(mmp) 3 (tetraglyme)] are not formed. the addition of one mole excess of [mmph] (hocme 2 ch 2 ome) to toluene solutions of la(mmp 3 ) or pr(mmp) 3 also results in simpler 1 h nmr spectra (see figs. 10 and 11 of the drawings) and has a similar stabilizing effect. the simplicity of the 1 h nmr spectra indicates that mmp and mmph are in rapid exchange and there is no uncoordinated mmph. the addition of tetraglyme or mmph to solutions of [ln(mmp) 3 ] was found to enhance air/moisture stability as well as prevent aggregate formation. the mechanism of this stabilization has not been established, but it is likely to be due to some form of shielding of the lanthanide metal centre from oxygen atoms on mmp ligands on neighbouring molecules. example 7 preparation of gd(mmp)3 [gd(mmp) 3 ] was synthesised by the addition of mmph (3 mol. equiv.) to a solution of [gd{n(sime 3 ) 2 } 3 ] (1 mol equiv.) in toluene. the solution was stirred at room temperature for 10 min and then the solvent and liberated hn(sime 3 ) 2 were removed in vacuo to give the product as a green oil. the product was confirmed by elemental microanalysis for c and h. example 8 growth of gadolinium oxide using gd(mmp)3 gadolinium oxide films were deposited on si(100) substrates at 1 mbar using a liquid injection mocvd reactor. the films were deposited over the temperature range 300-600° c. using a 0.1m solution of [gd(mmp) 3 ] in toluene, with 3 equivalents of added tetraglyme using the same growth conditions to those given in table 3. gadolinium oxide films were also grown on gaas(100) using a 0.1m solution of [gd(mmp) 3 ] in toluene, with 3 equivalents of added tetraglyme, in the absence of added oxygen. the films grown on si(100) and gaas(100) substrates were confirmed to be gadolinium oxide by auger electron spectroscopy (aes) as shown in the following table 5:— table 5atomic composition (at.-%) of gadolinium oxide films measured by aes*argon flowdepositionrateoxygentemp.(cm 3flow ratefilm no.substrate(° c.)min −1 )(cm 3 min −1 )gdoo/gd1si(100)450500037.662.41.72gaas(100)450500036.963.11.7*h not analysed for. x-ray diffraction data for gd 2 o 3 films showed that at growth temperatures above 450 úc, the gdo x films crystallize as gd 2 o 3 with a c-type structure exhibiting a preferred (111) orientation. at lower growth temperatures the data exhibited no diffraction features suggesting an amorphous disordered structure. the diffraction pattern of the gd 2 o 3 film deposited on gaas(100) at 450 úc was dominated by the (222) reflection. this indicates a strong preferred orientation or a heteroepitaxial relation with the underlying gaas. example 9 stabilisation of m(mmp)3 (m=rare earth element) precursor solutions by the addition of donor additives the 1 h nmr spectra of [la(mmp) 3 ] and [pr(mmp) 3 ] in toluene solution are shown in figs. 6 and 7 , respectively. the addition of 3 mole equivalents of the polydentate oxygen donor ligand tetraglyme, (ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 ) to the precursor solutions of m(mmp) 3 (m=la, pr) results in much simpler 1 h nmr spectra ( figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings) and renders the precursor solutions less air sensitive, and significantly improves the evaporation characteristics of the precursor solution in liquid injection mocvd applications. this strongly suggests that the presence of (ch 3 o(ch 2 ch 2 o) 4 ch 3 ) inhibits molecular aggregation. the observation that the tetraglyme resonances are not subject to paramagnetic shifting in [pr(mmp) 3 ][tetraglyme] indicates that the tetraglyme is not bonded directly to pr, and we, therefore, conclude that stable adducts of the type [ln(mmp) 3 (tetraglyme)] are not formed. the addition of one mole excess of 1-methoxy-2-methyl-2-propanol, [hocme 2 ch 2 ome] (mmph) to solutions of m(mmp) 3 (m=rare earth element) in toluene has a similar stabilizing effect (see figs. 10 and 11 ). in the case of [ln(mmp) 3 (mmph)] the simplicity of the 1 h nmr spectrum indicates that mmp and mmph are in rapid exchange and there is no uncoordinated mmph. the addition of tetraglyme or mmph to solutions of [ln(mmp) 3 ] was found to enhance air/moisture stability as well as prevent aggregate formation. the mechanism of this stabilization has not been established, but it is likely to be due to some form of shielding of the ln metal centre from oxygen atoms on mmp ligands on neighbouring molecules. example 10 growth of neodymium oxide using nd(mmp)3 neodymium oxide films were deposited on si(100) substrates at 1 mbar using a liquid injection mocvd reactor. the films were deposited over the temperature range 250-600° c. using a 0.1m solution of [nd(mmp) 3 ] in toluene, with 3 equivalents of added tetraglyme employing the equivalent growth conditions to those given in table 3. neodymium oxide films were also grown on gaas(100) using a 0.1 m solution of [gd(mmp) 3 ] in toluene, with 3 equivalents of added tetraglyme, in the absence of added oxygen. the films grown on si(100) and gaas(100) substrates were confirmed to be neodymium oxide, nd 2 o 3 , by auger electron spectroscopy (aes) as shown in the following table 6:— table 6atomic composition (at.-%) of the ndo x films measured by aes*argon flowdepositionrateoxygentemperature(cm 3flow ratefilm no.substrate(° c.)min −1 )(cm 3 min −1 )ndoo/nd1si(100)30040010037631.72si(100)45040010040.159.91.53si(100)50040010038.761.31.64si(100)450500041.258.81.45si(100)4504505041.858.21.46si(100)45035015041.758.31.47si(100)45030020045.554.51.28si(100)45025025042.157.91.49gaas(100)450500040.659.41.5*h not analysed for
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018-257-536-452-986
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US
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[
"US"
] |
C10G1/06,C10G1/08,F17C1/00,F17C3/08,F17C5/04,F17C13/02,F17C13/08
| 2004-06-25T00:00:00 |
2004
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[
"C10",
"F17"
] |
system and method for storing hydrogen at cryogenic temperature
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a system and method for processing hydrogen is disclosed. the system may include at least one compressor adapted to compress hydrogen from the source to a storage pressure in the range of 2,000 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi), and a cooling mechanism coupled to the compressor for cooling the hydrogen to a storage temperature of about liquid nitrogen temperature.
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1 . a system for processing hydrogen, comprising: at least one compressor adapted to compress hydrogen to a storage pressure in the range of 2,000 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi); and a cooling mechanism coupled to the compressor for cooling the hydrogen to a storage temperature of about liquid nitrogen temperature. 2 . the system as recited in claim 1 , comprising a source of hydrogen adapted to deliver hydrogen to the at least one compressor. 3 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the storage pressure is about 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi). 4 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one compressor comprises a first compressor to compress the hydrogen to an intermediate pressure and a second compressor to compress the hydrogen from the first intermediate pressure to the storage pressure. 5 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism comprises at least one heat exchanger. 6 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism comprises at least one heat exchanger and at least a joule-thomson valve. 7 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen using a nitrogen linde cycle. 8 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen using a cascade of linde cycles, each with a different refrigerant gas. 9 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen using a nitrogen claude cycle. 10 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen using a mixed refrigerant cycle comprising a single compressor, at least two gaseous refrigerants mixed together, at least two joule thomson valves, and at least two heat exchangers. 11 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen using a magnetic refrigerator comprising a magnetocaloric regenerator and a superconducting magnet. 12 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen directly using the hydrogen in a brayton cycle, where the hydrogen is compressed beyond the delivery pressure, cooled with air or water, and then expanded to the delivery pressure and temperature. 13 . the system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the cooling mechanism comprises at least one intercooler. 14 . the system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a storage vessel for storing the hydrogen. 15 . the system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the storage vessel further comprises multilayer super insulation (mlsi). 16 . the system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the storage vessel is adapted to be disposed in a vehicle to provide fuel to an engine associated with the vehicle. 17 . the system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the storage vessel further comprises an inner vessel enclosing a storage volume and an outer vessel surrounding the inner vessel and forming an evacuated space there between. 18 . a storage vessel for storing hydrogen fuel at a storage pressure in the range of 2,000 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi) and a storage temperature of about liquid nitrogen temperature. 19 . the system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the storage pressure is about 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi). 20 . the system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the storage vessel comprises an inner vessel enclosing a storage volume and an outer vessel surrounding the inner vessel and forming an evacuated space there between. 21 . the system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the storage vessel further comprises a thermal insulator surrounding the inner vessel in an evacuated space to inhibit heat transfer to a storage volume. 22 . the system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the storage vessel comprises a support positioned externally with respect to the inner vessel and the outer vessel. 23 . the system as recited in claim 22 , wherein the support comprises a material having a low thermal conductivity for reducing the heat transfer from the outer vessel to the inner vessel. 24 . the system as recited in claim 22 , wherein the outer vessel is constructed from stainless steel and the inner vessel is constructed from a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum lined composite or stainless steel. 25 . the system as recited in claim 21 , wherein the thermal insulator is multilayer super insulation (mlsi). 26 . the system as recited in claim 25 , wherein the mlsi further comprises a material having low permeability of gases and a laminate of film layers including at least one film layer, having a vacuum deposited metalized coating thereon. 27 . the system as recited in claim 18 , wherein the storage vessel is adapted to be disposed in a vehicle to provide fuel to an engine associated with the vehicle. 28 . a method of processing hydrogen, comprising compressing hydrogen to a storage pressure in the range of 2,000 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi); cooling the hydrogen to about liquid nitrogen temperature for storage; storing the hydrogen in a storage vessel; and delivering the hydrogen for application. 29 . the method as recited in claim 28 , wherein the storage pressure is about 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi). 30 . the method as recited in claim 28 , wherein the cooling comprises of at least one heat exchanger, at least a joule-thomson valve and at least one intercooler, wherein the hydrogen is cooled using a linde cycle. 31 . the method as recited in claim 28 , wherein the storage vessel is adapted to be disposed in a vehicle to provide fuel to an engine associated with the vehicle. 32 . the method as recited in claim 28 , wherein compressing hydrogen to a storage pressure is achieved by at least a compressor to compress the hydrogen to an intermediate pressure and a at least a second compressor to compress the hydrogen from the first intermediate pressure to the storage pressure. 33 . a vehicle comprising: an engine; a power train for delivering power from the engine to one or more wheels; and a storage vessel for storing hydrogen fuel at a storage pressure in the range of 2,000 pounds per square inch to 10,000 pounds per square inch and a storage temperature of about liquid nitrogen temperature. 34 . the vehicle as recited in claim 33 , wherein the storage vessel is adapted to be disposed in the vehicle to provide fuel to the engine associated with the vehicle. 35 . the vehicle as recited in claim 33 , wherein the storage pressure is about 6,000 pounds per square inch (psi). 36 . the vehicle as recited in claim 33 , wherein the storage vessel comprises an inner vessel enclosing a storage volume and an outer vessel surrounding the inner vessel and forming an evacuated space there between. 37 . the vehicle as recited in claim 33 , wherein the storage vessel is adapted to be disposed in the vehicle to provide fuel to the engine associated with the vehicle.
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background the invention relates generally to the production and storage of hydrogen and, more particularly, to a system and method for storing hydrogen at reduced temperature and increased pressure to improve the available storage energy density of the hydrogen. hydrogen is typically produced in bulk in steam methane reforming plants. the hydrogen storage energy density is then typically improved through compression or liquefaction. in a hydrogen liquefaction plant, feed gas is cooled and liquefied using multiple heat exchangers. liquefaction plants are typically extremely large, with a correspondingly large investment with respect to fixed cost and operating cost. an important contributor to the large cost of operating a liquefaction plant is the large amount of electricity needed to liquefy hydrogen. as interest in hydrogen as an alternative fuel to oil and natural gas has increased in recent years, hydrogen storage has been the subject of intensive research. hydrogen is a promising alternative fuel because it creates less pollution than fossil fuels and can readily be produced from renewable energy resources, thus eliminating the net production of greenhouse gases. because of its relatively high availability and low cost, hydrogen is a candidate for, among other things, alternative fuel vehicles. hydrogen contains more chemical energy per weight than any hydrocarbon fuel, but it is also the lightest existing substance. hydrogen is, therefore, problematic to store effectively in small containers. one approach to storing hydrogen involves the use of metals and alloys, which are reacted with hydrogen to form metal hydrides. however, these storage methods have several disadvantages. for example, the use of metal hydrides adds undesirable weight to storage tanks. other disadvantages may include undesirably large volume or weight, boiling loss or energy loss during charging and discharging with hydrogen. furthermore, if hydrogen is to be used as a fuel for transport, it must be stored in a cost-effective manner. the lack of a convenient and cost-effective hydrogen storage system makes it difficult to introduce hydrogen on a large scale for use in vehicles and other applications. storage of 5 kg of gaseous hydrogen (equivalent in terms of energy to about 16 liters or about 4.2 gallons of gasoline) may be considered a minimum practical requirement for a general-purpose vehicle because that amount of fuel could provide an approximate 448 km (about 278 miles) range at a consumption rate of 28-km/liter. the external volume for a pressure vessel storing 5 kg of hydrogen at 13.8 megapascals (mpa) or 2,000 pounds per square inch (psi) and room temperature (20° c. or 68° f.) is at least 500 liters. this volume is too large to be practically used in many applications, such as light duty vehicles. if hydrides are used, the weight of the overall storage container is problematic. a hydride storage system may weigh 300 kg for 5 kg of hydrogen, resulting in a substantial reduction in vehicle fuel economy and performance. the alternative of low-pressure liquid hydrogen storage provides the advantages of reduced weight and compactness. however, liquid hydrogen typically has high boiling losses in a non-insulated vessel. it is also relatively expensive to maintain liquid hydrogen at a sufficiently low temperature. evaporative losses that occur during periods of inactivity because of environmental heat transfer add to system inefficiency. the aforementioned problems with uninsulated containers for low temperature storage have led to experimentation with insulated storage containers. insulated storage containers offer improved performance relative to uninsulated storage containers, but insulated containers are still not effective enough to be practical in widespread use. low-pressure storage vessels tend to have high evaporation losses because of evaporation and leaks. also, losses from a hydrogen vessel in a vehicle tend to grow rapidly as the daily driving distance drops. in addition to these disadvantages, low temperature storage typically requires a high-pressure pump for effective delivery of hydrogen to an engine. the high-pressure pump adds significant cost to the fuel delivery system. liquefaction of hydrogen is a very energy-intensive process. even at a very large scale (several tons per day) using state-of-the-art technology, the liquefaction process consumes at least about 30% of the energy content of the hydrogen itself, as measured by the lower heating value (lhv). there is a need, therefore, for an improved technique for storing hydrogen in an efficient and cost-effective manner. in particular, a need exists for a technique that can be employed to facilitate the efficient and cost-effective storage of hydrogen for use as a vehicle fuel. brief description in accordance with one aspect of the present technique, a system and method are illustrated for producing and storing hydrogen at low temperature and high pressure. such a system may comprise at least a compressor for compressing hydrogen from an atmospheric pressure to a storage pressure, at least an intercooler coupled to the compressor for cooling the hydrogen, a cooling system for cooling the hydrogen at the storage pressure and a temperature equivalent to about liquid nitrogen temperature for storage, and a storage vessel to store the hydrogen for end application. in accordance with another aspect of the present technique, a system for storing hydrogen in a motor vehicle at liquid nitrogen temperature is illustrated, wherein the hydrogen is utilized as a fuel for a vehicle engine. in accordance with yet another aspect of the present technique a method is described for processing hydrogen at liquid nitrogen temperature. drawings these and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein: fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for producing and storing hydrogen in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique; fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for compressing a hydrogen feed to about liquid nitrogen temperature as illustrated in fig. 1 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique; fig. 3 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating a cryogenic storage pressure vessel for storing hydrogen in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique; fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for hydrogen production, storage and application in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique; fig. 5 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating an equilibrium ortho-para concentration of hydrogen vs. temperature in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique; fig. 6 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating the volumetric energy density of hydrogen vs. pressure in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique; and fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of processing hydrogen in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present technique. detailed description the present technique discloses a system and method for storing hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures. the problems to be solved by the present technique are further explained with reference to the figures, wherein like features are designated with like reference numerals. turning now to the drawings, fig. 1 illustrates a system 10 for producing and storing hydrogen. the system 10 comprises a compressor 12 for compressing hydrogen fed from a hydrogen source 14 to a heat exchanger 16 , another compressor 18 for compressing nitrogen gas, a heat exchanger 19 for cooling the hot nitrogen gas leaving the compressor 18 , a heat exchanger 20 for cooling the compressed nitrogen 22 , a liquid nitrogen storage vessel 24 , a valve 26 , which may be a joule thompson valve, and a storage vessel 28 . the heat exchanger 19 is adapted to cool the hot nitrogen gas to ambient conditions through heat exchange with ambient water, air, or any other refrigeration cycles known in the art. heat generated during the compression of hydrogen in the compressor 12 is removed in the heat exchanger 16 and the cooled hydrogen 30 flows to the liquid nitrogen vessel 24 . as a fundamental feature of storing compressed hydrogen, the amount of hydrogen stored correlates directly with the storage temperature. an effective way of enhancing the storage of hydrogen is to reduce the temperature of storage. liquid nitrogen 32 is relatively inexpensive and widely available. therefore it is a practical cooling media for cooling hydrogen gas. however, the coolant used in both the heat exchangers 16 and 20 could be air or any other cryogenic coolant wherein temperature of the cooling media can vary from about 77 degrees kelvin to about 4 degrees kelvin. in one such embodiment of the present technique, liquid nitrogen 32 is used as a cooling media for the heat exchangers 16 and 20 to cool the compressed hydrogen. the temperature of liquid nitrogen is at about 77 degrees k. in the arrangement illustrated in the fig. 1 , nitrogen gas is used as a refrigerant in a linde cycle, as described below. however, the mechanism may also include a cascade of linde cycles, each with a different refrigerant gas to cool the hydrogen. those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, however, that other refrigeration cycles like the claude cycles and the brayton cycles are believed to be acceptable for the present technique. the nitrogen gas after being compressed in the compressor 18 is passed through the heat exchanger 19 for cooling to ambient temperature and is then further passed through the heat exchanger 20 . the compressed nitrogen 22 is pre-cooled by the flow of evaporated nitrogen gas 32 flowing from the liquid nitrogen vessel 24 . the cooled nitrogen gas after dispensing out from the heat exchanger 20 flows through the valve 26 , wherein the gaseous nitrogen is cooled to liquid nitrogen 32 , and is finally stored in the liquid nitrogen vessel 24 . in the embodiment illustrated, the evaporated nitrogen gas 33 is used for cooling the compressed nitrogen gas prior to its passage through the valve 26 . similarly, the same liquid nitrogen 32 is utilized in the heat exchanger 16 for cooling the compressed hydrogen prior to its passage to the liquid nitrogen vessel 24 . the cooled hydrogen, after passing from the heat exchanger 20 , passes through the liquid nitrogen vessel 24 where the hydrogen is cooled to about liquid nitrogen temperature before it is stored in the storage vessel 28 . in one embodiment of the present technique, a linde cycle is utilized to cool the gaseous hydrogen to liquid nitrogen temperature. in another embodiment of the present technique, the cooling can be achieved using a mixed refrigerant cycle comprising a single compressor, at least two gaseous refrigerant mixed together, at least two valves, which may comprise joule thompson valves, and at least two heat exchangers to cool the hydrogen. in the brayton cycle mentioned above, the cooling mechanism cools the hydrogen directly using the hydrogen, where the hydrogen is compressed beyond the delivery pressure, cooled with air or water, and the expanded to the delivery pressure and temperature. in the claude cycle, the hydrogen is compressed in at least a compressor with at least one stage, cooled in an evaporative cooler and then passed through at least a heat exchanger wherein the coolant is liquid nitrogen and then finally expanded through an expansion valve. hence through this process, the hydrogen is cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature. in yet another embodiment of the present technique, the cooling mechanism is adapted to cool the hydrogen using a magnetic refrigerator comprising a magnetocaloric regenerator and a superconducting magnet. magnetic refrigeration is based on the magnetocaloric effect (mce), an intrinsic property of all magnetic materials that peaks in the vicinity of the magnetic ordering temperature. the magnetocaloric effect depends on the way a material's atomic spins align themselves. all materials store heat in the form of atomic vibrations. an applied magnetic field forces the atoms into alignment, reducing the system's heat capacity and causing it to expel energy, which the water or any coolant carries away. when the field is removed, the atoms randomize again and can absorb energy from their surroundings, creating a cooling effect. in the case of a ferromagnetic material, it is the warming as the magnetic moments of the atoms are aligned on the application of a magnetic field, and the cooling when the magnetic moments become randomly oriented on removing the magnetic field. the warming and the cooling of a magnetic material in response to a changing magnetic field is similar to the warming and the cooling of a gaseous medium in response to compression and expansion. therefore, magnetic refrigeration operates by magnetizing/demagnetizing the magnetic material. referring to fig. 2 , a system 34 for compressing a source of hydrogen to about liquid nitrogen temperature is illustrated. in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 2 , hydrogen is compressed via a series of compressors. those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments may comprise a single hydrogen compressor 12 with one or multiple stages or a series of hydrogen compressors with one or multiple stages. hydrogen is compressed in a first stage 36 and then cooled in the first intercooler 37 . the hydrogen is then compressed further in a second stage 38 and a third stage 40 . between each stage of the compression, an intercooler 37 may be used to cool the compressed hydrogen. in fig. 2 , the intercooler 37 is located between the first stage 36 of the compressor and the second stage 38 of compressor. likewise, another intercooler 41 is present between the second stage 38 of compressor and the third stage 40 of the compressor. the intercoolers 37 and 41 help to decrease the temperature generated during compression in the compressor stages. in the illustrated embodiment, the coolant used in the intercoolers may be water, air, evaporated nitrogen or the like. in practice, depending on the heat generated, multiple heat exchangers could be employed to cool the compressed hydrogen. the number of heat exchangers used for cooling the compressed nitrogen 22 in the compressor 20 may also vary depending on system design requirements. in an exemplary embodiment of the present technique, diaphragm compressors are employed to compress hydrogen. the basic design of a diaphragm compressor may help to provide leak resistant and non-contaminating gas compression. however, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other types of compressors may be employed in embodiments of the present technique. additionally, the nitrogen gas compressor 18 need not be of the same type or size as the hydrogen compressor 12 . fig. 3 discloses an exemplary embodiment of a storage vessel 42 . the present technique illustrates one embodiment of the structure of the storage vessel 42 and the various component of the storage vessel 42 comprising an inner vessel 44 , an outer vessel 46 , an insulated support structure 48 for the inner vessel 44 , a support structure 50 for the outer vessel 46 , a plurality of interconnecting valves 52 and pipelines 54 for flow control of hydrogen in and out of the storage vessel 42 . the storage vessel 42 described herein, generally has an elongated cylindrical configuration along a central axis 60 with rounded elliptical or torispherical or hemispherical ends 62 . furthermore, the storage vessel 42 includes an inner vessel 44 surrounding and enclosing a storage volume 64 , and an outer vessel 46 surrounding the inner vessel 44 to form an evacuated space 66 there between. insulated support structure 48 separates and suspends the inner vessel 44 from the outer vessel 46 , to prevent heat conduction there between. access into and out of the storage volume 64 is by an inlet port 68 and an outlet port 70 extending through the inner vessel 44 and the outer vessel 46 . the outer vessel 46 has a lightweight rigid body construction capable of supporting the evacuated space 66 therein, with aluminum or stainless steel being exemplary material types used for its construction and also for the construction for the inner vessel 44 . as described above, weight is an important consideration in the design of hydrogen storage containers, especially for vehicular applications. in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3 , the inner vessel 44 may comprise a lightweight rigid structure having a high strength to weight ratio. moreover, the construction of the inner vessel 44 may be designed to withstand high pressures (due to compressed gas storage) from within the storage volume 64 . for example, it may be desirable to store hydrogen compressed to a range of between about 2,000 pounds per square inch to about 10,000 pounds per square inch. the storage vessel 42 may also include a thermal insulator 72 surrounding the inner vessel 44 in the evacuated space 66 . the thermal insulator 72 serves to inhibit radiative heat transfer to the storage volume 64 . one exemplary embodiment of the thermal insulator 72 comprises an external multilayer super insulation (mlsi) 74 . the mlsi 74 reduces the heat radiation thereby reducing vapor losses, especially during cryogenic operation. the outer vessel 46 operates to keep a vacuum around the inner vessel 44 , which is helpful for effective operation of the mlsi 74 . the mlsi 74 exhibits good thermal performance when under a relatively high vacuum, for example, at a pressure lower than about 10 −5 millibar (mbar). the hydrogen, which is cooled by the nitrogen storage vessel 24 ( fig. 1 ) is delivered to the storage vessel 42 by an inlet pipeline 76 and is dispensed out of the storage vessel 42 through an outlet pipeline 78 . the storage vessel 42 also contains a bursting disc 80 and a safety valve 82 for safe operation of the storage vessel 42 . the quantity of hydrogen present in the storage vessel 42 is measured using a level indicator 84 . fig. 4 describes an exemplary system 86 for hydrogen production, storage and application. the system comprises a compressor 12 for compressing a source of hydrogen 14 delivered to the heat exchanger 16 for cooling the compressed hydrogen and is then passed through the liquid nitrogen vessel 24 wherein the hydrogen is cooled to about liquid nitrogen temperature. similarly, the nitrogen refrigerant is compressed in the compressor 18 and is passed through the heat exchanger 20 wherein the compressed nitrogen 22 is initially cooled. the nitrogen is then isenthalpically expanded in the valve 26 , which may convert the cooled compressed nitrogen to liquid nitrogen 32 used for cooling the hydrogen. the hydrogen cooled to about liquid nitrogen temperature is stored in the storage vessel 28 , which may then be used for various applications. in one embodiment of the present technique, the compressed, cooled hydrogen 88 at about liquid nitrogen temperature is stored in either a stationary storage vessel 90 , or in a mobile storage vessel 92 for automobiles. in another embodiment, hydrogen is stored as tube trailers 94 for a merchant market where the hydrogen at low temperature is transported from the point of production to the point of use. in yet another embodiment the hydrogen is used for any stationary application as well as mobile applications. as indicated in the fig. 4 , the storage vessels may be used in any of a plurality of applications 96 . fig. 5 is an exemplary diagrammatic representation illustrating an equilibrium ortho-para concentration of hydrogen versus temperature (measured in degrees kelvin). the diagram shown in fig. 5 is generally referred to by the reference numeral 98 . ortho and para are the isomers of hydrogen. at about 300 degrees kelvin, hydrogen may comprise about 25% para isomers and about 75% ortho isomers. in the liquid hydrogen state at roughly 20 degrees kelvin, the equilibrium concentration may be about 99.8% para hydrogen. in the liquid state, ortho hydrogen may spontaneously convert to para hydrogen, producing heat as the result of an exothermic reaction. the heat released by the exothermic reaction may be greater than the heat of vaporization, undesirably increasing the boil off of hydrogen. it is generally observed that the boil off is about 12% per day if the ortho hydrogen is not previously converted during the liquefaction process. in embodiments of the present technique, it has been observed that, at a storage temperature of about 77 degrees kelvin, the equilibrium of hydrogen is about 60% ortho hydrogen, indicating that only a small amount of ortho hydrogen is converted to para hydrogen. accordingly, less heat is released. thus, storing hydrogen at about liquid nitrogen temperature removes or reduces the desirability of expending additional energy to facilitate the ortho-para conversion that is otherwise needed if a lower storage temperature is desired. based on the energy density data illustrated in fig. 6 below, this means that there is a relative improvement in the energy density of storing hydrogen at about liquid nitrogen temperature with respect to the energy expenditure required to cool hydrogen to about liquid nitrogen temperature. in other words, storing hydrogen at about liquid nitrogen temperature may provide improved energy conversion efficiency compared to storing hydrogen in liquid form. fig. 6 is an exemplary diagrammatic representation illustrating the volumetric energy density of hydrogen indicated in kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m 3 ) versus pressure indicated by pounds per square inch absolute (psi). the diagram shown in fig. 6 is generally referred to by the reference numeral 102 . in the present embodiment, the line 104 indicates the properties of liquid hydrogen. the line 104 indicates that, at atmospheric pressure, the storage density is around 70 kg/m 3 . in the case of compressed hydrogen at about liquid nitrogen temperature (shown by a line 106 ), the storage density is around 40 kg/m 3 at about 2,000 psi. at about 6,000 psi, the storage density is about 60 kg/m 3 , as shown by a point 110 . similarly, for compressed hydrogen at 300 degrees kelvin (shown by a line 108 ), a storage density of around 40 kg/m 3 occurs at about 10,000 psi. a pressure of about 6,000 psi at about liquid nitrogen temperature (point 110 ) has been found to be a good choice for balancing temperature and pressure considerations as it provides only about 20 kg/m 3 less storage density than liquid hydrogen at 2,000 psi (see line 104 ). the point 110 indicates the estimation of the energy required to get the required state of hydrogen. in other words, point 110 indicates that in order to produce compressed, cryogenic hydrogen by the present technique, about 15.4% of the total energy content of the hydrogen, as measured by the lower heating value (lhv), is required at a pressure of 6,000 psi and volumetric storage density of 60 kg/m 3 . similarly, as indicated in line 106 , 13.9% of the lhv is required to store hydrogen at 2,000 psi and volumetric storage density of 40 kg/m 3 . even though storage of hydrogen at about liquid nitrogen temperature and a pressure of about 6,000 psi is desirable, pressures in the range of about 2,000 psi to 10,000 psi are believed to be acceptable for the present technique. fig. 7 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method of processing hydrogen. the diagram is generally referred to by the reference numeral 112 . at step 114 , hydrogen is compressed from atmospheric pressure to a storage pressure in the range of about 2,000 psi to about 10,000 psi. as set forth in step 116 , the hydrogen is cooled to about liquid nitrogen temperature for storage. at step 118 , the hydrogen is stored in a storage vessel. at step 120 , the hydrogen is delivered for various applications, such as providing fuel for a vehicle. while only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. it is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.
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021-140-776-640-504
|
GB
|
[
"GB",
"WO"
] |
A63B69/34,A63B69/32,A63F13/00
| 2007-04-24T00:00:00 |
2007
|
[
"A63"
] |
interactive fighting apparatus
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an interactive fighting apparatus, and associated methods of manufacture and operation of the apparatus are described. the apparatus includes a dummy having at least one sensor arranged to measure the force of a blow incident to the dummy and to provide a sensor signal indicative of the measured force of the incident blow. a display device is arranged to display information to a user for indicating when,a user might strike the dummy. an output device is arranged to receive the sensor signal, and to output information to a user indicative of the force of the incident blow. the sensor is arranged to measure at least two separate vector components of the force of said blow.
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claims 1. an interactive fighting apparatus comprising: a dummy comprising at least one sensor arranged to measure the force of a blow incident to the dummy and to provide a sensor signal indicative of the measured force of said incident blow; a display device arranged to display information to a user for indicating when a user might strike the dummy; and an output device arrange to receive said sensor signal, and to output information to a user indicative of the measured force of said incident blow, wherein said at least one sensor is arranged to measure at least two separate vector components of the force of said blow. 2. an apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor is arranged to measure both translational and rotational components of the force of said blow. 3. an apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said dummy comprises a head portion and a torso portion, each portion comprising at least one respective sensor. 4. an apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said head portion is coupled to said torso portion by a flexible neck portion. 5. an apparatus as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4, wherein said head portion is rotatable relative to said torso portion. 6. any apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the dummy further comprises a jaw portion pivotally mounted to the head portion. 7. an apparatus as claimed in any one of the above claims, wherein said dummy comprises a torso portion and at least one arm portion extending longitudinally from the torso portion. 8. an apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said arm portion is rotatably mounted relative to said torso portion. 9. an apparatus as claimed in any one of the above claims, wherein said dummy comprises a torso portion and at least one leg portion extending longitudinally downwards from the torso portion, said leg portion comprising at least a first section and a second section, the second section extending at an angle from said first section. 10. an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3, 7 or 9, or any claim dependent thereto, wherein at least one of said portions is coupled to another of said portions by a resiliently biased j oint. 11. an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 10, wherein at least one of said portions of the dummy comprises at least one area of relatively resilient material positioned to correspond to a vulnerable area of the human body, surrounded by an area of less resilient material. 12. an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 11, wherein at least one of said portions of the dummy comprises a contact sensor positioned to determine if contact is made with a predetermined area on the dummy. 13. an apparatus as claimed in any one of the above claims, wherein said dummy comprises a plurality of said sensors, each located at a respective different position. 14. an apparatus as claimed in any one of the above claims, further comprising a stand arranged to hold said dummy in a substantially upright configuration. 15. an apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said stand is resiliently biased to hold said dummy in said substantially upright configuration. 16. an apparatus as claimed in claim 14 or claim 15, wherein said stand is arranged to hold said dummy in said substantially upright position with the torso of the dummy leaning forwards at an angle between 10° and 45° relative to the vertical. 17. an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 16, said stand is arranged to hold said dummy at a height corresponding to that of a standing person. 18. an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein the height of said stand is adjustable. 19. an apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein the weight of said stand is adjustable. 20. a method of manufacturing an interactive fighting apparatus, comprising: providing a dummy comprising at least one sensor arranged to measure the force of a blow incident to the dummy and to provide a sensor signal indicative of said measured force; providing a display device arranged to display information to a user for indicating when a user might strike the dummy; and providing an output device arrange to receive said sensor signal, and to output information to a user indicative of the force of said incident blow, wherein said at least one sensor is arranged to measure at least two separate vector components of the force of said blow. 21. a method of operation of an interactive fighting apparatus comprising a dummy, the method comprising: displaying information to a user for indicating when a user might strike the dummy; measuring the force of a blow incident to the dummy outputting information to a user indicative of the force of said incident blow, wherein said measuring step comprises measuring at least two separate vector components of the force. 22. a method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said measuring step comprises measuring both translational and rotational components of the force of said blow. 23. a method as claimed in claim 21 or claim 22, further comprising measuring the position of the incident blow on the dummy. 24. a method as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein said displaying step comprises displaying instructions to a user indicative of at least one of: the type of strike that should be performed by the user, a sequence of strikes that should be performed by the user, and the position or positions on the dummy that the user should strike. 25. a method as claimed in in any one of claims 21 to 24, wherein said displaying step comprises displaying an image of a moving opponent. 26. a method as claimed in claim 25, wherein said displaying step comprises determining the motions of a second user, and displaying an image representing the determined motions. 27. a method as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 26, further comprising analysing the measurements as a function of time to determine the type of blow. 28. a method as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 27, further comprising analysing the measurements and determining the likely effect of the blow on an opponent, said outputting step comprising outputting information indicative of the determined likely effect of the blow. 29. a method as claimed in claim 28, wherein said information is output as an image of an opponent, with damage of the opponent illustrated on the image. 30. a method as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 29, further comprising calculating, and outputting information indicative of, at least one of the rate of blows provided by the user, and the calories expended by the user in providing said blows to the dummy, from said measurements.
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interactive fighting apparatus the present invention relates to an interactive fighting apparatus, and to associated methods of manufacture and operation of said apparatus. particular embodiments of the invention are particularly suitable for, but not limited to, use in fitness applications such as martial arts and combat sports training, as well as in games machines. martial arts and combat sports such as boxing are popular leisure activities, allowing participants to both keep-fit and learn self-defence skills in a stimulating and entertaining environment. many such activities include competitive sparring sessions, in which two participants fight each other with opponents typically being of approximately equal weight and experience. training must be performed on a regular basis to effectively develop the skills to defend oneself in potentially life-threatening situations, or to perform optimally in organised sparring competitions. a variety of training apparatus is available to enable practitioners to develop the precision and speed of their techniques, as well as enhance their physical fitness and condition their bodies. punching bags, kicking pads and large stuffed, punching dummies exist that are used by practitioners as targets to improve the delivery of their strikes. the strikes may be performed by any portion of the human body e.g. hand, arm, elbow, legs, feet, knees, fingertip and knuckle. to allow practitioners to practice/ improve the speed of their strikes, dummies such as the "slam man™" exist. such dummies consist of a human torso made from a material such as high-density plastic, and mounted on a solid base filled with sand. a number of target lights are located at different positions on the dummy, and are arranged to flash (either at random or in predetermined patterns). the user then punches the relevant areas as the lights flash, potentially resulting in an improvement of the hand-eye coordination and the reaction speed of the user. a dummy popular in chinese martial arts training is the "wooden man post" (muk yan jong). the dummy can be made of wood, steel or plastic. typically, the dummy includes a central post, to which are affixed various protrusions representing arms and legs of an opponent. for example, the wing chun version of the dummy has three protrusions representing arms, and one protrusion representing a leg. martial artists can practice a variety of hand and foot techniques on such a dummy, including not only strikes but also blocks. however, such a dummy does not provide any feedback regarding the efficacy of the techniques performed on it. in many martial arts techniques, it is desirable that a practitioner is able to demonstrate the force with which a strike can be performed. it is also desirable that the practitioner trains so as to be able to effectively deliver powerful strikes. breaking, in which an object is struck, is a common action used to both develop and demonstrate the power of strikes. for example, the practitioner may break wooden boards. the force needed to break a board of wood can vary, depending upon the type, grain pattern, age and humidity of the wood. further, once a wooden board has been broken, it can typically not be re-used. to overcome such disadvantages, breaking boards have been developed that consist of two pieces of material such as plastic. the two pieces of material are arranged to be coupled together (e.g. by a tongue and groove joint), such that the two pieces will separate under a predetermined force when struck. to separate the two pieces of the board, the correct amount of force needs to be applied in both the correct direction, and at the correct location on the board. a range of breaking boards are produced, each being arranged to "break" under a different, pre-determined load. a variety of games have also been produced, which allow a user to measure the linear force of punch or strike. examples of such games include "real punch" and "sonic blastman", both of which were manufactured by the company taito. it is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to substantially address one or more problems of the prior art, whether described herein or otherwise. it is an aim of particular embodiments of the present invention to provide an improved interactive fighting apparatus. in a first aspect, the present invention provides an interactive fighting apparatus comprising: a dummy comprising at least one sensor arranged to measure the force of a blow incident to the dummy and to provide a sensor signal indicative of the measured force of said incident blow; a display device arranged to display information to a user for indicating when a user might strike the dummy; and an output device arrange to receive said sensor signal, and to output information to a user indicative of the measured force of said incident blow, wherein said at least one sensor is arranged to measure at least two separate vector components of the force of said blow. many known prior art gaming and training apparatus do not make any measurement of the force of a blow or strike to the apparatus, but often only measure that a blow has struck a particular area on the apparatus. if the force of a blow is measured, then it is done so in only one direction i.e. only one vector component of the force is measured. the present inventor has realised that measuring only one vector component does not provide an accurate measurement of the total force of the blow, which may land at an angle to the direction of force measurement. the present inventor has realised that providing an apparatus that measures vector components of the force with which the apparatus is being hit greatly increases the accuracy of the force measurement. preferred embodiments combine such force measurement with the capacity to provide graphical feedback of the effects of multiple strikes or simultaneous strikes to different strike targets. such information can be used in training, to allow a user to understand precisely how much force has been generated by the blow, and in what directions relative to the intended main direction of the blow. equally, such information can be used to enhance the realism in fighting games, by using the information to, for instance, calculate the likely damage to an opponent or calculate the likely effect on an opponent. for example, if the blow includes a rotational component, then the likely effect might be that an opponent is spun around by the blow. said at least one sensor may be arranged to measure both translational and rotational components of the force of said blow. said dummy may comprise a head portion and a torso portion, each portion comprising at least one respective sensor. said head portion may be coupled to said torso portion by a flexible neck portion. said head portion may be rotatable relative to said torso portion. the dummy may further comprise a jaw portion pivotally mounted to the head portion. said dummy may comprise a torso portion and at least one arm portion extending longitudinally from the torso portion. said arm portion may be rotatably mounted relative to said torso portion. said dummy may comprise a torso portion and at least one leg portion extending longitudinally downwards from the torso portion, said leg portion comprising at least a first section and a second section, the second section extending at an angle from said first section. at least one of said portions may be coupled to another of said portions by a resiliently biased joint. at least one of said portions of the dummy may comprise at least one area of relatively resilient material positioned to correspond to a vulnerable area of the human body, surrounded by an area of less resilient material. at least one of said portions of the dummy may comprise a contact sensor positioned to determine if contact is made with a predetermined area on the dummy. said dummy may comprise a plurality of said sensors, each located at a respective different position. the apparatus may further comprise a stand arranged to hold said dummy in a substantially upright configuration. said stand may be resiliently biased to hold said dummy in said substantially upright configuration. said stand may be arranged to hold said dummy in said substantially upright position with the torso of the dummy leaning forwards at an angle between 10° and 45° relative to the vertical. said stand may be arranged to hold said dummy at a height corresponding to that of a standing person. the height of said stand may be adjustable. the weight of said stand may be adjustable. in a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing an interactive fighting apparatus, comprising: providing a dummy comprising at least one sensor arranged to measure the force of a blow incident to the dummy and to provide a sensor signal indicative of said measured force; providing a display device arranged to display information to a user for indicating when a user might strike the dummy; and providing an output device arrange to receive said sensor signal, and to output information to a user indicative of the force of said incident blow, wherein said at least one sensor is arranged to measure at least two separate vector components of the force of said blow. in a third aspect, the present invention provides a method of operation of an interactive fighting apparatus comprising a dummy, the method comprising: displaying information to a user for indicating when a user might strike the dummy; measuring the force of a blow incident to the dummy; and outputting information to a user indicative of the force of said incident blow, wherein said measuring step comprises measuring at least two separate vector components of the force. said measuring step may comprise measuring both translational and rotational components of the force of said blow. the method may further comprise measuring the position of the incident blow on the dummy. said displaying step may comprise displaying instructions to a user indicative of at least one of: the type of strike that should be performed by the user, a sequence of strikes that should be performed by the user, and the position or positions on the dummy that the user should strike. said displaying step may comprise displaying an image of a moving opponent. said displaying step may comprise determining the motions of a second user, and displaying an image representing the determined motions. the method may further comprise analysing the measurements as a function of time to determine the type of blow. the method may further comprise analysing the measurements and determining the likely effect of the blow on an opponent, said outputting step comprising outputting information indicative of the determined likely effect of the blow. said information may be output as an image of an opponent, with damage of the opponent illustrated on the image. the method may further comprise calculating, and outputting information indicative of, at least one of the rate of blows provided by the user, and the calories expended by the user in providing said blows to the dummy, from said measurements. in a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a device for controlling an interactive fighting apparatus, the device comprising: a program memory containing processor readable instructions; and a processor configured to read and execute instructions stored in said program memory, wherein said processor readable instructions comprise instructions configured to control said apparatus to carry out a method described above. in a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a carrier medium carrying computer readable code configured to cause a computer to carry out a method described above. preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an interactive fighting apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an alternative embodiment of an interactive fighting apparatus; figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a head for use in an interactive fighting apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a further embodiment of a head; and figure 5 is a three dimensional perspective view of an embodiment of a dummy for use in an interactive fighting apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. figure 1 illustrates an interactive fighting apparatus 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. the apparatus 10 includes a dummy 20 for receiving blows from a user. in this embodiment, the dummy 20 is formed in the general shape of a human. the dummy 20 includes a head portion 30 mounted on a torso portion 40. the head portion 30 is rotatable relative to the torso portion 40. arm portions 42a, 42b and 42c extend from the torso portion 40. the arm portions 42a-c extend from the torso portion 40, and are configured to simulate the positions of human arms. preferably, the arms are positioned to simulate a fighting posture or stance. for example the arms may be raised, preferably with a bend in the arms corresponding to an elbow joint, e.g. to simulate a guard position or block. preferably, the different body portions are coupled together so as to simulate the biomechanical range of motion and isometric muscle tension of a human being. for example, the isometric muscle tension can be simulated using resilient couplings (e.g. rubber or spring systems) so that a user wanting to move portions of the dummy relative to other portions (e.g. either by striking, pushing, pulling or twisting the dummy) has to work to create that movement. in the particular illustrated embodiment, the dummy 20 comprises three arm portions, in the same configuration as used in the arms used in the "wooden man post". however, it should be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, two arm portions may be utilised, each consisting of two sections to simulate the human arm. each arm portion 42a-b is rotatably mounted to the torso portion 40. in this embodiment, all three arm portions 42a-42c are coupled to a common section (as indicated by the dotted lines) that is coupled to, and rotatable relative to, the torso portion 40. this rotatable mounting allows a user to more realistically interact with the arms when performing techniques such as "sticking hands". at least one leg portion 50 extends from the base of the torso portion 40. in this embodiment, the dummy 20 comprises two leg portions 50. each leg portion 50 consists of two sections 52, 54 for simulating respectively the upper and lower sections of a human leg. the second, lower section 54 extends at an angle from an end of the first section 52, so as to simulate the position of the knee. the dummy is held in an upright position by a stand 60. the stand 60 comprises a base section 62 which, in use, sits on the ground or floor. a member 64 extends from the base section 62 to the dummy 20, so as to hold the dummy 20 in an upright, or at least a substantially upright, position. the member 64 is coupled to the dummy 20 by a resilient coupling e.g. by a joint made of, or comprising, rubber. preferably, the torso of the dummy is configured to move so as to extend nearly horizontal (e.g. at an angle of 70° to the vertical or more), as well as to bend to either side (i.e. laterally, relative to the posture of the dummy) to at least some extent (e.g. by at least about 10°). this resilient biasing of the dummy can be performed either by a coupling of the stand to the dummy 20, and/or by a portion of the dummy being formed of resilient material, such as rubber, to allow the dummy portion to have the predetermined range of movement. for example, the lower portion of the dummy torso 40 may be formed so as to act as a hip, either due to the hip portion being formed of resilient material, or due to the hip portion being coupled to the remainder of the torso by appropriately biased resilient couplings. allowing the torso of the dummy to move to such a degree allows the dummy to simulate grappling. for example, a user could pull the upper section of the dummy downwards, and/or to either side e.g. to perform a knee strike to the head 30 of the dummy 20. the resilient biasing of the dummy allows the dampening out of some of the impact forces that may arise from strikes to the dummy. such resilient biasing (e.g. by spring systems or rubber) is arranged such that the dummy 20 returns to the predetermined position (e.g. in a fighting stance) after being struck by a user. preferably, the stand is arranged to hold the dummy 20 in a position corresponding to that of a standing person. most preferably, the dummy and stand are arranged to simulate a fighting stance. for example, this could occur with the torso of the dummy leaning forwards, at an angle of about 30° (e.g. between 10° and 45°) to the vertical. preferably, the head 30 of the dummy (along with any associated portion of the dummy corresponding to a neck) is configured so as to be positioned at an angle relative to the torso. for example, a portion of the head corresponding to the chin could be position "tucked into" the chest e.g. with the chin either adjacent to (within 4cm, or even 4cm, of the closest portion of the chest), or touching the chest. the stand is typically arranged to hold the dummy at a height corresponding to that of an average, standing human. the length of the member 64 can be varied, so as to adjust the height of the dummy. thus, the dummy can be lowered for smaller users, or raised in height for taller users (or to simulate taller opponents). during use, the dummy is struck by user, which can result in movement of both the dummy 20 and the stand 60. to adjust the apparent "weight" of the dummy (i.e. the amount by which the dummy/stand combination moves when struck), the weight of the stand is adjustable. in this particular embodiment, this is achieved by loading different weights 68 onto a weight holder 66 (shown as a pole) coupled to the base 62 of the stand 60. at least one portion of the dummy comprises a sensor arranged to measure the force of a blow incident to the dummy, in at least two different directions. thus, at least two separate vector components of the force of the blow are measured. the vector components could be orthogonal vector components i.e. along directions perpendicular to each other. alternatively, one vector component could be a linear or translational component (i.e. the force along one particular direction), while the other vector component could be a rotational component of the force of the strike. any number of such sensors could be included within the dummy. for example, a separate sensor could be incorporated within each portion or section of the dummy 20. in the particular embodiment illustrated in figure 1, the dummy 20 includes two force sensors. one sensor is located in the head portion 30, and the other sensor is located in the torso portion 40. the force sensors are arranged to measure the force of a blow in three orthogonal linear directions (e.g. along a nominal x-axis, y-axis and z-axis), as well as the corresponding rotational components relative to each axis. various known accelerometer packages are available that are capable of determining such forces. typically, such sensors are formed of an array of accelerometers. for example, a nine-accelerometer package arranged in a padgoankar 3-2-2-2 pattern has been proven to be one of the most reliable arrangements. the article by newman j.a., et al. "verification of biomechanical methods employed in a comprehensive survey of mild traumatic brain injury and the effectiveness of american football helmets", journal of biomechanics 38 (2005), describes such an arrangement the sensor consists of a set of triaxial accelerometers positioned amid three sets of tangentially positioned bi-axial accelerometer pairs the dummy 20 further comprises at least one contact sensor, arranged to determine if contact is made with (e.g. a blow is landed on) a pre-determined area of the surface of the dummy 20. a single sensor, arranged to determine a contact position, could be used to monitor the position of any blows to the dummy 20. alternatively, a series of discrete contact sensors could be positioned, each arranged to simply determine if contact is made with a particular predetermined region or area of the dummy. in the particular embodiment illustrated in figure 1, the dummy 20 comprises a plurality of contact sensors. each contact sensor is located at a respective different position, and is arranged to determine when contact is made with that sensor. in particular, the contact sensors are positioned at locations on the dummy 20 that correspond to vulnerable areas of the human body e.g. a separate contact sensor is provided for the head 30, ribs 44, solar plexus 46, groin 48 and knee 56. in the embodiment of the dummy 20 illustrated in figure 1, these vulnerable areas are covered by an area of relatively resilient or soft material (indicated in the figure by a hatched pattern). for example, the bulk of the dummy 20 could be made of a material that is compressible such as wood or plastic. the areas of the dummy surface corresponding to more vulnerable areas would then be covered by a more resilient and/or a softer material such as rubber. preferably, the more vulnerable areas are also coloured or patterned differently, so as to allow a user to readily identify the vulnerable areas on the body. the apparatus 10 further includes a computational device 70. the device 70 includes a programme memory containing processor readable instructions, and a processor configured to read and execute instructions stored in the programme memory. the device 70, which in the figure is illustrated as a personal computer, is arranged to control the operation of the interactive fighting apparatus. in particular, the device 70 is coupled to each of the sensors of the dummy, and is arranged to process the output signals from the sensors. for example, the device 70 is coupled to the accelerometers used to measure the force of blows that strikes the dummy. the device 70 is arranged to calculate the different translational (i.e. linear) and rotational components of the force of blows, from the signals output by the accelerometers, as well as the total force of such blows. the apparatus also includes a display device arranged to display information for indicating when a user might strike the dummy, and an output device arranged to output information to a user indicative of the measured force of a blow (and preferably also the relative components of the force of the blow) incident to the dummy 20. the display device is arranged to display information to a user for indicating when the user should strike the dummy. for example, such information could simply be an output that the apparatus is ready to use. alternatively, the display device could comprise a series of lights arranged at different locations around or on the dummy 20, with each light arranged to light up in a random sequence or pattern, to indicate that a user should strike that portion of the dummy. the display device could be arranged to provide instructions to facilitate the training of a user e.g. instructions to perform a pre-determined sequence of moves (i.e. strikes to the dummy at pre-determined areas, using pre-determined techniques). such instructions could be provided diagrammatically by showing the representation of a fighter conducting the relevant move on an image of the dummy, or as text. in the particular embodiment shown in figure 1, the computational device 70 is also coupled to contact sensors, and arranged to determine when contact is made with a contact sensor, and with which contact sensor i.e. arranged to determine the position of the blow. the computational device is arranged to correlate the contact/position information with the force information e.g. so as to determine how strong a blow was landed by the user, and on what portion of the body. for example, this could then be utilised by the computational device to calculate (either using a predetermined algorithm, or based upon a look-up table) the likely effect of the blow e.g. to determine whether the blow would disable, hinder the function of, or brake a particular limb, or body portion of a real human (or at least a predetermined computer model of an opponent). the calculated likely effect of the blow can then be displayed (e.g. on the output device). for example this information could be output as a written message on the output device, or could be shown as a graphical representation on the output device e.g. by illustrating damage to an image of the body of an opponent. as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, displaying information indicative of the likely effect, an audio signal could be provided (e.g. from a speaker coupled to the computational device 70) representative of the likely effect of the blow e.g. a voice could provide a commentary, or make groaning sounds corresponding to the likely effect of the blow. in the particular embodiment illustrated in figure 1, both the display device and the output device are combined in a single display are combined in a single display 80, which is coupled to the computational device 70. the computational device 70 controls the information displayed by the display 80. alternatively, rather than providing instructions, or a predetermined sequence of images to a user, the display device could display an image of an opponent performing a series of combat techniques e.g. strikes and/or blocks. the user could then react to such strikes and/or blocks e.g. if the image shows the opponent as performing a punch, then the user might only be allowed to "score", or have their strike/blow registered as a good or valid hit, if they perform a pre-determined action e.g. a blow to the dummy that the device 70 is arranged to recognise as an appropriate block to the strike performed by the image of the opponent. using such a principle, the interactive fighting apparatus can be implemented as a game, with the dummy acting as an input device, allowing the user to fight with an imaginary opponent. martial arts fighting games are well known, and typically include two or more combatants, with each combatant having a representative amount of energy. in such games, the aim is for a user (e.g. games player) to minimise the energy extended or taken from his combatant whilst decreasing the energy of the opponent combatant(s) to be zero. such a game could be implemented using the present apparatus. preferably, the computational device 70 is arranged to determine the cumulative effects of various blows, and to display the relevant results. for example, the computational device could model a combatant of the user and model of a combatant of the opponent, with each model having an energy associated therewith. the energy of the opponent could be depleted by an amount dependent upon the total force, and /or particular force components, and/or location, of each blow. the output device (e.g. display 80 or corresponding audio output) could output information indicative of the energy of the opponent at any given moment. it should be appreciated that the above embodiment is described by way of example only, and that various other implementations will be apparent to the skilled person as falling within the scope of the claims. for example, in the above embodiment described with reference to figure 1, the user is described as undergoing a training routine, conducting strikes (either at random or following a set of instructions) to the dummy, or having a simulated fight (using the dummy as an input device) with a computer controlled image of an opponent. in an alternative embodiment, the user conducts a simulated fight (using strikes on the dummy to control the blows and/or conduct blocks) against one or more human controlled opponents. the actions of the human controlled opponent can be displayed to the user by a display device displaying a computer-generated image of the opponent. the other user controlling the human controlled opponent could perform the control operations using a normal game controller e.g. a controller for an x-box™ or playstation™. more preferably, each user uses an interactive fighting apparatus 10 as a control device. in such instances, the opponent image provided to the user by the display device could be a real image of the other human, e.g. captured by one or more image capture devices such as cameras. various modifications could be made to the apparatus 10. for example, figure 2 illustrates a further interactive fighting apparatus 10', suitable for (but not restricted to) use in human vs. human simulated combat. within the figures, identical reference numerals represent similar features. the apparatus 10' can thus be seen to, share many of the features of the apparatus 10 shown in figure 1. in addition, the apparatus includes two image capture devices 92, positioned to capture the image of a first user striking the dummy 20. the captured images could be transmitted to a further user operating a similar apparatus, and displayed to that further user on a display device. thus, the further user could see, and respond to, the movements of the first user. the apparatus 10' also includes an additional input device in the form of a contact mat 94. the mat 94 is positioned on a surface adjacent (e.g. on the floor in front of) the dummy 20. the mat includes a plurality (e.g. an array) of sensor portions 96, each arranged to output a signal when a user stands on that portion. the computational device 70 is arranged to receive signals from the mat 94 indicative of the relevant portion(s) of the mat on which the user is standing. preferably, the signals are also indicative of the weight placed by the user on each portion. such signals can be processed by the device 70 to provide further information regarding the techniques being performed by the user e.g. the stances performed by the user, the relative weight placed on each leg, the rate at which the legs are moved to a different position or weight transferred between legs etc. such information can be provided as feedback to a user, or used to more accurately monitor and model the actions performed by the user, including more accurately determining the likely effect of the actions/ blows of the user on an opponent. the apparatus 10' also has a torso 40' from which only two arm portions 42a, 42b, extend. preferably, the arm portions are removably mounted to the torso 40', so as to allow the torso 40, 40' to be swapped between different configurations of arms (e.g. between the three arm configuration shown in figure 1 and the two arm configuration shown in figure 2), or to have completely different types of arm portion attached to the dummy. other portions of the apparatus may also be implemented differently. for example, figure 3 shows an alternative head portion 130. the head portion 130 comprises an image capture device 192. in this embodiment, the image capture device 192 is a camera, and is mounted in the forehead of the head portion 130. the image capture device 192 can be used in conjunction with, or as an alternative to, the image capture devices 92 illustrated in figure 2. the head portion 30 illustrated in figures 1 & 2 can be regarded as comprising a single, vulnerable area, having a single contact sensor arranged to determine when the head portion is contacted by a blow. however, for increased realism, the head portion 130 is divided up into a number of different areas, with specific vulnerable areas being indicated as comprising the jaw 138, nose 136, eyes 132, and temples 136. each can have a corresponding contact sensor, arranged to determine when that area is contacted by a blow (e.g. and to pass such information on to the device 70) the head portion 130 is coupled to a neck portion 123, which is suitable for being rotatably mounted on a torso portion. further, for increased realism, the neck portion is formed of a number of discrete sections 125a, 125b, 125c. each section 125a-c is shaped as a ring. each section 125a-c is resiliently coupled to the adjoining section, thus allowing the neck portion 123 to flex e.g. when the head is struck by a blow. preferably, the head is coupled to the neck in such a manner that the neck has freedom to both flex backwards and forwards (relative to the posture of the dummyx bend laterally, rotate, and extend or protract. such a range of movements allows the head/neck combination to respond realistically to strikes from all angles. the neck portion 123 also comprises a vulnerable area (corresponding to the adams apple 127), with a corresponding contact sensor. figure 4 shows an alternative embodiment of a head portion 230, the features of which can be combined with the features of the embodiments of any of the previous head portions. for increased realism, this head portion 230 comprises a movable jaw portion 238. the movable jaw portion 238 is pivotally mounted 239 to the remainder of the head portion. preferably, the jaw portion 239 is resiliently biased to return to a predetermined position relative to the remainder of the head portion 230, after it has been struck. as per head 130, a flexible neck portion 223 is coupled to the head 230, and comprises a plurality of segments 225a, 225b, 225c. to resiliently bias the neck portion, a spring 228 extends from a first mount 226a connected to the head 230, to a second mount 226b (which would be connected to a torso portion). the stand supporting the dummy may also be implemented in various ways. for example, figure 5 shows a dummy 320 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. the dummy 320 comprises a head portion 330 and a body portion 340. arm portions 342a, 342b, 342c extend from the torso portion 340. a stand portion 360 (which also functions as a lower body portion) extends from the base of the torso portion. a stand member 363 extends centrally from the base of the body portion, to the floor. a plurality of (here, three) equally sized and shaped legs portions 361 extend from the stand/ lower body portion 360. preferably the leg portions are positioned equidistantly around the lower body portion. the stand member 363 is of sufficient length that, in normal use, the leg portions 361 are positioned a predetermined distance from the ground or floor. as previously, the leg portions can be struck by a user, and the force / position of strikes thereon may be measured. further, in this embodiment, the leg portions also act as auxiliary supports, limiting the angle from which the dummy can be displaced from the normal equilibrium position when struck (as the leg portion(s) will contact the floor/ ground, and prevent further movement of the dummy). various alternatives implementations will be apparent to the skilled person, as falling within the scope of the appended claims.
|
022-862-237-500-319
|
TW
|
[
"US",
"TW"
] |
G06F11/00,G06F11/267,G01R31/28,G06F13/12
| 2009-11-20T00:00:00 |
2009
|
[
"G06",
"G01"
] |
automatic testing system and method for judging whether universal serial bus device is configured to computer
|
an automatic testing system and method for judging whether a universal serial bus device is configured to a computer are provided. the automatic testing system includes a computer and a testing device for testing the universal serial bus device. by judging whether the universal serial bus device is configured to the computer, the automatic testing system could determine the timing of performing an automatic testing procedure on the universal serial bus device.
|
1. an automatic testing system for automatically testing a universal serial bus device, said automatic testing system comprising: a computer; a testing device connected to said computer and said universal serial bus device for testing said universal serial bus device, wherein when said universal serial bus device is connected with said testing device, plural descriptors are transmitted from said universal serial bus device to said computer; a connecting management program installed in said computer for judging whether a target descriptor of said plural descriptors is transmitted to said computer, wherein after said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer and said connecting management program detects that said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer again within a waiting time, said waiting time is zeroed and recounted by said connecting management program, and wherein after said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer and said connecting management program does not detect that said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer again within said waiting time, an enabling signal is generated; and an automatic testing program installed in said computer for enabling said testing device according to said enabling signal, thereby automatically testing said universal serial bus device. 2. the automatic testing system according to claim 1 wherein said connecting management program further comprises a timer for counting said waiting time. 3. the automatic testing system according to claim 1 wherein after said waiting time is recounted by said connecting management program and said connecting management program detects that said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer again within said recounted waiting time, said waiting time is zeroed and recounted by said connecting management program again, and wherein after said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer again and said connecting management program does not detect that said target descriptor is transmitted to said computer within said recounted waiting time, said enabling signal is generated. 4. the automatic testing system according to claim 1 wherein said target descriptor is a device descriptor. 5. the automatic testing system according to claim 4 wherein said device descriptor includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). 6. the automatic testing system according to claim 1 wherein said target descriptor includes a device descriptor, an interface descriptor and a report descriptor. 7. the automatic testing system according to claim 6 wherein said device descriptor further includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). 8. the automatic testing system according to claim 1 wherein said universal serial bus device is a usb mouse or a usb keyboard. 9. a method for judging whether a universal serial bus device is configured to a computer, said method comprising steps of: receiving plural descriptors generated from said universal serial bus device; and judging whether a target descriptor of said plural descriptors is received, wherein after said target descriptor is received and said target descriptor is received again within a waiting time, said waiting time is zeroed and recounted, and wherein after said target descriptor is received and said target descriptor is not received again within said waiting time, said universal serial bus device is determined to be configured to said computer. 10. the method according to claim 9 wherein after said waiting time is recounted and said target descriptor is received again within said recounted waiting time, said waiting time is zeroed and recounted again, and wherein once said target descriptor is not received within said recounted waiting time, said universal serial bus device is determined to be configured to said computer. 11. the method according to claim 10 wherein said target descriptor is a device descriptor. 12. the method according to claim 11 wherein said device descriptor includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). 13. the method according to claim 9 wherein said target descriptor includes a device descriptor, an interface descriptor and a report descriptor. 14. the method according to claim 13 wherein said device descriptor further includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). 15. the method according to claim 9 wherein said universal serial bus device is a usb mouse or a usb keyboard.
|
field of the invention the present invention relates to an automatic testing system, and more particularly to an automatic testing system for automatically testing a universal serial bus device. background of the invention usb (universal serial bus) is a specification to establish communication between a device and a host controller. since the usb has plug-and-play capability, usb devices have been used in many applications. the common usb devices are for example usb video players, usb storage devices, usb mice, usb keyboards, and the like. during or after a usb device is fabricated, a testing procedure is usually performed to assure normal functions of the usb device. take a usb keyboard for example. according to a simple testing procedure, the usb keyboard is firstly connected with a computer. then, all keys of the usb keyboard are manually and successively depressed by the tester. after the keys are depressed, the functions corresponding respective keys are observed to judge whether any defects are present. the manual testing procedure is time-consuming and labor-intensive. in addition, since too many keys need to be manually tested, the tester is readily suffered from fatigue after a long testing time period. under this circumstance, the possibility of erroneously depressing the keys is increased. for solving these problems, a commercially available automatic keyboard testing device for testing keyboard is disclosed in for example taiwanese patent publication no. 00325905. the operating principles of this patent are known in the art, and are not redundantly described herein. before the usb device is tested, the usb device needs to be connected with a computer or a testing device. during the process of connecting the usb device with the computer or the testing device, a message indicating a device change is generated. at the same time, usb protocol descriptions are transmitted from the usb device to the computer. by reading the usb protocol descriptions, the computer may identify the function of the usb device. the usb protocol descriptions are also referred as descriptors. a usb device has several descriptors, including a device descriptor, a configuration descriptor, an interface descriptor, an endpoint descriptor, and the like. another usb device further includes a string descriptor, a class descriptor and a report descriptor. according to the practical requirement of the usb device, the number of descriptors is increased or decreased. after the descriptors are received by the computer, the descriptors of the usb device are stored in a device registry. from now on, after the usb device is connected with the computer again, the usb device will be detected by the computer. via the device registry, the usb device is identified by the computer in order to enable the configuration of the usb device. for example, the computer of the testing device is operated under a microsoft windows operating system. when the usb device is connected with the computer (or the testing device) to transmit the descriptors, all usb ports of the computer will be detected by the microsoft windows operating system. under this circumstance, the descriptors of the usb device are repeatedly detected by the computer. after the procedure of detecting all usb ports of the computer is completed, the procedure of enabling configuration of the usb device is done and then the procedure of automatically testing the usb device is performed. although the computer is able to detect all usb ports, the computer fails to judge whether the configuration of the usb device is enabled. in other words, the computer fails to determine the timing of performing the automatic testing procedure. it is necessary to judge whether the usb device is configured to the computer by manpower. after the usb device is configured, the automatic testing device is activated to perform the automatic testing procedure. since the manpower is indispensable, the conventional automatic testing procedure is ineffective. summary of the invention it is an object of the present invention provides an automatic testing system for determining the timing of performing an automatic testing procedure on a usb device. another object of the present invention provides a method for judging whether a universal serial bus device is configured to a computer, so that the automatic testing system is able to determine the timing of performing an automatic testing procedure on a usb device. in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic testing system for automatically testing a universal serial bus device. the automatic testing system includes a computer, a testing device, a connecting management program and an automatic testing program. the testing device is connected to the computer and the universal serial bus device for testing the universal serial bus device. when the universal serial bus device is connected with the testing device, plural descriptors are transmitted from the universal serial bus device to the computer. the connecting management program is installed in the computer for judging whether a target descriptor of the plural descriptors is transmitted to the computer. after the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer and the connecting management program detects that the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer again within a waiting time, the waiting time is zeroed and recounted by the connecting management program. whereas, after the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer and the connecting management program does not detect that the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer again within the waiting time, an enabling signal is generated. the automatic testing program is installed in the computer for enabling the testing device according to the enabling signal, thereby automatically testing the universal serial bus device. in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, the connecting management program further comprises a timer for counting the waiting time. in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, after the waiting time is recounted by the connecting management program and the connecting management program detects that the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer again within the recounted waiting time, the waiting time is zeroed and recounted by the connecting management program again. whereas, after the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer again and the connecting management program does not detect that the target descriptor is transmitted to the computer within the recounted waiting time, the enabling signal is generated in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, the target descriptor is a device descriptor. in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, the device descriptor includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, the target descriptor includes a device descriptor, an interface descriptor and a report descriptor. in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, the device descriptor further includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). in an embodiment of the automatic testing system, the universal serial bus device is a usb mouse or a usb keyboard. in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for judging whether a universal serial bus device is configured to a computer. the method includes steps of receiving plural descriptors generated from the universal serial bus device, and judging whether a target descriptor of the plural descriptors is received. after the target descriptor is received and the target descriptor is received again within a waiting time, the waiting time is zeroed and recounted. whereas, after the target descriptor is received and the target descriptor is not received again within the waiting time, the universal serial bus device is determined to be configured to the computer. in an embodiment of the method, after the waiting time is recounted and the target descriptor is received again within the recounted waiting time, the waiting time is zeroed and recounted again. whereas, once the target descriptor is not received within the recounted waiting time, the universal serial bus device is determined to be configured to the computer in an embodiment of the method, the target descriptor is a device descriptor. in an embodiment of the method, the device descriptor includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). in an embodiment of the method, the target descriptor includes a device descriptor, an interface descriptor and a report descriptor. in an embodiment of the method, the device descriptor further includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). in an embodiment of the method, the universal serial bus device is a usb mouse or a usb keyboard. the above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which: brief description of the drawings fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for judging whether a usb device is configured to a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention; and fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an automatic testing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description of the preferred embodiment for allowing the computer to realize the timing of initiating the automatic testing procedure, the present invention provides a method for judging whether a usb device is configured to the computer. fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for judging whether a usb device is configured to a computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. in the step s 1 , a testing device is connected with a computer, and a usb device is connected with the testing device such that the usb device is in communication with the computer. in the step s 2 , plural descriptors are transmitted from the usb device to the computer. in the step s 3 , the method judges whether a target descriptor from the usb device is received. in the step s 4 , a timer is started, and method judges whether the target descriptor is received again within a waiting time. in the step s 5 , the waiting time is zeroed and the waiting time is recounted. in the step s 6 , it is determined that the usb device is configured to the computer. in the step s 7 , an automatic testing procedure of the usb device is performed. in addition, once the target descriptor from the usb device is not received in the step s 3 , the step s 3 will be repeatedly done. whereas, once the target descriptor from the usb device is received in the step s 3 , the step s 4 is done. once the target descriptor is received again within the waiting time in the step s 4 , the step s 5 is done. whereas, once the target descriptor is not received again within the waiting time, the step s 6 is done. after the step s 5 is done, the step s 4 will be performed. hereinafter, the method for judging whether the usb device is configured to the computer will be illustrated in more details with reference to an automatic testing system. fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an automatic testing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. as shown in fig. 2 , the automatic testing system 1 is used for automatically testing a usb device 12 . the automatic testing system 1 comprises a computer 10 and a testing device 11 . the testing device 11 is connected to the computer 10 and the usb device 12 for testing the usb device 12 . the structures and operating principles of the testing device 11 are similar to those illustrated in taiwanese patent publication no. 00325905, and are not redundantly described herein. furthermore, the computer 10 has a connecting management program 101 and an automatic testing program 102 for executing automatic testing program procedure. the connecting management program 101 has a timer 1011 . the usb device 12 has a usb interface to be connected. in this embodiment, the usb device 12 is a usb keyboard. as previously described in the prior art, after the usb keyboard 12 is connected to the computer 10 or the testing device 11 , plural descriptors d will be transmitted from the usb keyboard 12 to the computer 10 . by reading the plural descriptors d, the computer 10 may identify the function of the usb keyboard 12 . the plural descriptors d are stored in a registry editor of the computer 10 . for assuring that the usb keyboard 12 is configured to the computer 10 , the last one of the plural descriptors d is defined as a target descriptor. according to the target descriptor, the method of the present invention may judge whether the usb keyboard 12 is configured to the computer 10 . moreover, the connecting management program 101 is employed to judge whether the target descriptor of the plural descriptors d is transmitted to the computer 10 . in this embodiment, the target descriptor is a device descriptor, which includes a product id (pid) and a vendor id (vid). alternatively, the target descriptor includes a device descriptor, an interface descriptor and a report descriptor. in a preferred embodiment, the target descriptor includes a device descriptor, an interface descriptor and a report descriptor, and the target descriptor is stored in the registry editor of the windows operating system of the computer. for example, the target descriptor has a format of vid — 1234pid — 5678mi — 05col — 09. when the automatic testing system 1 is activated, the testing device 11 is connected with the computer 10 and the usb keyboard 12 is connected with the testing device 11 , so that the usb keyboard 12 is in communication with the computer 10 (see step s 1 ). then, plural descriptors d are transmitted from the usb keyboard 12 to the computer 10 (see step s 2 ). then, the connecting management program 101 of the computer will judge whether a target descriptor from the usb keyboard 12 is received (see step s 3 ). once the connecting management program 101 detects that no target descriptor is received by the computer 10 , the step of receiving the target descriptor will be continuously performed until the target descriptor is received. once the connecting management program 101 detects that a target descriptor is received by the computer 10 , the timer 1011 is started and the connecting management program 101 judges whether the target descriptor is received again by the computer 10 within a waiting time (see step s 4 ). in the step s 4 , once the connecting management program 101 detects that the target descriptor is received by the computer 10 again within the waiting time, the waiting time is zeroed and the waiting time is recounted (see step s 5 ) and the step s 4 is repeatedly performed. once the connecting management program 101 detects that the target descriptor is not received by the computer 10 again within the waiting time, the usb keyboard 12 is determined to be configured to the computer 10 (see step s 6 ) and an enabling signal e is generated. according to the enabling signal e, the testing device 11 is enabled by the automatic testing program 102 , and thus the usb keyboard 12 is tested by the testing device 11 (see step s 7 ). the operating principles of the automatic testing procedure are not redundantly described herein. in the above embodiments, the waiting time is counted by the timer 1011 . according to the waiting time, the automatic testing system detects whether the descriptors d are repeatedly transmitted. in this context, the target descriptor may indicate all of the descriptors d. once the automatic testing system detects that the target descriptor is transmitted within the waiting time, it is meant that the usb ports have not been completely detected by the computer 10 . on the other hand, once the target descriptor is not received within the waiting time, it is meant that the usb keyboard 12 is configured to the computer 10 and the further automatic testing procedure could be performed. it is important to determine the waiting time. if the waiting time is too short, the target descriptor that should be detected will be neglected. that is, the connecting management program 101 will be possibly subject to erroneous judgment. under this circumstance, the further automatic testing procedure fails to be successfully performed. depending to the types of usb devices, the waiting time is variable. by undue experiments, the proper waiting time is determined. from the above description, the present invention provides an automatic testing system and a method for judging whether a universal serial bus device is configured to a computer. once the connecting management program detects that the target descriptor is not received by the computer again within the waiting time, the usb device is determined to be configured to the computer. after the usb device is configured to the computer, the automatic testing procedure will be performed. since the automatic testing system and the judging method of the present invention are capable of automatically implemented, the present invention is more efficient and labor-saving. while the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. on the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
|
022-965-281-394-295
|
US
|
[
"AU",
"GB",
"CN",
"BR",
"ZA",
"WO",
"US",
"CA"
] |
B65D81/02,B65D/,B65D90/04,B65D88/12,B65D88/54,B65D88/16,B65B1/04,B65B31/00,B65D88/52
| 2011-02-07T00:00:00 |
2011
|
[
"B65"
] |
systems and methods for packaging and transporting bulk materials
|
a flexible container includes a container body and a flexible cover. the container body defines an interior volume and includes a side all that defines an opening. the opening is configured to receive a bulk material therethrough such that the bulk material can be disposed within an interior volume of the container body. the flexible cover can be coupled to the side wall about the opening. the cover is configured to fluidically isolate the interior volume from a volume substantially outside of the flexible container.
|
what is claimed is: 1. an apparatus, comprising: a container body defining an interior volume, the container body including a side wall defining an opening, the interior volume configured to contain a bulk material disposed therein via the opening, the container body constructed from a flexible material; and a cover configured to be coupled to the side wall of the container body about the opening to fiuidically isolate the interior volume from a volume outside of the container body, the cover constructed from a flexible material. 2. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cover and the sidewall form a substantially planar surface when the container body and the cover are collectively in an expanded configuration. 3. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the container body or the cover defines a port, the container body and the cover configured to be evacuated via the port after the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume. 4. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the container body or the cover defines a port, the container body and the cover configured to be placed in a collapsed configuration via reducing a pressure within the interior volume via the port. 5. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the opening has a noncircular shape. 6. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cover is coupled to the side wall via an adhesive bond. 7. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container body has a first portion and a second portion, the first portion constructed from a first material having a first stiffness, the second portion constructed from a second material having a second stiffness different than the first stiffness. 8. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container body has a first portion and a second portion, the first portion constructed from a first material, the second portion constructed from a second material, the opening defined by a portion of the side wall included in the second portion of the container body, the container body configured to be placed in a collapsed configuration via reducing a pressure within the interior volume, the first portion configured to deform a first amount when the container body is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the second portion configured to deform a second amount when the container body is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the second amount different than the first amount. 9. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flexible material from which the container body is constructed includes a first layer and a second layer. 10. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a bulkhead coupled to the side wall, the bulkhead including a support structure configured to receive a load applied to the container body. 11. the apparatus of claim 1 , wherein: the side wall defines a sleeve configured to receive a substantially rigid member. 12. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container body is configured to be coupled within a rigid shipping container, the apparatus further comprising: a tether, a first portion of the tether coupled to the container body, a second portion of the tether configured to be coupled to the rigid shipping container, a length of the tether configured to change when the container body and the cover are moved from the expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration. 13. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bulk material includes coal. 14. the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a substantially rigid container, the container body being coupled within the substantially rigid container to form a shipping system, the shipping system devoid of any one of a dunnage bag or a bulwark. 15. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container body has a length of approximately 20 feet, a height of approximately 8 feet and a width of approximately 7.5 feet when the container body is in an expanded configuration. 16. an apparatus, comprising: a fiexible container defining an interior volume configured to contain a bulk material, the fiexible container configured to be placed in an expanded configuration when the bulk material is being conveyed into the interior volume, the fiexible container configured to be placed in a collapsed configuration via reducing a pressure within the interior volume when the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume, the fiexible container having a first portion and a second portion, the first portion constructed from a first material, the second portion constructed from a second material, the first portion configured to deform a first amount when the flexible container is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the second portion configured to deform a second amount when the flexible container is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the second amount different than the first amount. 17. the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first portion is a bottom portion of the fiexible container, the first material having a stiffness greater than a stiffness of the second material. 18. the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second portion is a top portion of the fiexible container, the top portion defining an opening, the apparatus further comprising: a cover configured to be coupled to the top portion of the fiexible container about the opening to fiuidically isolate the interior volume from a volume outside of the fiexible container, the cover constructed from a flexible material. 19. the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second portion is a top portion of the fiexible container, the top portion defining a noncircular opening through which the bulk material can be disposed within the interior volume. 20. the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the fiexible container is configured to be coupled within a rigid shipping container, the apparatus further comprising: a tether, a first portion of the tether coupled to the flexible container, a second portion of the tether configured to be coupled to the rigid shipping container, a length of the tether configured to change when the flexible container is moved from the expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration. 21. a system, comprising : a rigid shipping container; a fiexible container configured to be coupled within the rigid shipping container, the fiexible container defining an interior volume configured to contain a bulk material, the fiexible container configured to be placed in an expanded configuration when the bulk material is being conveyed into the interior volume, the fiexible container configured to be placed in a collapsed configuration via reducing a pressure within the interior volume when the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume; and at least one flexible tether configured to anchor the flexible container within the rigid shipping container to form the system, the system devoid of any one of a dunnage bag or a bulwark. 22. a system, comprising: a rigid shipping container; a fiexible container configured to be coupled within the rigid shipping container, the fiexible container defining an interior volume configured to contain a bulk material, the fiexible container configured to be placed in an expanded configuration when the bulk material is being conveyed into the interior volume, the fiexible container configured to be placed in a collapsed configuration via reducing a pressure within the interior volume when the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume; and a tether, a first portion of the tether configured to be coupled to the flexible container, a second portion of the tether configured to be coupled to the rigid shipping container, a length of the tether configured to change when the container body and the cover are moved from the expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration. 23. the system of claim 22, wherein the flexible container has a first portion and a second portion, the first portion constructed from a first material, the second portion constructed from a second material, the first portion configured to deform a first amount when the flexible container is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the second portion configured to deform a second amount when the flexible container is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the second amount different than the first amount. 24. the system of claim 22, wherein the second portion is a top portion of the flexible container, the top portion defining an opening, the apparatus further comprising: a cover configured to be coupled to the top portion of the flexible container about the opening to fluidically isolate the interior volume from a volume outside of the flexible container, the cover constructed from a fiexible material. 25. the system of claim 22, wherein the second portion is a top portion of the flexible container, the top portion defining a noncircular opening through which the bulk material can be disposed within the interior volume. 26. the system of claim 24, wherein the cover is coupled to the top portion of the fiexible container via an adhesive bond. 27. a method, comprising: conveying a bulk material into an interior volume of a flexible container via an opening defined by the flexible container; coupling a cover about the opening of the flexible container to fluidically isolate the interior volume from a volume outside of the flexible container; and reducing a pressure within the interior volume after the coupling to move the fiexible container into a collapsed configuration. 28. the method of claim 27, further comprising: aligning a delivery member with the opening, the delivery member configured to convey the bulk material into the interior volume via the opening. 29. the method of claim 27, further comprising: disposing at least a portion of a delivery member within the interior volume via the opening, the delivery member configured to convey the bulk material into the interior volume. 30. the method of claim 27, further comprising: conveying a gas into the interior volume via the opening to maintain the fiexible container in an expanded configuration during the conveying the bulk material. 31. the method of claim 27, further comprising: aligning a delivery member with the opening such that the interior volume is in fluid communication with a volume outside of the fiexible container, the delivery member configured to convey the bulk material into the interior volume via the opening; and conveying a gas from the volume outside the fiexible container into the interior volume via the opening to maintain the fiexible container in an expanded configuration during the conveying the bulk material. 32. the method of claim 27, further comprising: conveying a gas into the interior volume via the opening to maintain the fiexible container in an expanded configuration; and conveying a portion of the gas from the interior volume via the opening during the conveying the bulk material. 33. the method of claim 27, wherein: the cover is constructed from a fiexible material; and the coupling includes coupling the cover about the opening via an adhesive bond. 34. the method of claim 27, wherein the opening is a first opening, the fiexible container is devoid of a second opening. 35. the method of claim 27, wherein the opening has a noncircular shape. 36. the method of claim 27, wherein the bulk material includes coal. 37. the method of claim 27, wherein the bulk material is a powdered substance, the powdered substance forming a substantially solid block when the flexible container is in the collapsed configuration. 38. the method of claim 27, wherein the flexible container is disposed within a substantially rigid container to form a shipping system, the shipping system devoid of any one of a dunnage bag or a bulwark.
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systems and methods for packaging and transporting bulk materials cross-reference to related applications [1001] this application claims priority to united kingdom patent application serial no. 1115601.5, entitled "transport of granular materials," filed september 9, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. this application claims priority to u.s. provisional application serial no. 61/440,202, entitled "containerized coal," filed february 7, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety background [1002] the embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for packaging and transporting a bulk material. more particularly, the embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for packaging and transporting coal within a flexible container. [1003] recent reports indicate that the united states has about 263,781 billion tons of recoverable coal. yet, surprisingly, the u.s. exports only approximately 90 million tons per year. in contrast, russia exports 116 million tons per year out of its estimated 173,074 billion tons of recoverable coal, and australia exports 259 million tons per year even though it is estimated to have only one-third of the recoverable tons of the united states (84,437 billion tons). [1004] one reason why the u.s. exports so little coal is because known transportation facilities and methods limit the ability to ship coal. according to known methods, coal is transported in its raw form via bulk carrier vessels (for intercontinental transport), and via open rail cars, barges, slurry pipelines and trucks (for intra-continental transport). numerous factors limit the capacity of such transport means, including the lack of suitable deep draught ports and limited availability of coal handling facilities that can handle hazardous materials. [1005] known bulk transport processes utilized in the united states and other coal producing countries are also inefficient and environmentally unsound. in particular, after extraction, coal is typically loaded onto open trucks using construction equipment and conveyor systems, and then transported to a railhead. at the railhead, the coal is unloaded and stored outdoors in large open piles until further transport is arranged at a later point in time. when further transport is scheduled, the coal is reloaded onto available trains, typically in open, bulk rail cars. [1006] when coal is destined for overseas locations, such as asia, it is conveyed by rail car to ports that can handle bulk materials. according to known methods, at these ports, coal is unloaded and stored outdoors in large open piles until it is scheduled for loading on a vessel. once a vessel arrives for transporting the coal, the coal is loaded onto one or more bulk holds of the vessel. once the vessel arrives at its destination port, the coal is unloaded, stored and reloaded for further transport by land or rail to the generating plant or another end user. at the generating plant, the coal is again unloaded and stored outdoors in a large open pile, where it remains until it is needed. thus, at multiple stages during known methods of transportation, coal is loaded, unloaded, stored, and reloaded. this repetitive loading, unloading, storage and re -loading of bulk material is highly inefficient. [1007] further, at each stage in the transportation process, coal is exposed to air and earth. such practices are environmentally unsound, as coal dust is environmentally hazardous. moreover, highly acidic materials can leach from storage piles into nearby aquifers. in addition, product is lost to the effects of wind and rain, having a negative economic impact. [1008] the lack of deep-water ports can also be a limiting factor in the export of coal using known methods. for example, there are a limited number of deep-water ports throughout the u.s., particularly the west coast. although most all u.s. ports can typically accommodate bulk vessels of the handy class, which typically have a capacity in the range of 35-40,000 tons, most u.s. ports cannot accommodate larger bulk transport ships vessels. for example, most u.s. ports cannot accommodate large draught vessels, such as panamax vessels (with a capacity in the range of 60-80,000 tons) and cape vessels (with a capacity of 100-150,000 or more tons). while many west coast ports are seeking to expand their ability to accommodate larger bulk ships, these efforts have been delayed or prevented by cost, environmental laws and regulations, and community-based concerns. as a result, coal suppliers and exporters have had no choice but to incur the high costs associated with transport via handy sized vessels through busy ports, shipping via canadian ports or topping off in canadian and other country's ports. [1009] until recently, asian countries have been supplied with the majority of their coal requirements from china, australia, indonesia, south africa and russia. because china has now become a net importer of coal, however, there is increased demand for large bulk carrier capabilities, and several port initiatives have been undertaken to address these deficiencies. unfortunately, these initiatives, which are often related to changes in the infrastructure related to shipping, are costly, long-term projects that are facing increasing local and national concerns over the environmental impact of current handling and transport methods for coal. [1010] known bulk transport methods are also limited in their ability to deliver different grades of material, including value-added forms of coal, such as processed coal. specifically, when transported by bulk carrier according to known methods, it is difficult to segregate materials, and to maintain their quality. while bulk transport methods may be acceptable for transport of raw coal, they are often not adequate for transport of a variety of forms of processed coal to multiple end users, except by inclusion in fluidized beds or pipelines. however, fluidized beds and pipelines are expensive to construct, maintain and/or utilize. [1011] although intermodal containerization of goods has made transportation of goods significantly more efficient than other transportation methods, bulk commodities, such as coal, have not been able to benefit from the intermodal containerized transport systems for a variety of reasons. for example, one such reason is that coal is subject to spontaneous combustion when exposed to air and pressure. thus, shipping coal by container according to known systems and methods can increase the likelihood of spontaneous combustion. [1012] thus a need exists for improved systems and methods packaging and transporting a bulk material. summary [1013] apparatus, systems, and methods for housing a bulk material within a flexible container are described herein. in some embodiments, a flexible container includes a container body and a flexible cover. the container body defines an interior volume and includes a side wall that defines an opening. the opening is configured to receive a bulk material therethrough such that the bulk material can be disposed within an interior volume of the container body. the flexible cover can be coupled to the side wall about the opening. the cover is configured to fluidically isolate the interior volume from a volume substantially outside of the flexible container. brief description of the drawings 1014] fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a flexible container, according to an embodiment in an expanded configuration while being filled with a bulk material. 1015] fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of the flexible container of fig. 1, in the expanded configuration. 1016] fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of the flexible container of fig. 1, in a collapsed configuration. 1017] figs. 4 and 5 are schematic illustrations of a flexible container according to an embodiment, in first configuration and a second configuration, respectively. 1018] fig. 6 is a perspective view of a flexible container, according to an embodiment. 1019] fig. 7 is a front view of a portion of the flexible container of fig. 6. 1020] fig. 8 is a front view of a bulkhead included in the flexible container of fig. 6. 1021] fig. 9 is an illustration of a label included in the bulkhead of fig. 8. 1022] fig. 10 is a rear view of the flexible container of fig. 6. 1023] fig. 11 is a side view of the flexible container of fig. 6. 1024] fig. 12 is a front view of a portion of the flexible container of fig. 6. 1025] fig. 13 is a bottom view of the flexible container of fig. 6. 1026] fig. 14 is a perspective view of a container, according to an embodiment. 1027] fig. 15 is a top perspective view of a container, according to an embodiment. 1028] fig. 16 is a bottom perspective view of a container, according to an embodiment. [1029] fig. 17 is a bottom perspective view of a container, according to an embodiment. [1030] fig. 18 is a perspective view of a container, according to an embodiment. [1031] fig. 19 is a schematic illustration of a valve assembly included in a flexible container, according to an embodiment. [1032] fig. 20 is a perspective view of a sliding hatch and release mechanism included in a container, according to an embodiment. [1033] fig. 21 is a perspective view of a loading and unloading device included in the container of fig. 20. [1034] fig. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a method for storing and transporting a bulk material, according to an embodiment. [1035] fig. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transporting a bulk material, according to an embodiment. [1036] fig. 24 is a perspective view of a flexible container, according to an embodiment. detailed description [1037] apparatus, systems, and methods for housing a bulk material within a flexible container are described herein. in some embodiments, a flexible container includes a container body and a flexible cover. the container body defines an interior volume and includes a side wall that defines an opening. the opening is configured to receive a bulk material therethrough such that the bulk material can be disposed within an interior volume of the container body. in some embodiments, for example, the opening can have a non-circular shape to accommodate a delivery member, such as a coal conveyer. the flexible cover can be coupled to the side wall about the opening. the cover is configured to fluidically isolate the interior volume from a volume substantially outside of the flexible container. [1038] in some embodiments, a flexible container includes a first portion, constructed from a first material, and a second portion, constructed from a second material. the flexible container defines an interior volume and is placed in an expanded configuration when the interior volume receives a bulk material, such as, for example raw or processed coal. the flexible container is configured to be moved from the expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration when the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume via a reduction in pressure within the interior volume. the first portion is configured to deform a first amount when the flexible container is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration. the second portion is configured to deform a second amount, substantially different than the first amount. [1039] in some embodiments, a system includes a rigid shipping container and a flexible container configured to be coupled within the rigid shipping container. the flexible container defines an interior volume and can be placed in an expanded configuration when the interior volume receives a bulk material. the flexible container is configured to be moved from the expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration when the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume via a reduction in pressure within the interior volume. the system further includes at least one flexible tether configured to anchor the flexible container within the rigid shipping container to form the system. the system is devoid of a dunnage bag and/or a bulwark. similarly stated, the bulk material can be coupled within the rigid shipping container solely via the at least one flexible tether. [1040] in some embodiments, a system includes a rigid shipping container and a flexible container configured to be coupled within the rigid shipping container. the flexible container defines an interior volume and can be placed in an expanded configuration when the interior volume receives a bulk material. the flexible container is configured to be moved from the expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration when the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume via a reduction in pressure within the interior volume. the system further includes at least one tether including a first portion and a second portion. the first portion is configured to be coupled to the flexible container. the second portion is configured to be coupled to the rigid shipping container. the tether defines a length configured to change when the flexible container is moved between the expanded configuration and the collapsed configuration. [1041] in some embodiments, a method includes conveying a bulk material into an interior volume of a flexible container via an opening defined by the flexible container. the method further includes coupling a cover about the opening to fluidically isolate the interior volume from a volume outside the flexible container. the method further includes reducing the pressure within the interior volume after the cover is coupled to the flexible material to move the flexible container into a collapsed configuration. in this manner, the bulk material and the flexible container can collectively form a substantially solid body that can be handled and/or shipped. [1042] as used herein, the term "flexible" and/or "flexibility" relates to an object's tendency towards deflection, deformation, and/or displacement under an applied force. for example, a material with a greater flexibility is more likely to deflect, deform and/or be displaced when exposed to a force than a material having a lower flexibility. similarly stated, a material having a higher degree of flexibility can be characterized as being less rigid than a material having a lower degree of fiexibility. flexibility can be characterized in terms of the amount of force applied to the object and the resulting distance through which a first portion of the object deflects, deforms, and/or displaces with respect to a second portion of the object. in certain situations, this can be depicted graphically as a stress-strain curve. when characterizing the fiexibility of an object, the deflected distance may be measured as the deflection of a portion of the object different than the portion of the object to which the force is directly applied. said another way, in some objects, the point of deflection is distinct from the point where force is applied. [1043] flexibility is an extensive property of the object being described, and thus is dependent upon the material from which the object is formed and certain physical characteristics of the object (e.g., shape of the object, number of plies of material used to construct the object, and boundary conditions). for example, the fiexibility of an object can be increased or decreased by selectively including in the object a material having a desired modulus of elasticity, flexural modulus and/or hardness. the modulus of elasticity is an intensive property of (i.e., is intrinsic to) the constituent material and describes an object's tendency to elastically (i.e., non-permanently) deform in response to an applied force. a material having a high modulus of elasticity will not deflect as much as a material having a low modulus of elasticity in the presence of an equally applied force. thus, the flexibility of the object can be increased, for example, by introducing into the object and/or constructing the object of a material having a relatively low modulus of elasticity. [1044] similarly, the flexural modulus is used to describe the ratio of an applied stress on an object in flexure to the corresponding strain in the outermost portions of the object. the flexural modulus, rather than the modulus of elasticity, is used to characterize certain materials, for example plastics, that do not have material properties that are substantially linear over a range of conditions. an object with a first fiexural modulus is more elastic and has a lower strain on the outermost portions of the object than an object with a second fiexural modulus greater than the first fiexural modulus. thus, the flexibility of an object can be increased by including in the object a material having a relatively low fiexural modulus. [1045] the flexibility of an object constructed from a polymer can be influenced, for example, by the chemical constituents and/or arrangement of the monomers within the polymer. for example, the flexibility of an object can be increased by decreasing a chain length and/or the number of branches within the polymer. the flexibility of an object can also be increased by including plasticizers within the polymer, which produces gaps between the polymer chains. [1046] as used herein, the terms "expandable," "expanded configuration," "collapsible" and/or "collapsed configuration" relate to a flexible container defining a first cross-sectional area (or volume) and a second cross-sectional area (or volume). for example, a flexible container of the types described herein, can define a larger cross-sectional area (or volume) when in an expanded configuration than the cross-sectional area (or volume) of the flexible container in the collapsed configuration. expandable components described herein can be constructed from any material having any suitable properties. such material properties can include, for example, a flexible material having a high tensile strength, high tear resistance, high puncture resistance, a suitable level of compliance (e.g., the expandable components ability to expand appreciably beyond its nominal size) and/or a suitable modulus of elasticity (e.g., as described above). [1047] in some embodiments, for example, an expandable component (e.g., a flexible container) can include at least a portion constructed from a high-compliant material configured to significantly elastically deform when expanded. in other embodiments, an expandable component (e.g., the flexible container) can include at least a portion constructed from a low-compliant material (e.g., a material configured to expand without significant elastic deformation). the compliance of an expandable component defining, for example, an interior volume, is the degree to which a size of the expandable component (in an expanded state) changes as a function of the pressure within the interior volume. for example, in some embodiments, the compliance of a flexible container can be used to characterize the change in the diameter or perimeter length of the expanded flexible container as a function of the pressure within the interior volume defined by the flexible component. in some embodiments, the diameter or perimeter length of an expanded component characterized as a low-compliant component can change by zero to ten percent over the range of pressure applied to the interior volume thereof (e.g., either a positive pressure or a vacuum). in other embodiments, the diameter or perimeter length of an expanded component characterized as a high-compliant component can change as much as 30 percent, 50 percent, 100 percent or greater. [1048] because the overall characteristics of a flexible container, including the compliance, can be a function of both the material from which the flexible container is constructed and the structural characteristics of the flexible container, the material from which the flexible container is constructed can be selected in conjunction with the desired structural characteristics of the flexible container. for example, in some embodiments, a flexible container can include a first portion defining a first compliance and/or flexibility and a second portion defining a second compliance and/or flexibility. in such embodiments, it can be desirable that the first portion (e.g., a bottom portion) include a lower compliance and/or greater stiffness than the second portion (e.g., a top portion). thus, the first portion of the flexible container can be configured to deform less under increased or decreased pressure within an interior volume than the second portion. for example, in some embodiments, a force exerted by a bulk material (e.g., the weight of the bulk material) may be such that substantial deformation of the first portion could result in tearing of the material. [1049] as used herein, the term "bulk material" relates to a cargo that is transported in large quantities in the absence of individual packaging. bulk material and/or bulk cargo can be very dense, corrosive, or abrasive. for example, a bulk material can be bauxite, sand, gravel, copper, limestone, salt, cement, fertilizers, plastic granular, resin powders, coal, grains, iron, gasoline, liquefied natural gas, petroleum, and/or the like. some bulk materials, for example, coal, can define a low flowability, can be abrasive, can define an uneven weight distribution, and can spontaneously combust. in contrast, a slurry or flowable material can be less abrasive and can be easily distributed. therefore, handling, packaging and/or shipping of a bulk material can pose different challenges than the handling, packaging and/or shipping of a slurry or flowable material. [1050] fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a flexible container 100, according to an embodiment. the flexible container 100 includes a container body 110 and a cover 160 and is configured to move between an expanded configuration (e.g., figs. 1 and 2) and a collapsed configuration (e.g., fig. 3). the flexible container 100 includes a side wall 112 and defines an interior volume 111 within the container body 110. the flexible container 100 can be any suitable shape, size, or configuration. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can define an irregular shape as shown in fig. 1. in other embodiments, a flexible container 100 can have a rectangular prism shape, a cylindrical shape or the like. [1051] the flexible container 100 can be formed from any suitable material or material combination. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can be formed from polyethylene, ethylene vinyl acetate (evoh), amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (apet), polypropylene (pp), high-density polyethylene (hdpe), polyvinylchloride (pvc), polystyrene (ps), polyethylmethacrylate (ema), metallocene polyethylene (plastomer metallocene), low-density polyethylene (ldpe), high-melt strength (ldpe), ultra-low- density linear polyethylene (ulldpe), linear low-density polyethylene (lldpe), k-resin, polybutadiene, and/or mixtures, copolymers, and/or any combination thereof. as used herein the term "copolymer" includes not only those polymers having two different monomers reacted to form the polymer, but two or more monomers reacted to form the polymer. [1052] in some embodiments, the container body 110 can be constructed from multiple layers of material. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can include an inner layer and an outer layer. in such embodiments, the inner and/or outer layer can be formed from any suitable material or material combination such as, for example, those described above. in other embodiments, the flexible container 100 can include three or more layers. furthermore, the layers from which the container body 110 is constructed can be formed from a similar or dissimilar material. for example, in some embodiments, a first layer can be formed from a first material, a second layer can be formed from a second material, and a third layer can be formed from a third material. in other embodiments, one or more layers can be constructed from similar materials. [1053] as shown, the side wall 112 defines an opening 113 having a substantially non- circular shape. the opening 113 is configured to receive a portion of a delivery member c, such as, for example, a conveyer, a chute, a pipe, or the like. in this manner, the delivery member can convey a bulk material (not shown) into the interior volume 111 defined by the container body 110 according to the methods described herein. in some embodiments, the delivery mechanism is a conveyer c configured to transfer coal to the interior volume 111 via the opening 113. in other embodiments, the bulk material can be any suitable material of the types described herein. for example, the bulk material can be phosphate, iron ore, mined ore, grain, and/or the like. in some embodiments, when the bulk material is being conveyed into the interior volume 111, the container body 110 can be maintained in an expanded (or partially expanded) configuration by conveying an inflation fluid (e.g., air, nitrogen or any other suitable gas) into the interior volume. the inflation fluid can be conveyed into the interior volume 111 via the opening 113. similarly stated the inflation fluid can be conveyed into the interior volume 111 via the same opening through which the bulk material is conveyed. in other embodiments, the container body 110 can be maintained in the expanded (or partially expanded) configuration by any suitable mechanism, such as by attaching the corners of the container body 110 to a rigid structure via tethers and/or cords. [1054] in some embodiments, the conveyer c can be configured to telescope (i.e., change lengths) within the container body 110. for example, in some embodiments, the conveyer c can be disposed through the opening 113 and within the interior volume 111 of the container body 110 such that the conveyer c can transfer the bulk material to a particular location the interior volume 111. in this manner, the container body 110 can be loaded from back to front. similarly stated, according to this method, when the conveyer c transfers the bulk material to the interior volume 111, the conveyer c can be configured to retract (move from the back portion towards the front portion) with respect to the side wall 112. in this manner, the bulk material can be loaded into the container body 110 evenly (i.e., with a suitable weight distribution) thus reducing load shifting during transport. [1055] as shown in fig. 2, after the desired quantity of the bulk material disposed within the interior volume 111 of the container body 110, the conveyer c can be removed from the interior volume 111 via the opening 113. the cover 160 can then be disposed about the opening 113 to fluidically isolate the interior volume 111 from a volume substantially outside the container body 110. similarly stated, the cover 160 is configured to fluidically seal the container body 110. [1056] the cover 160 can be constructed from any suitable material and can be coupled to the container body 110 by any suitable means. for example, in some embodiments, the cover 160 can be formed from a similar material as at least a portion of the container body 110 (e.g., the cover 160 can be formed from a flexible material). the cover 160 can be coupled to the side wall 112, for example, via an adhesive, adhesive strip, a chemical weld or the like. in other embodiments, the cover 160 can be coupled to the side wall 112 via a zipper style fit. in some embodiments, the cover 160 and the side wall 112 can define a substantially planar surface when the flexible container 100 is in the expanded configuration. in this manner, the container body 110 and the cover 160 can form a substantially continuous surface after the cover 160 is coupled to the container body 110. by avoiding a protruding cover, this arrangement can result in ease of packaging, handling and/or shipping of the flexible container 100. [1057] as shown in fig. 3, the flexible container 100 can be placed in the collapsed configuration. more specifically, container body 110 and the cover 160 can be placed in the collapsed configuration by evacuating at least a portion of a gas within the interior volume 111 via a port (not shown). in some embodiments, the cover 160 defines the port. in other embodiments, the container body 110 (e.g., the side wall 112) can define the port. in this manner, the port can be engaged by, for example, a vacuum source such that the pressure within the interior volume 111 of the container body 110 is reduced. the reduction of the pressure within the interior volume 111 can be such that container body 110 deforms. similarly stated, the vacuum source can exert a suction force on the interior volume 111 thereby urging at least a portion of the container body 110 to deform under the vacuum force. furthermore, the vacuum source can be configured to expose interior volume 111 to the suction force such that the interior volume 111 is substantially devoid of a gas (e.g., air). said another way, the interior volume 111 is exposed to a negative pressure and thereby urges the container body 110 to substantially conform to a contour of the bulk material disposed therein. [1058] in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can collapse (e.g., conform to the bulk material) such that the bulk material disposed within the container body 110 can act as a substantially solid mass. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can collapse such that a distance between adjacent parts of a bulk material is reduced. in this manner, the movement of specific parts (e.g., particles, pellets, grains, chunks, portions, and/or the like) of the bulk material is reduced relative to adjacent parts of the bulk material. thus, the potential of load shifting within the flexible container 100 is reduced. in some embodiments, the substantial evacuation of the gas (e.g., air) within the flexible container 100 can reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion of the bulk material (e.g., coal). [1059] in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can be placed into and/or secured within a rigid shipping container. in such embodiments, the flexible container 100 can include a set of tethers (not shown in figs. 1-3) configured to couple the flexible container 100 to an inner surface of the rigid container. for example, in some embodiments, the tethers can include a first portion that can be coupled to the flexible container 100 and a second portion that can be coupled to the rigid container. in some embodiments, the tethers can be formed of a flexible material such that with the tether coupled to the flexible container 100 and the rigid container, a length of the tether can extend when the flexible container 100 is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration. similarly stated, the flexible container 100 can be disposed within the rigid container such that the flexible container 100 moves relative to the rigid container (e.g., away from a set of walls of the rigid container) thereby urging the length of the tethers to extend. in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can further include a bumper portion configured to engage a surface of the rigid container and absorb a portion of a force from any load shifting within the rigid container. the bumper portions can be any suitable portion. for example, in some embodiments, the bumper portions include one or more sleeves configured to receive a shock absorbing member. in other embodiments, the bumper portions can be inflated with a gas (e.g., air). similarly stated, in some embodiments, the flexible container 100 can include an integrated dunnage system to minimize the transfer of load to (or deformation of) the rigid container within which the flexible container 100 is disposed. [1060] in some embodiments, a flexible container can include portions formed from different materials. in this manner, the rate of deformation of the flexible container when moved to the collapsed configuration can vary spatially. for example, figs. 4 and 5 show a flexible container 200 that includes a container body 210 and defines an interior volume 211 therein. the flexible container 200 is configured to move between an expanded configuration (e.g., fig. 4) and a collapsed configuration (e.g., fig. 5). although the flexible container 200 is shown as defining a volume when in the collapsed configuration, in other embodiments, the flexible container 200 can be configured to be moved to a collapsed configuration in which the container defines substantially no volume therein (e.g., a container storage configuration). the flexible container 200 can be any suitable shape or size. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 can define a cylindrical shape. the flexible container 200 can be formed from any suitable material, such as any suitable materials of the type described herein or any combination thereof. [1061] as shown in fig. 4, the container body 210 includes a first portion 220 and a second portion 240. the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can be formed from a similar or dissimilar material, and can be characterized by a similar or dissimilar stiffness and/or flexibility. the first portion 220 is formed from a first material that has a first stiffness and the second portion 240 is formed from a second material, different than the first material, that has a second stiffness, different from the first stiffness. in some embodiments, the first material of the first portion 220 is substantially stiffer than the second material of the second portion 240. [1062] in some embodiments, the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can be coupled together to form the container body 210. in such embodiments, the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can be coupled in any suitable manner. for example, in some embodiments, the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can be coupled via adhesive, chemical weld or bond, sewn, insertion into a flange or coupling device, and/or the like. in this manner, the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 define a substantially fluidic seal. similarly stated, the first portion 220 is coupled to the second portion 240 to define a non-permeable coupling (e.g., air tight). [1063] in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 includes multiple layers (not shown). for example, in some embodiments, the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can each be constructed from multiple layers. in such embodiments, the multiple layers of the first portion 220 and/or the second portion 240 can be formed from any suitable material such as those described herein. furthermore, the multiple layers of the first portion 220 and/or the second portion 240 can be formed from similar or dissimilar materials. for example, a first layer can be formed from a first material and a second layer can be formed from a second material. in some embodiments, one or more of the multiple layers included in the second portion 240 can be similar to one or more of the multiple layers of the first portion 220. the multiple layers of the first portion 220 and the multiple layers of the second portion 240 can be coupled together to define the fluidic seal (e.g., as described above). [1064] when in the expanded configuration (e.g., fig. 4), the flexible container 200 can receive a bulk material (not shown) such that the bulk material is disposed within the interior volume 211. with the desired amount of bulk material disposed within the interior volume 211, the flexible container 200 can be moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, as shown in fig. 5. more specifically, a pressure within the interior volume 211 can be reduced such that the flexible container 200 collapses in response to the reduced pressure. in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 can include a port (not shown in figs. 4 and 5) that can be engaged by, for example, a vacuum source configured to reduce the pressure within the interior volume 211 of the container body 210. similarly stated, the vacuum source can exert a suction force on the interior volume 211 thereby urging at least a portion of the container body 210 to deform under the force. furthermore, the vacuum source can be configured to expose the interior volume 211 to the suction force such that the interior volume 211 can be substantially evacuated (i.e., substantially devoid of a gas). said another way, the interior volume 211 is exposed to a negative pressure and thereby urges the container body 210 to substantially conform to a contour of the bulk material disposed therein. [1065] as described above, the first portion 220 can be formed from the first material and define the first stiffness and the second portion 240 can be formed from the second material and define the second stiffness. in this manner, with the suction force applied to the interior volume 211 of the container body 210, the first stiffness of the first portion 220 is such that the first portion 220 deforms a first amount, as shown by the arrows a in fig. 5. similarly, the second stiffness of the second portion 240 is such that the second portion 240 deforms a second (different) amount, as shown by the arrows a 2 in fig. 5. furthermore, with the stiffness of the second portion 240 being substantially less than the first portion 220, the second portion 240 deflects (e.g., deform) substantially more than the first portion 220. [1066] in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 can collapse (e.g., conform to the bulk material) such that the bulk material disposed within the container body 210 can act as a substantially solid mass. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 can collapse such that a distance between adjacent portions and/or components of the bulk material is reduced. in this manner, the movement of specific parts (e.g., particles, pellets, grains, chunks, portions, and/or the like) of the bulk material is reduced relative to adjacent parts of the bulk material. similarly stated, when the flexible container 200 is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the bulk material therein can be moved from a flowable (or partially flowable) state to a substantially non-flowable state. thus, the potential of load shifting of the bulk material within the flexible container 200 is reduced. accordingly, the flexible container 200 can be strapped and/or anchored to and/or within a shipping platform or container using tethers and/or straps. in some embodiments, for example, the flexible container 200 can be coupled within any of the rigid shipping containers described herein (e.g. the rigid shipping container 465) without the need for dunnage bags, bulkheads and/or bulwarks to absorb load from the shifting of the bulk material therein. [1067] in some embodiments, the substantial evacuation of the gas (e.g., air) within the flexible container 200 can reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion of the bulk material (e.g., coal). in some embodiments (e.g., when the bulk material is a food product), the substantial evacuation of the gas (e.g., air) within the flexible container 200 can reduce the risk contamination, reaction and/or the like. [1068] in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 can include one or more layers that are monolithically formed and are disposed within the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 to act as a liner (not shown in figs. 4 and 5). the inner layer (or liner) can be formed from any suitable material and can include any suitable material characteristic such as, for example, flexibility, durometer, compliance, abrasion resistance, and/or the like. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 200 can include the inner layer and the first portion 220 and the second portion 240. the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can be coupled together such that the inner layer is disposed within the interior volume 211 defined by the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 of the container body 210. in some embodiments, the inner layer abrasion resistant and fluidically permeable. in this manner, the inner layer can protect the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 from sharp portions and/or points included in the bulk material. moreover, when the flexible container 200 is moved to the collapsed configuration, the suction force (e.g., the vacuum) can pass through the inner layer and exert at least a portion of the suction force of the first portion 220 and the second portion 240. therefore, the first portion 220 and the second portion 240 can collapse to place the flexible container 200 in the collapsed configuration. [1069] while shown in figs. 1-3 as defining an irregular shape, in some embodiments a flexible container can define a substantially rectangular shape. for example, as shown in figs. 6-13, a flexible container 300 includes a container body 310, a side wall 312, a bulkhead 325, and a cover 360. the flexible container 300 can be any suitable size, for example, a size configured to fit within a commercially-available shipping container, or any of the rigid containers shown and described herein. for example, the flexible container 300 defines a length l, a height h, and a width w. in some embodiments, the length l can be approximately 20 feet, the height h can be approximately 8 feet, and the width can be approximately 7.5 feet. in other embodiments, the length l can be approximately 40 feet, the height can be approximately 8 feet, and the width can be approximately 7.5 feet. [1070] the container body 310 includes a first portion 320 and a second portion 340 and defines an interior volume 311. the first portion 320 and the second portion 340 can be formed from any suitable material. in some embodiments, the first portion 320 and/or the second portion 340 can be formed from a similar or dissimilar material and can define a similar or dissimilar stiffness (e.g., flexibility). for example, the first portion 320 is formed from a first material that has a first stiffness, and the second portion 340 is formed from a second material, different than the first material, that has a second stiffness, different from the first stiffness. in some embodiments, at least a portion of the first portion 320 is formed from polyethylene woven fabric (e.g., 120 g/sqm) and at least a portion of the second portion 340 is formed from polyethylene film (e.g., 140 microns thick). polyethylene is flexible, inert, and creates a lower static charge than, for example, polypropylene. thus, polyethylene is a suitable material for the transportation of certain bulk materials such as, for example, coal. furthermore, with the first portion 320 formed from polyethylene woven fabric, the first portion 320 is substantially stiffer than the second portion 340 formed from polyethylene film. as described herein, this arrangement can result in different rates of deformation when the container 300 is moved from an expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration. [1071] as shown in fig. 6, the first portion 320 and the second portion 340 are coupled together to form the container body 310. the first portion 320 and the second portion 340 can be coupled in any suitable manner. for example, in some embodiments, the first portion 320 and the second portion 340 can be coupled via adhesive, chemical weld or bond, sewn, insertion into a flange or coupling device, and/or the like. in this manner, the first portion 320 and the second portion 340 define a substantially fluidic seal. similarly stated, the first portion 320 is coupled to the second portion 340 such as to define a non-permeable coupling (e.g., air tight). in other embodiments, the first portion 320 and the second portion 340 form a monolithically constructed container body 310. [1072] the flexible container 300 includes multiple layers (not shown). in some embodiments, the first portion 320 and/or the second portion 340 include multiple layers. in some embodiments, the flexible container 300 can include one or more layers substantially independent of the first portion 320 and/or the second portion 340 (e.g., a liner). in such embodiments, the multiple layers of the first portion 320 can be formed from any suitable material such as those described above. furthermore, the multiple layers of the first portion 320 can be formed from similar or dissimilar materials. for example, an inner layer can be formed from polyethylene woven fabric a first material and a second layer can be formed from a second material. similarly, the multiple layers of the second portion 340 can be formed from any suitable material. in some embodiments, the multiple layers of the second portion 340 are formed from a similar or dissimilar material. in some embodiments, one or more of the multiple layers included in the second portion 340 can be similar to one or more of the multiple layers of the first portion 320. the multiple layers of the first portion 320 and the multiple layers of the second portion 340 can be coupled together to define the fluidic seal (e.g., as described above). [1073] as shown in fig. 7, the side wall 312 defines a substantially rectangular-shaped opening 313. the opening 313 can receive a portion of a delivery member (not shown) configured to convey a bulk material (not shown) to be disposed within the interior volume 311 defined by the container body 310. for example, in some embodiments, the delivery member can be a conveyer configured to transfer raw coal to the interior volume 311 via the opening 313. in other embodiments, the delivery mechanism can be a hose configured to be coupled to the side wall 312 such that the hose delivers processed coal to the interior volume 311 via the opening 313. [1074] in some embodiments, the delivery mechanism is configured to telescope (i.e., change lengths) within the container body 311, as described above. for example, in some embodiments, a conveyer can be disposed through the opening 313 and within the interior volume 311 of the container body 313 such that the conveyer can transfer the bulk material to the interior volume 311 such that the container body 310 is loaded from back to front. similarly stated, as the conveyer transfers the bulk material to the interior volume 311, the conveyer can be configured to retract with respect to the side wall 312. in this manner, the bulk material can be loaded with a suitable weight distribution thus reducing load shifting during transport. in some embodiments, the flexible container 300 can include an internal telescoping member (not shown) configured to selectively convey a bulk material from a delivery member (e.g., distribute the bulk material within the interior volume). [1075] the cover 360 includes a port 36 land is configured to be coupled to the side wall 312 about the opening 313. more particularly, the cover 360 is coupled to the side wall 312 and about the opening 313 such that the cover 360 fluidically isolated the interior volume 311 from a volume substantially outside the container body 310. similarly stated, the cover 360 is configured to fluidically seal the container body 310. the cover 360 can be formed from any suitable material, such as a similar material as at least a portion of the container body 310. for example, in some embodiments, the cover 360 is formed from polyethylene film with a 140 micron thickness. in other embodiments, the cover 360 can be any suitable thickness. [1076] the cover 360 can be coupled to the side wall 312 in any suitable manner. for example, as shown in fig. 7, cover 360 is coupled to the side wall 312 via an adhesive strip 342. the adhesive strip 342 can be any suitable adhesive such as, for example, a glass fiber glue tape. in this manner, the cover 360 and the side wall 312 can define a substantially planar surface when the flexible container 300 is in the expanded configuration. similarly stated, the cover 360 is configured to engage a substantially flat surface of the side wall 312 such that the cover 360 and the side wall 312 are substantially co-planar. said another way, the cover 360 couples to a portion of the side wall 312 defining the opening 313 that is substantially flat (e.g., does not include a mounting flange, ring, protrusion, and/or the like). the use of the adhesive strip 342 is such that when the cover 360 is coupled to the side wall 312 the cover 360 fluidically isolates the interior volume 311 defined by the container body 310. in other embodiments, the cover 360 can be coupled to the side wall 312 using any suitable method, such as, for example, a chemical weld. [1077] the side wall 312 further includes a portion configured to which the bulkhead 325 is coupled (see e.g., fig. 8). the bulkhead 325 is configured to provide mechanisms for absorbing load, handling and/or manipulating the container 300. the bulkhead 325 can be any suitable shape, size, or configuration. for example, the bulkhead 325 is substantially similar in height and width as the first portion 320 of the container body 310. in this manner, when coupled to the side wall 312 the bulkhead 325 transfers a portion of a force (e.g., a load shift during transport) to the relatively stiff first portion 320 and not the relatively flexible second portion 340. the bulkhead 325 can be formed from any suitable material that includes any suitable weight. for example, in some embodiments, the bulkhead 325 is formed from polypropylene woven fabric with a weight of 210 g/sqm. in this manner, the use of polypropylene woven fabric is such that the bulkhead is substantially stiffer than the first portion 320 and/or the second portion 340. thus, in use the bulkhead 325 is less likely to deform when the flexible container 300 is placed in the collapsed configuration. [1078] the bulkhead 325 includes a sleeve 321, a set of webbing strips 326, and a material label 335. as shown in fig. 9, the material label 335 can include information associated with the flexible container 300. the sleeve 321 is configured to extend from a surface of the bulkhead 325 to define a void. in some embodiments, the sleeve 321 can be coupled to the bulkhead 325 in any suitable manner such as, for example, those described above. in other embodiments, the sleeve 321 can be monolithically formed with the bulkhead 325. the sleeve 321 is configured to receive a shock absorbing member (not shown) within the void defined between the sleeve 321 and the bulkhead 325, as described in further detail herein. the webbing strips 326 can be coupled to the bulkhead 325 in any suitable manner. for example, in some embodiments, the webbing strips 326 can be sewn to the bulkhead 325. in other embodiments, the webbing strips 326 can be chemically welded and/or coupled via adhesives. the webbing strips 326 include a set of loops 327, a set of ratchet straps 328, and a set of tethers 355. in use, the flexible container 300 is configured to be disposed within a rigid container (not shown) and the loops 327, the ratchet straps 328, and/or the tethers 355 can engage an interior portion of the rigid container to couple the flexible container 300 to the interior portion of the rigid container. [1079] similarly, the second portion 320 and a rear portion of the flexible container 300 can include members configured to engage the interior portion of the rigid container. for example, as shown in fig. 10, the rear portion can include an elastic band 314 configured to engage the interior portion of the rigid container. the rear portion can further include corner caps 315 configured to protect the corners of the flexible container 300. in some embodiments, the corner caps 315 can include tethers and/or straps configured to engage the rigid container. [1080] as shown in figs. 11 and 12, the second portion 340 includes a set of attachment members 345 configured to receive a portion of the tethers 355. the attachment members can be disposed on or within the second portion 340 at any suitable position. for example, in some embodiments, the attachment members 345 can be disposed along a top surface of the second portion 340 at a distance di from adjacent attachment members 345. while shown in fig. 11 as being substantially uniformly spaced, in some embodiments, the attachment members 345 can be spaced at any given distance from adjacent attachment members 345. [1081] as shown in fig. 12, the attachment members 345 include a loop portion 346 and a base 347. the base 347 is coupled to the second portion 340 of the container body 310. for example, in some embodiments, the base 347 is coupled to the second portion 340 via adhesive strips. in some embodiments, the second portion 340 defines a channel configured to receive the base 347 of the attachment member 345. the loop portion 346 is configured to receive a portion of the tether 355. more specifically, the tether 355 includes a first portion 356 configured to couple to the loop portion 346 and a second portion 357 configured to couple to the rigid container. [1082] in use, the flexible container 300 is coupled to the rigid container (e.g., any of the rigid containers shown herein) and receives the bulk material via the opening 313. in some embodiments, when the bulk material is being conveyed into the interior volume 311, the container body 310 can be maintained in an expanded (or partially expanded) configuration by conveying an inflation fluid (e.g., air, nitrogen or any other suitable gas) into the interior volume 311. the inflation fluid can be conveyed into the interior volume 311 via the opening 313. similarly stated the inflation fluid can be conveyed into the interior volume 311 via the same opening through which the bulk material is conveyed. this arrangement eliminates the need for multiple openings within the container body 310. additionally, this mechanism for loading the container body 310 does not require a fluid-tight coupling between the delivery member and the container body 310. in other embodiments, the container body 310 can be maintained in the expanded (or partially expanded) configuration by any suitable mechanism, such as by attaching the corners of the container body 310 to a rigid structure via the tethers 355. [1083] with the desired amount received within the internal volume, the cover 360 is coupled to the side wall 312 and the flexible container 300 is then moved to the collapsed configuration. expanding further, the port 361 included in the cover 360 can be configured to act as an ingress or egress for a gas to be disposed within or expelled from the interior volume 311. for example, the port 361 can be engaged by a vacuum source such that the pressure within the interior volume 311 of the container body 310 is reduced. the reduction of the pressure within the interior volume 311 can be such that all or portions of the container body 310 deform. similarly stated, the vacuum source can exert a suction force on the interior volume 311 thereby urging at least a portion of the container body 310 to deform under the force. furthermore, the vacuum source can be configured to expose interior volume 311 to the suction force such that the interior volume 311 is substantially devoid of a gas (e.g., air). said another way, the interior volume 311 is exposed to a negative pressure and thereby urges the container body 310 to substantially conform to a contour of the bulk material disposed therein. [1084] as described above, the first portion 320 can be formed from the first material (e.g., polyethylene woven fabric) and define the first stiffness and the second portion 340 can be formed from the second material (e.g., polyethylene film) and define the second stiffness. in this manner, with the suction force applied to the interior volume 311 of the container body 310, the first stiffness of the first portion 320 is such that the first portion 320 deforms a first amount. similarly, the second stiffness of the second portion 340 is such that the second portion 340 deforms a second amount. furthermore, with the stiffness of the second portion 340 being substantially less than the first portion 320, the second portion 340 deflects (e.g., deform) substantially more than the first portion 320. [1085] the tethers 355 (figs. 11 and 12) are formed from an elastomeric material such that with the tethers coupled 355 to the flexible container 300 and a rigid container, a length of the tether 355 extends when the flexible container 300 is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration. this arrangement allows the flexible container 300 to be disposed and/or coupled within a rigid container such that the flexible container 300 moves relative to the rigid container (e.g., away from a set of walls of the rigid container) thereby urging the length of the tethers 355 to extend when the flexible container 300 is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration. [1086] in some embodiments, the flexible container 300 can collapse (e.g., conform to the bulk material) such that the bulk material disposed within the container body 310 can act as a substantially solid mass. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 300 can collapse such that a distance between adjacent portions and/or components of the bulk material is reduced. in this manner, the movement of specific parts (e.g., particles, pellets, grains, chunks, portions, and/or the like) of the bulk material is reduced relative to adjacent parts of the bulk material. similarly stated, when the flexible container 300 is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the bulk material therein can be moved from a flowable (or partially flowable) state to a substantially non-flowable state. thus, the potential of load shifting of the bulk material within the flexible container 300 is reduced and/or eliminated. accordingly, the flexible container 300 can be strapped and/or anchored within a shipping container using tethers and/or straps. furthermore, as described above with reference to fig. 8, the bulkhead 325 includes the sleeve 321 and the shock absorbing member. in this manner the sleeve 321 and the shock absorbing member (e.g., a steel member, series of members or bumper) can be configured to absorb a portion of a force (e.g., load shifting of the substantially solid mass within the rigid container) to reduce damage done to the rigid container, the flexible container 300 and/or the bulk material. similarly, as shown in fig. 13, a bottom surface of the flexible container 300 includes a sleeve 321. furthermore, while shown in figs. 8 and 13 as being disposed in specific locations, in some embodiments, a flexible container can include any number of sleeves 321 that can be disposed at any suitable location on or about the flexible container. [1087] any of the flexible containers described herein can be disposed and/or coupled within a commercially-available, rigid shipping container. in this manner, processed or raw coal or other granular or powdered material may be transported in a sealed container of a size and weight that is within the capabilities of existing shipping and transfer equipment utilized in connection with containerized transport. currently, this is in the range of 25-30 tons per one twenty- foot equivalent (teu) container, which measures 20 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet, and approximately the same tonnage per two teu containers, which measures 40 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet. using containerized transport, a 5,000 teu vessel can transport 100,000 tons of raw coal per voyage, which is substantially larger than the amount of raw coal per voyage that can be transported using the handy or panamax class. if greater quantities are desired, a 10,000 teu vessel can be utilized, which can transport approximately 240,000 tons of coal, or a 15,000 teu vessel can be used to transport in excess of 300,000 tons of coal. [1088] the most common sizes for rigid shipping containers are 20 feet or 40 feet in length. in some embodiments, for example, in use with a flexible container, a 20-foot container can have the capacity of holding approximately 25-30 tons of raw granular coal or powdered coal. in some embodiments, to accommodate larger quantities of processed materials (such as 40-45 tons of pulverized material) a rigid container can be reinforced and/or specially designed to maximize the efficiency of transporting coal. [1089] as shown in fig. 14, a typical rigid container 465 includes four corner posts 466, 467, 468, 469. the rigid container 465 also includes long rails 470, 471, 472, 473 along of the top and bottom of the rigid container 465, which are connected to the corner posts. the rigid container 465 also includes short rails 474, 475, 476, 477 along the top and bottom of the rigid container 465, which are also connected to the corner posts 466, 467, 468, 469. the corner posts, long rails and short rails provide structural support for the rigid container 465, and enable it to be secured to a crane, or a truck or rail car. the rigid container 465 also includes side panels 478, 479, 480, 481, bottom panel 482 and top panel 483, which are secured to the corner posts, long rails and short rails. in some embodiments, for example as seen in fig. 14, the rigid container 465 includes a hinged or sliding door 484 in the top panel 483. the door permits loading and unloading of the material to be transported. [1090] after processing, the granulated or powdered coal is loaded into the rigid container 465. in some embodiments, system can include a flexible container (such as the flexible container 300) disposed within the rigid container 465, and the coal can be loaded in via a front opening (e.g., opening 313), as described above. the coal can be loaded into the rigid container 465 and/or a flexible container therein with a conventional-type conveyor loading system, or feeding through an enclosed piping system, such as a forced-air fluid bed system or a screw-based system. in other embodiments, the coal can be loaded into the rigid container 465 and/or a flexible container by conventional mechanical means, such as via a construction payloader. in yet other embodiments, the coal can be loaded into the rigid container 465 and/or a flexible container by an air-driven system. as shown in fig. 15, in some embodiments, a rigid container 565 can include a flexible pipe 586 coupled thereto to facilitate a method using an air driven system. [1091] during loading, the rigid container 465 may also be positioned above the ground, at ground level or below ground. it could also be positioned on an automated track system such that multiple rigid containers can be filled in a continuous manner. filling can be completed until the rigid container 465 capacity is reached, as determined by volume or by weight. in other embodiments, as described herein, the rigid container 465 and/or the flexible container therein (e.g., flexible container 300) can be filled to a capacity that is less than the interior volume when the flexible container is in the expanded configuration. [1092] as shown in fig. 14, in one embodiment, coal is loaded through a sealable opening in the top of the rigid container. this can include one or more chutes positioned to receive the bulk material (e.g., raw coal and/or pulverized coal). the hinged or sliding door 484, or another type of portal, on the top of the rigid container 465 permits access to interior for loading. in such embodiments, a system can also include a flexible container, similar to the flexible container 300, having an opening in the top portion, rather than in the front portion (as shown in figs. 6 and 7). in the alternative, the entire top wall, or a portion of the top wall 483 of the rigid container 465 could be hinged to a side of the rigid container 465. likewise, loading may be accomplished through a sliding or hinged door 484, or another portal, positioned in the side of the rigid container 465. an entire side -wall, or a portion of a side -wall, could also be hinged to another side -wall, or to the remaining portion of the side- wall that provides access. after the coal is loaded, the rigid container may be closed, locked and sealed from the outside air. [1093] the rigid container 465 design can be such that the interior can be sealed from outside air after the powder or granulated material is loaded therein. this may be accomplished by use of a permanent or extractable flexible container, such as the flexible container 300, a permanent or extractable hard liner, a single use throwaway recyclable liner or a purpose-built rigid container. [1094] the liner and/or flexible container, whether permanent or single use, extractable, flexible or hard, can be manufactured of a puncture resistant, sealable material that does not interact chemically with the processed coal. the liner and/or flexible container disposed and/or coupled within the rigid container 465 can be constructed from any of the materials described herein. an extractable liner will enable reuse of general purpose shipping rigid containers in the transport of other products (avoiding rigid container dead-heading). if the material is durable enough, an extractable liner would also permit efficient reuse of the liner for additional coal transport. [1095] in some embodiments, a system can include a flexible container, of the types shown and described herein, disposed within a rigid container. for example, a flexible polymer-based bag with a thickness in the range of 0.5 inches to 0.75 inches would be well- suited for use in lining the rigid containers. the bag (or flexible container, such as the container 300) can be made of a non-reactive material, such as plastic, vinyl or silicon. the bag (or flexible container, such as the container 300) could also be made of an environmentally friendly material, or any material that is non-reactive, can be sealed, and will maintain a vacuum. the purpose of the liner is to aid sealing the contents of the rigid container, and to permit the rigid container to be reused for shipping of other goods after the coal is removed. [1096] as shown in fig. 14, the system includes a flexible container 400 disposed within the rigid container 465. the flexible container 400, which can be similar to the flexible container 300, may be temporarily held in position within the rigid container 465 prior to filing through the use of hook and loop fasteners 485 positioned along the edges and corners of the interior of the rigid container and the exterior of the liner. in some embodiments, the weight of the rigid container coal acts as a pressure seal when the bottom of the bag employs a flap for evacuating the coal. [1097] as an alternative to a reusable flexible bag, in some embodiments, a liner may include a single -use sealable bag that may be discarded after use and recycled. [1098] as an alternative to a flexible container, liner or bag, the rigid container can be lined with a non-reactive coating, such as a ceramic material. the coating might be permanent, in which case it could be cleaned after use, such that the rigid container can be reused for shipment of other goods and services. in the alternative, the coating might be applied to a temporary sheath that could be removed from the rigid container and reused, permitting the rigid container to be used for other purposes. [1099] another approach is to have collapsible boxes (box within a box), with sealed hinges allowing for size to be minimized. the hinged box would be inserted into the outer rigid container by means of a sliding track or other method. the walls would be opened from their collapsed state and locked, creating a sealable box. another alternative approach would be a purpose built rigid container, with the interiors being ceramic or polymer coated. such coatings would permit efficient cleaning after coal transport. a purpose-built rigid container could also be designed so that it is collapsible in order to minimize cost of transport back to its point of origin. [1100] once sealed, air can be removed from the rigid container to reduce the risk of combustion, to minimize shifting of the bulk material therein or the like. for example as shown in figs. 18 and 19 a rigid container 865 can include a flexible container 800, a hose assembly 892, and a valve assembly 895. in some embodiments, air can be removed from the flexible container 800 with the valve assembly 895 positioned through one or more of the side -walls or the top of the rigid container. the valve assembly 895 can be positioned inside the rigid container such that the port is flush with the surface of the rigid container 896, so that it is not damaged during loading, transport or unloading of the rigid container. the valve assembly can include a portal 897 that can be attached to a negative pressure (vacuum) source, and a valve mechanism 898 for opening and sealing the portal. suitable value mechanisms can include a ball valve, a butterfly valve, a gate valve or a globe valve. alternative valve mechanisms, including mechanisms that are automatically actuated when a suitable negative pressure is achieved, may be utilized. the valve mechanism may also include a screen or filtration mechanism to prevent the rigid container contents from being drawn into the vacuum system. the vacuum could also be applied through multiple openings and seal assemblies on the upper and lower surfaces of the rigid container, or through the flexible pipe 586 (see e.g., fig. 15) that is used to fill the rigid container. in some embodiments, the valve assembly 895 can be fluidically coupled to the vacuum port (e.g., port 361) of a flexible container (e.g., container 300) disposed within the rigid container. [1101] although shown as being coupled to the hose assembly 892, in other embodiments, the valve assembly 895 or any other suitable valve for the ingress (e.g., of the bulk material) and/or egress (e.g., of air) can be coupled directly to the flexible container. for example, in some embodiments, any suitable valve can be chemically welded to a side wall of a flexible container. [1102] regardless of the means for applying a vacuum, there can be corresponding openings in the liner or coating. with a permanent coating, this could be accomplished by sealing the coating around the vacuum port. with a flexible or hard liner, a portion of the liner could be fitted around the portal in a configuration that seals the liner to the surface adjacent the portal, such that when loaded with coal, air cannot leak into the liner. the liner could also include a region that is permeable to gasses but not solid materials, such that air can be withdrawn without coal powder and other solid materials being removed from the rigid container. after the vacuum is applied, to the portal, the portal opening is sealed to maintain negative pressure. [1103] vacuum sealing will minimize loss of volatiles from the coal. further, the absence of oxygen will inhibit the combustibility of the processed coal inside the rigid container. a vacuum pump system would be present at loading and unloading sites. in one embodiment, a mobile vacuum pump can be utilized to extract the air from rigid containers are they are filled in an automated process. in the alternative, the mobile vacuum pump can be equipped to seal multiple rigid containers at the same time. [1104] if further protection from combustion is required, an inert or non-combustible gas or mixture of gases may be injected into the rigid container after it is filled with coal. the gas can be injected into the rigid container through the vacuum port, or through a second port specifically designed for injection of the gas. [1105] preferred gases include helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. other gases and mixtures of gases can be used, as long as they displace oxygen and provide a means of controlling the combustibility of the material in the rigid container. for example, nitrogen or carbon dioxide could be used when transporting coal. [1106] for unloading, the rigid container may include an outlet port that can be attached to a hose and vacuum system at the end user location. in another embodiment, the rigid container can include a hinged or sliding door on the bottom panel as depicted in fig. 16. in this configuration, the bottom door 687 is designed to withstand the weight of coal in the loaded rigid container. it is also designed to be opened via a handle or latch 688 positioned along a side wall at the bottom of the rigid container. [1107] fig. 20 is a view of a rigid container 965 showing a sliding hatch with a releasing mechanism controlled by an electrically activated sensor. the rigid container 965 can include, for example, tracks for sliding hatches. in some embodiments, a rigid container can include an automatic trip switch sensor to release or lock a sliding hatch. in some embodiments, a container can include a tracking sensor to identify whether the container is fully loaded/ fully unloaded. [1108] fig. 21 is a view of a rigid container 965 showing a top or bottom (or side) loading and unloading device by means of a flexible tube 992 (allowing even distribution of materials during the loading process). the loading and unloading mechanism includes a locking collar that can be coupled to the loading and unloading chute. the loading and unloading mechanism includes a sealing valve for either the exhaust of air or the introduction of inert gas. [1109] in some embodiments, any of the containers shown and described herein can include a grounding mechanism for electrically grounding the container during the loading and/or unloading process, as well as during transportation. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible tube 992 can include a ground wire or rod coupled thereto. the ground wire can, for example, extend from an area outside of the rigid container 965 into an interior volume defined by the rigid container 965, an inner liner and/or a flexible container disposed therein. in this manner, the static charge that can develop from the contact between particles during loading (or unloading) can be dissipated. more particularly, such static buildup can become hazardous when the materials contain, or are composed of, dust or powders (as are common with coal, ores, grain, aggregates and other bulk materials to be handled by the systems and methods described herein). in addition the ground wire or rod, in those embodiments in which the flexible container is evacuated, the evacuation reduces friction during transport and thus minimizes the formation of static charges during transport. [1110] in some embodiments, the innermost layer of any of the containers shown and described herein is constructed of an anti static material, such as high density polyethylene, acetal and ester based thermoplastic polyurethane, amongst others. the material used on the inner layer of the liner bag can be any suitable material, generally composed of modified conductive thermoplastic compounds that allow for the rapid dissipation of static charge so that a significant electrostatic discharge event does not take place during, loading, unloading and/or transportation. [1111] as shown in fig. 17, the interior of the rigid container can include a hopper shaped bottom 790, 791 which directs material be removed from the rigid container towards a portal positioned in the middle of the bottom. in this embodiment, the contents will flow from the rigid container opening. content removal can also be assisted with a pump and hose assembly 792 or other device designed to disgorge the contents under pressure. [1112] unloading can also be accomplished via a portal or door on a side panel. if necessary, for unloading, one side of the rigid container could be lifted or tipped up, or the rigid container could be positioned above an unloading chute so that coal or other materials can be extracted directly into a feeding or storage mechanism utilized by the end user. a design including a side portal or door is preferred, as the same portal or door could be used for loading and unloading of the coal or other volatile material. [1113] the liner also includes a release mechanism associated with the outlet port or door. for example, the liner can include a breakaway region, a folded flap that may be unfolded for discharge of the contents, or a release cord that opens the liner in a specific region. in such embodiments, the liner mechanism can be positioned to align with the rigid container discharge opening or mechanism. [1114] in some embodiments, a collapsible bag, such as the flexible container 300, is utilized as the liner. in such embodiments a sealable flap or a puncturable area can be opened when the rigid container is opened, such as with a sliding or hinged door. in the alternative, the bag could have a portal or series of portals aligned with the rigid container openings. these portals could also be attached to an external hose, such that, when connected to the hose, the contents of the bag could be removed. [1115] an alternative embodiment entails a connection between the bag and the interior or exterior of the rigid container, which could assist in removal of the contents. [1116] in some embodiments, the rigid containerization of powdered, granulated or other processed coal, or raw coal, is such that large-scale rigid containerized transport ships can efficiently and safely transport the material to multiple end-users in multiple destinations. this allows for "on demand" transport of commodities to higher value markets and/or flexible distribution decision strategies for trading companies. some embodiments can also be used for transport of other volatile and non-volatile materials in powdered, granular and/or other solid forms. [1117] although certain embodiments are shown and described as being used to contain raw coal, any of the embodiments herein can be used to contain processed coal and/or other bulk materials. for example, in some embodiments, a method includes processing coal or other products into value added material at the location where it is mined, or another location, before being loaded onto ships for transport to end users. the processed coal can then be loaded into a sealed, non-combustible rigid container, for environmentally safe transport by land or sea. the sealed rigid containers can also store the coal (or other processed materials) such that the contents are not exposed to wind and rain, preventing product deterioration, product loss, and dispersion of potentially harmful dust and other materials into the air or land through leaching or exposure to the elements. by processing coal before shipping, and transporting processed coal in sealed shipping containers, different coal products can be distributed to multiple users in different locations with relative ease. thus, coal can be marketed and supplied in a much wider variety of formats than are currently available. [1118] in this manner, the methods and systems described herein allow for the trade in lingnite coal. lignite coal has a very high moisture content causing its energy content (btu per pound) to be relatively low when compared with other types of coal (e.g., bituminous, sub-bituminous and anthracite). thus, it is not practical to transport lignite coal (either nationally or internationally) using known methods. as a result, sites containing lignite deposits generally have electrical generating or concrete manufacturing plants constructed thereon. according to the methods described herein, lignite coal can be processed at the mine to remove the moisture and pulverize the coal, thereby producing a processed coal having a higher energy content. using the systems and methods described herein, the processed lignite coal can be economically packaged, handled and shipped. [1119] although certain embodiments are shown and described as being used to contain coal, any of the embodiments herein can be used to contain and/or transport any suitable bulk materials. such bulk materials can include, for example, the following ores: argentite, azurite, barite, bauxite, bornite, calcite, cassiterite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chromite, cinnabar, cobaltite, columbite-tantalite or coltan, cuprite, dolomite, feldspar, galena, gold, gypsum, hematite, ilmenite, magnetite, malachite, molybdenite, pentlandite, pyrolusite, scheelite, sphalerite, talc, uraninite, wolframite. in other embodiments, such bulk materials can include grains (either raw or processed). grains that can be packaged and transported according to the methods described herein include corn, wheat, soybean, oats or the like. moreover, processed grain products, such as flour, can also be packaged and transported according to the methods described herein. [1120] any of the systems and containers described herein can be loaded and unloaded onto containerized ships, using conventional container loading and transportation equipment. the loading and unloading of bulk materials according to the systems and methods described herein avoids the cost and/or hazards associated with bulk shipping and storage of volatile materials, and reduces the amount of product lost in the environment. shipment of materials according to the systems and methods described herein also permits the transport of materials through larger vessels, capable of transporting larger quantities of coal than bulk carriers. thus, containerized shipping can decrease transportation costs associated with known methods of coal shipment. [1121] furthermore, some embodiments provide for control over the weight and/or density of the coal pile. by limiting the weight and/or density of the coal pile, and by providing a non-reactive surface and a controlled atmosphere, the risk of spontaneous combustion can be minimized. further, the risk of a chemical reaction between the coal and the containment vessel is minimized. [1122] transport of containerized coal according to the systems and methods described herein is environmentally safe when compared to known bulk transport methods, since the coal is not repeatedly exposed to the air and weather, and the creation and release of coal dust is minimized. in addition, embodiments described herein also serve to reduce inefficiency in the trade imbalance. the imbalance in trade between various countries and regions, more particularly between asia and the united states, and most particularly between china and the unites states has for many years resulted in a surplus of containers in the united states. in particular, there remains significant unused container ship capacity from the economic crises of 2008 crash. moreover, slowing manufacturing and exports from the u.s. have created an excess of shipping containers in the u.s. by streamlining the transportation process, and using retrofit systems for sealing existing used cargo containers, embodiments described herein will provide a means of returning cargo containers to asia, including china, reducing the number of unused containers in the u.s. some embodiments also provide a means for reusing containers in the transport of other goods to the united states. thus, rather than using containers one time, or shipping empty containers back to asia for re -use, some embodiments enable reuse of containers back and forth between the u.s. and asia. [1123] fig. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a method 1000 for storing and/or transporting a bulk material, according to an embodiment. in some embodiments, the bulk material is stored and/or transported in a flexible container such as, for example, any of the flexible containers described herein. in such embodiments, the flexible container can include a container body and a cover and can be configured to move between an expanded configuration and a collapsed configuration. the flexible container further includes a side wall and defines an interior volume within the container body. in some embodiments, the side wall can include a substantially non-circular opening configured to receive a bulk material. in some embodiments, the flexible container is substantially similar to the flexible container 300 described herein with reference to figs. 6-13. while not explicitly described, the flexible container can include any features included in the flexible container 300 and or any other embodiment described herein. [1124] in some embodiments, the method 1000 optionally includes aligning a delivery member with the opening defined by the side wall of the flexible container, at 1002. the delivery member can be any suitable member. for example, in some embodiments, the delivery member is a conveyer. in some embodiments, a portion of the delivery member is disposed through the opening defined by the side wall and is disposed within the interior volume of the container body, at 1004. in some embodiments, the method 1000 can include conveying a gas from a volume outside the flexible container to maintain the container in the expanded configuration. in some embodiments, the gas can be an inert gas. in other embodiments, the gas can be air. in some embodiments, the inflation fluid can be conveyed into the flexible container via the same opening through which the bulk material is conveyed. [1125] the method includes conveying the bulk material into the flexible container via an opening therein, at 1006. in some embodiments, the delivery member can be disposed within the interior volume such that at least a portion of the delivery member is disposed at a rear portion of the interior volume. in this manner, the delivery member can transfer the bulk material through the opening and into the rear portion of the interior volume of the container body. while transferring the bulk material into the interior volume of the container body, in some embodiments, the delivery member can be configured to telescope such that a length of the delivery member disposed within the interior volume is reduced. similarly stated, the delivery member can retract at a given rate through the opening. thus, the bulk material (e.g., processed coal) can be loaded in a rear to front manner. said another way, the telescopic motion of the delivery member toward the opening is configured to even distribute the bulk material within the interior volume. in some embodiments, the method 1000 includes filling the interior volume with the bulk material to a predetermined volume and/or weight. for example, in some embodiments, the method 1000 includes filling the flexible container until the flexible container is approximately 60 percent full (by volume when compared to the volume of the flexible container in the expanded configuration). in other embodiments, the flexible container can be filled to any suitable level. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container can be filled to a volume ratio of approximately 50 percent, 55 percent, 65 percent, 75 percent, 85 percent, or more. [1126] with the desired amount of bulk material transferred to the interior volume of the flexible container, the delivery member can be retracted through the opening defined by the side wall. with the delivery member retracted, the cover included in the flexible container can be disposed about the opening and coupled to the side wall, at 1008. for example, in some embodiments the cover can be coupled to the side wall via an adhesive strip. in other embodiments, the cover can be coupled to the flexible container in any suitable manner. in some embodiments, the coupling of the cover to the side wall places the interior volume in fluidic isolation with a volume outside the flexible container. similarly stated, the cover can be coupled to the side wall to define a fluidic seal. [1127] with the cover coupled to the side wall and disposed about the opening the pressure within the interior volume can be reduced, thereby moving the flexible container from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, at 1010. more specifically, container body and the cover can be placed in the collapsed configuration by evacuating a gas within the interior volume via a port. in some embodiments, the cover defines the port. in other embodiments, the container body or the side wall can define the port. in this manner, the port can be engaged by, for example, a vacuum source such that the pressure within the interior volume of the container body is reduced. the reduction of the pressure within the interior volume can be such that container body deforms. similarly stated, the vacuum source can exert a suction force on the interior volume thereby urging at least a portion of the container body to deform under the force. furthermore, the vacuum source can be configured to expose interior volume to the suction force such that the interior volume is substantially devoid of a gas (e.g., air). said another way, the interior volume is exposed to a negative pressure and thereby urges the container body to substantially conform to a contour of the bulk material disposed therein. [1128] in some embodiments, the flexible container can collapse (e.g., conform to the bulk material) such that the bulk material disposed within the container body can act as a substantially solid mass. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container can collapse such that a distance between adjacent portions and/or constituents of a bulk material is reduced. in this manner, the movement of specific parts (e.g., particles, pellets, grains, chunks, portions, and/or the like) of the bulk material is reduced relative to adjacent parts of the bulk material. thus, the potential of load shifting within the flexible container is reduced. in some embodiments, the substantial evacuation of the gas (e.g., air) within the flexible container can reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion of the bulk material (e.g., coal). [1129] fig. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method 1100 for processing coal at the mine or railhead, at 1101. at either location, the coal can be processed into crushed, granulated or powder form, and graded by a variety of factors, such as quantity, type, size, moisture content, and ash content. processing can also entail mixing of different grades of coal (btu content), in order to achieve specialized coal products for particular end users. [1130] additionally, the processing can include coal washing and drying to meet enhanced end user specifications. at the time of processing, the coal can be loaded into sealed containers 1102. the containers can be loaded according to any of the methods described herein. moreover, the container can be any of the containers described herein. after loading, the containers can be purged of air, and, if desired, filled with an inert or other gas that reduces the risk of combustion 1103. the filled, sealed, and oxygen purged containers can be stored for later transport, at 1104. loaded, sealed containers may also be placed on trucks 1105, for delivery to a railhead 1107, where the containers are loaded directly onto railcars designed for transport of cargo containers. in the alternative, the containers may be loaded onto railcars 1105 for direct transport to ports that handle containerized cargo 1110. at the port, the sealed containers can be stored 1115 until scheduled for sea transport, when they may be loaded onto mid- to large-sized container ships 1120. [1131] after loading on a ship 1120, the containerized material is transported via sea 1125 to a destination port 1130, where the containers are unloaded 1135. once unloaded, the containers can be stored for future transport 1140, or immediately loaded onto railcars or trucks 1145 for transport to the end user 1150. once the containers arrive at the end user location they are unloaded form the transport means 1155, and may be stored until needed 1160, or opened such that the contents are made available for immediate use 1165. [1132] in some embodiments, a shipping container for the transportation of granular materials includes a load- carrying space which is sealable to prevent ingress and egress of gas. in some embodiments, the load-carrying space is provided by a liner positioned within the shipping container. in some embodiments, the liner is removable from the container. in some embodiments, the liner can be formed of a polymer material. in some embodiments, the liner is a flexible bag. in other embodiments, the liner is a collapsible box. in still other embodiments, the liner is coated on the interior of the shipping container. in such embodiments, the liner is formed of a material that is non-reactive with coal. in some embodiments, the liner has a thickness in the range 1.27 cm to 1.91 cm (0.5 to 0.75 inches). [1133] in some embodiments, a shipping container includes a sealable loading port for loading granular materials into the load-carrying space. in some embodiments, the shipping container includes a port for extracting gasses from the load-carrying space, or injecting gasses into the load-carrying space. the port can be configured for connection to a vacuum source for evacuation of gasses from the load-carrying space. the port can be configured for connection to a source of inert gas for injecting inert gas into the load-carrying space. in some embodiments, the shipping container is a twenty-foot equivalent container. [1134] in some embodiments, a method of transporting granular material includes loading the granular material into a container. the method can further include sealing the load-carrying space and extracting gas from the load carrying space to reduce the pressure in the load-carrying space to substantially below atmospheric pressure. in some embodiments, the method includes injecting an inert gas into the load-carrying space to purge air from the load-carrying space. [1135] while embodiments herein have been described with reference to the transportation of coal, other materials may be transported utilizing the same systems and methods to obtain comparable advantages. for example the system and method may be suitable for transporting potash. potash is a mined and processed mineral used primarily as fertilizer. unlike coal, potash is not combustible yet has specific chemical characteristics that have significant transport and storage challenges. embodiments described herein effectively meets those issues and do so in a more efficient manner than current methods and/or technologies. [1136] potash is commonly transported in crystalline form. these crystals are extremely sensitive to humidity and moisture, forming clumps and "pan caking" when exposed to humidity and moisture. current transport requires specialized rail cars and truck bodies that keep the potash from coming into contact with water. these specialized vehicles are expensive and require considerable maintenance. current storage facilities, at the processing plant, at both sending and receiving ports and distribution centers are specialized and expensive to construct. current handling methods and facilities at all the above steps are costly to build and maintain. by applying the technology described herein to potash, transport becomes more efficient, storage will not require expensive facilities, handling at ports and distribution centers will be more efficient and cheaper and ocean transport will be scalable, more flexible, cheaper and much more efficient. [1137] in some embodiments, the bulk material can be processed at or near the mine. for example, processing may include milling to produce granular or powdered coal of a specific size desired by an end user. processing may also entail washing or chemical processing to remove undesirable materials and gases, or drying to produce material with specified, known water content. examples of pulverizing equipment that may be utilized include mills such as the ball and tube mill or the bowl mill. by processing the coal at the mine, at the rail-head or elsewhere in the supply chain, the coal may be supplied in the exact form specified by the end user, such that the coal need not be processed by the end user before it is consumed. for a power plant, this means that the supplied coal can be fed directly into the power generation furnace or boiler, avoiding the need for complex milling and drying equipment. thus, the plant operator need not install, maintain or operate such equipment, significantly reducing operating costs and plant size. the plant operator may also reduce environmental risks and issues, as coal may be stored in containers until needed, rather than in open piles. as contemplated herein, coal may be supplied in the following forms: raw lump, granulate, or powder, or mixed with higher or lower btu coal to end user specifications. [1138] while various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. where methods described above indicate certain events occurring in certain order, the ordering of certain events may be modified. additionally, certain of the events may be performed concurrently in a parallel process when possible, as well as performed sequentially as described above [1139] for example, in reference to figs. 1-3, while the flexible container 100 is shown as receiving the conveyer c, in other embodiments, a flexible container can receive any suitable delivery member. in other embodiments, a container can include a portion of a delivery member therein. for example, as shown in fig. 24, a flexible container 2000 includes a container body 2010 and a side wall 2012. the container body 2010 defines an interior volume 2011 and is configured to house, at least partially, an internal chute 2017. the side wall 2012 defines an opening 2013 configured to be aligned with the internal chute 2017. furthermore, a delivery hose 2016 can be configured to couple to the side wall 2012 such that the delivery hose 2016 and the internal chute 2017 are in fluid communication. in this manner, the delivery hose 2016 can be configured to transfer, for example, a pulverized (e.g., processed) coal. in addition, the internal chute 2017 can be configured to telescope in the direction of the arrow aa (e.g., mechanically and/or electrically) such that the processed coal is loaded into the flexible container 2000 from the rear forward. thus, the weight distribution of the processed coal can be controlled. [1140] where schematics and/or embodiments described above indicate certain components arranged in certain orientations /or positions, the arrangement of components may be modified. similarly, where methods and/or events described above indicate certain events and/or procedures occurring in certain order, the ordering of certain events and/or procedures may be modified. while the embodiments have been particularly shown and described, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made. [1141] for example, although the flexible container 300 is shown and described as including a bulkhead 325 that includes a sleeve 321 that receives a shock absorbing member, in other embodiments, the flexible container 300 need not include a bulkhead 300. for example, in some embodiments, the flexible container 300 can be disposed and/or coupled within a rigid shipping container to form a shipping system that is devoid of a dunnage bag, bulwark, bulkhead and/or any other mechanism for absorbing a load produced by the movement of the bulk material within the flexible container 300. in particular, as described above, when the flexible container 300 is moved from the expanded configuration to the collapsed configuration, the bulk material therein can be moved from a flowable (or partially flowable) state to a substantially non-flowable state. thus, the potential of load shifting of the bulk material within the flexible container 300 is reduced and/or eliminated. accordingly, the flexible container 300 can be coupled within a rigid container solely with a tether or strap (i.e., without the need for a bulwark, dunnage bag or the like). [1142] conversely, although the flexible container 300 is shown and described as including a bulkhead 325 that is constructed separately from and later attached to a container body, in other embodiments, a flexible container can include an integrated bulkhead, dunnage system or the like. for example, in some embodiments, a flexible container can include an inflatable portion (e.g., towards the rear or front thereof) configured to be inflated in conjunction with loading the flexible container with the bulk material. in this manner, the flexible container can provide additional protection to the rigid container within which it is disposed. similarly stated, this arrangement can obviate the need for external dunnage bags, bulwark systems or the like. [1143] although various embodiments have been described as having particular features and/or combinations of components, other embodiments are possible having a combination of any features and/or components from any of embodiments as discussed above. for example, any of the rigid containers described herein can include any of the flexible containers described herein.
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030-366-081-809-113
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US
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[
"US"
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G09B7/00
| 2009-12-04T00:00:00 |
2009
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[
"G09"
] |
system and method for pre-selection in computer adaptive tests
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a system and method for administering tests at a computer terminal in communication with a remote location is provided. the method includes: establishing an initial threshold amount of questions, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one; sending to the computer terminal a first batch of questions that exceeds the threshold amount, the batch of questions having a substantially equal difficulty level; receiving an answer to one of the batch of questions; selecting, based on the answer to the one of the number of questions, a new question having a difficultly level different than the one of the number of questions; and sending the new question to the computer terminal.
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1. a method for administering tests at a computer terminal in communication with a remote location, the method comprising: associating an ability level with a category of questions with equal difficulty; wherein the ability level is based on a test taker's ability within the category of questions; establishing an initial threshold amount of unanswered questions that are pending, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one, representing a minimum number of answered questions to be resident on the computer terminal; sending to the computer terminal a first batch of questions that exceeds the initial threshold amount, the batch of questions having a substantially equal ability level; receiving an answer to one of the batch of questions; updating the ability level based on the answer to one of the number of questions; selecting, based on the ability level update, a new question having an ability level different than the one of the number of questions; sending the new question to the computer terminal; pre-fetching new questions from the remote location until the initial threshold amount is exceeded; and deferring application of the ability level update until the initial threshold amount is exceeded. 2. the method of claim 1 , further comprising: maintaining the initial threshold amount constant during the test. 3. the method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the initial threshold amount during the test. 4. the method of claim 3 , wherein the adjusting comprises increasing the initial threshold amount during the test to a higher threshold amount that is greater than the initial threshold amount to reduce latency between the remote location and the computer terminal. 5. the method of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive test has a predetermined total of questions, and the initial threshold amount is less than or equal to approximately 10% of the predetermined total of questions. 6. the method of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive test has a number of strands, and the initial threshold amount is less than or equal to the number of strands. 7. a method for administering tests at a computer terminal in communication with a remote location, the method comprising: storing, at the remote location, a plurality of question sets, each set including at least one question; associating an ability level with a category of questions with equal difficulty; wherein the ability level algorithm is based on a test taker's ability within the category of questions; establishing an initial threshold amount of unanswered questions that are pending, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one and representing a minimum number of unanswered questions to be resident on the computer terminal; repeatedly sending from the remote location to the computer terminal a question set from the plurality of question sets until the number of questions sent to the computer terminal that remain unanswered is greater than the initial threshold amount; receiving an answer to a previously unanswered question; updating the ability level based on the answer to the previously unanswered question; selecting, in response to the number of unanswered questions resident on the computer terminal being at the initial threshold amount, a new question set from the plurality of question sets based on the ability level update; sending the new question set to the computer terminal; pre-fetching new questions from the remote location until the initial threshold amount is exceeded; and deferring application of the ability update until the initial threshold amount is exceeded. 8. the method of claim 7 , wherein all of the at least one question having a substantially equal difficulty level. 9. the method of claim 7 , wherein the new question set has a difficulty level different than the previously unanswered question. 10. the method of claim 7 , further comprising: maintaining the initial threshold amount constant during the test. 11. the method of claim 7 , further comprising adjusting the initial threshold amount during the test. 12. the method of claim 11 , further comprising: increasing the initial threshold amount during the test to a higher threshold amount that is greater than the initial threshold amount to reduce latency between the remote location and the computer terminal. 13. the method of claim 7 , wherein the test has a predetermined total number of questions, and the initial threshold amount is less than or equal to approximately 10% of the predetermined total number of questions. 14. the method of claim 7 , wherein the test has a number of strands, and the initial threshold amount is less than or equal to the number of strands. 15. the method of claim 7 , wherein the repeatedly sending further comprises: discontinuing the repeatedly sending when the most recent question set sent includes a question that exceeds the initial threshold amount by one. 16. a method for administering tests on a computer terminal in communication with a remote location, the method comprising: associating an ability level with a category of questions with equal difficulty; wherein the ability level algorithm is based on a test taker's ability within the category of questions; establishing an initial threshold amount of unanswered questions that are pending, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one and representing a minimum number of unanswered questions to be resident on the computer terminal; repeatedly sending to the computer terminal a question set until the number of questions sent to the computer terminal that remain unanswered is greater than the initial threshold amount, each of the question sets including at least one question, all the at least one question having a substantially equal difficulty level; receiving an answer to a previously unanswered question; updating the ability level based on the answer to the previously unanswered question; in response to the number of unanswered questions resident on the computer terminal being at the initial threshold amount, selecting, based on the ability level update, a new question set having at least one question and having an ability level different than the previously unanswered question; sending the new question set to the computer terminal; pre-fetching new questions from the remote location until the initial threshold amount is exceeded; and deferring application of the ability level update until the initial threshold amount is exceeded. 17. the method of claim 16 , further comprising: maintaining the initial threshold amount constant during the test. 18. the method of claim 16 , further comprising adjusting the initial threshold amount during the test. 19. the method of claim 18 , further comprising: increasing the initial threshold amount during the test to a higher threshold amount that is greater than the initial threshold amount to reduce latency between the remote location and the computer terminal. 20. the method of claim 16 , wherein the adaptive test has a predetermined total of questions, and the initial threshold amount is less than or equal to approximately 10% of the predetermined total of questions. 21. the method of claim 16 , wherein the adaptive test has a number of strands, and the initial threshold amount is less than or equal to the number of strands. 22. the method of claim 16 , wherein the repeatedly sending further comprises: discontinuing the repeatedly sending when the most recent question set sent includes a question that exceeds the initial threshold amount by one. 23. a method for administering a test, comprising: defining a total number of questions for a test; associating an ability level with a category of questions with equal difficulty; wherein the ability level algorithm is based on a test taker's ability within the category of questions; establishing an initial threshold amount of approximately 10% of the total number of questions; creating a fixed portion of the test having a total number of questions of about the initial threshold amount; sending the fixed portion of the test to a test taker; transitioning the test from the fixed portion into an adaptive portion, comprising: receiving an answer to a previously unanswered question; updating the ability level based on the answer to the previously unanswered question; adaptively selecting the next question based upon the ability level update; sending the next question to the test taker; pre-fetching new questions from a remote location until the initial threshold amount is exceeded; and deferring application of the ability level update until the initial threshold amount is exceeded.
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cross reference to related applications the present application claims priority to u.s. provisional patent application 61/266,694, filed on dec. 4, 2010, and u.s. provisional patent application 61/266,701 filed on dec. 4, 2010, the disclosures of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. background 1. field of the invention the present invention relates to computer adaptive tests. more specifically, the present invention relates to a computer adaptive test that defers application of its ability algorithm for a certain number of questions or items to thereby reduce latency between questions while maintaining statistically accurate test results. 2. background information traditional methodologies for testing involve providing test-takers with a fixed set of common questions. the test-takers are graded on the test, and relative to each other, based on each individual's accuracy in the nature of the responses to the fixed set of common questions. a fixed test thus presents the same level of difficulty for each test-taker, regardless of the test-taker's individual level of ability. a drawback of such fixed tests is that they tend to provide superior precision for test-takers of medium ability, but less precision for test-takers with extremely high or low ability. adaptive tests are based on the principle that more precise test scores can be obtained if the questions are tailored to the ability level of the individual test-taker. this approach stems from the belief that test results are not meaningful if test questions are too difficult or too easy for the particular test-taker. in contrast, more can be understood of a test-taker's true ability level if the questions are more consistent with that ability level. a computer adaptive test (“cat”) is a computer implementation of an adaptive testing methodology. rather than a fixed set of questions that can be posed to a test-taker, a cat has a pool of available questions at different skill levels from which to iteratively select a question. typically, the system does not know the particular ability level of the test-taker, and thus selects an initial question (sometimes referred to in the art as an “item”) from a pool of intermediate ability level questions. the cat will then grade the test-taker's answer to the question in substantially real time. if the test-taker performs well (either with an accurate absolute answer or with due consideration for partial credit) on the intermediate level question, then the cat system will consider the test-taker's ability to be superior to its previous estimate and select a new question that is consistent with the perceived higher ability level. conversely, if the test-taker performs poorly on the intermediate question, the cat system will consider the test-taker's ability to be inferior to its previous estimate and select a new question that is consistent with the perceived lower ability level. this process continues iteratively until the test is concluded according to some pre-defined criteria. a drawback of cat is the manner in which the tests must be administered by the system. for security purposes, the questions cannot be stored locally at the computer terminal at which the test-taker takes the test (“testing terminal”). rather, the questions are stored on testing servers at some secure remote location and forwarded to the testing computer terminal as needed over a network such as the internet. similarly, the algorithm that updates the student's ability level and selects appropriate questions will be at the secure remote location. this distance between the remote location and the testing terminal generates a delay based on the following steps that must occur after a test-taker answers a question before the next question can be presented to the test-taker: the testing terminal transmits the answer to the current question to the remote location;the system at the remote location evaluates the answer for accuracy;based on the answer, the system updates the test-taker's ability level pursuant to an algorithm;a new question is selected based on the updated ability level;the remote location sends the new question to the testing terminal; andthe testing terminal displays the new question. based on system traffic and network capabilities, these steps can result in a delay of several seconds between answers and subsequent questions that can distract a test-taker during a period when the test-taker needs to maintain concentration. the delay can be even longer if the questions include any substantial graphics, audio, and/or animation that require additional time to transmit and execute. this resultant system latency is of sufficient concern that various techniques have been created to address it. one such attempt to address this drawback has been the use of decision trees to download potential future questions. specifically, once a current question is provided during a test for the test-taker to answer, there are a finite number of possible outcomes or scores responsive to that current question. for each such possible outcome, the cat can determine in advance what the next question would be. by way of example, if the question has only two outcomes—a correct or an incorrect answer—the cat would determine in advance two potential next questions, one for each possible outcome. the remote location sends both possible questions to the testing terminal. once the test-taker answers the current question, the testing terminal (either alone or in cooperation with the remote location) can determine which of the two “next” questions is proper. the testing terminal will post the selected question on the display, while the other question is effectively discarded. thus, for example, when an intermediate question is pending with a correct answer and an incorrect answer, the cat already has selected and downloaded an “easier” question as the next question if the test-taker gets the answer wrong, and a “harder” question as the next question if the test-taker gets the answer right. only one of the two will be selected based upon the test-taker's answer to the current question. this “look ahead” methodology can extend several questions down in the decision tree, thus allowing the pre-loading of several sequences of questions. the benefit of such a system is that since the “next” question is already resident on the testing terminal, the next question can be displayed without any significant latency difficulties (although there may still be delay as the testing terminal cooperates with the remote location to determine which of the possible questions should be used). a drawback of the above approach is that cat ends up devoting resources and bandwidth to download questions that never end up being used. this wasted bandwidth and resource consumption can become considerable as the cat downloads questions from further down the decision tree; two items of look ahead (for dichotomous-only items) would require six potential items to be selected and downloaded (one for each possible score of each of the current item, and one for each possible score of each of the next potential items). the problem multiplies based on the number of test-takers who are simultaneously taking the test on the same network (e.g., all of the students at a school taking a particular standardized test). the decision-tree technique quickly degrades in efficacy as it exacerbates rather than abates the problems of network latency, given that many times more items will be downloaded than will be used. the above methodology also presents security concerns. the correct answer must be transmitted across the network to the testing terminal to finalize the selection of the next question. in addition, questions that are not being used at a particular testing terminal (but which might be used at another) are exposed unnecessarily. another attempt to overcome these latency concerns is to bring “clones” of the testing servers to individual testing centers, such as an individual school or school district. these cloned servers contain the testing content and protocols and are physically placed at or near the premises of the target test-taker population, generally within the same internal network as the target population. the cloned server may also use the “look ahead” technique discussed above. the physical proximity greatly decreases network latency from server to testing terminal, improving response time for the test-taker and reducing the potential for disruptions in concentration (subject to the capabilities of the local area network separating the testing terminals and the cloned test server). however, the cloned server becomes a security risk, and the costs for transporting, installing, and maintaining the cloned server are considerable. summary of the invention according to an embodiment of the invention, a method for administering tests at a computer terminal in communication with a remote location is provided. the method includes: establishing an initial threshold amount of questions, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one; sending to the computer terminal a first batch of questions that exceeds the threshold amount, the batch of questions having a substantially equal difficulty level; receiving an answer to one of the batch of questions; selecting, based on the answer to the one of the number of questions, a new question having a difficultly level different than the one of the number of questions; and sending the new question to the computer terminal. the above embodiment may have various features. the initial threshold amount may remain constant during the test, or adjusting during the test, including increasing the initial threshold amount during the test to a higher threshold amount to reduce latency between the remote location and the computer terminal. the test has a predetermined total of questions, and the initial threshold amount may be less than or equal to approximately 10% of the predetermined total of questions. if the test has a number of strands, the initial threshold amount may be less than or equal to the number of strands. according to another embodiment of the invention, a method for administering tests at a computer terminal in communication with a remote location is provided. the method includes: storing, at the remote location, a plurality of question sets, each set including at least one question; establishing a threshold amount of questions, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one and representing a minimum number of unanswered questions to be resident on the computer terminal; repeatedly sending from the remote location to the computer terminal a question set from the plurality of question sets until the number of questions sent to the computer terminal that remain unanswered is greater than the threshold amount; receiving an answer to a previously unanswered question; selecting, in response to the number of unanswered questions resident on the computer terminal being at the threshold amount, a new question set from the plurality of question sets based on the answer to the previously unanswered question; and sending the new question set to the computer terminal. the above embodiment may have various features. all of the at least one question may have a substantially equal difficulty level. the new question set may have a difficulty level different than the previously unanswered question. the initial threshold amount may remain constant during the test, or adjusting during the test, including increasing the initial threshold amount during the test to a higher threshold amount to reduce latency between the remote location and the computer terminal. the test has a predetermined total of questions, and the initial threshold amount may be less than or equal to approximately 10% of the predetermined total of questions. if the test has a number of strands, the initial threshold amount may be less than or equal to the number of strands. the repeatedly may include discontinuing the repeatedly sending when the most recent question set sent includes a question that exceeds the threshold by one. according to yet another embodiment of the invention, a method for administering tests on a computer terminal in communication with a remote location is provided. the method includes: establishing a threshold amount of questions, the initial threshold amount being a positive integer greater than one and representing a minimum number of unanswered questions to be resident on the computer terminal; repeatedly sending to the computer terminal a question set until the number of questions sent to the computer terminal that remain unanswered is greater than the threshold amount, each of the question sets including at least one question, all the at least one question having a substantially equal difficulty level; receiving an answer to a previously unanswered question; in response to the number of unanswered questions resident on the computer terminal being at the threshold amount, selecting, based on the answer to the previously unanswered question, a new question set having at least one question and having an ability level different than the previously unanswered question; and sending the new question set to the computer terminal. the above embodiment may have various features. all of the at least one question may have a substantially equal difficulty level. the new question set may have a difficulty level different than the previously unanswered question. the initial threshold amount may remain constant during the test, or adjusting during the test, including increasing the initial threshold amount during the test to a higher threshold amount to reduce latency between the remote location and the computer terminal. the test has a predetermined total of questions, and the initial threshold amount may be less than or equal to approximately 10% of the predetermined total of questions. if the test has a number of strands, the initial threshold amount may be less than or equal to the number of strands. the repeatedly may include discontinuing the repeatedly sending when the most recent question set sent includes a question that exceeds the threshold by one. according to still another embodiment of the invention, a method for administering a test is provided. the method includes: defining a total number of questions for a test; establishing a threshold amount of approximately 10% of the total number of questions; creating a fixed portion of the test having a total number of questions of about the threshold amount; sending the fixed portion of the test to a test taker; and transitioning the test from the fixed portion into an adaptive portion, comprising: receiving an answer to a previously unanswered question; adaptively selecting the next question based upon the received answer; and sending the next question to the test taker. other exemplary embodiments and advantages of the present invention may be ascertained by reviewing the present disclosure and the accompanying drawings. brief description of the drawings the present invention is further described in the detailed description which follows, in reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way of non-limiting examples of certain embodiments of the present invention, in which like numerals represent like elements throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein: fig. 1 is a flowchart of the processing of an embodiment of the invention. fig. 2 is a flowchart of the processing of another embodiment of the invention. fig. 3 shows an example of physical architecture 300 of an embodiment of the invention. detailed description of the invention the particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present invention. in this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the present invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the present invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the present invention may be embodied in practice. referring now to fig. 1 , an embodiment of the invention is shown generally at 100 . at a step 102 , an associated threshold for the number of unanswered questions that are pending, hereinafter a “low watermark,” is established for the cat test. the cat system will preselect and ensure that the number of unanswered questions that are resident on a particular testing terminal exceeds the low watermark threshold. if the number of unanswered questions that are resident on a particular testing terminal exceeds the low watermark threshold, the testing terminal will pre-fetch new questions from the remote location until the threshold is exceeded. by way of example, the low watermark level could be set to a value of three (3). a first question a is downloaded from the remote location to the testing terminal at step 104 , such that there is one (1) unanswered question on the testing terminal. as noted above, the first question in standard cat methodologies is an intermediate level question; preferably the instant embodiment uses such a benchmark for question a, but the invention is not so limited. the testing terminal determines at step 106 that having only one (1) unanswered question is below the threshold of three (3) resident unanswered questions for the low watermark. the testing terminal thus automatically (and presumably before the test-taker has answered question a) returns to step 104 and retrieves from the remote location the next question, hereinafter question b. (for ease of discussion, in this example the individual question b is obtained; however the invention is not so limited, and groups of questions could be obtained.) in the prior art cat methodology, the selection of a future question such as question b depends on complete information on the answer to prior questions. thus, in prior art cat, the question b would be based on how the test-taker answered the preceding question a. in contrast, in the instant embodiment, the test-taker has not yet answered question a, such that the ability algorithm has not yet been able to make any adjustment. question b in the instant embodiment is thus based on the same ability level as question a. now having questions a and b resident, the testing terminal determines at step 106 that having only two (2) unanswered questions is still below the threshold of three (3) resident unanswered questions for the low watermark. the testing terminal thus automatically (and presumably still before the test-taker has answered question a) returns to step 104 and retrieves from the remote location the next question, hereinafter question c. as there still has been no ability update, questions a-c are all at the same level. one more question is needed to overcome the low watermark threshold of three (3), and thus the cat repeats the above procedure to obtain a question d, which is also at the same ability level as questions a-c. now that four (4) unanswered questions are present, the low watermark requirement is satisfied, and no further questions are obtained and downloaded at this time. the test-taker will now proceed to answer the questions, preferably in the order received, and thus starting with question a at step 108 . as noted above, the standard cat methodologies would have the testing terminal send the answer to question a to the remote location for evaluation, followed by a subsequent updating of the ability level; preferably the instant embodiment follows that same sequence for question a. (for ease of discussion, the further description below will refer only to this methodology, but the invention is not so limited, and other protocols can be used). a new question is selected based on the updated ability level at step 112 , which is then downloaded to the testing terminal as question e at step 114 . questions a-d are thus based on a fixed test methodology, while question e and subsequent questions are based on adaptive test methodologies. the test taker will now proceed to answer question b at step 108 . the testing terminal sends the answer to question b to the remote location for evaluation. the system subsequently updates the ability level of the test taker based on the answer to the previously unanswered question b. a new question is selected at step 112 based on the updated ability level. this new question is then downloaded to the testing terminal as question f at step 114 . the above process continues iteratively until the required number of questions for the test is complete. at some point the test-taker will be close enough to the end of the test that the number of questions remaining in the test is less than or equal to the low watermark, indicated in the process flow of fig. 1 at step 110 . at this point the instant embodiment can preferably discontinue obtaining further questions, and process iteratively through step 108 until all questions are answered and the test is concluded. (in the alternative, it is possible, albeit not desirable, for the cat to maintain its cycle and continue to obtain questions from the pool, even though the questions will not be used). as noted above, the standard cat methodologies would generate each new question based on the answers to all preceding questions; each new question is thus based on the most updated and complete information. in contrast, the instant embodiment bases its ability levels on older questions without consideration for responses to the most recent questions, and specifically the most recent number of questions earlier than the current question by the value of the low watermark. stated more simply, while prior art cat updates ability and uses the updated ability on a question-by-question basis in substantially real time, the instant embodiment is several questions behind in applying the ability update for new questions. thus, if the low watermark is equal to three (3), the cat methodology of the instant embodiment selects a new question without reference to the answers to the three (3) most recent questions. phrased differently, question e will be based on the answer to question a, but not on the three most recently downloaded questions b-d. application of the instant embodiment minimizes (if not outright eliminates) latency found in prior art cat methods. the low watermark level allows for the pre-download of a series of future questions. thus, similar to the “look ahead” prior art method, the test-taker can pull up subsequent questions without any latency consequences (and indeed, as there is no need to confirm answers with the remote location before loading the next question, the instant embodiment can be even faster than the “look ahead” method). yet unlike the “look ahead” method, there is no download of alternative questions at different ability levels that will ultimately not be used, and thus no wasted bandwidth or security concerns. the prior art cat method derives its accuracy from the fact that each question is selected based on the most current ability level. since the embodiment of the present invention selects new questions based on responses to earlier questions but without reliance on responses to the most recent questions, the test results of the instant embodiment are not technically as accurate as the prior art cat method. however, if the low watermark level is small enough, the difference in results between the prior art cat method and the instant embodiment is negligible. for example, so long as the low watermark level is less than or equal to about 10% of the total questions, the differences in scores for a test using the instant embodiment versus the prior art cat method are statistically insignificant. thus, a low watermark of four (4) or less would be appropriate for a test of 40 questions. in this manner the instant embodiments are quasi-adaptive in that they begin with fixed questions in an amount consistent with the watermark and then transition into adaptive testing methodology in response to answers to the initial fixed questions. the instant embodiment thus provides a cat methodology that is, within acceptable statistical norms, as accurate as the prior art cat method, yet without the latency concerns. there is also no need for the “cloned” servers and their corresponding cost and security risks. servers for the instant embodiment may be centrally located in a secure facility. only the optimal number of servers is required to service the test-taker population. only content that will be administered is downloaded to the testing terminal, minimizing test item security exposure issues. item answer keys remain on the server and are never exposed. the selection of the value of the watermark is preferably based on a variety of factors. an important goal of the embodiments is to reduce latency, such that the value of the low watermark needs to be large enough to minimize the onset of latency. this may involve consideration of the features of the questions, in that questions that leverage graphics, audio, and/or animation may present an increase in latency. the larger the value of the low watermark, the less chance there is that latency will influence the environment of the presentation of questions to the test-taker. while this latency parameters counsel extremely in favor of large values for low watermarks, as a practical matter the accuracy of the test will degrade for larger values. as noted above, the low watermark value should be small enough (e.g., less than or equal to about 10% of test size) to preserve the desired degree of statistical accuracy relative to prior art cat. a larger percentage may be acceptable to the extent that a particular use of the methodology is tolerant of larger statistical deviations, while a smaller percentage may be necessary if excessive accuracy is required. another factor that may influence the value of the low watermark is the presence of “strands” in a particular test. “strands” refer to common topics of questions within a larger type of test. for example, the test may be a math test, but includes three “strands”: algebra questions, geometry questions, and trigonometry questions. cat ability algorithms are based in part upon a test-taker's ability within strands. to allow this feature of the ability algorithm to function optimally, the low watermark value is preferably less than or equal to the number of strands within a test. by way of example, for a 40 question test with three (3) strands, a low watermark value of four (4) may be small enough for statistically accurate results, but a low watermark of three (3) or less would nonetheless be preferred based on the number of strands, especially when the selection algorithm cycles items among the strands, since by the time a strand selection repeats, all item scores for that strand are available to the ability estimator. in the above embodiment, the system presented individual questions for answers. referring now to fig. 2 , in an alternative embodiment 200 , questions could be delivered in groups. by way of non-limiting example, the cat may provide a passage for the test-taker to read, along with a group of questions for the test-taker to answer about the passage. in this embodiment, the number of unanswered questions within the group is compared against the low watermark level. if the group has ten (10) questions, and the low watermark is three (3), then the cat of the instant embodiment will not obtain a new question (or group of questions) until the test-taker has answered seven (7) of the ten (10) questions, thus leaving three (3) unanswered questions. if the group has two (2) questions, and the low watermark is three (3), then the cat will automatically obtain and download the next question (or group of questions). in this context, question sets are sent, each set including at least one question. the methodology is the same as in fig. 1 , save that at step 202 a check is made to see whether or not the number of unanswered questions meets the watermark, thus requiring obtaining the next question; otherwise the system can continue to process answers from the backlog of questions sent in the most recent question set. for ease of discussion, various references are made above to obtaining a new or next question. while this implies single question retrieval, the invention is not so limited. the system could obtain and download several related questions at a common ability level, such as for the reading passage example above. applicant notes that the use of three (3) as the low watermark is exemplary only. it could be any number as desired, and the above methodology would repeat as many times as necessary to satisfy that number. the number could be fixed across the system for a particular test, or can be fluid and change as test conditions warrant toward an ultimate goal of minimizing latency via pre-fetch of questions. it is possible that for some conditions the low watermark value could be zero (although this would not be the case for an entire test). preferably the low watermark number is static for a particular test implementation. however, the invention is not so limited. the system could be programmed to adjust the low watermark under different test conditions, either test-wide or for individual test takers. for example, if the system detected that the network was slow and thus the latency unusually high, it could increase the low watermark for all test-takers on that network. if a particular testing terminal was having specific latency concerns, the system could increase the low watermark for that specific testing terminal. similarly, the system could reduce the value of the low watermark if desired. in the above embodiments, the testing terminal and remote location cooperate after each answer to check the answer and update the ability algorithm. however, the invention is not so limited, in that such near real-time updating may be unnecessary. for example, in the example above for ten (10) questions and a low watermark of three (3), the system can defer activity until the number of unanswered questions nears or reaches the low watermark. in the embodiments herein, the system will obtain new questions if the number of unanswered questions exceeds the low watermark. however, other mathematical representations could be used to obtain similar effects. fig. 3 shows architecture for an embodiment of the invention. a series of computer terminals 302 are connected to a remote location 302 , which may be one or more remote servers. the remote location includes hardware and/or software modules including a memory module 306 to store question sets, an adaptive processor module 308 to evaluate the test-taker's ability/difficulty level based upon the responses to questions, and a question set selector module 310 to select a new question set from memory to send as the next question set. various functions in the above embodiments are attributed to either the computer terminal 302 or the remote location 304 to which it cooperated with. it is to be understood that such distributed functionality is exemplary, and that the functionality can be distributed at the remote location or the computer terminal as may be desired. also, remote location 304 is used in the broad sense and is not limited to a single or centralized source, but may include storage and/or functionality consolidated on or dispersed over computer hardware components with appropriate software thereon that is not coextensive with the computer terminal 302 on which the test is administered. one or more remote servers are a none-limiting example of a remote location. ability level or difficulty level in the context of the above embodiments refers to categories of questions rather than individual questions. in an absolute sense, two different questions will have some degree of difference in difficulty (although the distinction may be so small as to be not noticeable). however, questions are, through known methodologies, classified by certain groups. by way of non-limiting example, a question could be consistent with a 1 st , 2 nd or 3 rd grade reading level, such that an answer to a second grade level question would result in the next question being from the first or third grade groupings, based on whether the answer was incorrect or correct, respectively. the invention is not limited to any particular methodology for determining what questions correspond to what ability levels. preferably, the pool of questions and/or question sets have already been assessed at relevant ability levels before the test is administered. the foregoing description of various embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. the embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
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